Not available / text

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-98).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-69)

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-69)

M.Ing. / This dissertation aims to identify the effects contributed by branding on organisational performance, as branding may contribute positively or negatively to the company sales performance. Many customers align quality products with certain brands only. Some organisations over price their products because they have guaranteed space in the market and had built solid relationships with their customers. Due to many different good products which do not do well in the market because of poor branding, the author identifies the problems aligned with branding and the author also looks at the possible causes of poor sales performance. This dissertation aims at presenting knowledge on branding, marketing strategies used by organisations to secure space for themselves in the market and strategies used by organisations to persuade customers into thinking their brand has the best products. The author provides overview on branding importance, criteria for choosing brand elements and brand tactics that has an impact on the customer‟s psychological aspects. The author then talks about the marketing strategies that can be used after building proper branding for the organisation. The marketing strategies may differ from organisation to organisation depending on the target market. The author then analyzes customer needs and buying behaviour and channels of distribution of products to ensure maximum sales. A case study in two television (TV) famous brands was conducted in order to find out the impact of branding on organisational performance. This case study compares the two TVs with each other and investigates their technologies. The case study also looks at TVs branding, their marketing strategies and the overview of their marketing results. A survey questionnaire was constructed, and this survey questionnaire was on the two TV brands discussed in the case study. The survey questionnaire was sent to different people of different life styles and age groups. The aim of the questionnaire was to find the extent into which branding influences customer‟s decision in buying a product, other things that attracts a customer and also how do customers perceive different brands.

The major theme of this research is the manner in which luxury good companies enter an emerging market economy, such as South Africa. The study thoroughly analyses how the emerging middle class of the country perceive luxury brands in term of being either status-giving or conspicuous. The study used a scale to measure luxury brands’ status and conspicuousness by analysing well-established international luxury brands that have a large footprint in South Africa as a reference point. The dimensions of luxury brand perception were measured when the scale between status and conspicuousness was utilised. This study employed a Factor Analysis as well as Perceptual Mapping in order to determine the relationship between conspicuous- and status consumption in the South African emerging market. The data was collected from 120 consumers who were owners of luxury products, but were deemed to be part of the upper middle class. Status and conspicuousness were revealed as two separate but related constructs, yet the South African emerging consumer does not discern between these two aspects. Strategic marketing implications for marketing managers were identified and discussed within the five brands that were selected, and their relevant product categories. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / bmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

published_or_final_version / abstract / Business / Master / Master of Philosophy

There is common theme within the literature that a store represents the tangible and intangible values of the company's commercial and retail organisational philosophy. Given this, it could be considered as a brand, with all the associated competitive advantages that correspond to this entity. Operationally, a store's brand competitiveness can be viewed from the image it transmits and the impact it has in the minds of consumers. However, as markets and consumer tastes vary between countries, there have been calls for further inquiry into how the domestic store brand image, with its inherited competitive advantage, can be transferred abroad. A means for achieving this is via a standardised transfer strategy. In the international marketing literature, standardisation is referred to as the identical offering of the entire marketing mix in several different countries. Likewise, within the context of retail intenationalisation, standardisation is defined as the faithful replication of a successful domestic store concept abroad. Despite all the citations found within the wider literature on international retailing the notion of standardisation lacks of clear definition when concern upon the transfer of store brand image. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to provide an insight into the debate of store brand image standardisation in international retailing. From the limitations identified in the existing literature, a new research framework is proposed for examining store brand image standardisation. The framework includes the conventional 'Store Image per se' comparative process, where examination is undertaken from a store image attribute perspective between markets. In addition, two new elements are introduced. First, the comparative process of 'Relative Marketplace', where a comparison of the domestic and foreign store image is conducted within their relative markets. Second, the 'Store Image Dimension perspective', where the two comparative processes, 'Store Image per se' and 'Relative Marketplace', are examined after the store image attributes have been aggregated into broader dimensions. This proposed framework was employed to examine the store image transferability of the Spanish limited line food discounter DIA. Through a pluralist methodological approach of both qualitative and quantitative methods, a shopper survey was conducted in Spain (the home market) and Greece (a host market) to measure the company's store brand image between and within its marketplaces. From the juxtaposition of the three components of the proposed framework, the results indicate that store brand image standardisation should be examined from an 'Absolute,' and 'Relative' standpoint. Moreover, depending on the standpoint undertaken to examine the transfer of the store brand image, standardisation can be conceptualised in three ways. 'Absolute Standardisation': A standard to be applied by faithfully replicating the store's domestic image into a host market; 'Core Standardisation': A standard to be secured by faithfully replicating the store's domestic unique selling proposition, that satisfies the needs of global markets while maintaining intact the company's entire concept; and 'Relative Standardisation': A standard to be achieved by faithfully replicating the store's domestic positioning into the host market. It is argued that these three aspects of store brand image standardisation should not be viewed as distinctive concepts, but rather as a transitional process of two ends of the same continuum.

The South African health care industry is characterised by strict regulation in the form of the Medical Schemes Act of 2000, high medical inflation, a deteriorating public health care system; and costly private health care schemes which are only available to the higher end of the market. Before 1992, medical inflation rose in double digits (over 20%) and medical aids traditionally responded by raising premiums considerably (Pile, 2004:19). Private health care was expensive, while the public health care system deteriorated. The financial sustainability of schemes depended on the number of young, healthy members remaining on the scheme as these members cross-subsidised the sick. For these members though, medical aids did not offer any incentive and/or reward to remain members of the scheme. The ‘use-it-or-lose-it’ principle of traditional schemes did not provide any value to members and led to young, healthy members leaving medical schemes. This tendency could potentially drive a health care industry to a meltdown (Pile, 2004:19). The South African health care environment is complex and dynamic, and within this environment, Discovery Health established itself as a successful and innovative company. The Discovery Health medical scheme is currently the largest open medical scheme in South Africa with 1.6 million members (Discovery A, 2004: on-line). Discovery is a specialist insurance company with four strong and distinct businesses (with a fifth business starting in partnership with UK insurance company Prudential in 2005). The businesses are Discovery Health, Discovery Life, Discovery Vitality and Destiny Health (US). Discovery Health is the first business of the group and was launched in 1992. Discovery listed on the JSE in 1999. The company’s strategy is to grow the business organically by building a strong foundation of innovation and engaging people in the management of their health in order to achieve better social and financial outcomes (Discovery A, 2004: on-line). While a medical aid would be an essential ‘commodity’ which consumers would not normally aspire to buy, Discovery positioned itself as a value-adding company that provides products and services that consumers want to buy. The Vitality HealthStyle programme for e.g., is similar to a loyalty programme, but with the aim of motivating members to improve their health. Members can earn points and move up different status levels by performing certain preventative activities for e.g. working out at the gym and having cholesterol and glaucoma screening tests done. Depending on their status, members can qualify for discounts on certain health and lifestyle benefits (Discovery A, 2004: on-line). The advantage of this is that while Vitality adds value to the Discovery product, it also improves the general health of members and in turn, decreases claiming from the medical scheme and assists in the overall management of the financial risk to the scheme. The company’s life assurance business was launched in 2000 and profits from this section of the business constituted 40% of operating profits in August 2004. The company succeeded in integrating the Discovery Health, Vitality, and Life product offerings through the Payback Benefit (Discovery A, 2004: on-line). This benefit allows Discovery Health members who are also Discovery Life policy holders to receive back a substantial percentage of their life assurance premiums, based on how they manage their health. / H.B. Klopper

Thesis submitted in full fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy (Marketing) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. November 2017. / With increased competition in the banking industry, particularly in developing economies, United Bank of Africa Plc (UBA) in Nigeria has been thriving. The bank is a multinational financial services provider, which operates in 22 African countries. It also has offices in the US, UK and France. UBA has about 626 global branches and serves more than seven million retail, commercial and corporate global customers. Positioned as a pan-African bank, the UBA Group is firmly in the forefront of driving the renaissance of the African economy. It is also well positioned as a one-stop financial services institution, with growing reputation as the face of banking on the African continent. UBA Plc has grown over the years from being just a brand name to a house hold name in Nigeria. In 2011, it was reported that UBA’s total assets was worth about $12.3 billion. The bank is also gearing to be one of the dominant and leading banking brands in Africa. While the measurement of UBA’s asset worth is important as it reveals information of its financial performance, it can be more important to measure the worth of its intangible assets, which is being captured from the assessment of its brand equity. Brand equity does not only comprise of an organization’s intangible assets, but does reflect the values consumers hold of a brand and can also secure long-term commercial and competitive advantages for companies. With the notion that the value or power of a brand lies in what customers perceive in their minds concerning the brand, most studies have measured brand equity mainly from the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) perspective using Aaker’s (1996a) and Keller’s (1998) models. Aaker’s (1996a) model is however considered to be the most comprehensive CBBE model and it measures brand equity from five dimensions – brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty and proprietary assets. While CBBE can secure long-term market performance, it is being recommended that the contribution of employee-based brand equity (EBBE) should also be measured. This is particularly important in the service sector, such as banking, where “what is delivered is less important than how it is delivered”. More so, with the increasing importance of internal branding, there is a need to measure EBBE, which assesses how knowledgeable, happy and committed employees are willing to deliver on the brand promises to build brand equity. v In addition to the importance of measuring both CBBE and EBBE, there is also the need to further compare the extent to which both CBBE and EBBE predict market performance, an outcome anticipated, but rarely empirically tested. This study therefore employs Aaker’s (1996) CBBE model and Kwon’s (2013) EBBE model to examine the sources of UBA’s CBBE and EBBE respectively and the extent to which each of the equities drive market performance indicators, such as consumer purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium and brand preference. A positivist research paradigm with a quantitative survey of 182 UBA employees and 178 UBA customers were used to test the hypotheses. The relationships hypothesized in the conceptual model were empirically tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that the conceptual model satisfactorily fitted the data and provided reasonable explanations among variables. In terms of the relationships, it was found that UBA’s CBBE was accounted for by brand associations or image and brand loyalty. UBA’s overall CBBE positively and significantly affected all the market performance indicators of purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium and brand preference. UBA’s EBBE which was found to be positively and significantly driven by role clarity and brand commitment could only positively and significantly predict the bank customers’ willingness to pay a price premium. Conclusively, it was found that while UBA’s EBBE make some contribution to the bank’s market performance, its CBBE is the major driver of its performance. This study theoretically contributes by not only empirically testing Aaker’s (1996b) CBBE and Kwon’s (2013) EBBE in the Nigeria’s banking sector, but by also showing how both models explain market performance. Practically, the study reveals sources of CBBE and EBBE, which not only UBA should prioritize in improving their market performance, but other service sectors in Nigeria and the continent should take special note of. Keywords: Brand equity, customer-based brand equity (CBBE), employee-based brand equity (EBBE), United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, market performance, structural equation modelling (SEM), consumer purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium and brand preference / GR2018