Manchester United Case Study
What in detail are the core competencies of Manchester United football club?
We can say that Manchester‘s « core » core competencies are first of all, their capability to play good football associated with their capability to manage successfully their brand name (“Branding”).
Play good football
Any football team that pretends to be one of the best in the world has to play good football and have good players in order to be attractive and credible to its public. One of Manchester United’s strength is that they own the best players in the world. One of Manchester United strategy is to buy the best players.
Branding
Manchester United has created a strong brand name associated with performance and rich tradition. It is really easy to recognize the club thanks to its colours (red and white) and its logo. Thus, the team can use its brand name in order to sell one core product “football” through several products (jerseys, credit cards and so on).
Moreover, there is also one more competency which is not a “core” core competency that cannot be disregarded:
Merchandising
Apart from being a good soccer team, Manchester is also a powerful commercial organization that differentiates themselves from other famous football clubs and provides them a competitive advantage. For instance, if we compare Manchester United to the famous Spanish football club “El Real de Madrid”, we can notice that both have the same core “core competencies” that is why they compete each other. However, the difference is made by Manchester Unitied’s capability to generate alternative cash flow thanks to the sale of merchandises which are very diverse.
Finally, Manchester United’s core competencies are the consequences of key resources used together in order to create value for the organization. Thus, resources such as Star players and other activities that create cash flows (MUTV, Stadium/fans and so on) are very important to retain Manchester United’s core competencies.
We can say that Manchester‘s « core » core competencies are first of all, their capability to play good football associated with their capability to manage successfully their brand name (“Branding”).
Play good football
Any football team that pretends to be one of the best in the world has to play good football and have good players in order to be attractive and credible to its public. One of Manchester United’s strength is that they own the best players in the world. One of Manchester United strategy is to buy the best players.
Branding
Manchester United has created a strong brand name associated with performance and rich tradition. It is really easy to recognize the club thanks to its colours (red and white) and its logo. Thus, the team can use its brand name in order to sell one core product “football” through several products (jerseys, credit cards and so on).
Moreover, there is also one more competency which is not a “core” core competency that cannot be disregarded:
Merchandising
Apart from being a good soccer team, Manchester is also a powerful commercial organization that differentiates themselves from other famous football clubs and provides them a competitive advantage. For instance, if we compare Manchester United to the famous Spanish football club “El Real de Madrid”, we can notice that both have the same core “core competencies” that is why they compete each other. However, the difference is made by Manchester Unitied’s capability to generate alternative cash flow thanks to the sale of merchandises which are very diverse.
Finally, Manchester United’s core competencies are the consequences of key resources used together in order to create value for the organization. Thus, resources such as Star players and other activities that create cash flows (MUTV, Stadium/fans and so on) are very important to retain Manchester United’s core competencies.