Keywords
strategic adaptation, environmental change, sports and entertainment, world wrestling entertainment, board of governance, key leadership
Abstract
This paper addresses the strategic and environmental adaptation of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the undisputed leader in the professional wrestling and sports entertainment industry. With over three decades of dominance, the WWE surpassed $1 billion in revenues and continues to produce live content in new ways, which successfully increased audience interaction and engagement. As the WWE continued to adapt its business to the changing media environment during the global pandemic of COVID-19, it completed an important agreement to license its WWE Network content to Peacock. The agreement is expected to expand the reach of its brands and enhance the value of its content. Despite these achievements, the company must address key issues. They coalesce in the need to develop a business model to reach its targets better than its competitors, and to improve current business practices to support future growth opportunities. This paper addresses the key issues prevalent in WWE today and proposes viable recommendations, such as the implementation of audits by management to help mitigate or prevent the issue of gender wage-gap, the pursuit of mergers and acquisitions with its competitors, and the engagement of its fans in the metaverse to develop a novel Story Mode Initiative. Finally, key recommendations for further research and a summary of the main contributions are provided.
Primary Advisor
Dr. Gerry Kerr
Program Reader
Dr. Dave Bussière
Degree Name
Master of Business Administration
Department
Business Administration
Document Type
Major Research Paper
Convocation Year
2022
Included in
Advertising and Promotion Management Commons, Business Analytics Commons, Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Corporate Finance Commons, E-Commerce Commons, Sports Management Commons, Strategic Management Policy Commons