The focus of this study was on cultural diversity and its possible impact on brand
management in the cellular industry. The study showed that cultural diversity, as one of
the important aspects in the consumerâs environment, is important to consider when
carrying out brand management and branding activities. Doing so will play a role in
influencing consumers to make favourable purchasing decisions.
Data were collected from Free State Province individuals (510). Cross-tabulations, factor
analysis and cluster analysis were carried out on the database. The study resulted in
the identification of four clusters. The cultural diversity components used to identify
these clusters were: age, gender, race, social class and lifestyle. These clusters had
different characteristics from one another. In each cluster there was a difference in
lifestyle characteristics and perception of brand equity. There was also a difference in
the reasons why a cellular phone is used.
The results about the clusters show that no single approach can be used to target
them. There has to be different approaches of which each can also be an opportunity
for marketing managers to differentiate their branding activities. The manner in which
clusters were identified is complex and yet gives insightful information which will help
marketing managers make better decisions. In other words simple segment approaches
should be avoided. Also, the clusters are not constant; they evolve over time. It is
therefore suggested that such an activity should be reviewed more often.
The main contribution of this study is that cultural diversity is an integral part of brand
management from the perspective of the consumer. Furthermore, consumers can no
longer just be defined by cultural diversity components in isolation, i.e. age, gender,
race, social class and lifestyle. Their definition will vary depending on the industry in
concern. In other words, the consumers will need to be defined by the unique clusters
they belong to and these clusters will be different depending on the industry concerned.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-07112011-151834 |
| Date | 11 July 2011 |
| Creators | Rammile, Nthabeleng |
| Contributors | Dr JH van Zyl |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-07112011-151834/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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