RESEARCH PROPOSAL. THE INFLUENCE AND IMPACT OF BRANDING ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR-STUDY OF SELECT PRODU CTS AND SERVICES.

PRESENTED TO SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES JAWAHARLAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY,HYDERABAD. FOR External Ph.D. 2011. BY NAME OF THE SCHOLAR: HALL TICKET NUMBER: SYED TAJAMUL HUSSAIN. 110121

Faculty:

Ph.D (Management )

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Dr. Badiuddin Ahmed Associate Professor and Head Department of Management & Commerce, Maulana Azad National Urdu University .Hyderabad. & Dr Harjoth Kaur Principal & Professor MBA Programme Sree Chaitanya PG College. Karimanagar. (Affiliated to JNTU,Hyderabad).

INTRODUCTION Marketing is a vast subject that deals with various aspects of a societal proces s by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating ,of fering and exchanging products and services of value with others. Marketing Management As defined by The American Marketing Association is the Process of planning and executing conception pricing promotion and distribution o

f ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organi zational goals. Hence Marketing Management deals with conceiving products, strategic market planning, marketing research, analysis consumer behaviour, identifying market se gments and dealing with competition, managing the products mix and line and brands, sal es logistics promotion etc. This study aims to analyse the the influence and impact of branding on consumer b ehaviour. BRANDING The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as dis tinct from those of other sellers. Others have defined a brand as A brand is the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced. Here is the famous advertising copywriter and ad agency founder David Ogilvy's d efinition of a brand: The intangible sum of a product's attributes: its name, packaging, and price, it s history, its reputation, and the way it's advertised. As defined by Kotler as a complex symbol that has 1) Attributes 2) benefits 3) values 4) Culture 5) personality 6) user.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR. Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropolog y and Economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers s uch as Demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to understand people's wants . It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, frie nds,

Reference groups, and society in general. Black box model ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS BUYER'S BLACK BOX Marketing Stimuli Environmental Stimuli Process Product Price Place Promotion Economic Technological Political Cultural Demographic Natural Cultural Personal Social Psychological Problem recognition Information search Alternative evaluation Purchase decision Post-purchase behaviour Product choice Brand choice Dealer choice Purchase timing Purchase amount BUYER'S RESPONSE Buyer Characteristics

Decision

"All marketing decisions are based on assumptions and knowledge of consumer beha vior," (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2007). Researching consumer behavior is a complex process, but understanding consumer behavior is critical to marketers-they can use it to: Provide value and customer satisfaction. Effectively target customers. Enhance the value of the company. Improve products and services. Create a competitive advantage Understand how customers view their products versus their competitors' products. Expand the knowledge base in the field of marketing, One "official" definition of consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, gro ups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these proc esses have on the consumer and society."

The main applications of consumer behavior: To devise better products and services that will benefit the consumer and societ y at large. To improvise marketing efforts to meet organizational goals. To devise public policies .For example Cancer pictures on cigarette packets. Social marketing, Example use of condoms to prevent aids, providing condoms on Highways, banning use of plastics bags and using bio degradable bags. To make better consumers. The Questions is How does Branding Influence and Impact Consumer behaviour. A brand is a personal that is attached to a product or sservice. A generic produ ct or service is available but it has no point of differentiation for a consumer. A branded product affects the buyers Black box and its characteristics like :-At titudes Motivation,Perceptions,Personality,LifestyleKnowledge. And it has a role to play in Decision Process Problem recognition Information search Alternative evaluation Purchase decision Post-purchase behaviour

A branded product or service creates a Persona and a Feeling of difference. For example A Hair Cut may just be a hair cut or a experience of fashion at Lakm e Hair Saloon or a feeling of elitism at Jawed Habib.s. Edible oil may be just edible oil or a Feeling of Going Healthy with Saffola or a feeling of Taste with Fortune refined oil.

Need and Importance of the study:The modern day consumer has moved away from the traditional purchase behaviour t o a complex buying behaviour. Todays consumer is more aware and influenced by peers , celebrities, families and friends social groups Media etc. And a brand displays a persona which might affect cultures,social class, age environment etc.Hence understandin g how a brand affects consumer behaviour a modern day marketing manager will be better equipped to handle his product and the market. Branding is a complex process and once created to uncreate the Brand is difficu lt and expensive. In the same way a Brand has the power to change consumer behaviour. F rom creating loyal buying habits to more frequent buying . A barnd can influence con sumer buying behaviour. A study of how the brand influences consumer behaviour will make the it easy for organizations

to better manage their brands and consumers . It will also help the society at l arge by making organizations understand them better hence creating and offering products and servies that will suit them better,. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY. Establish the importance of brands and their impact on modern day markets. Evaluate how they are vital to the growth of industry. The Thesis aim is to perceive the functional values of branding as well as eval uate its role in the consumer purchase decision-making process. In order to further under stand Consumer behaviour with regards to branding, this research paper aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the process and attributes that lead to the customers e valuation of brands and the key drivers to building brand loyalty. Main Objective:- To Evalute The Influence and Impact of Branding on Consumer Beh aviour. The allied following objectives have been set: 1) Set a valid and sustainable research question in order to achieve a non-bias an d accurate understanding on the topic in question. 2) Present the key concepts behind branding,consumer behaviour its values and its usage in modern day.by reviewing literature and studies and cases. 3) Determine whether a correlation between consumer identities and perceived brand Identities is present; 4) To gain knowledge about consumer decision making process, especially with hig h involvement products. 5). To know about different issues related to brand and brand selection process. 6) To identify the impact of brand name on purchase decision Statement of problem Ho = There will be no impact or influence of branding on consumer behaviour. Ha= There will be a considerable influence of branding on consumer behavior.

LITERATURE REVIEW. A latest book on Consumer Behaviour and Branding (Concepts, Reading and

Cases) reviews and discusses that in todays world of competitive offerings .diver sity of consumer preferences and proliferation of brands,consumer behaviour has become extremely important for marketing decisions.This recent book by S Ramesh Kumar Professor Marketing IIM Bangalore. Released in 2011 reviews consumer behaviour and branding in the Indian context. A similar study on Role of Brand in Consumer Behavior. Case: How Sneakers Have Tu rned into Status Symbols was done by Andrea Rubini from the SAVONIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES ,in June 2010 .In this study the author discusses that that loyalty to a brand can be either behavioral (unconscious) or attitudinal (conscious). Therefore, lo yalty to a brand can be just a coincidence The author sums up that brand awareness is a pr ogressive process that influences the final decision when the customers are already brand, and not product, oriented. Another study done in China on Impact of brand Image on consumer behaviour of lu xury goods of fashion industry in china, the author discovers that the young generat ion prefers branded original goods over fake ones, and that slowly and steadily the trend is towards branded original goods rather than fake copies. This study done by Chi Wen cheng in 2006.

And it can be seen how diverse and broad the concept of branding is and the way it impacts consumer behaviour can be seen from a study on An Empirical Study of the Impact of Branding on Consumer Choice for Regulated Bottled Water in Southeast, Nigeria This study learns that in bottled water company name and packaging

played a greater role than branding .This study also proposes two different cons umer behaviour models. This study was Published in International Journal of Bu siness and Management, Vol-6 ,no-6 June 2011. Ogbuji, Chinedu N. (Phd) Department Of Marketing, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria Tel: 234-803-541-9583 E-mail: Chiogbuji@Yahoo.Com Another study discovered that quality has a greater effect on brand choice than brand awareness. And that brand awareness is important in the first purchase and influ ence brand choice. This study titled A study to indicate the Importance of B rand Awareness in Brand Choice.A Cultural Perspective. done at Kristianstad University,December 2005 .By Hanna Bornmark, Christina Sevnsson.discovers that Brand awareness affects brand choice but the brand choice is equally affected by quality and price. A paper presented in International Conference on Management of change discovere d that The Indian consumers have shown another major change in their buying beh aviour. They just dont want availability of products; they also want better exper ience, services and ambience. This paper by Susheel Kumar and Aarti Devi presented at International Conference on Management of Change in January 2010 show that due to the new choice of Indian c onsumer and his change in buying behaviour has led to the growth of shopping ma lls where a shopping, entertainment and better facility is all available under one r oof. The tastes and preferences of the current generation are changing rapidly. The current gene ration does not mind paying extra for better facilities and ambience Another study done in Pakistan to study the influence of Brands on Female Consum er buying Behaviour discovered that status branding, brand attitude, paying premiu m for branded clothing, self-concept and reference groups were found to have positive effects on female consumer buying behavior while increasing consumer involvement in fashion clothing. This study discovers even across genders the in fluence of brands remains on the consumer behaviour. This study was published in Interna tional

Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 2, No. 3, June 2011 and throws lig ht on how the Female consumer is getting brand conscious especially those who are fash ion conscious . Vineet Hemrajani in Business Line Newspaper.Dec 31-2004 analyses consumer behaviour and says that UNDERSTANDING consumer behaviour is the key to success in the marketplace. He recommends the use of data analytics to keep a tab on dat a to better understand and predict the behaviour of existing and prospective customer s for business decision-making. A study at Mit Sloan in July 2000 discovers that . at Internet shopbots sites th at allow consumers to make one-click price comparisons for product offerings from multiple retailers. The study revealed that While price is an important determinant of cu stomer choice they found that, even among online consumers, branded retailers and reta ilers a consumer visited previously hold significant price advantages in head-to-head pr ice comparisons.Hence showing that even in online behaviour branded retailers had a n Upper edge. (Sloan Working Paper 4208-01,eBusiness@MIT Working Paper 137-October 2001, Erik Brynjolfsson, Michael D. Smith) METHODOLOGY In order to meet the research objectives, a systematic methodology is proposed Explore literature pertinent to the key concept of branding and its impact on the consumer decision-process. Literature to be used include books, journals, research papers , websites and any other source of literary knowledge that can provide an un-bias and rele vant view on the relevant concepts. Use information from internal and external environment to analyse the relationship between branding and consumer behaviour. Conduct a survey with a respondent size of around 250 respondents with a sample pertinent and relevant to the study.For collection of Primary Data. Use information from internal and external environment to analyse the relationsh ip

between branding and consumer behaviour. Analyse statistical data with statistical tools to get relevant information. Period of Study. A period of 2001-2010 is proposed for the study. The primary data would be more recent and the secondary data wherever relevant would be over a period of time. Scope of study :Since a study of consumer behaviour and branding is a vast subject .The secondar y data and literature study would cover a broad aspect of branding and its influence on consumer behvaiour. The study will review available literarture from all sources like previous stud ies, books, journals ,magazines, websites. Primary data collection will be limited to Twin cities of Hyderabad and secunder abad.

Limitations of study . Since the Primary data would be relevant to Twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunde rabad. The data may not be generalized globally. As human behvaiour goes it may have si milar characteristics to other studies but on a micro level the data would be influen ced by the local environment factors . Secondary data sources would be taken at face value. All efforts would be made t o collect true secondary data but after all efforts it would be assumed that the data obta ined is true. Chapterisation:The proposed research will be carried out in the following chapters. Chapter 1 deals with introduction, objective, methodology and scope etc. Chapter 2 Review of literature will be discussed in this chapter. Chapter 3 will deal with branding, consumer and its various aspects. Chapter four will deal with data analysis and interpretation.

Chapter 5 offers conclusions and suggestions.