Business Analysis: SWOT Analysis For The Combat Sports Association

Strategic Plan: Part II
Ralph Cook
BUS/475
February 11, 2014
Lawrence Vierra
Strategic Plan: Part II
The objective of this week 's assignment are to create a SWOT analysis for the Combat Sports Association to determine the internal strengths and weaknesses of the organization and the external opportunities and threats to organization. The assignment will also identify the legal and regulatory trends that need to be taken into consideration and how the CSA will adapt to changes in the industry. Major issues will be identified and classified to determine the importance of each issue in the analysis.

SWOT ANALYSIS: Strength: Weakness
Strategy- Provide quality
service by staying true to the CSA vision, mission, and core values
Structure- The structure for CSA is simplistic that it can be managed by the owner and an Administrative Executive and service rendered by contractors
Resources- limited resources are needed for start up (capitol, facilities, computers, personnel
Leadership- CSA leadership has a proven track record within the combat sports community
Technology- CSA has very little knowledge of current technology application such as web design.
Intellectual Property- All applicable regulatory requirements for SCA need to be written.
Economic: Combat sports are currently the fastest growing sports in the U. S
Technology: The growth in technology allows faster communication via social media, smart phones to allow for real time communication
Innovation: By staying up to date on the changes/issues in the sports CSA will can stay of the leading edge of training officials and provide customers will the best service available
Competitive Analysis: There is tremendous growth in the sports. There are more promoters than established sanctioning bodies. Resulting in a stronger market share for a reputable sanctioning body
Legal/regulatory: Combat Sports legal/regulatory requirements vary from state to State
Social: Changes in social values of promoters (ethics/morals) and competitors ( banned substances) require constant supervision
Environmental: Exposure to blood borne pathogens by officials, competitors, and fans must be mitigated by ensuring testing and proper disposal of bio hazard materials
Opportunity: Threat:
The Combat Sports Association SWOT analysis provides key areas of focus for development of a strategic plan for operating a new sanctioning body for combat sports in Nevada. The external factors that will be looked at are legal and regulatory requirements in the combat sports industry and how CSA will apply these requirements to ensure customer compliance. CSA will look at the economical perspective in regards to the growth of combat sports in Nevada and the competitive analysis SCA will use to be a low-cost provider in a competitive market. These issues are classified as the external issues of CSA .
The internal factor that will indentify the strengths and weaknesses of CSA will be Leadership, structure, resources, and intellectual property. The leadership provided to CSA customers and sub-contractors is a differentiating value chain activity that sets CSA apart from competitors. CSA is structured as a flat organization to provide a simplistic communication with customers and contractor and eliminate costs to maximize profit. Few physical resources and overhead are needed to develop CSA in the combat sports industry. The most significant hurdle to overcome fro CSA is the development of intellectual property that will set CSA apart from the competition. These issues are classified as the internal issues of CSA.
The two largest hurdles for CSA are the legal and regulatory factors (external) and the intellectual property (internal). Legal and regulatory factors were identified as a threat based on governmental laws of the state of Nevada. The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) is the office of primary responsibility (OPR) that sets the regulatory guidance of combat sports in Nevada. This is accomplished through N.R.S 467 and N.A.C. 467 making compliance mandatory for all sanctioning bodies within Nevada 's jurisdiction. CSA must comply with these standards and stay attuned to any changes, adapt to any changes of the law. One example is the policy changes for Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) for combat sports athletes.
The intellectual property for the SCA must be written to comply with the regulatory requirements of the NSAC. SCA classified intellectual property as an internal issue and weakness. CSA intellectual property is the policies and procedures that the organization will operate from and the standards operating procedures that its customers/promoters/athletes will abide by. The intellectual property has for CSA has yet to be written. Until the CSA 's regulatory guidance is written CSA will be unable to operate within the state of Nevada.
The economic factor was classified as an external issue and indentified as strength for CSA.
Combat Sports in the U.S., particularly Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the fastest growing sport. With the interest in the sports growing more gyms that cater to the mixed martial artist are opening. Those athletes that wish to compete seek out organizations they wish to compete for. This results in more events being put on by promoters. There is more business minded people investing in becoming promoters. As this growth continues it means more opportunity and work for sanctioning bodies. The CSA can take advantage of this growth in the MMA by conducting a competitive analysis to determine its place in the market. The competitive analysis was classified as strength for CSA because it beat the competition in all but one category. This gives CSA a strong competitive position in the sanctioning body
market.
Competitive Analysis

CSA
Rival 1
Rival 2
Quality performance
10
8
7
Reputation/Image
10
7
6
Service Capabilities
10
8
7
Competence Capabilities
9
9
7
Financial Resources
8
9
8
Geographical Infrastructure
9
8
8
Un-weighted Strength Assessment
56
49
43

The leadership of CSA is classified as an internal factor and identified as strength. One of the key factors is the experience the leadership has in the combat sports industry and over 21 years of providing quality control for regulatory standards. CSA 's leadership has a proven track record within the industry for adherence to regulatory compliance and leading promoters to compliance rather than forcing them. The leadership is recognized as a subject matter expert within the state for matters concerning combat sports and is often recommended by NSAC to consult with new promoters prior to state licensing. The CSA leadership is a resident of the state of Nevada; where-as rival companies are out of state residents. This allows CSA leadership to frequently meet with NSAC on key issues and provide on-site supervision for customers/promoters event. All the experience and expertise has allowed the CSA leadership to develop a vision, mission, and core values that will allow SCA to achieve unprecedented success in a growing industry.
The Structure of SCA flat this allows for direct communication to all functional areas of the CSA.
This also is effective in cutting costs. By maintaining a flat structure CSA management speaks directly with customers and subcontractors on all matter to facilitate continuous improve to relationships and processes. For example; if a customer 's CFO needs a specific information on CSA officials travel itinerary they can call CSA management or the officials directly or if the customer 's administrative executive needs statistical data from previous event they can call CSA management directly. One of the benefits of a flat structure is that CSA provides customers with a hands-on approach to dealing with the customer 's needs. This creates a friendly and trusting environment. Another benefit to a flat structure is that it alleviates the high costs of multiple management and employees costs. With a flat structure that outsources key positions to subcontractors CSA can focus directly on maximizing profits. Customers/promoter will pay the subcontractors directly and only pay CSA the event representative fee and the standard sanctioning fee for services rendered.
The resources factors was classified as an internal strength because there are very little resources and overhead needed to start up a sanctioning body. Essentially the initial resources needed are a computer, home office, and standard office supply. Very little capitol is needed to start this business. Some additional
costs will be a business license, incorporation fees, legal fees to ensure contracts with customers are properly written to reduce CSA liabilities.
CSA has established relationships with the best subcontractor/officials (Referees, judges, timekeepers, scorekeepers, inspectors, and physicians) in the combat sports industry. These relationships will help CSA move forward to become the premiere sanctioning body in Nevada. By using qualified and training officials CSA will create a culture of safe and fair competition for its customers that will attract the best competitors. This will result in a larger fan base for the promoters thus generating higher ticket sales and increased revenue.
The comprehensive SWOT analysis conducted by CSA has achieved compound result that provides CSA with multiple areas of focus. It identified the internal strength and weaknesses of the organization. The opportunity and threat identified external factor that need to be focused on. The competitive analysis provided a current snapshot of how CSA currently ranks within the industry. The SWOT analysis also shows CSA where it can make improvements. The overall assessment for CSA is that it can gain a considerable market share of the combat sports industry within Nevada considering the growth of combat sports.

References
Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Thompson, A. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland, A. J. (2006). Strategy: Winning in the marketplace: Core concepts, analytical tools, cases (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill