Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A
Summer Project
Report
On
“Consumer behavior”
For financial daily
(Specially focuses on financial newspaper readers)
Submitted to:
Gujarat technological University
&
R.K College of business Management, Rajkot
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Programmed
(Batch-2009-11)
Project Guided By:-
Mr.Nailesh limbashiya
Submitted By:
Pawar Ravi P.
Roll no_77
1
DECLARATION
Myself PAWAR RAVI student of MBA of R.K. College Of Business Management
hereby declare that the project work on business standard ltd presented in this report
is my own work and has been carried out under the supervisor of Mr. Nailesh
Limbashiya lecturer department of business management.
My report is submitted as part of study curriculum and as a partial fulfillment of the
degree of MBA .I am also declaring that I am submitting this report on the training at
business standard ltd regarding project study on the various activity of the market and
studying the consumer behavior .
I guarantee that this project report has not been submitted for the awards to any other
university for degree, diploma or any other such prizes.
Date
Place
Ravi Pawar
Signature
2
PREFACE
Consumer behavior (in consumer business context) referred to as the study of when,
why, how, where and what people do or do not buy products. It blends elements from
psychology, sociology, social, anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand
the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups.
In this modern era of business, Financial Newspaper plays an important role. It
provides various information to the consumer regarding banks, share market, bonds,
political issues, economic policies & other financial news. This information is used by
the consumer in making certain decision. Thus, to provide the news according to the
need of the consumer, to know the consumer’s behavior is very important activity for
the marketers. The following report is the study of consumer behavior who is reading
financial newspapers.
The research takes us stepwise from the present and finding for the future.
The recommendation rest on the basis of research work done and conclusion derived
there off.
To add to this, various graphs, frequency table, etc. have been added. Further,
this analyses tray to bring to fore how the face of newspaper market is changing in
India and how the customer is finally getting current information and service form
market respondent. Thought this report, we summarize that we have strived to perfect
ourselves in the best possible manner to report our research systematically and
ethically.
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMANT
We, the below mentioned students of R.K. College of Business Management,
Rajkot are very sincerely thankful to Sir Nailesh limbashiya & Our HOD
Dr.N.m.khandelwal who gave his valuable guidance to carry our project in a best
way and giving us the much needed support and full cooperation for our report.
We would like to thank our project guide Mr. Kunal Panchal who helped us in the
project and also we like to thank other staff member of Business Standard who has
shown their cooperation.
We would like to extend our gratitude to Gujarat technical University and R.K.
College of Business Management, Rajkot affiliated to the said university for giving
us the opportunity to increase our practical knowledge in the field of Consumer
Behavior. We also thank all the professors and staff of the Institute for their valuable
guidance and help throughout the project.
Last but not least, we are also thankful to all the people who helped us directly or
indirectly in making this project report successfully.
4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Consumer behavior can be said to be the study of how individual make decisions.
Consumer behavior research provides information which will not only be useful in
taking various marketing decision but also help to reduce the risk in decision making.
This project deals with behavior of those consumers who are reading different
financial newspapers. We have personally surveyed the samples and gathered
information through the questionnaires to study their behavior. We have used
different questions in order to analysis the consumer behavior. More over we have
also tried to cover the objective through questionnaire.
We have taken a sample size of 200 in order to analysis the consumer behavior and
we have used Ahmedabad, Baroda as our sample location. This project will give you
information on the following things like the satisfaction level of the consumer who
are reading financial newspaper, why the consumer prefer a particular financial
newspaper, the benefits and most important information obtain by the consumer while
reading paper, consumer perception regarding the contents of financial newspaper,
consumer behavior on the discount given by the financial newspaper & many more
things.
5
Index
Chapte
r No
PARTICULAR PAGE
NO.
Sec-1 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
History Of Print Media 1
Newspapers: A Brief History 4
Competitors 8
Organisation profile 10
Vision And Mission 11
Organizational Hierarchy 12
Product Portfolio 14
2 DEPARTMENT DETAILS 21
Circulation Department
Space Marketing Department
Editorial Department
Scheduling Department
System Department
Production Department
Dispatch Department
Financial Department
Human Resource Department
6
3 SWOT Analysis 26
7s Formwork 27
ABC (Audit Bureau Circulation) 30
Sales And Distribution 33
Sec-2 RESEARCH WORK
1 LITERATURE REVIEW 36
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 39
Research Objectives
Limitation
Target Audience
Sampling Method & Size
Data Collection
Questionnaire Form
Questionnaire Survey
3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DATA INTERPRETATION 43
4 FINDINGS AND RECOMMANDATIONS 53
Conclusion
Suggestion
LEARNING’S FROM THE SUMMER TRAINING 58
BIBLIOGRAPHY 61
APPENDIX 62
7
CHAPTER 1
Organizational Overview
HISTORY OF PRINT MEDIA
History of print media and written communication follows the progress of
civilization which, in turn, moves in response to changing cultural technologies. The
transfer of complex information, ideas and concepts from one individual to another, or
to a group, underwent extreme evolution since prehistoric times. It has been 30,000
years later since the first recorded evidence of written communication and it is still
dramatically changing. Nowadays perhaps faster than ever before due to amazing
advances in technology in recent years. Technical breakthroughs alter the way we
perceive the universe and manner in which we communicate with one another.
As long ago as 25,000-30,000 years B.C. first humans’ painted descriptive pictures on
cave walls. The narrative compositions left on the walls of Lascaux represented their
own way of communicating with the spiritual world and another. The well-preserved
drawing depicted their deep religious beliefs, fears, and everyday life. The pictorial
type found in caves of Southern France and Spain is the beginning of written
communication for the human kind.
In early 19th century the industrial revolution brought major innovations in printing
technology. In 1810, Friedrich Koenig applied steam power to printing press. Rotary
steam presses replaced hand operated machines, doing the same job in a small fraction
of the time. Typesetting was transformed by the introduction of line-casting machines;
first Ottmar Mergenthaler’s Linotype (1889), and then the Monotype machine. Line
8
casting allowed type be chosen, used, and then re circulated back into the machine
automatically.
The age of industrial revolution made transfer and interchange of written information
between cities as well as continents readily available. In 1831 Joseph Henry invented
the first electric telegraph, four years later in 1835 Samuel Morse
Formulated Morse code, and then in 1843 he also produced the first long distance
electric telegraph line. At the same time, Alexander Bain patented the first fax
machine. In 1867 Thomas Edison patented his mimeograph, which was the first
office-copying machine, which might inspire Chester Carlson, almost a century later;
to invent the photocopier machine.
Business life was irreversibly changed with in the introduction to the market of
Remington typewriter (1874). Journalism also became more accessible when in 1914
Howard Krum introduced Teletype. Knowledge of Morse code was no longer needed
to distribute information.
Nowadays, the print industry goes through a dry spell. Printing becomes increasingly
more expansive. To combat with this problem the industry increased use of digital
printers that can efficiently produce high quality paper books on demand. CAP
Ventures predicted that within five years, 80% of all print will be ordered via www.
This created new model of publishing- so called e-publishing (on demand). The
printed book is currently under attack by e-book. Present e-books are handheld
devices in which books can be downloaded in a file form and read on a backlit screen
using buttons to maneuver through text. There have been also experiments with on-
line book distribution by Stephan King, David Saperstein, Mary Higgins and others
authors.
The Indian entertainment and media industry is expected to grow at 18% compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) and reach a projected size of Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2011
from its present size of Rs 43,700 crore (for CY06), according to the 2007 edition of
9
FICCI Price water house Cooper’s (PWC) annual report on the Indian entertainment
and media Industry.
The report states that the industry grew at 20% over the 2005 figure which was Rs
36,400 crore. For 2004, the figure was Rs 31,100 crore.
The key reasons behind the growth are technological advances, positive government
initiatives in terms of policy and foreign investment, and energized initiatives by
private media companies coupled with rising income levels and India’s robust
economic growth-led consumerism.
Information and broadcasting Minister PR Dasmunshi will release the report at the
opening of the FICCI-FRAMES event on March 26 in Mumbai.
Sectorally, the Internet advertising industry is set to post the highest CAGR of 43%,
rising from its current size of Rs 160 crores to Rs 950 crores in 2010.
The Television industry is projected to grow 22% CAGR from Rs 19,100 crore to Rs
51,900 crore by 2011. The move towards CAS/DTH is considered the major driver
for this growth with subscription revenues set to take the segment to the projected
heights. “The buoyancy of the Indian economy will drive the homes, both in rural and
urban (second TV set homes) areas to buy televisions and subscribe for the pay
services,” the report said.
The film and entertainment sector is expected to grow by 16% CAGR from Rs 8,500
crore to Rs 17,500 crore. The major reason for this high growth rate is that the
industry is increasingly getting more corporative, highlighted by public issues of
several film production, distribution and exhibition companies, long term contracts
between film production companies and directors/ actors and the fact that more than
half of 2006’s releases were by corporate rather than individual banners.
The print media is expected to grow by 13% CAGR from Rs 12,800 crore to Rs
23,200 crore by 2011. “Current estimates reveal that print media’s reach in India has
increased to 22 crore people. Print media is also the favorite segment for global
investors with maximum foreign investment in this segment. The print media industry
10
has much potential as 36.9 crore literate people in India are still not tapped by any
publication,” the report said.
NEWSPAPERS: A BRIEF HISTORY
The newspaper as we know it today is a product born of necessity, invention, the
middle class, democracy, free enterprise, and professional standards.
Pre-history "newspapers" were one-to-one in nature. The earliest variation on a
newspaper was a daily sheet published in 59 BC in Rome called Acta Diurna (Daily
Events), which Julius Caesar ordered posted throughout the city. The earliest known
printed newspaper was in Beijing in 748.
In 1451, Johannes Gütenberg uses a press to print an old German poem, and two years
later prints a 42-line Bible -- the significance being the mass production of print
products, ushering in an era of newspapers, magazines, and books. By 1500, the
genesis of a postal system can be seen in France, while book publishing becomes
popular throughout Europe and the first paper mill can be found (England).
Zeitung (newspaper) is a news report published in Germany in 1502, while Trewe
Encountre becomes the earliest known English-language news sheet in 1513.
Germany's Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, in 1609, is the first regularly published
newspaper in Europe. Forty-four years after the first newspaper in England, the
Oxford Gazette is published, utilizing double columns for the first time; the
Oxford/London Gazette are considered the first true newspaper. The first North
American newspaper, Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic, was published
in 1690 in Boston.
The 1700s was a century in which market elements were created that encouraged the
development of daily newspapers: rising literacy, the formation of nation-states, a 11
developing postal system, and the proliferation of urban centers, a rising literary and
philosophical tradition emphasizing democratic involvement in government, and
technologies that supported newspaper production. In short, it was a great news
century. The first daily newspaper was The Daily Courant in London, 1702. In 1754,
The Daily Advertiser in London uses the first four-column format. France's first daily
newspaper appears in 1777, Journal de Paris, while the first United States daily was
the Pennsylvania Packet in 1784.
The rise of the middle class transformed newspapers in the 1800s. A penny (US$0.01)
buys a New York newspaper in 1833, opening up the first mass market for
newspapers. In 1847, the telegraph is used as a business tool, transforming far-away
stories. In 1873, an illustrated daily newspaper can be seen in New York. In 1878 the
first full-page newspaper advertisements appear, and in 1880 the first photographs are
seen in newspapers, using halftones.
With the basic technical groundwork for the modern newspaper in place by the late
19th century, the story of newspapers in the 20th century was about professional
development and adaptation to changing consumer and media markets. The story also
involved an evolving business model that rode an ever-growing wave of mass-market
advertising. Increased profitability and higher revenues attracted publicly owned
corporations interested in buying newspapers from descendants of company founders,
while simultaneously exposing newspapers to the whims of cash- and profit-hungry
stock markets.
By 2000, newspapers were juggling priorities: fragmentation of news consumption,
fragmentation of advertising investments, the advantages and disadvantages of being
a mass medium, balancing the wants of the marketplace with the company's duty to
provide the needs of the marketplace, a journalistic backlash against industry changes,
the sheer physicality of ink-on-paper production and distribution versus digital
distribution, increasing profit pressure surrounding the core print product, and
extension of the company's core brand into other profit centers.
12
ALL INDIA MEDIA PENETRATION AS OF 2010
Here we can say that in the present scenario media has been spread widely.
The share of Media is as below :-
o Print Media 20%,
o TV Media 41%
o Cable and Satellite 16%
o Radio 17%
o Film 5%
o Internet 1%
PORTER’S FIVE FORCE MODEL ANALYSIS
Porter's 5 forces analysis is a framework for the industry analysis and business
strategy development developed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in
1979. It uses concepts developed in Industrial Organization (IO) economics to derive
5 forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a
market.
1. The threat of substitute products:
13
T.V. Media
Magazines
Internet
Seminars and lectures of experts
What can the factor of substitute product?
1. buyer propensity to substitute
2. relative price performance of substitutes
3. Perceived level of product differentiation
2. The threat of the entry of new competitors
Profitable markets that yield high returns will draw firms. The results are many new
entrants, which will effectively decrease profitability. Unless the entry of new firms
can be blocked by incumbents, the profit rate will fall towards a competitive level
(perfect competition).
economies of product differences
brand equity
capital requirements
access to distribution
learning curve advantages
expected retaliation by incumbents
government policies
3.The intensity of competitive rivalry
Total NO. Of competitors of BUSINESS STANDARD are
THE ECONOMIC TIME
BUSINESS LINE
FINANCIAL EXPRESS
14
MINT
number of competitors
rate of industry growth
exit barriers
diversity of competitors
informational complexity and asymmetry
level of advertising expense
Economies of scale
Sustainable competitive advantage through improvisation
COMPETITORS
Competitor is something which any company cannot avoid. Staying in a democratic
country and ruling as monopoly is not possible. What the only way is to face a deal
with competition. Competition can be severe and can be mild. The intensity will
depend on your own firms’ position and your competitors’ position. The following are
the competitors of Business Standard.
The Economic Times
The financial Express
Business Line
Comparison of Business Standard with its Competitors
SR.
NO.
PARAMETER BUSINESS
STANDARD
THE ECONOMIC
TIMES
BUSINESS
LINE
FINANCIAL
EXPRESS
1 Price Weekdays-3 Rs.
Weekend -6 Rs.
Weekdays- 3&3.50 Rs
Weekend- 10 Rs.
Weekdays-4 Rs.
Weekend -4 Rs
Mon to Fri –
4 Rs.
Sat- 6 Rs.
Sunday – 8
15
Rs.
2 Collaboration Kotak Mahindra Benett & collman The Hindu Indian
Express
3 Stock market
analysis
BS 200, 6 full
page of share
details
Less pages Less information Less
4 News Only Business Business + General Business +
General
Business
5 Publication
house
Own Bennett, Collaman &
Co. ltd.
The Hindu Indian
express
6 Pages (Avg) 22-26 12-22 18-20 14-20
7 Color of pages Pink Pink White Pink
8 Updates No Week update on
Sunday
No No
9 Language Easy Easy Hard Moderate
10 No. of location
of Publication
12 cities 11 cities 14 cities 11 cities
11 Position in the
Market
2nd 1st 4th 3rd
So from above table what analysis can be possible?
Business Standard is very less priced financial paper, which provide
With good schemes.
Business Standard is only news paper which provides 8 pages of stock
market related news.16
It is unique selling point(USP) for business Standard that it provide BS
200 page with full analysis of 22 key parameters.
Though with very positive point with Business Standard, it has some
problem or can say drawback, like service.
It is the only point that The Economic Time is market leader, and that
is, its parent company “Times Group”.
Though The Hindu has very good content, it’s not selling in the
Gujarat so much, it deliver to client’s address at 12:00 noon around.
So that we can say that if Business Standard does something for brand
awareness than it has good potential market to cover.
The financial Express is not providing very good scheme and also very
less reader in the market.
BUSINESS STANDARD is the country's most respected business daily, being the
first choice of serious business readers. It is published in colour from 12 centers in
India - Mumbai (formerly Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta),
Bangalore, Chennai (formerly Madras), Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh,
Lucknow, Kochi and Bhubaneswar and Pune. The newspaper believes in free, fair and
independent journalism and strives to inculcate these values in its editorial staff. The
journalism practiced by BUSINESS STANDARD lays equal stress on quality,
credibility and accuracy.
BUSINESS STANDARD has the country's best economic journalists and columnists
working for it. It is edited by T.N. Ninan, perhaps India’s best-known business
17
journalist, who had earlier undertaken a complete and highly successful revamp of
The Economic Times and was responsible for its phenomenal growth.
Apart from a business newspaper, BSL publishes several periodicals, including BS
Motoring, Indian Management, Asian Management Review, a quarterly publication,
and two regional language business newspapers – BUSINESS STANDARD in Hindi
and BUSINESS STANDARD in Gujarati. The Hindi newspaper is published
simultaneously from seven centers – Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhopal,
Patna and Kolkata. Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Rajkot.
The company sees content creation, content processing and content management as its
core competence. It offers complete outsourcing solutions for organizations which
want to bring out in-house or private publications but lack the people and/or resources
to do it cost-effectively. The web properties of BSL, including the online edition of
Business Standard, include businessstandard.com, bsmotoring.com, bshindi.com and
bsgujarati.com.
At business-standard.com, you have access to one of the best repositories of Indian
and global business news. Apart from the flagship publication, the website also
features content from The Smart Investor (weekly), The Strategist (Weekly) and BS
Motoring (monthly).
Vision
To stand at respectful position in this marathon and also keep up with the pace
of the changing needs of their value readers.
To win more and more readers to their cause.
In addition of being backed up by a strong product, company needs to deliver
1005 of it.
Mission
18
The mission is to expand the market share of BUSINESS STANDARD by
creating a new market and by taking bites from competitor’s market share.
BUSINESS ETHICS
BUSINESS STANDARD is neutral and most credible financial newspaper.
Business Standard is a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and
presenting information regarding current events, trends, issues and people.
A look at History
BUSINESS STANDARD …. A standard paper for business class.” When you’re
sure” is what is always attached with Business Standard. Print media has bought
considerable changes in the life of people around the globe. Even our freedom fighters
considered it a powerful weapon. And it still continues to show its important presence
in this changing world scenario. Business Standard Ltd. was incorporated on 15th
December, 1975 under the name of “Desh Publication Pvt. Ltd.” This was changed to
“Business standard Limited” on 23rd November, 1995 the head office of the company
is located at Delhi. The company is managed, under the leadership and guidance of
the board of directors. The company has completed its 30 years in the year 2005.The
company believes in ethical conduct through professional management and has
forward looking outlook.
Organizational Hierarchy
Business Standard has the country’s best economic journalists and columnist working
for it. It is edited by T. N. Ninan, perhaps India’s best known business journalist, who
had earlier undertaken a complete and highly successful revamp of The Economics
Times and was responsible for its phenomenal growth.
19
Among the other senior journalists in the team are A. K.Bhattacharya, former editor
of The Pioneer and associate editor of The Economic Times, and Shyamal Majumdar,
former resident editor of The Financial Express.
Important figures
2.4.1 Readership of Business Standard:
Business Standard is India’s second largest and fastest growing newspaper having
growth rate of 300% in past four years. It has a readership over a quarter million.Its
readership profile encompasses the brightest and the best from India’s business and
finance communities, Readers come from varied occupations in the field of business,
finance, government, policy makers and academics, stock brokers, decision makers,
researchers and students and observers of the Indian Economy.
Dept: The main departments of the Business Standard are Market Development
Department an also known as Circulation Department, Scheduling Department, Space
Marketing Department, Editorial Department, System Department, Production
Department an Dispatch Department.
Attraction: Rich with lovely supplements and vibrant sections on personal finance,
banking, careers and technology, travel, books and review of arts and cultures are the
major attractive sections. It is the most reliable and affordable business newspaper
available in Gujarat at Rs. 2/- on weekdays and Rs. 6/- for the weekend edition.
Economics of publication house:
A newspaper cost is Rs. 18-20 to the publication house at Business Standard. The cost
is covered from the advertisements that they receive, which is the work of the space
marketing department i.e. collecting advertisements for the dailies. Companies will
give ads, in only those newspapers in which their audience lies and it also depends on
20
the circulation a readership figure. Therefore to attract cash rich advertisers,
publication house has to first create that class of audience, then only, they will be able
to attract advertisers, which is the main source of the revenue for Business Standard.
Positioning Statement of BUSINESS STANDARD –
“When you’re sure”:
To succeed in a futurist environment, one requires a strategy. This is true for an
organization profit and non-profit in as much as it is for individual. The art of action
planning, to achieve a specific goal is called strategizing and the action plan is called
strategy.
To manage the distribution channel properly is not the only that the market
development department has to perform. The department has to take care for the
necessary steps required to tape the opportunities prevailing in the market.
Achievements:-
Business Standard is one of the newspaper in India to have sought Foreign
Direct Investment
Business Standard also has an annual series of awards to felicitate outstanding
leadership in the corporate world.
Content tie up NDTV
ABC approved
Product Portfolio
About BUSINESS STANDARD Newspaper (Ahmedabad Publication)
A newspaper which is published from MON to SAT (Sunday edition
published only at Delhi and Bombay)
Price at the weekdays is Rs. 3/- and on Saturday is Rs. 6/-
The size of the newspaper is 50, or 51 or 52 cms. in length and 32.9
cms. Width.
Supplements with newspaper:
Monday: The Smart Investor
21
Tuesday: The Strategist
Saturday: Weekend
8 pages on Sock Market.
Six full pages on stock details both in Graphical and
alphabetical method
BS 200, which top 200, companies share details on calculating
22 key parameters.
Formulae specifications.
Mutual Fund details on full page coverage.
Insurance schemes on half pages
Guidelines before the details of stocks to let the people know
How to read stock pages and the abbreviations.
The accent west section for Gujarat
Individual industry news on individual full page coverage.
Collaboration with the international newspaper “FINANCIAL TIMES”
London
6 distribution centers in Ahmedabad
Nehrunagar
Paldi
Income Tax
Khanpur
Kalupur
Maninagar
Provides 4 magazines free annually.
The Banking Annual
22
BS 1000
The Billionaire Club
Fund Manager
Editions from Monday to Friday have a main edition of about 12 pages with
Colored pages in the front and the rest are black and white. The following areas
are focused:
National and International news
Economy and Policy news
Infrastructure news
Companies news
Editorial pages
Crossword, Sudoku
Education News
Business law
Section II is the MONEY AND MARKETS
Stock market news
Money and currencies
Metal an intermediates news
Commodity news
BS 200
Share prices in a alphabetical order
Mutual fund and insurance
ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS
TUESDAY: THE STRATEGIST
Theories and practices of business managements.23
Brand related news
Notes by management thinkers
Book worm
Quiz column
SATURDAY: WEEKEND
Life and fashion
Living
Entertainment
Motoring
ABOUT MAGAZINES
24
A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally
financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. They are often printed in color on
coated paper, and are bound with a soft cover.
1) THE BANKING ANNUAL
Banking Annual, the one spot information providers regarding everything related
to banks. Banks are not only gives you security but many more things. To get an
all round view of banks functioning and their future action, banking annual
provides with all.
Banks valuation
Banker of the year
Innovation bought and which would be coming in the near future
Data’s related to banks.
2) BS 1000
BS 1000 is a detailed guide to India’s top 1000 companies. The issues of BS 1000
mention those depressing times, providing data on the impact of the slowdown on
corporate, the deterioration in their financials, how they coped with crisis. Not just
bad phases but also the success stories are
mentioned. It also peeks into the future, where which
25
industries booming, with what phase, with what strategies, etc are discussed.
Below are the main features:
BS awards.
1000 best companies
ranking and performance of the leaders of the country
1000 companies growth, gross profit, net profit, etc
3) THE BILLIONAIRE CLUB
This is the only magazine with the listing of India’s billionaire. Billionaire club is
much more than providing the order of rich people, providing the slid down or slid
up of individuals, it is also a snapshot of the changing trends in the Indian
economy. By focusing on the spotlight; it showcases the creators of value in the
economy. It too has certain other features which are:
A list of the richest people of the country
New person added to the list
Salary details of CEO & MD
4) FUND MANAGER
26
Fund Manager, as the name suggests that it gives a full insight to the fund’s
investment. It focuses on facts and figures on mutual funds. The fund manager
seeks to rank mutual funds schemes and also rate the best fund manager of the
year. Below given are the few additional features of the Fund Manager:
Risk return rating over 600 funds
Futures of new fund offerings
Best fund pick
THE STRATEGISTS
The strategist is the combined edition of the entire strategist supplement which
published weekly with the newspaper. The strategist contains the pick of the
articles over the previous year and a half. The objective of the annual recollected
magazine is to gibe ‘the best’ to the BS reader. The main motto of the magazine
being to take out the strategies out of book, to understand the classic pitfalls of the
big brands, to understand many other things with practical case studies.
THE WORLD OF B-SCHOOLS
It focuses on the best B-schools of India with the articles like the B-school
Roadmap, what matters the most courses, faculty of infrastructure, when you go
for B-school hunting, etc provide the all kind of answers to the mind of a b-school
seeker. Hence it gives what students want “An Answer”
ABOUT OTHER STAND MAGAZINES
27
MOTORING
Motoring is a stand monthly magazine. It gives all the information related to cars
and bikes. It gives information about upcoming models, features and specialties of
them. The entire edition has something special in them. Certain expert’s interview
related to the automobile industry.
INDIAN MANAGEMENT
It is also a stand monthly magazine. It is made especially for
the management students. The students get all the
information they need through the magazine. It is a one point
access to cutting edge ideas in management. It gives:
Superior management coverage
Delivers latest management theories
Opinions from thought leaders
Global trends and innovations
Insights from carefully analyzed case studies
Book reviews.
Chapter 2
Functional Areas of the company
28
A brief department detail to give an idea of where the things are placed in
BUSINESS STANDARD is as follows:
29
MARKET DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT / CIRCULATION
DEPARTMENT
This department is responsible for the circulation of the newspaper in the whole
region. This department also looks after the daily back room operations which
include giving print orders for the regular supply of subscription, complementary
copies and sponsored copies are also being distributed by this department. They
also check the dispatch and payment received for the month. To expand the
market of the newspaper by adding more customers to its list. They are the people
who not only think about selling the newspaper but also how to promote it.
SPACE MARKETING DEPARTMENT
It is the major source of revenue generation for any media industry. Because the
actual cost of the newspaper goes up to 18/- to 20/- Rs. And sold at Rs. 3/-.So the
advertisements are the medium to compensate for the cost generated. I was taught
about the marketing department contact different corporate for advertisement and
the channel through which the advertisement comes and are prepared and how the
space is allotted depending upon the space given by the editorial department.
There is an agent in between the client and the publisher, which helps in making
the arrangements of ads.
How this media get advertisement from clients?
Actually this media have their agents who collect contract from the
clients and then this agent decide that, what is the expectation of client. So on that
bases agent selects any media. Advertisement is generally designed by agent but
only circulated by media. So sometime media also design some advertisement, but
they get client from only agents.
30
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Editorial is considered as the backbone of the print media because without any
good matter to publish and which is not edited nicely it is just a crap for the
readers. Readers want to have the columns with good matter, so without having an
effective and efficient editorial team no newspaper can grow.
This department collects the news mainly from the News Agencies and they have
their own network to publish the articles too. The news can be by telephone, fax
or through internet or other communication medium. This news is edited and then
sends to the Mumbai and Delhi for the adjustment. The group Managing Director
of the Business Standard is MR. A. K. Bhattacharya
SCHEDULING DEPARTMENT
This department deals with the scheduling of the edited matter and the
advertisements. It is the work of this department to adjust and frame the edited
matter with the advertisement, by allotting the empty space to the advertise, which
matter and advertisement should be in which page is the looked out by scheduling
people. For this scheduling the department forms a dummy A-4 size, adjusting the
editorials and the ads in that paper to know the place of the same in the original
size paper.
SYSTEM DEPARTMENT
System department is responsible for the communication network as well as all
the technical related problems in the company. All the branches of Business
31
Standard are linked with V_SAT and with the dedicated leased line along with the
Head Office.
The most important work of the system department is to connect all the telephone
line with EPBX system and connect all the branches to the head office with Hot
Lines, which helps to reduce STD cost of the company. The system department at
Ahmedabad receives a facsimile copy of newspaper everyday and forwards its
printout on the butter paper to the production department.
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
After receiving the facsimile copy on the butter paper from the system department
the work of production department starts. This butter copy is framed on the
aluminum plate. This plate is then fixed in the printing machine and then as per
the printing orders the printing starts.
Machine which is used for the production is known as Film Processor which costs
approximately Rs. 2.5 lakh. The machine is divided into four different units i.e.
Developer Unit, Fixed Unit, Wash Unit, and Dryer Unit.
Production Department is used mainly four colors for the hard copy, which are
Black, Yellow, Cyan and magenta. Some colors are used at the time of the final
printing of the newspaper at press. Raw material for this department is paper and
aluminum plate. Print comes in the form of reel. The cost of reel is Rs. 10000.
DISPATCH DEPARTMENT
Dispatch department is responsible for the regular dispatch of the total number of
copies at various destinations at the right time. It is also responsible for how many
copies should be reach at each center i.e. local or upcountry. There are about 46
upcountry and 6 in Ahmedabad. The distribution at these centers is very important
to be on time. Even the commission has to be taken off. The function of function
department is to generate rush mail and put it on the parcel. Rush mail shows the
32
number of the copies in the parcel and its destination address. With this a route
control statement is also there for each taxi driver, which shows the number of
parcels for each and every destination, comes under his route.
There are also two other department without the company cannot be run. Those
department without which any firm is incomplete.
FINANCIAL DEPARTMENT
This department is responsible for all the financial matters. Matters are related to
salary, operational expenses and other expenses. It is also responsible for the
cutting the cost of the publication.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT
This is the department responsible for the HR supply in the company. For
Business Standard this department is not in Ahmedabad, but it is in Mumbai. It
means that the Business Standard has a centrally located HR department who
takes care of the supply in any of the branch.
All these departments identify the need of the customer i.e. the quality and pricing
demanded by the customers. In this industry this strategy is very important as the
selling price of the newspaper is always less than its cost of production. The main
reason for this type of pricing is to create awareness and generate reading
behavior amongst the audience of the newspaper.
Hence all these departments are interlinked and proper cooperation and
coordination is a must in the newspaper industry. This helped me in getting a
better understanding of teamwork, and the importance of every second, because
newspapers are published daily and a delay of single second or a minute mistake
can lead to a blunder.
33
SWOT analysis of Business Standard
STRENGTH WEAKNESS OPPORTUNITY THREAT
Systematic approach
covering all sectors.
Not creative Can give an extra page
on Ahmedabad related
news
Continuous
monotonous approach.
Nominal price
.
Monotonous approach
of Headlines
Can introduce a new
segment on Sunday
Low Pricing Strategy
Separate Money &
Market section with 8
pages
No own publication
house
Potential Market
Availability
Toughest
Competition From
The Economic Times
Segregation of news
In supplements
Display of ads
sometimes creates a
fuss.
Can have tie-ups with
renowned brands for
ads.
Over view of the whole
week is given in
weekend
News is sometimes
very lengthy.
Provide general
awareness in terms of
investment.
34
35
7‘S’ Framework
36
STRUCTURE
Structure of Business Standard is very simple and straight forward. The people to be
reported are not many and so it is very simple to be part.
Mr T.N. Ninan(Chief Editor/Publisher)
Mr. A.K. Bhattacharya(Managing Director)
Ms. Akhila Urankar(President)
Mr. Rakesh Shah (VP Marketing)
Mr. Abhay(VP Sales)
Mr. Kaushalendra(Institution)
West ZoneMr. Ashish Chakrabor
ty(Zonal
Manager)
Pune Mr. Anant
Ahmedab
adMr. Mukund
Shukla
North Zone
Mr. Rakesh Sharma(Zonal
Manager)
37
SYSTEM
A group of interacting, interrelated or interdependent elements forming a complex
whole is a system. System of interaction is very free in Business Standard. People
love to eat together at lunch time, stay there with each other in all times be it good or
bad. Legally they follow a hierarchy. The system is well defined and well managed.
STRATAGY
The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as
effectively as possible during peace or war is strategy. Strategies vary from time to
time but what remains are the truthfulness and the attitude. For the Business Standard
what matters is its firm value and so all the strategies are planned accordingly.
STYLE
The way in which the work is to be done or expressed is Style. Business standard is
trying to do everything openly but with a blast; a blast to make the others move from
their chairs. They believe in slow but steady reach to top so that readership is strong.
STAFF
Staff comprises of the people working in the Business standard. People working
together specialized in their own areas of concern. But one thing is made sure that
everyone’s work at Business standard is challenging. Everyone is appreciated for their
work and they all work as a group.
SHARED VALUE
Shared Values are what engender trust and link in an organization. Shared values are
also the identity by which an organization is known throughout its business areas.
These values must be stated as both corporate objective and individual values. And at
Business Standard people have joined the individual and corporate goals; if necessary
people are also ready to devote hours even after their service hour.
38
SKILLS Proficiency, facility or dexterity is acquires or developed through training or
experience is skills. Skills are at times found inbuilt and most of the times is expected
to learn on job. This helps them to understand the stupid mistakes that they might do
in a recent job oriented.
ABC –AUDIT BUREAU CIRCULATION
The ABC is a non-profit, self discipline, voluntary organization consisting of
publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies. It has done pioneering work in
developing systems to verify the circulation data published by those newspaper and
periodicals, which have earned the right to display its emblem. Facts and figures
which are checked and certified by an independent body are a very important tool in
the hands of the advertising business community.
What information does an Audit Report provide?
o A total average of distribution is provided.
o Market coverage
o Public access
o Distribution by issue
o Geographic distribution
o One day distribution
o Other details: The explanatory paragraph provides supplemental information
and disclosures and includes an explanation of audit methodology.
An advertiser would like to know the fact and figures before investing his money in
advertising. An advertiser ought to know how many people buy a publication and in
which area. The ABC gives all these vital facts every six months i.e. January to June
and July to December. The ABC figures are not the outcome of opinions or
guesswork but they are the result of rigid, in-depth and impartial audits of paid
circulation of member publications by independent and leading firms of Chartered 39
Accountants working in accordance with the rules procedures prescribed by the
bureau.
ABC AUDIT:-
What is ABC and how it is working?
ABC: The main function of ABC is to evolve, lay down a standard and uniform
procedure by which a member publisher shall compute its net paid sales. The
circulation figure so arrived at is checked and certified by a firm of Chartered
Accountants which are approved by the Bureau. The Bureau issues ABC certificates
every six months to those publishers whose circulation figures confirm to the rules
and regulations as set out by the Bureau.
From a modest beginning it has grown to remarkable proportions. ABC's membership
today includes 411 Publishers of national and regional importance, 151 Advertising
Agencies, 51 Advertisers & 20 New Agencies and Associations connected with print
media and advertising. It covers most of the major towns in India.
Facts and figures which are checked and certified by an independent body are a very
important tool in the hands of the advertising business community. The details of
ABC certified circulation figures are available online to all members of the Bureau at
no extra cost.
An Advertiser would like to know the facts and figures before investing his money in
advertising. An Advertiser ought to know how many people buy a publication and in
which area. The ABC gives all these vital facts every six months. The ABC figures
are not the outcome of opinions, claims or guesswork, but they are the result of rigid,
in-depth and impartial audits of paid circulations of member publications by
40
independent and leading firms of Chartered Accountants working in accordance with
the rules / procedures prescribed by the Bureau.
The Policy formation body of the Bureau is the Council of Management consisting of
elected representatives from publishers (8), advertisers (4) and advertising agency (4)
members of the Bureau. To assist the Council of Management an Executive
Committee is appointed by the Council, to guide and oversee the day-to-day working
of the Bureau. The Executive Committee consists of Publishers, Advertisers and
Advertising Agency Members of the Council. The Council of Management and the
Executive Committee meets regularly as often as required. The Chairman is elected
annually by the council of management.
Few important issues to take care as per ABC certification:
Trade terms to agents on subscription copies should not exceed
In case of dailies-40% of the subscription price
In case of weeklies-45% of the subscription price
Publishers have to maintain the full record of subscribers with their address,
name and signature.
There are two types of panels for auditing:
Auditors Panel
Publishers Panel
41
SALES AND DISTRIBUTION
A sale is a transaction, dealing, trade or what? Sale can have different meanings but
what is the most important thing in it, is to understand the importance of it. Without
sale no revenue can be generated but just earning revenue is not to sale, it is the right
type selling to the right customer with the right attitude. Customer relationship is most
important, maintaining the brand image is also important. Delivering on the brand
promises becomes a moment of truth in any customer relationship. This moment of
truth can be either positive or with negative impact on the customer’s perception
about your brand. There might be great marketing communication and a highly
superior product, but the buying experience always stands between the seller and the
customer. If the customer has a negative impact about the product then it is a direct
deterioration of the brand equity. Hence, sales and distribution is a vital activity. Sales
hence comprises of the outcome of what all which was done to manufacture that
product. Success of selling department is the success of the company.
Business Standard is the product where the maximum demand would be in the early
morning. It is highly perishable product. The product should reach the customer in
due time otherwise the importance is lost. Hence time management is something very
vital for the sales and distribution people. Hence I can mainly divide the supply of the
newspaper in two main categories:
Pre press activity
Post press activity
42
Pre press activity involves all the editorial departments work where they have to
collect the news and it has to be given to the production department in a prescribed
limit. This time limit is said as the cut off time or releasing time.
Post press activity is the distribution. Business Standard has divided Gujarat in two
main section, i.e. Ahmedabad and upcountry market. This upcountry market has about
46 centers.
Business Standard gets involved in many kinds of sale activity. They are:
o Subscription Sale :
A one year or two year by subscription by paying fixed amount is sale by
subscription
o Cash Sales:
Customers when paying the amount to purchase a newspaper directly to the
book stall in cash then the sale is said to be a cash sales.
o Line Sales
Line sale is the in which it is post paid billing. When the customer gets the
Business Standard copy through the vendor and pays in the end of month, it is
line sale
o Institutional Sales
Few corporate, hotels and colleges take copy in bulk, which is said to be as
institutional sale. Business Standard has the responsibility till the delivery at
their doorstep and further distribution is on the company or the institution
concerned
o Corporate Sales
In corporate sales, executives have to do cold calling or they have to take
appointment from the concerned person and then after meet, executive must
43
convince the client. If it is big corporate and staff are such that, they read
financial daily at their home, then for bulk subscription they have to try.
DISTRIBUTION
Distribution is exactly for maintaining the brand equity in the market. The
promises which were made to the customers can be fulfilled by the proper channel
and the right time delivery of the newspaper.
How Business Standard reaches to you?
44
Chapter 2
Literature Review
All consumers’ have their own favorite advertising medium. Some people prefer
television commercials (especially children) and there are people who prefer new
types of advertising. For example wireless advertising. Okazaki claim most of the
Japanese mobile users are willing to use wireless advertising and keen to ‘click’ such
ads. In fact nowadays most people around the world are able to receive wireless
advertisements since most people own mobile phones. Age, gender, personality have
always being used in many study to see whether it affect consumer behavior. Unlike
other media, however, advertising is more pervasive in people’s lives increasing the
likelihood that consumers outside a target market will be exposed to messages that are
not intended for their viewing. It is increasingly simple for these consumers to pass
along negative word-of-mouth through web logs (“Blogs”) and other new media
technologies. Understanding consumers’ personal and psychological factors
perspective is particularly important and may possess strong purchase influence
behavior and brand recall towards the product, services and companies.
Advertising as marketing tools:
45
Advertising is an important part to the marketers for promotional mix. Its helps in
creating brand image and product awareness. Advertising is one of the most popular
tools that are used by the companies for convince and communicate
With the target buyers and customer’s .There are many different ways of defining
advertising and whether it is the traditional way, or its interactive part, definitions
vary from mindset to mindset. Whether in the form of online or traditional, the
purpose of advertisement will be to persuade and attract people to the product,
services or even brand. Not only must the advertisement effectively communication
the desired message, but the individual audience must be willing to "buy into" the
desired message. In other words, for the advertisement to be effective, the
communication must be sent and received. The designation of advertising certainly
reflects the claimed desire of most marketing practitioners to communicate openly
and honestly with consumers. Indeed the law in most countries forbids false or
deceptive advertising. Marketers justify advertising by arguing that advertising is
intrinsic to markets and fundamentally beneficial to the customer. Writes that those
wishing to encourage attitude change and ignore the effects of the above variables do
so at the risk of having contradictory effects to the original intent. By way of example,
an appealing realtor may provide convincing messages in a high-gloss magazine
targeted towards first-time buyers that a particular subdivision is the place to buy into.
However, if there is no means given as to how these young couples are to afford such
houses, the message may be ineffective as these prospective clients assume that they
cannot afford to live in such an area.
Cognitive effects also are studied by Beerli and Santana who in trying to come up
with a new measurement system for advertising effectiveness, look into the copy of a
print ad and what factors will be the most effective in persuasion.
Chose newspapers:
because of the limited amount of research into advertising Effectiveness which has
been carried out using this medium and also because it is easy to discriminate between
different Advertisements in the press because of a more active audience participation,
the individual being able to choose freely whether or not to read a particular
advertisement as well as the place and time in which s/he chooses to do so.21 Curlo
and Ducoffe also study attitude effects combining research in perception to multiple
46
stimuli and attitude-towards-the-ad models in a single persuasion model, which looks
at ad-evoked goals as a factor in measuring consumer attitude.
Marketing Communication
In their communication-based model of relationship marketing, Duncan and Moriaty
(1998) argue that the essence of communication with consumers is a two-way
exchange that is built on balance, symmetry, and reciprocity. This means that
consumer cooperation is necessary for a true dialogue to be carried out, and consumer
feedback needs to be incorporated as a key component in the marketing process.
Through such two-way interactive exchanges, information is shared among various
stakeholders, including consumers, and a common understanding is established
between firms and their customers. Duncan and Moriaty (1998) state that such
consistent, interactive communication among stakeholders is central to building brand
relationships and delivering value. More recently, Gummesson (2004) makes a similar
observation that interaction should be the third essential business activity besides the
traditional production and consumption activities.
Such as the Internet, firms and consumers now communicate constantly and
Instantaneously on a broad range of issues. Communication shifts from one-way to
A two-way process, and consumers are brought to the forefront as they gain more
Control over the process (Hoffman and Novak 1996; Stewart and Pavlou 2002).
As a result, consumers' idiosyncratic needs and preferences are likely to have a
Bigger impact on the processes and outcomes of marketing communication. This
Development is reflected in findings from the relationship marketing literature
Showing that consumers differ in how much they would like to engage in relational
Behavior with firms and that such differences can affect customer relationship
Quality and buyer behavior (Oderkerken-Schoder, De Wulf and Schumacher 2003;
Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995). Overall, the new role and nature of communication in
Marketing calls for a better understanding of the interaction process, especially the
Critical role consumers play in this process.
47
CHAPTER-3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In the internship program all our teammate have to do research on the consumer
behavior that read financial daily, and along with that we have to do sales. So on daily
bases I make survey of 10 people and knew their views regarding financial daily they
read. In this survey the main goal is to market development and product development.
Market development means how to penetrate the market and how come to know about
views of reader who read financial daily.
So I made a questionnaire, through which we can come to know that what business
standard should do to penetrate and product development.
48
Research Objectives
To penetrate the market, or can say MARKET DEVELOPMENT.
If company wants to develop their product than which criteria should be
considered. So PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT.
To understand the consumer Behavior.
Research methodology states how the research study is under taken. It includes
specification of research design source of data, method of primary data collection,
sampling design and analysis procedure adopted. Research methodology states what
procedures were employed to carry out the research study.
Limitation
The main shortcoming of the project was that the generalizations have
been made based on a restricted sample of 100 respondents.
Because of a small sample size consisting of Ahmedabad consumers only
it might happen that introducing new strategy for BS cannot be completely
applicable throughout the country.
Area of the project is limited to Ahmedabad city only so the conclusion
may be biased.
49
The collection of primary data is comparatively difficult and sometimes
the question of non-response arises because the people may not like to
disclose the information.
Respondents to whom we questioned about the product did not take the
survey seriously and answered the questions just for the sake of answering
Research Design
Data Source Primary data source- Questionnaire
Secondary data source- Company website
Sampling area Ahmedabad, & vadodara
Sample size 200
Sampling method Quota sampling
Research instrument Questionnaire
Method of contact Personal
50
TARGET AUDIENCE
The financial newspapers generally cater to the following target audience:
Corporate executives
Investors and Stock brokers
Businessmen
Bankers
Management students and professors
Chartered Accountants & other Professionals
Students
SAMPLE SIZE
The numbers of readers of business newspaper were decided on the basis of
different types of occupation and their designation. Sample size of 200 was taken
for the research. There was also some limitation to take such small sample size.
Lake of time is the main limitation to tale such small sample size.
DATA COLLECTION
Since, data collection signifies a very crucial place in a pilot survey; I have collected
primary data by personal interview through structured questionnaires. I had used only
this method because of time constraints. There is also very less scope in my topic to
get information from secondary source. Because to know the behavior of reader I
must take their interview.
QUESTIONNAIRE FORM51
The questionnaire for the purpose of this study was carefully drafted and very well
developed. Proper care has been taken in asking the questions, in wording them and in
maintaining the sequence of the question.
The questions asked were in open-ended and close-ended form, open-ended question
were to get customer’s own views and in close-ended questions, multiple-choice
questions and dichotomies questions were included.
QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY
This part of the data collection method can be termed as “quantitative survey” and the
questions were very specific. The data has been analyzed based on the statistical
factors and been described through a graphical analysis in the further pages.
CHAPTER-3
DATA ANALYSIS & DATA INTERPRETATION
Q.1) How frequent you read financial Newspaper?
Frequency Percentage
Regularly 138 69
Occasionally 62 31
52
Total 200 100
percentage
69
31
Regularly
Occasionally
Interpretation:
From the above graph we come to know that around 69% of consumer
Read financial newspaper regularly. While 31% of consumer read newspaper
Occasionally.
Q.2) which financial newspaper you read?
Newspaper Frequency Percentage
Economic Times 102 51
Business Standard 36 18
Financial Express 28 14
Business Line 7 3.5
53
DNA Money 4 2
ET & BS 12 6
ET & FE 5 2.5
ET,BS & FE 6 3
Total 200 100
Interpretation:
It can be clearly seen in the graph that 51% of the consumer read Economics Times.
Economics Times holds more market share as compared to any other financial
newspaper. Business standard stands second. It holds a market share of 18% while
Financial Express stands third which holds 14% of market share & Business line
holds a market share of 3.5%
Q. 3 since how long have you been reading a financial daily?
Year Percentage
Below 1 year 18
1 to 4 year 20
5 to 10 year 22
10 to 15 year 26
Percentage
51
18
14
3.52
6
2.5
3Economic Times
Business Standard
Financial Express
Business Line
DNA Money
ET & BS
ET & FE
ET,BS & FE
54
Above 15 year 14
Interpretation: 26% of the reader is since 10 to 15 years old to read financial daily
Q. 4 which of the financial daily has the most understandable languages?
1) Business standard - 55% 3) Business line – 09%
2) Economic times - 25% 4) Financial express- 11%
Interpretation:
In financial daily newspaper 55% of reader prefers to business standard for easy and
graphical representation
Q.5) Are you satisfied with your purchase decision of a particular financial
newspaper?
Frequency Percentage
Very satisfied 127 63.5
Somewhat satisfied 53 26.5
Moderate 20 10
Below 1 year 1 to 4 year 5 to 10 year 10 to 15 year Above 15 year
18 20 2226
14
Business standard
55%
Economic times25%
business line9%
Financial Express11%
55
Somewhat Dissatisfied 00 00
Very Dissatisfied 00 00
Total 200 100
Percentage
63.5
26.5
10 00Very satisfied
Some whatsatisfied
Moderate
Some whatDissatisfied
Very Dissatisfied
Interpretation:
Around 63.5% are highly satisfied with the purchase decision they have made. 26.5%
of the readers are somewhat satisfied While 10% of consumer feel they are moderate.
Not a single consumer are Dissatisfied by the purchase decision.
Q.6) which is the factors you take in to consideration before purchasing financial
newspaper?
Factors Frequency Percentage
Stock information 71 35.5
News coverage 61 30.5
56
Price 14 7
News coverage & Stock
information
43 21.5
Discount 11 5.5
Total 200 100
Percentage
35.5
30.5
7
21.5
5.5Stock information
News coverage
Price
News coverage &Stock information
Discount
Interpretation:
Around 35.5% of the consumer says stock information is the factor that will be given
important before purchasing financial dailies. While 30.5% of consumer said they will
be giving importance to News coverage. Around 7% of consumer told they will be
taking the factor of price before purchase decision. Around 21.5% of consumer told
they will be giving importance to both News coverage & stock information. Here we
can clearly see that price & discount is not a big factor for the consumer.
Q.7) why do you refer a particular newspaper(s)?
Frequency Percentage
Simple language 06 3
Financial News 43 21.5
Quality 52 2657
Authentic news 43 21.5
Authentic news & quality 23 11.5
Financial news & quality 33 16.5
Total 200 100
Percentage
21.5
26
21.5
11.5
16.53
Authentic news
Quality
financial news
Authentic news &quality
Financial news &quality
simple language
Interpretation:
From the above graph it can be clearly stated that 26% of people refer a particular
financial newspaper due to the quality. Around 21.5% of consumer refers a particular
financial newspaper due to authentic news & financial news. 11.5%, 16.5%, & 3% of
consumer refers a particular newspaper due to authentic news & quality, financial
news & quality & simple language respectively.
Q.8) Do you purchase business daily at a normal price or under any scheme?
Frequency Percentage
Normal price 175 87.5
58
Scheme 27 13.5
Total 200 100
Percentage
87.5
13.5Normal price
Scheme
Interpretation:
From the above table we can clearly state that 87.5% of people purchase business
daily at a normal price. While 13.5% of consumer purchase financial newspaper under
scheme.
Q.9) if you are given any discount on the yearly subscription of financial newspaper
then which newspaper you will subscribe?
Newspaper Frequency Percentage
ET 105 52.5
BS 37 18.5
59
FE 28 14
BL 7 3.5
DNA 2 1
ET,FE & BS 12 6
ET & FE 9 4.5
Total 200 100
percentage
52.5
18.5
14
3.5
1
6
4.5
ET
BS
FE
BL
DNA
ET,FE & BS
ET & FE
Interpretation:
Around 52.5% of people told that they will be purchasing Economics Times if they
are given discount on the yearly subscription. 18.5% & 14% is in the case of BS & FE
respectively. While around 6% of the consumer told they will be Purchasing ET, FE
& BS if they are given any discount on the newspaper. Around 3.5% of consumer told
that they will purchase Business Line if they are given any yearly discount. While
4.5% of consumer will purchase ET & FE if they are given any yearly subscription
Q.10) which is the most important benefits you gain from reading business dailies?
Benefit Frequency Percentage
investment 51 25.5
decisions 50 25
60
analytical skills 23 11.5
business Knowledge 18 9
effectiveness at work 22 11
Investment & decision 33 16.5
Business Knowledge 3 1.5
Total 200 100
Percentage
25.5
2511.5
9
11
16.51.5
Investment
Decesion
analytical skils
business knowledge
effectiveness at work
Investment &Decesion
business knowledge& investment
Interpretation:
From the above graph we can come to know that around 25.5% of consumer gets the
benefit of making investment while reading financial newspaper. 25% of consumer
told that they get the benefit of decision making. 11.5% of consumer told that they
can increase their analytical skills while reading financial newspaper. 16.5% of
consumer said they get the benefit of both investment & decision making while 1.5%
of consumer told they get the benefit of business knowledge and investment.
Q.11) Are you satisfied with the content of financial newspaper you are reading?
Frequency Percentage
Very satisfied 121 60.5
61
Somewhat satisfied 57 28.5
Moderate 22 11
Somewhat dissatisfied 00 00
Very dissatisfied 00 00
Total 200 100
Percentage
60.5
28.5
11 00Very satisfied
Some whatsatisfied
Moderate
Some whatDissatisfied
Very Dissatisfied
Interpretation:
From the above graph we can state that 60.5% of consumers are very satisfied with
the content of financial newspaper. While 28.5% of consumers are somewhat satisfied
with the content of financial newspaper. While 11% of consumers are moderate with
the content of financial newspaper.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMANDETIONS
Findings
62
I came to know about the preference of customers after doing the activity of
market tapping.
People have different needs and wants, so one should be able to understand
their needs and wants in order to sell the product.
Business standard is the second most preferred newspaper in the areas
surveyed.
Most of the readers agree that the language used in BS is simple for them.
The supplements of BS are fairly popular amongst target audience which is
good for the brand.
News covered by the newspaper i.e. the coverage plays an important role.
Readers feel that the lack of news coverage may lead them to change the
newspaper they read. Some of vernacular readers have switched to English
daily only because of their need to improve their English but the percentage is
negligible.
News channels and Internet media has affected the reading pattern of the
readers up to a considerable extent.
The basic idea of reading a newspaper is to gain information and knowledge;
hence the news coverage is a dominating factor in newspaper purchase as well
as reading.
63
Due to increase in the usage of Internet, people prefer to do surfing on the net
and thereby collect more information on the different aspects simultaneously.
Lack of airline industry news
Agriculture industry news is not provided.
Service problem is the main problem with BS, because in our survey I met so
many people who did not get news paper on daily basis.
There is also one finding that font size of stock market related news is very
small so that they are not happy with it.
Some clients said that whatever hidden news shown by ET those news are not
covered by BS
Recommendations
64
From the study carried out and the analysis of the result obtain from the survey, the
following suggestion and recommendation can help the firm to improve upon the
product.
1) Add the news on IT and Information in much more detail
2) Increase the number of centers from where the news paper is available
3) Increase the font size of stock detail
4) Give more job related advertisements
5) Improve print quality
6) Come up with new creative advertisements
7) Build proper positioning in the minds of the readers
8) Give certain small vouchers package at the time of any other festivals.
9) Service check calls at regular intervals.
10) Publishing their Club and giving membership to regular customers.
11) Make some events with corporate to spread awareness of BS
12) Collaborate with B-schools to provide copy of BS daily at their home.
CONCLUSION
65
The reader who is loyal to their financial daily but they also read another financial daily to get information. So I put them in split loyal category. This people are 10.5% in our survey. So we can come to know that this people are in the business where financial daily help them in their business. The reader who are not loyal to any particular financial daily and switch to any financial daily if any come with discount and gifts. I put them as Switcher. I found such readers are 21.5% in our survey. I can say that these readers are price sensitive. I found that among sample reader 56.82% believe that The Economic Times has most understandable language. Reader who believe that Business Standard has most understandable language are 38.64% and reader who vote their believe about Financial Express are 4.54%. This result makes some conflicts with our analysis about all financial daily in which Business Standard came as financial daily that has most understandable language
So we come to know that, 49% people are interested to know the information about the company news. So they may most concern with their business. So media should more concern with the news of business and company related news. there are persons who are interested in English and want to improve it, so they like to read Editorial page in news paper. There are 9% readers in our survey who always lime to read editorial page in financial news. This question is made to know likeness or real price sensitivity of reader about purchasing decision. I found that 75% reader like if any Financial daily comes with discount and gifts and 25% do not like. The result clearly shows that there is conflict in given answer to influence factor and liking towards discount and gifts. Because only 21.4% reader accepts that price is factor which influence their purchasing decision and here 75% are ready to accept if any financial daily comes with discount. So this reader is actually price sensitive but they want themselves as quality sensitive.
66
Suggestions
Business standard should target upcoming rural district where education is
growing, to increase their circulation. It can also target the undergraduate
student who are preparing for entrance exams and wants to improve their
language proficiency.
Target small firm for the sponsored copy,
Which help to create awareness about newspaper.
They should start individual subscription offers with some schemes like free
gifts.
They should go for heavy campaign for advertisement in rural and urban areas.
They can organize some events like seminars to create the awareness about
newspaper.
It should increase the quality of its font size.
67
Chapter.5
Learning’s from the project
My work at Business Standard was of hard core selling with research of consumer
behavior for the one and half month. I personally went to many corporate offices and
got subscriptions for the company. My contribution was of 29 yearly subscriptions in
the month. I have also tried to crack bulk deals for the company. My target was most
of the B-schools should be covered, so as per sir’s guideline I float the scheme in
around 7 B-School and some of them are MBA collages.
Usage of concepts in the firm, learnt in the academic year
There were certain concepts which I had learnt during my academic year and used in
the training period.
Relational purchasing :
The way consumers habitually brands, products and services based on
their understanding of and belief about, the brand product and the
company.
And I have actually seen people buying the subscription due to their
understanding of brand.
Price cutting :
A marketing technique involving temporary reductions in the price of a
product or services, aimed at increasing the market share.
He special subscription rates were a pure example of price cutting.
Sales penetration:
This is a calculation indicating how much of a particular market for a
product or service has been gained by the active sales.
After the monthly target achieved I used to calculate how much part
the market has been captured by the team.
Customer Retention :
68
Retaining customer for a long term transaction and not for a mere one
time interaction.
Network marketing :
The marketing of Business Standard through a network of agent of
agent, is it household or corporate networking.
During the full project my learning’s were many. This was the first very experience
for me on a job and that too in a newspaper company. According to me working in the
newspaper industry as a first experience has opened many future lines for me. I have
learnt the basics of the management of a newspaper, distribution, sales, space selling
and marketing for sure.
STRATEGIES LEARNT AT THE FIRM
During this tenure of two months I had practically applied a lot of concepts learnt
during academic year for the marketing and promotion of Business standard. Here are
few concepts listed below:
Customer retention
It is the retaining customer for a long term transaction and not for a mere one time
interaction. I learnt how important this customer retention is for any company as
the cost of making new customers is very high as compared to retaining old ones.
Viral marketing
The marketing of business standard through a network of agent, is it household or
corporate networking.
Referral marketing
o Contacting references for the business enhancement
o Referrals are very cost-effective
Guerrilla marketing
It is an unconventional way of performing promotional activities on a very low
budget. Such promotions are sometimes designed so that the target audience is left
69
unaware they have been marketed to and may therefore be a form of undercover
marketing. It is an unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results
from minimal resources.
LEARNING’S OF FEW SOFT SKILLS
While undergoing summer training at Business Standard, with the above mentioned
learning’s I had learned certain soft skills. These soft skills are as follows:
Communicating with people:
Informing all the target customers about the subscription scheme to all the
target customers.
Communicating through:
Words
Brochures and flyers
Convincing them:
Convincing people to give an appointment and listen to the scheme
Convincing customers to buy the subscription
Language of Corporate World:
During my SIP I had learnt the language of corporate world. How they are
responding. How they are behaving. How they are talking, performing
their operations, their life style, and the way they are working etc.
Handling clashes with the superiors:
During the fulfillment of my summer training I had faced certain clashes
with my direct superior. These two month’s period taught me how to
handle the situation.
Handling pressures:
While I was working at Business standard for subscription there was a
constant pressure of achieving the targets and also there was a pressure of
70
behaving good with the customers as we were representatives of Business
standard there.
Bibliography
The project report on Business Standard on the topic “Consumer Behavior and
Brand Awareness of the Business Standard (English)” could be successful with the
co-operation of the project and the faculty guide. But along with the training period I
had taken the Help of the following books and links to know more about the subject
Book References
By Kotler Philip, Keller Kevin Lane, Koshy Abraham, Zha Mithileshwar ,
Marketing Management (Twelfth Edition) ,Pearson Education Ltd.
By Cooper Donald P., Schindler Pamela S., Business Research Method
(9th Edition), Tata-McGraw Hill Publishing Co. Ltd.
Web References
www.ficci.com
www.business-standard.com
www.wikipedia.com
www.geography.com
www.google.com
www.business-standard.com
Magazines:
71
Pitch : page 23 ( May 2010)
Impact Of Advertising : page 24 ( June 2010)
ANNEXURE:-QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Respondent,
We are students, perusing MBA from R.K. business management, Rajkot. As a part of
our academic curriculum, we have to prepare a research report for the subject of
consumer behavior. We request you to answer following questions so we can fulfill
our academic requirement. We ensure you that information given by you remains
confidential and will be used for academic purpose only.
Q.1) Do you read financial daily?
Yes No
Q.2) How frequent you read financial daily?
Regularly Occasionally
Q.3) Which Financial newspaper you read?
_______________________________________________
Q.4) Are you satisfied with your purchase decision of a particular newspaper?
Very satisfied somewhat satisfied Moderate somewhat dissatisfied very dissatisfied
Q.5) which is the factors you take in to consideration before buying Business Dailies?
Price News coverage Stock information Discount
72
Q.6) why do you refer a particular newspaper(s)?
a) Business standard: ______________________________________________
b) The Economic Times: ____________________________________________
c) Financial Express: _______________________________________________
d) Others( )______________________________________________
Q.7) Do you purchase business daily at a normal price or under any scheme?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Q.8) if you are given any discount on the yearly subscription of financial newspaper
then which newspaper you will subscribe?
a) Business Standard
b) Financial Express
c) Economic Times
d) Business Line
e) Other________
Q.9) which is the most important benefits you gain from reading business dailies?
Helps in decision making
Improves my effectiveness at work
Improves my analytical skills
Improves my business knowledge
For investments insight
Q.10) Are you satisfied with the content of financial newspaper?
Very satisfied somewhat satisfied Moderate somewhat dissatisfied very dissatisfied
73
Q.11) Name: ______________ Sex: Male/Female
Qualification: ______________
Company: ________________
Designation: ______________
Contact no: _____________
74
