Case Analysis on Business Strategy of Indian

Premier League
Group Assignment

By

Registration Number Name

2014/MBA/WD/13 M.D.U.C. Chandrasena

2018/MBA/WD/01 S.L.B.L. Abeygunasekara
2018/MBA/WD/02 A.J.M.H.K. Abeykoon
2018/MBA/WD/03 S.S.A. Arjuna
2018/MBA/WD/04 S. Arulini
2018/MBA/WD/05 M.A.A.V. Attapattu

Course: MBA 5211 - Business Strategy

Lecturers: Dr. Pradeep Dharmadasa/ Mr. WG Premarathne

Trimester IV

MBA Weekday Program - 2018/2020 (Group I)

Postgraduate & Mid-Career Development Unit

Faculty of Management & Finance

University of Colombo

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 Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................6
2.0 The IPL Business model......................................................................................................7
2.1 IPL revenue model...............................................................................................................8
3.0 Internal Analysis................................................................................................................11
4.0 The macro environment context analysis...........................................................................12
5.0 The industry and sector context analysis...........................................................................17
5.1 Five Forces analysis...........................................................................................................17
5.2 Strategic role of complements – Relevant.........................................................................18
5.3 The structure conduct performance (SCP)………………………… …………………..18
5.4 Current Strategy of IPL…………………………………………………………………..19
6.0 International Strategy…………………………………………………………………….21
7.0 Corporate Governance issues and Controversies………………………………………...23
8.0 Recommendations..............................................................................................................24

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 Table of Figures

Figure 2.1: IPL Business Model.................................................................................................8

Figure 2.2: IPL Revenue Model.................................................................................................9
Figure 2.3 : Title sponsorship fee of the IPL from 2008 to 2022.............................................10
Figure 2.4 : Broadcasting Revenue distribution.......................................................................10
Figure 5.1: Bartlett and Ghoshal’s Typology of Multinational Companies.............................22

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Declaration

We declare that the assignment titled “Case Analysis on Business Strategy of Indian Premier
League” submitted as a part completion of the Continuous Assessment for the Course “MBA
5211 - Business Strategy” of the Postgraduate & Mid-Career Development Unit of Faculty of
Management and Finance, University of Colombo is an original work of the Group No.1
completed under the guidance of Dr. Pradeep Dharmadasa and Mr. WG Premarathne. The
information derived from the Published and unpublished work of others are acknowledged in
the text and list of references are also provided.

…………………………….. …………………........
M.A.A.V. Attapattu (On Behalf of the Group) Date
(2018/MBA/WD/05)

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Acknowledgement

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our course facilitator Dr. Pradeep
Dharmadasa and Mr. WG Premarathne for the continuous support during the lectures to
embed the theoretical aspects on the models while explaining the practical side of the same
and dedicating their valuable time in person to solve the issues which arise during the
completion of the Case analysis.

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1.0 Introduction

Cricket is just one of those many sports which was conceived by the English and perfected by
the world; the Indian Premier League is just an extension of this phenomenon. Indian Premier
League (IPL) has defined a new set of paradigm to do business in the Indian landscape. This
was bound to happen someday, looking at the craze for the cricket in this country. IPL is not
a yet another cricket extravaganza but an event where money is spun around with many
different angles and huge stakes are involved in it. IPL has corporatized cricket in a unique
way. It has added a new dimension of marketing and branding the sport in India. IPL is a
business which has big economy of scale.

The IPL (Indian Premier League) is very exciting. The concept of IPL is initialized when
Lalit Modi, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) extended his
vision for the Indian Premier League. Following the same format as that of club football in
Europe, particularly the English Premier League, IPL was launched as a competitive response
to the Indian Cricket League. The idea behind creating city based teams was based on the
model present in sports in US and UK. Designed the IPL after an intensive study of the
primary sporting leagues around the world such as the NHL, NBA, NFL and EPL. They
examined the theoretical models and also the result and impact of each of these leagues
before arriving at the final blueprint.

As in most other areas, there were at least as many learning’s from the shortcomings and
weaknesses as there were in the strengths and benefits – mapped to the individual market
contexts What has finally emerged as the IPL design is one that has been meticulously
refined to work for cricket. The league structure has been modelled so as to flourish in the
uniquely Indian context, and drive the development of grassroots talent in Indian cricket. The
idea had all the ingredients to be a success. The best cricket players of the world, fans from
around the world and a dollop of glamour due to the presence of Bollywood celebrities,
corporates and Indian politicos.

The biggest USP of the Indian Premier League is that, here the teams are run and managed by
various corporate houses or Bollywood celebrities. The owners of the teams went through a
bidding procedure to buy the teams and after that, the cricketers were also put up for auction.
The managements of the teams took part in the auction and bid for their desired cricketers,
with a view to make their team the strongest one among all others. Cricketers from around

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the world, including the Indian cricketers were put up for auction. The BCCI actually
followed the format of England`s most popular football event, the Barclays English Premier
League (EPL) for governing the rules and regulations of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Franchisees can earn profit in IPL as Team owners get 80% of broadcast revenues, 60% of
sponsorship revenues, 100% of team sponsorship revenues, 80% of ticket revenues, 87.5% of
all merchandising revenues, and 100% of all hospitality revenues.

Traditionally, cricket has been most popular at its international level – country vs country -
but the IPL created fanatic fandom through domestic franchises much like sports in the U.S.
and most other parts of the world.so in this case study extensively provides information about
the structure and the formation of the entire IPL tournament including the operational plan
along with the revenue plan for the event. It describes the mechanism that runs on the
tournament starting from buying players for the teams, franchises choosing relevant teams,
revenue sharing plans and overall know-how of the IPL tournament.

2.0 The IPL Business model

Southern Spars specializes in the design and construction of carbon fiber spars and
components, rigging and rig servicing. As the industry pioneer, Southern Spars built its first
carbon spar in 1990. Since then the company has pursued a passion for delivering world class
cruising and racing spars, carbon rigging and service.

Its operation extends to four corners of the globe with centers in the USA, Denmark, Spain
and Sri Lanka, with headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand.

Southern Spars International Limited is a sister company of North Sails Limited, part of the
North Sails Group. North Sails Limited has been operating in Sri Lanka as a BOI venture for
the past 20 years. The company will export the products to markets in Europe, USA and New
Zealand.

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 Figure 2.1: IPL Business Model

2.1 IPL revenue model

According to the Kadappa (2013) IPL has two revenue models such as Centralized and
Decentralized. Sponsorships, franchise revenues and broadcasting rights are components of
centralized revenues and IPL maintains this at a level of 40% of total revenue. On the other
hand, 60% of revenue comprise of decentralized revenue schemes such as franchisee owners
sell ad space on team uniforms and other ad material, TV displays to other firms etc.

Following graph is extracted from the journal article of Kadappa (2013) and it exhibits the
revenue model of the Indian Premier League.

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 Figure 2.2: IPL Revenue Model

Following table shows the title sponsorship fee of the IPL from 2008 to 2022. Accordingly
IPL hits nearly 6.7 billion INR revenue from its title sponsorships.

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 Figure 2.3 : Title sponsorship fee of the IPL from 2008 to 2022

From 2008 to 2017, 40% of the total revenue was distributed to the IPL, 54% distributed to
franchisees and the balance 6% used for prizes. After 2017, the percentages changed to 50%,
45% and 5% respectively.

Following graph shows the distribution of the broadcasting revenue among teams and the
BCCI.

Figure 2.4 : Broadcasting Revenue distribution

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3.0 Internal Analysis
The IPL holds multiple resources and capabilities that can be leveraged for competitive
advantage. Currently the strong financial position and brand equity of IPL has enabled IPL to
capture the market share from other cricket leagues including the ICC. However, when
expanding in to global scale with in the SEI, IPL needs to correctly position its brand in order
to compete with the equally strong competitors who promote other sports, for example
Formula 1.

SWOT Analysis.
 Indian Premier League (IPL) – Strengths

 IPL is one of the most popularly marketed and branded cricket sports event in the
globe
 Superior financial position which permits BCCI to take risks /make investments
that other domestic cricket leagues cannot afford. The IPL generates revenue
mainly through four sources namely TV media rights, sponsorships,
merchandising and franchise sales.
 Brand equity. Brand IPL is valued as 4Bn USD in 2010 and increased to 6.7Bn
USD by 2019 according to Duff & Phelps.
 Players. The players are excellent form of revenue generation where they help.
 to bring in partnerships with companies such as NIKE who market players
jerseys.
 Involvement of top international players, big corporate and celebrities make IPL
a popular rage amongst spectators

 Indian Premier League (IPL) – Weaknesses

 Controversies like Team ownership disputes, media rights, suspension of

chairman etc caused problems for Indian Premier League (IPL) brand
 Conflicts with some other international cricket boards affected brand image.
 Match fixing scandals. The IPL has been plagued by allegations of match fixing
scandals. Corruption is perceived to be high within the upper echelons of the
BCCI.

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  Marketing skills are inadequate to compete with established leagues such as
EPL, NLF, NBA
 Uncontrolled costs.

 Indian Premier League (IPL) – Opportunities

 Huge opportunity for IPL to leverage on popular brands through advertising,

merchandising.
 Huge cricket following can be tapped through advertising, involvement of fans
and cricketers
 Involvement of boards from other countries can boost the sport and then
indirectly be a boom for IPL.

 Indian Premier League (IPL) – Threats

 Gaining popularity of other sports amongst youth and excessive cricket will
reduce appeal amongst people.
 Government regulations regarding security, taxation, policies etc can affect
IPL.
 IPL would be adversely affected by emergence of similar tournaments in
other countries

4.0 The macro environment context analysis

The environment creates both opportunities and threats for organizations. Some organizations
have been transformed by environmental change. Although the future can never be predicted
perfectly, it is clearly important that entrepreneurs and managers try to analyze their
environments carefully as they can in order to anticipate and if possible take advantage of
such environmental changes. Environments can be considered in terms of a series of layers.
The macro-environment consists of broad environmental factors that impact to a greater or
lesser extent many organizations, industries and sectors.

Macro-environmental changes can often seem too big, complex or unpredictable for
managers to grasp. The results is that changes can creep up on them until it is too late to
avoid threats or take advantages of opportunities. There are number of analytical tools and

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concepts that can help keep organizations alert to macro-environmental change. The point is
to minimize threats and to seize opportunities.

4.1 PESTEL Analysis

The PESTEL framework is one of the several frameworks which categorize environmental
factors into key types. PESTEL analysis highlights six environmental factors in particular:
political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal.

• Political

The political component of PESTEL highlights the role of the state and other political factors
in the macro-environment. Political issues may be defined as the amount of intervention by
the government in the economy. Some areas affected by political interventions are tax
policies, labor laws, restrictions on trade etc. Continuous changes in government and
government policies can affect the smooth running of the business as the planning needs to be
altered in accordance with the new policies.

The major political encountered faced by the IPL is that more politicians are involved in the
game, the problem is that the governing council comprises of some senior politicians who
keep changing as and when the government changes. It is evident that there is a instability at
the management, which can have an adverse effect on the entity.

The synergistic relationship between Bollywood and the Indian government has been
facilitated by the rise of class eager to spend money on leisure, the willingness of Indian
communities to invest in the Indian entertainment industry. In return, the government has
used the potential of Bollywood to promote its political, economic, ideological, and cultural
interests in a globalized market economy.

Year 2020 has already seen the unprecedented shutdown of global sports leagues due to
COVID 19. The Government of India and various state governments have mandatorily
banned public gatherings in view of public health and safety concerns, therefore IPL season
has been postponed. Further government has also suspended visas from most countries which
might control the availability of foreign players who are a vital cog in the IPL. Given this
contextual, the options before BCCI are somewhat limited.

• Economic

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The macro-environment is also influenced by macro-economic factors such as interest rates,
currency exchange rates and fluctuating economic growth rates around the world.

The launch of the IPL brought in massive revenue for the BCCI and coincidentally for the
Indian economy. The study of KPMG indicated that in 2015, the IPL had an economic output
of Rs.2605 crores and its contribution to India’s Gross Domestic Product was Rs.1150 crores.

It was also brought to light that during IPL season, there was a substantial rise in tourism with
large number of international visitors and especially fans from countries like, United
Kingdom, South Africa and Australia.

Another area highlighted by the study is the employment generation during these months
owing to huge demand for staff members such as medical teams for every team, club specific
cheerleaders, coaches, stadium employees, security and so on. In short, it creates a vast
number of employment opportunities across various sectors.

Another significant highlight of the same study was the upliftment of tier-2 cities because of
media exposure. Since IPL cricket matches are played all over India, they need vast media
coverage. Further Tier-2 cities are investing more in the city’s infrastructure and development
benefits from IPL’s media exposure, and see a rise in tourism related activities which can
generate greater revenues for the city.

• Social

The social elements of the macro-environment have at least two impacts upon organizations.
First, they can influence the specific nature of demand and supply within the overall
economic growth rate. Second, they can shape the innovativeness, power and effectiveness of
organizations.

The IPL being a mega event not only promotes Cricket but acts as a great ambassador for
spreading the cultural heritage of India to the World.

The IPL witnessing broader global socio-economic issues, it also embodies many of the
controversies experienced throughout sports. For example, uneven gender relations continue
to be evident in many sport cultures. In India, women’s cricket only originated under the
umbrella of the BCCI in 2007, giving some benefits in terms of better organization and
sponsorship deals, but there remains inequity and, with respect to the IPL, this is a male-only
event where women have taken on the traditional role of cheerleader, admired for their sexual

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attractiveness rather than athletic capabilities and serving as a sideline to the main (men’s)
event. In India, this has proven debated not only in terms of gender relations, but also because
many deem public exposure of the body as culturally offensive.

Consistent with many developed countries, India is also experiencing to sporting activities to
report health issues such as rising population obesity levels, which are almost certainly
related to the increased consumption of ‘Western’ foods and sedentary lifestyles.

Furthermore, a large chunk of the fans fall in the category of the middle class with high
disposable income, and of the legal drinking age which is of great impact as many sponsors
stay connected with breweries. There is a heavy load of beer advertisements broadcasted
during the IPL, but this will be harmful for the country.

• Technological

Further important elements within the macro-environment sre technologies such as internet,
nanotechnology or new composite materials, whose impacts can spread far beyond single
industries. As in the case of internet streaming, new technologies can open up opportunities
for some organizations, while challenging others.

Meanwhile, it is important to carry out the macro-environmental analysis of technology in

order to identify areas of potential innovative activity.

Cricket, like many sports played these days, has incorporated technology into its everyday
lives, with continued advances in technology such as higher-quality television coverage, the
broader diffusion of Internet connectivity across globe, and the use of social media all
contribute to cricket industry’s continued growth.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is not just an ordinary cricket tournament. It is a tech-savvy
competition with the likes of Spider-cam, LED stumps and Decision Review System already
implemented. Such technologies boost the viewership involvement of the fans and ensure that
fans who cannot visit the stadium to watch the match get a first-hand experience of the
stadium.

Since its inception in the year 2008, IPL has gotten greater, better and exciting. In 2018 MAC
Machine Tools, a Bangalore based firm introduced robotic solutions to IPL tournament.
These technologies are good for the advancement of the game. It leads to increase in

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viewership as more and more people like to witness the use of latest technologies in the field
of sport. It adds to the glamour of the sport and the already electrifying game.

• Ecological

Within the PESTEL framework, ecological stands specifically for green macro-
environmental matters such as pollution, waste and climate change. Indian Premier League,
now among the world’s richest and largest sports leagues, has a lot of catching up to do when
it comes to an area where it has a major impact. The Environment. While the IPL, due to its
sheer size, spread and impact, has a huge carbon footprint, clearly, the environment has yet to
become a key measure for the league organizers, the BCCI yet.

To give credit, some teams have made efforts to look more eco-friendly, team KKR started
on environmental initiatives, they launched an exhibit made entirely of recycled waste at the
franchise’s ‘home’ ground, Eden gardens. Efforts are being made to decrease usage of plastic
bags as well which have been replaced by cloth bags during the matches. Further, fresh from
its win as the cleanest city in India, and the ‘home’ of the King’s XI franchise, Indore has
decided to implement the ‘green protocol’ for all its matches. That would entail following the
concept of 3R (Reduce, Recycle and Reuse). The Franchise also had the ‘Plant a six’
initiative, where they planted a tree for every six hit at the Eden gardens in 2017.

But more essentials, and can be done using the enormous platform the IPL offers. It is
possibly too much to assume the league to ban junk food advertising perhaps, or even
advertising from firms that have an enormously negative carbon footprint.

• Legal

The final element in a PESTEL analysis of the macro-environment refers to legal aspects.
These can cover a wide range of topics, for example, labor, environmental and consumer
regulation, taxation and reporting requirements and rules on ownership, competition and
corporate governance. In recent years, the relaxation of legal constraints through deregulation
has created many new business opportunities.

It is evident that profitability of leagues have been affected when leagues run into legal issues
or when political agendas have been pushed back. Moreover it has been costly to the IPL
when allegations of spot fixing and betting surfaced about some players. These are
considered as ethical concerns surrounding the league, if this practice continue, this will

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impact profit potential within league as the adverse image of the sport will drive consumers
to alternative options whether in the industry or not.

5.0 The industry and sector context analysis

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is operating in the Global Sports Entertainment Industry.
The industry witnessed the high growth rate over past decade. The growing trend is not only
seen in cricket, but also visible with football, basketball, hockey etc. However, the increasing
competition from other sports leagues that runs in global arena, political issues in the country
and the state of economy will pressure IPL to take strategic actions to defend on existing
markets and to expand in to new markets.

5.1 Five Forces analysis

• Threat of new entrants- Low to moderate

Indian Premier League (IPL) works on a franchise based system. The major players of this
industry can be identified as, The English premier league, Formula one Racing, NBA
Basketball, NFL football, MLB Base Ball, Big Bash League etc. All these leagues have
transnational following and employ a diverse group of players. The high setup cost, time it
takes to organize a professional sports league, massive support required from local authorities
has made barriers to new entrants. Thus the threat of new entrants is fairly low.

• Bargaining Power of suppliers – Moderate

The suppliers of IPL includes players, teams, franchisers, models, cheer leaders, media
etc.The IPL’s efforts to increase the popularity of cricket may have inadvertently caused a
shortage of supply of premier cricket players resulting in increasing salary demands.
However, the availability of number of suppliers as media streams to telecast the IPL around
the world and number of merchandising options to advertise, supplier bargaining power
identified as low to moderate.

• Bargaining power of Buyers – Moderate to High

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Though initially the primary revenue streams for the industry consisted of gate revenues, now
the new avenues such as media rights, sponsorships, merchandizing and franchising have
opened up a vast opportunity to boost the revenue. The base for all these revenue streams are
built on the demand by sports fans in the world. Revenue streams within the industry can be
volatile from year to year as economic factors weigh heavily on revenue generated. This yield
the buyer power of the end users.

• Threat of Substitutes – Low

The sport entertainment industry offers many sports which address different tastes of buyers.
This enable buyer to choose among different options. Hence as such industry as a whole has a
low threat of substitutes with alternative being other forms of entertainment such as movies,
music and art. Most of this will not provide the same experience. However, the IPL has to
continuously monitor to protect its mass customer base by maintaining fair pricing since
majority of buyers are from the poor and middle classes. The increase of prices such as ticket
price may result in increasing threat of substitutes.

• Rivalry – Moderate to high

Due to the availability of large number of sports and different sociocultural interests, there is
a plenty of room for competitors to play with. The increased visibility to world with
globalization, the leagues competes against each other to grab the attention of viewers, thus
share of revenue. While the long term established leagues trying to protect their market share,
new leagues such as IPL has come about as serious competitors in a short period of time.

5.2 Strategic role of complements – Relevant

The industry is generating revenue from merchandizing, franchising, selling media rights,
obtaining sponsorships and from ticket sales which leads to industry growth. The Sport
Entertainment Industry also come up with innovative complementary products such as
branded costumes and accessories that are highly desirable to all ages of fans and provide
instant advertising for the industry. Hence for example branded t-shirts now have been
viewed as must wear when attending to the ground to watch the match by supporters. The
strength of these complementary products and services increases the league’s profitability.

5.3 The structure conduct performance (SCP)

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The Sports entertainment industry, given the context of globalization and improvements in
technology has transformed more towards in to monopolistic competition. As industry
consolidates as sports entertainment, both the leagues and franchise model continued to
increase sector profitability. The SCP model indicates that this industry has large profits as
growing at an exponential rate across the globe. The contenders of the industry need to
successful in appealing multiple audiences on multiple continents to reap the benefits.

5.4 Current Strategy of IPL

The IPL current strategy is to differentiate the sport within the countries that traditionally
play cricket and popular among public. IPL has got a very high popularity with more than
140 million TV audiences. It acts as a great source of entertainment to millions around the
World. IPL being a mega event not only promotes Cricket but acts as a great ambassador for
spreading the cultural heritage of India to the World. The IPL model is both profit and
entertainment driven. Profit comes from the audience who watch the matches on TV and in
stadiums. A number of entities and process are involved in the business model. These include
players, teams and franchises, infrastructure, the actual game play, models and cheer leaders,
revenue flows and games allocation..

• Strategic Alternatives - 1

The first option involves converting some of the IPL’s weaknesses to future opportunities.
The IPL can look at expanding its presence in any market. Also the league must distance
itself from the scandals it has fallen to in the past. It must install an oversight board and
increase their power to punish those that attempt to fix match results. This will require both
time and money from the league as they attempt to change the culture which is deemed
acceptable business practices in the sport. The IPL also needs to work on its marketing skills,
which can help it when trying to enter new markets around the globe.

Advantages & Benefits: The main advantage of this strategy is that it will cost very little to
implement. Apart from the funding for the Ethics Board, this strategy requires no additional
investments beyond its current business practices. The IPL needs to continue to pursue its
relationship with companies such as Nike and Adidas, and leverage their capabilities via a
partnership as they try to expand around the globe. These partnerships are mutually beneficial
and have the added benefit of bringing in additional profits as the IPL players and the league

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itself become more prominent in the global consciousness. These companies are famous for
generating interest in players, which then translate into jersey sales that lead to more profits
for the IPL. With the help of advertising such as Nike’s “Bleed Blue” campaign, currently the
IPL and Nike sell 500 individual jerseys a day on their website (India Times 24). It follows
that as their global exposure increases, so will their revenue.

Disadvantages & Risks: While the prospects of the global market are enticing, there are few
drawbacks in trying to compete on a global scale. One huge disadvantage is that some of the
largest and potentially lucrative markets such as the US or Europe already have wildly
popular sports entertainment leagues such as the EPL or NFL and NBA. The IPL would be at
an initial disadvantage if they tried to infiltrate these markets from an exposure standpoint.
The NFL, NBA, EPL also have significant financial resources and would fight back with
increased advertising and marketing efforts to help defend their market shares as well, and
the IPL comparatively to those leagues does not have financial resources to engage in a
competitive advertising campaign. However it is observed that IPL has more leverage on
Asian countries where the cricket is famous as a sport.

• Strategic Alternatives - 2

The IPL can go on the offensive by utilizing the popularity of their players, their financial
muscle, and their TV contracts by creating developmental leagues to gain market share in the
lucrative foreign markets in China and Southeast Asia. They can achieve this by marketing
their talented players in a country like China to help attract kids to developmental leagues
that they can create and fund with the money they have from the league itself and the
potential hundreds of millions of dollars that they will raise through lucrative TV contracts.
One of the best ways to do this is to reach out to the youth and promote the sport at a younger
age. Providing fields and training seminars from some of the top cricket players in the world
will increase the interest level of the fans and drive them to be more connected to their local
team. The youth leagues also have the added benefit of producing potential future IPL players

Advantages& Benefits: The IPL has to be careful not to sacrifice the local fan base, yet
increase international awareness of the league. The best opportunity to do so would be to set
up new teams and franchises in new countries. These teams would play against the other IPL
teams. This option allows the IPL to increase its fan base by having more teams in the league
that are spread out across the region, instead of just spread out throughout India. This option
would require a strong financial investment from the IPL in order for this to be successful.

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Purchasing, building, and maintaining new fields is not inexpensive. Working with the
players to spend additional time for the league involves adjusting player contracts and will
take time.

The IPL has historically chosen to move the games outside of the country during the election
season, so that the games do not become targets from terrorist groups. Every time they move
the games to other countries, they introduce the sport to other nationalities and give them
opportunities to attend the games. The IPL could continue to host games, or even portions of
the season, in different countries, which will bring new fans into the sport and help the IPL
become recognized internationally. If this option is chosen, the countries the IPL should
focus on should be ones that already have an interest in cricket. The league has already
played successfully in South Africa and UAE. The IPL should continue to expand throughout
the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions.

Another additional benefit is that the IPL can test strategies and changes to the game itself in
the developmental leagues and use them as a test market. Any changes that were widely
accepted or found to be popular in the developmental leagues could then be taken in to
consideration for the IPL itself with almost no cost to the IPL.

Disadvantages & Risks: The concern with this option is currently the best players from
around the world are playing for the current IPL teams. If the IPL were to drastically expand,
the average talent level would be diluted, which could cause fans to lose interest in the sport.
Also, if the IPL were to spread out too far, the change in time zones could cause jet lag to the
traveling team, causing them to have a distinct disadvantage for the matches.

Several other competitors are attempting this tactic. The NFL has played one game of the
regular season in London since 2007. The NBA has played its opening season games in
Tokyo several times over the past 20 years. If the IPL were to consistently play its games to
other countries, it would be able to build interest from fans across the world. The league is
already streaming its games on YouTube, which would allow the new fans in other countries
to continue to follow their favorite teams and/or matches after the teams have returned to
India. The downside to this strategy is the potential to lose fans within India. If the IPL
matches were consistently being played outside of the home team’s city, the local fans would
not associate with the team as well and the IPL would lose its local support.

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6.0 International Strategy

During the past decades, with the increasing scenario of the globalization, organizations and
business focused to cross their national borders and finding opportunities in the international
market. For this purpose, businesses have to formulate their international strategy according
to Bartlett and Ghoshal’s Typology of Multinational Companies.

Figure 5.1: Bartlett and Ghoshal’s Typology of Multinational Companies

Global integration is the ability of the company to use the same product or service portfolio
and methods in other countries and local responsiveness is the ability to customize product,
services and methods according to other countries needs

In the Multi-domestic strategy, the level of local responsiveness is high and the level of
global integration is low. Companies aim to satisfy the needs of their individual local markets
by offering customized and tailormade products.

In the Global strategy, the level of local responsiveness is high and the level of global
integration is high. Companies offers standardized products to global.

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In the International strategy, both local responsiveness and global integration are at low
levels. This strategy is more suitable for exporting companies.

In the Transnational strategy, both local responsiveness and global integration are at high
levels. Their target is to gain benefit from global integration while maximizing local
responsiveness.

Even though this matrix is mostly used by Multi-National Companies, we can place IPL in
the Transnational Strategy of the matrix because IPL has high level of both global integration
and local responsiveness.

IPL was started in 2008 and it has drastically created changes in the cricket history.
Previously cricket is considered as a game for entertainment and now cricket has become a
kind of business due to this change came from IPL. Most of countries has started their own
Twenty20 cricket leagues such as Sri Lankan Premier League, Australian Big bash,
Bangladesh Premier league etc. Even though they are not under the BCCI, which is the
governing body of IPL, the game format and culture are same in other leagues. So, we can
consider that the IPL game format is in the Transnational Strategy.

Also in 2009 due to security reasons, IPL was hosted in South Africa and it shows that the
league can be hosted in out of India also. Due to the Covid 19 outbreak in India, BCCI
planned to host IPL 2020 series in United Arab Emirates and they have to customized the
event as per the host country requirement.

7.0 Corporate Governance issues and Controversies

During the past OPL seasons, so many scandals happened in teams as well as the
management. These scandals are a risk to corporate governance of the IPL.

 In 2010, BCCI suspended Lalith modi as the Chairman of IPL over charges of
financial impropriety, from rigging bidding deals related to the IPL, offering bribes,
betting and money laundering.
 During the 2012 season, due to involve in match fixing charges, authorities imposed
life ban for TP Sudhindra, a five-year ban to fast-medium bowler Shalabh Srivastava
and Mohnish Mishra and one-year ban for Abhinav Bali and all-rounder Amit Yadav.

 In 2013 season, Delhi police arrested three Rajasthan Royals players on the charges of
alleged spot-fixing namely Sreesanth, Amit Chandelle and Aniket Chavan. Also,
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 Mumbai police arrested Chennai Super Kings team manager Gurunath Meiyappan
and Vindu Dara Singh for betting for games and connections with bookies

 In 2015, Supreme court suspended participation to IPL for Chennai Super Kings and
Rajasthan Royals for two years over a corruption scandal. Further three member panel
of the supreme court imposed life time cricket related ban to Raj Kundra, the co-
owner of Rajasthan Royals and Gurunath Meiyappan of Chennai Super Kings.
 During the IPL seasons, three teams were band from IPL over financial irregularities
and not in line with IPL guidelines. The teams are Deccan Chargers, Kochi Tuskers
Kerala and Pune Warriors
 The owner of Kolkata Knoight Riders, Bollywood super star Shah Rukh Khan was
banned from entering to the Chennai Whankade stadium for five years from 2012.

8.0 Recommendations

Recommendation for business model

BCCI has decided to reduce the revenue distribution to the franchisees from 54% to 45%.
This may decrease the participation of franchisees and the interest among the viewers may be
decreased. So, BCCI has to revisit the decision since current COVID 19 outbreak may hit
the revenue streams.

Recommendations for strategic alternative

The strategic alternative 2 is recommended as strategy forward for IPL to adopt. In India, IPL
is already a cash cow for the BCCI and the time is right for them to expand the league into
foreign markets. The first step IPL should take is to promote developmental leagues in
foreign markets starting a grassroots movement amongst the younger generations who are
increasingly open to new things having been raised in a global society. This will not only
serve to increase the league’s fan base, but also give IPL the opportunity to further develop
the next wave of top talent. Next, IPL should study other leagues, gleaning other top sports
management techniques currently being applied in the targeted markets. This should be added
to their current successful formula and applied only in the target market, so as not to detract
from the quality of and revenue stream for the already strong and ever growing Indian cricket

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market. Finally, IPL should begin their expansion using technology to showcase their pool of
top international players, financial strength, and media power and fully infiltrate the new
markets.

Recommendations for corporate governance

BCCI have to prepare a comprehensive corporate governance standards and code of ethics for
teams and players, managers and all other involving parties. Then the BCCI should ensure
that the teams are following corporate governance standards applicable to the Indian Premier
League.

If not corporate governance issues, ethical issues and controversial will undermine the spirit
of the series and the even will be eventually closed down.

Recommendation for International Strategy

BCCI can promote the event in countries which are not playing cricket under the brand name
of IPL. This will create a market space for the IPL and they can further enhance
Transnational strategy by customizing the event according to the needs of the country and the
situation.

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