Nonprofit Organizations and Relationship Marketing As Applied to Special Olympics Miami-Dade County

Abstract

In the field of marketing, the concept of relationship marketing is both an old and a new one. Evert Gummesson sums this up by discussing the fact that while the term of relationship marketing is new, the phenomenon has existed for some time (2002, p. 295). In their discussion on the evolution of relationship marketing, Sheth and Parvatiyar point out the fact that relationship marketing existed before the Industrial Era and well before the discipline of marketing was even established (2000). Many studies have tested different variables as key constructs for relationship marketing success. Specifically, Arnett, German, and Hunt tested identity salience as a key construct in the case of nonprofit organizations and found that the three relationship-inducing factors of satisfaction, prestige, and participation positively influence how strongly one identifies with an identity (2003). Arnett, German, and Hunt provide a scholarly look into what is happening in nonprofit marketing. My internship with Special Olympics Miami-Dade County in the summer of 2005 shows the applicability of this study's results to a nonprofit organization. Additionally, the study's results confirm the path of marketing that this organization has chosen to undertake. The importance of this cannot be missed because the shift towards relationship marketing today may signal an overall paradigm shift in the discipline of marketing.