Da Gama Textiles, based in the Eastern Cape has seen its sales of Jacquard products being affected in recent years by cheaper imported products. A study was required to enable its senior management to develop a branding strategy for its Jacquard products. In addition, senior managers required information about how to take advantage of the 2010 World Cup. Data collection was conducted in July to September 2009, using two population groups. The first one was bed and breakfast managers in KwaZulu-Natal, with the second one being top ten Jacquard customers by volume in South Africa. Results showed that awareness levels for Da Gama’s Jacquard products are low, although more than half of respondents would be willing to receive literature from Da Gama in the future relating to Jacquard products. Among the top ten customers, loyalty levels were found to be high, however customers were not satisfied with Da Gama’s price levels and felt that designs and delivery lead times could be improved. A suggested branding strategy was drafted, targeting both population groups. A strategy to build brand awareness and brand loyalty levels was suggested for bed and breakfast managers, while a strategy to improve brand loyalty levels was suggested for the top ten customers. / Business Administration / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

Η μελέτη πραγματεύεται το λανσάρισμα στην αγορά ενός νέου προϊόντος μέσω επέκτασης μάρκας. Συγκεκριμένα, γίνεται μια έρευνα αγοράς, κατά πόσο οι καταναλωτές ενδιαφέρονται ή όχι να αγοράσουν το νέο προϊόν που προτίθεται η εταιρία EΒΓΑ να κυκλοφορήσει, το κρουασάν FOLIE με επικάλυψη τη σοκολάτα του παγωτού STATUS. / This study is about launching a new product in the market through brand extension. Particularly,it is a market survey, whether the consumers are interested in buying the new product that EVGA company is planning to release or not.This product is the croissant Folie covered with real chocolate of the STATUS ice-cream.

Da Gama Textiles, based in the Eastern Cape has seen its sales of Jacquard products being affected in recent years by cheaper imported products. A study was required to enable its senior management to develop a branding strategy for its Jacquard products. In addition, senior managers required information about how to take advantage of the 2010 World Cup. Data collection was conducted in July to September 2009, using two population groups. The first one was bed and breakfast managers in KwaZulu-Natal, with the second one being top ten Jacquard customers by volume in South Africa. Results showed that awareness levels for Da Gama’s Jacquard products are low, although more than half of respondents would be willing to receive literature from Da Gama in the future relating to Jacquard products. Among the top ten customers, loyalty levels were found to be high, however customers were not satisfied with Da Gama’s price levels and felt that designs and delivery lead times could be improved. A suggested branding strategy was drafted, targeting both population groups. A strategy to build brand awareness and brand loyalty levels was suggested for bed and breakfast managers, while a strategy to improve brand loyalty levels was suggested for the top ten customers. / Business Administration / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

The gap between ethical purchase intentions and ethical purchase behaviour is well-documented. Although this gap can be bridged by increasing the level of awareness among consumers with regards to ethical business practices, it was found that consumers between the ages of 19 to 56 years were already aware of ethical organisations and business practices in the South African sports supplement industry. They are however unaware of companies that operate unethically. Several factors such as brand familiarity, price and convenience were found to compete with ethical business behaviour during the purchase decision-making process. It is thus recommended that organisations that incorporate ethical business behaviour at a strategic level should provide ethical products that are competitively priced, convenient to use and from a brand that is familiar / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

The gap between ethical purchase intentions and ethical purchase behaviour is well-documented. Although this gap can be bridged by increasing the level of awareness among consumers with regards to ethical business practices, it was found that consumers between the ages of 19 to 56 years were already aware of ethical organisations and business practices in the South African sports supplement industry. They are however unaware of companies that operate unethically. Several factors such as brand familiarity, price and convenience were found to compete with ethical business behaviour during the purchase decision-making process. It is thus recommended that organisations that incorporate ethical business behaviour at a strategic level should provide ethical products that are competitively priced, convenient to use and from a brand that is familiar / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

The role of brand has evolved to take on a broader application as a post-modern management concept and has attracted increasing attention in the 21st century as a key component for the development of competitive advantage. Far removed from its origins as an identity device, branding now transcends the pure marketing interpretation and is increasingly seen as a catalyst for corporate strategy and a tool for holistic reputation management and business performance. This thesis evaluates the extent to which brand is being adopted as a mechanism to align with corporate strategy, internal culture and supporting behaviours and external delivery or organisational performance: in essence, the concept of a brand-driven organisation that deploys brand as a core capability in pursuit of competitive advantage. This evaluation takes into account defined South African perspectives and examples in a case research approach. It seeks to evaluate how the brand alignment methodology can advance current theory and be applied as a management practice. The research argues that brand extends beyond the marketing function or the end-point of organisational systems and delivery. Rather, it suggests that brand becomes integrated as one of the primary elements of corporate strategy and seeks to embrace strategic organisational intent, internal culture and external manifestation of the business vision and results. The organisational architecture model is adapted to suit this research and offer a brand alignment framework that facilitates the effective and efficient implementation and realisation of strategic intent. This links brand alignment to resource-based theory and posits that it is considered as a core capability within the firm, enabling the attainment of competitive advantage. iv This thesis concludes that brand is not confined to an aspect of marketing, but should be deployed holistically in the organisation as a core capability and opportunity for competitive advantage. The research demonstrates an emerging body of thought and advances theory and practice in this area of business, both academically and in a professional management context, offering possibilities for continued further research in this field of management. / Business Management / D.B. L.

The role of brand has evolved to take on a broader application as a post-modern management concept and has attracted increasing attention in the 21st century as a key component for the development of competitive advantage. Far removed from its origins as an identity device, branding now transcends the pure marketing interpretation and is increasingly seen as a catalyst for corporate strategy and a tool for holistic reputation management and business performance. This thesis evaluates the extent to which brand is being adopted as a mechanism to align with corporate strategy, internal culture and supporting behaviours and external delivery or organisational performance: in essence, the concept of a brand-driven organisation that deploys brand as a core capability in pursuit of competitive advantage. This evaluation takes into account defined South African perspectives and examples in a case research approach. It seeks to evaluate how the brand alignment methodology can advance current theory and be applied as a management practice. The research argues that brand extends beyond the marketing function or the end-point of organisational systems and delivery. Rather, it suggests that brand becomes integrated as one of the primary elements of corporate strategy and seeks to embrace strategic organisational intent, internal culture and external manifestation of the business vision and results. The organisational architecture model is adapted to suit this research and offer a brand alignment framework that facilitates the effective and efficient implementation and realisation of strategic intent. This links brand alignment to resource-based theory and posits that it is considered as a core capability within the firm, enabling the attainment of competitive advantage. iv This thesis concludes that brand is not confined to an aspect of marketing, but should be deployed holistically in the organisation as a core capability and opportunity for competitive advantage. The research demonstrates an emerging body of thought and advances theory and practice in this area of business, both academically and in a professional management context, offering possibilities for continued further research in this field of management. / Business Management / D.B. L.

Dans un contexte de mondialisation, la concurrence accrue entre les territoires, dont l’objectif premier est de capter des habitants, des touristes et des entreprises, exacerbe les enjeux liés à leur attractivité. Afin de se différencier les collectivités territoriales et leurs agences de développement adoptent des approches de marketing territorial et commencent à mettre en place des techniques de marquage (dites place branding). Le place branding reprend plusieurs outils issus du domaine de la marque commerciale. Toutefois, le territoire est un « produit particulier » qui regroupe diverses parties prenantes dont les visions et les attentes peuvent diverger. Le succès d’une marque territoire reposera alors en partie sur la gestion de ces parties prenantes. Dès lors, ce travail doctoral entreprend d’adapter au contexte du place branding des concepts de marketing, en considérant les perceptions de trois groupes de parties prenantes, en vue d’améliorer l’efficacité de la marque territoire. Cette problématique de recherche est abordée selon trois questions de recherche: (1) Quelle est la légitimité publicitaire d’une marque territoire, telle que perçue par ses habitants ? Influence-t-elle l’efficacité des actions de place branding ? (2) Dans quelle mesure les gestionnaires de marques territoires ont recours à des stratégies de marketing communautaire afin d’implémenter une communication marketing intégrée (CMI) ? (3) Dans quelle mesure l’image de la marque région constitue-t-elle un vecteur pertinent de la promotion d’une destination, complémentaire à celle de la marque pays, auprès des touristes internationaux ? D’un point de vue théorique, cette recherche doctorale souligne l’importance d’adopter une approche parties prenantes à la compréhension de la marque territoire. Ce faisant, ce travail contribue à développer des preuves empiriques dans le domaine, notamment à l’échelle de la région qui est sous-représentée dans la littérature. Cette thèse met en évidence les similitudes entre la marque territoire et la marque commerciale, et renforce ainsi la validité externe de trois concepts issus du marketing classique. Différentes approches méthodologiques ont été développées et mobilisées. Ces éléments renforcent par ailleurs la validité interne de la présente recherche et contribuent à exclure l’existence d’un biais déclaratif. Les contributions managériales de cette thèse sont liées à ses implications méthodologiques dans la mesure où diverses grilles d’analyse sont proposées aux gestionnaires de marques territoires. Ces outils prennent en compte les spécificités et les enjeux associés aux principales parties prenantes de la marque, et visent à les impliquer dans les initiatives de place branding. Enfin, la mise en place d’une approche de communication marketing intégrée est conseillée. Premièrement, il est proposé que cette approche soit appliquée entre les différents acteurs du territoire. Les résultats montrent ainsi que l’intégration des habitants dans la démarche de place branding est un véritable enjeu qui nécessite une approche distincte de celle préconisée traditionnellement en marketing. Deuxièmement, l’approche de communication marketing intégrée devrait s’appliquer entre les différents niveaux de territoires de façon à tirer parti de l’image du territoire d’ordre supérieur. / In the globalized world, Nowhere, Place, is directly competing against Powerful, World, to attract residents, tourists and talent, as well as firms and investments, whether the place is a meta-region, a country, a region, a city or other locations. Whilst places and destinations around the world have been proclaiming their qualities for a long time, mainly to create awareness or maintain preference, those marketing communications campaigns are short-term and don’t contribute to unifying the place. To compete in such cutthroat environments, public authorities and place agencies have started to recognize the value of adopting branding techniques by way of practising place branding. Place branding adapts several tools developed in the field of commercial branding to contribute to place development and establish image-building strategies that render places more attractive to identified markets. As such, this doctoral work endeavours to adapt mainstream marketing concepts to the context of place branding, taking into account the views of three groups of stakeholders to enhance place brand efficiency. I address these research questions in a French region-branding context, according to three sub-questions that summarise the chapters of this thesis. First, what is the advertising legitimacy of a place brand as perceived by the residents? Does it influence place-branding efficiency? Second, to what extent do place brand managers use community marketing strategies to operationalize the integrated marketing communications (IMC) role of the place brand? Third, to what extent does the region brand image constitute a relevant vehicle for promoting a destination integral to the nation brand image, as perceived by international tourists? Results show that the representational and functional dimensions of a destination brand impact differently implicit attractiveness and intentions to visit. International tourists also perceive the region and the nation brand images as congruent overall, which contributes positively to their intentions to visit the region. From a theoretical point of view, this research highlights the importance of adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to understanding place branding. Doing so contributes to the development of empirical evidence in the domain, by studying the understudied region branding form. This dissertation also highlights similarities with commercial branding and reinforces the external validity of three classic marketing concepts. The methodological implications of this work come from the different methodological approaches (i.e. measurement tools and methods), developed to meet the specificities and stakes associated with the main stakeholders of a place brand. In addition, this approach reinforces the internal validity of the present research and contributes to ruling out the existence of a declarative bias. The managerial contributions of this thesis are connected with the methodological implications, inasmuch as it provides place brand managers with diverse analysis grids that will enable them to take into account the specificities and stakes associated with the main stakeholders of the place brand, and also involve stakeholders in the place-branding process. Finally, I demonstrate the need for an IMC approach that is per se—for example, through the use of an overall brand positioning that covers shared elements between stakeholders so that they all relate to the place brand, or through the adoption of a bottom-up rather than top-down approach to place branding. This approach also should be able to extend to other place scales, by leveraging the image of a higher-order place.

Knowledge about personal branding, the development and sustaining of a personal brand and the link between personal branding and career success did not exist in a scientifically structured manner. The purpose of this study was to understand what the elements of personal branding are and what it takes to develop a personal brand in the corporate environment. It was also important to identify whether personal branding is key to career success. The systematic literature review procedure was used to identify, analyse and critically evaluate both empirical studies and popular literature relating to personal branding. The current body of knowledge was ill defined and a six step model detailing how to develop and maintain a personal brand was developed as a result of a content analysis of the available popular literature. A measure of a complete personal brand within the workplace was subsequently developed. In this study, the hypotheses of a possible relationship between personal branding and career success (performance appraisal score, 360 leadership evaluation and talent board placement) were tested. It was found that talent board placement was statistically significant and practically related to personal branding. The study was the first to provide a measurement tool as well as empirical evidence on the relationship between personal branding and career success and, as such contributed significantly to the body of knowledge. This study also opened avenues for further research. / Daar was min kennis oor ’n persoonlike handelsmerk, die ontwikkeling en handhawing van ’n persoonlike handelsmerk, en die verband tussen ’n persoonlike handelsmerk en loopbaansukses in die wetenskaplike domein beskikbaar. Die doel van hierdie studie was om die elemente van ’n persoonlike handelsmerk te begryp, asook om te bepaal wat dit behels om ’n persoonlike handelsmerk in die korporatiewe omgewing te ontwikkel. Dit was ook belangrik om te bepaal of ’n persoonlike handelsmerk deurslaggewend is tot loopbaansukses. ‘n Sistematiese literatuuroorsig is gedoen om empiriese studies asook gewilde literatuur oor ’n persoonlike handelsmerk te identifiseer, te ontleed en krities te evalueer. Gegewe beperkte akademiese kennismateriaal, en na aanleiding van die inhoudsontleding van die beskikbare gewilde literatuur, is ’n sesstapmodel ontwikkel om aan te dui hoe ’n persoonlike handelsmerk ontwikkel en gehandhaaf kan word. Na aanleiding hiervan is ’n instrument ontwikkel om ’n person se handelsmerk omvattend in die werkplek te meet. Dit is gevolg deur hipoteses van ’n moontlike verband tussen ’n persoonlike handelsmerk en loopbaansukses (prestasiebeoordelingtelling, 360-leierskapevaluasie en talentplasing) te toets. Die studie het bevind dat ’n persoonlike handelsmerk statisties beduidend en prakties relevant is tot talentplasing. Hierdie navorsing lewer ’n omvattende meetinstrument vir die meting van ’n persoonlike handelsmerk, asook empiriese bewyse rakende die verhouding tussen ’n persoonlike handelsmerk en loopbaansukses. Die studie maak in dié opsig ‘n beduidende bydrae tot die gebrekkige akademiese kennismateriaal wat oor hierdie onderwerp beskikbaar is. / Ulwazi nge-branding yomuntu siqu, ukuthuthukiswa kanye nokuqhubekela phambili kwe-brand yomuntu siqu kanye nokuxhumana phakathi kwe-brand yomuntu siqu kanye nokuphumelela emsebenzini bekuyizinto ebezingahlelekile ngendlela yesisayense. Inhloso yalolu cwaningo bekuwukuqondisisa ukuthi ngabe iyini imikhakha ye-branding yomuntu siqu kanye nokuthi yini okudingekayo ukwenza ibrand yomuntu siqu emkhakheni wezamabhizinisi. Bekubalulekile nokubheka ukuthi ngabe i-branding yomuntu siqu isemqoka kangakanani ekuphumeleleni emisebenzini. Inqubo yokubuyekeza imibhalo ngendlela ehlelekile iye yasetshenziswa ukuphawula, ukuhlaziya kanye nokuhlola izifundo ezinobufakazi ezenziwe kanye nemibhalo edumile maqondana ne-branding yomuntu siqu. Imikhakha yolwazi ekhona ibingachazekile kahle, kanti kuye kwalandelwa imodeli yezinyathalo eziyisithupha echaza imininingwane ngokwenza kanye nokugcina i-brand yomuntu siqu, iye yenziwa ngakho-ke kwase kuhlaziywa ingqikithi yemibhalo edumile ekhona. Kwenziwe i-brand yomuntu siqu ephelele emkhakheni wezemisebenzi. Kulolu cwaningo, kuhlolwe i-hypotheses yobudlelwane phakathi kwe-branding yomuntu siqu kanye nokuphumelela emsebenzini (amaphuzu ohlolo lokusebenza ngendlela efanele, uhlolo lobuholi obungu 360, kanye nokubekwa kwebhodi yamathalente endaweni efanele) kuye kwahlolwa. Kutholakale ukuthi ukubekwa kwebhodi yamathalente endaweni efanele yinto esemqoka ngokwamastatistiki kanti futhi kuhambisana ne-branding yomuntu siqu. Ucwaningo belungolokuqala ukuhlinzeka ngethuluzi lokukala kanye nocwaningo obunobufakazi obubambekayo ngobudlelwane phakathi kwe-branding yomuntu siqu kanye nokuphumelela emsebenzini, kanti-ke, lokhu yikho okuye kwaba nomthelela obabalukile kulwazi. Lolu cwaningo luvule imikhakha lapho okungenziwa khona ezinye izinhlobo nemikhakha yocwaningo. / Business Management / DBL

This study focuses on the extent to which the various elements of corporate brand identity as identified in the literature are perceived to contribute to corporate brand image formation. In doing so, a theoretical perspective is adopted for this study that borrows from both marketing communication and corporate communication theories. Three data collection techniques – Q methodology, an online questionnaire and computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) – were used to determine to what extent these elements are perceived significant in corporate brand image formation among participants from 106 South African organisations across various business sectors. Four categories were identified to be perceived as significant for corporate brand image formation, namely transformational leadership and management, positioning and differentiation strategy, brand equity and employee orientation and mentorship. To date, a comprehensive measuring instrument that theoretically includes all the corporate brand identity elements perceived to be significant in corporate brand image formation has not been developed. Based on the research findings, the study aims to propose a theoretical framework for establishing a measuring instrument that includes all the corporate brand identity elements deemed significant in corporate brand image formation as perceived by South African organisations. The objective of providing a theoretical framework for establishing a measuring instrument is to enable organisations to assess the role of their corporate brand identity in corporate brand image formation among their stakeholder groups. The theoretical framework includes the four identified categories perceived as significant in corporate brand image formation. It indicates which of the corporate brand identity elements included in the four categories are perceived to be more significant in corporate brand image formation by South African organisations. In addition, it provides assumptions on how these corporate brand identity elements are perceived to work in synergy to enhance corporate brand image formation based on the research results. / Communication Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)