IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sajbmc/v9y2020i3p457-468.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thrill and Agony at Ultimate Fighting Championship

Author

Listed:
  • Chiu Man Yiu
  • Xiaotong Liu
  • Hengfang Shi
  • W. Guillaume Zhao

Abstract

This case study seeks to make evident the imperative of better stakeholder management for contemporary competition by examining the evolving corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a world leading sports entertainment firm, over its 29-year history. Specifically, this case study illuminates that while CSR is becoming increasingly understood as indispensable for a firm’s overall strategy, corporate strategists need to design and implement CSR with dual vigilance that, (1) stakeholders’ expectations on CSR would heighten over time and (2) internal stakeholders’ needs, though often trivialized in many CSR strategies, need authentic accommodations that move beyond lip service. In addition to unpacking the issues of CSR (and) authenticity for the UFC’s stakeholder management, this case study also draws on insights gleaned from mainstream stakeholder management and CSR research and provides evidence-based analysis and recommendations for enhancing firms’ CSR strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiu Man Yiu & Xiaotong Liu & Hengfang Shi & W. Guillaume Zhao, 2020. "Thrill and Agony at Ultimate Fighting Championship," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 9(3), pages 457-468, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sajbmc:v:9:y:2020:i:3:p:457-468
    DOI: 10.1177/2277977920958552
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2277977920958552
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2277977920958552?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ajoy Kumar Dey, 2019. "Innovations in Business Schools: Strategy to Remain Relevant," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 8(3), pages 229-331, December.
    2. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
    3. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nishat Babu & Kenneth de Roeck & Nicolas Raineri, 2020. "Hypocritical organizations: Implications for employee social responsibility," Post-Print hal-03796007, HAL.
    2. Henri Kuokkanen & William Sun, 2020. "Companies, Meet Ethical Consumers: Strategic CSR Management to Impact Consumer Choice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 403-423, October.
    3. Babu, Nishat & De Roeck, Kenneth & Raineri, Nicolas, 2020. "Hypocritical organizations: Implications for employee social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 376-384.
    4. Ilka Marie Frerichs & Thorsten Teichert, 2023. "Research streams in corporate social responsibility literature: a bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 231-261, February.
    5. Nirino, Niccolò & Santoro, Gabriele & Miglietta, Nicola & Quaglia, Roberto, 2021. "Corporate controversies and company's financial performance: Exploring the moderating role of ESG practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    6. Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Ben Zaied, Younes & Managi, Shunsuke & Taleb, Lotfi, 2022. "Re-thinking about U: The relevance of regime-switching model in the relationship between environmental corporate social responsibility and financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 498-519.
    7. Irene Pollach, 2015. "Strategic corporate social responsibility: the struggle for legitimacy and reputation," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(1), pages 57-75.
    8. Ahmed A. Elamer & Mounia Boulhaga, 2024. "ESG controversies and corporate performance: The moderating effect of governance mechanisms and ESG practices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3312-3327, July.
    9. Magda B. L. Donia & Sigalit Ronen & Carol-Ann Tetrault Sirsly & Silvia Bonaccio, 2019. "CSR by Any Other Name? The Differential Impact of Substantive and Symbolic CSR Attributions on Employee Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 503-523, June.
    10. Shang Gao & Fanchen Meng & Zhouyang Gu & Zhiyuan Liu & Muhammad Farrukh, 2021. "Mapping and Clustering Analysis on Environmental, Social and Governance Field a Bibliometric Analysis Using Scopus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    11. Barić Andrija, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholders: Review of the last decade (2006–2015)," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 8(1), pages 133-146, March.
    12. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Keke Song, 2021. "The Role of Ethical Standards in the Relationship Between Religious Social Norms and M&A Announcement Returns," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 721-742, May.
    13. Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "A note on the interaction between corporate social responsibility and financial performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 46-55, December.
    14. Meyer, Margit & Waßmann, Jan, 2011. "Strategische Corporate Social Responsibility. Konzeptionelle Entwicklung und Implementierung in der Praxis am Beispiel 'dm-drogerie markt'," Research Papers on Marketing Strategy 3/2011, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Lehrstuhl für BWL und Marketing.
    15. Gallear, David & Ghobadian, Abby & Chen, Weifeng, 2012. "Corporate responsibility, supply chain partnership and performance: An empirical examination," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 83-91.
    16. Maria del Mar Miras & Bernabe Escobar & Amalia Carrasco, 2014. "Are Spanish Listed Firms Betting on CSR during the Crisis? Evidence from the Agency Problem," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(1), pages 85-95, March.
    17. Lee, Gilsoo & Cho, Sam Yul & Arthurs, Jonathan & Lee, Eun Kyung, 2020. "Celebrity CEO, identity threat, and impression management: Impact of celebrity status on corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 69-84.
    18. Chakraborty, Atreya & Gao, Lucia Silva & Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2019. "Managerial risk taking incentives, corporate social responsibility and firm risk," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 58-72.
    19. Heugens, P.P.M.A.R. & Kaptein, S.P. & van Oosterhout, J., 2007. "Contracts to Communities: A Processual Model of Organizational Virtue," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-023-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    20. Danny Zhao‐Xiang Huang, 2022. "An integrated theory of the firm approach to environmental, social and governance performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1567-1598, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sajbmc:v:9:y:2020:i:3:p:457-468. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.