The Business Of the Art - Research Paper Example

The Business Art Introduction The Martial Arts are systemized or codified arts of traditional combat, self-defense and discipline. Although most popular martial arts came from Asian countries, it is certainly not exclusive to Asia (Farkas & Corcoran, 1987). In fact, several systems of combat martial arts are found all over the world, like the Hawaiian Lua, French Savate and Brazilian Capoeira which was based on skills brought by the African slaves. No matter what kind of martial art it is, the goal is the same: learn the systematization of fighting techniques that will ultimately physically defeat a person or defend oneself from physical threat. However, there is more to martial arts than just the art of combat. Martial arts have another side to offer other than fighting techniques. Martial arts also teach basic life principles that are meant to guide a practitioner in living a decent life that society can look up to. It teaches discipline and techniques on how to keep oneself motivated and focused. Different martial arts have different emphasis in their fighting styles and principles but essentially impart the value of keeping cultural identity and wisdom on how to go about life (Boleli, 2008). Some martial arts emphasize ones relationship with nature, others emphasize peace. Take for example the Budo. It more popularly identified as the martial art that was developed specifically for physical combat where winning is the only goal. The philosophy and the discipline of Budo that applies to approaching life itself are often overlooked. In fact, the most famous literature in Budo strategy is Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” (Drager and Smith, 1981). Budo not only instills discipline, cleanliness and unselfishness but also presents a new perspective on confronting daily life and business. Sun Tzu’s book state that “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not know the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat. If you know not the enemy or yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” However, Karate is often hailed as the most popular sports and also the most commercialized. The Japanese Foreign Affairs claim that there are 51 million karate practitioners in the world. Entrepreneur magazine (2010) estimates that putting up a Karate gym would cost you anywhere between $10,000 - $50,000. The return of investment could be fast considering a single student pays $600. If the gym gets 200 customers, the profit would be more than $100,000 in one year (Weiss & Weiss, 1986). These facts provide a concrete background on why and how studying martial arts may be converted as a business warrants a serious consideration. None of the martial arts teaches fighting as a stand alone technique. In fact, fighting is discouraged by almost all disciplines yet people continue to study it. This only proves that the sport has a perpetual appeal that cuts across all generations. This paper aims to study why it is becoming necessary for the discipline to be converted into a business venture. The other objective has to do with understanding how the principles of the art can the art be used on the business. Studies shows that The Art of War is one of the most read books for business men and have adapted the teachings and applied it to their business. Sun Tzu stresses the importance of research, analysis and strategies instead of direct conflict. It is still better to obtain victory without any conflict. The popularity of the martial arts may be credited to the fact that it used to be only available to the elite few. Practitioners were chosen. Modernization allowed more people to study different disciplines. The internet is further making martial arts more accessible. Different gyms and organizations are given the opportunity to share their discipline, their principles and build a while marketing effort around it with very little capital. This does not mean that studying the art will come without conditions. If at all, it might make the promotion process stricter. Martial Arts as a Sport It is difficult to trace the origin of martial arts. There are claims that art of fighting as we know it today may have originated from the animal fighting. These fights have been depicted by humans and eventually evolved to a sport. There are claims that wrestling may be the earliest Martial Art developed because it of its similarities with animal fighting. Ancient drawings were found on the tomb of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt at Beni Hasan. It is estimated to have been drawn in 2000 BC. There are also reports of other drawings that were done 2600 B.C. These were military fighting depictions which does not really picture any form of fighting. It only portrayed stances. Another one was drawn as early as 2800 B.C. from the Cycladic II Period. It showed one man holding a knife on one hand and using the other to block (Drager & Smith, 1981). This is a popular martial movie. Modern martial arts or martial arts as we know it today were said trace its roots from Asia and Greece. In fact, the ancient unarmed fighting art was an event in the ancient Olympic games. It was considered to be the ultimate test of an athlete’s combative skill. Pankration is a combination of Hellenic boxing, strangulation, wrestling, kicking and striking techniques. Pankration comes from the adjective “pankrates” meaning “all powers. It was initially cited in 648 BC as it was introduced in the 33rd ancient Olympics but having introduced in the Olympics indicated that it had to have been systemized long before. Martial Arts had a variety of names and techniques across culture and have since evolved into what is now popularly known as mixed martial arts, which is essentially similar to the Olympic event Pankration. The rank system introduced for judo in the 1880s proved commercially viable, and "colored belt" systems were adopted in many martial arts degree mills (also known as "McDojos"; parodied in Penn & Teller: Bullshit! episode "Martial Arts", June 2010). Martial arts have since evolved. There are over a thousand martial arts that originate from different parts of the world which may be divided into three major classifications: armed, unarmed, and spiritual based. Armed martial arts are discipline that use weapon such as “Arnis” from the Philippines and Ninjutsu that also teaches the use of sword. Unarmed martial arts use nothing but hand and feet to defend and attack. The spiritual based martial arts are the ones that were not really designed for fighting but as a form of meditation including TaiChi. No martial art was ever created for the sole purpose of combat. There are martial arts that are designed for fighting but these are fighting that within a military context. There are, however, several things that are common among all martial arts, discipline, respect for other and for oneself, and peace of mind. These three form the basic foundation of the teachings. There may be some variations on the details you will find those three principle across all disciplines. It is also interesting how the values that are taught in martial arts may be applied in business which makes it, for some, inevitable that martials be used as a business venture. Values such as discipline, hard work, calmness and even the practice of pushing oneself to the limits are compatible with entrepreneurship. How Martial Arts Can Be A Customer Magnet In the past, the knowledge of martial arts techniques were closely guarded secrets handed down to a discriminate few who were either born lucky or have proven themselves worthy. Nowadays, the knowledge is offered to anyone who shows interest and is willing to go through the training that is required by it.it is this exclusivity that has served as the main attraction point of the sport. There is a certain glamour in exclusivity, tradition and secrets. This attraction has resulted to a billion dollar industry. The total value of martial arts related equipment and apparel in the United States was pegged at 314 million USD five years ago. This was the profit that was produced by the 6.9 million martial arts practitioner. Most of these practitioners are still minor with the age range between six to 17. Another estimate was presented by R. A. Court with $40 Billion in one year for all equipment and services related to martial arts. This profit was contributed by the 30 million practitioners back in 2003. The exclusivity has gone away. Virtually anyone who wants to study any martial arts may be allowed to do so. In fact, gyms more than welcome anyone who expresses interest. The only requirement that is asked by many gyms is a doctor’s certification that they are healthy enough to train. For underage students, a parental consent is required. The contention lies on whether one will get promoted towards the higher belts or not. Many martial arts have also gone through evolutions and even newer martials arts have been developed using modern days techniques and research. For example, Krav Maga was developed with a specific to aim to hit and put down an enemy with one hit while Keysi Fighting Method combines different martial arts technique to create a well rounded discipline perfect for defense and offense. Most of the new martial arts benefited from the thousands of years of existence of other martial arts and modern research methodologies that allow the development of systematic movements that will maximize the strength of the body. Experience, observation, physics and military training have all been combined to create a better and more efficient discipline. This hybrid of background may actually serve as the primary selling point of a martial arts business. Martial Arts as a Business Asian martial arts experienced a surge of popularity in the west during the 1970s, and the rising demand resulted in numerous low quality or fraudulent schools. Fueled by fictional depictions in martial arts movies, those interested in learning the “ways of the ninja” more than tripled. However, these people lacked the commitment necessary to stay in the sports long. Hollywood continues to sustain the interest of the market on different martial arts though different movies using different fighting techniques. This is free marketing for martial arts but it does not do anything to ensure that the right people are attracted by the sport. However, as Sun Tzu advised, knowing the opponent, in this case the target market, is only half the battle. To succeed, educating oneself about one’s limitation, in this case the business’ limitation has is very important. One of the challenges of converting Martial Arts into a business is capturing the right target market. Sure, there are a lot of clients who sign up for martial arts classes for self -defense. These falls on the short terms types, once they learn enough to make them confident they stop. There are also those who don’t have the willingness to commit to the discipline and practice the teachings. These customers will only go in to study the fighting techniques and ignore the rest of the principles. Variety is also a problem. There are many forms of martials, each one no inferior than the others. The industry has existing competition and to be able to emerge as the top choice, the martial art has to offer something unique, something that answers a long standing need of the consumer that is still ignored. New forms of martial arts are being developed in order to encompass more disciplines which allow these martial arts to capture more people. Old martial art is now facing the challenge of competing against another discipline that applies the best parts of many martial arts. Finally, the biggest challenge of Martial Arts business is the continuous struggle of martial art to become mainstream, in line with sports like basketball, baseball and football. Purists dislike the idea but modern practitioners may actually understand that if any martial art intends to survive they must remain relevant. Conclusion There are several things that make Martial Arts a viable business option. One is the fact that it does not go out of style. After years of existence, Martial Arts did not only persist, it has evolved and has allowed the development of even more Martial Arts. This has happened despite the lack of a definitive international body that will push for the growth of the sports. This proves that Martial Art has a natural appeal. Hollywood exposure is also helping the art in getting more attention from the mainstream market. As more and more fighting techniques are developed, Hollywood is learning how to use different disciplines in a single movie. This produces greater interest on the sport. These efforts should be supplemented by the different Martial Arts organization so that interest may be properly channeled. It is not enough that awareness about the discipline increases, it is more important that awareness among the right people about the art increases. Martial arts practitioners in movies are always projected to be the tough guys. This attracts people who are interested in learning how to fight. However, any martial art does not advocate fighting. Fighting techniques are used for survival and military combat and not for anything else. There may be a need for different martial arts organization to come together to come up with a universal plan on how to promote the sport. Once the marketing strategy is cleared out, it would be easier for gym owners to make business sense out of martial arts. The mere fact that martial arts remain a billion dollar industry despite the lack of international marketing strategy proves and shows the potential that the sport has. More importantly, getting more people to practice the sport will ensure its own survival. References Corcoran, J., Farkas, E., Sobel, S., 1993. The Original Martial Arts Encyclopedia: Tradition, History, London: Pioneers Pro-Action Pub Farkas, E., Corcoran, J., 1987. Martial Arts: Traditions, History, People, Italy: Gallery Books Weiss, A., Weiss, D., 1986, Al Weiss the Official History of Karate in America: The Golden Age : 1968-1986 Entrepeneur Magazine, 2010. Business Idea Center: Martial Artists, [online] accessed 12 December 2011, available athttp://www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/429.html Bolelli, D., 2008. On the Warriors Path, Second Edition: Philosophy, Fighting, and Martial Arts Mythology, Italy: Blue Snake Books; 2 edition (July 8, 2008) Draeger, D., & Smith, R., 1981. Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (Bushido--The Way of the Warrior), New York: Kodansha USA Read More