ManagementBusiness studies - Applying business and management principles to advance sport for development organisations and outcomes

The focus of this chapter is on examining how sport for development (SFD) research and practice have been shaped over time by various principles of business and management. SFD organisations and practitioners often operate in resource-constrained environments. Research is increasingly being conducted to better understand how SFD can be managed in sustainable ways, emphasising considerations such as organisational capacity building, interorganisational relationship management, organisational design (or hybridity), leadership, and monitoring and evaluation. As organisations strive to build sustainable business models, they are engaging in increasingly professionalised practices, which can result in complex SFD managerial contexts. This places pressure on SFD practitioners, as they are required to possess skills in both sport and development areas of programming, as well as expertise in management, business, and leadership. Thus, management principles are being drawn on to advance the field, bringing many positives but also presenting a range of challenges for SFD organisations and practitioners, which are explored in this chapter.