ABSTRACT

The first modern Olympic Games (OG) in 1896 (Athens) made international rules indispensable and the growing success of the Games made major sport events more and more attractive. Hence, the historical function of ISFs can be compared to that of a government (Hoehn, 2006): they exert a legislative role by establishing rules, a judicial role by monitoring and enforcing these rules and an executive role by organizing major sport events such as World Championships. Since their creation, ISFs have undergone important structural and functional evolutions, from being volunteer-run associations to employing up to 450 or more staff members at their headquarters (i.e. FIFA, UEFA). In literature, these evolutions are often categorized as organizational change. On one hand, they stem from internal needs for rationalization and efficiency (Chantelat, 2001; Dowling, Edwards & Washington, 2014) such as the hiring of paid managers, whose specialized background and expertise entails internal formalization and standardization procedures. On the other hand, they are the result of an adaption to external changes. ISFs had to adapt to an increasingly complex and competitive environment, including growing numbers of interest groups with varying and sometimes diverging expectations. In response to these pressures, ISFs adopt and invent different solutions. Looking at ISFs’ events is one possible approach to investigating strategic resource acquisition patterns. This chapter reveals that observed patterns are either historically funded or emerge/have emerged as the result of changing environmental circumstances and organizations’ internal response strategies to it.