ASTRAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH, Indore [M.P.

PROSPECTIVE BUIERS OF BIKES IN INDORE

SYNOPSIS

APPROVED

[For MAJOR RESEARCH PROJECT to be done for D.A.V.V. affiliated MBA (Full Time) Regular 2-year Program , during IV SEM 2011 ]

Submitted to Astral Institute of Technology & Research Indore, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of III Semester Subject FT-306, MRP Phase - I . Submitted to :
AProf.Dinesh Wadhwa
HOD (MBA)

Submitted by :
Name : AMRESH YADAV Enrollment No: DO9MBA1510026 Mobile No. : 9589008943 Email Id :amreshyadav77@gmail.com

. Signature :

Date : .

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Two-Wheeler industry is one of the largest industries in the automobile sector of global market. Being the leader in product and process technologies in the manufacturing sector, it has been recognized as one of the drivers of economic growth. During the last decade, well-directed efforts have been made to provide a new look to the automobile policy for realizing the sector's full potential for the economy. The liberalization policies have led to continuous increase in competition which has ultimately resulted in modernization in line with the global standards as well as in substantial cut in prices. Aggressive marketing by the auto finance companies have also played a significant role in boosting automobile demand, especially from the population in the middle income group.

Presently many international brands like Honda, Suzuki, etc. are competing with Indian brands such as Hero Honda, Bajaj, and T V S, Kinetic etc. to capture Indian markets. These aggressive marketing strategies have resulted in making the consumer the major key for success in the industry. Each product offering is now designed to meet and exceed the expectations of the consumer. But understanding consumer behaviour and knowing consumers is never simple. And it is more difficult that to understand what a consumer perceives about the product. Customers may say one thing but do another. They may not be in touch with their deeper motivations. They may respond to influences that change their minds at the last moment. Small companies such as a corner grocery store and huge corporations stand to profit from understanding how and why their consumers buy.

.1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF STUDY

1.2.1. Market

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.

1.2.2. 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.

1.2.3. 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 .

1.2.4. 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 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 P s of marketing.

1.2.5. 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 4p s of the marketing mix.

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. 1.2.6 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.

1.2.7 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.

1.2.8 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 an specific manner towards a certain objects in the environment.
1.2.9 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. 1.2.10. 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.

1.2.11. 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.

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 ands 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 self image. Marketers try to develop brand images that match target markets self image.

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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.

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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.

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CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH DESIGN

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2. RESEARCH DESIGN

2.1 Introduction The two wheeler industry in India collectively produces 20 Lakh vehicles a year. Some players have managed to cut through consumer resistance with innovation, pricing and aggressive marketing. The competition level in the two wheeler industry is very high now. Many brands are fighting in the market for maximum share. They have to bring out a lot of differentiation among them. The major duty of the marketer is to know the reasons for preferring particular motor bike by the consumers. 2.2 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 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.

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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. That s 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

2.3 Statement of the Problem Stepping down of Hero Honda s position form a market leader to an ordinary market survivor has posed and alarming condition before the company. The present study would like to have an insight of consumer s perception about the criteria of selecting the bikes. Especially to figure out whether it is brand driven or quality driven.

2.4 Need of the study Before five years Hero Honda was the market leader in motor bike industry in India. But in now a day they are losing their grip in motor bike industry, none of their bike except Splendor became a success. And the competitors like Bajaj and TVS has taken advantage of this. There is no doubt that the companies market share is falling down. So this study will help to understand and identify what the consumer feels or perceives about Hero Honda motor bikes. This will help the marketer to identify which all are the factors that a consumer looks in to when he selects a particular bike. And also explains how a consumer selects and interprets the qualities of bike that Hero Honda offers.

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2.5 Objectives of the Study

1) 2) 3)

To analyze consumer perception towards Hero Honda motor bikes To get feed back on what consumer expects from Hero Honda To analyze consumer perception towards services offered by Hero Honda and performance of the motor cycle

2.6 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 Hero Honda motor bikes. The area of this survey consist of Bangalore 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. 2.7 Sources of Data Primary data:Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is first hand 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.

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Sample Design Sample The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers having Hero Honda motorbikes. 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 2.8 Scope of the study:The study helps in having an awareness of customer satisfaction towards Hero Honda . As the product had a good reputation in the market, this study will help to know that how Hero Honda lost their grip in motor bike industry. It also helps us to increase our practical knowledge towards marketing of a company. 2.9 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 one 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 Hero Honda sector. So this study will not be applicable for those areas.

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