In today's fiercely competitive business environment, a brand is more than just a product or logo; when managed effectively, it can become the key to an organisation's success. While there are numerous international textbooks on branding, many of them focus on American or European contexts, often neglecting the unique nuances of the South African market. This textbook seeks to fill that gap by providing a comprehensive exploration of the intricacies involved in building, nurturing, and sustaining brands within the dynamic South African landscape.

South Africa, with its diverse languages, cultures, and identities, presents brand managers with a distinctive set of opportunities and challenges. The ability to create brands that resonate with consumers and establish a meaningful connection is essential for success in this multifaceted environment.

This textbook is designed to equip students, marketing professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge and tools necessary for effective brand management. Key topics covered include:

• An introduction to branding concepts
• The significance of crafting a brand's image, identity, and positioning
• Strategies for developing and managing brand architecture
• Approaches to building strong brands through brand equity and the brand value chain
• Designing marketing programs to enhance brand equity
• Measuring brand equity and performance using various approaches
• Considerations for brand contact planning and constructing effective contact plans
• Branding in the digital era, with a focus on the African and South African context
• Strategies for international branding
• Perspectives on branding in the service sector
• The importance of internal branding and employee engagement

Each chapter incorporates practical examples to illustrate theoretical concepts, and it includes a relevant case study and questions for students to reinforce their understanding.

This textbook is the result of extensive research and collaboration with academics from various South African institutions, including the University of Johannesburg, North-West University, UNISA, and Vega School, offering a diverse range of expert viewpoints. We invite you to embark on a journey of understanding, developing, and managing brands within the South African context through this comprehensive resource.

CEOs can build up a business from nothing or turn around a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Inspiring with their relentless drive, strong leadership and innovation that can turn whole industries on their heads, they are the dynamos of our economy.

What is the X factor that ensures a CEO’s success?

KC Rottok Chesaina seeks to uncover the unique personality traits, business acumen and leadership values that have turned CEOs into captains of industry. Based on extensive research and focused interviews with the leaders of some of South Africa’s top companies, including Vodacom, Bidvest, Capitec Bank, RMB, Dis-Chem, Discovery Health, Nedbank, Sanlam, Momentum, Curro, Exxaro, Harmony Gold and MTN, Chesaina’s book takes you to the heart of corporate South Africa.

With real-life examples, The CEO X factor shows that reaching the top is about much more than money – it requires a very specific kind of character, straightforward strategies, a true focus on people and a value-driven approach.

As we grapple with how to respond to some of the world's most pressing problems, there is growing global interest in 'social innovation' as a potential solution. But what exactly is 'social innovation'? And how can it help us to think about problems such as inequality, poverty and climate change? Danielle Logue theorizes social innovation as a contemporary manifestation of the historical tensions between 'economy' and 'society' and the simultaneous pursuit of economic and social progress. Going back to the historical work of Adam Smith and his discussion of markets and morality, the author draws on organizational and management theory to present three theoretical lenses for understanding social innovation. These lenses include theorizing social innovation as social value creation, capture and distribution; social innovation as polysemous; and social innovation as institutional change. She then considers some of the current issues confronting social innovation in practice and the challenges for organizations in 'doing good' and 'being good'. This generative introduction is targeted at graduate and doctoral students, as well as non-specialist academics. It aims to stimulate further discussion and analysis by providing a comprehensive understanding of social innovation and a choice of frameworks when examining complex and wicked problems and the organization and management of efforts to solve them.

Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process constantly evolving through innovation, in that entrepreneurs devise profitable products and services that did not previously exist. This process requires entrepreneurs to have major skills in different business areas.

This book is about entrepreneurship in the South African business environment, and about the entrepreneurial process. It highlights three main aspects, namely: the entrepreneurial part of starting and running a business; the marketing of products and services; and the financial aspects of a profitable and sustainable business.

Key Aspects:

• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing
• Finance

Dynamics of Entrepreneurship is aimed at undergrad students in the field as well as anyone planning to enter the world of entrepreneurship.

This book integrates new thinking on the image, marketing, and branding of places at all levels, from town squares to cities and countries, and of the products and peoples associated with them, thereby bridging the 'country' and 'place' silos in place-related research and practice. Insightful contributions from top scholars reflect fresh theorizing and provide a critical appraisal of conventional wisdom by juxtaposing intriguing contexts, questioning commonplace practices, and challenging methodologies and theoretical assumptions. Chapters explore interdependencies among residents, visitors, brand managers, and consumers; image effects of place and social identity, cross-border acquisitions, popular culture exports, and sporting mega-events; country-of-origin research, cross-cultural consumer behaviour, international marketing, destination branding, and brand modelling; and cutting-edge methodological approaches and managerial best practices in place marketing. The book's interdisciplinary know-how and approach makes it an invaluable and comprehensive reference for researchers, managers, consultants, and students alike, in areas from marketing, place management, international business, and tourism to communications, social psychology, urban geography, and regional economics.

Providing a coherent and multidisciplinary approach to digitalization, this Modern Guide aims to systematize how the digitalization process affects infrastructure-based industries, including telecommunications, transport, energy, water and postal services. This important book reviews the literature on how digital technologies can impact infrastructure design, construction and maintenance costs, with specific references for each industry. Contributors analyse how digitalization is disrupting traditional infrastructure managers in terms of capacity management and traffic flows as well as discussing key topics including data governance, data sharing, digital platforms and sector convergence. With special attention devoted to regulatory and governance challenges, this will be welcomed by researchers of network industries and digitalization. This will also be of special interest to academics and scholars interested in the digitalization process, data governance and infrastructure management.

Cut 50% of your meetings and improve the ones that remain.

Meetings are essential to collaboration and decision making, but they are often irrelevant, time consuming and badly run. People spend an average of 2 days per week in meetings and 50% of it is wasted. This book will help you win back that wasted day a week by cutting out the half of face to face and virtual meetings that do not need to happen and radically improving the ones that remain.

The two authors, one an experienced CEO and consultant to major multinationals, the other a millennial line manager working within one of the world’s largest companies, find common ground, and occasional disagreements on creating new ways of meeting both face to face and through technology that are far more engaging and effective for everyone.

The book focuses on three main areas:

• Dealing with the business and corporate cultural challenges in changing the way we meet
• Cutting out the unnecessary topics and participants that make up 50% of todays meetings
• Designing and running faster and more focused face to face and online meetings with more relevant content; clearer decisions and actions, and much higher levels of participation

Full of examples and practical tools that will improve everything from your regular team meetings to management meetings, online conferences, global meetings and big events. This book will lead you through practical actions and targets to kill the meetings that do not need to happen and radically improve the ones that remain.

This timely book proposes a new perspective on building innovation in companies providing business services. Implementing an innovation orientation paradigm based on six pillars - strategy, organisational culture, human resources, structure and process, marketing, and technology - it sets out a framework for achieving innovation through knowledge management. Offering practical suggestions for knowledge management, the book proposes a measurement tool of innovation orientation, highlighting the key challenges faced by companies providing business services and how a new, innovation-oriented paradigm can meet these challenges. Chapters provide a comprehensive analysis of service companies, illustrating a methodology by which these companies can gain a competitive advantage. Proposing theoretical insights for managing business services, this unique and state-of-the-art book will be of interest to international researchers of innovation and knowledge management, as it indicates potential paths for future research in these areas. Business managers and other practitioners will also benefit from this book's practical guidance in the role of innovation orientation in managing a knowledge-based service company.

A must-read for all South African retailers and small businesses! Attract customers! Make sales! Boost profits! All in your own neighbourhood.

Basil O’Hagan’s popular business text, the definitive neighbourhood marketing handbook, is bursting with tips to take your retail business to the next level. It features practical tips that are simple to grasp, easily browsable and relevant to the SA market.

Driven by European Union policy challenges, this cutting-edge book focuses upon the Regional Innovation Impact (RII) of universities, to analyse the socioeconomic impact that universities in Europe have on their hometowns, metropolitan areas and regions. By developing a conceptual model of RII, and by applying a mixed-method 'narrative with numbers' analytical framework, the case studies presented in this book describe the RII potential and performance of twenty research-active universities throughout Europe. The findings and lessons learned are framed within the context of RII-related policy challenges within the European Commission, and possible EC funding instruments for incentivising RII within universities. Key features include an analysis of EU policy instruments and assessment frameworks for regional leadership, human capital development and knowledge transfer. Insightful and original, the lessons provided within this book will be beneficial to European, national and regional policy makers interested in approaches to incentivise universities to contribute more to regional innovation systems. It will also be of interest to university leaders and administrators who wish to develop strategies to orient their organisations towards increasing their RII.

From bestselling author Robert Greene comes a new guide to the strategies of war that can help us gain mastery in the modern world. Spanning world civilisations, and synthesising dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts, The Concise 33 Strategies of War is a guide to the subtle social game of everyday life. Based on profound and timeless lessons, it is abundantly illustrated with examples of the genius and folly of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher and Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as diplomats, captains of industry and Samurai swordsmen.

Challenging current attitudes to governance and regulation in business, this timely book ascertains how regulatory approaches can innovate to ensure sustainable business that contributes to social justice for current and future generations within ecological limits. Combining a research-based approach with a gendered perspective of how sustainability goals are shaped and how businesses should engage with them, this pioneering book creates a comprehensive and contemporary understanding of what sustainability means for business. Identifying the limitations of current approaches to gender and equality alongside the weaknesses of current regulatory and theoretical approaches in business, chapters seek to enhance the practical understanding and embeddedness of sustainability into business within legal and regulatory landscapes. Insights from an international collection of expert scholars in fields ranging from sustainability science to law offer meaningful alternatives to the sustainable business status quo on both conceptual and concrete levels. Providing a regulatory analysis of business positioned in a systems-based sustainability research framework, this book will prove an invaluable resource for students and scholars of sustainability science, business and management, and law and regulation. With practical insights, it will also prove essential for policymakers working in business regulation and sustainability in business.

The most important part of a leader's job is to set in motion the actions today that will build a better future tomorrow - in other words, strategy. But how do leaders become strategists?

In this ground-breaking book, Richard Rumelt, the world's leading authority on strategy, shows how finding the crux of a challenge is the essence of the strategist's skill. The crux is the key issue where action will best pay off, and Rumelt reveals how to pinpoint it so you can focus energy on what really matters.

Drawing on decades of professional and academic experience, and through vivid storytelling of some of the most important business decisions of recent times, Rumelt illuminates how leaders can overcome obstacles, navigate uncertainty and determine the best path forward.

Strategy is not about setting financial targets, statements of desired outcomes, or performance goals, it is about finding the crux and taking decisive, coherent action.

Keep your cool and get the results you want when faced with crucial conversations. This New York Times bestseller and business classic has been fully updated for a world where skilled communication is more important than ever.

The book that revolutionized business communications has been updated for today’s workplace. Crucial Conversations provides powerful skills to ensure every conversation―especially difficult ones―leads to the results you want. Written in an engaging and witty style, the book teaches readers how to be persuasive rather than abrasive, how to get back to productive dialogue when others blow up or clam up, and it offers powerful skills for mastering high-stakes conversations, regardless of the topic or person.

This new edition addresses issues that have arisen in recent years. You’ll learn how to:

• Respond when someone initiates a crucial conversation with you
• Identify and address the lag time between identifying a problem and discussing it
• Communicate more effectively across digital mediums

When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation poorly and suffer the consequences; or apply the lessons and strategies of Crucial Conversations and improve relationships and results.

Whether they take place at work or at home, with your coworkers or your spouse, crucial conversations have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

Join Nyimpini Mabunda on his journey from his childhood in an apartheid-era homeland to the CEO’s office at one of the world’s leading businesses.

In a career spanning Procter & Gamble, Nando’s, Diageo and Vodacom in South Africa, the UK and Uganda, Mabunda actively sets out to always improve his business acumen and leadership skills. Constantly in learning mode and infused with positive energy, Mabunda’s path offers insightful lessons and practical advice for anyone who wants to succeed in their career, build and lead a business.

This is your toolkit to take you the top!

Now in its ninth edition, this widely esteemed Procurement and Supply Chain Management text provides a complete introduction to the important principles underlying the subject area using a flexible managerial perspective. The new edition has been updated to highlight emerging issues, technological developments and global changes in today's constantly evolving field of procurement and supply chain management. The text is future-facing and aligned to the capabilities which procurement professionals should develop to succeed in an era of uncertainty, digital transformation and sustainability pressure. The clear and well-structured content includes contemporary case studies that are relevant and engaging, bringing this complex and impactful subject to life for students.