The Australian Cricket Board (ACB): mapping corporate relations

Academic research in the area of sports marketing has concentrated on bi‐lateral relationships, such as that linking a sponsor with the recipient of support, or that between the audience and a particular sport. Yet the industry, made of many relationships, involves probably more than the mere sum of all these bi‐lateral links. This paper first relates the principles of relationship marketing to the sports industry and presents a graphical representation of its multiple players and the relationships that bind them. Then, based on qualitative information obtained from the Australian Cricket Board, it illustrates how this industry map can be used by any player in the industry in order to identify and prioritise those relationship links in order to develop successful marketing strategies. It is suggested that industry mapping linked with the relationship marketing focus, can be the anchor for quality service improvements in the sports industry.