A PROJECT REPORT

ON

“SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF NEWSPAPERS”

Submitted to Arni University, Indora for the degree of

BACHELORS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION(2010-2013)

Submitted By:TUSHAR SAMBYAL

Roll no-AEBB0009A/10

ARNI UNIVERSITYINDORA

HIMACHAL PRADESH

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to acknowledge my sincere thanks to, Mr. Vishal Sharma (Sen. Manager, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.), for his valuable Co-operation and guidance for the preparation of this project.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF NEWSPAPERS

CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2. OBJECTIVE3. COMPANY PROFILE

(a) INDUSTRY OVERVIEW(b) HISTORY(c) METRICS(d) CICULATION(e) READERSHIP(f) INDIAN ENGLISH NEWSPAP(g) BRANDS: ITS MAJOR BRAND INCLUDES(h) SUBSIDIARIE:THE TIMES GROUP SUBSIDIARY COMPANY INCLUDE

4. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY6. OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS7. CONCLUSION8. SUGGESTIONS9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

This project is on supply chain management of newspapers Supply chain management is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory while maintaining necessary product availability.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project has been made to know the preferences of customers. It has been made to know how marketing is done, how one has to behave with customers, how one has to convince customers to buy your product, what are the likes and dislikes of customers, how much money are they willing to spend and on what, and what are their basic interests.

This survey of mine gave me immense knowledge. I got to know about customers and their preferences and also about Times of India as a company. My work was to increase the sales of Times of India by marketing their magazines and newspapers. Daily I met at least 15 customers and convinced them to subscribe for magazines and newspapers. I would not only convince them for subscription but also take their feedbacks regarding the newspapers and magazines. I got to know about the likes and dislike of customers their grievances etc.

By meeting customers daily for making sale calls and for taking their feedback, I came to know about

Company’s strength and weakness.

Scope of improvement in the newspaper.

Where the newspaper is lagging behind?

In which area they should target to increase their market share.

What they need to add in their newspaper?

The print media is fighting with both the Government and the electronic media. The newspapers are trying to imitate TV channels providing more entertainment content. It is said that even when the people had high expectations from newspapers, they wanted to buy them cheap.

There is a big competition between different newspapers. In light of this, they are in need of new ideas, approaches and techniques for attaining a competitive edge. Many Indian organizations have started realizing the importance of Marketing management and new strategy to be adopted during the marketing of the products. They have realized that continuous improvement is the key to excellence. This requires regular development of their systems, techniques and people. Of late, Indian companies have realized that competitive improvement through quality improvement in the field of marketing the products by sales promotion, improving the distribution and many more elements of marketing mix can be achieved if they understand not only what the various strategy can be used during marketing options but also the time when a particular approach should be applied.

Marketing management is a powerful tool for achieving organizational goals and gaining competitive advantage. Summer training project goal is to help students become effective managers in today’s competitive, global environmentThe success of any business entirely depends on the survey done about the particular product

OBJECTIVE

To find the strengths and weaknesses of The Times of India.

Consumer Behavior Preference in Indian newspaper Industry.

To increase the sales of The Times of India.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

To study the market for newspaper in terms of the following parameters across competitors: - Product range available, target segment.

Distribution Structure (level of distribution in rural and urban sectors).

Schemes and promotional activities undertaken

The study tries to determine preference of consumers for different newspaper and analyses the reason behind it.

VISION AND MISSION STATEMANT OF TIMES OF INDIA

To maintain top position among the top newspaper in India.

To capture the market for which it is going towards the rural sector also.

To expand its business other than newspaper.

To provide accurate news in time.

Supply chain management flows can be divided into three main flows: • The product flow • The information flow • The finances flow MY WORK WAS TO:

1) MEET ATLEAST 10 CUSTOMERS DAILY2) GO TO HOUSEHOLDS, OFFICES, COLLEGES3) CONVINCE THE CUSTOMERS TO SUBSCRIBE FOR MAGAZINES AND

NEWSPAPERS4) TAKE THE FEEDBACK OF CUSTOMERS5) INCREASE THE SALES OF TIMES OF INDIA6) GAIN KNOWLDEGE FOR MY DEGREE BY CARRYINBG OUT M

Signature of Project Guide Signature of studentWith seal

Date:

Industry Overview: Print media in India

Indian print media is one of the largest print media in the world. The history of it started in 1780 with the publication of the Bengal Gazette from Calcutta.

History:-James Augustus Hickey is considered as the “father of Indian Press” as he started the first Indian newspaper from Calcutta, the Calcutta General Advertise or the Bengal gazette in January, 1780. In 1789, the first newspaper from Bombay herald appeared, followed by the Bombay next year (this news paper was latter amalgamated with times of India in 1861).The first news paper in an Indian language was the samachar darpan Bengali.The first issue of this daily was published from the serampore mission press on May 23, 1818. In the same year, Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya Started Publishing another newspaper in Bengali, the Bengal Gazette. On July 1, 1822 the first Gujrati newspaper the Bombay samachar was published from Bombay, which is still extant. The First Hindi newspaper, the smachar sudha varshan began in 1854. Since then, the prominent Indian languages in which papers have grown over the years are Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil Telegu Urdu and Bengali.

INDIAN ENGLISH NEWSPAPER:

Newspaper is the oldest and the most conventional method of giving news on a wide array of topics to the people at their doorstep. The newspaper industry at the global arena has come a long way from presenting news in black and white to adopting the most innovative of methods, including colored background and text, unique paper materials etc to depict all kinds of news for readers, both at the national as well as the regional levels.

The most unique fact of the Indian newspaper industry is that newspaper in various regional languages Hindi and English are published and circulated throughout the country. The Indian English newspaper sector is the most published and circulated lot in the Indian newspaper industry.

A typical Indian English newspaper serves as an ideal banner for companies who would look forward to advertise their products or services keeping in mind the strength of the readers nationwide

Since a newspaper is the first thing that most of the citizens of the country go through early in the morning, it stands at an advantage of making its stand in full view of the massive number of readers. The more the readers or viewers of the advertisements, the more impact the advertisements have made in the minds of the people.

An Indian English newspaper being the most read newspaper in the country, most of the companies highlighting their services and products for the citizens, targets these newspapers for the showcase of their services.

As per Indian readership survey 2010, of the top 30 most read English dailies, only six registered a gain in readership. Mint, Ht media’s business daily, grew the most, posting a 15.67% growth in readership. This is however, not counting metro now, which grew its readership by 103%, but has since been disconnected as a daily by its joint promoters Bennett Coleman & co. ltd and Ht Media ltd, DNA, which grew 11.37%, comes second. The new Indian express, lost 14.19% of its readers, followed by The Indian express, which lost 11.37%. Here the complete picture:

Rank2009 English Publication

Segment 2009 R1

2008 R2

Difference

percentage

1 The times of India

Daily 13347 13335 12 0.09

2 Hindustan times Daily 6341 6347 -6 -0.09

3 The Hindu Daily 5373 5276 97 1.84

4 The telegraph Daily 2818 2970 -152 -5.12

5 Deccan Chronicle

Daily 2768 2823 -55 -1.95

6 The economic times

Daily 1917 2006 -89 -4.14

7 Mid Day Daily 1583 1617 -34 -2.12

8 The new Indian express

Daily 1566 1825 -259 -14.19

9 Mumbai Mirror Daily 1557 1622 -65 -4.01

10 DNA Daily 1489 1337 152 11.37

11 Assam Tribune Daily 1072 1120 -48 -4.29

12 The tribune Daily 999 1062 -63 -5.93

13 The statesman Daily 974 1006 -32 -3.18

14 Deccan Herald Daily 869 953 -84 -8.18

15 The Indian express

Daily 538 607 -69 -11.37

16 Hindu Business line

Daily 409 410 -1 -0.24

17 Hitavada Nagpur

Daily 292 294 -2 -0.68

18 The Navhind times

Daily 278 304 -26 -8.55

19 Mint Daily 251 217 34 15.67

20 mail today Daily 245 NR

21 O herald o Daily 239 256 -17 -6.64

22 Metro now Daily 179 88 91 103.41

23 Daily Excelsior Daily 132 130 2 1.54

24 Financial express

Daily 118 NR

Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd.

Type: PrivateIndustry: Media conglomerateFounded: Mumbai India (1838)Headquarter: New DelhiKey People: Indu Jain (chairman) Sameer Jain Vineet Jain (MD) Ravi Dhariwal (CEO)Products: Films, television, Newspaper, magazines, Books, websitesRevenue: $ 700 used (2007)Employee: 7000(2007)

The Times Group is the largest media conglomerate in India. It is headed by brothers Samir and Vineet Jain. The company has eleven publishing centers, fifteen printing centres, fifty-five sales offices, Over 7000 employees, five dailies, including two of the largest in the country with approx 4.3 million, copies circulated daily, two lead magazines, twenty-nine niche magazines reaching 2468 cities and towns, thirty-two Radio Stations, two Television News Channels, one Television Life Style Channel and turnover in excess of USD 700 million.

Brands: Its major brands include: The Times of India, World's largest English-language broadsheet daily newspaper in

terms of circulation] The Economic Times, India's largest financial daily, and the world's second largest in

terms of circulation after The Wall Street Journal Maharashtra Times, Marathi daily Navbharat Times, Hindi Daily in Delhi and Mumbai Sandhya Times, Hindi Daily Evening Tabloid in Delhi Mumbai Mirror India's largest circulated compact newspaper Kolkata Mirror Ahmedabad Mirror Pune Mirror Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore's first morning compact daily Times Private Treaties, Partnering Ideas. Accelerating Growth. Vijaya Karnataka, India's largest Kannada daily. ZigWheels , India's largest Automobile magazine.

The Times of India competes with HT Media, the media conglomerate that owns of English-language newspaper Hindustan Times and the Hindi daily Hindustan. Those two alone had a daily readership of 12.7 million according to their website

Subsidiaries: The Times Group subsidiary companies include:

1. ENIL & TIML:Times Infotainment Media Limited & Entertainment Network India Limited that together control

Radio Mirchi National network of Private FM stations 360 Degrees Events Times Outdoors Mirchi Movies Limited Filmed Entertainment. Producers of BEING CYRUS,

VELLITHERAI, MANJADIKURU

2. TIL: Times Internet Limited which has

Indiatimes portal

3. Times of Money: Times of Money which has

Remit2India

Window2India

Remit2Home

Times Card

DirecPay

3. Times Global Broadcasting Limited:

This was a Joint Venture with Reuters. No longer has a joint venture as Reuters exited. Times Now A general interest news Channel Smart Hire A Consulting Division - Recruitments ET Now A business news channel Zoom A 24x7 Bollywood entertainment and gossip channel Movies Now A 24x7 Hollywood Movies channel in High Definition (India's

first and only)

4. Times Business Solutions TBSL, corporate website of TBSL. Times Jobs , a jobs portal. Techgig , a professional networking site for Technology Peoples. Simply Marry , a matrimonial portal. Magic Bricks, a real estate portal. Yolist , free classifieds portal. Ads2Book, online classifieds booking system for print publications. Peer Power , a Senior-Level professional networking portal.

5. World Wide Media

World Wide Media - A magazine joint venture between BCCL and BBC magazines

Filmfare Filmfare Awards Femina Femina Miss India A Beauty Paegent Top Gear Magazine India Hello BBC Good Homes Femina Hindi Grazia What to Wear BBC Knowledge

6. VPL VPL, Bangalore Publisher of Vijay Karnataka

7. Times Private Treaties

8. TIML Radio Limited

9. Times Syndication Service

Company Profile:

The Times of India (TOI) is an English-language daily Newspaper in India. It has the largest circulation among allEnglish-language newspapers in the world, across all formats(Broadsheet, tabloid, compact, Berliner and online). It is Owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.which Is owned by the Sahu Jain family.

In the year 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a Circulation of over 3.14 million) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations(India) as the world's largest Selling English-language daily newspaper, placing as the 8th

largest selling newspaper in any language in the world.According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010, theTimes of India is the most widely read English newspaper In India with a readership of 70.35 lakhs (7.035 million). This Ranks the Times of India as the top English newspaper in India by readership. According to ComScore, indiatimes (and not TOI online) is the world's most-visited newspaper website with 159 million page views in May 2009, ahead of the New York Times, The Sun, Washington Post, Daily Mail and USA Today websites. The Times of India has been highly criticized because of being supportive of Indian National Congress party in India.

Times today

The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company, along with its other group companies, known as The Times Group, also publishes The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror, Pune Mirror, Bangalore Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror, the Navbharat Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet).

In late 2006, Times Group acquired Vijayanand Printers Limited (VPL). VPL used to publish two Kannada newspapers Vijay Karnataka and Usha Kiran and an English daily Vijay Times. Vijay Karnataka was the leader in the Kannada newspaper segment then.

In January 2007, the Kannada edition was launched in Bangalore and in April 2008 the Chennai edition was launched. Their main rivals in India are The Hindu and Hindustan Times, which hold second and third position by circulation.

There was a backlash against the paper's alleged "irresponsible" coverage following the verdict of Ayodhya disputed land case. This also provoked criticism about the papers alleged "poor" news standards on Twitter.

The times of India is printed from the following places:

Bhubneshwar,Bengaluru,Bhopal,Chandigarh,Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur , Kanpur , Kolkata, lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur , Patna, Pune, Ranchi , Surat

Key persons

Indu Jain, current Chairperson Samir Jain, Vice-Chairman & Publisher Vineet Jain, MD Ravi Dhariwal, CEO Jug Suraiya (associate editor, columnist, "Jugular Vein," cartoonist, "Dubyaman

II") Swaminathan Aiyar (columnist, "Swaminomics") R. K. Laxman ("You Said It" editorial cartoon, featuring the famous Common Man) Rukmini Subramanian, Senior Writer Bachi Karkaria, columnist, "Erratica" Vinay Pandey, Editor-Online Vinita Nangia, Editor-Times Life Shobha De, columnist Jaideep Bose, Editorial Director Arindam Sen Gupta, Executive Editor Dileep Padgaonkar, Former Editor, currently Consulting Editor and columnist M J Akbar, Columnist, "The Siege Within" and former Editorial Team Gurcharan Das, Columnist Gautam Adhikari, former Executive Editor, Editorial Consultant Russi Karanjia , assistant editor during the 1930s Trivadi, columnist and humorist well known for his editorials, humor pieces, and

satirical poems. Chetan Bhagat, Columnist, Sunday TOI Kaushal Thakkar, Sr. Product Manager, Response – Ascent

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

NEWSPAER : The Times of India, The economic times, Navbharat times, Maharashtra Times, Bangalore mirror, Mumbai Mirror, Pune Mirror, Bangalore Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror, the Navbharat Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet).

MAGZINES: Femina, Top Gear, good Homes, Lonely planet, Grazia, Zig wheeles, Hello, filmfare, BBC knowledge.

SUPPLIMENTS FROM TIMES OF INDIA:

The times of India comes with several city specific supplements, such Delhi times, Bombay times, Ahmadabad times Chandigarh times, Ludhiana times, and other like Sunday times, property, ascent etc.

Other regular supplements include,Times wellness (saturady),Education times,Times ascent(wenesday),Zig Wheels,Times life(sunady),Wee wonder,Rouge,What’s Hot,Address.

NEWSPAPER

NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION

A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. It is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the reader. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person.

In many countries, circulations are audited by independent bodies such as the Audit Bureau of Circulations to assure advertisers that a given newspaper does indeed reach the number of people claimed by the publisher.

WORLD NEWSPAPER WITH LARGEST CIRCULATION

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) publishes a list of newspapers with the largest circulation. In 2005, China topped the list in term of total newspaper circulation with 93.5 million a day, India came second with 78.8 million, followed by Japan, with 70.4 million; the United States, with 48.3 million; and Germany, with 22.1 million. Around 75% of the 100 best selling newspapers are in Asia and seven out of top ten are Japanese newspapers.

The Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, and Mainichi Shimbun are still the best-selling newspapers in the world.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL:

Marketing-channel decisions are among the most critical decisions facing management. The channels chosen intimately affect all the other marketing decisions. The company's pricing depends on whether it uses mass merchandisers or high' quality boutiques. The firm's sales force and advertising decisions depend on how much training and motivation dealers need. In addition, the company's channel decisions involve relatively long-term commitment to other firms.

A distribution system is a key external resource. Normally it takes tears to build, and it is not easily changed. It ranks in importance with key internal resources such as manufacturing, research, engineering, and field sales personnel and facilities. It represents a significant corporate commitment to a set of policies and practices that constitute the basic fabric on which is woven an extensive set of long term relationships. Intermediaries smooth the low of goods and services. This procedure is necessary in order to bridge the discrepancy between the assortment of goods and services generated by the producer and the assortment demanded by the consumer. The discrepancy results from the facts that manufactures typically produce a large quantity of a variety of goods.

CHANNEL FUNCTIONS AND FLOWS:

A marketing channel performs the work of moving goods from producers to consumers. It overcomes the time, place, and possession of goods and services from those that need or want them.

Members of the marketing channel perform the following functions:

They gather information about potential and current customers, competitors. And other factors and forces in the marketing environment.

They develop and disseminate persuasive communications to stimulate purchasing. They reach agreement on price and other terms so that transfer of ownership or possession can be affected.

They place orders with manufactures. They acquire the funds to finance inventories at different levels in marketing channel.

They assume risk connected with carrying out channel works. They provide for the successive storage and movement of physical products. They see the buyer’s payment of their bills through banks and other financial institutions.

They oversee actual transfer of ownership from one organization or person to other.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

EDITORIAL

PRESS

DISTRIBUTION

DEPOT

WHOLESELLER

CASH SALE POINT

VENDOR

HAWKER

READER

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL:

Distribution means the transfer of goods from producer to consumer. In a distribution system we have, first find out what kind of distribution channel is to select as the firm can get a convenient supply and economic maintenance of profit. In newspaper industry where the flow of goods matter a lot, it must to consider the following points very carefully.

Selection of channel for distribution.

Warehousing and transport

Operational research

Logistic mix

Let’s explain each of the above points one by one in a detailed manner:

1. SELECTION OF CHANNEL FOR DISTRIBUTION:For selecting a channel for distribution following points are to be considered.

a) NATURE OF PRODUCT:Newspaper is daily use item and is constantly in demand, Time factor is very important in this industry. Once a consumer doesn’t get the news in time had many options to instantly choose at least for trail and here begins the decrease of market share. Newspaper should reach to the customers in time to retain its customers and to build a good image.

b) VARIETY OF THE PRODUCT TO BE SOLD:More the variety of the product more the responsibility of marketing departments of the company.

2. WAREHOUSING AND TRANSPORT

Warehousing

Transport

Warehousing and transport are essential part of distribution system. Warehousing should be done in a manner minimum maintenance of cost should occur. That should be source of quick supply to consumer because from their place basic supply starts. Transport is costly.

So decision should be taken as to whether warehousing are to be centrally situated or decentralized. To maintain economical support, control of cost of vehicle is essential and shipment must be planned so those vehicle are effectively employed.

3. OPERATIONAL RESEARCH

Operational research is valuable in improving aspects of distribution process:

a) By mathematical representation of whole distribution system.

b) Noting and comparing transport cost.

c) Measuring warehouses operation costs.

d) Measure stock level.

4. LOGISTIC MIX

There has been little close examination of possible savings in area of physical distribution, now known as logistic. “Consumer wants product available at the right time, and right condition.”

This is possible, if 5 key decisions are co-ordinate: –1-Facility2- Inventory3-Communication4-Utilization5-Transport.

It is important to remember that physical distribution management refers to the flow of goods from end of production time to customer. Logistic incorporates the flow of information through out the system

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

TYPES OF NEWSPAPER:

Daily

A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of

Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday and Sunday editions of daily

newspapers tend to be larger, include more specialized sections and advertising

inserts, and cost more. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning.

Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.

Weekly

Weekly newspapers tend to be smaller than daily papers.

National

In India, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Times of India,

The Hindu, Deccan chronicle, Hindustan times, The new Indian Express, etc.

International

Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune, have always

had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or

“international editions” of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers.

Online newspaper

the newspaper industries have identified their prospects in the internet sector

and started publishing their news articles in the form of e-papers, which allows

the users to read the news online. The e-papers are given at free of cost by some

sites and some sites charge their customers for the news.

Employment

There are special employment newspapers, which carry information about the

opportunities available in the corporate and other companies; these are generally

weekly magazines which are published once a week. There are also daily

classifieds which also provides ads and employment information daily.

Zoned and other editions

Zoning occurs when advertising and editorial content change to reflect the

location to which the product is delivered. The editorial content often may

change merely to reflect changes in advertising — the quantity and layout of

which affects the space available for editorial — or may contain region-specific

news. In rare instances, the advertising may not change from one zone to

another, but there will be different region-specific editorial content. As the

content can vary widely, zoned editions are often produced in parallel.

CIRCULATION AND READERSHIP

The number of copies distributed, either on an average day or on particular days

(typically Sunday), is called the newspaper’s circulation and is one of the

principal factors used to set advertising rates.

ADVERTISING

The bulk of newspapers' revenue comes from advertising - the contribution

from sales is small by comparison. On average, a newspaper generates 80% of

its revenue from advertising and 20% from sales. The portion of the newspaper

that is not advertising is called editorial content, editorial matter, or simply

editorial, although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles

in which the newspaper and its guest writers express their opinions.

The classified category is shifting to sites including craigslist, employment

websites, and auto sites. National advertisers are shifting to many types of

digital content including websites, rich media platforms, and mobile.

Advertorials are most commonly recognized as an opposite-editorial which

third-parties pay a fee to have included in the paper. Advertorials commonly

advertise new products or techniques, such as a new design for golf equipment,

a new form of laser surgery, or weight-loss drugs..

News paper supply chain : POST PRESS PACKAGING

INTRODUCTION

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM): The past few decades had brought about a major change in the way companies manage their supply and delivery channels. Various concepts like Just-in-time and Zero Inventory were finding acceptance and implementations among the manufacturing industries. The term 'supply chain' came into existence, denoting the various channels that existed inside and outside the company in terms of supply, work-in-progress, inventory and delivery channels. WHY SCM? Any mishaps in an organization lead to losses. A supply chain management allows better utilization of resources and improved operational effectiveness.

THE NEWSPAPER SUPPLY CHAIN

In India, newspapers are published in about 100 regional languages and dialects other than Hindi and English. .  

In 2001, The Hindu, an English daily, published from Chennai was the largest circulated single edition daily with claimed circulation of 9,37,222 followed by Hindustan Times, English Daily, published from Delhi with a circulation of 9,09,278. Anand Bazar Patrika, Bengali Daily, came third, whereas The Times of India, English Daily, was fourth.The 2006 National Readership Survey findings show the largest read local language newspapers to be Dainik Jagran (with 21.2 million readers) and Dainik Bhaskar (with 21.0 million readers), both published in Hindi. The Times of India is the most widely read English newspaper (7.9 million), followed by The Hindu (4.05 million), and Hindustan Times (3.85 million).  With such huge number of newspapers and such enormous circulation, the supply chain model for the newspaper industry is a challenge in itself. Moreover, due to the perishable nature of the product, its distribution needs all the more importance.

A newspaper industry consists of five major functional areas. These include editorial, advertising, production, administration and circulation. Editorial supplies the raw material, which is transformed to the finished product through printing. The marketing function is performed by advertising and management is done by administration.  

DISTRIBUTING A PRODUCT:

The newspaper production/distribution problem is an example of a perishable-good production and distribution problem. A perishable good is one that either loses significant value if stored or a good that will cause economic loss if delivered late.

There are three main categories of perishable goods: Goods that are perishable only when considered by the customer; Goods that are perishable only to the manufacturer; and Goods that are perishable to both the manufacturer and the customer. Newspapers fall into this later category.

Newspaper companies cannot print the news sections of the newspaper in advance because of the requirement that news be timely. Additionally, with the increase in commuting times, especially in the large, metropolitan markets, late delivery is also not entertained.

Therefore, newspaper production/distribution is the problem of distributing highly perishable products under severe time constraints.  The distribution channel consists of stages involved in fulfilling consumer requirements. The channel includes manufactures, suppliers, transporters, vendors and customers.  

The distribution channel of a typical newspaper can be represented through the following flow diagram:

Printing

Facility

Salesmen

Newspaper

Distributor

Vendor

Hawker

Bookstalls

Reader

DRIVING THE NEWSPAPER SUPPLY CHAIN 

The main drivers of supply chain are inventory, transportation, facilities and information.

Inventory exists in the supply chain because of a mismatch between supply and demand. Applying this to the newspaper industry, inventory of the raw material i.e. newsprint is maintained based on the safety inventory model. This model states that inventory is held just in case demand exceeds expectation, i.e. it is held to counter uncertainty

Transportation moves the product between different stages in a supply chain. It bears a large impact on both responsiveness and efficiency. Faster transportation allows a supply chain to be more responsive but reduces its efficiency

Facility: Deciding where a newspaper should locate its facility constitutes a large part of design of a supply chain. The tradeoff here is whether to centralize to gain economies of scale or decentralize to become more responsive by being closer to the customer. In case of newspaper industry, the second option is desirable. Warehousing in newspaper industry follows cross-docking model to a good extent. The product from printing facility is carried to the agents from where it is further transported to salesmen and hawkers. .  

The communication of news between various offices of a modern newspaper is achieved through networking. The master newspaper is designed and finalized at the head office of a newspaper. It is then made available on the intranet of the newspaper company. The local editions are normally generated by making suitable changes to the master copy on the intranet itself. Even the printing of various editions is done at a common printing facility, to save on additional costs.  

The overall distribution problem can be viewed similar to the traveling salesman problem. The entire distribution network can be segregated into various hawker points and an optimized route proposed for each of them, based on the vehicle capacity constraints

Starting at the first hawker, newspaper requirements are accumulated until the vehicle limit is reached. At this hawker, another vehicle route is begun. The procedure is continued until all the hawkers are included in some route

After the routes that include all the hawkers and that satisfy the vehicle capacity constraints have been constructed, the time constraints must be checked.  

Costs can be divided into two major categories: costs associated with the actual production and distribution activities, and costs directly attributable to the perishability of either an input or an output. The latter costs will be accrued only if the schedule is not feasible. In the newspaper problem, an infeasible solution would be one in which not all newspapers are delivered by the deadline. The costs associated with this infeasibility may include the cost of the newspaper, a lost opportunity and the cost of processing the complaint.

NEWS AGENCIES:

News agencies can be corporations that sell news (e.g. Reuters and All Headline News (AHN)), cooperatives composed of newspapers that share their articles with each other (e.g. AP), commercial newswire services which charge organizations to distribute their news (e.g. Market Wire, Business Wire and PR Newswire) Governments may also control "news agencies," particularly in authoritarian states, like China and the former Soviet Union or non-profit organizations operated by both professionals and volunteers. .

News agencies generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to other news organizations. They provide these articles in bulk electronically through wire services (originally they used telegraphy; today they frequently use the Internet). Corporations, individuals, analysts and intelligence agencies may also subscribe.

REUTERS:

Reuters Group is known as a financial market data provider and a news service that provides reports from around the world to newspapers and broadcasters.

JOURNALISTS:

Reuters has a team of several thousand journalists, who, over the years, have covered every big news event, sometimes at the cost of their lives

The first Reuters journalist to be taken hostage in action was Anthony Grey.

INVESTMENTS:

Notable investments include:

FACTIVA:

In May 1999, Reuters entered a joint venture with long-time rival, Dow Jones & Company, to form Factiva, a business news and information provider. In December 2006 Reuters sold its 50% share in Factiva to Dow Jones, who is now the sole owner.

TIBCO SOFTWARE:

Reuters announced in early 2000 a range of major initiatives designed to accelerate its use of internet technologies, open new markets and migrate its core business to an internet-based model.

INSTINET:

Reuters sold its majority stake in Instinet to The Nasdaq Stock Market in 2005.

BRIDGE INFORMATION SYSTEMS:

On September 28, 2001, completed the largest acquisition in its history acquired certain businesses and assets of Bridge Information Systems Inc. Also during the year, the Group acquired 100% of Diagram fip SA and 92% of Pro Trader Group LP. In October 2001, the Group disposed of its majority stake in Venture One Corp.

MULTEX. COM INC.

In March 2003, Reuters acquired Multex. Com, Inc., a provider of global financial information.

ECO WIN AB:

In November 2005, Reuters acquired also EcoWin AB, Inc., a provider of global financial, equities, and economic data.

APPLICATION NETWORKS:

In June 2006, Reuters acquired Application Networks, Inc., a provider of trade and risk management software based on Risk, and agrees to acquire Feri Fund Market Information Ltd (FERI FMI).

NEWS PAPER SUPPLY CHAINS

• SUPPLY CHAINS—THE UNIVERSAL DEFINITION • NEWSPAPER CHALLENGES • NEWSPAPER SUPPLY CHAIN• FINDING THE VALUE• NEWSPRINT & INK • ADVERTISING & NEWS • PRESS OPERATIONS • PACKAGING OPERATIONS • DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS • MANAGEMENT INFORMATION • TYING IT TOGETHER— SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT- AN INTRODUCTION

It is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. It involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory while maintaining necessary product availability.

Supply chain management flows can be divided into three main flows: • The product flow

• The information flow • The finances flow

Product flow: In this final product is distribute through printing place to warehouse to distributers to vendors and lastly to the readers.Information flow: In this information or the news required for the printing is collected through different news agencies, newspaper’s reporter and than to the editorial from where final news goes to printing press.

Finances flow: In this finance required for the various function of the printing, handling, distributing comes mainly through the advertisements. Because cost of production of a newspaper is around six rupees, and selling price is around two rupees. So the profit comes through only advertisements print in the newspaper.

NEWS PAPER CHALLENGES Newspapers are a difficult fit for traditional supply chain models and suppliers. • Newspapers speak a foreign language. • The intangible and unpredictable flow of news and information defines production parameters. • Product size, shape, and configuration vary from day-to-day and week-to-week. • Time available from production to useful consumer delivery is shorter than any other industry. • All critical distribution is performed at night, in predominantly short shifts. FINDING THE VALUE

Newspapers require unique definition of their product, information, and financial flows to be adapted to supply chain and other quantifiable management programs. The primary supply chain flow for newspapers is the outbound product flow and its associated information flow.

Newspapers have successfully separated subscriber and advertiser cash flow timing from product delivery. As such, all financial flows within the newspaper supply chain are either discretionary or direct costs resulting from the supply chain in place. The primary components affecting the total supply chain cost for a newspaper are:

• Inbound Information: advertising, news, editorial, pagination.

• Press Operations: platemaking through pressing.

• Packaging Operations: handling, insertion, storage, package design & flow.

• Distribution Operations: transport mode, timing, locations, and handling.

BASIC NEWS PAPER SUPPLY CHAIN

Each link in the newspaper supply chain requires scrutiny. NEWS PRINT & INK

The traditional inbound raw material supply chain opportunity for a newspaper is limited. While value and potentially a cash infusion can be gained from a hard look at necessary inventory in-house, most newspapers prefer a “better safe than sorry” approach to raw material inventory management. Inbound transportation of newsprint and ink is largely governed by broad purchasing contracts and commodity pricing. These channels are best left flexible to leverage base product pricing, as this pricing gain exceeds any potential for savings from an optimized inbound supply chain.

The inbound raw material that controls the start time of critical manufacturing processes is intangible. News happens without regard for newspaper deadlines. News deadlines are set to provide the latest possible news to the subscriber, while advertising deadlines are set to allow the widest possible purchasing window for advertisers. Both deadlines must allow necessary time for the remaining links in the supply chain to process any packages fronted by these start times, and backed by consumer delivery deadlines.

ADVERTISING & NEWS

While moving news deadlines to earlier has not been a popular historical strategy among newspaper executives, changing news delivery formats and technology may warrant a true understanding of the cost—to the entire supply chain—of late news, or even advertising

Assessing this type of potential is easiest by looking backward from bulk and carrier distribution. How much can be saved if press, packaging, and distribution operations were given an extra hour? Fifteen minutes?

In order to preserve both late news and early delivery deadlines, traditional efficiency gains have come by“skinnying the elephant” —Reducing costs.

Looking forward, ‘gain to pain’ ratios may be better by “feeding the girl” — adding time to the process, allowing cost to be reduced further, while keeping service levels intact. Advertising &

PRESS OPERATIONS

The critical time for press operations is the fixed run time. Papers per hour output is limited by the speed of a press and the number of presses. The number and type of press is difficult and costly to alter. Remaining opportunities inside press operations involve eliminating any barriers to maximum sustainable speed. The value of each stop and start, each edition change, or once weekly collect run, should be assessed versus its total cost to the supply chain. Odd production days and unnecessary editionBreaks can add time and cost to the supply chain. However, unless all current final production runs deliver directly to stackers rather than to the mailroom for additional processing, value can best be derived from other areas of the newspaper supply chain.

PACKAGING OPERATIONSPackaging and Mailroom process, flow, and timing are the keystone to huge potential cost gains to the total supply chain, especially for newspapers unable to increase value at other links in the chain. Speed and accuracy during the final production process are the typical focus for packaging and mailroom management.

KEY CONSIDERATIONSBottlenecking

Is the packaging operation slowing down the supply chain? The fastest piece of production equipment for a newspaper is the press. If this rate of production is slowed by any downstream mailroom processing, the value of this activity versus its alternatives must be measured and balanced in terms of cost, speed, and accuracy.

WORKFLOW

The packaging link in the supply chain controls the work flow not only for itself, but for each downstream element in the supply chain. It is especially key to ensure that packaging improvements translate through distribution. Faster in one area of the supply chain does not necessarily add time, reduce cost, or build balance.

Package design, count, timing, and handling must act to balance workflow for packaging and distribution to achieve the lowest possible cost.

Mailroom headcount and shifts, packaging equipment type and quantity, handling methods, storage needs, distribution operations management needs, vehicle type and number, driver type, count, and shifting, carrier count and route length—all of these factors must balance for maximum gain. Each newspaper will have different needs and priorities, requiring a customized model and considerations; however, the focal point for this balance is the largest cost in the system, the human resource availability and prevailing wages in the local market place.

Analysis of the ideal packaging operations for any newspaper involves balancing packaging and distribution operations for maximum gain to the system.

While time critical operations can yield the most noticeable impact, workflow for both packaging and distribution can also be improved by proper integration of pre-packaged product into the entire supply chain workflow. DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS

Distribution operations for most newspapers are reactive. They receive product by time and must complete operations by time .All delays in earlier supply chain links must be compensated for by distribution, or the consumer suffers. These parameters can dramatically be altered by changes up stream in the supply chain, but solutions inside the distribution link can still bring broad value to the overall cost of the newspaper supply chain.

In order to assess the potential for improvement within a newspaper’s distribution operations, the activity must be divided into two parts: Bulk Distribution and Carrier Distribution. In some cases, these areas must also be subdivided by home delivery and

single copy. Newspaper treatment of each subset of distribution will dictate the applicability of value considerations.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS

Compliance & Risk

• To simply driver hiring, many newspapers use trucks rated below 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight. At the very most, these trucks can haul 10,000 pounds worth of product. (For newspapers, this means five (5) pallets, ten (10) carts, or about 350 bundles).

• Tail-Loading the practice of placing smaller straight truck loads onto the tail of the bed to speed unloading. This practice, combined with light springs and single rear axles, leads to the dangerous situation of headlights projecting too high on outbound loads, and too low on return.. Information

Information is the thread that binds the entire newspaper supply chain. Newspapers have historically been leaders in information exchange process and technology inside the walls of the production facility. Unfortunately, this technology and process usually leaves distribution with a printout. Because each newspaper has different strategies, needs, and priorities, information is the key to improvement within the distribution link of the supply chain. Until recently, only two measurements were common or necessary within newspaper distribution: 1) Did the job get done? ,and 2) Did they meet budget? Further integration of the information flow was simply too costly to be warranted. The best place to start is bulk distribution, where first-rate data, combined with measurements to form management information, can yield fast results. Starting at this point makes the information set manageable. This first step also allows experience with what type of information will be most valuable when considering an expansion of measurement inside the distribution link.

Risk and utilization are major factors in finding value within a newspaper distribution operation.Information is key to unlocking the potential of these factors. Improving utilization will improve risk. Whether the opportunities revealed by better information are internal or external to newspaper operations, better used trucks mean better used drivers. Better used drivers mean less turnover and less risk, more efficiency and more potential.

TPYING IT TOGETHER — SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION

While individual value can be gained from examining each link in the newspaper supply chain, the real value is in the big picture.

BASIC NEWS PAPER SUPPLY CHAIN

Balancing time and workflow across the supply chain will yield the largest results. The key to unlocking this potential is the availability of information. While efficient, system wide information capture will take time and a step-by-step approach, gains will be realized each step of the way. A dynamic cost and process flow model of the newspaper supply chain will be essential in keeping pace with changing needs and demands within the newspaper industry.

DAILY WORK FOR THE PROJECT

PROCESS CARRIED OUT TO DO THE PROJECT

i. Company assigned me different sectors and houses for visit daily.

ii. I visited the areas assigned to me daily 2 times a day, in the morning from 8 to 11

and in the evening from 5 to 8.

iii. I met people in the assigned areas and told them about the schemes of Times Of

India Newspapers and magazines

iv. I took the feedback from the customers regarding the newspapers and magazines

they were already reading

v. Booked the order of the customers if they are interested in any scheme.

vi. Renewal of order of the existing customers.

vii. I noted down the complaints of the customers and their views regarding the

newspapers and magazines

viii. I made a daily report of how many calls and issues I had done

CUSTOMER BEHAVIUR AND MARKETING STRATEGY The behavior of the customers makes organizations decide their marketing strategies as they come to know what the customers think, feel, about their products and what choice they make between the different alternatives given to them.They also come to know how customers are influenced by their family, friends etcThey also come to know that while choosing from the different products a final product what the customer keeps in mind while making his choice.

They also come to know how much knowledge consumers have from before regarding their products.By learning all this and many more such things organizations get to know the preferences of customers.They get to know how better they can advertise in order to increase sales, what better schemes they can adopt.How they can reduce the costs.Many more such things can be learnt by organizations by studying customer behavior.

SCHEMES OF THE TIMES OF INDIA

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES:

THE TIMES OF INDIA - ANNUAL SCHEME

PERIODICITY: Daily

COVER PRICE: 2 Rs. on weekdays and 2.50 Rs. On Saturday and Sunday

ANNUAL RATE: 499

DURATION: 1 year

ASSURED GIFT : 50% off on cover price plus one sipper

SIX MONTHS SCHEME

PERIODICITY: Daily

COVER PRICE: 2 Rs. on weekdays and 2. 50 Rs. On Saturday and Sunday

SIX MONTHS RATE: 225

DURATION: Six months

ASSURED GIFT: 50% off on cover price, No Gift

Sr.no Magazine’s Name No. of Issues

in a Year

Market Price

for One Year

Subscription

Price

1 Femina 28 1400 700

2 Femina Hindi 12 480 240

3 Film fare 26 1300 650

4 Grazia 12 1200 600

5 GoodHomes 12 1200 600

6 Hello 12 1200 600

7 TopGear 12 1200 600

8 Lonely Planet 12 1200 600

9 knowledge 12 600 360

OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

Consumer Behaviour Preference in Indian Newspaper Industry. To find the strength and weaknesses of distribution channel of Times of

India.

Increasing the sales of Times of India.

METHOD:

Research was done by visiting different areas of Chandigarh and

interacting with different customers. They were told the schemes and

feedback was taken from them.

Primary research:

questionnaires

Secondary research:

summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research.

DATA COLLECTION

Data is the foundation of all marketing research.Data or facts may be obtained from several sources. Data can be classified into two ways:

1. Primary data

2. Secondary data

PRIMARY DATA:

Primary data is the data gathered for the first time by the researcher.Collection of primary data is a task demanding technical expertise. The provider or source of primary data is termed as Respondents. A respondent may give information actively or passively.

SECONDARY DATA:

Secondary data is a data borrowed from secondary sources by the researcher. Secondary data can be internal or external means either from internal records of the company or from any other source or statistical origination.

Secondary data was collected from the sources available either from the magazines or from the records or from the material loded on the internet.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear Sir/Madam,We are the students of 1t year B.B.A of ARNI UNIVERSITY,HP a part of our research study we are conducting a survey regarding the perception of people for the subscription of Newspapers.

Questionnaire

1. Name:_____________________________ Age _______ Mob. No. ________________ Address:________________________________________________________________ Gender: Male Female

2. Occupation: ( )Student ( )Service ( )Business ( )Homemaker ( )Others.. specify______________

3. Which newspaper/newspapers do you subscribe daily? ____________________________

4. From how long you are reading this newspaper? Less than 6 months 6 months to 1 year 1 year to 2 years more than 2 years

5. Have you subscribed this/these newspaper under any scheme? Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

6. Rate your newspaper/s from 1 to 5(Where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best)

a) Design of newspaper ------------------------b) Language used in newspaper-------------------c) Editorial-----------------------------------------------d) Sports News------------------------------------------e) Business News-------------------------------------------f) Pricing of newspaper-------------------------------------g) Overall contents----------------------------------------------

(Question 7 to 9 has to be answered by non-TOI readers)

7. Have you ever subscribed Times of India?) Yes No if yes,

8. Specify reason for Change of newspaperSchemes Price Local coverage Overall coverage Others

(specify)___________

9. Would you like to buy The Times of India in future? Yes No

(Question 10 to 12 has to be answered by TOI readers)

10. Which are your favourate supplements in The Times of India?Education Times Times Property Times Life Times of Chandigarh Matrimonials Ascent

11. Which are your favourate pages?Times appointments Tech Talk Times sport Times BusinessThe Times of Ideas Times Global Times Nation Special report on

Sunday

12. What feature in The Times of India made you buy this paper? [ ] contents [ ] pricing [ ] editorial [ ] local and international news coverage [ ] Sports coverage [ ] others___________________

Thank You

FINDINGS:1) Which newspaper do you like to read?

a)Times Of India b)Hindustan Times c)Tribune d)Denik Bhaskar e)Amar ujala f) Others

Option Number Percentage(%) Times of India 45 15 Hindustan times 34 11 Tribune 116 38.6 Denik bhaskar 55 18.3 Amar ujala 30 10 Others 20 6.6

Comments:

Maximum number of people in chandigarh prefers to read tribune because it has more regional newsAfter tribune, denik bhaskar (Hindi Newspapre) Times of India is at the 4th position

2)What do you like the most in your newspaper?a) Content b) Presentation c) Language d) Any other

Option Numbers Percentage Content 59 19.6

Presentation 133 44.3 Language 108 36 Any other 0 0

Comment: Most of the people like the presentation of their newspapers. The rest like the language in the newspapers

3)Do you go through additional supplements that are provided with the newspaper?a) Yes b) No

Option Number Percentage Yes 218 72.6 No 82 27.3

Comment: More than half of the people in the survey go through the additional supplements provided in the newspaper and rest of them doesn’t like to read additional supplements.

4: Does your newspaper provide you all the essential business information?

a)Yes b) No c) Doesn’t read

Option Number Percentage(%) Yes 85 28.3 No 57 19 Doesn’t read 158 52.6

Comment: Maximum number of people dontgohrough business column in their newspaper, Mostly business man and the students for their general knowledge go through this column and 28percent of the total people in the survey are satisfied with the business information provided in their newspaper

5: Has the information from classified section been able to resolve your queries?

a)Yes b) No c) Doesn’t read

Option Number Percentage(%) Yes 80 26.6 No 54 18 Doesn’t read 166 55.33

Comment: Maximum number of people said that they don’t read the classified. The rest said they read it and are satisfied. Only a few said that they were not satisfied.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:

From the feedback of the people we concluded that: Tribune has maximum reader in the Chandigarh region due to more regional news.

Dainik Bhaskar is at the number one position in hindi newspaper and overall at the second position.

A time of India is at the fourth position.

Times of India most popular supplements are Education Times and Times Ascent.

Times of India have very close competition with Hindustan Times.

People don’t go through many parts of the newspaper

People need more content in the classified section of the newspaper

READER’S VIEWS & COMPLAINTS:

The language used is difficult for common man to understand The news is not very regional. There should be more of regional news There should be more supplements with the newspaper

Students said that the advertisements of competitive exams does not come in the Times of India

Schemes of the newspaper are also not good comparative to other newspaper.

There are also complaints that people don’t get gifts with the subscription.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

INTERNET

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.indiatimes.com