Within-country diversity: is it the key to South Africa’s prosperity in a changing world?

Adapted from Dr Burgess’s inaugural lecture1 as Professor of Business Administration in Marketing. The twin themes are the importance for marketing of correctly understanding consumers and their differences, and the need for businesses to take emerging consumer markets (ECMs) more seriously than they often do, drawing on examples from South Africa. The conclusions have application in most parts of the world, in particular the idea that consumer segmentation should be based on social and economic identity, rather than on conventional stereotypes based on race or tribal nationality.