A BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS OF CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING ORGANISATIONS

Adrian Palmer

Shirley Barrett,

Sharon Ponsonby,

Journal of Marketing Management, forthcoming

1 July 1999

ABSTRACT

Most research to date on co-operative marketing has focused on large organisations. This paper explores co-operation that takes place between smaller businesses for the purpose of marketing the generic elements of their product. A review of literature discusses the business and social objectives of co-operative marketing organisations. It is suggested that the social element of such groups may be more important than in the strategic alliances of larger organisations. A proposition is developed that co-operative marketing groups have a tendency to begin life with a business focus, but over time a social focus becomes more important. The proposition is tested by a qualitative study of co-operative tourism marketing groups. While business objectives were cited by most co-operative groups as their primary goal, evidence within this study suggests that a drift toward more social objectives occurs as associations mature. Adopting a social role may be a means of extending the lifecycle of an association, while the missionary zeal of newer associations provides a focus for co-operation which has more clearly defined business objectives.

INTRODUCTION

Despite the growth in size of organisations and the consolidation of markets, many sectors of western economies retain a fragmented structure, characterised by large numbers of small and medium size enterprises. Government policies of deregulation, combined with innovations in low-scale technology have had the effect of expanding the small business sector (Arnezi and Pellegrin, 1997; Drilhon and Estime, 1993; Bannock, 1992). Competitive activity by firms operating in such sectors is most likely to be directed at attracting market share from their near-competitors. While this competition may in itself lead to an expansion of the market (for example through the lowering of prices), it cannot be relied upon to develop a strategic position for the sector as a whole and to gain a greater share of buyers' total expenditure. In many industry sectors dominated by small scale producers there have therefore been attempts to collectively market the generic features of the firms' output. By pooling resources, firms acting collectively can potentially achieve awareness and market growth levels that would not have been possible had individual firms acted alone in addressing their own localised markets with relatively unsophisticated marketing activities. However, the danger remains that firms who do not take part in this collaborative effort may nevertheless be able to appropriate the benefits created by contributing members.

Co-operative marketing associations represent one of the new organisational forms that need greater understanding. Relatively little research has been conducted on co-operative marketing alliances or on alliance implementation issues at the level of small and medium sized organisations (Webster, 1992; Smith and Barclay, 1997). Hardy (1991) has noted that marketing for co-operative organisations is different from ordinary product marketing because of the existence of numerous important stakeholders, many of whom are essentially volunteers rather than contractually committed to the total marketing effort. The capacity to execute a co-ordinated marketing strategy depends upon a great deal of informing, consensus building and cajoling.

Co-operation between firms who are at similar points in a value chain raises a number of issues. A dynamic tension can exist among members of a marketing group who simultaneously see their fellow co-operators as allies and direct competitors. At a public policy level, the potential benefits of expanding a market through co-operation must be balanced against potential anti-competitive practices that restrict consumers' choices.

Similar to other commercial and public sector organisations, co-operative marketing associations combine rational business practices with the social objectives of the individuals that make them up. While there is a long standing literature on the social influences of behaviour in commercial and public sector organisations (Cyert and March, 1963; Argyle, 1983; Paulus, 1983), there has been relatively little behavioural analysis of co-operative marketing associations.

This paper aims to create a greater understanding of the social and situational factors that influence the activities of voluntary co-operative marketing associations. It reviews the literature in related areas of organisation behaviour and distinguishes between the business and social objectives of organisations. A proposition is then developed that co-operative marketing associations are created with essentially business objectives, but eventually social objectives become dominant. This proposition is tested using a qualitative research study of tourism marketing associations in Ireland.

THE BENEFITS OF CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING

Co-operative marketing associations are defined here as "groups of independent businesses which recognise the advantages of developing markets jointly, rather than in isolation, but who may be unable to directly appropriate the benefits of co-operative activities".

This definition seeks to differentiate co-operative marketing associations towards the end of a continuum from strategic alliances which have become commonplace within many business sectors and between different sectors, and are now well documented (Day, 1995; Varadarajan and Cunningham, 1995; Bucklin and Sengupta, 1993). It recognises that co-operators may only be tied to each other in a very loose way and the benefits generated by co-operation may accrue disproportionately to those incurring the associated costs of co-operative activity. In the form being studied here, it may not be possible to exclude "free-riding" non-contributors from appropriating the generic benefits of co-operative marketing, a condition which differs from typical strategic alliances where rights and responsibilities are specified, formally or informally. Co-operative marketing has become important for many goods and services that are provided by small-scale producers, often with professional codes of conduct. They are typically found at a national level in the co-operative promotion of the generic benefits of dental and eyecare services. At a local level, co-operation is often undertaken to promote town centres as shopping centres or tourist destinations. The availability of public sector funding may facilitate such co-operation. Despite the attractions of co-operation, it has been observed that a significant proportion of attempts at inter-organisational collaboration fail (Wilson, 1994). Failure can arise for a number of reasons, including disagreement over objectives, differences in collaborators' management style, and an inability to adapt collectively to changes in the external environment.

It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish co-operative groups with business objectives from those that have essentially social objectives. As an example, many local trades associations place great importance on their role as an organiser of social activities for their members. Despite this, they may serve a valuable networking role between members which has business outcomes. This research is confined to organisations that have at some point stated that marketing is an important aim of the group.

PREVIOUS LITERATURE RELEVANT TO RELATIONSHIPS AND NETWORKS

There is now considerable literature on the methods by which bilateral buyer-seller relationships develop (Gummesson, 1997; Wilson, 1995). The constructs of trust, commitment, and reciprocity have featured prominently among the factors that cause one-off transactional relationships to be transformed into ongoing buyer-seller relationships (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Bagozzi, 1995; Garbarin and Johnson, 1999). This considerable literature has relevance in informing this research, but is constrained by its preoccupation with bilateral relationships in which the parties' individual goals are defined and in which there is a structure to allocate rights and responsibilities within the relationship. The co-operative marketing associations which are the focus of this research tend to have a much less formal structure, with the existence of multilateral relationships between members. The emerging literature on network organisations (e.g. Achrol, 1991; Cravens and Piercy, 1994) may also inform this research. While much of this literature has focused on networks within and between large organisations, there is a growing literature which relates the network form to SMEs (e.g. Chen, 1999; Malecki and Tootle, 1996). It has been noted that SME networks are diverse in their scope, and Astley and Fombrum (1983) proposed a typology of network relationships based on the nature of the contractual arrangement among businesses (commensal or symbiotic) and whether they have an association that competes for customers within the same industry (direct or indirect). Human and Provan (1997) in a study of US SME manufacturers' networks noted that their sample had many similarities to their European counterparts, but conceptual distinctions existed between these and other types of interorganizational arrangements commonly found in the United States, including joint ventures, federations, and trade associations. They noted that SME networks generally differed from these forms along three identifiable dimensions: purpose, interdependence, and membership criteria. To date, published literature on SME networks has concentrated on network forms characterised by multiple bilateral relationships between members, usually with some degree of contractual formality. While it is true that the co-operative associations being studied here may also include extensive bilateral contracting between their members, this is very often not their main purpose, which is to collectively promote the benefits of their sectional interest. In doing this, members of the association commit to a collective cause with little contractual agreement to receive any benefits back directly. While SME trading networks would normally be able to exclude "free-riders", this is often not possible in co-operative marketing associations as defined here, as non-members may be able to appropriate the collective benefits of members' expenditure without incurring any of the associated costs. In this way, networks of retailers in a town centre may develop closed-system networks of bilateral relationships in respect of trade between individual members, but are unable to exclude non-members from benefiting from a generic campaign to attract more people to the town centre.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CO-OPERATIVE GROUP NORMS

An alternative starting point for this research is to ask why people join groups. Individuals are motivated to join groups for a variety of reasons. As Argyle (1988) noted, it might be through friendship, mutual attraction, shared interests or the influence of a leader. However, regardless of the rationale, group success is primarily determined by the individuals in it and numerous studies have examined the role played by compatibility between members. Schutz (1958) made use of experimental groups to show that incompatibility between members, where more than one individual displayed dominant tendencies, resulted in a failure of group meshing as individuals struggled for dominance within the group. In terms of performing co-operative tasks, such groups were ineffective. Wagner (1995) conceptualised workplace co-operation as the wilful contribution of employees' efforts to the successful completion of interdependent organisational tasks.

A number of studies have discussed the concept of cohesion between group members and its correlation with effective outcomes. Group cohesiveness refers to the ability of group members to stick together and the ability of a group to attract new members. A very cohesive group will demonstrate strong loyalty to its individual members and strong adherence to its established norms. Individuals who cannot accept these norms are cast out from the protection of the group (Cole, 1990). It has been noted that those who have a higher disposition to co-operate are better at gauging situational requirements, for example in recognising different customers’ needs and preferences and delivery of the most appropriate responses (Robin, 1994). A collectivist culture within an organisation leads to enhanced co-operation compared to that of an individualist culture (Chen, Chen & Meindl, 1998).

It is suggested that cohesiveness develops over time and that new groups have little cohesiveness, but this is developed by several factors, including similarity of work, group size, threats from outside, leadership style and common social factors such as age, race or social status. Summarising research, Cole (1990) states that there are three general reasons why individuals develop into closely knit groups: the things they have in common; pressures from outside the group; and group members need to fulfil their social and affiliation needs.

There has been much discussion about whether sociality within business groups is a prerequisite for effective performance of a group's formally stated business tasks. Bouchard (1969) found that sociability was consistently related to performance on group creative and problem-solving tasks while Greer (1955), as cited in Hendrick (1987) also reported a positive relationship between social activeness and group effectiveness. Stodgill (1974) found that person-oriented leadership tended to enhance group satisfaction. An alternative view is provided by Tjosvold (1984) who found no direct effect of leader’s warmth/ coldness on team task performance although there were significant effects on group members' satisfaction, attraction and the leader’s perceived effectiveness. Argyle (1972) warns against excessive social activity at the expense of work in groups displaying high levels of cohesiveness. In the context of co-operative marketing groups, it can be questioned whether sociability of a group facilitates the achievement of the business goals of the association, or merely facilitates the continued survival of the group.

Numerous studies have shown that strong leadership is important for achieving a group's objectives (Blake and Mouton, 1978; Mintzberg, 1973; Adair, 1986) but such leadership may not be sought by individuals who seek essentially social benefits from a co-operative marketing association. Because the benefits of such associations are difficult to quantify, and the direct competitors less easy to identify, a drift of an association's objectives from business to social may be sustainable as a means of facilitating the group's survival. Every member of an association has the capacity for leadership (Cattel, 1951; Bennis, 1989) and it is now widely accepted that leadership is something that is done with people rather than to people (Hersey and Blanchard,1996). In studies of leadership, it has been noted that being able to follow is an important contributor to good leadership (Handy,1976). A common problem with co-operative ventures is the apparent difference in individuals’ goals (Mayo, 1945; Barnard, 1968). Co-ordination of co-operative activities can thus prove challenging and necessitate a style of leadership that will accommodate individuals' characteristics.

Trust is a major factor in determining the level of activity within groups (Fine and Holyfield, 1996; Blomqvist, 1997). The existence of "hidden agendas" that individual members bring into a group can undermine mutual trust. Unless the motives which underlie these agendas are controlled by mutual agreement, implicit or explicit, there may be little chance of getting a collaborative spirit within a group and the group's development may become impeded. Successful collaboration depends upon the commitment of the group to goals and the degree of trust that is generated within the group. Voluntary marketing co-operatives involve members being both a competitor and collaborator with fellow group members. A delicate balance exists between the needs of individuals to advance the interests of the business that they represent and the collective needs of the group. Where the balance is seen to favour the individual's own business, a perception of mistrust based on a lack of reciprocity may harm relationships (Becker, 1990 ; Bagozzi, 1995).

THE LIFECYCLE OF CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING GROUPS

It is common to talk about organisations going through a number of developmental stages. Lifecycle theories have their origins in the natural sciences and have been widely applied to the social sciences. Sociologists have studied the ways in which social interaction between groups goes through stages of initiation, development, growth, maturity and eventually decline (Kimberly, 1980). Tuckman (1965) identified four key stages in the development of groups: forming (finding out about the task, rules and methods, acquiring information and resources and relying on the leader; storming (where internal conflict develops and members resist the task at an emotional level); norming (resolving conflict and developing co-operation through an exchange of views which leads to new standards or norms developing; and lastly performing (teamwork is achieved and roles are flexible and solutions are found and implemented. Norms are influenced by organisational factors such as policies, management style, rules and procedures). There is evidence of the applicability of lifecycles to the development of business organisations. It is argued by Grenier (1972) that periods of steady evolutionary growth are followed by periods of revolutionary development. Periods of crisis exist between states of stability (Hudson, 1995). Within the literature on buyer-seller relationships, a number of models have been proposed of the evolutionary stages which relationships go through, and the means by which the lifecycle of a relationship can be extended (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh, 1987; Spekman et al, 1996). Wilson (1995) talks about a "hybrid stability" in which positive outcomes from a relationship lead to stability in the relationship.

Using life cycle models developed elsewhere in the social sciences, it can be hypothesised that a number of factors trigger the different stages in the life cycle of a co-operative marketing association. These can be external threats and opportunities (for example, the emergence of a powerful competitor or the availability of government funding), or the emergence of internal strengths and weaknesses (for example the appointment of a proactive chairperson or retirement of senior figures).

There is evidence that an organisation's goals may change over time. Within the private commercial sector, new enterprises have been associated with a missionary zeal, prompted by the need to survive in a fiercely competitive environment. Over time, an enterprise can establish a niche for itself, allowing it greater control over its markets (Sasser, et al 1978 ). This is an invitation for satisficing behaviour by managers, where personal social goals may achieve greater prominence relative to formal corporate goals (Cyert and March, 1963; Krabuanrat and Phelps, 1998; Van Witteloostuijn, 1988). Social movement theorists have demonstrated that collective action by individuals and organisations is not a simple function of incentives and overcoming free-rider problems but depends on mutually acquainted participants being able to share interpretations of events and seizing political opportunities (McCarthy and Zald, 1977; Tilly, 1978; McAdam, 1982).

Co-operative marketing associations can be described as organic organisations and the factors that initially drew members together may have changed over time, leading to a revision of goals. The leadership of the association must respond to changes in environmental factors and to individual members’ changing goals if the group is to survive and grow. Historically the most frequently cited reasons for failure in consumer co-operative societies have been inefficient leadership and management; declining interest among members; disputes between members and members’ interference with management (Parker, 1923; 1927 as cited in Stodgill, 1974). With many shared characteristics, the same could be said of co-operative marketing associations today.

Small business owners who typically comprise the membership of co-operative marketing groups may find the transition to followship of one of their peers a difficult challenge. It may be essential for the leader to become part of a social group and to occasionally alienate members by actions which may be sound commercially, but unacceptable socially within a small network of members. The question exists, therefore as to who will emerge as leader in a co-operative association where, by the very nature of the structure, all members assume equity in the running of the association. On certain occasions a member will display what are perceived as essential leadership qualities whereby the member may either be appointed formally or assume the role of leader with the minimum formality. The ability of the leader in a group to obtain the commitment of the group to achieving a task results in a high degree of collaboration (Cole, 1990).

Based on the literature reviewed above, the following proposition can be stated:

The activities of co-operative marketing groups are a product of their business and social objectives and there is a tendency for co-operative marketing groups to experience a drift of goals from a business to a social focus.

The following section develops a methodology for testing this proposition.

METHODOLOGY

This exploratory study sought to learn more about the objectives and activities of co-operative marketing groups as understood by members of such groups themselves. It was considered that the complexity of issues involved would be lost in any research approach which was excessively structured, therefore it was decided to undertake in-depth interviews with members of a sample of groups of interest to this study. Because of the lack of existing theory relating co-operative marketing groups to their social and formal objectives, the need to develop a theory called for a diverse sample and a methodology that is essentially qualitative. A grounded, inductive, research methodology was used whereby "research is begun as close as possible to the ideal of no theory under consideration and no hypotheses to test' (Eisenhardt, 1989 : p536). However, initial direction to the research process was provided by the literature review discussed above.

Data collection consisted principally of interviews conducted with individual representatives from 15 co-operative tourism marketing groups located in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Additional data was collected in the form of documentation produced by the associations, media coverage of their activities and informal discussions with members, with the aim of producing a "chain of evidence" (Yin, 1984).

In inductive enquiry, it may be difficult to define the basis for representativeness, so emphasis was placed on acquiring a diverse sample of respondents who could provide a large volume of rich detail. The criterion for selecting organisations for the sample was their ability to provide an insight into an emergent theory rather than reflecting a statistical sampling technique (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). The sample of interviewees was chosen in accordance with the suggestion of Miles and Huberman (1984) that "choices of informants, episodes and interactions are driven by a conceptual question and not by a concern for representativeness" (Miles and Huberman, 1984:29). Given this approach to sample selection, the results can only allow a generalisation to theoretical propositions rather than to a statistically reliable prediction of behaviour (Yin, 1984).

The research sample comprised members of co-operative marketing groups that were involved in marketing tourism destinations. The "product" which is the focus of co-operation is highly amorphous and difficult to define. By co-operating, owners of visitor attractions in a tourist destination can collectively achieve more than the sum total of the marketing efforts of individual companies acting alone. Tourists essentially purchase a complete experience, which can be greatly enhanced by contributors to that experience working together rather than in isolation. Co-operative marketing groups have become increasingly important for tourism destination marketing (Heath and Wall, 1991; Go and Williams, 1995). Despite their advantages, co-operative tourism marketing groups present a number of challenges. Members of groups must reconcile their potentially conflicting roles of competitor and co-operator. Non-members may gain much of the benefit of increased visitor numbers without incurring any of the members' costs.

A total of 25 respondents from 15 co-operative groups were selected, on bases identified by Eisenhardt (1989) and Yin (1984), who suggest that cases can be selected because similar results are predicted (literal replication) or to generate different results for predictable reasons (theoretical replication). In this case, it was felt that interviewing chairmen or other senior figures in the marketing groups might give one perspective of their organisation that is quite different from that perceived by ordinary members. The sample was therefore balanced to include both types of individual.

The form of grounded analysis used here was based on the principles proposed by Miles and Huberman (1984) and Strauss and Corbin (1990), and was highly iterative in nature. Raw data was collected and successively broken down, or "coded", such that themes, patterns and relationships could be identified and established and subsequently developed into theoretical constructs. These emerging ideas and insights were cross-referenced with the original data in order to check their validity, and to determine what additional data should be sought. In this way analysis switched between being inductive (theory driven by data) and deductive (data collection driven by theory). Further corroboration of findings was sought by various forms of triangulation, including cross-referencing of interviews within organisations; cross-referencing between organisations, and cross-referencing of interview data with data obtained from other published sources. Successive iterations of coding were conducted until internal consistency became apparent.

ANALYSIS

Analysis of respondents' comments commenced with the reasons stated for the creation of their association.

Almost half of the associations had been in existence for 25 years or more and the newest had been established for 3 years. All respondents stated that developing and promoting the tourism interests of members was an important reason for the group having been established. Some groups added a number of additional objectives, including social and cultural reasons. It was notable that business reasons for creation were mentioned more prominently by younger associations (those established for less than 6 years), compared with the longer-established groups.

An analysis of interview transcripts indicated that the most recently created associations were the most likely to talk about their business rather than social objectives. One association established for three years had been successful in developing a business plan that had resulted in the award of European Union funding for a project in its area. However, it noted that "…the association hasn't taken off in the business community which is disappointing" and referred to the knock-on effect which tourism could bring to their local economy. It was observed that "…local painters, grocers, hairdressers etc don’t see themselves benefiting from these multiplier benefits of tourism". This group typified the relatively new groups that had a small core of dedicated individuals but had encountered problems in persuading busy business people to invest their time and resources into the group in the hope of getting a longer-term collective return.

Another recently established group had obtained government development assistance which had been channelled to local businesses and a respondent reported that this had "…helped one group member to build a £1/4 million riding school, another had built a museum and tea-room, and another built a self catering unit". However, without an established social role to fall back on, the group appeared to be struggling to retain its integrity beyond the core group of financially involved individuals.

An association established within the last three years had developed a clear promotional strategy around a theme of the area's local archaeology and had established an information office as a promotional and distribution point for the members' services. The respondent had a clear sense of mission, stating "… our aim is to create awareness of the history of the area and to encourage visitors to spend time exploring the area", and "...we have a promotion budget which is targeted at schools and day trippers". These statements were corroborated by evidence of the association's publicity material.

The chairman of a group established for 20 years identified its reason for creation as being to "bring together people who were very isolated. Our main achievement has been in breaking this". The group had a strategy to "improve business and communication with similar businesses with similar aims", but no clear business plan currently existed to promote its members' interests. When asked to rate the association's business functions, the chair stated that "we don't do that much to be honest", implying an essentially social rather than business orientation. Press coverage of the association's activities during the preceding six months emphasised social rather than business activities. Three respondent members of long-established associations considered their groups to be essentially a social outlet for members.

The use of language by respondents gave some indication of the current objectives and activities of their association. At one extreme was a six year-old association for which both respondents (chair and ordinary member) frequently mentioned the words "customer", "product" and "controlling standards". The secretary of this group considered that the group faced "intense competition" from competing associations in other areas which were considered to be "larger, stronger and threatening". Another respondent stated that their association was established to "...better the facilities for infrastructure and product marketing and securing customer safety". It's aim of improving standards was evidenced by the number of establishments in its area which displayed the association's logo, indicating their acceptance of the association's standards. Another respondent (a Secretary) described their aims as being "to further the awareness of tourism and boating in the area" and mentioned "marketing" frequently.

A sign of a vibrant organisation is a growing, or at least stable level of membership. Respondents representing four of the associations indicated growth in their membership in recent years. One of the younger associations, established for six years, had a strategy for recruiting new members, linked to its business plan. As evidence of this, a recruitment leaflet was seen. Another relatively new association had a strategy to recruit new members, but reported a level of apathy from the broader business community who are indirect beneficiaries of increased tourism - "…we have tried to get more members, but we need to get our message over more clearly".

The majority of associations reported that their membership level was stable, with no strategy to increase total membership. With the tourism sector growing, it might have been expected that most associations would have grown organically. This level of growth was constrained by a lack of a strategy to recruit new members, and in some cases by competition from more pro-active business associations, including those whose constituency is wider than tourism. One respondent commented that there were "…too many small tourism associations in their area, all doing essentially the same thing and potentially competing for the same membership". Most relied on word of mouth to recruit new members and expected to gain new members where an established business changed hands. Three of the older associations did not have formal application forms by which new members could join the association, but relied on informal approaches.

A large number of respondents stated that their associations had fairly intangible objectives. One secretary of an association representing guesthouse owners stated that their association existed to provide a "voice" and a "platform" for their views. However, no clear strategy for doing so was evident (for example no evidence was available that the group undertook such activities as holding regular meetings with government policy makers or having strategies to communicate with the media on a regular basis). The term "networking" was mentioned by four associations, for example, the secretary of one long-established group commented that an important activity of the group was "…to improve business and communication with similar businesses with similar aims", while the Chair of another stated that the group's main achievement to date had been "networking, knowing people in other areas and getting them into our area". In the absence of other more structured strategies for improving members' business performance, the mode of operation of these groups appeared to become very much oriented towards social activities. One respondent from a long-established group stated that since her appointment as Chair she is "….more social and encourages more informality" and also noted that the group had undertaken very few formal business activities. Another long-established group secretary noted "we don’t do much advertising" and said that they were "…more of a social outlet than a progressive or inactive group". In both cases this view was corroborated by member respondents from the groups concerned. A respondent of a group established for 10 years said "…professionalism has changed, old members have turned the group into a social outlet but now we need to get back to a business".

A respondent who was the development officer of an association established in 1965 stated that the aim of the group was now to provide a "social headquarters" for local businesses and had taken on a more "social front" in the 1980's. Since then, the respondent interpreted the association's efforts at "doing marketing" as being about the routine production of promotional brochures which had not changed much in format over the years. Brochures produced by this group were seen and appeared to be very traditional in design.

Almost all respondents rated the success of their groups highly, with no respondent recording a score of less than 2 (on a scale from 1 = not at all successful to 5 = highly successful) and the majority rated their associations at 4 or 5. It was notable that representatives of groups that had achieved no tangible marketing benefits nevertheless rated their association's success highly, indicating that the assessment was probably being carried out against social rather than purely commercial objectives. This was despite all respondents stating that their associations were initially established with business objectives. In a large number of cases, respondents who were ordinary members of an association rated their association's success lower than officers'. This was especially so in the case of respondents who were paid employees of an association who in all cases overstated their associations' success relative to the views of their member respondents.

It became apparent during interviews that the majority of associations had started out with business objectives, but the majority of long-established groups now gave evidence of satisficing behaviour by operating as essentially loose knit associations in which informal social interaction took precedence over formal business plans. A further line of enquiry sought to understand the reasons for this apparent transformation.

There was little evidence of major splits within associations that might have challenged the existing status quo, although respondents of seven associations reported that there had been some conflict among members. At most, one respondent reported that "loose cannons" may have caused controversy in their association initially, but soon left. This type of behaviour appeared to be the case in five of the groups studied and further probing suggested that the socialisation processes and the cultural values of the association were a major cause of tension, rather than the business merits of proposals being discussed. For example, one member respondent commented: "There have been disagreements where people have had ideas and left when they were not accepted but the group has never split and is very amicable". Another chairman commented "Yes - some mavericks want to paddle their own canoes and don’t fit into the association and the conflict has caused great difficulty for the chairman". In three cases, ordinary members gave an account of greater conflict than that given by an officer respondent of their association.

The role of the association's chairperson gave a further insight into how an association functions. For the majority of groups, the chair was formally elected annually, although there was a high incidence of re-election of the incumbent. One chair of a 6 year old association that regularly changed its chair commented that "new ideas arise" when a new chair is elected. Another commented that "new people bring change. It's always welcome and can probe new fields. Experience of long-term members is valuable however. We must change with time". Both respondents represented groups that were more active in developing business plans. The need to balance change with stability was noted by one member who stated that "continuity is important" but "short term is preferable". All of the relatively "young" associations (those established for less than 6 years) with the exception of one had changed their chairs annually.

It became apparent that in many of the less active groups, the role of chair was not actively sought. One Chair said "Since no-one wants it, there have only been 4 chairs in 20 years. You leave when you are bored". She said that the type and frequency of activities has changed since "I have adopted a more social role and encourage more informality".

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Voluntary co-operative marketing among groups of small businesses is an under-researched subject in a field that has been dominated by analysis of strategic alliances and joint ventures between larger organisations. In business sectors that are fragmented, co-operative marketing groups can have a valuable role to play in developing strategic marketing in respect of the generic characteristics of the sectors' products. Many government moves to deregulate business sectors have been accompanied by measures to implement some aspects of government policy through co-operative groups that represent the sector. In these circumstances, there is a public policy interest in understanding which groups are likely to yield the greatest benefits in terms of social welfare and the return on any government investment vested with them.

This research has focussed on co-operative tourism marketing groups that have all professed to having business objectives. Clear evidence emerged of divergence between groups in their mode of operation, with some displacement of objectives becoming apparent. It had been suggested, on the basis of previously published literature, that groups might have drifted from a focus on business objectives to a focus on social objectives. There is evidence of support for the proposition of this research, with a contrast between the business ethos of the newer groups studied and the social ethos of the older ones. A theoretical argument had been proposed that stronger organisations were able to satisfice as a result of attaining a dominant market position, thereby leading to the displacement of business objectives by social objectives. While the drift to social objectives appeared to be true in this study, it is difficult to accept that such groups had attained a dominant market position. In all cases the members represented by the groups remained vulnerable to strong competition from other tourist destinations, both within the country and overseas.

The qualitative research approach has allowed rich data to be obtained which can be regarded as reliable, given its multiple sources and corroboration through a chain of evidence. The objectives of groups were defined not merely on the basis of an officer's statement, but corroborated with statements taken from ordinary members of the group, materials published by the group and media coverage. Nevertheless, the retrospective nature of much of the analysis must be recognised, although it is felt that a concentration on current evidence has reduced problems of distorting facts associated with the historical development of a group. The research framework was not designed with the intention of being able to identify which associations are more effective, and whether sociability within a group facilitates or impedes the achievement of business goals.

The results of this research have a number of implications. Firstly, it may be possible for co-operative marketing groups to adopt distinctive positions within the communities that they serve. The emergence in this study of groups which were predominantly social or predominantly business oriented may have been a response to the position options open to them. Most member respondents had choice of co-operative groups that would satisfy their needs and evidence was presented of individuals switching between groups where they felt their needs were being unmet. Prospective association members are likely to differ in the relative importance which they attach to the social as opposed to the business element of an association. This may in turn reflect the business position of members, with younger, more pro-active business people more likely to join the younger, business oriented associations. The implication is that the market place may support co-operative groups with differing positioning mixes of business and sociality. The evidence of this research suggests that this positioning is achieved unconsciously, but groups may benefit by being more explicit in specifying their position.

In situations where multiple associations serve a sectional interest, a question arises of how the co-operative groups should co-operate with each other. In this study, members commonly chose between associations which operated at different levels of a geographical hierarchy (e.g. national, regional or local groups); between different sectional groups (e.g. a hoteliers' group and a licensed trade group serving the same area) and between associations that essentially serve similar groups (as occurs in areas where the boundaries of regional associations overlap). In this research, linkages between associations appeared to be largely informal, but greater benefits may be possible by linking the efforts of groups.

It was noted in the introduction that government policy has increasingly had the effect of pushing marketing activity to co-operative groups in order to promote services which are deemed to be of public benefit. This research has confirmed the diversity of groups in their business orientation and the need to ensure any government funds are vested with the association most capable of delivering. Moreover, the evident lifecycle effect suggests that long-term projects may become ineffective if they remain vested with one association.

As in many discussions of lifecycles, the question can be asked about how an association's life cycle can be extended. This research has suggested that associations have survived by adopting a predominantly social role. Evidence emerged during the study of associations that had failed, possibly because a social role was not developed to replace a failed business role. It was beyond the scope of this study to examine the factors which led to associations being effective from a marketing perspective, but the strength of a leader in exploiting external opportunities for the benefit of the group appeared to be important.

The findings of this study may have relevance to voluntary co-operative marketing groups in other sectors. However, a number of mediating factors can be identified which may limit the extent of generalisation. This study was carried out within the culture of one region and it is likely that different cultural values may affect the nature of co-operation in other areas. Market structure can affect the nature of co-operative marketing groups. In markets with a high level of concentration, small businesses may have less inclination to develop the market collectively, rather than relying on the efforts of the market leader. Governments may intervene to affect the role of co-operative marketing groups, for example by providing them with funding or giving them statutory powers. The findings of this research may also inform debate about the promotion of causes, in which supporters of a cause may appropriate the benefits of a campaigning group's activities without contributing to its costs. A casual observation of many charities and political parties would suggest that they go through a similar lifecycle to that described here, with initial missionary enthusiasm being replaced by increasing levels of complacency and sociality.

This research has suggested that co-operative marketing groups tend to change in nature as they mature. Further research would be useful to explore the reasons why the observed changes occur, and how the business effectiveness of a group can be prolonged. Leadership emerged as an important internal factor which might explain why some groups continued to achieve business success, while others drifted to social objectives, despite similar external threats and opportunities.

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