“The Data Revolution in Soccer: Lessons for Strategic Management.”

Department of Strategy & Policy

A short report from Arthur Hu Huey Ruey on his research findings presented in the conference.

Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM 2025)

Dates: 25-29 July 2025
Venue: Bella Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark

I presented a paper titled “The Data Revolution in Soccer: Lessons for Strategic Management”.

Recent efforts have produced a rich stream of research on digitization and data-driven decision-making (DDD). However, management papers have yet to explore which organizations win more from such phenomena – a fundamental question in strategy research.

We attempt to tackle this gap using a quasi-experimental setup in soccer (association football) which involved the relatively unanticipated approval of GPS wearable technologies for competitive matches. Doing so, we find affirming evidence that DDD can create a competitive advantage for adopters. More critically, we uncover the mechanism for this effect. Namely, DDD reduces resource disruptive events and, in turn, the stability of organizational routines reliant on specialization.

Furthermore, we find that this mechanism means initially resource-disadvantaged firms, as opposed to resource-rich counterparts, gain more from DDD adoption. In other words, resource digitization may even playing field for previously weaker organizations.