ABSTRACT

Title:  4000 seats to Sandviken - The business discourse development from 1921 to 2012 seen through two sports stadiums in Sandviken

Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration

Author: Signe Jernberg

Supervisor: Lars Ekstrand

Date: March 2012

Aim:  The aim of this paper is to investigate the business discourse emergence during the 1900s and to make a contribution to how a business administration discourse can be seen today.

Method: The business discourse is examined through a inventory of how business theories, practices and ideas have enabled the design of two sports facilities, Göransson Arena And Nya idrottsplatsen in Sandviken Municipality. The inventory is based on material gathered from Sandviken Municipality archives and from Göransson Arenas' own archives. The archives consist of such things as board meeting protocols, annual reports, bookkeeping, drawings, photographs and more. The method is based on Foucault's discourse analysis, focusing on his archaeological period.Results & conclusion: The archives show how business ideas, theories, and expressions can be seen in the two arenas. The results show how the concepts of customer, company and association are present in the design of the two arenas in different ways. The conclusion has a discussing approach that revolves around the question of the existence of a business economics discourse in Foucault's definition and the emergence of any such. The discussion also concerns whether or not a business economics discourse influenced the design of the stadiums. The essay leaves no definitive answer on whether one can speak of a foucauldian business administration discourse, but considering that results in the paper gives rise to further studies. Regarding the design of the two arenas, it is concluded that the business ideas, practices and theories enabled Göransson Arena size and design, while Nya IP can mainly be seen as a result of other discourses or ideas/concepts.Proposals for future research: Foucault's archaeological method is a method where large quantities of archival material must be collected in order to describe a discourse in different eras. The essay has its limitations as there is no space to do such a study. It would be valuable to have a major inventory of the business discourse that builds on the archaeological method. Such a study has the potential to contribute to a broader understanding of business administration as a practice and as science.Contributions: The thesis’ contribution is that it shows a direction and an outline for a continuing commitment to examining the business discourse. It also provides a more practical understanding of how the concepts of customer, company and needs are important to a sports stadium today. The paper also raises questions about the field of business administration entering the field of sports arenas and suggests further research that connects to it.Keywords: Foucault, discourse, stadium, företagsekonomisering, Göransson Arena