The Fosby Flop can teach business to soar

Purpose – Asks why performance improvement is debated so much more in sport than in business, and whether business has anything to learn from sport techniques. Design/methodology/approach – Looks at different performance levels and why it is beneficial to utilise modern techniques. Findings – Finds that a major reason the performance of the average UK firm lags behind that of the average business in the US, France and Germany is that UK senior managers are often failing to use modern management practices. Practical implications – Points out that France, Germany and the USA have had business schools since the turn of the twentieth century, but it was not until the mid‐1960s that they came to the UK. But there is now a national network of management scientists, far more numerous than sport scientists. The resource is there, but businesses need to learn how to use it. Originality/value – Argues that if sport scientists can help athletes, business schools and industry need to work more closely together to get the same benefits for firms.