Abstract not available. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Thesis (M.M. (Strategic Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / In the last two decades, South Africa has witnessed a series of reforms in the telecommunications industry, including the corporate rebranding efforts undertaken by major telecommunications corporates. In April 2011, Vodacom, following the increase in ownership in 2009 by Vodafone, launched its new image. With the corporate rebranding, Vodacom kept its name, but effected changes to the logo, slogan and colour scheme. The rationale for keeping the name is the fact that Vodafone’s presence in Africa is far smaller than Vodacom’s. Vodacom holds power and position in the marketplace in South Africa and Africa. In addition to changing its brand colours from the familiar green and blue to red, the brand colour of UK-based Vodafone, which owns 65 percent of Vodacom, it has also assimilated Vodafone’s teardrop logo. The purpose of this research was to investigate the drivers of corporate rebranding and the impact of corporate rebranding on brand equity of South African brands. The research used quantitative data. There were 134 respondents, with 109 completed questionnaires, from a convenience sample who were all employees of Vodacom. The survey was administered through an online portal and analysed using descriptive statistics and principal component analysis. The main findings confirmed 9 of the 10 drivers of corporate rebranding identified in previous literature. The outcome of the research also summarised these drivers into 2 fundamental factors, namely corporate structure and strategy, and macroeconomic factors. The brand equity of the Vodacom brand has been adversely impacted following a rebranding exercise. The old brand is represented by three factors that corresponded with Aaker’s model (Aaker, 1991). These factors are brand awareness, perceived quality and brand loyalty. The new brand was represented by a factor labelled ‘infant brand’. Macroeconomic factors were perceived to the most significant drivers of corporate rebranding.

Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Measuring advertising effectiveness has become an increasingly important issue due to the substantial sums of money invested in the advertising industry. The purpose of this research was to design an Advertising Balanced Scorecard (ABSC), which is an adaptation to the advertising field of the managerial Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The ABSC was developed to identify a balanced pattern between the perspectives leading to effectiveness, namely strategy, execution, media and creative, in order to measure and control advertising effectiveness. This study reviews the South African mobile communication industry and Vodacom in particular. It examines Vodacom’s successful marketing and advertising strategy with a special attention given to iconic advertising by the use of a character such as Maurice the meerkat. After investigating the elements of Vodacom’s award winning advertisements, a balance between strategy, execution, media and creative could not be isolated systematically. However, when fewer perspectives were involved balance could be reached. The results therefore confirm the complexity of advertising effectiveness measurement and indicate that measurement of advertising effectiveness is possible when focus is placed on fewer perspectives.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.

M. Tech. Business Administration / The objective of this study was to identify factors that are responsible for employee absenteeism in Vodacom SA, which is the largest mobile cell phone company in South Africa. In the literature, it has been extensively reported that absenteeism is a major cause of loss of income and revenues among mobile cell phone operators in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to identify the root causes of absenteeism in the cellular phone industry in South Africa. Data was collected from a random sample of 120 employees of Vodacom SA working in Midrand.

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The general purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the relationship between organisational mergers and/or acquisitions and job satisfaction. Specifically, the concept of job satisfaction was examined in relation to ex-Smartcom employees who were moved to Vodacom after the acquisition of Smartcom. Variables such as age, marital status, educational level, gender and job security were examined for a possible significant relationship to employee job satisfaction. Management involvement and intervention during the acquisition were also examined to establish whether or not this also affects employee job satisfaction. It was hypothesised that employees were dissatisfied as a result of the acquisition. The researcher used a combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods of collecting data. Through questionnaires, interviews and observation, the researcher achieved what is called ‘triangulation’ in order to get a better understanding of the results. The data was gathered and analysed effectively by using different methods of collecting and measuring data. This was done to ensure that the study’s trustworthiness, validation and reliability. The results are discussed in terms of the hypothesis set in the study. This is done through a discussion of the conclusion drawn from the findings. Even though employees are dissatisfied as a result of mergers and acquisitions, it was found that there are other factors such as work environment, pay, recognition, responsibility, team work, and security that can also lead to employee dissatisfaction. It was therefore concluded that when an acquisition is made, management should not only focus on the bottom-line, but also pay attention to the human factors that can lead to the failure or success of the acquisition. Integration and intervention programmes can be used as mechanisms for successful operations post mergers and acquisitions.