Juventus: Challenges And Problems - A Case Study Essay.

Introduction to the Case Study

This particular case study evaluates the information regarding the challenges, issues and problems of one of the leading football clubs in Italy. It has been identified that the club was established by high school students in Turin in the year 1897. Several domestic victories have been achieved by the organisation in the first three decades after its establishment (Limba, Rijoly and Tarangi, 2020). Juventus has achieved star, which is being provided to the clubs that have won ten international tournaments. Juventus is the first Italian club to achieve the star between the years 1957 to 1961. The achievement of ten national titles has allowed the club to become the first club of Italy that has obtained a “star”. Moreover, strong and better players have become part of the team between the years 1971 and 1989. It has also won intentional leagues during that time (PRADHAN, BOYUKASLAN and Fatih, 2017). The inclusion of Cristiano Ronaldo and other several players in the year 2018 has affected the financial condition of the club.

Problem Statement

Different issues have been faced by the organisation concerning several aspects, such as the maintenance of performance, losses due to COVID-19, reduced revenue and others. Moreover, the involvement of the club in Calciopoli has forced relegation to Serie B. It has also affected the revocation of the title that the club has achieved in the year 2004/05 and 2005/06.  The club was unable to increase its profits and revenues after its expenditure on different players (Limba and Sapulette, 2021). It has drastically affected the profitability of the club. The lack of adoption of technology by the organisation is determined as another challenge for the company. It has affected the international fan base of the club due to the lack of promotion through the use of technology and digital platforms.

Research Aims and Objectives

This particular research is aimed to create a critical evaluation of the challenges and problems of Juventus, which has affected the revenues of the firm.

The objectives are

• Identify the challenges faced by Juventus due to its increased expenditure
• Evaluating the issues related to the club due to its competition with well-known clubs
• Analysing the challenges faced by Juventus due to the outbreak of COVID-19
• Recommending a few strategies to the firm for its increased growth with the adoption of technology

Structure of the Report

It has been identified that the first chapter of this report will fundamentally evaluate the aim and objectives of this paper. The problem related to the club and its operations will also be evaluated in this particular report. Furthermore, the case study will also be presented here shortly. The second part of this report will evaluate the proposed plan of the firm and relevant literature papers about the challenges of Juventus. The current position of the firm will be discussed in the fifth part. Recommendations and the scope of conducting research in the future will be presented in the last chapter of the report.

Description of the Situation

Chapter 2: Case Brief

It has been identified from the case study that Juventus was founded by a group of high school students in Italy. It has become one of the largest clubs due to its achievements. After the year 1950, Juventus has achieved 2 champions leagues, which has increased the fan base of the firm (Gazzola and Amelio, 2016). The club has signed one of the world’s top football players, Cristiano Ronaldo, with an amount of 117 million euros. Furthermore, the expenditure of 301.3 million euros by the club on its technical staff and an expenditure of 304 million euros on the other players has drastically affected the revenues of the firm. It has also affected the ability of the club to meet the financial requirement of UEFA in 2017/18 (Jensen, Limbu and Spong, 2015). It has affected the revenues of the firm due to the reduced number of international fans. Furthermore, the fan base of the firm was lower than other firms, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and others.

Another issue that the firm was facing is determined as the reduced usage of digital transformation, which has affected the ability of the firm to increase its international fan base. The lack of digital transformation has affected the revenues of the club, which is determined as a barrier to increased revenue (Grabowski, 2021). It has affected the ticket selling by the club, along with the sponsorship. On the other hand, the outbreak of COVID-19 has drastically affected the club, as the grounds were closed and sports events were called off due to lockdown. The pandemic has stopped all the tournaments, and the lack of appropriate digital transformation has drastically affected the revenue of the club.

Problem Statement, Plan of Analysis

Juventus has faced several challenges in the international domain, which has drastically affected the revenue. The lack of digital transformation has reduced the international customer of the firm, as compared to other large clubs of different countries (Montagna, Della Puppa and Kofman, 2021). The involvement of the club in “Calciopoli”, which is an investigation, has introduced relegation to Serie B. It has also resulted in the revocation of the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 titles. It has also affected the revenues of the firm in the global arena, which has increased the expenditure of the firm on its players.

Statement of the Problem in the Case

The lack of digital transformation is determined as one of the effective aspects that have increased challenges for the club. Increased expenditure of the club on players and promotion has affected the revenues (Delice and Gerçek, 2018). The lack of digital transformation has increased the expenditure on marketing by the club in the international domain. It has primarily affected the ability of the club to meet the requirements of financial fair play of UEFA. Furthermore, the club was unable to increase its international fan base due to the lack of digital platforms for the promotion.

Proposed Plan of Analysis

Chapter 3

The identification of the challenges faced by Juventus has allowed in understanding the reason behind these issues. The analysis will help in developing new strategies to manage the issues and increase the profitability of the firm (Sawan et al., 2020). The identification of the issues of the firm related to digital transformation has helped in adopting new strategies to increase the international fan base and revenue. Moreover, the lack of digital technologies has affected the customers of the club, as the lockdown has increased challenges for Juventus. The adoption and implementation of digital strategies are allowing the club to gain advantages from the international domain by improving its fan base.

Relevant Literature Review

The challenges of football clubs have increased after the outbreak of COVID-19, which has increased financial issues for different clubs like Juventus. As per the perception of Bo?oc, Mihancea and Molcu? (2019), the growth of Juventus and other football clubs have increased after the outbreak of COVID-19. The outbreak of COVID-19 has drastically affected economic growth by affecting investors. The bookings made by the audiences for the tickets have stopped after the pandemic, as it has drastically affected the gatherings. The stadiums were closed after the outbreak of COVID-19, which has drastically increased the challenges of companies concerning financial growth. The events were also stopped for a limited time, which has forced the authorities to stop the events. As mentioned by Elliott (2021), the lack of appropriate infrastructure to conduct the events has affected the performance of players and the financial growth of clubs. The structural challenges for the clubs have also increased after the outbreak of COVID-19, as it has drastically affected the players from other countries. The financial performance of these clubs has got affected by the lack of appropriate strategies. On the other hand, different players of clubs have got infected by COVID-19, which has forced several authorities to stop the leagues. According to the study of Jakubowska, Antonowicz and Kossakowski (2020), handling the players during the pandemic was another issue faced by clubs, as it has affected the players. In addition, the coaches and support staffs were unable to motivate the players virtually, which has affected their motivation, along with performance. The lack of appropriate strategies to manage the investors was another issue for the clubs, as the pandemic has affected all the firms operating in the international domain.

Effect of Technological Disadvantages on Football Clubs

The football clubs in the international domain are focused on increasing their international fan base, which is able to improve the customer base in the global arena. Several clubs have faced different issues in the international domain due to the lack of appropriate digital platforms. As stated by Izzo, Ciaburri and Tiscini (2020), technology is able to improve the growth and profitability of football clubs. The lack of technology is increasing challenges for the football clubs regarding their international customer base. The promotional methods of the leading clubs, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City, Juventus and others, are increasing the expenditure due to the lack of digital methods. Wagner, Storm and Cortsen (2021) also mentioned that the digital platforms and strategies are helping football clubs to increase their growth by influencing international fans. The lack of appropriate methods and implementation is increasing challenges for these clubs. The adoption of these methods is enabling in improving the customer base, along with profitability. On the other hand, the expenditure of football clubs in signing new players is increasing challenges concerning the revenue. As per the perception of Szymanski (2015), the interaction between the fan base and the clubs are increasing with the implementation of digital methods. On the contrary, the digital transformation is also enabling these firms to improve their promotional methods, which are able to increase customer base. The adoption of digital transformation is helping firms to improve their profitability by reducing the cost of promotion. Digital transformation has also allowed different firms to manage their overall productivity and performance regarding the engagement of fans from the global arena. It has helped the clubs to provide different updates about the players, which is essential to improve the revenue.

Current Position of the Club

The Impact of the Lack of Digital Transformation on Juventus

The outbreak of COVID-19 has affected several tournaments, such as Serie A, UEFA Champions League and others, which has increased challenges for Juventus. The new trainer Andrea Pirlo has achieved improved results in December 2020 (Previati, 2020). The club has scored three goals against Barcelona FC and become the first Italian club to achieve this milestone. The president of the club, Andrea Angeli, is able to make investments to increase the strength of the team. One of the largest investments that have been made by the club is determined as the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo. Moreover, the president has taken several decisions, such as the development of a highly interactive engagement for supporters in the international domain with the help of digital transformation. It has also increased the international fans of the club due to the implementation of digital transformation and increased interaction with the supporters. The president of the club has also decided in its 2019 stakeholder meeting that it will compete with the European competitors to improve its position, along with its advantages (Bond, Widdop and Parnell, 2020). From the year 1990to 2004, Juventus has achieved several championships, which has helped in increasing the revenues of the firm. The lack of digital transformation by the club has affected its opportunities to increase the supporter base in the international arena. The club has won the UEFA champions league and the international cup between those years.

It has been identified in the shareholder meeting in 2018 that Juventus has achieved seven Scudetto titles in a consistent manner, along with four Italian super cups, 4 Coppa Italia trophies, two champions league, and the Scudetto for the women’s team of the club. In the season of 2018/19 and 2019/20, the club has again achieved the Scudetto title in both years (Stöckl et al., 2021). Juventus is the first Italian club that has achieved 4 Coppa Italia and 9 Scudetto titles consistently. In the decade 2020, Juventus has played two final matches of the UEFA Champions League. The top professional football league in Italy is Serie A, which has been won by Juventus nine times on a regular basis. The revenue earned by Serie A is determined as the fifth largest tournament in the international domain. The revenues of Juventus and Serie A has increased due to the adoption of promotional methods, such as match sponsorship, TV broadcasting, streaming and others. On the other hand, the winning of Serie A and the UEFA Champions League has allowed Juventus to increase its revenue (Grabowski, 2021). The international supporters have al increased for the firm. In the year 2018, the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus for a fee of 117 million euros has allowed the club to achieve a new goal. The transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo has allowed the club to win the Champions League. The transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus was one of the largest transfers of football in that year in global football. It has increased the supporter base of the club in the international arena.

Generating Solutions to the Problem

The Impact of Calciopoli on Juventus

The digital transformation for the club for engagement, interaction and promotion could be one of the effective aspects for the club to increase its growth and supporter base in the international arena. Increased interaction with the customers will be another effective strategy for the club to increase its fan base (Safari Langroudi, 2019). The engagement of fans is another aspect that could be increased by the club after its digital transformation. The engagement of supporters from the international domain will help the firm in increasing its revenues from the international domain. The growth of the firm will increase after its increased communication and interaction with the fans by using digital methods.

Increasing the use of Digital Operations to Engage and Interact with Supporters

The outbreak of COVID-19 has fundamentally increased the usage of digital methods by football clubs in the international domain. The use of digital platforms is allowing these firms to increase their interaction with customers to engage them (Jie, 2019). It is recommended to Juventus that it need to increase its interaction with the supporters to engage them. The increased interaction between the club and fans will help in increasing the international supporters of Juventus. It will help the club to increase its revenue with a large fan base. The club will be able to increase its supporters in the international domain by sponsoring different events and clubs, which will help in gaining an increased fan base.

Focus on Digital Promotion to increase the Global Fan Base

The promotions of clubs, along with their events, achievements are enabling football clubs to improve the promotion. The use of digital platforms by football clubs for promotion is also able to reduce the cost of marketing (Brannagan et al., 2022). The use of digital platforms by football clubs are enabling increasing revenues in the global arena. Thus, it is recommended to Juventus that it need to increase its usage of digital platforms for promotion. It will help the club to increase its international supporter base, which will help the club in gaining more reviews.

Limitations of the Study

The challenges faced by Juventus has been presented in the report. The challenges faced by Juventus due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the transformation of different players at a large cost has been presented here. It has not presented the challenges faced by other football clubs of Italy. The comparison of Juventus with the other large clubs of different countries has been presented here. The challenges of other Italian clubs have not been presented here, which is determined as the limitation of the report.

Scope for Future Research

The Impact of COVID-19 on Juventus

In the future, there will be a scope of conducting research by collecting data about different clubs in Italy. The comparison between the challenges of different Italian football clubs could be collected for analysis in the future. Furthermore, there will be a scope of conducting research on the challenges faced by the largest clubs of different countries.  

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