Business Ecosystem Co-Evolution: The Ultimate Fighting Championships
SPORT AS A BUSINESS: INTERNATIONAL, PROFESSIONAL AND COMMERCIAL ASPECTS, H. Dolles, S. Soderman, eds., Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Posted: 5 Jul 2011
Abstract
In this paper, we analyze the growth and present success of the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), a US organization that promotes mixed martial arts (MMA) events and programming. We do through the lens of the business ecosystem, seeking insight by studying the actors and co-evolutionary complex dynamics that operate in this ecosystem. Drawing primarily on online media sources, we observe how the UFC has positioned itself as the premier MMA organization and how its recruitment and retention policy enables it to build its product around highly talented and improving fighters. This policy has created an evolutionary trajectory within the business ecosystem that, in combination with the increase in free-to-air events and sponsorship exposure, has embedded the UFC at the core of the North American MMA ecosystem.
Keywords: business ecosystem, co-evolution, ultimate fighting championships
JEL Classification: O30
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