Kerry Chipp

Building a strong corporate ethical identity : key findings from suppliers

The building of Corporate Ethical Identity, a process referred to as “ethicalization,” is an important strategic imperative and represents an integral part of a firms attempts to build a strong corporate identity across its various stakeholders. This article focuses on ethicalization at SAB Ltd (South Africas leading producer and distributor of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and one of the nations largest manufacturing firms) and the impact of its efforts on supplier perceptions. Leaders and managers must consider six factors that drive the formation of ethical identity across an organizations stakeholders: trusted relationships; organizational citizenship; development and enforcement of ethical policy; procurement contracting provision of information; and procurement administration.

Catch Up and Keep Up: Relative Deprivation and Conspicuous Consumption in an Emerging Market

ABSTRACT Exploratory research investigated whether the conspicuous consumption of affluent black South Africans is associated with prior experiences of relative deprivation. In-depth face-to-face interviews revealed that egoistic relative deprivation played a role initially in “catch up” consumption to the more privileged (white) consumers to whom black South Africans had been exposed during childhood to early adulthood. This resulted in a spike of conspicuous consumption that normalized somewhat as they continued to “keep up” with their (black) peers. The study extends our understanding of the impact of relative deprivation on conspicuous consumption and identifying the “catch up” and “keep up” consumption patterns that may follow experiences of relative deprivation.

Producer push to consumer pull: Who curates new media content? Developing strategies for new media environments

Purpose This study aims to explore if, with increasing consumer empowerment, consumers are actively pulling content through a multitude of platforms rather than relying on media owners to dictate their product choices. How do media owners and content producers move toward a more reciprocal and interactive business strategy to deal with the change? Design/methodology/approach The study was qualitative and exploratory in nature and utilized in-depth and semi-structured interviews of media consumers and experts. Findings Consumer behavior has changed due to increased product control, in terms of type and occasion, across all income levels. The value of curatorship has increased and social media has fundamentally changed consumption patterns. Using the Berthon et al. model of response functions, we found that, content producers often suffer from inertia and operate with an Isolate strategy. The second most common approach is that of Follow or customer orientation. There is limited engagement with the innovation orientations of Shape and Interact. It is best for the industry to move toward an Interact model, accepting that consumers sometimes wish to create and at other times wish content to be effortlessly provided to them. Research limitations/implications This study adopted a qualitative approach of industry experts and consumers within a single context. The further implications would be to develop the Interact strategy in more detail, especially toward the end of how to get media providers to change their current orientations. Practical implications Business models of product producers in the new business environment seek to be more consumer-centric. This must not be done at the expense of an innovation orientation. Originality/value There has been a lot of discussion on the need to change business models in the wake of changed consumer behavior. The current paper provides guidance on how to respond to the new media world.

Content Curatorship and Collaborative Filtering: A Symbolic Interactionist Approach

This paper explores the premise whether sophisticated algorithms that drive curatorship of content for consumers consider a symbolic interactionist perspective on consumer desire for content and wh ...

Ukukhothana: The Curious Case of Conspicuous Consumption and Destruction in an Emerging Economy

This study investigates “ukukhothana” as a form of conspicuous consumption and destruction among poor black youth in South Africa. Ukukhothana is an isiZulu word and translates loosely as “to lick like a snake” (Nkosi, 2011) and those who engage in this activity are known as iZikhothane (“the lickers”). In highly-stylized public displays, competing crews gather to flaunt and taunt: they parade their wealth—typically luxury brands, but also cash—while boasting of their superiority. The displays culminate with acts of conspicuous destruction during which the luxury products are ripped, smashed, or burned. Based on qualitative research conducted in several townships, including depth interviews and observation, this study yields insights into the main features of ukukhothana as well as the drivers for engaging in this behavior. We conclude by comparing and contrasting ukukhothana to other forms of behavior.

Managerial Beliefs Regarding Banking Activity at the Bottom of the Pyramid in an Emerging Economy

A decade has passed since C.K. Prahalad and his colleagues first introduced the notion of the “bottom of the pyramid” (BoP) into the managerial lexicon (Hammond and Prahalad, 2004; Prahalad, 2004; Prahalad and Hammond, 2002; Prahalad and Hart, 2002). Briefly, the BoP thesis states that the world’s poor are an increasingly attractive market, especially for multinational corporations. While the top of the pyramid is characterized by relative wealth, its long-term attractiveness is limited owing to high levels of current market penetration, bordering on saturation. By contrast, while the bottom of the pyramid is relatively poor, its long-term prospects are very attractive because of low levels of current market penetration offering the potential for rapid growth in the future. However, to fully leverage this potential, converting the very poor into active consumers will require considerable innovation in terms of products, business models, distribution networks, and especially price-performance relationships for products and services. To date, most companies have failed to generate the necessary innovation, preferring instead to simply transplant offerings developed for their traditional markets (Dawar and Chattopadhyay, 2002).