ABSTRACT
Beginning with an opening case centered on the Mercedes Formula 1 motor racing team, this chapter explores internal organizational analysis – a logical first step in the strategic planning process. Internal analysis constitutes the first half of an organization’s Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis and is a critical analysis of the organization’s internal characteristics, especially its resources. By the term resources we include all the organization’s tangible and intangible assets, capabilities, processes, attributes, knowledge, information, and so forth that it controls to help develop and build organizational capacity. Whether a resource is considered a strength or a weakness must be determined in relation to the organization’s objectives. But organizational capacity is an area where weaknesses are often identified. The chapter then explores resources to gain and sustain competitive advantage. Combining the Valuable, Rare, and Imperfectly imitable resource attributes with the organization being Organized to capture value results is termed the VRIO analysis of the internal environment. Each organization will have a unique set of critical resources. However, sport organizations also have particularities to consider that are not found in other industries. Nevertheless, leadership, diversity, and culture will form part of the sport organization’s internal analysis and, ideally, should constitute part of its strengths.
