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Venturing Beyond the Marathon: The Entrepreneurship of Ultrarunning and the IAU World Cup in Korea

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Abstract

This article describes the entrepreneurial development and professionalism of ultradistance running (ultrarunning) in South Korea, culminating with the hosting of the International Association of Ultrarunning World Cup 100km in 2006. This case-study-based research provides evidence of various macro-environmental and individual drivers of a grassroots entrepreneurial process, contextualized in Korea's sporting culture. Macro-environmental factors include the economic crisis and Korean cultural values of camaraderie, emotional expressiveness and entrepreneurial spirit. At the individual level, self-leadership, focus, persistence, team dynamics and access to resources explain the growth of ultrarunning and the commitment to hosting the IAU World Cup. Implications for sports entrepreneurship and grassroots-initiated mega-sporting events in Asia are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Korea refers to the Republic of Korea, also known as South Korea.

  2. Japan–Korea relations have improved substantially over time (Hook, 2002).

  3. Korea's per capitaGDP grew from −6.85 per cent in 1998 to 8.49 per cent in 2000 and 4.9 per cent in 2006 (IMF, 2007).

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Acknowledgements

Special-issue editors Harald Dolles and Sten Söderman and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful developmental feedback. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Workshop on ‘Sport and Sport Business: Facing the Challenges of Internationalisation’, at Heilbronn Business School, Germany, in April 2007. I am grateful to Yonsik Lee, Bokjin Park and the KUMF members for a wonderful run in Korea and Jeyup, Cherie, John and Young-Hoon Kwaak for hosting her in Seoul at the Peace House.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 4001, Queensland, Australia

    Siri Terjesen

  2. Max Planck Institute of Economics, Texas Christian University, TCU Box 298530, Fort Worth, 76129, TX, USA

    Siri Terjesen

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Terjesen, S. Venturing Beyond the Marathon: The Entrepreneurship of Ultrarunning and the IAU World Cup in Korea. Asian Bus Manage 7, 225–241 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/abm.2008.2

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