Australian Table Tennis: Governance, Branding, and Marketing Analysis

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of Table Tennis Australia (TTA), examining its organizational structure, mission, governance, branding, and marketing strategies. It delves into the growth and development of table tennis in Australia, comparing it to other sports and evaluating the perspectives of key stakeholders, including the CEO. The study highlights TTA's efforts to overcome economic challenges, secure sponsorships, and expand participation, particularly through grassroots initiatives and school programs. The essay assesses the organization's values, its use of social media for promotion, and its role in promoting sports tourism and societal well-being, while adhering to the assignment brief's requirements to demonstrate critical thinking and evaluation using a minimum of five academic sources. The analysis covers TTA's financial performance, strategic restructuring, and future goals for the sport's advancement within the Australian context, with a focus on the CEO's vision and the importance of sports in Australian culture and society.

SPORTS MANAGEMENT
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This study reflects on the curriculum of the National Federation of Table Tennis in Australia
and it also examines the growth, mission and perspective of the National Federation relating
to the development of Table Tennis in Australia. This essay also focuses on the governance,
branding and marketing perspectives of the organization named as Table Tennis Australia
LTD. Therefore, this study is an evaluative manifesto of the different aspects relating to the
Table Tennis in Australia in the Olympic, Paralympics and the commonwealth standards
from an organizational view point. It also evaluates different important aspects shown by the
CEO and other important stake holders of the mentioned organization.
Table Tennis Australia LTD is a national organization as well as the most significant
institution regarding Table Tennis in Australia, as it monitors different aspects relating to
Table Tennis in Australia from National and International standards (tabletennis.org.au,
2019). According to Wang et al. (2018), this chief institution examines the field of Table
Tennis in Australia with the help of other two important organizations- International Table
Tennis Federation (ITTF) and Oceania Table Tennis Federation (OTTF). The organisational
structure of TTA involves Board of Directors which is chaired by Brett Sonnet and Jamie
Olsen as the deputy (tabletennis.org.au, 2019). TTA also consists of Board sub committees
that helps TTA with the other important aspects relating to the sport like- Selection Panel,
Nominations Committee, Finance and Audit Committee, Umpires and Referees Committee,
Veterans Committee and Committee regarding Governance and reforms through Table
Tennis (Hoye et al. 2018). Apart from that TTA structure also permits the Staff members as
the valuable part of their organisational operations process. The TTA mainly functions
through the Board by employing a CEO and other staffs to carry out the business operations
on a daily basis. The organisation is more important than an individual person this motto of
TTA symbolises significant change in the business Operations of the Board.
TTA follows the constitutional rules and guidelines under the supervision of a CEO
appointed by the Board of Directors. TTA had improved their business operations by
acquiring a profit margin of 44,382 Australian Dollars in the year 2018 after suffering a
devastating loss of 347,168 Australian Dollars in the year 2017 (tabletennis.org.au, 2019).
The constant support of the suppliers, creditors and the stake holders help the organization to
fight and achieve a significant amount of profit in the year 2018 after the extreme loss in the
previous year. From the board report and Organizational Standpoint, TTA is facing some
difficulties regarding the disputes relating to the management systems of the Australian Open
tournament. The loss of funding which creates a considerable amount of pressure in the
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training process of the elite players representing the country is also an important setback for
the organisation.
TTA needs to find a solution to face the economical turmoil in the organisation by securing
the sponsorship money and other important sources of revenue that will help the organisation
to perform well in the competitive level. Table Tennis is often considered to be a less
valuable sport comparing to Cricket and Football in Australia (Xue et al. 2016). Therefore,
considering this scenario TTA needs to function well in order to uplift this sport to a higher
level by facing the economical and organisational set-backs. Although the report of the CEO
clearly states that, TTA is growing rapidly and finally in a verge of achieving success in the
field of Table Tennis by the year 2020. The CEO also stated that the state and territory
associations including the international federations are working hand in hand to solve the
disputes and problems relating to the economic crisis that the TTA face in previous years.
The report also engulfs the fact that TTA has finally restructured the staff process, prohibited
all unnecessary expenditures and secured significant amount of sponsorship deals to generate
commercial revenue by 27% as well as save cost of 250,000 Australian Dollars per annum
(tabletennis.org.au, 2019). The CEO of TTA said that he would take the Australian Table
Tennis to a new height by creating special training facilities for the players competing in the
Olympic, Paralympic and commonwealth level. As a player himself with 20 years of playing
experience, the CEO of TTA shared the same passion for this sport not only as an
administrator but also as a player’s point of view. Scott Houston the CEO of TTA explained
that his top most priority as an administrator is to create ample amount of growth and
development opportunities for the aspirants of Table Tennis in Australia. He also stated that
the aspiring players will be provided with proper training facilities to improve their skills and
this process will spread though all parts of the country. Apart from that he is also concerned
with the fund raising and building of TTA by eliminating unnecessary expenditures to
generate more profit in his tenure.
The CEO of TTA also expressed his concerns about the target market of Table Tennis in
Australia as this particular sport is less popular considering other sports like Cricket and
soccer. Therefore, according to him TTA needs to find different innovative approach to target
the Table Tennis market in Australia. The aim of TTA according to Scott is to make a
constant growth and increase participation level in Table Tennis in Australia by creating
better opportunities for the existing and aspiring players. According to the CEO, starting
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grassroot Table Tennis competitions such as Auskick, Netsetgo for the younger generation of
Australia is one of the most innovative and strategic approach of TTA to grow Table Tennis
culture in Australia. TTA had also started an initiative regarding Table Tennis coaching in the
school level by sending expert coaches into schools for a 5 weeks coaching program to
understand the basics of the sport from a very early age (tabletennis.org.au, 2019). This
understanding of basics will grow interest among the younger generation and this will help
them to indulge in this sport for a better career in future.
The CEO also said that the TTA had managed to establish a firm ground by increasing
numbers of national level players from 50 to 450 over the years through constructive reforms
regarding the of Table Tennis in Australia. The mission of TTA according to Scott Houston is
to enable growth and development of Australian Table Tennis through healthy promotions
across the country (tabletennis.org.au, 2019). The values that the TTA implement to uplift the
development of Table Tennis is by abiding the government rules and regulations, increase the
membership limits by giving facilities to the athletes competing internationally. TTA also
manage to produce highly acclaimed international level coaches with technical staffs to
strengthen their players and by maintaining healthy relationships with the players to increase
the Table Tennis profile in Australia (tabletennis.org.au, 2019). Important national
organisations relating to Table Tennis work hand in hand with international TT federation
under the strict supervision of TTA to develop the Table Tennis scenario of Australia. The
CEO also indicated that in this modern age the social platforms are an important platform for
promotion. Therefore, TTA would focus on creating a strong social media base to promote
Table Tennis of Australia all over the world through live streaming of National
Championship matches through Facebook, You Tube and other social platforms.
The TTA is a newly found organisation founded in the year 2012 and is comparatively small
considering other big sports organisations. Therefore, the CEO emphasise on proper strategy
to uplift the Table Tennis scenario of Australia. TTA consists of paid employees and 25% of
the funds were allocated for the grass root competitions and a huge amount of fund were
allocated for the school training programmes to choose raw Table Tennis talents
(tabletennis.org.au, 2019). Fox is the biggest television network available in the country for
live streaming of main events relating to popular sports like Cricket, Football, and Lawn
Tennis (Ljekperic, 2018). Apart from that social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and
You Tube are the main helping source for the live streaming of these less popular sports.
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Sports is regarded as one of the key aspects in Australian culture and keeping that in mind the
Australian government had invested a lot to develop the sporting facilities and sports training
across the country. As mentioned by Peric (2015), sports also play a vital role in tourism and
contribute the Australian economy in various ways. Hosting a big event like Olympics, world
cup, Paralympics etc can change the tourism scenario of the country as it attracts a lot of
tourists world-wide. Tourism is always a booming industry world-wide and sports tourism is
a part of it which involves spectatorship or participating in a sporting event as it encourages
both the role of a tourist or participant (Moyle et al. 2018). According to different tourism
organisations and tourism experts, sports tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors that
belong to the global tourism. Sports tourism attracts tourists from all over the world and has
the ability to inculcate the rich heritage and sporting resources of the country where the
tourists arrive. Through tickets, food cost, accommodation and other ways sports tourism
help to generate a huge amount of economic growth for a particular country.
Sports help to energise the body and give a rapid fitness growth to a person mental and
physical health. Therefore, sports not only benefits in economic growth of a country but it
also helps in developing mental and physical health of person. The sports sector of Australia
is pretty much disciplined, organised and skilful in many ways and the Australian
government with the help of different important sporting organisations are always keen to
create a state-of-the-art sporting facilities for all the sports medium available in the country
(Vella et al. 2016). Sports in Australia are also the medium of peace and development and not
only it has health and economic benefits but it also had some important economic benefits.
With the utilisation of school programmes relating to sports, the Australian government had
helped the children to develop and nurture their skill sets through different kinds of
scholarships and incentives. Sports had a very deep connection with the culture as sports
attracts different kinds of admirable qualities like- power, courage, selflessness,
determination etc which had a deep connection with social culture.
The CEO of TTA further explained the thought process by saying that the TTA are on to
several campaigns connecting with all its stake holders from all parts of the community to
advance the future of Table Tennis in the country. The TTA are also focused in engaging
persons into Table Tennis belonging to different age group in order to spread the culture of
this sport and make it a popular one like cricket, football (tabletennis.org.au, 2019). The
unification of different communities and the participation of large amount of people would
create a steady profile for Table Tennis in Australia. Sports are also a helpful medium for
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different kinds of sociological outcomes as its builds character, develop self-esteem and the
ability to tackle the hard and good times in life. Sports also help in combating diseases,
improving moods, boost energy to do good work and are a perfect medicine for good sleep.
This study examines the benefits of sports specially the future of Table Tennis in Australia
from an organisational standpoint and delivers important aspects of sports in human life. It
also describes the importance of sports as a recreating factor for any community. This study
also analyses the benefits that sports contribute in the field of tourism, fitness and society.
Not only this study shows the benefits of sports but it also depicts the governance, branding,
marketing and business operations of TTA a to establish a steady future for Table Tennis in
Australia. This research follows the organisational structure and operational process of the
TTA and evaluates its function in the field of Table Tennis. The later part of the study also
depicts the words of the CEO of TTA and the ways he lead the TTA to create a better world
for the Aspiring and Existing players of Table Tennis through different propagandas. Thus,
this study is a critical manifestation of different way outs relating to the sports in Australia
from the perspective of an important organisation representing less popular sports in the
country comparing to other popular sports.
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