Establishing the role of branding in social enterprises

Abstract

“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.