Support File

8/8/2019 Support File

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/support-file 1/68

1

Mahatma Gandhi Mission¶s

Institute of Management Studies & Research

At Junction NH ± 4, Sion ± Panvel Expressway, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai ± 410 209

PROJECT REPORT

On

Marketing Research on Hospital Linen at Innovative Linen Company (p) ltd at Pune

Region

SUBMITTED TO

Prof. Nitin Svarnapathaki

BY

Sumeet Sachchanand Gurnani

Roll No.97

Batch No.2009-11

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

MASTER OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES (MMS), UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

May-July 2010



2

DECLARATION

I, Mr. Sumeet Gurnani hereby declare that this project report is the record of authentic work

carried out by me during the period from May 3rd ¶2010 to July 2nd 2010 and has not been submitted to

any other University or Institute for the award of any degree / diploma etc.

Signature

Sumeet S. Gurnani.

Date:



3

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Sumeet Sachchanand Gurnani of MGM¶s Institute of Management

Studies & Research has successfully completed the project work titled Marketing research

for hospital linen at Innovative linen co (p) ltd in partial fulfillment of requirement for the

completion MMS as prescribed by the University of Mumbai.

This project report is the record of authentic work carried out by him during the period from

3rd May 2010 to 2nd July 2010.

He has worked under my guidance.

Signature:

Name

Project Guide (Internal)

Date: `

Counter signed by:

Name:

Signature:

Date:



4

CERTIFICATE FROM THE COMPANY/ORGANISATION



5

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Preparing a project alone is almost impossible and it is an all consuming task without the help

of several people it is impossible. So we extend our gratitude to all those who have helped us

in successful completion of this summer project.

First of all i want to thank Mr. Vishal Gurnani, Organisation Head, ILC Auranagabad, for

having supervised this master project, for the time he has spent with me and for the

confidence he placed in my work. I hope I have fully satisfied his expectations, since that has

clearly been our main goal throughout this project.

I am also grateful to Mr Jain, MD of Innovative Linen Co (p) LTD for providing us with this

opportunity to conduct this valuable research for his organization and providing relevant

information.

Similarly we would like to express our grateful thanks to Mr. Nitin Svarnapathaki, Professor

at MGM¶s IMSR and my Project guide for giving his valuable time and required knowledge

and support during the project.

Last but not the least I would like to thank our respectable Director Mam Dr. Ritu

Bhattacharya for allowing us to conduct this summer project for MGM IMSR College and

providing us the ample time for the same.

Thanks a lot to all««



6

Table of Contents

Chapter No. Title Page No.

Declaration from student 2

Certificate from guide3

Certificate from company 4

Acknowledgement 5

Executive Summary 7

Chapter Scheme

1 Introduction 9

1.1 Basis of the study 12

1.2 Objectives of the study 13

1.3 Background of the Study 141.4 Hospital and hotel linen industry in India 25

1.5 Company Profile 26

1.6 Product Detail 31

2 Research Methodology

2.1 Meaning of research 37

2.2 Formulation of a research problem 39

2.3 Research design 40

2.4 Primary data 42

2.5 Secondary data 42

2.6 Sample design

432.7 Sampling method 44

2.8 Method of data collection 45

2.9 Instrument for data collection 45

2.10 Field Work 46

2.11 Data- analysis techniques 47

3 Analysis of Data

3.1 Charts/graphs/tabels 49

3.2 Findings 61

3.3 Conclusions 61

3.4 Recommendations 633.5 Limitations 64

4 Annexure 65

5 Bibliography 68



7

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Present business scenario is totally consumer oriented. Every company faces stiff

competition from its competitors, each provides the best product at competitive rates. As a

result customers have lot of choices to get the best with the least cost. To face this

competition, it is very important to know customer¶s behavior, their needs, preference and

also the motivation factors.

My Project was to carry ³Marketing Survey´ Dealing in the Hospital Linen product within

Pune to know the Motivational & Demotivational factors of the client so as to cater the needs

in most appropriate manner. It will help business to expand its network & also its services by

application of appropriate strategy and marketing mix.

I had done my project under the guidance of My Guide Mr. Vishal Gurnani (Branch Head)

Mr. Rakesh Pohani (Area incharge) whose guidance helped me in completing my Project

Work Successfully.

Innovative Linen Co (p) Limited (ICL) is the Manufacturer and supplier of Hospital Linen in

many regions of the country; it has got the Expertise of almost 15 years .ICL is slowly but

steadily gaining market share and goodwill in the Market. Its strategies for marketing its

Product as well as developing a good Relationship with its client has given an edge over the

other service providers. ILC is on expansion path and is looking forward to be the Market

leader. ILC is a very flexible organization and its gives equal opportunity to its young and

energetic staff to work so as to bring this organization among the top.

This project throws lights on the working frame of Linen indusrty. This industry is on the

spree to adopt the latest technology and thus any player has to be dynamic in this industry.

The comparative analysis done in this project shows what the strong and weak points of ILC

are.

The Project help you understand the strategies of this industry right from Manufacturing to

Marketing. I hope this project prove to be beneficial for the Company and also give the

reader a through idea about the industry. I learnt a lot throughout the process of undertaking

this project report.

This research is aimed at understanding market size for the Hospital linen company by

analyzing sales volume in each territory month wise and to find out the competitors sales

volume each territory wise.



8

A comparison is done about, where the company¶s brand is effective in market share and

where it is weak in different territories of Maharashtra.

Reasons of short sales and best 4p marketing plans are mentioned. For this secondary and

primary survey is conducted.

To fulfill my task I had to visit the client (Doctors and purchase officers) personally who look

after the linen at hospitals.

During this project I was also assign the sales target to know the real time response of the

customers and to understand the difficulties of selling the product in the pune. For the same I

first generated the database and fixed appointments with them gave them a real feel of our

products and demos about the usefulness of the product.

After going through the exercise I could realize that there is less awareness in pune and

company already had stiff completion from local linen vendors.

But No doubt it is having lots of scope to grow as pune is a very huge market and can be

tapped by organized and relation based marketing.



9



10

Carrying out the market research leads to availability of information to the firm on the basis

of which firm is in position to form the future strategies and can take the decisions of

launching product or modifying the existing product, decisions about promotions etc, since

the market research is part of marketing we should know what is marketing and some other

related concepts to it.

Marketing:

All the activities carried to know the consumer¶s preferences, to create brand awareness, to

collect information for modification of product or service according to consumer need comes

under marketing.

Ultimate aim of marketing is to increase sales and profit.

Marketing strategy:

The field of marketing strategy encompasses the strategy involved in the management of agiven product.

A given firm may hold numerous products in the marketplace, spanning numerous and

sometimes wholly unrelated industries. Accordingly, a plan is required in order to manage

effectively such products. Evidently, a company needs to weigh up and ascertain how to

utilize effectively its finite resources. As an example, a start-up car manufacturing firm would

face little success, should it attempt to rival immediately Toyota, Ford, Nissan or any other

large global car maker. Moreover, a product may be reaching the end of its life-cycle. Thus,

the issue of divest, or a ceasing of production may be made. With regard to the aforesaid

questions, each scenario requires a unique marketing strategy to be employed. Below are

listed some prominent marketing strategy models, which seek to propose means to answer the

preceding questions.

As we are carrying out the study to suggest the best 4P, marketing strategy to company,

which will be beneficial to increase sales volume in the pune region, we must first know the

marketing mix and what is mean by 4P of marketing.

Marketing Mix:

The term "marketing mix" was first used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American

Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and coined

the term "marketing-mix". A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a 4 P



11

classification in 1960, which has seen wide use. The four Ps concept is explained in most

marketing textbooks and classes.

Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as 'the four Ps':

Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or

manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are

service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based products like

cell phone load and credits. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are

the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced

service is a computer operating system. Packaging also needs to be taken into

consideration.

Price ± The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a

number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity

and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease

the price of product if other stores have the same product.

Place ± Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often

referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual

stores on the Internet. Place is not exactly a physical store where it is available Place is

nothing but how the product takes place or create image in the mind of customers. It

depends upon the percievedness of customers. Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the

marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations, personal

selling and sales promotion. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses

the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising

covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet

adverts through print media and billboards. Public relations are where the communication

is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions,

conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently

informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or

people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays

an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations



12

1.1 Basis of the study:

What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental importance.

The possible motives for doing research may be either one or more of the following:

1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;

2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical.

Problems initiates¶ research;

3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;

4. Desire to be of service to society;

5. Desire to get respectability.

However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating people to undertake research

studies.

Many more factors such as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity about

new things, desire to understand causal relationships, social thinking and awakening, and the

like may as well motivate (or at times compel) people to perform research operations.

Here in this case our basis of study was our desire find out the low performing territories and

to identify the causes of low sales, this was the strange happening for the company because

pune being a highly potential market and despite of the fact that product offered by company

is of utter necessity and of good quality at reasonable compensation, still the region was

lower sales volume as compare to other regions of Maharashtra. The main aim of our study

was to give some recommendations regarding the above mentioned issue.



13

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of

scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and

which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific

purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad

groupings:

1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with this

object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies).

2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group

(Studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies).

3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated

with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research

Studies).

4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as

hypothesis-testing research studies).

Primary Objective:

y To Study how to improve the sales volume of a product.

y Application of proper marketing mix.

y Understanding the problems in direct sales.

Secondary Objective:

y To study the process of market research.

y To know the importance of MR.

y To know about the Linen industry in India.

y To understand the various marketing principles.



14

1.3 Background of the Study:

Linen:

Linen is a textile made from the fibres of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-

intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional

coolness and freshness in hot weather.

Textiles in a linen-weave texture, even when made of cotton, hemp and other non-flax fibers

are also loosely referred to as "linen". Such fabrics generally have their own specific names

other than linen; for example, fine cotton yarn in a linen-style weave is called Madapolam.

The collective term "linens" is still often used generically to describe a class of woven and

even knitted bed, bath, table kitchen textiles and Hospital cloths. The name linens is retained

because traditionally, linen was used for many of these items. In the past, the word "linens"

was also used to mean lightweight undergarments such as shirts, chemises,

waistshirts, lingerie (a word which is cognate with linen), and detachable shirt collars and

cuffs, which were historically made almost exclusively out of linen.

Linen textiles appear to be some of the oldest in the world: their history goes back many

thousands of years. Fragments of straw, seeds, fibers, yarns, and various types of fabrics

which date back to about 8000 BC have been found in Swiss lake dwellings. Dyed flax fibers

found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia suggest the use of woven linen fabrics from wild flax

may date back even earlier to 36,000 BP.

Linen was sometimes used as currency in ancient Egypt. Egyptian mummies were wrapped in

linen because it was seen as a symbol of light and purity, and as a display of wealth. Some of

these fabrics, woven from hand spun yarns, were very fine for their day, but are coarse

compared to modern linen.

Today linen is usually an expensive textile, and is produced in relatively small quantities. It

has a long "staple" (individual fiber length) relative to cotton and other natural fibers

Many products are made of linen: apron, doctor dresses, drapping towels, bags, towels

(swimmers, bath, beach, body and wash towel), napkins, bed linen, linen tablecloth, runners,

chair cover, man and woman wear.



15

Properties

Highly absorbent and a good conductor of heat, linen fabric feels cool to the touch. Linen is

among the strongest of the vegetable fibers, with 2 to 3 times the strength of cotton. It is

smooth, making the finished fabric lint free, and gets softer the more it is washed. However,

constant creasing in the same place in sharp folds will tend to break the linen threads. This

wear can show up in collars, hems, and any area that is iron creased during laundering. Linen

has poor elasticity and does not spring back readily, explaining why it wrinkles so easily.

Linen fabrics have a high natural luster; their natural color ranges between shades of

ivory, ecru, tan, or grey. Pure white linen is created by heavy bleaching. Linen typically has a

thick and thin character with a crisp and textured feel to it, but it can range from stiff and

rough, to soft and smooth. When properly prepared, linen fabric has the ability to absorb and

lose water rapidly. It can gain up to 20% moisture without feeling damp.

When freed from impurities, linen is highly absorbent and will quickly remove perspiration

from the skin. Linen is a stiff fabric and is less likely to cling to the skin; when it billows

away, it tends to dry out and become cool so that the skin is being continually touched by a

cool surface. It is a very durable, strong fabric, and one of the few that are stronger wet than

dry. The fibers do not stretch and are resistant to damage from abrasion. However, because

linen fibers have a very low elasticity, the fabric will eventually break if it is folded and

ironed at the same place repeatedly.

Mildew, perspiration, and bleach can also damage the fabric, but it is resistant

to moths and carpet beetles. Linen is relatively easy to take care of, since it resists dirt and

stains, has no lint or pilling tendency, and can be dry cleaned, machine washed or steamed. It

can withstand high temperatures, and has only moderate initial shrinkage.

Linen should not be dried too much by tumble drying: it is much easier to iron when damp.

Linen wrinkles very easily, and so some more formal linen garments require ironing often, in

order to maintain perfect smoothness. Nevertheless the tendency to wrinkle is often

considered part of the fabric's particular "charm", and a lot of modern linen garments aredesigned to be air dried on a good hanger and worn without the necessity of ironing.

A characteristic often associated with contemporary linen yarn is the presence of "slubs", or

small knots which occur randomly along its length. However, these slubs are actually defects

associated with low quality. The finest linen has very consistent diameter threads, with no

slubs.



16

Measure

The standard measure of bulk linen yarn is the lea, which is the number of yards in a pound

of linen divided by 300. For example a yarn having a size of 1 lea will give 300 yards per

pound. The fine yarns used in handkerchiefs, etc. might be 40 lea, and give 40x300 = 12,000

yards per pound. This is a specific length therefore an indirect measurement of the fineness of

the linen, i.e. the number of length units per unit mass. The symbol is NeL.

More commonly used in continental Europe is the Metric system, Nm. This is the number of

1,000 m lengths per kilogram.

In China, the English Cotton system unit, NeC, is common. This is the number of 840 yard

lengths in a pound.



17

Production method:

Mechanical harvesting of flax in Belgium.

(On the left side, flax is waiting to be harvested)



18

The quality of the finished linen product is often dependent upon growing conditions and

harvesting techniques. To generate the longest possible fibers, flax is either hand-harvested

by pulling up the entire plant or stalks are cut very close to the root. After harvesting, the

seeds are removed through a mechanized process called ³rippling´ or by winnowing.

The fibers must then be loosened from the stalk. This is achieved through retting. This is a

process which uses bacteria to decompose the pectin that binds the fibers together. Natural

retting methods take place in tanks and pools, or directly in the fields. There are also

chemical retting methods; these are faster, but are typically more harmful to the environment

and to the fibers themselves.

After retting, the stalks are ready for scutching, which takes place between August and

December. Scutching removes the woody portion of the stalks by crushing them between two

metal rollers, so that the parts of the stalk can be separated. The fibers are removed and the

other parts such as linseed, shive, and toware set aside for other uses. Next the fibers

are heckled: the short fibers are separated withheckling combs by 'combing' them away, to

leave behind only the long, soft flax fibers.

After the fibers have been separated and processed, they are typically spun into yarns and

woven or knit into linen textiles. These textiles can then be bleached, dyed, printed on, or

finished with a number of treatments or coatings.

An alternate production method is known as ³cottonizing´ which is quicker and requires less

equipment. The flax stalks are processed using traditional cotton machinery; however, the

finished fibers often lose the characteristic linen look.



19

Producers

Flax is grown in many parts of the world, but top quality flax is primarily grown in Western

Europe. In very recent years bulk linen production has moved to Eastern Europe and China,

but high quality fabrics are still confined to niche producers in Ireland, Italy and Belgium.

Also countries including Poland, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania,

Latvia, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Britain and some parts of India. High

quality linen fabrics are now produced in the United States for the upholstery market.

Uses

Over the past 30 years the end use for linen has changed dramatically. Approximately 70% of

linen production in the 1990s was for apparel textiles whereas in the 1970s only about 5%

was used for fashion fabrics.

Linen uses range from bed and bath fabrics (tablecloths, dish towels, bed sheets, etc.), home

and commercial furnishing items (wallpaper/wall coverings, upholstery, window treatments,

etc.), apparel items (suits, dresses, skirts, shirts, etc.), to industrial products (luggage,

canvases, sewing thread, etc.). It was once the preferred yarn for hand sewing the uppers

of moccasin-style shoes (loafers), but its use has been replaced by synthetics.

A linen handkerchief, pressed and folded to display the corners, was a standard decoration of

a well-dressed man's suit during most of the first part of the 20th century.

Currently researchers are working on a cotton/flax blend to create new yarns which will

improve the feel of denim during hot and humid weather.

Linen fabric is one of the preferred traditional supports for oil painting. In the United States

cotton is popularly used instead as linen is many times more expensive there, restricting its

use to professional painters. In Europe however, linen is usually the only fabric support

available in art shops. Linen is preferred to cotton for its strength, durability

and archival integrity.

Linen is also used extensively by artisan bakers. Known as a couche, the flax cloth is used tohold the dough into shape while in the final rise, just before baking. The couche is heavily

dusted with flour which is rubbed into the pores of the fabric. Then the shaped dough placed

on the couche. The floured couche makes a "non stick" surface to hold the dough. Then

ridges are formed in the couche to keep the dough from spreading. It sort of looks like this

/\o/\o/\o/\o/\ where the "o" is the dough and the /\/\/\/\ is the folded couche.



20

In the past linen was also used for books (the only surviving example of which is the Liber

Linteus). Due to its strength, in the Middle Ageslinen was used

for shields and gambeson (among other roles such as use for a bowstring), much like how

in Classical antiquity and Hellenistic Greece linen was used to make multi-

plied Hoplite cuirasses. Also because of its strength when wet, Irish linen is a very popular

wrap of pool/billiard cues, due to its absorption of sweat from hands. Paper made of linen can

be very strong and crisp, which is why the United States and many other countries print their

currency on paper that is made from 25% linen and 75% cotton.



21

History

Linen was used by Egyptians in ancient times for mummification. Egyptians used linen as

burial shrouds. Moreover, priests only wore linen clothes and worshippers were only allowed

to enter the temple if they are wearing a linen cloth. Linen fabric has been used for tablecoverings, bed coverings and clothing for centuries. The exclusiveness of linen comes from

the difficulty of working with the thread making it time consuming to produce (flax in itself

requires a great deal of attention to grow). Flax thread is not elastic so is difficult to weave

without breaking threads. Thus it is more expensive to manufacture than cotton.

The Living Linen Project was set up in 1995 as an Oral Archive of the knowledge of the Irish

linen industry which is still available within a nucleus of people who formerly worked in the

industry in Ulster. There is a long history of linen in Ireland.

The discovery of dyed flax fibers in a cave in Georgia dated to 36,000 BP suggests people

used wild flax fibers to create linen-like fabrics from an early date. The use of linen for

priestly vestments was not confined to the Israelites. Plutarch, who lived one hundred years

after the birth of Christ, wrote that the priests of Isis also wore linen because of its purity.

In December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be

the International Year of Natural Fibres to raise the profile of linen and other natural fibers.



22

Antiquity

When the tomb of the Pharaoh Ramses II, who died 1213 BC, was discovered in 1881, the

linen wrappings were in a state of perfect preservation - after more than 3000 years.

In the Belfast Library there is preserved the mummy of "Kaboolie,' the daughter of a priest of

Ammon, who died 2,500 years ago. The linen on this mummy is in a like state of perfection.

When the tomb of Tutankamen was opened, the linen curtains were found intact.

Earliest linen industry:

Diocletian's 4th century maximum prices edict showing prices for 3 grades of linen

across the Roman Empire

In olden days, in almost every country, each family grew flax and wove the linen for its own

use; but the earliest records of an established linen industry are 4,000 years old, from Egypt.

The earliest written documentation of a linen industry comes from the Linear B tablets

of Pylos, Greece, where linen is depicted as an ideogram and also written as "li-no" (Greek:

, linon), and the female linen workers are cataloged as "li-ne-ya".

The Phoenicians, who, with their merchant fleet, opened up new channels of commerce to the

peoples of the Mediterranean, besides developing the tin mines of Cornwall, introduced flax

growing and the making of linen into Ireland before the common era, but the internal

dissensions, which even in those early days were prevalent inErin, militated against the

establishment of an organized industry, and it is not until the twelfth century that we can find

records of a definite attempt to systematize flax production.

When the Edict of Nantes was revoked, in A.D. 1685, many of the Huguenots who had to

flee the country settled in the British Isles, and amongst them was Louis Crommelin, who

was born, and brought up as a weaver of fine linen, in the town of Cambrai. He fled to Ulster,



23

and eventually settled down in the small town of Lisburn, about ten miles

from Belfast. Belfast itself is perhaps the most famous linen producing center throughout

history, during the Victorian era the majority of the worlds linen was produced in the city

which gained it the name Linenopolis.

During the late war Cambrai became well known as one of the centers of the most desperate

fighting. The name "cambric" is derived from this town.

Although the linen industry was already established in Ulster, Louis Crommelin found scope

for improvement in weaving, and his efforts were so successful that he was appointed by the

Government to develop the industry over a much wider range.than the small confines of

Lisburn and its surroundings. The direct result of his good work was the establishment, under

statute, of the Board of Trustees of the Linen Manufacturers of Ireland in the year 1711.



24

Religion

In the Jewish religion, the only law concerning which fabrics may be interwoven together in

clothing is one which concerns the mixture of linen and wool. This mixture is

called shaatnez and is clearly restricted in Deuteronomy 22:11 "Thou shalt not wear a

mingled stuff, wool and linen together" and Leviticus 19:19, neither shall there come upon

thee a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together.'" There is no explanation for this in the

Torah itself and is categorized as a type of law known as chukim, a statute beyond man's

ability to comprehend. Josephus suggested that the reason for the prohibition was to keep the

laity from wearing the official garb of the priests.]while Maimonides thought that the reason

was because heathen priests wore such mixed garments. Others explain that it is because God

often forbids mixtures of disparate kinds, not designed by God to be compatible in a certain

way, with mixing animal and vegetable fibers being similar to having two different types of

ploughing animals yoked together and that such commands serve both a practical as well as

allegorical purpose, perhaps here preventing a priestly garment that would cause discomfort

(or excessive sweat) in a hot climate. Linen is also mentioned in the Bible in Proverbs 31, a

passage describing a noble wife. Proverbs 31:22 says, "She makes coverings for her bed; she

is clothed in fine linen and purple."



25

1.4 Hospital and Hotel Linen Industry in India:

Linen industry broadly comes under textile manufacturing, but still it has potential of being

recognised as individual industry from conventional textile industry.

In India hospital and hotel linen is not an organised sector, so the exact size of this industry

can¶t be derived, but looking at its customer base that is Health care and Hospitality

industries are growing very fast and already are of huge size, from this one can predict that

linen industry even in its unorganised form is very big.

Delhi is the hub of linen industry in India, more than 60% of linen trading happens in Delhi.

The other important cities of linen trading are Mumbai, Indore, and Ahmadabad.

Indore is hub for low cost unbranded linen. The reason behind this is availability of the raw

material, one can get the loomed cotton cloth at a very nominal rate as a raw material for

hotel linen production.

Kerala, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore are the main cities where branded linen is traded.

Following are Some major linen players in India:

1) Gujarat Flotex Pvt. Ltd, Ahmadabad.

2) Adinath tex-chem ltd, Surat.

3) Jm Global, Mumbai.

4) Innovative linen co (P) ltd, Indore.

5) Oscar overseas, Noida.

6) Biomed private ltd, Mumbai.

7) Track Manufacturing co (P) ltd.

8) Avani Huezone Fabrics Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore.

9) Bhat Export India, New Delhi.

10) Blue fab, New Delhi.



26

1.5 Company Profile:

INNOVATIE LINEN COMPANY (P) LTD.

37, READYMADE COMPLEX, PARDESIPURA,

Indore - 452001, Madhya Pradesh, IndiaPhone:91-731-2578910/2704755

Fax:91-731-4041491.

Geographical Location:



27

General Information:

Type of Industry Manufacturing Industry

Products Hospital Linen and Dispo. Kits.

Certification ISO 9001: 2000

Annual turn over Around 5 crores INR

Number of employees More than 150

INNOVATIVE LINEN CO (P) LTD, an ISO, Certified Company, was founded in 1995.

Innovative linen co. (ILC) Company remains dedicated to manufacturing and importing high

quality Hospital linen. The company was set up by Mr. Virendra Jain with the sole

intentions of serving medical community by the people having medical background.

The organization was set up with medical background as a concrete base of the company

about fifteen years back. Over the years the company grew rapidly and gained enormous

experience, and the ability to provide right kind of service for the ever increasing needs of the

professionals in medical field. The company¶s state - of - art technology with the latest

infrastructure facilitated business of dependable quality instruments for the surgeons in their

fields of surgery.

ILC has an excellent marketing network and the team that is ever willing to assist clients at

every stage to provide after sales service, which occupies prime position in relationship with

clients. We aspire to extend dedication to our clientele with quick personalized service and

innovative solutions. We have enhanced our reputation as a complete and comprehensive

one-stop shop for all kind of hospital Linen.

With our proven ability even as we strive to expand our reach and network, our goal is to

meet the requisitions in our best capacities. Our position enables us to understand the

continuous changes in medical science.

We are proud to announce our involvement in Research & Development , precision, quality

control, and customer satisfaction. With the Health care industry undergoing a sea change the

world over, newer medical and high tech surgeries equipments are launched in quick



28

succession. In such a competitive environment, due to proper customer service, and desirable

quality we have become a foremost company at the top of the field we serve.

OUR MISSION

To provide world class products, which are of high quality, affordably priced, that contributes

to the wellness of the patients, and positively impact both our clients and organizations

growth.

OUR GOALS

y To offer Quality Products.

y To be Innovative.

y To be Customer Oriented.y To be Competitive.

y To seize the Future.

OUR VISION

Ours is an organization, which works with the ideology to provide the clients a VISION:

y A VISION that you are in the hand's of professional people.

y A VISION which will be a dream for us, but a reality for you.

y A VISION to be given with specific goals.

y A VISION that "Team is Strength and Strength is Success".

y A VISION of Success.

y A VISION of Leadership in respective field.

OUR SUPPORT TO OUR FOREIGN PARTNERS:

The principle objective would be to forecast the changes in the business environment, as

India is a vast country of 900 million people, with full of diversities. A country where a

Mercedes Benz Car and a Bullock Cart share the same road. This type of environment is to be

taken into account for making a decision on business in India. We can assist our partners in

establishing in Indian market, utilizing the platform developed by us during the last fifteen

years. We can offer the following services.



29

y Understanding the Products

y Offering a business plan .

y Creating Marketing Arrangements

y Sharing the business through ILC¶s Dealer network

y Offering Promotional and Advertising Sketch

y Offering Sales and service Support for their products

OUR VALUES

y Honesty

y Discipline

y Teamwork attitude

y Commitment to our principal

y Good after sales service

y Easily communicable and accessible.

Facilities at ILC:

y Having well established and automated offices.

y State-of-the-art computers.

y 24 hrs Internet connectivity.

y Informative Web Site.

y Web Shopping.

y Professional Doctors on the Board.

y Qualified Biomedical Engineers as team members.

y Management Graduates in Administration.



30

Organizational Structure:

MD

Sales Manager Production and purchase in charge

Sale Executives Floor Supervisors

Workers



31

1.6 Products Detail:

ILC is mainly into te manufacturing of hospital linen and HIV and maternity dispo. Kits, All these

products are used during the surgeries and in wards of the hospitals.

The linen is prepared from slightly modified cotton cloth, having greater soaking capacity and with

high tensile strength. The types of cotton used is normally mercerized cotton or treated cashment.

Conventionally Green or sky blue cotton is used but colour may vary according to the need of the

customer.

Following are Some important products with their uses:

1) O.T Gowns:

(O.T gown Disposable and cotton)

This one of the most common product of linen industry, it is an necessity for doctors during

the surgeries. This comes in two type overlap pattern and simple back open pattern. It is made

from cotton tricot and also available as disposable gown for a single use.

It is used to cover the doctors body during the surgeries which prevents them from infection

from patients blood and also save the cloths.



32

2) Surgeons dress:

Surgeons dress

As name suggests it is worn by the doctors during surgeries. It is worn below the O.T gown,

it is made of cotton and available in different colours mainly green and sky blue. It ranges

from rs 250 to Rs 400.

The surgeon dress is used for the protection of doctors cloth from blood stains and also to

prevent him from an infection.



33

3) HIV kit:

HIV kits are the sterile disposable surgery kits used at the time of operating on the HIV

positive patients. Since HIV transmits through the fluid contact that why the doctor have to

wear this kit to avoid contact with patients blood, these kits must used only one and should be

properly after the use.

Before packaging these material in this kit is properly sterilised through ethylene oxide and

UV rays.

These kits are made from impervious material which prevent passage of fluid from it, these

kits are available for single to four surgeons. Their price ranges from 300 to 600.



34

Ward Articles:

(1) (2) (3)

(4) (5) (6)

(7) (8) (9)



35

Sr.No. Item Raw material Use

1 Instrument trolley cover Parachute cloth

To protect instruments

trolley from blood

contamination

2 AB. binder Cotton and rubber band

Used for post operativemuscle support after AB.

Surgery.

3 Bed sheets Cotton

General purpose on beds of

hospital.

4 Born baby kit Fallalin material

Protects infant from cold

and hot temperatures and

from infection.

5 Instrument bag

Cotton and parachute

material

Used to keep instrument

during autoclaving

6 Cap and Mask

Cotton or impervious

material

Doctors wear it to prevent

entry of germs.

7 Hole sheet

Cotton and parachute

material

Used to cover the patient¶s

body except the part to be

operated.

8 Apron Cotton

Used by doctors to prevents

their cloths from stains.

9 Draw sheet Rubberised plastic

Used to prevent O.T tablefrom stains of blood and

betadine.



36



37

2.1 MEANING OF RESEARCH:

Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define

research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic.

In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. The Advanced Learner¶s Dictionary of

Current English lays down the meaning of research as ³a careful investigation or inquiry

especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.´1 Redman and Mory

define research as a ³systematized effort to gain new knowledge.´2 Some people consider

research as a movement, a movement from the known to the unknown. It is actually a voyage

of discovery. We all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the unknown

confronts us, we wonder and our inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain full and fuller

understanding of the unknown. This inquisitiveness is the mother of all knowledge and the

method, which man employs for obtaining the knowledge of whatever the unknown, can be

termed as research.

Research is an academic activity and as such the term should be used in a technical sense.

According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems,

formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organising and evaluating data;

making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to

determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the

Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences define research as ³the manipulation of things, concepts or

symbols for the purpose of generalising to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that

knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the practice of an art.´3 Research is, thus, an

original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement. It is the

persuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and experiment. In short, the

search for knowledge through objective and systematic method of finding solution to a

problem is research. The systematic approach concerning generalisation and the formulation

of a theory is also research. As such the term µresearch¶ refers to the systematic method

consisting of enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data,

analysing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solutions(s) towards

the concerned problem or in certain generalisations for some theoretical formulation.



38

Types of Research:

There are many types of research which are used for different purposes. The type of research

to be chosen depends upon the problem to be solved or study to be carried out.

Following are some types of research:

1) Descriptive

2) Analytical.

3) Applied.

4) Fundamental.

5) Qualitative.

6) Quantitative.

7) Conceptual etc.

In this study we have carried out descriptive research, because we had the problem of sort

sales and we had to find the facts and reason of the short sales.

Descriptive research:

Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major

purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. In

social science and business research we quite often use the term Ex post facto research for

descriptive research studies. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has

no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or what is happening.

Most ex post facto research projects are used for descriptive studies in which the researcher

seeks to measure such items as, for example, frequency of shopping, preferences of people, or

similar data. Ex post facto studies also include attempts by researchers to discover causes

even when they cannot control the variables. The methods of research utilized in descriptive

research are survey methods of all kinds, including comparative and co relational methods.



39

2.2 Formulation of a research problem:

I did my summers into an hospital Linen manufacturing and supplying company, which has its reach in

many states of country, I was working at pune and was suppose to carry out market research along

with sale of linen.

During the summer internship the main aim of the training was to know the current market territories

of ILC, and to know the sales patterns of respective territory.

Pune territory was always problematic because of low sales volume despite of high potential of pune.

For this I was suppose to carry out and market research to know the reasons of low sales and to know

the preferences of clients in the territory and to suggest the best 4Ps strategy to company in order to

increase the sales in the region.

Since it was the pure market research, the research problem was stated as follows:

³A market research for hospital linen at Innovative linen co (p) ltd at pune´



40

2.3 Research design:

The formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is the

preparation of the design of the research project, popularly known as the ³research design´.

Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means concerning an inquiry or

a research study constitute a research design. ³A research design is the arrangement of

conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to

the research purpose with economy in procedure.

In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it

constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. As such the

design includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing the hypothesis and its

operational implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, the design decisions

happen to be in respect of:

(i) What is the study about?

(ii) Why is the study being made?

(iii) Where will the study be carried out?

(iv) What type of data is required?

(v) Where can the required data be found?

(vi) What periods of time will the study include?

(vii) What will be the sample design?

(viii) What techniques of data collection will be used?

(ix) How will the data be analysed?

(x) In what style will the report be prepared?



41

Research design in case of descriptive research:

The design in such studies must be rigid and not flexible and must focus attention on the

following:

(a) Formulating the objective of the study (what the study is about and why is it being made?)

(b) Designing the methods of data collection (what techniques of gathering data will be

adopted?)

(c) Selecting the sample (how much material will be needed?)

(d) Collecting the data (where can the required data be found and with what time period

should the data be related?)

(e) Processing and analysing the data.

(f) Reporting the findings.

In a descriptive/diagnostic study the first step is to specify the objectives with sufficient

precision to ensure that the data collected are relevant. If this is not done carefully, the study

may not provide the desired information.



42

2.4 Primary Data:

This is the original source of the information 1st

hand in nature where the researcher goes to

different people and collects data himself. Data that is collected for a specific purpose at hand

is called primary data. It is customized according to the needs of the researcher and focuses

exclusively on the current research problems. The collection of primary data is time

consuming and costly.

This is a particular research study the primary data collection was done with the help of the

questionnaire method, which is best suitable in order to get maximum information from

respondent is questioned directly about the aspects of interest of research i.e. personal

interview.

Sources of primary data-

1. Questionnaire method

2. Observation method

3. Interviewing.

2.5 Secondary Data:

Secondary data is the data, which has been collected for the other purpose than that of the

present study. Any data that is available prior to the commencement of research project is

secondary data, and therefore it is called historic data. It is one which is derived by any other

person or institute. It already exists and is processed. The researcher has only to decide that

how it will be handy to appraise the project.

There was plenty of data in the library, which was useful in drafting the report.

For the present study data was collected through ±

Sources of secondary data-

1) Published sources

2) Unpublished sources.

The present study is mainly based on primary data but here also secondary data was used for

the study. Both Primary and secondary sources were used for data collection.



43

2.6 Sample design:

It is very important to have a predesigned sample for a study as it helps us to have sample of

high relevance and hence collected data can be observed to draw right conclusions. Sample

design includes decision about:

y Uniformity of sample:

In this we have to decide what kind of sample we have to select, we must be clear

about the uniformity of the elements to be taken as samples.

y Geographical area of sample (Sample unit):

While deciding about the geographical area of sample we have should take into

account the research size, time availability, Research budget etc. if the area we choose

is very big we may not have uniform sample and correlation of responses may be

difficult.

y Source of sample:

After selecting geographical area we have to decide about the source of the

information and accordingly sample elements are selected.

y Sample size:

This refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample.

This is a major problem before a researcher. The size of sample should neither be excessively

large, nor too small. It should be optimum. An optimum sample is one which fulfils the

requirements of efficiency, representativeness, reliability and flexibility.

While deciding the size of sample, researcher must determine the desired precision as also an

acceptable confidence level for the estimate. The size of population variance needs to be

considered as in case of larger variance usually a bigger sample is needed. The size of

population must be kept in view for this also limits the sample size. The parameters of

interest in a research study must be kept in view, while deciding the size of the sample. Costs

to dictate the size of sample that we can draw. As such, budgetary constraint must invariably

be taken into consideration when we decide the sample size.

Following is the Sample design we have followed for this research:

Uniformity of sample Yes ( All doctors)

Geographical area of the sample Pune.

Source of sample Hospitals and private clinics.

Size of the sample 100



44

2.7 Sampling methods:

Non-probability sampling: Non-probability sampling is that sampling procedure which does

not afford any basis for estimating the probability that each item in the population has of

being included in the sample. Non-probability sampling is also known by different names

such as deliberate sampling, purposive sampling and judgement sampling. In this type of

sampling, items for the sample are selected deliberately by the researcher; his choice

concerning the items remains supreme. In other words, under non-probability sampling the

organisers of the inquiry purposively choose the particular units of the universe for

constituting a sample on the basis that the small mass that they so select out of a huge one

will be typical or representative of the whole.

For instance, if economic conditions of people living in a state are to be studied, a few towns

and villages may be purposively selected for intensive study on the principle that they can be

representative of the entire state. Thus, the judgement of the organisers of the study plays an

important part in this sampling design.

Probability sampling: Probability sampling is also known as µrandom sampling¶ or µchance

sampling¶. Under this sampling design, every item of the universe has an equal chance of

inclusion in the sample. It is, so to say, a lottery method in which individual units are picked

up from the whole group not deliberately but by some mechanical process. Here it is blind

chance alone that determines whether one item or the other is selected. The results obtained

from probability or random sampling can be assured in terms of probability i.e., we can

measure the errors of estimation or the significance of results obtained from a random

sample, and this fact brings out the superiority of random sampling design over the deliberate

sampling design. Random sampling ensures the law of Statistical Regularity which states that

if on an average the sample chosen is a random one, the sample will have the same

composition and characteristics as the universe. This is the reason why random sampling is

considered as the best technique of selecting a representative sample.

In this case we have gone for the Non probability sampling as we didn¶t had to select

our sample on the basis of mathematical formula as it was a survey to be conducted.

We had to choose samples from doctors and everybody didn¶t have equal chance of

being in sample, we chose the doctors who were our existing or potential clients that

are all surgeons and gynaecologist.



45

2.8 Method of data collection:

Primary data:

Primary data being a first had information has to be collected by the researcher himself from the

relevant sources. In this research we used following methods to collect the primary data.

Observation method:

We observed and analyzed company¶s previous sales records and data base of clients to collect the

data.

Collection of data through interview:

use of this method was very limited as doctors and other purchase officers were reluctant to it because

of their time constrain.

Collection of data through questionnaire:

Questions were our important tool to collect the data about consumer preferences, we used this

method extensively.

Informal visits:

These were of great importance as we went to the client as a sales executive and could get their real

response and preference towards our product and company.

Secondary data:

Secondary data is collected after considering factors like availability, reliability and Suitability and

adequacy etc. There is not fixed method of collecting secondary data.

2.9 Instruments of data collection:

Data was collected through following instruments:

Questionnaire.

Interviews.

Books and magazines.

Internet

Through informal discussions with employees.

.



46

2.10 Field Work:

The profile I got during my summer project was sales based, it was a complete field work

throughout the pune city.

During my summer project I was assigned the target to sales the Linen of Rs 50000 to

hospital at pune, for that I first collected the information of hospitals and private clinic and

even multispecialty hospitals from which I prepared my database of doctor. I prepared the

database of more than 250 doctors in pune and nearby areas.

It was mandatory to make at least 8 to 10 calls a day in a particular area of pune, out of 8

calls I could only meet 4 to 5 doctors and purchase in charge in a single day.

Out of the given target of 50000, I had received the order of RS 35000 maximum of which I

received from our regular customers.

My field work use to be from 9:30 am to 6 pm daily with the lunch break of 1 hour. After

coming back from the field I had to send report to my guide Mr. Rakesh who always use to

encourage me to try and decrease cold calls.

During my summers he had joined me on the field for two days, with him I learnt lot of

things specially how to start the communication with the client and which area to be targeted

on particular day of the week.

For the first 2 weeks I did the pure sales with the intension of achieving target and to know

the clients response towards the company. This work helped me to prepare the questionnaire

as I was familiar with the perception of many clients towards the company.

During 1st two weeks of work I could realise that there was very less acceptability for the non

local vendor like ILC and clients use to go for local purchase even after providing them good

quality product.

For the above reason my questions in survey were more directed to know the reasons of non

acceptability of outside vendor and also to know the benefit they have from local vendors in

our comparison.



47

2.11 Data- analysis techniques:

y Bar Diagram & Pie Chart

y Percentage Analysis

y Chi Square Test

Percentage Analysis:

Percentage Analysis is used for making comparison between two or more series of data.

Percentage (%) = No. of respondents * 100 / Total No. of respondents.

Chi- Square Test:

Many time manager need to know weather the differences they observe among several

sample proportion are significant or only due to chance.

X2 = (fo-fe)2

fe

Determine Degree of Freedom:

No. of degree of freedom = (No. of rows -1) (No. of Columns-1)

Pilot Testing:-

A pilot testing is conducted to detect weakness in design and instrumentation and provide

proxy data for flections of a probability sample. The objective of pilot survey is to filter

unnecessary question, question which are difficult to answer and improve the phrases of

certain question.



48



49

3.1 Charts and Graphs

1) Comparison of sal s in different territories:

Terr it ry wi e sales f rom Oct 2009 to Mar ch 2010.

Territory

Month Pune Aurangabad Nagpur Jalgaon

Total

sales of a

month

Oct 3 120 20 400 113 20 1 99 0 1 000

Nov 21 00 219000 103 00 14 000 490100

Dec 42000 19 000 11 0 1 4000 08 0

Jan 199 0 20 000 99000 149000 4729 0

Feb 23200 224 00 10 000 1 2000 14800

March 83400 198700 111000 132700 2 800

Total sales

of

territories. 22 270 1249700 48 70 903 0 3028300

The above gr aph shows the terr itory wise sales of months that is f rom Oct 2009 to Mar ch

2010. Look ing at the gr aph we can o bserve the contr i bution of Aur angabad terr itory is

highest and it shows consistently high bar s while pune terr itory consistently shows the lower

sales. Jalgaon and Nagpur shows moder ate sales f igures but are consistent.

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March

Pune

Aurangabad

Nagpur

Jalgaon



50

2)

Terr itory Sales ( In R S) % sales

Aurangabad 1249700 41

Jalgaon 903 0 22

Nagpur 48 70 30

Pune 22 270 7

Total Sales 3028300 100

Above gr aph shows the sales indiff erent terr itor ies of Mahar ashtr a f rom Oct 09 to Mar 10.

If we o bserve the gr aph we could clear ly conclude that Most of the sales in the given

months come f rom Aur angabad and Jalgaon terr itor ies, contr i bution of Nagpur can¶t be ignored, but pune despite of and lar ge terr itory contr i butes only 7% of the sales which is very

low.

Pune (7%)

Aurangabad(

41%)

Nagpur(22

%)

Jalgaon(30

%)

Total sale of each territory from

Oct 2009 to Mar 2010.



51

1) What is your Aver age OPD of the day?

If we o bserve the gr aph above we could see that out of total doctor s surveyed most of have OPD between 30-50 and the Doctor s having OPD above 70 are very less. From this we can

conclude that the aver age OPD in pune is near to 50 patients a day. This gives us an Idea that

their Linen requirement must be moder ate de pending on the num ber of patients.

0

5

10

15

20

25

0

¡ 5

40

45

(20-

0) (

0-50) (50-¢

0) ab£ ¤ ¥

¢

0

No of respondents

R esponses No. of respondents

20-30 21

30-50 42

50-70 2¦

Above 70 11

Total 100



52

2) How many sur ger ies you carry out in a Month?

A) 5-10 14

B) 10-15 33

C) 15-25 38D) Above 25. 15

Total 100

Above pie char t clear ly shows that most of the doctor s per f orm 15 to 25 sur ger ies in a month,

also the num ber of doctor s per f orming sur ger ies 10 to 15 in a month is consider able,

o bserved data again shows the linen requirement of doctor s is moder ate.

14%

33%38%

15%

Range of no. of surgeries

( § - ¨ © )

(¨ ©

-¨ §

)

(¨ §

-2§

)

Ab

2



53

3) Do you pur chase Linen or make it in house?

In above question 89% of respondents said that they pur chase the Linen f rom outside and do

not make it in house. All who manufacture mostly were multi spatiality hospital, which have their se par ate unite f or linen manufactur ing.

These cannot be the potential customer of the linen supplier s as they make the in house linen

in their own unit as and when require.

0 20 40 60

0 100

Purchse

Make it in house

9

11

A) Purchase 89

B) Make it in house. 11

Total 100



54

4) How much are your monthly Expenses on Linen?

A) 500-1000. 32

B) 1000-2000. 39

C) Up to 5000. 19

D) Up to 10000 10

Total 100

Look ing at the above char t one can o bserve thatmost of the doctor s spent R s 1000 to 2000 on linen in a month, also No. of doctor spending R s 500 to 1000 on linen ishigh i.e 32%, but the

No. of doctor s spending 5000 and 10000 on linen is limited, all these are having big

hospitals.

From above data we can der ive the conclusion that if a linen com pany has the customer base

of more than 100 and if they are able to sell the linen even to 50 out of that 100, com pany

may have the sales of at least R s 100,000 in pune. This can be said af ter look ing at the

aver age spending by doctor on linen in a month.

32%

39%

9%

0%

Resonses of monthly expenses of linen

(

-

)

(

-2

)

Upto! " " "

Upto# " " " "



55

5) You go f or bulk pur chase or in small quantity as per requirement?

A) Bulk. 54

B) Small quantity. 46

Total 100

Above gr aph gives us the idea about No. of doctor s going f or bulk pur chase is slightly higher

than No. of doctor s going f or small quantity pur chase. Still the diff erence is not much, so we

cannot dr aw the exact trend of pur chase pattern.

54%46%

Purchase pattern of respondents

Bulk

Small Quantity



56

6) How much do you think should be the appro pr iate delivery time af ter placing the or der?

A) Immediate delivery. 44

B) 1 to 2 days. 31

C) One Week. 25

Total 100

From the Above gr aph it is clear that most of the respondents want immediate delivery of

their or der s and out of remaining respondents ma jor ity of them are willing to wait up to 2

days f or their or der to be executed and very f ew can wait up to one week .

0

5

10

15

2025

30

35

40

45

Immediate

Delivery

1 to 2 Days One week

44

31

25

Expected Delivery time of

respondents



57

7) Assign highest pr ior ity to f ollowing cr iter ia of pur chasing Linen?

Criteria of purchase

No. of respondents

assigning highest

Priority

A) Quality 13

B) Delivery Time. 52

C) Customi ed Product. 21

D) Price. 14

Total 100

Above gr aph clear ly suggest that the respondents f ir st pr ior ity is given to delivery time while

pur chasing the linen, af ter this customi ation of products Im por tant, limited no. of

respondents give highest pr ior ity to quality and pr ice that is 13 and 14 % respectively.

From this we can conclude that on time delivery of linen can play a ma jor role inf irm¶ssuccess.

13

52

21

14

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Quality Delivery time Cutomized

product

Price

No. of Respondents Assigning Highest priority to a criteria



58

8) Which is more pref er able of the f ollowing while Linen pur chase?

A) Local Vendor with normal services. 78

B) Non Local vendor with better services. 22

Total 100

From the above responses we o bserve that, most of the respondents would like to buy the

linen f rom local vendor and not f rom outsider s even if they off er something better .This

shows the im por tance of local distr i bution facility of f irm to be success in the pune region.

9) Please specif y the reasons of Opting Local or Non local Supplier s?

This was the descr i ptive question in which f ollowing common reasons were given f or

favor ing local vendor s by respondents:

1. Delivery time..

2. Payment disputes can be easily handled.

3. Ease in settlement of post sales issues like mismatch of si e and quality

of or dered product can be f ixed quick ly with local vendor .

010

20

30

40

50

60

$ 0

% 0

Local vendor Non Local vendor with

better Quality product

Prefrences of respondents towards the vendors



59

10) Can you suggest the name of some local vendor s f rom where you pur chase the linen?1) Biomed

2) White Linen 3) Bansal and sons.

4) Meghna linen supplier s.

5) Go pal sur gical.

These were some of the common names we got to know f rom the respondents in pune area but more than 50% of clients do not pur chase f rom the com pany, instead they or der it to local

individual retailer s.

11) Have you ever hear d about Innovative Linen Com pany?

A) yes 31

B) No 69

Total 100

Only 31% of the respondents have hear d about the ILC, which indicates towar ds the poor

br and awareness in the pune region.

31%

& ' %

Knowledge of respondents about ILC

Yes

No



60

12) If yes, please specif y the sour ce?

A) Through ILC E ecutive. 25

B) Internet. 6

C) Other Doctors. 0

D) Any other source. 0

Total 31

The above responses indicate that most of the respondents who have hear d about ILC is

through their executive and very f ew respondents have seen the name of the com pany on

internet.

From this we can conclude that the ILC will have to increase their promotions to increase the

br and awareness as they are heavily de pendent on sales f or ce f or it.

0 5 10 15 20 25

Through ILC Executive

Internet

Other Doctor

Other source

Never heard

25

6

0

0



61

3.2 Findings:

y Average OPD of doctors at pune is around 50.

y Average Surgeries performed by doctors is 15 to 20.

y Most of the Doctors in Pune Purchase linen instead of making it in house.

y Most of the doctors in pune region Spent not more than Rs 2000 in a month.

y Doctors may either go for bulk or small quantities purchase of linen.

y Most of the doctors expect early delivery after placing the orders.

y Most of the doctors give highest priority to delivery time and then to customization of

product while purchasing the linen.

y Many of the doctors prefer local retailers to outside retailers while purchasing linen.

y Biomed is most heard name in pune for linen and they prefer to purchase from small

retailer instead of branded linen.

y Most of the respondents have never heard about ILC.

y ILC is heavily dependent on their sales force for sales and brand awareness.



62

3.3 Conclusions:

y Hospital linen requirement of most of the respondent doctors in pune is

moderate. A doctor spends around 2000 on linen in a month that shows every

100 doctors will give sales of Rs 200000 in a month.

y Company giving on time delivery and customized product have high chances

of success. As they give higher preference to these two criteria.

y It will be of great benefit to have local distribution setup. Three most common

problem with outside vendor were observed as:

4. Delivery time.

5. Size mismatch cannot be handled with outside suppliers.

6. Payment disputes.

y Lacks of awareness for ILC in pune, almost 70% of respondents have not

even heard about the company.

y There was no issue on quality and price of ILC products as compare to local

retailers of pune.

In all if we try to sum up the conclusion, the company has poor distribution and promotional

activities are also not sufficient to create better awareness.

Company need to rethink and come up with a new marketing mix plan which could give the

success in market which has a highest potential among all territories of Maharashtra where

ILC operates.



63

3.4 Recommendations:

ILC operates in pune from more than a year; still it has not got the deserved success looking

at the high potential market of pune despite of having good quality products and competitive

pricing. The reason sot was unavailability of local distribution, lack of awareness.

The following 4 Ps strategy can be followed by the company to increase the sales volume in

pune territory:

Product: The Company should continue with same quality of product as there was no

problem found in quality of the product offered by ILC, but the company should offer

the customized product as doctors over there are more conscious about this factor, this

will lead to greater consumer satisfaction and will help in long term relation with

customers.

Price: Company should continue with the same pricing strategy, because there pricing

is compatible with competitors and the most prevalent in market.

Promotion: this was fond to be the weak point of ILC, there is lack of awareness for

ILC in pune, therefore it is must for them to incrase awareness by putting hoardings,

promoting the brand through portals like just dial.com, sulekha.com. as the company

have benefit of good quality product and competitive pricing, they can position their

product accordingly and create brand of ILC instead of rendering itself only an linen

supplier organization. For this they will continuously hammer the brand name in

names of customers and by winning their trust.

Place (Distribution): This is an major problem of ILC in pune as they don¶t have

local distribution setup. This has lead to lack of trust, delay in delivery time, non

addressing of post sales issues, all these problems can be dealt by having a local

distribution setup in pune. Of course company will have to invest a lot for this but

looking at the potential of pune market, that investment is justified.

If company is only able to sell even 50 doctors every month, they will have sales

revenue of more than a lakh.

With a local distribution facility they could get the linen tenders of newly construted

hospitals or of already existing multi specialty hospital. This would increase their

sales and profits by many folds.



64

3.5 Limitations:

1) This research was only limited to understanding the reasons of lower sales volume in

pune, and it did not taken into consideration the finding of strategy to target

multispecialty hospitals in pune as these can be even more profitable to ILC, if they

could grab the tenders. One can have a special research on How to formulate strategy

to grab tenders of big hospitals.

2) Data collection period was not enough as we were mainly concentrated on achieving

the sales target.

3) The period of summer internship was just around two months, which was not enough

to carry out the research of this magnitude in fully efficient manner. One can add

many things to this research in absence of time constrain and with the help of MR

experts.



65



66

Date:

Questionnaire:

Name:

Hospital Name:

Post:

1) What is your Average OPD of the day?

A) 20-30

B) 30-50

C) 50-70

D) Above 70.

2) How many surgeries you carry out in a Month?

A) 5-10

B) 10-15

C) 15-25

D) Above 25.

3) Do you purchase Linen or make it in house?

A) Purchase

B) Make it in house.

4) How much are your monthly Expenses on Linen?

A) 500-1000.

B) 1000-2000.

C) Up to 5000.

D) Up to 10000

5) You go for bulk purchase or in small quantity as per requirement?

A) Bulk.

B) Small quantity.



67

6) How much do you think should be the appropriate delivery time after placing the order?

A) Immediate delivery.

B) 1 to 2 days.

C) One Week.

7) How much you will rate the following criteria of purchasing Linen out of 10?

A) Quality

B) Delivery Time.

C) Customized Product.

D) Price.

8) Which is more preferable of the following while Linen purchase?

A) Local Vendor with normal services.

B) Non Local vendor with better services.

9) Please specify the reasons of Opting Local or Non local Suppliers?

10) Can you suggest the name of some local vendors from where you purchase the linen?

1) 3)

2) 4)

11) Have you ever heard about Innovative Linen Company?

A) Yes.

B) No.

12) If yes, please specify the source?

A) Through ILC Executive.

B) Internet.

C) Other Doctors.

D) Any other source.



Websites:

y www.tradeindian.com

y http://en.wikipedia.org/

y www.sulekha.com

Books:

y Research methodology (methods and Techniques) by CR. Kothari.

y Marketing Management by Philip kotler.

y Market research by Naresh malhotra.

Documents

Support File