MTN,
Blue Band and Makerere University are all market leaders in their respective
industry categories and often use this to benefit their shareholder interests
in a way or another.
Many in Uganda’s
politics believe that to secure victory in most areas one has to stand on the
NRM party ticket. For the national resistance movement this has been its turn
to eat the cake off brand-equity and this is how it has achieved the same.
- Selling Royalty: Party Primaries
Having
understood that many aspiring politicians intended to benefit from the mass
party’s brand to win the 2016 general elections, the National Resistance
Movement CEC sought to collect a sizeable amount of money from the exercise by
setting very high nomination fees compared to the national electoral commission
fees at that time. It was selling the right to use its name, colour and logo.
Take away: Renting
out a name is one way of eating from and expanding your already built brand
without straining your budget. A business that has several branches is often respected
and trusted more by customers and feared by competitors yet some of those
branches are often simply franchises, running on their own. Most
multi-nationals have done this.
- Pricing Highly: Nomination Fees For Internal Elections
It’s on
record that no political party or even the national electoral commission has in
its history raised even half of the amount of money the ruling party got in the
just ending internal structure and primary elections at once.
By doing
so the party not only managed to raise more than the amount it required to run
the exercise but to run party structures as well.
Take Away: Being a market leader is the best opportunity to earn high profits from
your company without standing the risk of making substantial exodus of clients
or significant reduction in sales. Use this well.
- Regulate The Competition: Delayed Electoral Reforms
With the
majority in Parliament, NRM had the power to decide when, how and which
electoral reforms would be put across and indeed the members did not disappoint
the rest of the shareholders.
In
delaying the reforms (or what looked like reforms according to some members of
the opposition), the party successfully managed to keep their competitors in
waiting, unable to plan their campaigns and execute well: they managed to set
the pace of the race to work in their advantage.
Take away: When you brand is in-charge, you can determine at what pace the
competition goes.
- Raising Industry Standards: Nomination Fees For General Elections
As if to
defuse the opposition further, the NRM-dominated parliament passed amendments
of the national electoral laws successfully raising the nomination fees by as
much as 1,000 percent and removed facilitation for presidential candidates.
This
particular strategy did not disappoint as some prospective opponents quit the
race giving the ruling party an even higher chance of retaining power at most
levels.
Take away: As a market leader you have the chance to set the standards to your
advantage. You can raise the bar so high for your competitors to reach and
enjoy a near monopoly in business.
Stephen Obeli
Someday
Twitter:
@StephenObeli
www.marketersense.blogspot.com
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