Strategic Paradigms in International and National Sport Federations

This chapter examines the dominant strategic paradigms, or analytic lenses, that have shaped and will continue to shape the management of strategy in national and international sport federations. A brief review of the more seminal literature reveals that the overriding strategic influence on sport federations to date has been the management of strategic change in response to pressures for professionalisation. A discussion of current trends and issues suggests that managing pressures for change will continue to dominate the thinking of those formulating and executing strategy in sport federations. The discussion is organised around strategy and notions of good governance, stakeholder engagement, brand governance, and new stakeholders with emerging issues for sport federations. A closing discussion explores the strategic implications of the foregoing issues for sport federations in an era characterised by the global pandemic, with recommendations for future research.