ABSTRACT
As government and voluntary and community organizations (VCOs) increasingly work in partnership to make public policy, and to design and deliver public services, new challenges are raised for the practice of marketing within public service organizations (PSOs)2 and for assessing its fitness for purpose within the “new regulatory state” (Jayasuriya 2004). However, this task is complicated by the considerable ambiguity surrounding the role of marketing within PSOs. Indeed, the very existence of a “marketing function” within PSOs is contentious in its own right. Based on English experience, this chapter seeks to develop clear conceptual foundations to guide the placing and practice of this functional discipline within such organizations.
