Not‐for‐profit organisations often consider marketing to be inappropriate to their needs. This may well be true if marketing is thought of in its traditional and outdated ‘transactionally’ focused mode. Relationship marketing, with a focus on relationships rather than transactions, and multiple markets, has the ability to meet the unique needs of not‐for‐profit organisations. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to shed light on concepts of validity and validation of social marketing research (SMR) with a view to enhancing SMR design and to inform SMR practice. Design/methodology/approach -The paper defines and presents concepts of validity in a manner that sheds light on the unique issues facing SMR and sets the stage for future research. Findings -The paper introduces an integrated model representing the variety of relationships that exist amongst a range of validity concepts that will assist methodological practice and increased rigor in future studies. The authors also introduce a matrix on research paradigms that can support the integration of a range of philosophical considerations to SMR research design.Research limitations/implications -The "quality" of research is being determined by those at the leading edge of their own paradigm without reference to other points of view. The authors argue that these sub-processes of determining the validity of research outcomes are a challenge to the "discipline" of SMR and that SMR is at risk of becoming too narrowly focussed. Furthermore, the authors believe this is limiting SMR's potential to contribute to the broader domain of business or social research. Social implications -Social marketing is an interdisciplinary practice. The paradigms of research within the social marketing domain are still being argued and are the subject of much debate. The authors believe that the conceptual frameworks developed for this paper will enhance the practices of research in the field of social marketing. Originality/value -The paper provides a new conceptual framework for those developing SMR. This framework aims to integrate others' theories and provide a simplified framework for consideration of issues of validation in SMR.

The effectiveness of a market orientation has been established in other parts of the world. Using a modified replication study of 401 nonprofit organizations from Victoria, this research took some initial steps to assess fundraising and marketing activities. Studies in Australia have usually focused on only one part of the Third Sector. This study takes a different view and uses a criteria sampling method to survey all eleven sections named by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The self-reported data of fundraising activities showed that there were several choices available to all nonprofit organizations that can lead to an improvement in organizational performance. Results suggest that should nonprofit organizations have knowledge generating systems that evaluate their performance this will improve outcomes for them. Even though organizational size is strongly linked to fundraising performance, there are key drivers that can aid even small organizations in their efforts.Keywords: Market orientation, fundraising, organizational performance 3 INTRODUCTIONThere is a growing body of literature that asserts the importance of marketing and marketing activities for nonprofit organizations (White and Simas, 2008), nevertheless there is a need for information that describes the third sector in terms of marketing activities. Market orientation has been extensively researched in the commercial sector and, although organizational commitment is still under scrutiny, it has generally been found to be of value to organizational performance overall (Sivaramakrishnan et al., 2008). However, the crucial underpinning assumptions of profit motivation and thus the fundamental value of marketing to the organization do not necessarily hold for the third sector (White and Simas, 2008). The relevance of the concept market orientation to the nonprofit sector has been challenged and a societal orientation suggested (Sargeant et al., 2002). Others have found market orientation to be wanting and subsequently extended the model for arts organizations (Gainer and Padanyi 2005). Indeed, most information about market orientation in the nonprofit environment focuses on single sectors (Caruana et al., 1998a(Caruana et al., , 1998b Ewing and Caruana, 2000; Harrison and Shaw, 2004; White and Simas 2008). An aim of this paper is to map the current state of marketing orientation and its link to performance across a broad range of nonprofit organizations in the Australian third sector.A consideration of marketing orientation in this region further develops work on single sectors (Ewing and Caruana, 2000; Harrison and Shaw, 2004;Zhou, Chao and Huang 2009) and is warranted given the expansion of the sector since the 1980s (Dolnicar and Lazarevski 2009, 281). In comparison to the UK and the USA, Australia has a smaller population, although like these two countries the median age is rising (Dolnicar and Lazarevski 2009, 279) thus increasing the pressure on some sections of the nonprofit industry. In the UK the nonprofit system is centrali...

Research was conducted in order to define a 'buyer behaviour' process for the 'purchase' of sponsorship at a corporate level. A series of interviews was carried out with a number of organizations that are currently involved in sponsorship of varying kinds. A consideration was made to include a balance of sponsorship types; small and large, as well as Arts, Sport and Events although no attempt was made to identify how the process differs across sponsorship type. Our results show that while sponsorship and fundraising are flipsides of the same coin from the non-profit sponsorship seeker's perspective, the sponsorship provider sees the act of sponsorship as a commercial profit-making venture. This is a conundrum that has wide reaching consequences for the sector.

Achieving sustained business performance is a challenge for many firms. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the food and packaged goods domain where manufacturers are significantly affected by globally aggressive competitors and retailers. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm this study of 173 food manufacturers finds that the NPD process is a capability enabling the translation of a firm's market orientation and its NPD orientation, both resources, into superior NPD program success, thereby enhancing overall firm performance. The results help clarify the somewhat ambiguous relationship between market orientation, product innovation and firm performance and demonstrate that firms wishing to leverage product innovation must have the cultural and structural foundations of both a market orientation and NPD orientation. Importantly, they must implement a well-executed NPD process in order to translate these broader firm resources into performance outcomes.