Collaboration Strategy with Local Community in Public Sports Facility Management: Examining Institutional Conditions and Outcomes through a Case Study of a Company

This study examined the means to encourage collaboration strategy with various local community actors through public sports facility management organizations. Such a collaboration strategy is aimed at activities which consist of local contribution activities provided by public sports facility management organizations and activities that stimulate the local community support for the local contribution activities. This strategy should make it possible to improve the operation of public sports facilities. The study focused on two baseball fields of comparable scale, located in neighboring cities and managed by a local company that specializes in farm equipment sales. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the following informants: (1) the president and staff of the managing company, (2) administrative officers of the cities, (3) staff members at the two baseball fields, and (4) various local community actors who collaborate with the company. The major findings were as follows: First, it is important for local governments to adopt appropriate policies, such as granting partial management responsibility for public sports facilities to organizations experienced in facilities management to ensure flexible, competent management based on a collaboration strategy with the various local community actors. Second, collaboration strategy with the local community various actors is important for producing two desirable outcomes: (1) it can reduce costs by building relationships of trust with local community various actors, and (2) it can also thereby build trust with the local government and can have a positive effect on public sports facility management organizations.