What can business leaders learn from the America’s Cup sailing races? According to researchers from Imperial College Business School in London, quite a bit.
Dr. Dmitry Sharapov and Dr. Jan Michael Ross were honored for their work during the annual Academy of Management Meeting in Vancouver, according to a press release from the school.
In that release, Sharapov points out the parallels between sports competitions and business.
“Just like business, the captain and crew need to make good strategic and tactical decisions while rivals are trying to get ahead of them,” Sharapov says. “The America’s Cup is particularly interesting because the participating teams are faced with a competition that involves both sport and technological development.”
Sharapov and Ross looked at how sailing teams make decisions in environments of intense competition and uncertainty and how those strategies might also be relevant in the business world.
The paper they were honored for explores “the effectiveness of a ‘follow the follower’ imitation strategy, in which the leading boat imitates the moves and positioning of the follower in order to stay ahead, under different environmental and competitive conditions,” Sharapov says.
The goal is to help business leaders identify when and how to imitate rivals in order to stay ahead (think Apple following Samsung’s lead on phones with larger screens), the researchers said.
Want to look for your own business insights from America’s Cup sailing races? Follow what happens in the next America’s Cup World Series event, scheduled for Oct. 16-18 in Hamilton, Bermuda.