ENTERPRISE54 – The opening day of the English Premier League season started on a somewhat average note for fans across the world. However, the most entertaining and glamorous league in the world keeps evolving each year with conceptual brilliance and an absolute appreciation for the future in today’s world. The tagline in a TV commercial for Toyota in the early 2000s simply captures the forward thinking in this global franchise: Good Thinking. Good Product! That’s just the essence that should never be substituted on the altar of absurdity and mediocrity, if at all an idea will stand the test of time.

The English Premier League, which was birthed in 1992, can aptly be described as an enterprise. Like many institutions in domestic markets with tremendous global impact, the Barclays’ title-sponsored league has the properties that make this venture the ideal enterprise for a buy-in in sporting as well as in business terms. As a customer – of course, a fan, rights sponsor, investor, media partner, travel agency, and more – you can never get enough of the ingenuity the English Premier League offers. Some aspects of the luminosity of this football franchise have been highlighted as significant to the ever growing success of the EPL.

Competition is a Healthy Bait

The ability to evolve and adapt per time far outweighs the need to simply have a product or service to offer the world. Recent data suggests how competition from the Bundesliga as well as the La Liga, are making strong gains on the English Premier League.

Deloitte’s Annual Review of Football Finance 2014 shows growth in revenue for these top three leagues in the 2012/2013 season with the EPL in the lead at a value of €2.9 billion while the German and Spanish leagues are not far behind with €2.0 billion and €1.9 billion respectively.

The BIG 5 leagues and their respective clubs have signed (and keep signing) innovative and commercial-driven partnerships with countless companies and media bodies. Two prime objectives for such innovative deals include: increased global awareness of league/club; and increased financial base. An innovative drive associated with the English Premier League which readily comes to mind is BT Sports’ value-added offering to subscribers of their decoder.

A subscriber enjoys the benefit of free broadband internet on subscribing for the product while enjoying sports content. Their subscriber base of the pay-TV platform grew from 2 million October 2013 with an additional 500,000 by January 2014 taking it to 2.5 million. The premier league earned over £500 million from a 3-year deal with BT Sport in financial return. In all to keep the customers (the final consumer, being fans) satisfied.

Entrepreneurs must evolve their business offerings with novelty. With creativity and innovation, success and growth can be guaranteed.

Decisions…and NOT Luck!

Simple as said, isn’t it? But we do know that it’s not! Two games from the weekend’s opener demonstrate that there’s a thin line between getting it right and making the wrong call which can tilt the game perhaps, unfairly. The centre referee (Chris Foy) in the London derby between West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur demonstrated how a fine knowledge of football league rules can help with the right decision on the field.

Then, there was the ‘dubious’ penalty call by the centre referee in the encounter between West Bromwich and Sunderland. That was not as dubious as the official’s ‘questionable’ refusal to allow a goal to stand that had clearly crossed the line and by the goal-line system, was truly a goal! This display is a pointer as to how the right or wrong decision premised on informed (or deformed) knowledge makes or mars a business start-up.

Media does the Deal

If you’re a lover of all things good and enterprising, then you should visit the website of the English Premier League. Creative, engaging, interactive, colourful, and very illustrative. You can’t miss the spice. It’s one of several platforms the premier league has adopted to project itself across the globe. And they keep getting better by the season as they value high-interactive relationship with fans and clients.

As an entrepreneur, you just have to be social! The world is a global village reduced to a small community by the social media.

Enterprises need to establish a seamless existence within this media. It isn’t all about the electronic media or print anymore; taking advantage of the numerous online platforms which offer unique products and serve different purposes for users around the world, is a priceless advantage.

Enterprises can shape the world around them through these media…and its cheap! So while being social, ventures can stay local but have a global effect in doing business.

 

Editor’s Note: This post was contributed by Tonte and Telema Davies

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