Literature on Sponsorship Analysis Essay (Critical Writing)

Sponsorship is a programme according to which an individual or organization is provided with necessary funds or services to achieve a commercial advantage. There exist numerous types of sponsorship, namely, private, corporate, event, etc. Each of them has its own peculiarities, functions, and objectives. Certain techniques should be taken into account while picking out the necessary sponsorship programme. The question is whether the selection of a technique should remain subjective or an affair of personal preferences. It is necessary to analyze several articles dealing with the issue of sponsorship in order to find out the nature of sponsorship and issues related to it.

The first article is ‘Event sponsorship: an exploratory study of small business objectives, practices, and perceptions’ written by Rhonda Walker Mack. This journal article consists of several chapters: Research Focus; Results; Sponsors Versus Non-Sponsors; Reasons, Benefits, and Future Plans for Sponsorship; and Conclusions and Recommendations. The abstract of the article can be considered clear. The writer explains the major constituents of sponsorship and its types, and introduces the spheres most of the organizations tend to invest into, “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” (Mack 1999).

The author of the article refers to several sources. They are the works by Ken Cicora, Jill Decker, and Michael Terrazas; she refers to their works while enumerating several kinds of sponsorship, for instance, “financial, media, or in-kind support” (Mack, 1999) sponsorship. Further, she refers to Decker while indicating the benefits an organization may have when sponsoring certain events, stating that ” the list of company benefits derived from it can range from publicity to product sales, image enhancement, or even improved employee morale” (Mack 1999).

This article is based on an empirical study. The writer conducts research directed towards sponsorship. The results of the research are described briefly and clearly. They can be quite interesting for businessmen who start their own business, small business owners, or sportsmen who want to find a sponsor.

The methods chosen by the author are appropriate. One of the stages of research is a survey. The questions were sent to 800 businesses. Unfortunately, this number is not enough to make clear and up to the point conclusions. This is why, for further research, it is better to use more people of different occupations.

Concluding the article, the author identifies the areas of further studies, such as marketing and small business, so that, the research could be continued.

The second article under consideration is ‘Sponsorship and the survival of new organizations’ written by David M. Flynn. This article has four main chapters: a little abstract, an overview of sponsorship and infrastructure, theoretical approaches to the study of sponsorship, and a conclusion.

In the abstract, the author mentions the advantages of sponsorship and gives clear reasons why sponsorship is preferable. He states that sponsorship “includes the intervention by government agencies, business firms, and/or universities to create an environment conducive to the birth and survival of organizations” (Flynn, 1993), where he also gives several examples of sponsorship.

When writing the article, the author refers to a number of sources. They are the works of Livingstone, Lawrence & Lorsch, Hall, Barney, Kirlin, Dodge & Robbins, Bruderl & Schlusser, and others. He borrows statistics from the study of Livingston, “Forty states have venture capital funds for seed support of new businesses” (Flynn 1993), takes an excerpt from Hall’s studies when describing the development of sponsorship, “In the earliest stage of development, sponsorship basically blocks the new organization from the environmental threats in the general and specific environments” (Flynn 1993), etc.

The article of David M. Flynn is a review of the literature. The author analyzes the works of different environmentalists, theorists, and scientists. He describes the ideas offered by other writers and contrasts them. He also lets the reader know which ideas he agrees with and which findings of other scholars he disapproves of. In the conclusion he gives a brief summary of the article and indicates which kind of sponsorship is considered to be the most effective, “Sponsorship directed at improving the existing infrastructure may be the most effective funding alternative” (Flynn 1993).

The chosen method is good indeed. All issues are described clearly. It may be a good basis for one’s own research on the same topic in the sphere of ecology, infrastructure, or business organizations.

One more article that should be analyzed is ‘What is sponsorship? Commercial feature in association with sponsors club for arts & business’. This newspaper article is about the Sponsors Club for Arts & Business. The author does not use a definite structure for this paper. It is a kind of analysis of the words said by the director of the club, Adam Lopardo, “For the public, sponsorship is about seeing a company logo on their football team’s shirt or on a Formula One car or before their favourite TV programme but sponsorship from a business perspective is far more than just a logo, they have a lot more to gain from supporting cultural projects” (What is Sponsorship? 2008). The author defines what sponsorship is and what kind of sponsorship is the most effective from his point of view.

This article does not contain any research or empirical study. It is more like a commercial of the club, its activities, and forecasts. However, this cannot be regarded as its drawback and this does not make the article useless since clear examples and explanations offered by the author help to understand the essence of sponsorship and its urgency.

The audience for this article may be the most various. It would be useful for both people studying the issues related to sponsorship and average readers interested in business. The tone of the article is casual though it cannot be called informal. The author informs about the benefits of sponsorship and encourages the readers to sponsor because, according to his founding, sponsorship is able to double the investments.

The article deserves some criticism due to its being biased. The author does not analyze the words of those people he is citing simply believing them and agreeing with them.

Another journal article that should be mentioned is the work by Fiore N.J., ‘Corporate Sponsorship Arrangements’. This article discusses the issues concerning tax payment. ‘A qualified sponsorship payment is any payment for which there is no arrangement or expectation that the payer will receive a substantial return benefit other than the use or acknowledgement of the payer’s name or logo.’ (Fiore1993). The article is divided into three chapters: an introduction with several examples of exempt organization activities, the main body that explains where a sponsorship taxable is, and a conclusion, where the author suggests using one more source to get more information on the topic.

The author concludes her article by stating that some sponsorship arrangements can be taxable because they “limit the sale, distribution, availability or use of competing products or services in connection with an organization’s activity” (Fiore 1993). This is why the author advises those who are interested in details of such regulations to consult the work of Philip Wiesner. However, she does not refer to his studies in the article. If there is a need to continue research on the sponsorship club, the information presented in the concluding part will be relevant.

The ideas presented in the article are written in clear and concise language. The author gives definitions to the notions used for the first time, for instance, “A qualified sponsorship payment is any payment for which there is no arrangement or expectation that the payer will receive a substantial return benefit other than the use or acknowledgement of the payer’s name or logo” (Fiore 1993). This makes the article easily readable and interesting for different audiences. An average reader will hardly find any valuable information in this article but those who are interested in taxes for sponsorship arrangements will find it useful.

The last article for discussion is about NGN (Next Generation Networks). It is called ‘Sponsorship opportunities’ and it informs about the opportunities the network under consideration has. The structure of this article is rather simple for the reason that the article itself is not long. It starts with a brief but up to the point introduction stating that “NGN has always been the showcase for industry thought leaders and innovators”, and then presents several points giving general information about the company and its sponsorship opportunities. ‘NGN attracts an audience that is a “Who’s Who” in networking–including leading customers, carriers, vendors, researchers, investors, analysts and press.’ (Sponsorship opportunities, 2004).

The company (NGN) is presented in the article like the one which is worth sponsoring. This makes the article biased for this information reminds us of advertising. However, this does not mean that the article is irrelevant. It clearly informs about sponsorship opportunities of NGN which makes it relevant for those readers who are interested in performance of this organization. The article seems to be inviting the new sponsors for the company because it enumerates the benefits which already existing sponsors enjoy, “NGN sponsors enjoy value-added benefits such as exposure in BCR magazine, the NGN Best in Show Award program, direct mail pieces, email promotions and PR support both pre-show and on-site” (Sponsorship opportunities, 2004).

The article concludes with providing contact information for those interested in sponsoring NGN.

Taking into consideration everything mentioned above, it can be stated that five articles considered above contribute greatly into the development of the topic concerning the selection of sponsorship programmes. Each of the articles is related to the topic of sponsorship and, though some of them cannot be considered objective, they present valuable information about the issues one may come across when dealing with sponsorship. All the articles contain explanations of new terms or notions they introduce and some of the authors refer to the works of other scholars which makes it possible to conduct a more thorough research on the topic in future.

Reference List

Mack, R.W 1999, ‘Event sponsorship: an exploratory study of small business objectives, practices, and perceptions’, Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 25.

Flynn, D. M 1993, ‘Sponsorship and the survival of new organizations’, Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 51.

Fiore N. J 2000, ‘Corporate Sponsorship Arrangements’, Journal of Accountancy, vol. 189, no. 6, pp. 84.

‘What is sponsorship? Commercial feature in association with sponsors club for arts & business’, 2008, Evening Gazette, pp. 9.

‘Sponsorship Opportunities’, 2004, Business Communication Review, vol. 34, no. 8, pp. 9.