football’s ‘bamboo revolution’ - how china is fundamentally shifting the centre of power in...
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FOOTBALL’S ‘BAMBOO REVOLUTION’ - HOW CHINA IS FUNDAMENTALLY SHIFTING THE CENTRE OF POWER IN FOOTBALL Simon Chadwick - ‘Class of 92’ Professor of Sports Enterprise
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@Prof_Chadwick
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£25 million for Ramires
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China 2014• President Xi announces plan to create domestic sport economy worth $850bn
• Optimistic estimates of current global industry size = $400bn
• At heart of plan: 1) World Cup; 2) industrial development; 3) health and fitness
• People’s Republic, people’s game
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Challenges
• Historically centralised, state-led model of sport• Issues in human capital, notably absence of competence, training and development
• Poor performance record, especially in football• Others include: space, education, corruption
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China 2015• Wang Jianlin buys 20% stake in Atletico Madrid for $52mn
• Next buys Infront Sports and Media for $1.2bn• Then is sat next to Sepp Blatter at his re-election
• Chinese investors acquire Sochaux, Den Haag, Espanyol, Malaga, Slavia Prague
• Finally, 13% of Manchester City
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Types of investor
• State-owned enterprises• Private equity investors • Entrepreneurs
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Some issues
• Fast-tracking the development of sport to create a sporting/football culture
• Model being developed in light of challenges• Alignment of external investments with internal goals
• China’s economic bubble• Motives of investors & government corruption purges
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And the plan is…
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Conclusions• Given China’s recent industrial development, sport trajectory seems inevitable
• Expect more investment and growing network influence
• Remain mindful of economic conditions in China, and of corruption
• Strategic & managerial considerations e.g. timescale, talent development, knowledge transfer and dissemination
Thank you for listening
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