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Sports business needs experts capable of rising to the challenges posed by the modern era. With the world of sports becoming more digital, international, and in need of future-proof strategies, three of Europe’s top business schools—WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Düsseldorf, Germany; the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden; and ESSEC Business School in Paris, France—have announced the European Sports Business Program (ESBP), a new business management executive education offering scheduled to debut on February 14, 2024, and to run until late-May. This program, the first of its kind, has been designed for professionals with a growth-oriented mindset and a strong interest in how the European sports industry functions at its very core.

The program comprises three distinct on-site, English-language modules, each taking place over the course of three days—and in three major cities across Europe. Under the supervision of Professor Sascha L. Schmidt (Director and Chairholder at WHU’s Center for Sports and Management), Professor Martin Carlsson-Wall (Director of the Center for Sports and Business at SSE), and Professor Karoline Strauss (ESSEC Sports Chair), participants will not only learn new skills. They will have a complete experience, gathering with like-minded future leaders and building a strong, international network of their peers. They will become proficient in state-of-the-art techniques for systematically analyzing and leveraging the future efficiently. And, finally, they will delve into the pivotal roles that leadership, purpose, and culture play in effectively managing change at sports organizations. “We aim to provide our participants with a forward-thinking perspective that prepares them to seize opportunities and manage risks in the changing sports industry,” said Professor Sascha L. Schmidt.

Further details on the European Sports Business Program can be found at the program’s website.

In October 2022, WHU and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA, will launch a new Executive Education program offered as a fully asynchronous online course on MIT xPRO’s global platform. The new course will teach participants how to navigate game-changing technologies in the 21st century in both their private and professional lives, and how these technologies will change existing business models and customer behavior in their respective industry. In the following interview, Professor Sascha Schmidt, Director of the WHU Center for Sports and Management & Faculty Director of the online course ‘Transformational Technologies: Applied Lessons from Sports’, gives insights on the new course.

Dear Professor Schmidt, why is the sports business industry so exciting?

Sport is far more than pure competition of athletes; it is a global industry that accounts for 1% of global GDP. But even more important, sport – whether played professionally or on an amateur level – creates emotions and engagement like no other industry. Just think about the Olympic Games or the annual NFL Superbowl with more than one billion spectators worldwide! In addition, the sports industry is experiencing rapid growth, mainly driven by new opportunities emerging through groundbreaking technologies and data.

Why can anyone interested in strategy and innovation learn something from this business?

Unlike other industries, the core product of the sports industry is fair competition. However, sports were and always will be a fight between two teams or athletes with distinct capabilities. Especially small teams with less budget therefore need to find innovative ways to improve their performance and gain competitive advantage. In the end, the sports industry is the perfect playground for game-changing innovations which might be applicable to any other industry.

What is special about the upcoming ‘Transformational Technologies – Applied Lessons from Sports’ online program?

In our course, we combine world-class faculty in their respective fields of technology with insights from the sports industry to explain game-changing technologies in a digestible and entertaining way. This is a ‘tech for the non-tech’ course where tech knowledge is not required to attend the course. It is the first course of its kind and the first co-branded MIT xPRO program in this field.

Who should consider participating in the course?

The course is designed for participants with various backgrounds. It targets business professionals looking to better understand artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet of things (IoT), robotics, and web 3.0. for their own benefit. Examples from the sports industry should inspire participants to identify new opportunities within their own industry.

What are the key benefits for participants of the course?

There are so many emerging technologies out there, that it is hard to stay on top of all recent developments in the field. The course, therefore, aims to enable participants to navigate the technology revolution. Participants will be able to identify industry-specific opportunities and threats associated with technological changes. Finally, we prepare them to identify relevant technology trends and effective responses to stay ahead of their competitors.

Professor Schmidt, thank you for the interview!

Executive Education at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, with a variety of cooperative open programs already globally recognized by the Financial Times (#15 in the 2022 Ranking), continues to diversify its portfolio. WHU knows that it is more important than ever for any executive to take a 360° view of their field of practice to prepare themselves for the future. A core part of that is paying mind to how an industry can and ultimately does evolve—and understanding the potential strategic changes that new technology may bring. To date, the world of sports has secured itself a connected future and earned the reputation of being an industry well ahead of the curve. On October 3, WHU Executive Education will debut the new Transformational Technologies: Applied Lessons from Sports course running as a part of the MIT xPRO series. This brand-new curriculum uses the sports industry as an example of where the world of business is headed.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA (USA) started offering their xPRO series of courses in 2016, seeking to combine a student’s business acumen with the technical expertise necessary for the future. In line with this approach, this new asynchronous course, developed together with WHU, is the first of its kind to center around the sports industry and how it has adopted new technology—including virtual reality, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and Web 3.0. Designed for business professionals across all industries, the program will show how technological breakthroughs could forever change the way business is conducted and enable participants to apply this freshly gained knowledge to their own professional lives.

Professor Sascha L. Schmidt, holder of the Sports and Management Chair at WHU, is spearheading the course and explained, “This is a chance for business professionals to learn more about today’s technology revolution—and how it affects both their private and professional environment.” Upon successfully completing the course, participants will receive an official certification from WHU and MIT xPRO.

Those interested in enrolling in the program can find more information on the official course website.

Strategic knowledge is a basic requirement in general management and is one of the most essential skills of a successful manager. Basic content on strategy development and execution is therefore already taught during the course of study.

The fact that education does not end with a successful degree has been evident for some time in the development of the continuing education market, in which lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important. This is also confirmed by Dr. Rebecca Winkelmann, Managing Director WHU Executive Education: "Even the Corona crisis was only able to slow down the demand for high-quality continuing education formats for a short time. Especially now, with falling infection figures, we are noticing an increased demand for interactive face-to-face formats that focus on the personal exchange of participants. After months of managers and executives having to act and lead from their desks at home, they want now more than ever a direct, personal exchange to learn from each other."

Due to the high relevance of the content and demand, WHU has developed a new continuing education program for experienced managers that employs experiments, role playing (derived from war gaming) and AI-supported computer simulations to teach strategic thinking, decision-making and action: the "Strategic Decision-Making Program." The program thus adds another strategy format to the portfolio of Executive Education programs at WHU, alongside the already firmly established “Strategy Essentials Program”. "In this way, we can offer participants a continuing education opportunity at every stage of their professional lives," says Rebecca Winkelmann.

The three-day intensive program is designed as an on-site "training camp" so that participants are challenged as strategists and a direct transfer to their own everyday work is encouraged. A digital learning platform serves as program preparation and introduction to the Business Simulation Game used during the program. In the fall of 2021 (October 20th – 22nd), the first program will take place at the modern WHU Campus Düsseldorf. As with all executive education formats at WHU, in addition to the program content and varied didactic methods, the focus is particularly on networking elements, which are intended to initiate networking among participants after the program.

For more information, please visit the program website.

In November 2020, a group of 42 selected senior professionals came together in a virtual format to reflect upon their individual leadership challenges in times of a pandemic. The group of senior professionals attended inspiring sessions on crisis leadership to prepare them for events that could happen during their future time as a leader. In addition, participants were encouraged to reflect upon their personal as well as organizational resilience to cope successfully with unforeseen and stress-provoking events and change.

“I am thrilled to see that we created an intimate learning environment so that our participants had the opportunity to discuss their personal leadership challenges”, says Dr. Rebecca Winkelmann, Managing Director WHU Executive Education, who initiated the “Leading beyond the crisis” program. High-profile guest speakers from different industries complemented the academic and self-reflection sessions. They shed light upon the challenges of their corporations during the pandemic, and gave insight into innovative solutions. Participants appreciated the possibilities to personally interact during the seminar and to learn from each other in a fully virtual environment. A few of them share their personal learnings and take-aways:

“The topic and curriculum of the seminar could not have been timelier. What impressed me most was the seniority of the participants and the speed at which a mutual sense of trust was formed which, even in a fully virtual classroom, quickly fostered highly valuable discussions and peer-group connections.“

Armin Häberle, Head of Business Media Division & Managing Director „Die Stiftung“ Media GmbH

“Leading beyond the crisis Program” defined leadership differently with exchanges of real-life experiences and nowhere-to-be-found group works. Leadership during a time of crisis will never be easy, but I feel I will be able to understand the meaning, reason, and purpose better and more importantly, convey this understanding to my team.”

Ali Inal, IT Director of Enerjisa Üretim

“The Leading beyond the crisis Program successfully directed our awareness and understanding of resilience. What does resilience mean for me, my team, and the organization? How to handle the first signs of misbalance? The well-experienced coach Karsten Drath helped us gain a deeper understanding, and the exchange with peers in the online break-out groups was extremely valuable.

Friday and Saturday were filled with insights from industry speakers and consecutive deep dives into resilience. We later summarized that it was especially good to see that we were not the only ones with concerns, challenges, and questions on what this challenging time of Covid-19 is doing to us and our work lives. A lot of food for thought!”

Jutta Kaiser, Head of Retail Development - Strategy & Governance @ Customer Support at BMW AG

The scope of duties of a Chief Information Officer (CIO) has expanded considerably in recent years. CIOs take on a broad range of responsibilities, and their leadership extends far beyond information and communications management in a company.

In light of these wide-reaching changes in the role of the CIO, the Executive Education branch of WHU, together with the specialized business magazine CIO, has developed a furthering education program that specifically develops the leadership competence and general management skills of IT managers. Supported by HP and the CIO Foundation, the "CIO Leadership Excellence Program" has successfully started as the first program of its kind in Germany. The participants comprise a total of 19 topnotch IT managers from different companies, including Henkel, Hilti and SMA Solar Technology.

The program is explicitly designed to allow the participants to analyze, structure, and address the strategic challenges of companies from the perspective of management and the business division, using a targeted set of approaches. Class content and teaching methods are specifically designed for the target group of executives: senior managers who already possess many years of professional and leadership experience and who can actively contribute their experience in class. The furthering education program places particular emphasis on a dynamic and competitive environment as well as on the opportunities and risk profiles of emerging economies.

The "CIO Leadership Excellence Program" consists of a total of three modules: a basis module with an emphasis on general management at the WHU campus in Vallendar as well as two international modules in India (Mumbai and Bangalore) and in China. Emerging markets form the special focus of the two international modules.

The innovative IT business magazine CIO brings together two things that belong together in the closely networked economy of the 21st century: IT and business. IT is increasingly coming into focus as companies set goals for the future. The reason: reducing costs, optimizing customer relationships, and increasing productivity are only possible with strategic, expedient use of new technologies. “CIO – IT Strategy for Managers” has been a member of IDG Business Media GmbH since October 2001. Since 1974 they have been the specialist for B2B communication in the German-speaking field of IT and technical communications.