Floorball's Penetration of Australia: Rethinking the Nexus of Globalisation and Marketing

It is frequently argued that globalisation provides new opportunities and new challenges for marketers and managers. Although this contention has generated a substantial amount of research in general business, its implications have not been much explored in terms of sport management. Instead, sport globalisation has been discussed primarily in terms of its sociological implications, particularly with reference to Americanisation. That work has not considered the managerial and marketing implications of sport globalisation. This study begins that effort by examining the penetration of floorball (a Swedish sport) into Australia. Participant observation, document analysis and interviews over the course of three years are used to probe the vectors by which floorball has been introduced into Australia. Two key vectors are identified: the sales aspirations of equipment manufacturers, and cultural contact between residents and international visitors. It is shown that both have played a significant role, but they have not been coordinated. It is argued that these two vectors can be more generally applied to create new national markets for sports, particularly if the vectors are intentionally coordinated.