آنالیز عوامل بازاریابی رابطه برای مراکز ورزشی با روش تحقیق ترکیبی Analysis of relationship marketing factors for sports centers with mixed methods research

Introduction In a survey conducted in the early 2000s by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea to investigate overall participation in sports, 33.6% of the respondents stated that, among other types of sports facilities, the sports center was most required (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2003; Seok, 2007; Lee, 2010). However, as the number of sports centers has increased sharply due to growing demand from the early 2000s, an increasing number of them have also been suffering from financial problems brought on by intense competition (Kim et al., 2010). According to the 2014 sports industry statistics from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, there are 92,293 nationwide sports businesses, an increase of 1,800 businesses compared to 2013. Among these, sports facility businesses comprised of 34,942 (37.9%) of the businesses in 2014; 35,314 (39%), in 2013; and 35,412 (42%), in 2012. However, recently the number of sports facility businesses has reduced significantly, although the overall sports industry has been showing an increasing trend (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2015; Lee, 2017). Like other service sectors, the market for commercial sports centers needs to provide higher professional and quality services for increased customer satisfaction, since customer needs should never be ignored. Sports center managers or service providers have implemented piecemeal business and marketing strategies, making it even more difficult to survive competition. To survive in this competitive market, these managers must adopt a differentiated and viable marketing strategy (An, 2000; Seol, 2013). For sport centers to secure an edge in a competitive market with poor economic prospects, they must move away from the marketing practice of attracting more consumers. They must shift their marketing paradigm toward retaining existing clients, strengthening relationships with them in order to maintain and boost revenue. Hence, relationship marketing has now attracted more attention. This form of marketing is markedly different from existing ordinary transaction marketing strategies—it considers clients as partners for future revenue generation through long-term relationships (Yang et al., 2009; Choi, 2007; Berry, 1995).