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Consumer behaviour

Introduction

The 1990s have borne witness to dramatic shifts in the marketplace triggered by sharp

changes in the lifestyle patterns of the past and present and the radical revolution in the

telecommunication technology. Time tested concepts on Brand loyalty and Mass Marketing,

are being turned on their heads as they fail to gauge the Behaviour of new generation

customers. The behaviour is characterized by the uniqueness of individual expectations, the

preference for multiple options, propensity to abandon Brand loyalty and switch to

competition Brands that give higher (perceived) value. The new breed is even willing to

import to satisfy specific requirement. It is difficult to classify this generation by

conventional Demographic factors and unless their thought process and buying behaviour are

fully understood, decisions on product designs and packaging, Branding and Distribution

channels are likely to be misplaced. With the inevitability of change looming large over the

horizon, Indian companies must learn from their western counterparts; not only to identify the

sources, timing and direction of the changes likely to affect India, but also the new

competencies and perspective that will enable them to respond to these changes,

comprehensively and effectively. Companies offering Product or Services will need to

understand this new face of the customers. The changing Demographic profile of the

population in terms of education, income, size of family and so on, are important by what

will be more substantive in days to come will be the Psychographics of customers that is how

they feel, think or behave. Markers will have to constantly monitor and understand the

underlying Psychographics to map their respective industries are moving and decide what

needs to be done, by way of adding value that motivates customers to buy the company¶s

products and influence the future industry structure.

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by

understanding issues such as how



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The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different

alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers);

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture,

family, signs, media);

The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;

Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions

and marketing outcome;

How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their

level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and

How marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to

more effectively reach the consumer.

One "official" definition of consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, groups, or

organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products,

services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on

the consumer and society." Although it is not necessary to memorize this definition, it brings

up some useful points:

Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friends influence

what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as

to which products the firm should use).

Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they

are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may

influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption.

Since many environmental problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sentinto sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an

area of interest.

Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products.



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The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example, aggressive

marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious

repercussions for the national health and economy.

Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy

product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics.

It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups.

It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural

variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the

consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.

Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing

the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an influential asset

for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true

meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer.

A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship

management, personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can

be categorized into social choice and welfare functions.

Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrow¶s possibility

theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications

of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonicity, unanimity,

homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these

requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social

function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation

with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind,

the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of

the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).



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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: SIGNIFICANCE

Consumer behaviour is defined as ³The dynamic interaction of affect and

cognition, behaviour and the environment b which human beings conduct the exchange

aspects of lives´. IT means that the buying habits of the consumer are greatly affected by

their thought process and their feelings experienced. Human beings are greatly influenced in

their buying actions by various factors like opinion of others, marketing stimuli like

product, advertising, packaging and product appearance.

Importance of Consumer behaviour:

Ever increasing intensifying competition.

More aggressive competitors emerging with greater frequency.

Changes basis of competition.

Geographic sources of competition are becoming wider.

Niche attacks are becoming frequent.

Pace of innovation is rapid.

Price competition becoming more aggressive

Product differentiation is declining.

As a principal, the marketing concept involves understanding the needs of the consumers and

translating these needs into products or services to satisfy these needs. The basic objective

inmarketing is to achieve the goal of profit making through customer satisfaction. To do this,

an organization should understand the consumer and be as close to them as possible.

Consumer behaviour is Dynamic:

The feelings, thinking, perceptions and actions of the customer and the society at large keep

changing frequently. For example number of working women is on rise and this has changed

the concept of shopping. The dynamic nature of the consumer behaviour offers challenges to

marketers and the task of creating marketing strategies becomes complex, and exciting.

Strategies that work today may not work tomorrow. Strategies adopted in one market ma not



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work in another. The product life cycle are becoming shorter and create additional pressures

on marketers to bring innovative products and concepts. The concept µvalue¶ changes from

time to time. Mahindra and mahindra had to come out with µScorpio¶ within launch of

µBolero¶.

Consumer behaviour involves interactions:

Consumer behaviour involves interactions among peoples thinking, feelings, and actions and

the environment. This forces marketers to understand three things:

What products and services mean to customers.

What influences shopping, purchase, and consumption.

What consumers need to do to purchase and consume products and services.

Consumer behaviour involves exchange:

Consumer behaviour involves exchanges between human beings. People give up something

of value to others and receive something in return. Much of consumer behaviour involves

people giving up money to obtain product and services, that is, exchanges consumers and

sellers. The role of marketing in society is to help create exchange by formulating and

implementingmarketing strategies.



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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: OBJECTIVES

1. Understand the impact of the digital revolution on general consumer behavior.

2. Define consumer behavior.

3. Identify the two major approaches to the study of consumer behavior.

4. Understand the development of the marketing concept.

5. Understand the role of consumer research in the study of consumer behavior.

6. Understand how segmentation, targeting, and positioning are used in the study of

consumer behavior.

7. Define customer value, satisfaction, and retention.

8. Discuss the role of ethics in marketing.9. Describe the societal marketing concept.

Briefly discuss the three interlocking stages of consumer decision-making.



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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AT GLANCE

1. DEFINITION

2. OBJECTIVES

3. LIMITATIONS

4. WORKING



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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: DEFINITION

³Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not

buy product. It blends elements

from psychology,sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the

buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups.´

³Actions (that is, behavior) undertaken by people (that is, consumers) that involve the

satisfaction of wants and needs.´

³The behaviour of the consumer or decision maker in the market place of products and

services. Library user behaviour is often captured in library literature under use studies.´



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AWARENESS : This means to know about the existence of the product in the market. It is the first

stage of the adoption process. The consumers are exposed to the product innovation. The

consumers at this stage are not interested in more information about the product.

PERCEPTION : It is defined as the process by which an individual selects, organizes and

interprets stimuli into a meaningful and coherent of the world. It is how we see the world

around us¶. Two persons subject to the same stimulus under the same conditions will react

differently. A stimulus is any unit of input to any of the senses. The study of perception is

largely the study of what we subconsciously add to or subtract from raw sensory to produce

our own private picture of the world.

ATTITUDE : In simple dictionary meaning µattitude; means a way of thinking is a learned

predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with respect to a

given object. Attitudes are learned may be because of a previous experience with the product,information acquired from others, and exposure to mass media. Attitudes are not permanent,

they do change over a period of time.

Consumer Behavior

The study of consumers helps firms and organizations improve their marketing strategies by

understanding issues such as how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different

alternatives (e.g., brands, products);

The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture,

family, signs, media);

The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions;

Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities influence decisions

and marketing outcome;

How consumer motivation and decision strategies differ between products that differ in their

level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer; and how marketers can adapt

and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively reach

the consumer.



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Understanding these issues helps in adapting strategies by taking the consumer into

consideration. For example, by understanding that a number of different messages compete

for our potential customers¶ attention, one learns that to be effective, advertisements must

usually be repeated extensively. It is also learnt that consumers will sometimes be persuaded

more by logical arguments, but at other times will be persuaded more by emotional or

symbolic appeals. By understanding the consumer, the company will be able to make a more

informed decision as to which strategy to employ.

The "official" definition of consumer behavior given in the text is "The study of individuals,

groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of

products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes

have on the consumer and society.

Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g., friends influence

what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as

to which products the firm should use).

Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the study of how they

are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to the marketer, because this may

influence how a product is best positioned or how we can encourage increased consumption.

Since many environmental problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being sent

into sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at landfills) this is also an

area of interest.

Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products.

The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For example, aggressive

marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of easy credit, may have serious

repercussions for the national health and economy.

There are four main applications of consumer behavior:

The most obvious is for marketing strategy ² i.e., for making better marketing campaigns.

For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to food advertising when

they are hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon. By

understanding that new products are usually initially adopted by a few consumers and only



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spread later, and then only gradually, to the rest of the population, we learn that (1)

companies that introduce new products must be well financed so that they can stay afloat

until their products become a commercial success and (2) it is important to please initial

customers, since they will in turn influence many subsequent customers¶ brand choices.

As a final benefit, studying consumer behavior should make us better consumers. Common

sense suggests, for example, that if you buy a 64 liquid ounce bottle of laundry detergent, you

should pay less per ounce than if you bought two 32 ounce bottles. In practice, however, you

often pay a size premium by buying the larger quantity. In other words, in this case, knowing

this fact will sensitize you to the need to check the unit cost labels to determine if you

are really getting a bargain. There are several units in the market that can be analyzed.

Models of buyer decision making

In an early study of the buyer decision process literature, Frank Nicosia (Nicosia, F. 1966; pp

9-21) identified three types of buyer decision making models. They are the univariate model

(He called it the "simple scheme".) in which only one behavioural determinant was allowed

in a stimulus-response type of relationship; the multi-variate model (He called it a "reduced

form scheme".) in which numerous independent variables were assumed to determine buyer

behaviour; and finally the "system of equations" model (He called it a "structural scheme" or

"process scheme".) in which numerous functional relations (either univariate or multi-variate)

interact in a complex system of equations. He concluded that only this third type of model is

capable of expressing the complexity of buyer decision processes. In chapter 7, Nicosia

builds a comprehensive model involving five modules. The encoding module includes

determinants like "attributes of the brand", "environmental factors", "consumer's attributes",

"attributes of the organization", and "attributes of the message". Other modules in the system

include, consumer decoding, search and evaluation, decision, and consumption.



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General model

A general model of the buyer decision process consists of the following steps:

y Problem recognition;

y Information Search

y Evaluation of Alternative

y Purchase decision

y Purchase

y Post-purchase behavior/buyer's remorse (cognitive dissonance)

There are a range of alternative models, but that of AIUAPR, which most directly links to the

steps in the marketing/promotional process is often seen as the most generally useful;

y AWARENESS - before anything else can happen the potential customers must

become aware that the product or service exists. Thus, the first task must be to gain

the attention of the target audience. All the different models are, predictably, agreed

on this first step. If the audience never hears the message, they will not act on it, nomatter how powerful it is

y INTEREST - but it is not sufficient to grab their attention. The message must interest

them and persuade them that the product or service is relevant to their needs. The

content of the message(s) must therefore be meaningful and clearly relevant to that

target audience's needs, and this is where marketing research can come into its own.

y UNDERSTANDING - once an interest is established, the prospective customer must

be able to appreciate how well the offering may meet his or her needs, again as

revealed by the marketing research. This may be no small achievement where the

advertiser has just a few words, or ten seconds, to convey their message.

y ATTITUDES - but the message must go even further; to persuade the reader to adopt

a sufficiently positive attitude towards the product or service that he or she will

purchase it, albeit as a trial. There is no adequate way of describing how this may be



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achieved. It is simply down to the magic of the advertiser's art, or based on the

strength of the product or service itself.

y PURCHASE - all the above stages might happen in a few minutes while the reader is

considering the advertisement; in the comfort of his or her favorite armchair. The final

buying decision, on the other hand, may take place some time later; perhaps weeks

later, when the prospective buyer actually tries to find a shop which stocks the

product.

y REPEAT PURCHASE - but in most cases this first purchase is best viewed as just a

trial purchase. Only if the experience is a success for the customer will it be turned

into repeat purchases. These repeats, not the single purchase which is the focus of

most models, are where the vendors focus should be, for these are where the profits

are generated. The earlier stages are merely a very necessary prerequisite for this!

This is a very simple model, and as such does apply quite generally. Its lessons are that you

cannot obtain repeat purchasing without going through the stages of building awareness and

then obtaining trial use; which has to be successful. It is a pattern which applies to all repeat

purchase products and services; industrial goods just as much as baked beans. This simple

theory is rarely taken any further - to look at the series of transactions which such repeat

purchasing implies. The consumer's growing experience over a number of such transactions

is often the determining factor in the later - and future - purchases. All the succeedingtransactions are, thus, interdependent - and the overall decision-making process may

accordingly be much more complex than most models allow for.

Cognitive and personal biases in decision making

It is generally agreed that biases can creep into our decision making processes, calling into

question the correctness of a decision. Below is a list of some of the more common cognitive

biases.

y Selective search for evidence - We tend to be willing to gather facts that support

certain conclusions but disregard other facts that support different conclusions.



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y Premature termination of search for evidence - We tend to accept the first alternative

that looks like it might work.

y Conservatism and inertia - Unwillingness to change thought patterns that we have

used in the past in the face of new circumstances.

y Experiential limitations - Unwillingness or inability to look beyond the scope of our

past experiences; rejection of the unfamiliar.

y Selective perception - We actively screen-out information that we do not think is

salient.

y Wishful thinking or optimism - We tend to want to see things in a positive light and

this can distort our perception and thinking.

y Recency - We tend to place more attention on more recent information and either

ignore or forget more distant information.

y Repetition bias - A willingness to believe what we have been told most often and by

the greatest number of different of sources.

y Anchoring - Decisions are unduly influenced by initial information that shapes our

view of subsequent information.

y Group think - Peer pressure to conform to the opinions held by the group.

y Source credibility bias - We reject something if we have a bias against the person,

organization, or group to which the person belongs: We are inclined to accept a

statement by someone we like.

y Incremental decision making and escalating commitment - We look at a decision as a

small step in a process and this tends to perpetuate a series of similar decisions. This

can be contrasted with zero-based decision making.

y Inconsistency - The unwillingness to apply the same decision criteria in similar

situations.



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y Attribution asymmetry - We tend to attribute our success to our abilities and talents,

but we attribute our failures to bad luck and external factors. We attribute other's

success to good luck, and their failures to their mistakes.

y Role fulfillment - We conform to the decision making expectations that others have of

someone in our position.

y Underestimating uncertainty and the illusion of control - We tend to underestimate

future uncertainty because we tend to believe we have more control over events than

we really do.

y Faulty generalizations - In order to simplify an extremely complex world, we tend to

group things and people. These simplifying generalizations can bias decision making

processes.

y Ascription of causality - We tend to ascribe causation even when the evidence only

suggests correlation. Just because birds fly to the equatorial regions when the trees

lose their leaves, does not mean that the birds migrate because the trees lose their

leaves.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology includes a philosophically coherent collection of theories, concepts

or ideas as they relate to a particular discipline or field of inquiry:

Methodology refers to more than a simple set of methods; rather it refers to the rationale and

the philosophical assumptions that underlie a particular study relative to the scientific

method. This is why scholarly literature often includes a section on the methodology of the

researchers. This section does more than outline the researchers¶ methods (as in, ³We

conducted a survey of 50 people over a two-week period and subjected the results to

statistical analysis´, etc.); it might explain what the researchers¶ ontological or

epistemological views are.



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Another key (though arguably imprecise) usage for methodology does not refer to research or

to the specific analysis techniques. This often refers to anything and everything that can be

encapsulated for a discipline or a series of processes, activities and tasks. Examples of this

are found in software development, project management and business process fields. This use

of the term is typified by the outline who, what, where, when, and why. In the documentation

of the processes that make up the discipline, that is being supported by "this" methodology,

that is where we would find the "methods" or processes. The processes themselves are only

part of the methodology along with the identification and usage of the standards, policies,

rules, etc.

Researchers acknowledge the need for rigor, logic, and coherence in their methodologies,

which are subject to peer review.

The system of collecting data for research projects is known as research methodology. The data may

be collected for either theoretical or practical research for example management research may be

strategically conceptualized along with operational planning methods and change management.

Some important factors in research methodology include validity of research data, Ethics and the

reliability of measures most of your work is finished by the time you finish the analysis of your data.

Formulating of research questions along with sampling weather probable or non probable is

followed by measurement that includes surveys and scaling. This is followed by research design,

which may be either experimental or quasi-experimental. The last two stages are data analysis and

finally writing the research paper, which is organised carefully into graphs and tables so that only

important relevant data is shown.

Methodology can properly refer to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of

study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge. In this sense,

one may speak of objections to the methodology of a geographic survey(that is, objections dealing

with the appropriateness of the methods used) or of the methodology of modern cognitive

psychology (that is, the principles and practices that underlie research in the field). In recent years,

however, methodology has been increasingly used as a pretentious substitute formethod in



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scientific and technical contexts, as in The oil company has not yet decided on a methodology for

restoring the beaches. People may have taken to this practice by influence of the adjective

methodological to mean "pertaining to methods." Methodological may have acquired this meaning

because people had already been using the more ordinary adjectivemethodical to mean "orderly,

systematic." But the misuse of methodology obscures an important conceptual distinction between

the tools of scientific investigation (properly methods) and the principles that determine how such

tools are deployed and interpreted.

Research Methodology

The Technical Insights research group employs the following research methodology:

y Step 1: Perform a review of patents to become familiar with the major developers and

commercial players and their processes.

y Step 2: Building on the patent search, review abstracts and identify scientific papers that

help analyze the key players and become more familiar with technical processes.



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y Step 3: Interview university and national laboratory researchers not involved with the major

commercial players to find out about the advantages and disadvantages of processes, and

identify the drivers and challenges behind technologies; round out the list of key players.

y Step 4: Armed with knowledge from patents, papers, and academic interviews, call the

principal companies, developers, researchers, engineers, and marketing experts; ask them

the appropriate intelligence questions to satisfy the research requirements.

Research instrument: Books, Journal, Magazines, prior research.

research instrument

a testing device for measuring a given phenomenon, such as a paper and pencil test, a questionnaire,

an interview, a research tool, or a set of guidelines for observation.

Data collection: Secondary source

Data gathered from surveys, or input from several independent or networked locations via

data capture, data entry, or data logging.



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As we saw in the Data Collection: Low-Cost Secondary Research tutorial, thererket estimates are

critical, acquiring the best researched market information requires a fee

Tools for data analysis

y Time series

y Trend analysis

y Percentages



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COMPANY PROFILE

MACAS, a well known name in India, is the leading manufacturer and supplier of a wide

Range of automotive components

for various auto applications. Macas has been in to the Business of automotive components

for more than past three decades.

During this period marked by major technological innovations & up gradation, Macas has

acquired deep expertise and know- how

to manufacture world-class Auto components. Our main products are Brake Lining, Clutch

Facing, Brake Pads, Ceramic Disc Button, Rubber Brake Parts and much more.

Our company¶s philosophy is of continuous modernization and up gradation of skills,

processes and machinery. With our sizeable

production capacity, advantage of low manufacturing cost and in ± house tool making

capabilities, we are in a position to provide good quality product at very competitive prices.

INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES

--------------------------

Our diligent team of expert engineers evaluates, prioritizes and completes projects on

schedule that meet the vision of Sharic. They believe they have a responsibility to satisfy

customers and their ever-changing needs, providing them with the latest information



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QUALITY

--------

Macas automotive believes in quality first ! anything else later. quality of product, Service &

Relationship. Macas shall give such products & services, at competitive prices,

and with the highest reliability & faith in all our dealings.

PRODUCTS RANGE

BRAKE LININGS

Asbestos Free

Free of any metal and poisonous

heavy metal such as lead

High and constant co-efficient of friction

Good fade recovery characteristics

Less wear

Environment friendly

Comfort braking



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CLUTCH FACINGS

Non Asbestos

High heat dissipation

Longer Life

100% pollution free & non hazardous material

Good fade characteristics

Sensitive, low wear and durable

Resistant to high temperature.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR DIRECTORS AND SENIOR

MANAGEMENT

I. INTRODUCTION

This Code of Conduct is applicable to all Executive Directors of the Company (including

MD) and also its Senior Management personnel and all functional heads who are expected to

comply with the letter and spirit of this Code in addition to the existing applicable laws &

regulations & relevant policies, rules and procedures of the Company.

The principal duty of the Board of Directors, along with management, is to ensure that the

Company is well managed and subserves the basic interests of its shareholders.

II. GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCT

Each director and Management personnel seek to use due care in the performance of his/her

duties, be loyal to the Company, act in good faith and in a manner such Director and

Management personnel reasonably believes to be not opposed to the best interests of the



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Company. A Director and Management personnel should seek to also:-

Make reasonable efforts to attend Board and committee meetings;

dedicate time and attention to the Company;

comply with all applicable laws, regulations, confidentiality obligations and corporate

policies of the Company.

III. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

In carrying out their duties and responsibilities, Directors and Management personnels should

avoid:

appropriating corporate business opportunities for themselves that are discovered through

the use of Company property or information or their position as Directors and Specified

employees;

using Company property or information, or their position as Director and Specifiedemployees, for personal gain; and

competing with the Company.

A Director / Management personnel, who wishes to avail of a corporate business opportunity,

should disclose such opportunity to the Company¶s Board of Directors. If the Board of

Directors determines that the Company does not have an actual or expected interest in such

opportunity, then, and only then, may the Director and Management personnel avail of it,

provided that the Director and Management personnel has not wrongfully utilized the

Company's resources in order to acquire such opportunity.

IV. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Directors must avoid and promptly disclose to the Comply potential conflicts of interest

regarding any matters concerning the Company. A conflict of interest exists where the

interests or benefits of Directors conflict with the interests or benefits of the Company.

V. COMPANY PROPERTY

Directors and Management personnels should endeavor to ensure that management is causing

the Company¶s assets, proprietary information and resources to be used by the Company and

its employees only for legitimate business purposes of the Company.

VI. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Director and Management personnel¶s should maintain the confidentiality of information



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entrusted to or gained by them in the course of carrying out their duties and responsibilities,

except where disclosure is approved by the Company or legally mandated or if such

information is in the public domain. Such confidential and proprietary information shall

never be disclosed or used for the personal gain or advantage of any Director and

Management personnel.

VII. FAIR DEALING

Director and Management personnel¶s should endeavour to deal fairly, and should promote

fair dealing by the Company, its employees and agents, with customers, suppliers and

employees.

VIII. COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND REGULATIONS

Directors and Management personnel¶s should comply, and endeavour to ensure that the

management is causing the Company to comply, with applicable laws, rules and regulations.

In addition, if any Director and Management personnel becomes aware of any information

that he or she believes constitutes evidence of a material violation of any securities or other

laws, rules or regulations applicable to the Company or the operation of its business, by the

Company, any employee or another Director and Management personnel, then such Director

and Management personnel should bring such information to the attention of the Board.

IX. INSIDER TRADING

Directors and Management Personnel should observe all applicable laws and regulations

including the Company policies and Code as applicable to them with respect to the purchase

and sale of the company¶s securities. In addition, they should obstain from dealing in

Company¶s shares, whether directly or indirectly, at least 15 days before the Board Meeting

Date approving Company¶s Quarterly Results.

Any waiver of the amendments to the Company policies or Codes may be made only by the

Company¶s Board of Directors and will be disclosed promptly as required by applicable laws

and regulations including the rules of any exchange on which the company¶s securities are

listed or traded.

X. NON-COMPLIANCE

Suspected violations of this Code may be reported to the Board through Chairman of the



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Board or the Chairman of the Audit Committee. All reported violations should be

appropriately investigated.

Any waiver of this Director and Management personnels¶ Code must be approved by the

Board of Directors and publicly disclosed if required by any applicable law or regulation.

XI. EMPLOYEES

The Director and Management personnel should respect each and every employee of the

Company, treat each of them in a fair and equitable manner; respect their privacy and not to

share/disclose their personal information without their prior consent; maintain non-

discriminatory approach and refrain from harassing employees, making sexual advancements,

coercion, threat by virtue of his/her position with the Company.

XII. CUSTOMERS

The Director and Management personnel should ensure to provide products and services,

which meet the desired quality and safety standards and redress the Customer¶s grievance

genuinely

XIII. SHAREHOLDERS

The Director and Specified employee should ensure to protect interest of the shareholders by

ensuring maintenance of accurate and complete records by avoiding false misleading or

artificial entries in the Books of accounts.

XIV. REPORTING

Company Secretary shall be the Compliance Officer for the purpose of this code. Directors

are required to report observed violations of the Code and illegal or unethical behaviour to

the Compliance Officer. All reports will be treated in a confidential manner and it is

Company¶ policy to not allow retaliation for reports made in good faith of misconduct by

others. In accordance with an established, documented & approved process the Company will

undertake review & where appropriate, investigations of alleged violations or misconduct.

Directors are expected to cooperate in initial investigations of misconduct and violations of

this Code.



26

Competitors :

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Bos ̈

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Inds 42134.70 133.90 -0.48 19.72 114367.50 142/73

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s12949.43 166.45 0.39 36.01 64254.76 167/72

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k Auto 10524.57 191.55 -1.77 23.32 39474.44 239/107

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nts 23456.40 129.25 -1.52 29.88 24267.38 133/51

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4259.46 859.55 -2.58 21.30 16735.10 983/234

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14634.02 199.10 2.79 9.90 16543.19 199/107

Bos ̈

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ssis 5311.69 595.95 0.00 16.19 12391.59 597/593



27

B

n

o P odu

ts 2879.14 128.90 -1.53 11.91 9361.79 135/29

A

t

k Indi

7994.47 63.70 -0.86 11.67 8308.25 78/35

Federal- o

ul

Goetze7599.70 139.95 -1.41 14.93 7896.98 182/47

Auto.Axle 2672.39 495.80 0.53 18.39 7453.23 519/130

Sundaram-

Clayton 4923.70 179.30 -2.45 56.69 6972.48 194/60

Jamna Auto Inds. 5576.06 128.10 -0.58 29.66 4711.66 140/29

Sona Koyo Steerg

Sys 8852.10 22.80 -3.18 21.62 4680.37 24/10

Gabriel India 6969.94 59.40 -3.10 18.31 4402.69 68/13

ZF Steering 2161.20 414.50 -3.48 10.90 3896.53 458/127



28

Shanthi Gears 1213.87 45.30 -0.88 23.07 3734.41 56/32

Ri!

o Auto Inds 7279.10 26.95 -2.36 58.59 3556.40 33/17

Wheels India 12413.76 335.00 0.30 25.45 3296.39 370/151

Minda Industries 4456.95 293.00 -1.61 13.68 3128.41 362/143

Subros 6944.16 50.55 2.02 10.72 2972.44 53/25

Pri!

ol 7793.61 33.15 1.22 11.57 2947.50 33/10

Lumax Industries 6341.54 312.15 0.27 49.10 2909.95 309/100

SteStrWhe 3173.14 212.75 0.45 19.86 2883.90 212/59

Denso India 5306.46 95.75 -0.26 14.17 2676.45 109/54

Munjal Showa 8291.25 64.75 -2.26 10.77 2649.67 70/43

Halonix 3840.63 91.30 0.55 0.00 2544.15 109/61



29

Hind.Compo 773.08 455.00 1.35 0.52 2469.23 480/151

Supra jit Engg 1634.65 19.15 -2.05 10.76 2346.39 20/5

Set"

o Automotive 1633.44 255.20 2.20 12.37 2202.82 271/115

Fiem Inds 2192.89 174.75 -0.23 19.51 2095.18 182/53

India Nipon

Electric1279.20 256.45 0.45 10.35 2062.59 270/118

Ucal Fuel Sys. 3002.57 86.55 -3.35 30.81 1980.28 110/42

Autoline Inds 2340.73 159.35 0.95 14.26 1926.55 165/68

Fairfield Atlas 1126.56 68.65 0.07 12.42 1874.19 78/25

Automobile Corp 2333.59 281.95 -3.16 0.00 1869.66 297/170

Hi-#

ech Gears 2947.76 194.85 -1.57 10.41 1857.56 205/52



30

Tudor India 1265.90 69.25 0.00 146.67 1704.71 69/69

Jay Bharat Maruti 6917.26 77.80 -0.83 7.32 1698.44 86/39

LumAutTec 2270.27 134.55 2.16 22.61 1531.87 143/26

Rane Engine

Valve 2360.31 290.15 -1.64 31.70 1519.54 332/76

Rane Brake 2363.00 190.15 0.00 13.60 1371.93 194/168

Rane Madras 4196.56 132.45 -1.71 8.23 1369.62 140/38

Pren.Pipe 1274.51 99.00 1.54 10.05 1365.00 111/45

Shivam Autotech 1428.13 130.25 0.66 11.18 1294.00 138/53

REIL Eleetricals 191.41 339.00 4.21 66.01 1279.73 339/210

Munjal Auto Inds 2351.13 126.60 -0.43 7.98 1271.50 132/54



31

Ceekay Daikin 1038.82 194.55 -4.98 0.00 1229.87 224/46

Omax Autos 8120.76 56.70 -1.31 8.59 1228.75 71/30

Clutch Auto 1974.49 71.80 -1.24 14.45 1212.77 90/27

IST 190.43 202.00 2.02 65.35 1154.75 249/96

Perf ect Circle

India736.88 32.55 0.00 0.00 1085.11 0/0

Igarashi Motors 2578.13 73.85 -4.95 39.52 1078.04 79/19

Enkei Castalloy 3006.96 92.80 -4.33 7.96 1067.00 150/48

Auto.Stamp 4143.70 102.10 -1.35 14.59 1055.55 110/38

JMT Auto 1953.40 63.00 -5.69 27.23 961.60 78/31

IP Rings 678.55 135.35 1.31 16.91 940.83 135/37



32

Sund.Brake 1993.32 225.90 -3.38 16.51 919.90 285/137

Talbros Auto

Compo 2291.43 73.45 -0.74 15.06 913.58 79/33

Rane Brake Lining 1810.23 114.95 0.88 9.04 901.91 129/60

Harita Seating Sys 1962.52 115.00 0.44 0.00 889.56 117/41

Samkrg Pistons 991.29 88.00 3.83 11.71 832.29 86/44

Triton Valves 913.26 804.55 -1.69 16.85 810.24 1100/283

ANG Industries 1154.34 65.10 5.00 10.72 777.48 60/34

JBM Auto 2163.64 67.50 -1.82 8.51 701.17 82/31

Jay Ushin 2508.83 154.15 0.42 8.98 593.20 170/58

Bharat Seats 3360.63 18.00 0.00 13.64 565.20 27/10



33

Bharat Gears 2462.40 71.40 0.28 9.06 556.63 75/25

Hella India 139.75 166.00 -1.01 0.00 531.84 202/95

Machino Plastics 1234.44 82.00 -0.36 7.08 505.06 86/40

Jai Parabolic Sprg 873.21 29.05 0.00 0.00 501.52 30/27

Menon Bearings 438.88 52.40 -0.66 10.69 492.69 67/28

Menon Pistons 1074.89 93.20 2.47 7.13 463.85 98/55

PAE 2407.45 44.95 -4.26 9.40 446.95 57/21

Mah.Compo 459.97 90.35 -2.90 15.86 408.33 99/54

KAR Mobiles 833.90 156.40 -2.43 15.13 359.07 183/108

Autolite India 735.93 34.90 -2.38 61.47 338.06 45/21



34

LumAutSys 1000.45 41.65 -1.30 0.00 312.45 52/25

Bosch Rexroth (I) 3575.84 54.25 0.00 1.50 287.50 0/0

GS Auto Intl. 926.52 32.70 -1.95 5.69 266.80 59/19

Hind Hardy Spicer 333.78 143.15 2.54 56.41 209.18 138/41

Vybra Automet 547.72 27.05 -2.52 0.00 197.83 31/10

KEW Inds. 532.19 12.12 -1.94 8.33 185.82 19/10

Raunaq Auto

Comp 577.89 22.40 0.00 7.11 177.67 28/11

Remsons Inds 690.33 28.85 -0.52 9.87 164.83 32/15

Trident Tools 0.16 22.60 0.44 25.14 151.88 79/16

Delta Magnets 74.53 28.15 3.87 89.61 131.73 34/12



35

FrontSpring 269.55 33.85 3.36 4.27 128.99 43/11

Guj.AutGe 144.35 341.00 3.27 8.74 115.57 386/167

Spectra Industries 184.88 14.75 1.72 17.79 102.64 19/6

Ga jra Bevel Gears 230.61 6.91 19.97 3.32 54.15 9/4

Coventry Spring 127.41 8.25 0.00 0.00 43.31 0/0

Coventry

CoilOMatic323.91 8.82 -3.08 19.91 41.02 11/6

GG Automotive

Gears 43.79 4.90 0.00 12.82 38.79 0/0

Jagan Lamps 106.32 5.35 -1.11 44.41 37.30 9/3

Brakes Auto 239.10 9.03 -2.59 37.04 36.30 15/4

Mipco Seamless

Rings 0.00 0.92 0.00 0.00 3.30 0/0



36

Consumer behavior analysis represents one development within the behavior-analytic

tradition of interpreting complex behavior, in which a specific conceptual framework has

been proposed (i.e., the Behavioral Perspective Model). According to this model, consumer

behavior occurs at the intersection of a consumer-behavior setting and an individual's

learning history of consumption and is a function of utilitarian (mediated by the product) and

informational (mediated by other persons) consequences. The model has been useful in

analyses of consumers' brand choice and reactions to different settings. In the present paper,

the model was applied to the interpretation of environmental deleterious behaviors (use of

private transportation, consumption of domestic energy, waste disposal, and domestic

consumption of water). This application pointed to specific marketing strategies that should

be adopted to modify each of these operant classes.

Radical behaviorist interpretation of complex behavior-that which is not amenable directly to

an experimental analysis-has taken two forms. The first, which we may call "top-down," is

perhaps the more frequently encountered, and is the mainstay of Skinner's (1953)

interpretations of economic, political and religious life-among other areas of application. It

consists in suggesting surrogates of the elements of the three- or four-term contingency that

might comprise responses of the kind controlled in the laboratory and the stimuli that would

control them in such a closed setting. The behavior under interpretation, which typically

occurs in a much more open setting, is then described as though it was predictable and

controllable from a knowledge of the elements of the situation that have been labeled

establishing operations, discriminative stimuli, reinforcers and punishers.



37

This report will outline the most relevant behavioural characteristics of customers and

examine the ways they find, compare and evaluate product information. Comparison of the

newly collected survey data with the existing consumer behaviour theory resulted in detectionof a number of issues related to a specific consumer group. The purpose of this report is to

translate these findings into a set of implementation activities on strategic and technological

level. Execution of these recommendations will result in better conversion of visitors into

customers and encourage customer loyalty and referrals.

The focus group of this study will be young adults aged between eighteen and thirty-four

interested in buying a brake pads or a related product.

showed that there are product types, which are more likely to be sold such as Brake Linings,

Clutch Facings, Brake pads, Rubber brake parts. Reason for this is that when purchasing

these types of products, one does not require personal inspection and most, if not all features,

can be outlined in the product description and images. Most products in the automobile

family belong to this category.

Majority of young adults interviewed for purpose of this research tend to be active

information seekers. A high level of technological confidence within this group tends to be an

encouraging factor when it comes to product information research online.

The following analysis presents both, focus group results and behavioural theory in a parallel

fashion divided into two main research topics:

y Information Retrieval and Search Patterns

y Perception of Product Information Online

These two areas are mutually dependent and particularly important in a market where

consumers have the power to choose the right product from a number of competing suppliers.

Well-structured product information that cannot be found easily online is as much of a

problem as is having easily accessible information that does not meet the consumer's

expectations.

INFORMATION RETRIEVAL AND SEARCH PATTERNS



38

Combination of practical tests, survey statistics and one-on-one interviews conducted with a

group of volunteers, produced a first-hand insight into behavioural characteristic of the target

consumer group. During the survey, participants were asked to respond to a list of statements

with five levels of agreement and disagreement, each related to search habits, information

retrieval, perception of information presented online and the way it can influence their buying

decision. The interview was conducted on a conversational level as an opportunity for

participants to elaborate on their survey input.

PRACTICAL TEST: STAGE ONE ± INITIAL SEARCH

Fifteen volunteers were shown an unknown brand of a Brake pads were only logo was

visible. Participants were then asked to find out more about this product.

The first search stage in most cases started with a major search engine (Google, Live, and

Yahoo) in its non-local version. Before clicking on a first satisfactory search result,

participants were inquired about the nature of their search, for example, how they searched

through results, what they were looking for and what grabbed their attention in the result they

were about to click on. As illustrated in Figure 2, participants mainly looked for the highest

percentage match in the search result titles (blue text) where word proximity in the phrase

played an important factor, following the search result description body (black text). Web

address (green text) was largely ignored.

User eye MACAS in the search engine results.

Following is the search referral data for March 2007 that illustrates typical user searches that

bring visitors to the site:

1. Brake pads

2. Semi-Metallic Brake pads

3. Non-Asbestos Organic Brake pads

4. Low-Metallic NAO brake pads

5. Ceramic brake pads



39

PRACT CAL TE T STAGE T ± FINDING T E

PRODUCT

As t research narrows down, consumers tend tolocalise the results (Example: ³AustralianR esults Onl Search phrases in this stage are li el to contain a brand name or a speci ic

feature. Survey results show that consumers are willing to µdr ill down to the third page of the

results. Ma jor ity however would only look at the f irst page of the results (seventy-three

percent while many will only look at the top half of the page.

Consumer search engine dr ill-down: How far are they willing to go?

A common assumption is that young adults tend to be more technologically minded than the

rest of the population.

An interesting fact is that around a third of the interviewed individuals knew very little or

nothing about cer tain aspects

of their research due to the nature of the product and rapid changes in technology. For

example, ninety per cent of par tici pants could not explain the purpose of Brake linings,

which is becoming a standard feature in all new Brake system. For this reason, we must

consider extensive problem-solving behaviour (Andreasen, 1997). which consumers will be



40

going through in some stages of their product research. Extensive problem-solving behaviour

occurs when a consumer engages in a decision making process without established evaluation

criteria towards multiple product types, for example, comparing a large number of brands.

Without point of reference and way to compare their current findings with previous

experiences, consumers find product research activity to be a rather involved activity.

This appeared to be the most sensitive part of the research and most participants required a

high level of concentration in order to gain a satisfactory level of information. Participants

were slow to respond to questions and appeared to be lightly irritable when being interrupted.

Consumer research (Raymond, 2003) showed that brands, which interrupted an intellectually

engaging task, received an instant dislike. Further research into task interruption online (Moe,

2006) discusses a possibility of positive effects of various forms of interstitial promotions,

such as pop-up ads, pop-under ads, bridging pages, and in-page animations, depending on the

industry and placement context. The fact that this type of advertising is still commonly used

across the Internet indicates that there are potential benefits of this method (analogous to

spam industry) otherwise; it would have been abandoned by publishers and advertisers.

A task interruption test had to be conducted in order to determine whether this possibility

applies to the selected consumer group.

Five participants were asked to find out more information about a specific Brake linings

online (Brake lining with non-asbestos material). Their browser's home page was purposely

set to an online portal that contained a single popup and colourful animated ads (ring tones,

emoticons, computer wallpapers and screen savers). All participants have closed the pop-up

ad and spent an average of twelve seconds looking at the portal before visiting their favourite

search engine.

Incredibly, none of the participants remembered the model of the phone while one could not

even recall the brand. Consumers tend to rely on short-term memory while accessing variousresources across the Internet. Remembering everything does not seem to be practical in the

initial stages of the search due to the amount of potentially visited resources. Interruptions

caused by interstitial promotions could therefore permanently disrupt the research and

displease the consumer.



41

PER CEPTION OF PRODUCT INFORMATION ONLINE

How consumers see and underst and $ roduct information online

When buying products and services online, consumers are facing two fundamental

differences: removal of physical presence and (as a compensation) abundance and versatility

of product information (Kurnia & Schuber t, 2006). In otherwords, a physical product has

been replaced by product information.

PRACTICAL TEST STAGE T R EE

The third stage in the product research involves product information collection, pr icing and

feature/ benef it evaluation. Search engines at this stage do notnecessar ily represent the main

resource any more. Survey par tici pants were at this stage just as likely to visit product

reviews or news websites, seek ing human advice and consumer reviews.

Search behaviour and response to online adver tising

Due to rapid growth in technology, information collection and organising is has become a

rather feasi ble activity and more consumers are turning towards their own research ³pulling´



42

the information than information being ³pushed´ to them as that would be the case inmost

forms of non-interactive media.

According to study on Australian consumers (Lindstrom, 2001) one of the main emerging

character istics of online users is the growing lack of patience . Lack of patience is especially prominent when a consumer engages in product research, feature and pr ice compar ison. This

has been tested with a focus group and the survey results conf irm that this is still the case. A

ma jor ity of interviewed individuals stated that they are willing to wait only up to f ive seconds

for a page to load.

Online consumers are time conscious and are of ten willing to gamble with their money rather

than time as it is impossi ble to recover lost time, where a moderate f inancial loss can be

compensated (Koiso-Kanttila, 2005). Consumers will appreciate businesses, which value for

customer's time by employing technology, tools, information and customer service.

Focus group interview f indings on the product information appear to be contradictory.

Consumers are not willing to read extensive amounts ofdata. They prefer to µscan' through

volumes of information very br ief ly while look ing for key benef its . For this, they require

moderate amounts of summar ised information. At the other hand, consumers are also not

likely to buy anything online unless complete product information is available. Having to

inquire about a cer tain product due to lack of information available on the website delays the

transaction, however most par tici pants were willing to wait extra time for a human response

to an online inquiry



43

How long are consumers willing to wait for a reply to an online inquiry?

Zingale and Arndt (2001) discuss the impor tance of pr ivate time. A sales person can interrupt

a customer in a physical store while they are engaged in their initial research. Thisis

par ticular ly harmful if occurr ing pr ior to the stage when the customer is ready to buy or even

ask any meaningful questions. R emoving consumers from their µsafety zone' can delay or

cancel the purchase.

Online stores have an obvious advantage in this case. The absence of the sales person allows

website visitors to research products in their own time and pace, with no external pressure or

time restr ictions. Af ter receiving a satisfactory level of information, consumers either make a

fur ther inquiry or complete their purchase.



44

Consumer opinions towards place of purchase ± Par t 1

A website can traditionally be seen as a place of purchase, however, for consumers it is also a

store, a brochure and a sales person, and is expected to serve quick ly and perform well.

Survey results show that the quality of presentation and information breakdown can affect

consumer attitude towards the product and buying conf idence. For example, basic quality

standards are necessary in order to create consumer trust (speed andstructural integr ity).

Second most prominent factor seems to be simplicity of the checkout process. Ma jor ity of

par tici pants have stated that they prefer not to f ill out long registration forms.

Survey par tici pants responded best to the product informationavailable on the actual product

descr i ption page.

As visi ble from the , consumers favour almost all timesaving tools such as:

y Pop-up descr i ptions

y Photo galler ies

y Product summar ies before full product information

y Product compar ison

An interesting observation is that most interviewed consumers considered automated product

suggestions either irrelevant or unnecessary, therefore most would not follow such leads An

example of this would be Amazon's ³Customers who bought this item also bought the



45

following«´ and eBay's ³R elated products´ section. Instead, members of this consumer

group choose to do their own independent research, compare their own f indings and read

other people's reviews and recommendations. In addition, very few consumers were willing

to read FAQ, as they tend to appear too gener ic and broad, therefore requir ing extra effor t to

f ind the required piece of information.

Consumer opinions towards place of purchase ± Par t 2

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

IMPLICATIONS WIT PROMOTION:

1. Consumers use search engines on both global and local level

2. R esult pages are scanned for context corresponding to a supplied search term

3. Pace of search decreases in propor tion to the depth of the research

4. Intrusive adver tising campaigns can create negative image



46

PLACE OF PURCHASE AND PRODUCT INFORMATION:

1. Amount of information online directly affects consumer search behaviour

2. Online consumers value integrated timesaving features

3. Information breakdown is required to prevent information overload

4. Consumers value human reviews more than automated recommendations

RECOMMENDATIONS

SEARCH ENGINE PROMOTION

Based on the analysis of consumer search behaviour, it is evident that the typical consumer is

likely to µscan' rather than read search result pages. In order to maximise on potential traffic it

is necessary to enhance search result page positioning and increase visibility of search terms

in result page titles. This can be achieved by search engine optimisation. A Pay-Per-Click

campaign can be used as an alternative for more immediate results.

STATIC ADS

The focus consumer group did not respond well to aggressive advertising methods. Although

not recommended, this type of advertising could be implemented in a subtle contextual

advertising campaign. Ad placement could, for example, compliment the website content and

be accessible on consumer demand. Article link ads (see example left), for example, would

outperform banners or pop-up ads.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Main consideration when it comes to product information is segmentation and lack of

physical presence. As discussed in the behaviour analysis, consumers prefer to read and



47

compare shor t summar ies before choosing to read the full descr i ption. Quality and amount of

product information will compensate for the lack of physical presence, while implementation

of timesaving mechanisms and human-based recommendations would encourage product

research and purchase.

ADDITIONAL FINDINGS

Online pr icing strategy may strongly affect consumers in a number of ways. Par t of the

research paper on consumption decisions and personal rules (Amir, Lobel & Ar iely, 2005)

focuses on pr icing consistency impact in online environment. An example used in this paper

was Amazon.com and the consumer outrage caused by pr ice inf lation for the frequent buyers

in order to generate extra prof its from the most loyal customers.

How much are consumers willing to spend on a single purchase

This example also implies the impor tance of online and off line pr ice synchronisation. As

illustrated in , consumers expect online pr ices to be lower or equal to those in the physical

stores. Increase in choice contr i butes to a more active research process and more prominent

selective cr iter ia (Bellman, Johnson, Lohse & Mandel, 2006). Failing to satisfy their

expectations can reduce their interest in the product and direct their research toward better-

pr iced product with similar or matching features.



48

Expectations from online pr icing and payment options.

Pr ivacy and secur ity.



49

Physical proof.

Market analysis requires an understanding of the 4-Cs which are consumer,

conditions, competitor and the company. A study is under taken to provide super ior

customer value, which is the main ob jective of the company. For providing better

customer value we should learn the needs of the consumer, the offer ing of the

company, vis-a-vis its competitors and the environment which is economic, physical,

technological, etc.

A consumer is anyone who engages himself in physical activities, of evaluating,

acquir ing, using or disposing of goods and services.

A customer is one who actually purchases a product or service from a par ticular

organisation or a shop. A customer is always def ined in terms of a specif ic product or

company.

However, the term consumer is a broader term which emphasises notonly the

actual buyer or customer, but also its users, i.e. consumers. Sometimes a product is

purchased by the head of the family and used by the whole family, i.e. a refr igerator

or a car. There are some consumer behaviour roles which are played by different

members of the family.

R ole Descr i ption

Initiator The person who determines that some need or want is to be met (e.g.

a daughter indicating the need for a colour TV).



50

Influencer The person or persons who intentionally or unintentionally influence

the decision to buy or endorse the view of the initiator.

Buyer The person who actually makes a purchase.

User The person or persons who actually use or consume the product.

All the consumer behaviour roles are to be kept in mind but, the emphasis is on

the buyer whose role is overt and visible.

(a) The Consumer

To understand the consumer; researches are made. Sometimes motivational research

becomes handy to bring out hidden attitudes, uncover emotions and feelings. Many

firms send questionnaires to customers to ask about their satisfaction, future needs

and ideas for a new product. On the basis of the answers received, changes in the

marketing mix is made and advertising is also streamlined.

(b) The External Analysis (Company)

The external analysis may be done by the feedbacks from the industry analyst and

by marketing researches. The internal analysis is made by the firm.s financial

conditions, the quantum of the sales, force and other factors within the company.

The study of these factors leads to a better understanding of the consumer and

his needs.

(c) The Competition

In the analysis of the market, a study of the strengths and weaknesses of the

competitors, their strategies, their anticipated moves and their reaction to the

companies. moves and plans is to be made. The company after getting this

information, reacts accordingly and changes its marketing mix and the offering is

made in a manner which can out do the competitor. This is a very difficult process

and it is easier said than done. To have correct information about the competitors

and to anticipate their further moves is the job of the researcher.

(d) The Conditions

The conditions under which the firms are operating has also to be seriously

considered. The factors to be studied are the economy, the physical environment, the

government regulations, the technological developments, etc. These effect the

consumer needs, i.e. the deterioration of the environment and its pollution may lead



51

to the use and innovation of safer products. People are health conscious and are

concerned with their safety. Hence, in this case, safer products have a better chance

with the consumer. In case of recession, the flow of money is restricted greatly. This

leads to the formulation of different marketing strategies.

(e) Market Segmentation

The market is divided into segments which are a portion of a larger market whose

needs are similar and, they are homogeneous in themselves. Such segments are

identified with similar needs.

(f) Need Set

By need set, it is meant that there are products which satisfy more than one need.

An automobile can fill the transportation needs, status need, fun needs or time

saving needs. So the company tries to identify the need sets which its product can

fulfil. Then we try to identify the groups who have similar needs, i.e. some people

need economical cars, others may go for luxury cars.

(g) Demographic and Psychographic Characteristics

These groups are identified and they are described in terms of their demographic

and psychographic characteristics. The company finds out how and when the product

is purchased and consumed.

(h) Target Segment

After all the above preliminary work is done, the target customer group known as

the target segment is chosen, keeping in mind how the company can provide superior

customer value at a profit. The segment which can best be served with the

company.s capabilities at a profit is chosen. It has to be kept in mind that different

target segments require different marketing strategies and, with the change in the

environmental conditions the market mix has to be adjusted accordingly.



52

ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN REGARD TO

AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTS

Consumer behaviour in respect of AUTOMOBILE PRODUCTS(brake pads, non asbestos,

asbestos brake linings, clutches) was studied during 2007 using

different socio-economic variables assessed by so-called evaluation criteria 1-5. The

objective of study was to possibly identify effect of different variables on consumer

decision upon purchase of automobile products. Automobile products were perceived

differently at

various types of purchasing places. The most important socio-economic variables

explaining individual differences in consumer behaviours regarding purchase of involved

were: trust, gender of consumer, quality, origin, and price of

product. Conclusions derived from the analysis can be used as useful barometer for

market orientation. The outcomes suggest that assessment of consumer behaviour

through evaluation criteria can contribute to a better understanding of consumer

behaviour in respect of different automobile products. With specific extension of market

indicators the evaluation method used in this study may be relevant to analyze

perception of consumer behaviour in regards to automobile chain and other automotive

products

in future.

The automobile sector is most favourable sector in india contributing about 10

percent to total GDP, directly providing employment and improving rural

family income. There are a lot of national and international organizations

which have supported this sector in india like Indian Government, india

Cluster Business support, Indian Association of Automobile

Producers.During recent years producers and processors automobile associations were

established which now-a-days are playing important role in this sector. Effects

were constructed on market and marketing research, incorporation of private

contractors and suppliers and promoting public and private dialogue.

Although there are visible improvements, yet a special emphasize needs to



53

be given to whole automobile manufacturers chain as main component in automobile sector

e.g. providing awards for best quality products, automobile quality management at

processing unit, improving automobile products quality, introducing new and better

quality automotive products studying factors affecting automobiles and automotive products

and consumer(s) behaviour.

Now, the automobile sector could be determined as an industry consisting of two

sectors: and commercial

manufacturers who produce solely for market . (3). Last

year history in India is characterized with transition process of centralized

economy to oriented open and free market approach. Many economies of

developing countries do not pay attention and undervalue the consumer

behaviours.

About consumer behaviours on automobile products, different studies (8,9) show

existence of significant differences between consumer behaviours in different

countries.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThis survey was carried out by the Department of automobile

. Interviews of

304 respondents were conducted in super-markets (677) and mini-markets

(397) and later 23 interviews were completed in green market mainly for

Automobile products.

All interviews were completed in North region incorporating three

supermarkets, 10 mini-markets and one green market. All consumers buying

Automotive products during period of survey without any pre-selection criteria were

part of study..

Structure of consumer¶s age is presented



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The information from interview was collected and inserted directly in

questionnaire which contains qualitative and quantitative questions. The

questionnaire comprised information according to what consumer was buying

and their perceptions towards supply of these products. To assess overall

impact questionnaire was also comprised different socio-economic variables

like sex of consumer (female, male or both), age of consumer (> 20 years old,

20 - 40 years old, 40 - 60 years old and > 60 years), family size, origin of

product (local or imported) and producer name.

To study the reasons for choosing automobile products upon supply, a coding

approach from 1- 5 was used (1 = very important; 2 = highly important; 3 =

average; 4 = less important; 5 = not important). Perception of consumers

about automobile products was assessed using different variables i.e. habits, trust,

price, quality, package, age of consumer, origin of product, type of shop,

brand and gender of consumer.

Due to lack of consumers experience for interviews, poor quality interviews in

some cases and incomplete records were removed from final analysis. JMPstarter

business unit program of SAS (Institute SAS Inc. 2004) was used to



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analyse the results. An analysis of variances was performed to assess level

of significance for effects of different variables on perception of consumer

about automobile products. Contingency analyses were used to analyze indicator¶s

perception of consumers about automobile products using criteria of importance 1-5.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results showed a strong effect on perception of consumer

behaviours upon purchasing automobile products by socio-economic variables as

Level of significances for effects of different variables on perception of

consumers about automobile products.

Indicator Prob > FTrust < 0.0001

Quality < 0.001

Habits < 0.0717

Price < 0.0500

Packaging < 0.6973 (NS*)

Type of shop < 0.0939 (NS*)

Brand < 0.1969 (NS*)

Gender of

consumer

< 0.0420

Age of

consumer

> 0.1988 (NS*)

Origin of product

< 0.0048

NS = Nosignificance for level P > 0.05.

trust, quality of products (P < 0.0001). Significant effects during supply of

automobile products were also marked from variables like product origin, price, and

gender of consumer i.e. P < 0.0048, P < 0.050, and P < 0.0420, respectively.

Although numerical differences were observed while analyzing effect of

independent variables like packaging, age of consumer, brand, type of shop,and producer name, yet no significant variation upon purchase of automotive

products was noted for these variables.

Automotive products of local origin seem to be more attractive for male consumer¶s

(about 63%) or when both genders (about 85%) purchase automobile products

together as compared to the imported one. Tendency of female



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consumers to origin of automobile product was observed to be equal.

Most of consumers considered market variable a very important factor and

put it at consumer perception criteria 1 and 2 (about 89%), showing high

effect of product quality on consumers¶ decision for purchase of automobile food.

More than 50 percent attribute their perception to automobile product evaluation

criteria 1 to 3, which means consumers do assess quality and express

trustiness about different automobile products prior to purchase of automobile food

The results about packaging of automobile products and perception of

consumers¶ behaviour are surprisingly indicate that consumers do not see it

as important factor and thus consider packaging of products at evaluation

criteria 5. Regarding price effect it was revealed that consumers

placed price of automobile product at evaluation criteria 1, 2 and 3. considering

price as very important to average in case of white cheese and yoghurt.

However, majority of consumers do not consider it as important factor also for

other products. Analyses of consumer age effect and their estimation upon

purchase of automobile products clearly indicate that majority of automobile

products included in this study were purchased by group of consumers

between 20 ± 39 and 40 ± 60 years old, respectively (about 84.60 %), while

consumers below 20 years age prefer more to buy yoghurt and fruit yoghurt.

Consumers above age 60 years, tend to frequent less market places

purchasing only about 5.29 percent of automobile products

Diffusion of Innovation

Products tend to go through a life cycle. Initially, a product is introduced. Since the product is

not well known and is usually expensive, sales are usually limited. Eventually, however,

many products reach a growth phase ² sales increase dramatically. More firms enter with

their models of the product. Frequently, unfortunately, the product will reach a maturity stage



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where little growth will be seen. For example, in the United States, almost every household

has at least one color TV set. Some products may also reach a decline stage, usually because

the product category is being replaced by something better. For example, typewriters

experienced declining sales as more consumers switched to computers or other word

processing equipment. The product life cycle is tied to the phenomenon of diffusion of

innovation. When a new product comes out, it is likely to first be adopted by consumers who

are more innovative than others ² they are willing to pay a premium price for the new product

and take a risk on unproven technology. It is important to be on the good side of innovators

since many other later adopters will tend to rely for advice on the innovators who are thought

to be more knowledgeable about new products for advice.

At later phases of the PLC, the firm may need to modify its market strategy. For example,

facing a saturated market for baking soda in its traditional use, Arm ü Hammer launched a

major campaign to get consumers to use the product to deodorize refrigerators. Deodorizing

powders to be used before vacuuming were also created.

It is sometimes useful to think of products as being either new or existing.

Many firms today rely increasingly on new products for a large part of their sales. New

products can be new in several ways. They can be new to the market ² noone else ever made

a product like this before. For example, Chrysler invented the minivan. Products can also be

new to the firm ² another firm invented the product, but the firm is now making its own



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version. For example, IBM did not invent the personal computer, but entered after other firms

showed the market to have a high potential. Products can be new to the segment ² e.g.,

cellular phones and pagers were first aimed at physicians and other price-insensitive

segments. Later, firms decided to target the more price-sensitive mass market. A product can

be new for legal purposes. Because consumers tend to be attracted to ³new and improved´

products, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) only allows firms to put that label on

reformulated products for six months after a significant change has been made.

The diffusion of innovation refers to the tendency of new products, practices, or ideas to

spread among people. Usually, when new products or ideas come about, they are only

adopted by a small group of people initially; later, many innovations spread to other people.

The bell shaped curve frequently illustrates the rate of adoption of a new product.

Cumulative adoptions are reflected by the S-shaped curve. The saturation point is the

maximum proportion of consumers likely to adopt a product.



59

In the case of refrigerators in the U.S., the saturation level is nearly one hundred percent of

households; it well below that for video games that, even when spread out to a large part of

the population, will be of interest to far from everyone.

Several specific product categories have case histories that illustrate important issues in

adoption. Until some time in the 1800s, few physicians bothered to scrub prior to surgery,

even though new scientific theories predicted that small microbes not visible to the naked eye

could cause infection. Younger and more progressive physicians began scrubbing early on,

but they lacked the stature to make their older colleagues follow.

ATM cards spread relatively quickly. Since the cards were used in public, others who did not

yet hold the cards could see how convenient they were. Although some people were

concerned about security, the convenience factors seemed to be a decisive factor in the ³tug-

of-war´ for and against adoption.

The case of credit cards was a bit more complicated and involved a ³chicken-and-egg´

paradox. Accepting credit cards was not a particularly attractive option for retailers until they

were carried by a large enough number of consumers. Consumers, in contrast, were not

particularly interested in cards that were not accepted by a large number of retailers. Thus, it

was necessary to ³jump start´ the process, signing up large corporate accounts, under

favorable terms, early in the cycle, after which the cards became worthwhile for retailers to

accept.

Rap music initially spread quickly among urban youths in large part because of the low costs

of recording. Later, rap music became popular among a very different segment, suburban

youths, because of its apparently authentic depiction of an exotic urban lifestyle.



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Hybrid corn was adopted only slowly among many farmers. Although hybrid corn provided

yields of about 20% more than traditional corn, many farmers had difficulty believing that

this smaller seed could provide a superior harvest. They were usually reluctant to try it

because a failed harvest could have serious economic consequences, including a possible loss

of the farm. Agricultural extension agents then sought out the most progressive farmers to try

hybrid corn, also aiming for farmers who were most respected and most likely to be imitated

by others. Few farmers switched to hybrid corn outright from year to year. Instead, many

started out with a fraction of their land, and gradually switched to 100% hybrid corn when

this innovation had proven itself useful.

Several forces often work against innovation. One is risk, which can be either social or

financial. For example, early buyers of the CD player risked that few CDs would be recorded

before the CD player went the way of the 8 track player. Another risk is being perceived by

others as being weird for trying a ³fringe´ product or idea. For example, Barbara Mandrell

sings the song ³I Was Country When Country Wasn¶t Cool.´ Other sources of resistance

include the initial effort needed to learn to use new products (e.g., it takes time to learn to

meditate or to learn how to use a computer) and concerns about compatibility with the

existing culture or technology. For example, birth control is incompatible with strong

religious influences in countries heavily influenced by Islam or Catholicism, and a computer

database is incompatible with a large, established card file.

Innovations come in different degrees. A continuous innovation includes slight

improvements over time. Very little usually changes from year to year in automobiles, and

even automobiles of the 1990s are driven much the same way that automobiles of the 1950

were driven. A dynamically continuous innovation involves some change in technology,

although the product is used much the same way that its predecessors were used ² e.g., jet vs.

propeller aircraft. A discontinous innovation involves a product that fundamentally changes

the way that things are done ² e.g., the fax and photocopiers. In general, discontinuous

innovations are more difficult to market since greater changes are required in the way things

are done, but the rewards are also often significant.



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Several factors influence the speed with which an innovation spreads. One issue is relative

advantage (i.e., the ratio of risk or cost to benefits). Some products, such as cellular phones,

fax machines, and ATM cards, have a strong relative advantage. Other products, such as

automobile satellite navigation systems, entail some advantages, but the cost ratio is high.

Lower priced products often spread more quickly, and the extent to which the product is

trialable (farmers did not have to plant all their land with hybrid corn at once, while one

usually has to buy a cellular phone to try it out) influence the speed of diffusion. Finally, the

extent of switching difficulties influences speed ² many offices were slow to adopt computers

because users had to learn how to use them.

Some cultures tend to adopt new products more quickly than others, based on several factors:

y Modernity: The extent to which the culture is receptive to new things. In some

countries, such as Britain and Saudi Arabia, tradition is greatly valued ² thus, new

products often don¶t fare too well. The United States, in contrast, tends to value

progress.

y Homophily: The more similar to each other that members of a culture are, the more

likely an innovation is to spread ² people are more likely to imitate similar thandifferent models. The two most rapidly adopting countries in the World are the U.S.

and Japan. While the U.S. interestingly scores very low, Japan scores high.

y Physical distance: The greater the distance between people, the less likely innovation

is to spread.

y Opinion leadership: The more opinion leaders are valued and respected, the more

likely an innovation is to spread. The style of opinion leaders moderates this

influence, however. In less innovative countries, opinion leaders tend to be more

conservative, i.e., to reflect the local norms of resistance.

It should be noted that innovation is not always an unqualifiedly good thing. Some

innovations, such as infant formula adopted in developing countries, may do more harm than

good. Individuals may also become dependent on the innovations. For example, travel

agents who get used to booking online may be unable to process manual reservations.



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Sometimes innovations are disadopted. For example, many individuals disadopt cellular

phones if they find out that they don¶t end up using them much.

Attitudes

Introduction. Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer¶s (1) beliefs about, (2)

feelings about, (3) and behavioral intentions toward some object--within the context of

marketing, usually a brand or retail store. These components are viewed together since they

are highly interdependent and together represent forces that influence how the consumer will

react to the object.

Beliefs. The first component is beliefs. A consumer may hold both positive beliefs toward

an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and

stains papers). In addition, some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some may be

differ in valance depending on the person or the situation (e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates--

good on a cold morning, but not good on a hot summer evening when one wants to sleep).

Note also that the beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that pork contains



63

little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be contradictory (e.g., that a

historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves).

Since a consumer holds many beliefs, it may often be difficult to get down to a ³bottom line´

overall belief about whether an object such as McDonald¶s is overall good or bad. The

Multiattribute (also sometimes known as the Fishbein) Model attempts to summarize overall

attitudes into one score using the equation:

That is, for each belief, we take the weight or importance (Wi) of that belief and multiply it

with its evaluation (Xib). For example, a consumer believes that the taste of a beverage is

moderately important, or a 4 on a scale from 1 to 7. He or she believes that coffee tastes very

good, or a 6 on a scale from 1 to 7. Thus, the product here is 4(6)=24. On the other hand, he

or she believes that the potential of a drink to stain is extremely important (7), and coffee

fares moderately badly, at a score -4, on this attribute (since this is a negative belief, we now

take negative numbers from -1 to -7, with -7 being worst). Thus, we now have 7(-4)=-28.Had these two beliefs been the only beliefs the consumer held, his or her total, or aggregated,

attitude would have been 24+(-28)=-4. In practice, of course, consumers tend to have many

more beliefs that must each be added to obtain an accurate measurement.

Affect. Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or other objects. Sometimes

these feelings are based on the beliefs (e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a

hamburger because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may also be

feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs. For example, an extreme

environmentalist may believe that cutting down trees is morally wrong, but may have positive

affect toward Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these trees with the

experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.



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Behavioral Intention. The behavioral intention is what the consumer plans to do with respect

to the object (e.g., buy or not buy the brand). As with affect, this is sometimes a logical

consequence of beliefs (or affect), but may sometimes reflect other circumstances--e.g.,

although a consumer does not really like a restaurant, he or she will go there because it is a

hangout for his or her friends.

Attitude-Behavior Consistency. Consumers often do not behave consistently with their

attitudes for several reasons:

y Ability. He or she may be unable to do so. Although junior high school student likes

pick-up trucks and would like to buy one, she may lack a driver¶s license.

y Competing demands for resources. Although the above student would like to buy a

pickup truck on her sixteenth birthday, she would rather have a computer, and has

money for only one of the two.

y Social influence. A student thinks that smoking is really cool, but since his friends

think it¶s disgusting, he does not smoke.

y

Measurement problems. Measuring attitudes is difficult. In many situations,consumers do not consciously set out to enumerate how positively or negatively they

feel about mopeds, and when a market researcher asks them about their beliefs about

mopeds, how important these beliefs are, and their evaluation of the performance of

mopeds with respect to these beliefs, consumers often do not give very reliable

answers. Thus, the consumers may act consistently with their true attitudes, which

were never uncovered because an erroneous measurement was made.

Attitude Change Strategies. Changing attitudes is generally very difficult, particularly when

consumers suspect that the marketer has a self-serving agenda in bringing about this change

(e.g., to get the consumer to buy more or to switch brands).

Changing affect. One approach is to try to change affect, which may or may not involve

getting consumers to change their beliefs. One strategy uses the approach of classical



65

conditioning try to ³pair´ the product with a liked stimulus. For example, we ³pair´ a car

with a beautiful woman. Alternatively, we can try to get people to like the advertisement and

hope that this liking will ³spill over´ into the purchase of a product. For example, the

Pillsbury Doughboy does not really emphasize the conveyance of much information to the

consumer; instead, it attempts to create a warm, fuzzy image. Although Energizer Bunny ads

try to get people to believe that their batteries last longer, the main emphasis is on the likeable

bunny. Finally, products which are better known, through the mere exposure effect, tend to

be better liked--that is, the more a product is advertised and seen in stores, the more it will

generally be liked, even if consumers to do not develop any specific beliefs about the

product.

Changing behavior. People like to believe that their behavior is rational; thus, once they use

our products, chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to get them to

switch. One way to get people to switch to our brand is to use temporary price discounts and

coupons; however, when consumers buy a product on deal, they may justify the purchase

based on that deal (i.e., the low price) and may then switch to other brands on deal later. A

better way to get people to switch to our brand is to at least temporarily obtain better shelf

space so that the product is more convenient. Consumers are less likely to use this

availability as a rationale for their purchase and may continue to buy the product even when

the product is less conveniently located. (Notice, by the way, that this represents a case of

shaping).

Changing beliefs. Although attempting to change beliefs is the obvious way to attempt

attitude change, particularly when consumers hold unfavorable or inaccurate ones, this is

often difficult to achieve because consumers tend to resist. Several approaches to belief

change exist:

y Change currently held beliefs. It is generally very difficult to attempt to change

beliefs that people hold, particularly those that are strongly held, even if they are

inaccurate. For example, the petroleum industry advertised for a long time that its

profits were lower than were commonly believed, and provided extensive factual



66

evidence in its advertising to support this reality. Consumers were suspicious and

rejected this information, however.

y Change the importance of beliefs. Although the sugar manufacturers would

undoubtedly like to decrease the importance of healthy teeth, it is usually not feasible

to make beliefs less important--consumers are likely to reason, why, then, would you

bother bringing them up in the first place? However, it may be possible to strengthen

beliefs that favor us--e.g., a vitamin supplement manufacturer may advertise that it is

extremely important for women to replace iron lost through menstruation. Most

consumers already agree with this, but the belief can be made stronger.

y Add beliefs. Consumers are less likely to resist the addition of beliefs so long as they

do not conflict with existing beliefs. Thus, the beef industry has added beliefs that

beef (1) is convenient and (2) can be used to make a number of creative dishes.

Vitamin manufacturers attempt to add the belief that stress causes vitamin depletion,

which sounds quite plausible to most people.

y Change ideal. It usually difficult, and very risky, to attempt to change ideals, and

only few firms succeed. For example, Hard Candy may have attempted to change the

ideal away from traditional beauty toward more unique self expression.

One-sided vs. two-sided appeals. Attitude research has shown that consumers often tend to

react more favorably to advertisements which either (1) admit something negative about the

sponsoring brand (e.g., the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe) or (2) admits something

positive about a competing brand (e.g., a competing supermarket has slightly lower prices,

but offers less service and selection). Two-sided appeals must, contain overriding arguments

why the sponsoring brand is ultimately superior--that is, in the above examples, the ³but´ part

must be emphasized.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and Celebrity Endorsements. The ELM suggests

that consumers will scrutinize claims more in important situations than in unimportant ones.

For example, we found that in the study of people trying to get ahead of others in a line to use

photo copiers, the compliance rate was about fifty percent when people just asked to get

ahead. However, when the justification ³... because I have to make copies´ was added,

compliance increased to 80%. Since the reason offered really did not add substantive



67

information, we conclude that it was not extensively analyzed--in the jargon of the theory,

³elaboration´ was low.

The ELM suggests that for ³unimportant´ products, elaboration will be low, and thus Bill

Cosby is able to endorse Coke and Jell-O without having any special credentials to do so.

However, for products which are either expensive or important for some other reason (e.g., a

pain reliever given to a child that could be harmed by using dangerous substances),

elaboration is likely to be more extensive, and the endorser is expected to be ³congruent,´ or

compatible, with the product. For example, a basket ball player is likely to be effective in

endorsing athletic shoes, but not in endorsing automobiles. On the other hand, a nationally

syndicated auto columnist would be successful in endorsing cars, but not athletic shoes. All

of them, however, could endorse fast food restaurants effectively.

Appeal Approaches. Several approaches to appeal may be used. The use of affect to induce

empathy with advertising characters may increase attraction to a product, but may backfire if

consumers believe that people¶s feelings are being exploited. Fear appeals appear to work

only if (1) an optimal level of fear is evoked--not so much that people tune it out, but enough

to scare people into action and (2) a way to avoid the feared stimulus is explicitly indicated--

e.g., gingivitis and tooth loss can be avoided by using this mouth wash. Humor appears to be

effective in gaining attention, but does not appear to increase persuasion in practice. In

addition, a more favourable attitude toward the advertisement may be created by humorous



68

advertising, which may in turn result in increased sales. Comparative advertising, which is

illegal in many countries, often increases sales for the sponsoring brand, but may backfire in

certain cultures.

CONCLUSION

The MARKETING performance of the corporation continued to shows an upward

trend. From the whole report we find that the company is financially sound as well as has a

good working in MARKETING. It has diversified utility with multiple businesses. It works

as a leading corporate citizen with a key focus on executing its social responsibility. In shortit can be said that the organization is using a very enhanced version technology to undertake

various function and also adopt best practices.



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RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGGESTIONS

Company should have more experienced and energetic MARKETING executives

to enhance their working in the marketing department.

Company should try to improve its infrastructure to enhance the quality and

work.

Company should provide proper training facilities to their employees.

Company should try to improve the existing marketing channel, visit to the dealers

to create healthy relation and hearing of complaints. Atleast monthly visit of sales

executive should be in the market to create and maintain healthy relations.

Company should try to get more and more young employees to work as new blood

would provide good competitive work force as well as enhance the performance .



BIBLOGRAPHY

MACAS AUTOMOTIVE ANNUAL REPORT

WWW.MACASAUTOMOTIVE.COM

WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

vipn project

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