Not for profit and public sector marketing(Charity Marketing) Essay

Not for profit and public sector marketing(Charity Marketing) - Essay Example The specific crisis has also affected the charities and the non-profits organizations; the above organizations had to update their strategies, including their marketing campaigns, in order to survive and to stabilize their performance. However, there have been business sectors on which the effects of the crisis have been quite severe. The secondhand bookselling is one of these sectors. The firms operating in this sector have suffered severe losses because of the recession; many of these businesses had to terminate their operation. These turbulences have led to the development of conflicts regarding the actual causes of the negative performance of the sector’s businesses. Oxfam has been blamed as being partially responsible for the crisis in the particular sector. The marketing strategies of the organization have been negatively criticized as threatening the businesses operating in this sector. Explanations are given on the marketing practices of the organization and their pote ntial effects on the operations of the businesses in the secondhand bookselling industry. 2. Marketing strategy of Oxfam 2.1 Overview of the problem Oxfam is the most known non-profit organization of Britain. The specific charity serves various social needs; the relevant funds are gathered through extensive fundraising schemes promoted by appropriately customized marketing techniques. Certain entrepreneurs have negatively criticized the marketing plans used by Oxfam. The problem under examination is the involvement of Oxfam in the selling of second-hand books. British booksellers – especially those dealing with the selling of second-hand books, have made complaints for the charity’s involvement in their business sector. Marc Harrison, a bookseller in Salisbury, had to close his bookshop due to the continuous decrease of profits; Mr. Harrison blames Oxfam for the damage he suffered (Riddle 2009). The accusations of Mr. Harrison are based on the fact that Oxfam has enter ed in the bookshop retail establishing its bookshops across UK. In accordance with Thomson (2009) the activities of charities can, indeed, threaten retailers, taking into consideration the fact that charities have a series of advantages – referring to the lack of financial obligations, like tax, payroll and so on. Kimmelman (2009) has stated similar concerns regarding the power of Oxfam to dominate the British secondhand bookselling industry (Kimmelman 2009). Kimmelman refers to the case of Harrison in order to highlight the practical implications of the entrance of Oxfam in the particular sector. It is noted that secondhand booksellers do not have many chances to win Oxfam (2009). The above organization has the financial power in order to support a nation-wide marketing campaign achieving a continuous increase of its profits. In the case of the above charity, marketing has been proved to have a critical role in the organization’s expansion in the particular industry. The marketing practices of the firm can be evaluated using an appropriately customized P.R. planning model, which will contain a series of proposals which can be actioned immediately – having being checked in order to be SMART. 2.2 P.R. planning model for Oxfam The marketing choices of Oxfam should be explained by using an appropriately customized P.R. planning model. The Six Points P.R. Planning model of Jefkins (1994) has been chosen in order to explain the scope of P.R. policies used by Oxfam. T