ABSTRACT
While the sport environment is diverse and involves many seemingly non-competitive aspects, from an organizational perspective the fact remains that sport organizations compete with each other for access to valuable tangible and intangible resources to meet the needs and gain the loyalty of customers, members, and clientele. Competition is indeed at the core of sport management, and this opening chapter explains how sport organizations undertake the process of strategic management in order to compete effectively. Beginning with an opening case on Under Armour, the chapter articulates the meaning of strategic management and places it in the sport context. An outline of the book is then offered, which in itself is an explication of the process of strategic management.
