ABSTRACT
This chapter will provide an expanded review of the operating environment of charitable organizations, which was introduced in Chapter 1. Specifically it focuses upon the environment of charities in the UK. This review is necessary to better understand the contextual background in which the empirical stages of this study are embedded. It will be particularly useful to readers who may be less familiar with the UK voluntary and charitable context. The chapter begins with an overview of the charitable sector by briefly tracing its development within the wider voluntary and non-profit sector over six historical phases until the mid-1990s. This is followed by a conceptualization of the charitable sector using alternative criteria. Next, an overview of the changes in the public policy context and external operating environment in which charities have operated since New Labour came into government in 1997 is discussed. The chapter will then explore the emergence of strategic management and marketing approaches in the charitable sector from the early 1990s. Differences between the charitable and commercial (for-profit) organizational contexts are examined as part of this exploration. Four key drivers that have influenced the adoption of explicit competitive strategies and have elevated the importance of strategic positioning in charities are suggested. Overall, this chapter intends to provide a deeper appreciation of the research context upon which this study is based.
