M.Comm. (Marketing Management) / In recent years there has been renewed interest from academics and practitioners regarding the marketing concept and marketing orientation. With the emphasis that is placed on the importance of marketing orientation, one would expect the existence of a clear description of the concept, as well as many theories and measurement instruments, together with related empirical findings regarding the concept of marketing orientation. However, there are few valid theories or models of measurement to conceptualize and evaluate marketing orientation. The result is that any organisation wishing to implement a marketing orientation has no specific guidelines on what marketing orientation is and how to make it measurable. The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable, valid and generally acceptable multi-item measurement model for conceptualizing and evaluating the marketing orientation of an individual organisation. The measurement model was developed on the basis of the following two aspects: 1) A literature study of various secondary sources to provide a conceptual framework of marketing orientation. 2) An exploratory research study to generate and purify all the possible dimensions and variables of marketing orientation. The dimensions and variables were generated from the perspective of business management. The methods used to generate the dimensions and variables were an analysis of secondary sources, focus group interviews with experts in the field of marketing, and a questionnaire survey among managers of various profit-oriented organisations in the PWV area. In the exploratory study, 15 provisional dimensions and 304 variables of marketing orientation were generated. The variables represent the potential item pool for the composition of the measurement instrument. Although much insight and ideas were evident in the exploratory study, an attempt was made to summarize the information in the most important dimensions, which also have the most potential for stimulating further research.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Com. (Enterprise Management) / This study is concerned with the marketing of dental services in South Africa. The past, present and future, with special reference to the role of the Dental Association of South Africa and the dentist in private practice. The distinguishing characteristic of every profession is a very long tradition of service to mankind. Significantly it is this ethos which today has given impetus to the need to develop marketing skills to sustain and further the socially valuable aspects of the professions' service. In the past there was massive resistance by professional people to the concept of marketing. Primarily it was fear of the unknown. It was a basic misunderstanding of what marketing is and an alarm at the twin thoughts of what it might be and what It might do. There was a fear that marketing is advertising and that the high cost of advertising will be exacerbated by the need to cut fees to gain promotional advantages. Reduced fees will mean trimmed service and a consequent drop in professional standards. All of this will be ruinous to the professional and worse, will damage the dignity that underpins the professional ethos. Marketing is not only perfectly compatible with the professional ethos but in many ways is to be regarded as a professional responsibility, it follows that universities and the teachers of aspirant practitioners should accept marketing principles and acquaint themselves with marketing practices. It is important for the dentist to have a fundamental knowledge of the principles of marketing and the legal aspects that restrict the freely use of all the tools of marketing. Since marketing is based on an understanding of consumer behaviour this is a very important study. Today, more than ever, businesses are looking for a competitive edge, a strategic uniqueness to distinguish themselves from their competition. One strategic route is emerging as the answer, namely customer satisfaction, through the principal factor of customer service quality. Understanding customer expectations is a prerequisite for delivering superior service...

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts. / This dissertation examines two socially significant effects of Eskorn's Electricity For All programme: The new market that emerges once electricity becomes accessible, and managerial responses to this new market within the appliance industry. The research question asks how and why management in the appliance sector responds to the new market's demands. In answering this question, the new market is initially assessed. I have shown who constitutes this market and that these consumers prioritise top-of-the-range appliances. I have expanded on Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the habitus and used this to uncover these explanations of the new market. These findings have emerged through content analyses, in-depth interviews, a group workshop and participant observation methods. The dissertation then examines how and why management respond in specific ways to these market demands. I have assessed, through the use of a case study, why and how Tek Corp. the market leader in the appliance industry - responds strategically to the new market. I have examined management's response by addressing structures and responses within both the production and consumption phases of the circuit of capital. This dissertation has found that new types of competition are emerging within the appliance industry as a result of responses to the new market. I have thus argued that by assessing both production and consumption and by using the concept of the habitus, holistic explanations about capitalist relations in the appliance industry emerge. / Andrew Chakane 2018

M.Com. (Economics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / Indications from the initial phase of this study suggest that key marketing fundamentals apparent in this business sector differ significantly from those generally recognisable in commodity, consumer product and industrial marketing. It is postulated that whilst these differences are probably symptomatic of particular professional service practice norms and business ethics the formulation, implementation and evaluation of effective marketing can be facilitated utilising appropriate contemporary marketing paradigms. This study explores the current marketing milieu in a multinational professional services organisation and attempts to identify factors relevant to marketing within the organisation. The objective of this study was to identify the critical factors that influence the successful marketing of professional services and to develop a framework to support these findings. In order to accomplish this objective, the study was undertaken from a phenomenological, rather than a positivist paradigm. An exploratory quantitative Likert-scale survey combined with the allowance for qualitative open-ended comments/ feedback was adopted. The quantitative study incorporated employees in managerial, middle and junior roles from the Specific Professional Services Organisation ‘SPSO’s’ national offices based in Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town. Marketing representatives from the ‘SPSO’s’ international offices were also included in the survey. It can be summarised that the main factors influencing the marketing of professional services can be grouped according to Strategy, Product/ Service, Price, Place, Promotion, Physical Evidence, People, Process, and Other. A framework was devised, comprising the nine identified groups of factors including correlating recommendations, as well as a tabular outlay of additional constructive qualitative comments recorded from respondents with recommendations.

M.Com. (Business Management) / The industrial product manager is responsible for the development and marketing of a product. This includes more than just the properties of the product. To be successful during the process of development and marketing of industrial products, there must be sufficient knowledge about the factors influencing it as well as the relative importance that is placed on it by the target market. The aim of this study was to identify critical factors for the success of new products in the industrial environment. These critical succfess factors were further verified, and their rank of importance determined, in the chemical industry of South Africa. The results of this study can be used by product managers in the industry to improve their new product programs in those areas which are considered as important during and by the development and marketing processes of enterprizes. Thirteen critical success factors, and their rank of importance, were established as th following: 1. A superior product 2. Solid up-front homework prior to development 3. Quality technological actions 4. Quality marketing actions 5. Innovativeness 6. A ttractive markets 7. A quality launch 8. Low-risk, important purchase 9. Familiar, known arenas 10. Sharp and early product definition 11. Cross-functional team approach 12. Non-product advantage 13. High synergy None of these factors can be ignored during the development and marketing...

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study investigates the interface between financial and marketing management in South African businesses by investigating the financial and marketing-management processes. This process orientation highlighted important interactions between the two functions. A critical analysis of secondary resources produced a clear theoretical foundation on which the development of the proposed interface framework was based. The critical literature analysis indicates four steps in the financial management process, namely, financial analysis, financial decision-making, financial planning and financial control (independent variables) and five steps in the marketing management process, namely, understanding the marketplace as well as customer needs and wants, designing a customer-driven marketing strategy, constructing an integrated marketing programme, building profitable relationships and capturing value from customers in the form of profits and customer equity. These steps were used to derive a proposed theoretical framework that shows how the steps in the financial-management process relate to those in the marketing-management process. The framework also indicates the perceptions of managers on the interface between the two functions. The perceptions on the interface include aspects such as the level of communication between the two departments, the understanding of each other‟s function and the flow of information between the two departments. From this framework, the six hypotheses were formulated to test the proposed relationships. The focus of the study is on the interface between financial management and marketing management; therefore, the population of this study comprised of financial and marketing managers in South Africa. The primary data relating to the interface between financial management and marketing management was acquired by means of an on-line web-based survey. Descriptive statistics was used to present, analyse and interpret the results of the data analysis. Various inferential statistical techniques (T-tests and chi-squared tests) were employed to determine whether respondents‟ perceptions of the items in the measuring instrument differed as result of whether they were employed in the finance or marketing sections of the business. Correlations (Pearson Product Moment correlations) were calculated for the purpose of investigating the relationships between the financial and marketing management variables used in this study. Factor analysis showed that financial management consisted of four factors that corresponded with the steps in the process, and marketing management produced five factors that related to the steps in the marketing management process. Lastly, statistical tests (MANOVA) were conducted to determine whether the perceptions of respondents, with regard to the financial and marketing management variables, were influenced by selected demographic variables. The results of the empirical study indicated positive relationships between all the variables in the framework. The marketing management factors, namely, mix and profit, reported the lowest correlations compared to the financial management factors. It was also found that financial and marketing managers had different perceptions of the steps in the financial-management process but that they did not have different views of the steps in the marketing-management process. Furthermore, financial and marketing managers had different opinions about the long-term perspective of the business as well as conflicting views with regard to the flow of information from finance to marketing. Financial managers were of the opinion that marketing managers did not understand financial methods and procedures and were unable to specify their requirements to finance. The proposed framework could be seen as the start of marketing theory development on finance interaction as it showed that interface relationships could be further explored.

A research report submitted to the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing / Since the 1980s, marketing researchers have conceptualised market orientation as an organisational culture that is geared towards delivering supreme customer value. However, one of the shortcomings of the market orientation concept is that it has failed to recognise the potential significance of strong brands, that is, it did not acknowledge brand orientation. A few studies have investigated the conceptualisation of brand orientation in relation to brand loyalty; and the involvement of brand commitment and brand trust in mediating this association in the business-to-business context. Thus, it is the aim of this study to examine the impact of brand orientation on brand loyalty, and the roles played by brand commitment and brand trust in mediating the impact in the South African business-to-business environment. Two hundred and sixty one questionnaires were completed by top and senior managers of a B2B organisation in South Africa. Structural equation modelling and Smart Plus were employed in this study to examine the relationships between the constructs. This study provides empirical evidence that brand orientation has a positive and significant relationship with brand commitment and brand trust, and that brand commitment and brand trust have positive and significant respective relationships with brand loyalty in the South African B2B context. The results indicate that brand orientation (BO), brand commitment (BC) and brand trust (BT) all have a strong influence on Brand Loyalty (BL). Implications and limitations, as well as future research, are discussed in the study. Keywords: Brand Orientation, Brand Commitment, Brand trust, Brand Loyalty, B2B / GR2018