In the political discourse, the idea that organising continuing education according to the rules of the market would improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of continuing education programmes is gaining significance. In this article, we endeavour to subject some elements of this fundamental option in continuing education policy to an empirical test. It is based on data which we gathered in a written survey of 126 institutions of qualification-related, non-tertiary, vocational education in 2004 in Switzerland. On the basis of our findings it is questionable whether demand funding automatically increases the attractiveness and quality of the programmes offered. Other factors seem to be more important for planning as the correlation between their planning ability, inner-organisational features and general external conditions shows. (Contains 7 tables, 10 figures and 6 notes.)