Internal Competition: Nature and Effects in a Nonprofit Retail Marketing Environment

While the dynamics of external competition and marketing have been extensively researched, internal competition — which is evident in many organizations and particularly noticeable in nonprofit organizations — is not so well understood. Internal competition in this research includes the measure of the lack of inter-functional coordination and the presence of inter-functional conflict as well as internal turbulence (Maltz and Kohli 2000). Inter-functional conflict generally inhibits the effectiveness and ability to perform a variety of marketing initiatives (Maltz and Kohli 2000). This research examines the internal competition that exists between the various stakeholders in a museum — particularly from the perspective of one of the museums’ most visible marketing ventures, the retail museum store.