Multi-level governance in an international strategic alliance: The Plight of the Phoenix and the Asian football market.

Geoff Dickson , Sean Phelps; Dan Waugh

AUT University

2010

Geoff Dickson: geoff.dickson@aut.ac.nz

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the circumstances preventing the Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand’s only professional football team, from participating in the Asian Champion’s League. A single case study approach has been adopted to generate rich data designed to aid understanding of the complexities of multi-level governance, feature of international football governance. The key conclusions of this research are that the Phoenix is attracted to the Asian football market because of the financial rewards but are prevented in doing so because of policies related to Federation Internationale de Football Association’s confederation structures. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more academics to investigate: the extent to which football’s governance structures act as either a facilitating or constraining factor to the growth of football in the region; the possible convergence between Asian and Pacific sporting economies; how other Asian sporting organisations are reacting to increasing interest from non-Asian organisations in accessing their marketplaces; and the performance of a network and its members when subjected to multiple levels of governance. The originality of this paper lies in its proposition that conflict within an international strategic alliance is likely to be exacerbated when the alliance is characterised by multiple levels of governance. Further originality is offered through the introduction of the term covalent organisation, to describe those sport organisations that are subjected to multiple levels of governance

Keywords:

Strategic alliances; Governance;

Dickson, G., Phelps, S., & Waugh, D. (2010). Multi-level governance in an international strategic alliance: The Plight of the Phoenix and the Asian football market. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 22(1), 111-124.

Case study

Auckland

High performance, Sport

Capability, Governance, Management

Football (soccer)

1256

June 18, 2012