“What role did branding play in the social marketing processes of the three Schwab
Foundation award winning social enterprises (SEs)?” The research problem, as well
as the research questions, revolve around the issue of establishing how branding
may be employed as part of the social marketing process in such a way as to
increase the competitiveness of those organisations known as social enterprises
(SEs).
This study investigates three SEs whose Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have won
The Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur (SFSE) of the Year Awards, to
determine how branding was used as a communication tool to position their
organisations as leaders and differentiators in the development sector. The three
SEs that were chosen as case study organisations are: Soul City, Heartbeat and the
Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC).
The theoretical context focuses firstly on the non-profit sector in South Africa as the
context and environment of this study, more specifically, the evolution of non-profit
organisations (NPOs) into Social Enterprises (SEs). This is followed by defining
communication principles and applications as they appear in both profit-driven and
non-profit organisations/social enterprises (NPOs/SEs). This is applied in two
different communication contexts: communication within corporate organisations and
communication within development organisations.
The last theoretical focus is placed on understanding what branding means, a
description of the different branding categories, and a view of the evolution of
branding to brand building and brand leadership. This is followed by a discussion on
the importance of brand identity and equity in the process of brand development,
brand management and measurement, including a presentation of the main role
players in this brand-building process. Branding is then discussed as it is applied in
SEs, outlining what a strong brand could do for the development sector.
A combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches are utilised; more
specifically a qualitative research approach, supported by a quantitative one,
referred to as the “dominant less-dominant model”. This study is based on the
grounded theory model supported by a collective case study approach, also referred
to as “building theories from case study research”.
The study further indicates the theory that was generated by this study, namely “The
Social Enterprise (SE) branding layered grounded theory model”. Whereas the 1st
layer displays the important role that the NPO/SE sector if fulfilling in modern society;
the 2nd layer the specific space and linkages of SEs with the different other society
sectors are explained; the 3rd layer positions/similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
with the growth path of NPOs towards SEs and their own sustainability on the
NPO/SE pyramid model; the 4th layer indicates the fact that the same corporate
communication principles applies to the development sector; and the 5th layer
stresses the important role that branding plays as the core element of a corporate
communication strategy.
In summary, the study found that a lack of implementation of corporate
communication in NPOs and SEs, more specifically the absence of a corporate
identity, image and a strategic brand management process, has a direct impact on
the effectiveness of
SEs’ communication and limits the achievement of their developmental objectives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Information Science / unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/32391 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Le Roux, Alta S |
| Contributors | Snyman, Maritha, altaleroux@mweb.co.za |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | © 2013 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria |
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