Details

Case

Champion's League & Beyond: Forward Sports, NPD & Footballs (Revised:27 Feb 2013)

Kamran Ali Chatha

INDUSTRY : Sports

AREA : Production & Operation Management

ORGANIZATION : Pakistan

LENGTH : 33

LUMS No : 03-845-2011-1

PUBLICATION YEAR : 2011

KEYWORDS:

Champion's League,Forward Sports,NPD,Footballs,Football Manufacturing Industry,Pakistan,Technology,Production Process,Exports

DESCRIPTION:

The case provides a context in which the football manufacturing industry (one of the major cottage industries) in Pakistan went through changes under various internal and external forces. The case also explicates an example organization, Forward Sports, which under the same conditions flourished owing to its technology adoption and development strategy that resulted in producing the state of the art thermal bonded footballs. The case provides an opportunity to understand factors that contributed to the success of Forward Sports. The case also provides an opportunity to discuss how an organization which was originally driven by craftsmen, changed to a technology-based firm in the wake of changing market requirements. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1) Comparison of craft-leadership with technology-leadership. 2) The need and benefits of process technology leadership. 3) To understand challenges faced in developing and implementing (process) technology in emerging markets. 4) Managing firms through disruptive industrial change. 5) To envisage the role that can be played by international brands in technology development and the factors that influence their decision. 6) To understand factors that contributed to the decline of football industry in Pakistan.

SUBJECTS COVERED:

Production, Operations Management