The FINANCIAL — Experts from sport, business and academia join the debate The chairman of league-winning Italian football giant Juventus will join 44 of the brightest minds from the worlds of business and sport to explore the lessons shared between both disciplines at London Business School.
Andrea Agnelli, whose club Juventus recently clinched the prestigious Italian Serie A title, will deliver the closing keynote address to a senior business audience at the School’s Global Leadership Summit, charting the transformation of a sports brand.
According to London Business School, the sporting world will also be represented by the business brains behind such big brands as Manchester United and Arsenal football teams, and cricket’s Indian Premier League.
Sir John Armitt, Chair of Olympic Delivery Authority, Beth Comstock, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, GE, and Heather Hancock, Lead Partner, London 2012 & Managing Partner for Innovation & Brand, Deloitte UK, are among the top-level business thinkers debating the global impact of major international sporting events. They will cover infrastructure, sustainable legacy, the value of sports industry brands and the reasons behind corporate sponsorship of major sporting events.
As the events of London 2012 play out around the world, London Business School, in collaboration with Deloitte, is exploring a range of topics. Experts from business, sport and academia will discuss:
• what other industries can learn from the sports industry about leveraging and staging successful sporting events
• how we evaluate the benefit to brands, cities and countries who engage with the world of sport; what other industries can learn from the sports industry
• how principles of teamwork, leadership and motivation in the sports world can be applied to business.
Sean Fitzpatrick, Founder, Front Row Leadership and former New Zealand All Black rugby captain will be tackling a panel on strategies for leadership, looking at the parallels between business and sport alongside Niels de Vos, Chief Executive Officer at UK Athletics, and London Business School’s Professor Lynda Gratton.
Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean, London Business School, said: “The relationship between business and sport is not always straightforward. Without sponsorship, some sporting activity would not be possible. But there are criticisms about excessive commercialisation. So what is the right balance?
“With the Olympics on our doorstep, this year’s Global Leadership Summit is the perfect platform to bring together the leading lights in sports and business for, what promises to be, lively debate on this and other crucial issues.”
For the first time at the Global Leadership Summit, academics from London Business School will be joined by peers from some of the world’s leading business schools. Stepping up to the plate will be experts from US-based Wharton, NYU Stern and Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and Spanish school IE.
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