The market positioning of British medical charities

One of the greatest challenges facing managers of medical charities today is to distinguish effectively their cause and their organization in an environment of rapidly increasing competition. Investigates consumer attitudes, identifying those that serve to discriminate among different types of medical charity. Results reveal that those characteristics which best serve to discriminate between competing types of charity are: whether they are perceived to deal with a condition that is due to a genetic or birth defect, as opposed to an acquired condition; the extent to which the charities are perceived to be reputable organizations; whether the charities offer hope in the long term by adopting an educational approach; and whether the problem concerns the whole society. Illustrates the results by the positioning of the charities with regard to these criteria on a perceptual map. Discusses the reasoning for their respective positioning and the use of the results for marketing purposes.