The researcher commenced each interview by asking the interviewees to share their initial thoughts when they received a telephone call or e-mail requesting an interview to speak about transformation and BEE. The purpose of the question was firstly to get the interviewees to talk freely and openly about the topic without predisposing them into a particular direction; secondly, to ascertain their general feelings on this topic; and, thirdly, to establish an opening for the researcher to proceed with the interview in a more causal manner, in other words, as a conversation instead of an interviewer/interviewee format. Four categories emerged from this question, which were raised by more than one interviewee (several interviewees provided more than one view), with a fifth category disclosed by a single interviewee.
Table 6.1: Embracing transformation and BEE
Category Responses
1 “It’s part of our business and imperative strategy so there weren’t any alarm bells. … we were one of the first agencies with Black ownership in the country…, we are aware of it and it’s been embraced.”
“I have to start by saying we embrace it completely…, so BEE it’s not a swear word in our world.”
“It’s a critical subject in our country and something we’ve taken seriously for a long time, we were the first big agency to go Black empowered …”
“I’m comfortable with it because we have done a lot when it comes to BEE and transformation.”
“We’re open and free and easy to talk about BEE empowerment, our shareholding and how we go about it internally.”
Category 1 – Embracing transformation and BEE
Five interviewees stated that their advertising agency had embraced transformation and BEE and that it had already been part of their business for an extended period of time. Three of the interviewees revealed that they had been involved in the BEE process for more than eight years.
Table 6.2: In progress or completed BEE verification process
Category Responses
2 “We have to do it annually so we will start in February 2009.”
“We’re busy with our BEE transformation process at the moment…, so some of it is fresh in my mind.”
“… we had certification by Empowerdex which has expired and we haven’t done the new audit because one of our suppliers is waiting on a deal and that will affect our level of contribution.”
“We’re being audited for BEE … I was putting a file together for that anyway.”
“The last few months I have been very involved with an external consultant ratings agency and looking at our current situation and putting together a practical plan with sustainable focus on it.”
Category 2 – In progress or completed the BEE verification process
Five interviewees affirmed that their advertising agencies were busy with the BEE verification process, in other words, they had been recently certified, in the midst of auditing, and will either soon resume the process or were in discussion with a BEE verification agency.
Table 6.3: First thoughts on BBBEE elements
Category Responses
3 “If you think about EE, one of the key pillars for me, I am also conscious of the fact that I am in an industry where people move around a lot.”
“When you speak to other companies about BEE they say they have 26% ownership… but it extends beyond that, it goes into EE, procurement, enterprise development and management and a lot of people including ourselves never really understood that before. A lot of big businesses just sell off to investors, that is cheating in our opinion.”
“… we don’t see as much of the value in the ownership as we see in the EE numbers, if you get your numbers to the right level then you are making a difference.”
“A lot of our big clients are using us in terms of their empowerment scores, putting us under pressure in terms of reaching certain criteria, because it counts for them in terms preferential procurement.”
Category 3 – First thoughts on BBBEE elements
Four interviewees discussed various aspects of one or more of the elements (or pillars) of BBBEE such as ownership, EE, preferential procurement, enterprise development and management control.
Table 6.4: Apprehension to transformation and BEE
Category Responses
4 “It has always been a very sensitive subject in the advertising industry, simply because the ad industry has been lagging out there behind all the other industries in terms of getting it right. I think it has desensitized quite a bit. It has normalised in the last five years.”
“… they said we really like you guys but your BEE is very poor and we were quite defensive at first.”
Category 4 – Apprehension to transformation and BEE
Two interviewees noted that either the advertising industry or their advertising agency was initially sensitive regarding transformation and BEE, but that it had improved over the last couple of years.
Table 6.5: Transformation and BEE are divergent
Category Response
5 “The interesting thing about BEE and/or transformation, for me they are very separate and have nothing to do with one or the other. One might be a consequence of a large subsection, in my view, being the success of transformation.”
Category 5 – Transformation and BEE are divergent
One interviewee stressed that transformation and BEE had little to do with each other.
Summary of responses
It was not a surprise that these advertising agencies responded positively to this question since a majority of them are amongst the largest both in Cape Town and SA and have been industry frontrunners in terms transformation and BEE for the past decade. The fact that just under half of advertising agencies were in some stage of the BEE verification process indicates that they do take BEE seriously and are committed to measure their progress. BBBEE elements are the building blocks of BEE and are, therefore, important components of the scorecard that are necessary to measure advertising agencies’ quantitative progress. Transformation was and still is a sensitive issue for some advertising agencies, but the fact that that the top twelve advertising agencies were willing to participate in this BEE study and divulge confidential information indicates that the nervousness has diminished somewhat. It is true that BEE is only one part of transformation and that BEE is a formal mechanism that was developed to facilitate and encourage transformation.
However, in several instances, BEE does not bring about real transformation, particularly if not implemented in a manner that embraces the spirit of transformation and simply becomes a quantitative target exercise.