Testing a Newly Developed Typology of Positioning Strategies in South Africa

Abstract

This paper tests the application of a newly developed typology of positioning strategies in South Africa. Following content analyses of firms' (domestic and foreign) advertisements (e.g., Daihatsu, MARMIC Used Spares, First National Bank, South African Airways, LAPTOP Technologies (PTY) LTD., First Bowring Insurance Brokers, Lucent Technologies, Grinaker Telecom, Sanlam Properties, Mitsubishi, e-TV, M-Net), the study reveals that firms operating in South Africa tend to focus mainly on branding activities (i.e., "the brand name") and only secondarily on positioning strategies aimed at portraying "attractiveness," "friendly service," and "affordability." Furthermore, firms place little emphasis on positioning strategies and activities depicting discrimination/selectivity in segmentation, that is, "the social class system" and other issues about nationalistic emotions. This study offers support as to the stability of the adopted typology of positioning strategies in the South African market setting. The paper concludes that culture is not a significant factor in explaining positioning activities. Conclusions,

Alternative Positioning Strategies for Services in Ghana

“…The best internationally recognized brands are also dominant in their markets (Coca‐Cola with soft drink), market leaders (BMW in car manufacturing), and pioneers (Ryanair in low‐cost air travel). Branding as a positioning strategy capable of offering competitive advantage is reinforced by other studies in the United Kingdom and in South Africa (Blankson, ; Blankson & Kalafatis, , , ). The implication for service organizations is to find avenues of effective branding in order to improve on the possibility of achieving a competitive advantage.…”

“…The key contribution of the research is in the development of an empirically based positioning typology from a developing country perspective, reflecting the dynamics of sociocultural, economic, and technological conditions of the research setting. It is also to be seen as a response to calls by researchers (Blankson, ; Blankson & Kalafatis, ; Mpoyi et al, ) of the need for competitive strategies that consider the environmental needs of sub‐Saharan Africa. Without this, Western derived typologies will need to be adapted (Blankson & Kalafatis, ) for use in sub‐Saharan Africa.…”

“…While research into market orientation and marketing practices in general have received relatively good attention in some parts of Africa, including Ghana, in the past two decades, the same cannot be said of positioning (Blankson, ; Blankson, Owusu‐Frempong, & Mbah, ). Recent studies that focused on particular sectors of some chosen countries looked at competition in general and often relied on secondary literature (Kastner, ; Mpoyi, Festervand, & Sokoya, ).…”

“…The study by Blankson et al () focused on the positioning of Ghana as a tourist destination within sub‐Saharan Africa; this was not specific to organizations operating in Ghana. All the known positioning typologies (Appendix 1), without any exception, whether conceptual, managerial, or empirically based, were developed in developed‐country settings (Blankson, ; Blankson & Kalafatis, ; Kuada & Buatsi, ). In view of this background, coupled with the improving levels of business and economic activities in Ghana (“Ghana: Advertisement Supplement,” ), the current research aims to contribute toward addressing this gap in positioning of services.…”

Retailing in post‐apartheid South Africa: the strategic positioning of Boardmans

“…Despite this however there has been limited research in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. The empirical studies that have been undertaken have overwhelmingly focused upon Europe and North America (Blankson, 2007). This is despite the fact that, in the post-apartheid era, marketing practices have become increasingly important.…”