Event Sponsorship: An Exploratory Study of Small Business Objectives, Practices, and Perceptions
通过焦点小组访谈，探索小企业在事件赞助中的目标、实践和认知，发现小企业赞助主要关注社区关系、营销目标和员工关系，而非仅基于企业公民责任。
Event, or community, sponsorship allows organizations to reach their target market with less clutter than other communications methods, exposes the product/service directly to the market, and provides an excellent mechanism for the organization to give back to the community by which it is supported. Event sponsorship, or sponsorship marketing, refers to supporting various types of event ranging from local Little League teams, educational partnerships, and health fairs, to college basketball teams, around-the-world sail boat races, professional auto racing, and even to the Olympic Games. Sponsorship varies widely in a number of aspects including event type, dollar expenditure, extent of professional planning and objectives, number and type of participants, media exposure, and geographic context. Whether the type of sponsorship is financial, media, or in-kind support (Cicora 1991), the list of company benefits derived from it can range from publicity, to product sales, image enhancement, or even improved employee morale (Decker 1991). Many organizations are now investing in sponsorships of the arts and education to enhance their corporate image. Sporting events, however, continue to be the biggest draw. Although a great deal of the literature regarding sponsorship focuses on large corporations and international events, potential benefits for small businesses sponsoring small local and regional events are also impressive. Many small events are less likely to receive corporate funding and are more dependent upon local and regional organizations for support. Similarly, small businesses often cannot afford to sponsor large events. The community identity available from partnerships between local events and local and regional small businesses can offer small businesses major opportunities in terms of community relations, marketing objectives, and employee relations (employees are often involved in these events as community members). While large international corporations may need the media reach of an international event to achieve their objectives, the proper partnering of smaller businesses and events may achieve those same objectives on a smaller scale within the resources of both organizations involved. Regardless of the type or level of sponsorship, more companies have begun to take their sponsorship decisions seriously. Terrazas (1995) indicates that these decisions are no longer made based solely on corporate citizenship but rather on the match between the community benefits of the sponsorship and the marketing objectives of the organization. However, this move toward viewing sponsorship as a marketing vehicle is inconsistent with earlier perceptions in which organizations' sponsorship objectives were primarily to assist the community, a particular cause, or group. Some organizations, such as John Paul Mitchell Systems, feel strongly that businesses must have a conscience in selecting socially responsible sponsorships even at the community level (Skiing 1996). Other organizations see sponsorship as the perfect vehicle for improving employee motivation, helping entertain clients, and reaching a specific target audience with the organization's message (Nation's Business 1995). Research Focus Little research interest has been directed toward sponsorship. Most existing literature emphasizes the rewards available, discusses ways to maximize those rewards, or simply features case studies. The majority of this literature tends to focus on large organizations and large sponsorships. The purpose of this study was to investigate sponsorship objectives, opinions, and practices with a focus on smaller organizations. The research had two phases. An initial exploratory stage involved a focus group session with small business owners. This session was conducted in the summer of 1996. The objective of the session was to probe the participants' opinions of, involvement in, and objectives of sponsorship. …