I Foro Internacional del Deporte Valencia 2011 03 y 04 de noviembre www.fidvalencia.com

1. Corporate Social Responsibility in
European Football
Dr Geoff Walters
Birkbeck, University of London

2. Corporate Social Responsibility
• During the p
g past 25 y
5 years, events have increased
,
the importance of and concern about corporate
responsibility:
▫ I
Increasing awareness of social and
i f i l d
environmental challenges
▫ Corporate scandals of the 1990’s and 2000 s
1990 s 2000’s
▫ The rise of the multi-national corporation
▫ Global financial crisis

4. Corporate Social Responsibility
p p y
• Definition issues
• CSR has no single, agreed-upon definition but has broad
meaning and scope
• No universal definition or theory of CSR can adequately
capture the range of issues that CSR can cover
• CSR will mean different things to different stakeholders
• CSR is understood broadly as organizational behaviour
that aims to affect stakeholders positively and that g
p y goes
beyond the organization’s economic interest

5. Corporate Social Responsibility
• An understanding of CSR may differ
significantly between organizations of
different size
• Most research still adopts a large firm focus – a
lack of focus on SMEs
• 23 million SMEs in Europe, accounting for 99
per cent of all enterprises
• The EU has recognised this issue

6. Corporate Social Responsibility
• The rationalization of CSR
• CSR historically seen as a charitable or
philanthropic activity
• More recently it has evolved into a strategic tool
• It is belie ed that CSR can ha e economic
believed have
benefits for organizations

7. Managerial Challenges
• Communication
• Implementation
• Stakeholder engagement
• Measurement
• Business case
B i

8. CSR and European Football
• Football is potentially a way to address issues such as:
p y y
- health
- education
- crime reduction
- community cohesion
- social capital
• CS i i i i
CSR initiatives by football organisations may h
b f b ll i i have a
greater impact than commercial organisations
• CSR initiatives are becoming more p
g prominent
throughout football

9. http://www.fundacionleomessi.org/nuestras-acciones.php?id=254

12. http://www.uefa.com/news/newsid=727768.html

13. CSR in European Football
• Survey sent to 730 clubs
from all 53 top leagues in
Europe
• Measured what it is that
clubs are d i
l b doing
• http://www.sportbusinessce
ntre.com/research/research
ntre com/research/research
papers/UEFA%20Report

14. Club Respondents
Turnover Per cent of clubs
More than €50m 22.6
€5m - €50m 29
€1m - €5m 19.4
€200,000
€200 000 - €1m 22.6
22 6
Under €200,000
, 6.5

15. Community Initiatives

16. Employee Initiatives
p y

17. Environmental Initiatives

18. Factors that influence CSR

19. Institutional support for CSR

20. Implementation C
p Challenges
g

21. Key Findings
• A large majority of the football clubs are involved in
a variety of CSR initiatives – particularly around the
community and employees
it d l
• There are differences between large clubs and small
clubs in relation to the types of CSR activity that
they implement
• There are many clubs for which CSR has not been
formalized within the organizational structure –the the
extent of formalization impacts on implementation
• Resource constraints, making connections with the
, g
community, and securing funding are the three most
significant challenges to CSR implementation

22. Gracias por escuchar