Real Madrid strategic alliances: how the soccer reinvents itself

https://rosapanadero.wordpress.com/2015/06/03/real-madrid-strategic-alliances-how-the-soccer-reinvents-itself/

The target of an alliance is to learn. For a mutual gain, is important that partners´ strategic goals converge while competitive goals diverge (harmony is not success). Normally, partners’ market powers are modest within their industries and have limited access to proprietary skills because cooperation has limits.

During the last two decades, we have seen how European football clubs signed agreements to get foreign sponsors for their teams, name their stadiums and pay for their new stars. Real Madrid has followed this trend and signed agreements with companies and institutions from the United Arab Emirates: National Bank of Abu Dhabi is offering the “Real Madrid card” to its customers ant Etihad airlines flies directly to Madrid since last autumn.

Now is time to innovate and to get the club out of its borders, but that does not mean another Asian or American tour during summer, but to cash on its heritage, something that Real Madrid fans around the world will thrive about when they know that Real Madrid hall of fame may be visiting their town. The agreement signed between Real Madrid Club de Fútbol and IPIC, International Petrol Investment Company in October 2014, served as a recent example of a long term strategic partnership, between the European sport entity and the Arab investor, whose motto is “Empowering our future” to raise awareness of the benefits of the sport. Both enterprises share the same strategic goal: to convert Real Madrid stadium into the best sporting venue in the world. The agreement globalizes Real Madrid’s assets: its Museum of trophies and its 350 schools of soccer. “Real Madrid Museum, Empowered by IPIC” will showcase its heritage in international exhibits around the world and its “Real Madrid School of Football, Empowered by IPIC” network will spread its footballing lessons to 70 countries to 50,000 children.

To confer more flexibility to the partnership, the ambiguity reins on the agreement banning the parties to release details about the contract and without specifying the scope of the soccer schools. The agreement vaguely specified that they will develop together unique digital media content.

Real Madrid seeks a partnership to invest in the new stadium and will transfer its “know how” about soccer training and it will rent its hall of fame of trophies. IPIC, with a different marker power, seeks publicity for its groups of companies and learning from the world´s most successful soccer club of the history, getting some of RM´s pedigree into its brand. IPIC has signed strategic partnerships with sporting federations and clubs, and in this case it becomes a licensee for the Real Madrid schools of football in United Arab Emirates and “other territories to be agreed”, controlling the coaching and instructional materials.

The partnership carries on a national strategy: Emirates Airlines operates as official sponsor along with IPIC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), and it is supposed the new soccer stadium to be adding the bank´s acronym to its name. Emirates and Etihad, both UAE airlines, fly daily from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Madrid.