Semester 1 Exam

Course: Strategic Management

(First Year, Introductory Level Programme)

Location: Paradise, East End of Glasgow                                                                 Date: 14^th October, 2011

Duration: The exam will start at 11.00.  Please take as long as you need to answer all questions in the level of detail required.  Many of us are taking a day off work to be there, so we will not be in a hurry to leave.

Case Study Format

The exam is in case study format.  Please answer ALL questions.  Waffle and condescending answers will not be accepted.  Your assessors are all people who are very passionate about the brand.  Indeed, they are faithful through and through. As a consequence, patronising answers will be awarded a mark of zero.  A mark of 80% or more is required to allow you to continue in your present position.  All Board Members are required to submit separate answer sheets.

You are the Board of Directors of a well-known and much loved football club.  Despite having a potential global fan base of 10m people (at least according to your own PR spin), the Club appears to be in a ‘vicious circle’ of decline.  Revenue has fallen dramatically from over £70m a few years ago to an estimated £50m currently.  Your fiercest rivals have a ten point lead in the title race, despite being on the verge of bankruptcy.  Season ticket sales are falling rapidly. Recent attempts to enter the European market have ended prematurely and in abject failure.  Despite having the most faithful fans in world football, the Club appears to be in terminal decline!!!!

Utilising the power of social media, some fans have already started discussing an alternative ‘Revival Plan’ http://www.celticunderground.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=773:the-celtic-revival-plan&catid=47:season-2011-2012&Itemid=83 .  A key element of this plan is the removal of the current CEO and most of the Board.  A previous fan led ‘Sack the Board’ campaign had been very successful in achieving its objectives.  Please note: this had taken place in pre-social media years.  Today, social media represents fan empowerment on steroids.

To retain your highly privileged position, and to avoid a fan takeover, you are required to answer the following questions.  A mark of 80% or more is required.

Question 1: Vision

What is your overall strategic vision for the Club we love?  Do you even have one?  Where will OUR Club be in 3 to 5 years?  Do you even care?

Note: All successful businesses have a clear and unambiguous ‘Mission Statement’.  This provides a clear sense of direction and a rallying call for all stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders etc).  Without a clear ‘Mission Statement’ we are on ‘The Road to Nowhere’; a ‘road to God knows where’!  Even worse, we could be on ‘The Road to Hell’.  A ‘Mission Statement’ will ensure that we are all ‘on the one road’!

If you cannot answer this question, the rest of the exam becomes redundant.  Please hand in your paper now.  You will be awarded a mark of zero and asked to move on.

Question 2: Strategy

Assuming that you have a clear vision of where we are going, what is your roadmap (strategic plan) for ‘getting there’?

Note:  Your answer to this question should cover all aspects of the Club’s operations – football and non-football.

Question 3: Internationalisation

Your PR/Marketing Department is well known for stating that the Club has a potential global fan base of 10m.  We seem to remember an International Business Development Manager being appointed a year or so ago.  Please provide a detailed summary of the Club’s International Market Entry and Development Strategy. If you are not sure what this is, there are many excellent textbooks in this area J

Question 4: New Media

It is now widely accepted that we live in an era where customers have the power and that traditional sales and marketing strategies of shouting AT people no longer work.  What plans are in place for building two way dialogue, conversation and engagement with fans?

Note: Your answer to this question should place considerable emphasis on the Club’s plans for fully leveraging the power of new media for building fan engagement.  An explanation is also required for the following: despite taking their first steps into social media as recently as July of this year, why are our fiercest rivals now streets ahead of your own ‘official’ social media presence?  Why are you not engaging with the already very well established and innovative online communities set up by your own, most passionate fans?

Question 5: Ownership and Finance

Given that the existing ownership and financial structure of the Club is not working, what plans are in place to broaden the ownership base and raise new capital?  You are well known for talking about our Club as a ‘family’.  What plans are in place to make it a community owned and controlled Club?

END OF EXAM

Please return your paper to @theticdoc. It will be ‘crowdsourced’ marked by the Online Celtic Community.