Search results

The purpose of this paper is to identify types of professionalization in Swiss national sport federations (NSFs) and analyze organizational characteristics associated with specific types of professionalization. Such types reveal common patterns among the increasingly complex organizational designs of NSFs and thus contribute to the understanding of professionalization in NSFs.

An online survey of all Swiss NSFs was conducted to identify types of professionalization in these organizations using hierarchical cluster analysis, based on a multi-dimensional framework of professionalization.

The analysis revealed four types of professionalization: formalized NSFs managed by paid staff, NSFs managed by volunteers and a few paid staff off the field, NSFs with differing formalization and paid staff on the field, and moderately formalized NSFs managed by volunteers. The types differ in terms of the NSFs’ organizational characteristics, in particular, size, financial resources, Olympic status, and performance.

Applying factor and cluster analysis is a new approach to analyzing professionalization in NSFs that makes uncovering distinctive organizational patterns among a large number of NSFs possible. These results lay the foundation for understanding the professionalization of NSFs, counseling NSFs on their organizational development, and conducting future research on the design types of sport organizations.

Notes that there has been a significant increase in the market for fair trade products in the UK over the past five years. Provides a definition of fair trade and goes on to set a context for the expansion of this market by examining the key drivers behind it, particularly noting the growth of ethical consumerism as a contributory factor. Develops the ethical strategy matrix, outlining the strategic options open to retailers for addressing this increase in ethical consumerism. It is argued that addressing the fair trade market in the UK offers retailers not only the opportunity to develop their profile in terms of corporate social responsibility, but also a chance to develop a competitive advantage in a new niche market. Recasts Strong’s marketing analysis of the difficulties of translating fair trade principles into actual purchase behaviour into an operational context and proposes solutions to the issues raised.

Sports clubs are one of the most important elements in the sports systems of today’s societies. In the field of sport, a sports club aims, among other things, to make the sport more affordable and accessible to all, showing the organizational characteristics of companies, but with a much broader social mission. The aim of this chapter is to characterise sports clubs as potentially favorable environments for sports entrepreneurship, making questions about their nature and purposes. Aspects such as the hybridization of organizations, the progressive professionalisation of their members, the use of the entrepreneurial spirit as an instrument to facilitate the achievement of the organisation’s objectives or the need to seek alternative sources of funding to traditional public aid are discussed in the context of increasingly hostile and competitive environments, where social organizations must seek out resources in a similar way to companies.

The purpose of this paper is to review a popular business handbook – The Business Guide – by James L. Nichols, first published around the turn of the twentieth century. The analysis is geared toward determining how it fits within the development of marketing thought and education.

A review of the marketing history literature focusing on marketing thought, education and practice around the turn of the twentieth century is conducted. The content of The Business Guide is analyzed and compared with the themes reflected in the literature review.

Most editions appeared in the era just proceeding the emergence of marketing as distinct discipline. It is unlikely that it had any appreciable influence on the development of marketing thought. However, it was used as a textbook at North-Western College in Naperville, IL, and may have been at other early business education programs in the USA and Canada. Nichols’ treatment of marketing topics was consistent with the era. It reflected commodities and functional views. For him, marketing was primarily distribution along with advertising, pricing, product management and credit. Consistent with modern marketing philosophy, Nichols placed heavy emphasis on ethics.

Despite the fact that this book was published in multiple editions over several decades, it seems to have been largely forgotten. As far as is known, this paper is the only recent treatment of this historical artifact.

The paper addresses the issue of contrasting constructions of social problems. Using “hate crime” as an example, we focus on portraits of the problem in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports and in the New York Times. The analysis illumines how fundamental contrasts in representations of hate arise from differences in the underlying, and institutionalized, sense-making practices of scorekeeping and storytelling. We conclude by discussing the larger implications of the findings for further development of the theoretical model of “dialogical constructionism.”

To identify the factors influencing the success or failure of voluntary organizations to utilize social enterprise models to achieve financial and/or social objectives.

A review of the literature of success/failure factors in trading ventures is presented. Describes the study to understand why social enterprise models either do or do not work in the voluntary sector. Evaluates findings from five separate consultancy projects with UK voluntary sector organizations, where the consultancy work comprised feasibility assessments of new business ideas for each organization and projects carried out by Beehive Promotions Ltd, a subsidiary of Social Enterprise London (SEL). Presents the critical success and failure factors involved in an action research framework for the organizations.

The five critical success factors identified were: organizations wishing to trade must have a product or service that can be sold; the need to identify a market with resources and inclination to pay for the service or product offered; ability and desire to change organizational culture; significant commitment from internal and external stakeholders; and the need for organizations to have requisite management skills to deal with the additional complexity involved in pursuing social enterprise models. Concludes that the three critical failure factors were: underestimating the development time required; the bureaucratic burden carried by third sector organizations; and the fact that organizations driven toward social enterprise for reactive reasons and fear declining grant income are less likely to succeed. Suggests that commercialization is not always a good thing for voluntary organizations struggling to build businesses while maintaining a focus on their core social mission.

Fills a gap in the literature where the issues brought up in this exercise have tended not to be studied.

So far in these articles I have dealt with Scottish publishers of books in all lines of literature, and have not covered the subject, but the material presented is sufficient to indicate a fine record. Now I shall deal with a number of publishers of books of special character. In this case also selection is eclectic; even so it is quite significant.

As our readers are well aware THE BRITISH FOOD JOURNAL has invariably supported any legitimate effort having for its object the improvement, in one form or another, of the national food supply, and so long as the methods adopted are fair and above‐board this journal will continue to support such efforts by whomsoever they may be made. Fair and proper methods, however, are not always adopted, and a circular has recently been forwarded to us which affords an illustration of the fact.