BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY

COIMBATORE

A PROJECT WORK REPORT ON

A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS

KNOWLADGE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
By
Suraj V. O
III Semester MBA
Reg No: 13P35G0017
Under the Guidance of
Prof. Venkatesh A Arakeri

Project Report submitted to the Bharathiar University in partial fulfillment of the

requirements of III Semester MBA degree examinations 2014
Prepared by

IBMR-International Business School

No. 1, 2nd cross, K.R.Garden, 80 feet Road, Opp NDDB/Near passport office,
Kormangala, Bangalore-560062

DECLARATION

I, Suraj V.Obearing Regn No. 13P35G0017, a bonafide student of third semester,

Master of Business Administrationin Marketing, IBMR-International Business
School, Bangalore, hereby declare that the project work entitled A STUDY ON
CONSUMER

PERCEPTION

TOWARDS

KNOWLADGE

SOFTWARE

PRODUCTS has been independently carried out by me in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of degree in Master of Business Administration in
Marketing by Bharathiar University during the academic year 2013-2015.

Place:Bangalore
Date:30 November 2014

Suraj V. O
(Regn No: 13P35G0017)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the success of any task would be
incomplete without the mention of the people who made it possible, whose constant
guidance and encouragement crowned my effort with success.

I would like to express my sincere thanks especially to External guide

Mr.NivinVenugopaland all the staff of KNOWLADGE SOFTWARE for their great
help.

I would like to thank my guide Prof. Venkatesh A Arakeri, for identifying my area
of work, reviewing it at every stage and for him patient valuable hours serving as my
project guide.

I am very thankful to Prof. Rajesh.K, Head -Academics, IBMR-International

Business School, Bangalore, for him constant motivation and encouragement.

I take immense pleasure in thanking Prof.VenkateshAArakeri, Principal-Director,

IBMR-International Business School, Bangalore, for creating the right kind of
milieu.

Last but not the least, I thank my family and friends for their invaluable help and
support during the course of the project work.

Suraj V. O
Regn No:13P35G0017

CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO

TOPICS

PAGENO

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

15

INDUSTRY PROFILE AND

II

30
COMPANY PROFILE

III

REVIEW OF LITERRATURE

50

IV

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

56

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

V

VI

77

SUGGESSIONS

81

BIBLIOGRAPHY

83

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A consumer may have set of interests, benefits, attitudes and life style before
purchasing a product. But there might be a major change in his taste of preference
after the purchase has been made. In such a position, it is difficult for the marketer to
know the behavior of the consumer. With this view in mind the research study will be
conducted to find out the consumer preference towards educational softwares.
To carry on the study, the research has been conducted as per the marketing research
process. As the study requires, the customer (potential) opinion it will also help to
know the awareness level of educational software in Eranakulam District and the
opinion regarding the performance of the company. The study will also help us to
identify the factors that influence to buy the software which will be helpful to the
company for better improvement of the Educational Software. For this study, I had
collected the primary data through questionnaire and the company catalogues,
brochures are collected for secondary information. To collect primary data survey is
conducted on individual (potential customers) this study limited to Eranakulam
District. The sample size that I had taken is 100.
This study will also help company to know the customer likes as well as their needs,
wants and satisfaction in educational software.

MARKETING
Marketing is concerned with all activities which are involved in the process of
transferring goods from the point of production to the point of consumption.
The main duties of marketing department in an organization are to analyze the market,
find the opportunities, design the products, format marketing strategies, develop
scientific methods and action purpose a budgets and establish a set of control. Now a
day there is a number of alternative products, so that customer has a number of
choices. So the success of products depends up on their marketing departments and
something different from its competitors production in terms of quality, quantity,
packing, design, etc. will affect the consumers demand. In short modern marketing
begins with consumer and ends with the consumers satisfaction and social wellbeing. Under the market driven economy consumer is the king.
6

The main responsibility of marketing department is to ensure the receipt of good

quality materials to the consumers as and when required. The marketing department is
headed by marketing manager and he has five area representatives as his subordinates.
The main aim of marketing department is to supply good quality products at
reasonable price.
According to American marketing association marketing is the performance of
business activity that directs the flow of goods and services from producer to
consumer or user
According to Philip kotler Marketing is social and managerial process by which
individuals or groups obtain what they need and want through creating and
exchanging products and value with others

Marketing Research
Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of the data
about problems connected to the marketing of goods and services i.e. problems
relating to product, price, promotion and distribution of the 4ps of the marketing mix.
Marketing research is concerned with all those factors, which have a direct impact
upon the marketing of products and services. Marketing research has grown along
with the expanded role of marketing as the focus for the business decision-making.

Recommendation comes from satisfaction and satisfaction comes from

Product Quality

Service Quality

Relationship Quality

Major attributes of customer satisfaction can be summarized as:

Product quality

Product packaging

Keeping delivery commitments

Responsiveness and ability to resolve complaints and reject reports

Overall communication, accessibility and attitudes

Sources of Data
Primary data:Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is
firsthand information for the direct users of respondents. The tools used to collect the
data may vary and can be collected through various methods like questionnaire,
personal interview
Secondary data:Secondary data is the data which is already been collected and assembled. This data is
available with the companies or firms and it can be collected from newspapers,
periodicals, magazines, websites etc.

Sample Design
Sample
The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers having KnowlAdge product.

Sampling Technique
Convenient Sampling technique is used for this project.

Data Collection Tool

Questionnaires as the primary form of collecting data.

Statistical techniques
1. Bar Diagrams
2. Pie-Chart

Statistical tools
1. Statistical software like Microsoft Excel

Scope of the study:The study helps in having an awareness of customer satisfaction towards KnowlAdge.
As the product had a good reputation in the market, this study will help to know that
how KnowlAdge lost their grip in IT industry. It also helps us to increase our practical
knowledge towards marketing of a company.

Perception
Perception is the sensing of stimuli external to the individual organism the act or
process of comprehending the world in which the individual exists.
Perception has been defined by social psychologists as the Complex process by
which people select organize and interpret sensory stimulation in to a meaningful and
coherent picture of the work.

The project highlights the factors that influence the buying decision of a consumer.
The factor under consideration would be:

Price

Income of the consumer

Warranty scheme

Finance facility

10

The customer satisfaction index represents the overall satisfaction level of that
customer as one number, usually as a percentage.

The buying process involves the following steps:

Problem Recognition

Information search

Evaluation

Decision

Buy

Post Purchase
Dissonance

Dissatisfaction = Brand
Rejection

Satisfaction = Brand
Acceptance

11

KSA MODEL

12

Research methodology

Research methodology is a framework, a blue print for the research, which guide the
collection and analysis of data.
Research methodology is being framed in order to achieve the research objectives. It
is an expression of what is expected of the research exercise in terms of result and the
analytical input need to convert data into research findings.
Research methodology minimizes the degree of uncertainty involved in the
management decisions. Research lays the structure for decision-making.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Type of Research:

This research is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research includes surveys

and face- finding enquires of different kind. The Major purpose of descriptive
research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main
characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the
variables.
The data collected here may relate to the demographic or the behavioral variables
of the respondents under study.

Research Instrument:

In the survey method I have used questionnaire as a research instrument this

is written & organization format contemning the entire question relevant to
solicited the required information.
Because of its flexibility the data is collected from large population about their
awareness attribute, opinion past present behavior to check that the questionnaire
surveys the necessary purpose it should be tested as a limited scale and this is
technically known as pilot survey.
This questionnaire consist multiple choices and some this close-ended structured
question are easy to summarize and there is no scope for misinterpretation.

13

Data Collection

The decision-making must be objective and fact based in nature. This is achieved
by collecting and analyzing appropriate data. Data may be broadly divided into
two categories namely primary data & secondary data. The primary data are those
data, which are collected for the first time by the organization, which having
already been collected by some other agency but also can be used by organization
under considering. Primary data may be collected by observation, oral
investigation and questionnaire method or by telephone interview. In this study,
for primary data collection we have used questionnaire method. This is written
and in organized format containing all question relevant to soliciting type, in
which all questions and answers is specified and comments in the respondents
own words are held to a minimum, the unstructured questionnaire is useful in
carrying out in depth interviews where the aim is to probe for attitudes and
reasons. For this study we are using structured questionnaire (annexure-A) and
carry out the personal interviews with users and dealer. Sometimes we have
carried out in-depth interviews and observe the situation to get more in depth
information about the topic. In the structured personal interview method the
information is likely to be more accurate and reliable because the interviewer can
clear up doubts and cross check the respondents. Moreover this method is most
flexible, no response is very low. Supervision & control is possible.
For secondary data we have used the data prepared by KnowlAdge Educational
Software Company & other data circulated by Educational Software manufacturer
companies.

14

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

15

INTRODUCTION
The term market may be considered as a convenient meeting place where buyers and
sellers gather together for the exchange of goods and services. Market means a group
of people having unmet wants, purchasing power to make their demand effective and
the will to spend their income to fulfill those wants. Today a market is equated with
the total demand.
The American marketing association defines a market, as the aggregate demand of
potential buyers for a product or service.
Under keen competition, a marketer wants to create or capture and retain the market
i.e. customer demand through an appropriate marketing mix offered to a target
market. The market offering i.e. supply must meet customer demand, which are unmet
needs and desires.
Marketing is concerned with all activities which are involved in the process of
transferring goods from the point of production to the point of consumption.
The main duties of marketing department in an organization are to analyze the market,
find the opportunities, design the products, format marketing strategies, develop
scientific methods and action purpose a budgets and establish a set of control. Now a
day there is a number of alternative products, so that customer has a number of
choices. So the success of products depends up on their marketing departments and
something different from its competitors production in terms of quality, quantity,
packing , design, etc. will affect the consumers demand. In short modern marketing
begins with consumer and ends with the consumers satisfaction and social wellbeing. Under the market driven economy consumer is the king.
The main responsibility of marketing department is to ensure the receipt of good
quality materials to the consumers as and when required. The marketing department is
headed by marketing manager and he has five area representatives as his subordinates.
The main aim of marketing department is to supply good quality products at
reasonable price.

16

DEFINITION OF MARKETING
According to American marketing association marketing is the performance of
business activity that directs the flow of goods and services from producer to
consumer or user
According to Philip kotler Marketing is social and managerial process by which
individuals or groups obtain what they need and want through creating and
exchanging products and value with others

Marketing
Marketing is a comprehensive term and it includes all resources and set of activities
necessary to direct and facilitate the flow of goods and services form the producer to
the consumer through the process of distribution. Businessmen regards marketing as a
management function to plan promote and deliver products to the clients or
customers. Human efforts, finance and management constitute the primary resources
in marketing.
We have twin activities, which are most significant in marketing:
1. Matching the product with demand i.e. customer needs and desires or the target
market.
2. The transfer of ownership and possession at every stage in the flow of goods from
the primary producer to the ultimate consumer.

The American marketing association defines marketing as the process of planning and
executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and
services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

17

SCOPE OF MARKETING
The scope of marketing is very wide because marketing performs multi-various
function. These functions includes ware housing, packing, branding, selling,
transportation, advertising, public relation, marketing research , products planning,
etc. the following are the important factors which fall within the frame work of
marketing.

Understanding customers needs and wants.

Study of buyers behavior.

Product planning and development.

Pricing policy.

Distribution.

Promotion.

MARKETING DEPARTMENT
The main responsibilities of the marketing department are to ensure the receipt of
good quality materials to the customers as and when required. The marketing
department is headed by the marketing manager and sales officer. They have five area
representatives as their subordinates. KNOWLADGE is having good marketing
channels in southern parts of Kerala. The main aim of marketing department is to
supply good quality products at reasonable price.

18

OBJECTIVES OF MARKETING DEPARTMENT

Increasing the consumption of goods.

Increasing the profit through consumer satisfaction.

Ensure the growth of the organization.

Providing wide choice of goods to the consumer.

DUTIES OF MARKETING MANAGER

It is the duty of the marketing manager to know the market trend to test
marketing before bulk production.

He ensures receipt of good quality products to the consumer as and when

required.

Another function is to supply good quality products at reasonable price.

He is also engaged in the marketing of the products.

MARKETING FUNCTION
The process of marketing involves several interdependent activities. These activities
are collectively known as MARKETING FUNCTION.
Marketing function will help to move goods from place of production to the place of
consumption.
Marketing function is defined as An act of operation or service of which original
producer and the final consumers are linked.

19

Marketing function include

FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH

Marketing starts with functions of research. This consists of market research and
product planning & development. It includes

Market research

Product planning and development

FUNCTIONS OF EXCHANGE
Consumer satisfaction is achieved only when goods are finally reached in the
hands of the customer. The process of passing goods into the consumer hand is
called exchange. It include

Buying and assembling

Selling

FUNCTIONS OF PHYSICAL SUPPLY

These are the function related with creation of place and time utility.

Transportation

Storage & warehousing

Packaging

FACILITATING FUNCTION
In the process of marketing we need a number of auxiliaries or facilitating
functions to

ensure the smooth flow of goods. Facilitating makes the

marketing function easy. Facilitating functions are.

20

Standardization and Grading

Branding

Pricing

Financing

Packing

Promotion

PRODUCT MIX
A product mix is the total list of products which a firm offers to the buyers. It is the
complete list of all the products offered for sales by a firm. Product mix is also called
product portfolio or product range.

PRODUCT BRANDING
Product branding is the art and corner stone of marketing. It is a name term, sign,
symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods of one
seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

OBJECTIVES OF BRANDING

It helps in product identification.

It makes the product attractive and popular.

It helps in advertising and sales promotion.

It develops brand loyalty.

21

PACKING
The importance of packing has increased these days because of severe competition in
the market and rise in the standard of living of the people. Well-designed packages
can create convenience and promotional value. After the inspection and labeling the
products are packed.

OBJECTIVES OF PACKING

Promotion

Protection

Transportation

Identification

LABELING
Labeling is an integral part of packing. It gives verbal information
about the products and the seller. It serves to identify a brand. Thus the purpose of
labeling is to give the customer information about the product he is buying and what it
will not do for him. It is a display of important information on a product package.

IMPORTANCE OF PRICING

Price influence consumers purchase decision.

Price can determine the general living standard.

Price of the product influence the price paid for the factors of production like
land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship (i.e., organization)

To the seller, price is a source of revenue and main determinant of profit.

22

Price is the only objective criterion for the consumer for comparing alternative
item and making the final choice.

Price is one of the most flexible elements in the marketing mix, as it can be
changed quickly.

Price is the main factor which affects the sales of an enterprise. The prices are
reasonable, more persons can attract towards the product.

Marketing Management
Marketing management represents an important functional area of business
management efforts for the flow of goods and services from the producer to the
consumers. It looks after the marketing system of the enterprise. It has to plan and
develop the product on the basis of known customer demand.
Marketing management may be defined as, a process of management of marketing
programs for accomplishing organizational goals and objectives.
Marketing management has to build up appropriate marketing plan or marketing mix
to fulfill the set goals of the business. It has to formulate sound marketing policies and
programs. It looks after their implementation and control.

It has to implement

marketing strategies, programs and campaigns. It must evaluate the effectiveness of

each part of marketing mix and introduce necessary modifications to remove
discrepancies in the actual execution of plans, policies, strategies, procedures and
programs.

Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools the firm uses to pursue its marketing
objectives in the target market.
There are four elements or variables that make a marketing mix, they are:
1. Decisions on product or service.
2. Decisions on promotion.
3. Decisions on price.

23

4. Decisions on distribution.
The four ingredients are closely interrelated. Under the systems approach the decision
in one area affects action in the other. Marketing mix decisions constitute a large part
of marketing management.
According to Philip Kotler the term marketing mix is, the set of controllable
variables that the firm can use to influence the buyers response. In the simplest
manner, the basic marketing mix is the blending of four inputs or sub mixes, which
form the core of the marketing system.
Product mix decision refers to decisions on product variety, quality, design, features,
brand image, packaging, sizes, services, warranties and returns.
Price mix decision refers to decisions on the product list price, discounts, allowances,
and payment period and credit terms available.
Place mix decision refers to decisions on the channels, coverage, assortments,
locations, inventory and transport of the market offering.
Promotion mix decisions refer to decisions on the products advertising, sales
promotion, sales force, public relations and direct marketing.
Together they form the four Ps of marketing.

Marketing Planning
A marketing plan lies down in writing the marketing objectives, programs and
policies to be adopted to achieve the set marketing objectives. Even before an
integrated marketing plan is prepared the company shall prepare functional plan for
each component of marketing mix. To have a sound marketing plan, every operation
is to be examined and the problems are to be identified. The overall marketing plan
should be linked to the distribution channel of the company to have effective
marketing operations.
The marketing planning covers the preparation of functional plans, integration of this
plan and the preparation of master marketing plan to serve the objective of the
organization. Marketing planning is bound to get a better hold of environmental
factor.
24

Marketing Research
Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of the data
about problems connected to the marketing of goods and services i.e. problems
relating to product, price, promotion and distribution of the 4ps of the marketing mix.
Marketing research is concerned with all those factors, which have a direct impact
upon the marketing of products and services. Marketing research has grown along
with the expanded role of marketing as the focus for the business decision-making.

Need of marketing research

Marketing research is conducted for different purposes. They are:
1. To estimate the potential market for a new product.
2. To know the reactions of consumers to a product already existing in the market.
3. To find out the general marketing condition and tendencies.
4. To know the types of consumer buying and their buying motives.
5. To know the reactions of failure of a product already in the market.
6. To assess the strength and weakness of competitors.

Consumer
A person who purchase or has the capacity to purchase the goods of service often for
sale by the marketing firm in order to satisfy personal need and desires.

Perception
Perception is the sensing of stimuli external to the individual organism the act or
process of comprehending the world in which the individual exists.
Perception has been defined by social psychologists as the Complex process by
which people select organize and interpret sensory stimulation in to a meaningful and
coherent picture of the work.

25

Attitude
Social psychologist defined attitude as an emotionalized predisposition to respond
positively or negatively to an object. Predisposition can be thought of as categories of
meaning stored in the memory of a person and are based on previous experience.
Predisposing the person to have in a specific manner towards a certain objects in the
environment.

Brand
A brand is a name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them which is intended
to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate
them from those of competitors.

Consumer Behavior
The term consumer behavior can be defined, as, the behavior that the consumer
display in searching for, purchasing, using and evaluating products, services and
ideas, which they expect, will satisfy their needs. The study of consumer behavior
enables marketers to understand and predict consumer behavior in the market place; it
also promotes understanding of the role that consumption plays in the lives of
individuals.
Consumer behavior refers to all psychological social and physical behavior of
potential consumers as they become aware of, evaluate, purchase and consume and
tell others about products and services. It is the pattern of response of buyers to
marketing offer of a firm. It refers to the process as how consumers make their
purchase decisions. It is concerned with what, why, how much, when and from whom
buyers make their purchases of goods and services.

Model of consumer behavior

The starting point of understanding consumer behavior is the stimulus-response
model. Marketing and environmental stimuli enter the buyers consciousness. The
buyers characteristics and decision process lead to certain purchase decisions. The
marketers task is to understand what happens in the buyers consciousness between
the arrival of outside stimuli and the buyers purchase decisions.
26

Major Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

Consumers buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and
psychological factors.
1. Cultural Factors
Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior.
The roles played by the buyers culture, subculture and social class are particularly
important.
o Culture
Culture refers to that complex whole which includes in it knowledge, beliefs, art
or anything man acquires as a member of society.
o Subculture
Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific
identification and socialization for their members. Sub cultures include
nationalities, religions, racial groups and geographic regions.
o Social Class
Virtually all-human societies exhibit social stratification. Stratification sometimes
takes the form of a caste system where the members of different castes are reared
for certain roles and cannot change their caste membership more frequently;
stratification takes the form of social class.

2. Social Factors
o Reference Groups
A persons reference groups consists of all the groups that have a direct or indirect
influence on the persons attitudes or behavior.
o Family
The family is the most important consumer buying organization in the society and
it constitutes the most influential primary reference group.

27

o Roles and statuses

A person participates in many groups, family, clubs, organizations etc. The
persons position in each group can be defined in terms of role and status. A role
consists of the activities that a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a
status.

3. Personal Factors
o Age and stage in the life cycle
People buy different goods and services over their lifetime. Taste in clothes,
furniture and recreation is all age related.
Consumption is shaped by the family life cycle. Marketers often choose life-cycle
groups as their target market.
o Occupation and economic circumstances
Occupation also influences a persons consumption pattern.
Product choice is greatly affected by economic circumstances; spendable income,
savings and assets, debts, borrowing power and attitude toward spending versus
saving.
o Lifestyle
People from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may lead quite
different lifestyles. A lifestyle is the persons pattern of living in the world
expressed in activities, interests and opinions. Lifestyle portrays the world person
interacting with his or her environment.

o Personality and self-concept

Each person has a distinct personality that influences buying behavior. It is that
distinguishing psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and
enduring responses to environment. Related to personality is self-concept or selfimage. Marketers try to develop brand images that match target markets selfimage.

28

4. Psychological Factors
o Motivation
A person has many needs at a given time. A need becomes a motive when it is
aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive is a need that is sufficiently
pressing to drive the person to act.

o Perception
Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets
information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. How a, motivated
person actually acts is influenced by his or her perceptions of the situation.

o Learning
When people act they learn. Learning involves changes in an individuals
behavior arising from experience. Learning theory teaches marketers that they can
build up demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using
motivating cues and positive reinforcement.

o Beliefs and attitudes

Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These in turn
influence buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds
about something. The beliefs make up product and brand images and people act
on these images.
An attitude is a person enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotion
feelings and action tendencies toward some object or idea. Thus a company would
be well advised to fit product into existing attitudes rather than try and change
peoples attitudes.

29

CHAPTER 2
INDUSTRYPROFILE
AND
COMPANYPROFILE

30

Overview and importance of IT sector

Overview
Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications
equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a
business or other enterprise. The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers
and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution
technologies such as television and telephones. Several industries are associated with
information technology, such as computer hardware, software, electronics,
semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, and E-commerce and computer
services.
Even though it's only a few decades old, by now the computer software industry has a
much-storied past. We've all heard the tales of iconoclastic young entrepreneurs who
started companies in their garages and went on to become among the most rich and
powerful businesspeople in the world. Indeed, names like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
are better known in many circles than the names of the latest pop music stars.
Today, programming's adventurous and maverick past is still alive; all over Silicon
Valley, as well as in other tech hot spots like Boston and Austin, visionary software
developers are trying to come up with the next "killer app."
Computer software products accomplish discrete tasks and are sold as complete
packages. Categories include applications, such as word processors and Web
browsers; operating systems, such as Windows and Linux; and utilities.
Most software purchases are made by businesses seeking better tools to manage the
complexities of running operations, record keeping, and controlling the flow of
money in and out of an enterprise. It's not always the quality of the code that
determines the most successful software, but how well that software meets an actual
business need. Probably the quickest way to talk you out of a job in this segment is to
make the technology seem more important than the end user.
Marketing is critical to the success of any software product, partly because there are
so many companies competing in the software market and partly because computers

31

are still new to a lot of people and business processes. In fact, in many companies that
produce software, the marketing department calls the shots.
At the other end of the totem pole, technical writers are employed at most computer
software companies to write user documentation, either as manuals or, increasingly,
as online help. The industry also employs-in descending order of technical expertisesoftware testers, customer service reps, sales personnel, and staff for the usual array of
business functions, from HR to accounting.
Multiplying Platforms
In old days, software developers had to develop products for just a few different types
of devices: PCs, servers, supercomputers, and the like-all of them variations on the
computer. These days, with each passing year there are more varied types of devices
that contain computer chips and need software to tell them how to operate-everything
from in-car global positioning systems (GPS), to cell phones that allow users to play
video games, to personal digital assistants (PDAs) that can send and receive email, to
"smart" household appliances. This increasing variety means a need for more and
more new software programs. Meanwhile, the growing use of wireless networking
technologies means an even greater variety of software types. The result of all this:
Plenty of work for good software developers.

Shipping Jobs Overseas

Dampening the jobs picture a bit is the trend among software developers to outsource
work to cheaper labor overseas-to India, for instance, which has a large population of
educated, tech-savvy folks willing to work at a fraction of what passes for an
acceptable salary in the United States. In general, most exported tech jobs have been
at the lower, more grunt work-focused levels, though there's an increasing trend
towards sending more skilled tech jobs overseas. Still, at least for the time being, if
you're good at what you do, the explosion in software development means software
folks should continue to have plenty of job opportunities here in the States.

32

Software As service
In the really old days, software was sold in a box, which the buyer would take home
(or to his or her office) and install on a computer. More recently, software consumers
have been able to forgo the trip to the store and download the software they want
directly to their computer systems. Today, more and more, software is being sold as a
service; in other words, the software is hosted on the software company's server, and
accessed via the Internet by the user, who pays a periodic subscription fee for that
access. Software companies of all kinds are experimenting with this model; indeed,
these days this new model is even being used with such software as word processing
and spreadsheet programs. One of its advantages is that improvements can be made to
existing software programs on an ongoing basis; if there's a bug in the program, you
can fix it now-today-rather than having to wait until your next official release to give
users the benefit of the improvement.
Open Source
Linux system software, the centerpiece of the open-source movement (which
champions free software for all and welcomes and encourages developer contributions
to the software), is finally making a splash in the business world. More companies,
such as Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch, are seeing the benefits of not
having to pay for software and upgrades and beginning to adopt Linux environments.
What's more, many organizations and even countries feel Linux adoption is a way to
curb Microsoft's monopolistic power. Computer makers such as Dell and HewlettPackard are responding by shipping PCs and servers loaded with Linux. And big
business-software providers such as BEA Systems, SAP, and VERITAS are making
products that run on Linux.
Meanwhile, the use of other types of open-source software is growing. The Firefox
browser, for instance, which is an alternative to proprietary-software browsers like
Internet Explorer and Safari, is being downloaded and used by Web surfers with
increasing regularity.

33

Gaming
Video games now take in more of Americans' money than movies on the big screen,
which are themselves less products of photography and more shifting digital displays
rendered with extremely powerful animation software. Video game giant Electronic
Arts had revenue in excess of $3 billion in 2005, and lots of other players in this space
are making a pretty penny. Meanwhile, sales of professional animation software,
which can cost thousands of dollars, continue to climb. And the growth in demand for
gaming software for non-computer platforms (such as cell phones) is giving a further
boost to this sector. Creative types who want to apply their talents to make games can
find plenty of opportunities with companies making software meant to entertain.
The computer software market is most commonly segmented according to the type of
work a product does. A few of the major market segments are listed below, along with
the names of a few companies that are active in each.
System Software
Microsoft Windows is by far the dominant example in this category-but not the only
one. Apple's Mac OS X is still alive and well, while Linux is gaining a reputation as a
reliable alternative in business settings. Red Hat has actually made a business out of
packaging and providing support for a version of Linux, which itself is available free
on the Internet.
Productivity
Productivity includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database
management, graphic design, and other applications that help people do their jobs.
Key players: Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Microsoft (Word, PowerPoint,
Excel), Autodesk (computer-aided design applications).
Enterprise
The term denotes the large and expensive software packages sold by the likes of
Oracle, SAP, and IBM that enable companies to organize the complex flow of
materials, payments, and data necessary for the vast cast of global operations that
keep the modern corporation working, as well as less expensive niche software
packages sold by smaller, niche players in the enterprise software space.

34

Education
Educational software helps your kids learn to read, teaches you geography or a
foreign language, stimulates logical thinking, and so on. This category also comprises
children's educational games, the so-far slow-to-catch-on electronic-book industry,
teaching resources, and music instruction. Key players: Disney, Microsoft, Scholastic.
Gaming
A highly competitive and extremely broad market segment, this includes role-playing
software, auto and flight simulation, sports, strategy games such as chess, and
children's games. Key players: Electronic Arts, Activision, Take-Two, THQ. Also,
note that there are many small, thriving studios that use the bigger players for
distribution and marketing, as well as big-name individual designers who will work
for game companies on a project-by-project basis.
Don't count on the high salaries that were typical of the industry in the late 1990s.
Now that software development can be outsourced to many politically stable, Englishproficient countries with advanced communications infrastructures, the expanded
supply of technically skilled (and low-cost) workers has blunted demand. Still, don't
underestimate the power of the local. It's hard to efficiently collaborate with workers
many thousands of miles away; many software projects-especially those with tight
deadlines, rapidly changing requirements, and applications specific to American
regulations and culture-will stay in this country. Take heart from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, which predicts that occupations in the computer software industry will be
one of the fastest growing between 2004 and 2014.
Much of the activity in computer software is happening in Silicon Valley, but you
also might check out opportunities in other high-tech regions including Boston,
Austin, Minneapolis, New York City, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Boca Raton, and the
Research Triangle region of North Carolina.
Successful software businesses are of course built on more than technical talent.
Sales, marketing, and customer service provide many jobs for those who prefer
thinking and talking about software to actually writing it. On the technical side, highlevel software architecture skills are likely to become more valuable as the nuts and
bolts of software projects are outsourced overseas.
35

Importance of IT sector
The flow of information has changed the way we live in today world. Information is
the backbone of every system. Every morning when we read a newspaper having out
so much information we came to know the latest happening in the world (of course in
details), yeah you are right even the internet edition also. This is just a very basic
example of IT.
All our Railways, Air and even sea networks are connected with the help of IT. The
information is very vital for running these smoothly. Even if we have do not have
information for one minute it may result into a big disaster.
We can take the example of banking. It is very easy to transact any amount of money
from part of the world to other with help of e-commerce. We can purchase anything
online with help of debit and credit cards. This has made our lives more and simpler.
Now a day if we want to buy something and are not getting it nearby store then we
can simply search for that thing on internet and then order it on the internet. We will
get it delivered at our doorstep with just few clicks of mouse.
Similarly if we want to travel around the world we can book airline tickets online and
even book rooms for our hotels (of course at competitive rates).
People are working on the internet without really having to go outside to their
workplace. IT has changed the whole scenario.

Factors influencing the growth of IT Sector

According

to

P.

Fleeger,

most

oftheseproductsarenotfreefromfaults.

Withthousands or evenmillionsof linesof code,itcanbea dauntingtaskto deliver a

bug

freeproducttoatargetmarket.Whileitmaybeunreasonabletorequirea100

percenterror freeproduct,thereisstillmuchroomfor improvement.

A

fewdistinctionsexistbetweensoftwareengineeringandtraditionalfieldsof

engineering (Brookshear,2000). Traditionalfieldsof engineering(e.g.,mechanical

engineering)have

always

beenabletouse

previouslydevelopedcomponents

as

building
blocks.Withsoftwareengineering,previouslydevelopedcomponentstendtohavean
36

internaldesignthatisdependenton aspecificapplication.Toreuseacomponentfor a new

applicationwould requirethatitbereengineered.
A

seconddistinctionbetweensoftwareengineeringandtraditionalfieldsof

engineeringdealswiththeroleof

tolerances.Thefunctioningof

anairconditioning

systeminahomemaybeconsideredacceptableifitcoolsthehomewithinacertain
acceptablerangeof coolingdifferential.Software,incontrast,eitherworks properly,or it
does notoperateproperly.For instance,aspreadsheetprogramthatoperateswithinaone
percent marginof error is notacceptable.
As

the

distinctionbetweensoftwareengineeringandtraditionalfieldsof

engineeringisidentifiedas
software.Consumer

thelackofquantitativesystemsfor

measuringpropertiesof

ReportsMagazinereportsmonthlyon

thequalityofvarious

mechanicaldevicesby

measuringthematimebetweenfailures,whichmeasureshow

welltheitemhandleswearandtear.In

contrast,softwaredoes

notwearout,so

proceduresofmeasuringqualitydo notapply.
Therearetwo

majorapproachestosoftwareengineering:thesystemsapproach,

andtheengineeringapproach.Thetwo

approachesarenotnecessarilymutually

exclusive.Theengineeringapproachcanandshouldbuildfromthesystemsapproach.
Thatis,as soon as theelementsof the systemareidentified,categorized,andprioritized,
thentheengineeringapproachcanbeused

to

maketheelementsof

thatsystema

developmentalproject.
Besidesthetwo
consideredwhen

basicapproachestosoftwareengineering,modeling

should

be

attemptingtoimprovesoftwaredevelopmentprojects.Models

are

basicallycategorizedeitherstaticor

dynamic.AccordingtoP

Fleegerastatic

modeldepictsaprocess, showing thattheinputsaretransformedtooutputs.A dynamic

modelcandepicthow productsaretransformedatvarioussteps of the process.
Therehavebeenanumberof

modelsthathavebeendesignedby

academicsthat

purporttoconsiderallfactorsrelevanttoandnecessaryfor thesuccess of aproject. P.

Fleegerpresentsanintroductiontoseveralmodels,includingthewaterfallmodel,
thewaterfallmodelwithprototyping,theV

model,theprototypingmodel,the

operationalspecificationmodel,McCallsqualitymodel,thetransformationalmodel,the
phaseddevelopmentmodel,theCapabilityMaturityModel,andthespiralmodel.Each
modelpresentsauniqueway

of

representationof

factorsthatmustbeconsideredina

project.
37

Itmightbewonderedwhetheror

notatwo-dimensionalrepresentation(i.e.,a

writtendiagram)caneverbesufficientto modelthe real worldespeciallysincewe live

and

operateinathree-dimensionalworld.

physicalspace,plusthefourthdimensionof
intime.Wecanalsogo

Actually,we

liveinthethreedimensionsof

time.Wecontinually

progress

backintime,figurativelyspeaking,by

historicallyrelevantsituationsand/orcasestudies.So

forward
studying

itseems,therefore,thatamodel

shouldbeused onlyas aguideline.Perhaps athreedimensionalmodelwould be more

accuratethanatwo-dimensionalmodelinthatactionsandproceduresrelatedtoadesign
projectcanoccurnotonlyatdifferenttimes,butatdifferentplaces.Computermodeling
canapproximatethree-dimensionalprojections,butan effective managermustconsider
how thatmodelwill evolve or developovertime.Projectmanagerswho relysolelyon
modelsdepictedtwo

dimensionallyor

linearlywillneglectsomeoftheconsiderations

necessarytosuccessfullycompleteasoftwareprojecton timeandwithinthe initial budget

Perhaps anintegrationof modelingapproacheswould be moreeffective.
In geometry,for instance,thestudyof polyhedronmodelshas revealeddualmodels,in
whichtwo

differentthree-dimensionalshapes

symmetricallycompatible.

An

developmentprojectsmayneedtointegratetwo

complementeachotherby
effectivemanagerof

or

being
software

moremodelingapproachesthatmay

seemdissimilar,butareactuallycomplimentary.
Theimportanceof

discussingmodelingandapproachestosoftwareengineeringis

thatoncetheprocess

anditscomponentsareunderstood,potentialprojectcanthenbe

analyzedindetailtodeterminewhereproblems,potentialproblems,or

deficiencies

reside.Theearliertheseproblemsaredetectedandcorrected;theyorlikelyitwillbe
thattheprojectwillbesuccessful.

Size of the IT industry

38

According to market researcher Data Monitor, the size of the worldwide

software industry in 2008 was US$303.8 billion, an increase of 6.5%
compared to 2007. Americas account for 42.6% of the global software
market's value.

The industry has been growing rapidly. It grew at a rate of 38% over 2005. For
the FY06 financial year the projections is of US$7.2 billion worth of services
provided by this industry. The base in terms of headcount being roughly
400,000 people directly employed in this Industry.

The global IT Industry is estimated to be worth 120-150 billion dollars; of this

the offshore IT is estimated to be some US$11.4 billion. India thus has some
5-6% share of the total Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore
component.

The U.S $7.2 billion also represents some 20% of the IT Industry which is in
total expected to have revenues worth US$36 billion for 2006.

The headcount at 400,000 is some 40% of the approximate one million

workers estimated to be directly employed in the IT Sector.

39

Contribution of IT to National Economy & to GDP in India

40

India is 13th in services output. The services sector provides employment to 23% of
the work force and is growing quickly, with a growth rate of 7.5% in 19912000, up
from 4.5% in 195180. It has the largest share in the GDP, accounting for 55% in
2007, up from 15% in 1950.Information technology and business process outsourcing
are among the fastest growing sectors, having a cumulative growth rate of revenue
33.6% between 199798 and 200203 and contributing to 25% of the country's total
exports in 200708.The growth in the IT sector is attributed to increased
specialization, and an availability of a large pool of low cost, highly skilled, educated
and fluent English-speaking workers, on the supply side, matched on the demand side
by increased demand from foreign consumers interested in India's service exports, or
those looking to outsource their operations. The share of the Indian IT industry in the
country's GDP increased from 4.8% in 200506 to 7% in 2008.In 2009, seven Indian
firms were listed among the top 15 technology outsourcing companies in the world

41

Global IT Market by Industry

Information Technology

43

Financial Services

17

Communication (Telecom) 16
Consumer Goods/ Services 15

Trends of growth of IT sector in last 5 years

42

1. Next-Gen Mobile - Smart Devices and Tablets

It's obvious to the casual observer these days that smart mobile devices based on iOS,
Android, and even Blackberry OS/QNX are seeing widespread use. But comparing
projected worldwide sales of tablets and PCs tells an even more dramatic story. Using
the latest sales projections from Gartner on tablets and current PC shipment estimates
from IDC, we can see that by 2015 the tablet market will be 479 million units and the
PC market will be only just ahead at 535 million units. This means tablets alone are
going to have effective parity with PCs in just 3 years. Other data I've seen tells a
similar story.
So, while it's still early days yet, it's also quite clear that enterprises must start treating
tablets as equal citizens in their IT strategies. So why won't they? For several reasons:

2. Social Media - Social Business and Enterprise

While mobile phones technically have a broader reach than any communications
device, social media has already surpassed that workhorse of the modern enterprise, email. Increasingly, the world is using social networks and other social media-based
services to stay in touch, communicate, and collaborate. Now key aspects of the CRM
process are being overhauled to reflect a fundamentally social world and expecting to
see stellar growth in the next year. As Sales forces Marc Benioff was very clear in
his dramatic keynote at Dream force last month, leading organizations are becoming
social enterprises.
There now seems to be hard data to confirm this view: McKinsey and Company is
reporting that the revenue growth of social businesses is 24% higher than less social
firms and data from Frost and Sullivan backs that up across various KPIs. The
message is that companies are going to -- and have every reason to -- be using social
media as a primary channel in the very near future, if they aren't already. It's time to
get strategic.

3) Cloud computing
Of all the technology trends on this list, cloud computing is one of the more
interesting and in my opinion, now least controversial. While there are far more
43

reasons to adopt cloud technologies than just cost reduction, according to Mike
Vizard perceptions of performance issues and lack of visibility into the stack remain
one of the top issues for large enterprises. Yet, among the large enterprise CTO and
CIOs I speak with, cloud computing is being adopted steadily for non-mission critical
applications and some are now even beginning to downsize their data centers.
Business agility, vendor choice, and access to next-generation architectures are all
benefits of employing the latest cloud computing architectures, which are often
radically advanced compared to their traditional enterprise brethren.

4) Consumerization of IT
I've previously made the point that the source of innovation for technology is coming
largely from the consumer world, which also sets the pace. Yet that's just one aspect
of consumerization, which some like I and Ray Wang are calling "CoIT" for short.
Consumerization also very much has to do with its usage model, which eschews
enterprise complexity for extreme usability and radically low barriers to participation.
Enterprises which don't steadily consumerize their application portfolios are in for
even lower levels of adoption and usage than they already have as workers continue to
route around them for easier and more productive solutions. Another decentralized
and scalable solution is, as with next-gen mobile, to help workers help themselves to
third party apps that are deemed safe and secure.

5) Big data
Businesses are drowning in data more than ever before, yet have surprisingly little
access to it. In turn, business cycles are growing shorter and shorter, making it
necessary to "see" the stream of new and existing business data and process it quickly
enough to make critical decisions. The term "big data" was coined to describe new
technologies and techniques that can handle an order of magnitude or two more data
than enterprises are today, something existing RDBMS technology can't do it in a
scalable manner or cost-effectively. Big data offers the promise of better ROI on
valuable enterprise datasets while being able to tackle entirely new business problems
that were previously impossible to solve with existing techniques. While most
companies are still addressing their big data needs with data warehousing, according
44

to Loraine Lawson, one need only scan the impressive McKinsey report on Big Data
to see the major opportunities it offers on the business side.

45

COMPANY
PROFILE

46

KNOWLADGE

Type

Private

Industry

Software services

Founders

Joby Paul

Headquarters Kochi,Kerala

Area served

India, Abroad

Services

Information

technologyproducts,

educational

software

Employees

350

Website

www.KnowlAdge.in

KnowlAdge is a software development and marketing company located at

Kothamangalam, Kerala. KnowlAdge is a young, dynamic and technology driven
organization formed by experts from various fields with a view of bringing all types
software products to make education simpler.
47

KnowlAdge started in 1992, headquartered at Cochin, engaged in the development

and marketing of various software products. Our products are in the market for more
than 12 years and used by thousands of reputed institutions and lakhs of students in
India and abroad. Our products help the students to learn their subjects much better,
faster, easier, and effective.
Our dedicated team includes experienced professionals with over a decade of
experience in education, software development, marketing, personality development
trainings etc.
KnowlAdge CDs helps the students immensely to learn even the most complex
concepts in the easiest possible manner. It makes learning fun and visually
stimulating. Students will find it easy to understand the lessons explained with visual
display of images, graphics, pictures and animations.
KnowlAdge CD is an interactive multi-subject learning aid that will enhance the
knowledge and improves academic performance of the students.

Mission
To develop innovative educational products and help the students to get a clear idea of
their topics and learn the most complex concepts in the easiest possible manner.

Vision
To develop into a company that deals with A to Z software solutions for education.
To help the students all over the world to study their topics in the easiest way at their
reach and save their time.

CSR ACTIVITIES

Fun Fair Event

48

KnowlAdge folks set up a lot of innovative games and food stalls in the office, and
theemployees had a great time participating in the fun fair. While having loads of
fun, we also collected funds for prevention of Ebola globally.

Blood Donation Camp

We set up a blood donation camp at our office. Seventy-six donors from our office
And the neighboring offices lined up to donate blood!

My Tree challenge
We conducted my tree challenge. The My Tree Challenge is an activity involving
planting a sapling and challenging others to do so. The challenge, which was inspired by
the Ice Bucket Challenge, was launched in Kerala to promote the preservation of nature.

Day with Special Kids

A group of volunteers from KnowlAdge spent a day with the special kids at
Snehanilayam special school and involved the children in activities such as painting,
singing, dancing and playing games.
Overall, the Joy of Giving Week brought in joy to each and every one of us at
KnowlAdge!

49

CHAPTER 3
REVIEW
OF
LITERRATURE

Review of Literature
The Customer Perception Report includes questions in four key areas, Expectations,
Purchase Decisions, Customer Service, and Future Purchases. So the customer should
50

be invited to participate in the survey. Setting realistic expectations during the sales
process is a vital component of making happy customers. How a company sets and
meets product and service expectations plays a pivotal role in fashioning customer
opinions. How a company meets or exceeds expectations is measured in three
important areas: product/service, support, and price. These three areas will be used to
factor a score for the Expectations category. The results of the three questions will be
used to factor an overall expectations perception score.
The Purchase Decision category gives us a better understanding of how the customer
perceives the purchase process. Two key areas for questions include an open ended
question on why they purchased and a ratings question on their experience. The rating
Question data will be used for the analysis of Purchase Decision category. The open
ended responses from the Why questions will be used for product strengths
analysis. The results of the purchase experience question will be used for the overall
Purchase perception analysis. Customer service is one of the most important
differentiations a company can have. For this report, customers will rate a company in
three key areas: customer service, timeliness for problem resolution, and expertise.
These three areas will be used to factor a score for the Customer Service category.

Purpose of Literature Review

Literature review is one of the prime parts of every project. The very basic purpose of
the literature review is to gain insight on the theoretical background of the research
problem. It helps the researcher to gain strong theoretical basis of the problem under
study and also help to explore whether any one has done research on the related issue.
Thats why literature review helps one to find out the path of problem solving. In this
regards the very basic purpose of the literature review in this dissertation is same as
mentioned

Statement of the Problem

51

The present study would like to have an insight of consumers perception about the
criteria of selecting the KnowlAdge product especially to figure out whether it is
brand driven or quality driven.

Need of the study

There is no doubt that the companys market share is falling down. So this study will
help to understand and identify what the consumer feels or perceives about
KnowlAdge educational software products. This will help the marketer to identify
which all are the factors that a consumer looks in to when he selects a particular
product. And also explains how a consumer selects and interprets the qualities of the
product.

Objectives of the Study

1) To analyze consumer perception towards knowledge products.

2) To get feedback on what consumer expects from knowledge.
3) To analyze consumer perception towards services offered by KnowlAdge.

Methodology
The research will be done through survey method. The collection of data will be done
through questionnaire, interview and related websites
The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers those who having
KnowlAdge product.The area of this survey consists of Kochi city.
The collection of data will be done with the help of a structured questionnaire. The
designing of questionnaire needs precision and classification of the subject, so that the
respondents can easily understand the question and can answer it sincerely and
correctly.

Sources of Data
52

Primary data:Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is
firsthand information for the direct users of respondents. The tools used to collect the
data may vary and can be collected through various methods like questionnaire,
personal interview
Secondary data:Secondary data is the data which is already been collected and assembled. This data is
available with the companies or firms and it can be collected from newspapers,
periodicals, magazines, websites etc.

Sample Design
Sample
The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers having KnowlAdge product.

Sampling Technique
Convenient Sampling technique is used for this project.

Data Collection Tool

Questionnaires as the primary form of collecting data.

Statistical techniques
3. Bar Diagrams
4. Pie-Chart

Statistical tools
53

2. Statistical software like Microsoft Excel

Scope of the study:The study helps in having an awareness of customer satisfaction towards KnowlAdge.
As the product had a good reputation in the market, this study will help to know that
how KnowlAdge lost their grip in IT industry. It also helps us to increase our practical
knowledge towards marketing of a company.

Limitations of the study:a) In this study it is not possible to collect the opinion of all the customers
owing to personal constraints. So the assumptions are drawn on the basis
of the information given by the respondents.
b) The study needs to be completed within a specified time of two month and
in certain restricted areas. So the findings cannot be generalized for the
company as a whole.
c) This study covers only a limited IT sector. So this study will not be
applicable for those areas.

Factors influencing consumer perceptions of a brand

Kotler defined perception as the process by which information is received, selected,
organised and interpreted by an individual. Some of the factors that influence
consumer perceptions of a brand include:

Quality: this is one of the factors which consumers take into account when
making their choice of brand. According to Uggla, quality is an integrals part of brand
identity.

Price:McDonald and Sharp stated that price can be used as a reason for brand
choice in two ways; either by going for the lowest price in order to escape financial
risk or the highest price in order to achieve product quality. According to sderlund,
price, place and brand are three important factors when deciding consumers purchase
choice in everyday product.

54


Influence by others: according to Kotler et al, influence by others plays a
vital role in consumers decision processes. Consumers have the habit of consulting
each other regarding a new product or brand and seeking their advice. The advices of
other people have a strong effect on consumers buying behaviour. However, the
degree of such affect depends on the situation or individual. Later adapters tend to be
more influenced than early adapters. Influence by others cannot be sharpened by
marketers. A buyer can also be influence culturally
i.e. value, behaviour and
preferences from family or other institution or socially.

Advertising: the main aim of advertisement is to create awareness.

Advertisement is a conspicuous form of communication. According to Aaker, if
advertising, promotion and packaging embrace a regular positioning strategy over a
period of time, there is the tendency that the brand will be strong. Some ways of
reaching and communication to consumers through advertising is through television,
cinema, radio, bill board etc.

Packaging: this is the process of designing the cover of a brand/product.

According to Kotler et al, packaging is a form of advertisement in the sense that it
sales duties such as attracting consumers, describing and selling the product

Convenience: according to Lin and Chang, convenience of a brand has a

significant effect on consumer. In other word, easy access to brand/product in store is
vital when buying low involvement product.

CHAPTERIZATION
1. Introduction
2.

Research Methodology

3. Profile of the Industry and Company

4. Analysis of the Data Collected
5. Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion
Bibliography

55

CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS
AND
INTERPRETATION

56

INTRODUCTION
Research methodology is a framework, a blue print for the research, which guide the
collection and analysis of data.
Research methodology is being framed in order to achieve the research objectives. It
is an expression of what is expected of the research exercise in terms of result and the
analytical input need to convert data into research findings.
Research methodology minimizes the degree of uncertainty involved in the
management decisions. Research lays the structure for decision-making.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Type of Research:

This research is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research includes surveys

and face- finding enquires of different kind. The Major purpose of descriptive
research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main
characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the
variables.
The data collected here may relate to the demographic or the behavioral variables
of the respondents under study.

Research Instrument:

In the survey method I have used questionnaire as a research instrument this is

written & organization format contemning the entire question relevant to solicited
the required information.
Because of its flexibility the data is collected from large population about their
awareness attribute, opinion past present behavior to check that the questionnaire
surveys the necessary purpose it should be tested as a limited scale and this is
technically known as pilot survey.
This questionnaire consist multiple choices and some this close-ended structured
question are easy to summarize and there is no scope for misinterpretation.

57

Data Collection

The decision-making must be objective and fact based in nature. This is achieved
by collecting and analyzing appropriate data. Data may be broadly divided into
two categories namely primary data & secondary data. The primary data are those
data, which are collected for the first time by the organization, which having
already been collected by some other agency but also can be used by organization
under considering. Primary data may be collected by observation, oral
investigation and questionnaire method or by telephone interview. In this study,
for primary data collection we have used questionnaire method. This is written
and in organized format containing all question relevant to soliciting type, in
which all questions and answers is specified and comments in the respondents
own words are held to a minimum, the unstructured questionnaire is useful in
carrying out in depth interviews where the aim is to probe for attitudes and
reasons. For this study we are using structured questionnaire (annexure-A) and
carry out the personal interviews with users and dealer. Sometimes we have
carried out in-depth interviews and observe the situation to get more in depth
information about the topic. In the structured personal interview method the
information is likely to be more accurate and reliable because the interviewer can
clear up doubts and cross check the respondents. Moreover this method is most
flexible, no response is very low. Supervision & control is possible.
For secondary data we have used the data prepared by KnowlAdgeEducational
Software Company & other data circulated by Educational Software manufacturer
companies.

58

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

TABLE

SHOWING

CONSUMERS

USING

KNOWLADGE

PRODUCTS

Sl. No.

Opinion

Number of respondents

Percentage

Yes

86

86%

No

14

14%

Total

100

100%

59

CHART

CHART SHOWING CONSUMERS USING KNOWLADGE

PRODUCT
100
90

86

80
70

Yes

60

No

50
40
30
20

14

10
0
No. of Respodent

INTERPRETATION
86% of the respondents are the consumers of KnowlAdge products, and remaining
14% of the respondents are not consumers of KnowlAdger products.

60

TABLE SHOWING REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING

KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

Sl. No.

Opinion

Number of respondents

Percentage

High price

37

37%

Low quality

0%

Less availability

50

50%

Lack of variety

13

13%

Total

100

100%

61

CHART

CHART SHOWING REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING KNOWLADGE

PRODUCT

13
37
High Price
Low Quality
Low Availability
Lack Of Variety
50

INTERPRETATION
From the above table it is clear that consumers are giving preference to the factors
mainly higher price and less availability. And they give second preference to the lack
of variety in KnowlAdge products.

62

TABLE SHOWING REASONS FOR PURCHASING KNOWLADGE

PRODUCTS.

Sl. No

Opinion

Number of respondents

percentage

Quality

69

69%

Price

0%

Design

11

11%

Special interest to KnowlAdge

20

20%

Total

100

100%

63

CHART

CHART SHOWING REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING KNOWLADGE

PRODUCT
69
70
60
50
40

Respondents

30

20
20

11

10

0
0
Quality

Price

Design

Special
Interest to
Knowladge

INTERPRETATION
There is a tendency that majority of the respondents are buying KnowlAdge products
(69%) because of its quality. Some others are buying the product with special interest
to KnowlAdge products (20%), and rests of the peoples are giving consideration to
the design of the product.

64

TABLE SHOWING QUALITY OF KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

Sl. No.

Particulars

Number of respondents

Percentage

Declining

9%

Increasing

51

51%

Constant

26

26%

Dont know

14

14%

Total

100

100%

65

CHART

CHART SHOWING QUALITY OF KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

60

51
50

40

30

Respondents

26

20

14
10

0
Declining

Increasing

Constant

Don't Know

INTERPRETATION
From the above table we can realize that 51% of respondents tell about increasing
quality of KnowlAdge product, 26% is says that the quality of KnowlAdge product is
constant.

66

TABLE SHOWING CONSUMERS RESPONDS TOWARDS

PACKAGES OF THE PRODUCTS

Sl. No.

Particulars

Number of respondents

Percentage

Excellent

30

30%

Good

56

56%

Average

10

10%

Poor

4%

Very poor

0%

67

CHART

CHART SHOWING CONSUMERS RESPONDS TOWARDS PACKAGES OF

THE PRODUCTS
4

10
30

Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Very Poor

56

INTERPRETATION
From the above chart is clear that most customers have good respondents towards the
packing of KnowlAdge products.

68

TABLE SHOWING HIGH PRICE FOR THE KNOWLADGE

PRODUCT

Sl. No.

Particulars

Number of respondents

Percentage

Yes

70

70%

No

22

22%

Dont know

8%

Total

100

100%

69

CHART

CHART SHOWING HIGH PRICE FOR THE KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

70
70

60

50

40

Respondents
30

22
20

10

0
Yes

No

Don't know

INTERPRETATION
Here 70% of the respondents are of the opinion that the prices of the KnowlAdge
products are very high. But the opinion of the 22% of respondents is saying against
them and 8% of the respondents have no idea about it.

70

TABLE SHOWING SOURCES OF AWARENESS ABOUT THE

PRODUCT

Sl. No

Sources

Number of respondents

Percentage

advertisement

32

32%

friends

26

26%

family

40

40%

others

12

12%

total

100

100

71

CHART

CHART SHOWING SOURCES OF AWARENESS ABOUT THE PRODUCT

12

32

Advertisement

Friends
family
others
40

26

INTEPRETATION
The survey says that 40% of respondents are aware about the product from
family.32% respondents aware about the product from advertisement.26%from
friends and very less percentage is aware from others.

72

YEARLY SALES OF KNOWLADGE

INTERPRETATION
From the above data it was found that only in the year 2008-09 company
showed high performance. Graph shows the growth and decline of the company.
Company has to perform much higher than the last years sales in order to sustain in
the market.

TABLE SHOWING COMPARISON OF KNOWLADGE

PRODUCTS WITH ITS COMPETITORS PRODUCTS

Sl. No

Particulars

No. of respondents

Percentage

About the same

15

15%

Much better

45

45%

Somewhat better

28

28%

Somewhat worse

7%

Much worse

5%

73

CHART

CHART SHOWING COMPARISON OF KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS

WITH ITS COMPETITORS PRODUCTS

50

45

45
40
35

Respondents

28

30
25
20

15

15
10

5
0
About the
same

Much better

Somewhat
better

Somewhat
worse

Much worse

INTEPRETATION
45% of respondents say that KnowlAdge products are much better than its
competitors products. 28% says somewhat better and very less percentage have
worse reply toward the products of KnowlAdge.

74

TABLE SHOWING WILLINGNESS OF RESPONDENTS TO

PURCHASE THE PRODUCTS AGAIN

Sl. No

Particulars

No. Of respondents

Percentage

Definitely

62

62%

Might or might not

34

34%

Definitely not

4%

75

CHART

CHART SHOWING WILLINGNESS OF RESPONDENTS TO PURCHASE

THE PRODUCTS AGAIN
70

62

60
50
40

34
Respondents

30
20
10

0
Definitely

Might or might
not

Definitely not

INTEPRETATION
About 62% of respondents are definitely willing to purchase the products again.
About 34% have the decision pending. Very less percentage is not willing to buy the
products again.

76

CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS
AND
CONCLUSION

77

FINDINGS

Quality of the KNOWLADGE EDUCTIONAL SOFTWARE COMAPANY

is good.

The distribution channel of the company is poor.

86% of the respondents are the consumers of KNOWLADGE products, and

remaining 14% of the respondents are not consumers of KNOWLADGE
products.

The products of the company are sold mainly at our own outlets.

Sales promotion activities of company are very poor.

Good infrastructural facilities.

Most of the respondents are of the opinion that the prices of the products of
KNOWLADGE are very high.

The company has fewer shares in the market.

The factory has well equipped lab and uses modern technologies.

Customers are not aware of KNOWLADGE products because of lack of

advertisement.

Maximum priority is given to produce quality products.

From the survey it was found that the company has less variety of products.

About 62% of respondents are definitely willing to purchase the products

again. About 34% have the decision pending. Very less percentage is not
willing to buy the products again.

78

CONCLUSION

79

CONCLUSION

In my brief study of the organization, I came to know that KNOWLADGE

EDUCTIOANL SOFTWAREs production here is of excellent quality. In this
competitive world, unless our industries adopts modern techniques and know how to
produce high quality products with fewer prices, it is difficult to survive.

To sum up the KNOWLADGE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE COMPANY is an

organization which contribute significant role for the educational development of
Kerala state. It provides direct and indirect employment opportunity to large number
of people. The successful performance of the company is essential not only for the
development of a specialized locality but also our country as a whole.

80

CHAPTER 6
SUGGESTIONS

81

SUGGESTION

The company should appoint efficient distributors to supply products.

They should ensure that KNOWLADGE educational products are

available to the customers.

Put more effort in supplying products in Publishers shops.

KNOWLADGE should give importance to sales promotional activities to

increase sales.

They should employ young workers having technical skills.

KNOWLADGE should conduct proper marketing researches to know the

customers tastes and preferences.

The company should provide good working environment to increase

productivity of workers.

They should improve brand image in urban area.

82

BIBLIOGRAHPY

83

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TEXTBOOKS REFERRED
Kotler Philip, Marketing Management, Pearson Education Inc. 11th Edition.
Consumer Behavior Building Marketing Strategy 9th Edition 2003, Tata
McGraw Hill.
Stanton William J, Etzel Michael J, Walker Bruce J, Fundamentals of
Marketing,
McGraw-Hill international, Singapore, 1998
MAGAZINES
Business Today
Business World
Business standard

NEWSPAPER REFERRED
Economics Times
Business Times
The Times of India
Business Standard

WEBSITES
www.knowladge.in
www.wikipedia.org
www.quickmba.com
www.netmba.com

84

APPENDIX
Topic- A study on Customers Attitudes Towards KNOWLADGE EDUCATIONAL
SOFTWARE COMPANY with special references to KNOWLADGE EDUCTIONAL
SOFTWARE COMPANY, KOCHI.
Section 1

Name of the respondent:

Sex:

Age:

Occupation:

Section 2

Do

you

know

about

KNOWLADGE

EDUCATIONAL

SOFTWARE

COMPANY?
Yes ( )

Are you a user of KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS?

Yes ( )

No ( )

No ( )

How long you have used KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS?

Less than 6 months ( ) more than 6 months but not less than 1 year ( ) 1-3
years ( ) over 3 years ( ) never used ( )

How would you rate our products?

Excellent ( ) good ( ) average ( ) poor ( ) very poor ( )

How often do you buy?

Once per week or month often ( ) 2 to 3 times per month ( )
Once per month ( )

Compared to other competitors products KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS are ;

About the same ( ) much better ( ) somewhat better ( ) somewhat worse ( )
Much worse ( )

What do you say the value of the companys products as compared to its price;
Excellent ( ) good ( ) average ( ) poor ( ) very poor ( )

How satisfied are you with regards to the usage;

Very satisfied ( ) somewhat satisfied ( ) neither satisfied nor dissatisfied ( )
somewhat dissatisfied ( ) dissatisfied ( )

85

What you look in your purchase please in order of performance ;

Price ( ) brand image ( ) company image ( ) quality ( ) features ( )

Your opinion about packages of the products ;

Excellent ( ) good ( ) average ( ) poor ( ) very poor ( )

Will you purchase the products again ;

Definitely ( ) probably ( ) might or might not ( ) probably not ( ) definitely
not ( )

What is the experienced quality level of the product ;

Excellent ( ) good ( ) average ( ) poor ( ) very poor ( )

86