CUSTOMER PERCEPTION

BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITYCOIMBATORE

A PROJECT WORK REPORT ON

“A STUDY ON CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS KNOWLADGE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS”

By

Suraj V. OIII Semester MBA

Reg No: 13P35G0017

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Venkatesh A Arakeri

Project Report submitted to the Bharathiar University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of III Semester MBA degree examinations – 2014

Prepared by

IBMR-International Business School

No. 1, 2nd cross, K.R.Garden, 80 feet Road, Opp NDDB/Near passport office,

Kormangala, Bangalore-560062

1

DECLARATION

I, Suraj V.Obearing Regn No. 13P35G0017, a bonafide student of third semester,

Master of Business Administrationin Marketing, IBMR-International Business

School, Bangalore, hereby declare that the project work entitled “A STUDY ON

CONSUMER PERCEPTION TOWARDS KNOWLADGE SOFTWARE

PRODUCTS” has been independently carried out by me in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of degree in Master of Business Administration in

Marketing by Bharathiar University during the academic year 2013-2015.

Place:Bangalore Suraj V. O

Date:30 November 2014 (Regn No: 13P35G0017)

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the success of any task would be

incomplete without the mention of the people who made it possible, whose constant

guidance and encouragement crowned my effort with success.

I would like to express my sincere thanks especially to External guide

Mr.NivinVenugopaland all the staff of KNOWLADGE SOFTWARE for their

great help.

I would like to thank my guide Prof. Venkatesh A Arakeri, for identifying my area

of work, reviewing it at every stage and for him patient valuable hours serving as my

project guide.

I am very thankful to Prof. Rajesh.K, Head -Academics, IBMR-International

Business School, Bangalore, for him constant motivation and encouragement.

I take immense pleasure in thanking Prof.VenkateshAArakeri, Principal-Director,

IBMR-International Business School, Bangalore, for creating the right kind of

milieu.

Last but not the least, I thank my family and friends for their invaluable help and

support during the course of the project work.

Suraj V. O

Regn No:13P35G0017

3

CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO TOPICS PAGENO

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

I INTRODUCTION 15

IIINDUSTRY PROFILE AND

COMPANY PROFILE30

III REVIEW OF LITERRATURE 50

IV ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 56

VFINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

77

VI SUGGESSIONS 81

BIBLIOGRAPHY 83

4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A consumer may have set of interests, benefits, attitudes and life style before

purchasing a product. But there might be a major change in his taste of preference

after the purchase has been made. In such a position, it is difficult for the marketer to

know the behavior of the consumer. With this view in mind the research study will be

conducted to find out the consumer preference towards educational software’s.

To carry on the study, the research has been conducted as per the marketing research

process. As the study requires, the customer (potential) opinion it will also help to

know the awareness level of educational software in Eranakulam District and the

opinion regarding the performance of the company. The study will also help us to

identify the factors that influence to buy the software which will be helpful to the

company for better improvement of the Educational Software. For this study, I had

collected the primary data through questionnaire and the company catalogues,

brochures are collected for secondary information. To collect primary data survey is

conducted on individual (potential customers) this study limited to Eranakulam

District. The sample size that I had taken is 100.

This study will also help company to know the customer likes as well as their needs,

wants and satisfaction in educational software.

MARKETING

Marketing is concerned with all activities which are involved in the process of

transferring goods from the point of production to the point of consumption.

The main duties of marketing department in an organization are to analyze the market,

find the opportunities, design the products, format marketing strategies, develop

scientific methods and action purpose a budgets and establish a set of control. Now a

day there is a number of alternative products, so that customer has a number of

choices. So the success of products depends up on their marketing departments and

something different from its competitors production in terms of quality, quantity,

packing, design, etc. will affect the consumer’s demand. In short modern marketing

begins with consumer and ends with the consumer’s satisfaction and social well-

being. Under the market driven economy “consumer is the king”.

6

The main responsibility of marketing department is to ensure the receipt of good

quality materials to the consumers as and when required. The marketing department is

headed by marketing manager and he has five area representatives as his subordinates.

The main aim of marketing department is to supply good quality products at

reasonable price.

According to American marketing association “marketing is the performance of

business activity that directs the flow of goods and services from producer to

consumer or user”

According to Philip kotler “Marketing is social and managerial process by which

individuals or groups obtain what they need and want through creating and

exchanging products and value with others”

Marketing ResearchMarketing research is the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of the data

about problems connected to the marketing of goods and services i.e. problems

relating to product, price, promotion and distribution of the 4p’s of the marketing mix.

Marketing research is concerned with all those factors, which have a direct impact

upon the marketing of products and services. Marketing research has grown along

with the expanded role of marketing as the focus for the business decision-making.

7

Recommendation comes from satisfaction and satisfaction comes from

Major attributes of customer satisfaction can be summarized as:

Product quality

Product packaging

Keeping delivery commitments

Responsiveness and ability to resolve complaints and reject reports

Overall communication, accessibility and attitudes

8

Service QualityRelationship QualityProduct Quality

Sources of Data

Primary data:-

Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is

firsthand information for the direct users of respondents. The tools used to collect the

data may vary and can be collected through various methods like questionnaire,

personal interview

Secondary data:-

Secondary data is the data which is already been collected and assembled. This data is

available with the companies or firms and it can be collected from newspapers,

periodicals, magazines, websites etc.

Sample Design

Sample

The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers having KnowlAdge product.

Sampling Technique

Convenient Sampling technique is used for this project.

Data Collection Tool

Questionnaires as the primary form of collecting data.

Statistical techniques

1. Bar Diagrams

2. Pie-Chart

9

Statistical tools

1. Statistical software like Microsoft Excel

Scope of the study:-

The study helps in having an awareness of customer satisfaction towards KnowlAdge.

As the product had a good reputation in the market, this study will help to know that

how KnowlAdge lost their grip in IT industry. It also helps us to increase our practical

knowledge towards marketing of a company.

Perception

Perception is the sensing of stimuli external to the individual organism the act or

process of comprehending the world in which the individual exists.

Perception has been defined by social psychologists as the “Complex process” by

which people select organize and interpret sensory stimulation in to a meaningful and

coherent picture of the work.

The project highlights the factors that influence the buying decision of a consumer.

The factor under consideration would be:

Price

Income of the consumer

Warranty scheme

Finance facility

10

The customer satisfaction index represents the overall satisfaction level of that

customer as one number, usually as a percentage.

The buying process involves the following steps:

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Problem Recognition

Information search

Evaluation

Post Purchase Dissonance

Buy

Decision

Satisfaction = Brand Acceptance

Dissatisfaction = Brand Rejection

KSA MODEL

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Research methodology

Research methodology is a framework, a blue print for the research, which guide the

collection and analysis of data.

Research methodology is being framed in order to achieve the research objectives. It

is an expression of what is expected of the research exercise in terms of result and the

analytical input need to convert data into research findings.

Research methodology minimizes the degree of uncertainty involved in the

management decisions. Research lays the structure for decision-making.

RESEARCH DESIGN

• Type of Research:

This research is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research includes surveys

and face- finding enquires of different kind. The Major purpose of descriptive

research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main

characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the

variables.

The data collected here may relate to the demographic or the behavioral variables

of the respondents under study.

• Research Instrument:

In the survey method I have used questionnaire as a research instrument this

is written & organization format contemning the entire question relevant to

solicited the required information.

Because of its flexibility the data is collected from large population about their

awareness attribute, opinion past present behavior to check that the questionnaire

surveys the necessary purpose it should be tested as a limited scale and this is

technically known as pilot survey.

This questionnaire consist multiple choices and some this close-ended structured

question are easy to summarize and there is no scope for misinterpretation.

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• Data Collection

The decision-making must be objective and fact based in nature. This is achieved

by collecting and analyzing appropriate data. Data may be broadly divided into

two categories namely primary data & secondary data. The primary data are those

data, which are collected for the first time by the organization, which having

already been collected by some other agency but also can be used by organization

under considering. Primary data may be collected by observation, oral

investigation and questionnaire method or by telephone interview. In this study,

for primary data collection we have used questionnaire method. This is written

and in organized format containing all question relevant to soliciting type, in

which all questions and answers is specified and comments in the respondents

own words are held to a minimum, the unstructured questionnaire is useful in

carrying out in depth interviews where the aim is to probe for attitudes and

reasons. For this study we are using structured questionnaire (annexure-A) and

carry out the personal interviews with users and dealer. Sometimes we have

carried out in-depth interviews and observe the situation to get more in depth

information about the topic. In the structured personal interview method the

information is likely to be more accurate and reliable because the interviewer can

clear up doubts and cross check the respondents. Moreover this method is most

flexible, no response is very low. Supervision & control is possible.

For secondary data we have used the data prepared by KnowlAdge Educational

Software Company & other data circulated by Educational Software manufacturer

companies.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

The term market may be considered as a convenient meeting place where buyers and

sellers gather together for the exchange of goods and services. Market means a group

of people having unmet wants, purchasing power to make their demand effective and

the will to spend their income to fulfill those wants. Today a market is equated with

the total demand.

The American marketing association defines a market, ‘as the aggregate demand of

potential buyers for a product or service’.

Under keen competition, a marketer wants to create or capture and retain the market

i.e. customer demand through an appropriate marketing mix offered to a target

market. The market offering i.e. supply must meet customer demand, which are unmet

needs and desires.

Marketing is concerned with all activities which are involved in the process of

transferring goods from the point of production to the point of consumption.

The main duties of marketing department in an organization are to analyze the market,

find the opportunities, design the products, format marketing strategies, develop

scientific methods and action purpose a budgets and establish a set of control. Now a

day there is a number of alternative products, so that customer has a number of

choices. So the success of products depends up on their marketing departments and

something different from its competitors production in terms of quality, quantity,

packing , design, etc. will affect the consumer’s demand. In short modern marketing

begins with consumer and ends with the consumer’s satisfaction and social well-

being. Under the market driven economy “consumer is the king”.

The main responsibility of marketing department is to ensure the receipt of good

quality materials to the consumers as and when required. The marketing department is

headed by marketing manager and he has five area representatives as his subordinates.

The main aim of marketing department is to supply good quality products at

reasonable price.

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DEFINITION OF MARKETING

According to American marketing association “marketing is the performance of

business activity that directs the flow of goods and services from producer to

consumer or user”

According to Philip kotler “Marketing is social and managerial process by which

individuals or groups obtain what they need and want through creating and

exchanging products and value with others”

MarketingMarketing is a comprehensive term and it includes all resources and set of activities

necessary to direct and facilitate the flow of goods and services form the producer to

the consumer through the process of distribution. Businessmen regards marketing as a

management function to plan promote and deliver products to the clients or

customers. Human efforts, finance and management constitute the primary resources

in marketing.

We have twin activities, which are most significant in marketing:

1. Matching the product with demand i.e. customer needs and desires or the target

market.

2. The transfer of ownership and possession at every stage in the flow of goods from

the primary producer to the ultimate consumer.

The American marketing association defines marketing as the process of planning and

executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and

services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

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SCOPE OF MARKETING

The scope of marketing is very wide because marketing performs multi-various

function. These functions includes ware housing, packing, branding, selling,

transportation, advertising, public relation, marketing research , products planning,

etc. the following are the important factors which fall within the frame work of

marketing.

• Understanding customer’s needs and wants.

• Study of buyer’s behavior.

• Product planning and development.

• Pricing policy.

• Distribution.

• Promotion.

MARKETING DEPARTMENT

The main responsibilities of the marketing department are to ensure the receipt of

good quality materials to the customers as and when required. The marketing

department is headed by the marketing manager and sales officer. They have five area

representatives as their subordinates. KNOWLADGE is having good marketing

channels in southern parts of Kerala. The main aim of marketing department is to

supply good quality products at reasonable price.

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OBJECTIVES OF MARKETING DEPARTMENT

• Increasing the consumption of goods.

• Increasing the profit through consumer satisfaction.

• Ensure the growth of the organization.

• Providing wide choice of goods to the consumer.

DUTIES OF MARKETING MANAGER

• It is the duty of the marketing manager to know the market trend to test

marketing before bulk production.

• He ensures receipt of good quality products to the consumer as and when

required.

• Another function is to supply good quality products at reasonable price.

• He is also engaged in the marketing of the products.

MARKETING FUNCTION

The process of marketing involves several interdependent activities. These activities

are collectively known as “MARKETING FUNCTION”.

Marketing function will help to move goods from place of production to the place of

consumption.

Marketing function is defined as “An act of operation or service of which original

producer and the final consumers are linked.

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Marketing function include

• FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH

Marketing starts with functions of research. This consists of market research and

product planning & development. It includes

• Market research

• Product planning and development

• FUNCTIONS OF EXCHANGE

Consumer satisfaction is achieved only when goods are finally reached in the

hands of the customer. The process of passing goods into the consumer hand is

called exchange. It include

• Buying and assembling

• Selling

• FUNCTIONS OF PHYSICAL SUPPLY

These are the function related with creation of place and time utility.

• Transportation

• Storage & warehousing

• Packaging

• FACILITATING FUNCTION

In the process of marketing we need a number of auxiliaries or facilitating

functions to ensure the smooth flow of goods. Facilitating makes the

marketing function easy. Facilitating functions are.

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• Standardization and Grading

• Branding

• Pricing

• Financing

• Packing

• Promotion

PRODUCT MIX

A product mix is the total list of products which a firm offers to the buyers. It is the

complete list of all the products offered for sales by a firm. Product mix is also called

product portfolio or product range.

PRODUCT BRANDING

Product branding is the art and corner stone of marketing. It is a name term, sign,

symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods of one

seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.

OBJECTIVES OF BRANDING

• It helps in product identification.

• It makes the product attractive and popular.

• It helps in advertising and sales promotion.

• It develops brand loyalty.

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PACKING

The importance of packing has increased these days because of severe competition in

the market and rise in the standard of living of the people. Well-designed packages

can create convenience and promotional value. After the inspection and labeling the

products are packed.

OBJECTIVES OF PACKING

• Promotion

• Protection

• Transportation

• Identification

LABELING

Labeling is an integral part of packing. It gives verbal information

about the products and the seller. It serves to identify a brand. Thus the purpose of

labeling is to give the customer information about the product he is buying and what it

will not do for him. It is a display of important information on a product package.

IMPORTANCE OF PRICING

• Price influence consumer’s purchase decision.

• Price can determine the general living standard.

• Price of the product influence the price paid for the factors of production like

land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship (i.e., organization)

• To the seller, price is a source of revenue and main determinant of profit.

22

• Price is the only objective criterion for the consumer for comparing alternative

item and making the final choice.

• Price is one of the most flexible elements in the marketing mix, as it can be

changed quickly.

• Price is the main factor which affects the sales of an enterprise. The prices are

reasonable, more persons can attract towards the product.

Marketing ManagementMarketing management represents an important functional area of business

management efforts for the flow of goods and services from the producer to the

consumers. It looks after the marketing system of the enterprise. It has to plan and

develop the product on the basis of known customer demand.

Marketing management may be defined as, ‘a process of management of marketing

programs for accomplishing organizational goals and objectives’.

Marketing management has to build up appropriate marketing plan or marketing mix

to fulfill the set goals of the business. It has to formulate sound marketing policies and

programs. It looks after their implementation and control. It has to implement

marketing strategies, programs and campaigns. It must evaluate the effectiveness of

each part of marketing mix and introduce necessary modifications to remove

discrepancies in the actual execution of plans, policies, strategies, procedures and

programs.

Marketing MixMarketing mix is the set of marketing tools the firm uses to pursue its marketing

objectives in the target market.

There are four elements or variables that make a marketing mix, they are:

1. Decisions on product or service.

2. Decisions on promotion.

3. Decisions on price.

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4. Decisions on distribution.

The four ingredients are closely interrelated. Under the systems approach the decision

in one area affects action in the other. Marketing mix decisions constitute a large part

of marketing management.

According to Philip Kotler the term marketing mix is, ‘the set of controllable

variables that the firm can use to influence the buyers response’. In the simplest

manner, the basic marketing mix is the blending of four inputs or sub mixes, which

form the core of the marketing system.

Product mix decision refers to decisions on product variety, quality, design, features,

brand image, packaging, sizes, services, warranties and returns.

Price mix decision refers to decisions on the product list price, discounts, allowances,

and payment period and credit terms available.

Place mix decision refers to decisions on the channels, coverage, assortments,

locations, inventory and transport of the market offering.

Promotion mix decisions refer to decisions on the products advertising, sales

promotion, sales force, public relations and direct marketing.

Together they form the four P’s of marketing.

Marketing PlanningA marketing plan lies down in writing the marketing objectives, programs and

policies to be adopted to achieve the set marketing objectives. Even before an

integrated marketing plan is prepared the company shall prepare functional plan for

each component of marketing mix. To have a sound marketing plan, every operation

is to be examined and the problems are to be identified. The overall marketing plan

should be linked to the distribution channel of the company to have effective

marketing operations.

The marketing planning covers the preparation of functional plans, integration of this

plan and the preparation of master marketing plan to serve the objective of the

organization. Marketing planning is bound to get a better hold of environmental

factor.

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Marketing ResearchMarketing research is the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of the data

about problems connected to the marketing of goods and services i.e. problems

relating to product, price, promotion and distribution of the 4p’s of the marketing mix.

Marketing research is concerned with all those factors, which have a direct impact

upon the marketing of products and services. Marketing research has grown along

with the expanded role of marketing as the focus for the business decision-making.

Need of marketing researchMarketing research is conducted for different purposes. They are:

1. To estimate the potential market for a new product.

2. To know the reactions of consumers to a product already existing in the market.

3. To find out the general marketing condition and tendencies.

4. To know the types of consumer buying and their buying motives.

5. To know the reactions of failure of a product already in the market.

6. To assess the strength and weakness of competitors.

Consumer

A person who purchase or has the capacity to purchase the goods of service often for

sale by the marketing firm in order to satisfy personal need and desires.

Perception

Perception is the sensing of stimuli external to the individual organism the act or

process of comprehending the world in which the individual exists.

Perception has been defined by social psychologists as the “Complex process” by

which people select organize and interpret sensory stimulation in to a meaningful and

coherent picture of the work.

25

Attitude

Social psychologist defined attitude as an emotionalized predisposition to respond

positively or negatively to an object. Predisposition can be thought of as categories of

meaning stored in the memory of a person and are based on previous experience.

Predisposing the person to have in a specific manner towards a certain objects in the

environment.

Brand

A brand is a name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them which is intended

to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate

them from those of competitors.

Consumer BehaviorThe term consumer behavior can be defined, as, ‘the behavior that the consumer

display in searching for, purchasing, using and evaluating products, services and

ideas, which they expect, will satisfy their needs’. The study of consumer behavior

enables marketers to understand and predict consumer behavior in the market place; it

also promotes understanding of the role that consumption plays in the lives of

individuals.

Consumer behavior refers to all psychological social and physical behavior of

potential consumers as they become aware of, evaluate, purchase and consume and

tell others about products and services. It is the pattern of response of buyers to

marketing offer of a firm. It refers to the process as how consumers make their

purchase decisions. It is concerned with what, why, how much, when and from whom

buyers make their purchases of goods and services.

Model of consumer behaviorThe starting point of understanding consumer behavior is the stimulus-response

model. Marketing and environmental stimuli enter the buyer’s consciousness. The

buyer’s characteristics and decision process lead to certain purchase decisions. The

marketer’s task is to understand what happens in the buyer’s consciousness between

the arrival of outside stimuli and the buyers purchase decisions.

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Major Factors Influencing Consumer BehaviorConsumers buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and

psychological factors.

1. Cultural Factors

Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior.

The roles played by the buyers culture, subculture and social class are particularly

important.

o Culture

Culture refers to that complex whole which includes in it knowledge, beliefs, art

or anything man acquires as a member of society.

o Subculture

Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific

identification and socialization for their members. Sub cultures include

nationalities, religions, racial groups and geographic regions.

o Social Class

Virtually all-human societies exhibit social stratification. Stratification sometimes

takes the form of a caste system where the members of different castes are reared

for certain roles and cannot change their caste membership more frequently;

stratification takes the form of social class.

2. Social Factors

o Reference Groups

A persons reference groups consists of all the groups that have a direct or indirect

influence on the person’s attitudes or behavior.

o Family

The family is the most important consumer buying organization in the society and

it constitutes the most influential primary reference group.

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o Roles and statuses

A person participates in many groups, family, clubs, organizations etc. The

person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of role and status. A role

consists of the activities that a person is expected to perform. Each role carries a

status.

3. Personal Factors

o Age and stage in the life cycle

People buy different goods and services over their lifetime. Taste in clothes,

furniture and recreation is all age related.

Consumption is shaped by the family life cycle. Marketers often choose life-cycle

groups as their target market.

o Occupation and economic circumstances

Occupation also influences a person’s consumption pattern.

Product choice is greatly affected by economic circumstances; spendable income,

savings and assets, debts, borrowing power and attitude toward spending versus

saving.

o Lifestyle

People from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may lead quite

different lifestyles. A lifestyle is the person’s pattern of living in the world

expressed in activities, interests and opinions. Lifestyle portrays the world person

interacting with his or her environment.

o Personality and self-concept

Each person has a distinct personality that influences buying behavior. It is that

distinguishing psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and

enduring responses to environment. Related to personality is self-concept or self-

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

image.

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4. Psychological Factors

o Motivation

A person has many needs at a given time. A need becomes a motive when it is

aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive is a need that is sufficiently

pressing to drive the person to act.

o Perception

Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets

information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. How a, motivated

person actually acts is influenced by his or her perceptions of the situation.

o Learning

When people act they learn. Learning involves changes in an individual’s

behavior arising from experience. Learning theory teaches marketers that they can

build up demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using

motivating cues and positive reinforcement.

o Beliefs and attitudes

Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These in turn

influence buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds

about something. The beliefs make up product and brand images and people act

on these images.

An attitude is a person enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotion

feelings and action tendencies toward some object or idea. Thus a company would

be well advised to fit product into existing attitudes rather than try and change

people’s attitudes.

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CHAPTER 2

INDUSTRYPROFILEAND

COMPANYPROFILE

30

Overview and importance of IT sector

Overview

Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications

equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a

business or other enterprise. The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers

and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution

technologies such as television and telephones. Several industries are associated with

information technology, such as computer hardware, software, electronics,

semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, and E-commerce and computer

services.

Even though it's only a few decades old, by now the computer software industry has a

much-storied past. We've all heard the tales of iconoclastic young entrepreneurs who

started companies in their garages and went on to become among the most rich and

powerful businesspeople in the world. Indeed, names like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

are better known in many circles than the names of the latest pop music stars.

Today, programming's adventurous and maverick past is still alive; all over Silicon

Valley, as well as in other tech hot spots like Boston and Austin, visionary software

developers are trying to come up with the next "killer app."

Computer software products accomplish discrete tasks and are sold as complete

packages. Categories include applications, such as word processors and Web

browsers; operating systems, such as Windows and Linux; and utilities.

Most software purchases are made by businesses seeking better tools to manage the

complexities of running operations, record keeping, and controlling the flow of

money in and out of an enterprise. It's not always the quality of the code that

determines the most successful software, but how well that software meets an actual

business need. Probably the quickest way to talk you out of a job in this segment is to

make the technology seem more important than the end user.

Marketing is critical to the success of any software product, partly because there are

so many companies competing in the software market and partly because computers 31

are still new to a lot of people and business processes. In fact, in many companies that

produce software, the marketing department calls the shots.

At the other end of the totem pole, technical writers are employed at most computer

software companies to write user documentation, either as manuals or, increasingly,

as online help. The industry also employs-in descending order of technical expertise-

software testers, customer service reps, sales personnel, and staff for the usual array of

business functions, from HR to accounting.

Multiplying Platforms

In old days, software developers had to develop products for just a few different types

of devices: PCs, servers, supercomputers, and the like-all of them variations on the

computer. These days, with each passing year there are more varied types of devices

that contain computer chips and need software to tell them how to operate-everything

from in-car global positioning systems (GPS), to cell phones that allow users to play

video games, to personal digital assistants (PDAs) that can send and receive email, to

"smart" household appliances. This increasing variety means a need for more and

more new software programs. Meanwhile, the growing use of wireless networking

technologies means an even greater variety of software types. The result of all this:

Plenty of work for good software developers.

Shipping Jobs Overseas

Dampening the jobs picture a bit is the trend among software developers to outsource

work to cheaper labor overseas-to India, for instance, which has a large population of

educated, tech-savvy folks willing to work at a fraction of what passes for an

acceptable salary in the United States. In general, most exported tech jobs have been

at the lower, more grunt work-focused levels, though there's an increasing trend

towards sending more skilled tech jobs overseas. Still, at least for the time being, if

you're good at what you do, the explosion in software development means software

folks should continue to have plenty of job opportunities here in the States.

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Software As service

In the really old days, software was sold in a box, which the buyer would take home

(or to his or her office) and install on a computer. More recently, software consumers

have been able to forgo the trip to the store and download the software they want

directly to their computer systems. Today, more and more, software is being sold as a

service; in other words, the software is hosted on the software company's server, and

accessed via the Internet by the user, who pays a periodic subscription fee for that

access. Software companies of all kinds are experimenting with this model; indeed,

these days this new model is even being used with such software as word processing

and spreadsheet programs. One of its advantages is that improvements can be made to

existing software programs on an ongoing basis; if there's a bug in the program, you

can fix it now-today-rather than having to wait until your next official release to give

users the benefit of the improvement.

Open Source

Linux system software, the centerpiece of the open-source movement (which

champions free software for all and welcomes and encourages developer contributions

to the software), is finally making a splash in the business world. More companies,

such as Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch, are seeing the benefits of not

having to pay for software and upgrades and beginning to adopt Linux environments.

What's more, many organizations and even countries feel Linux adoption is a way to

curb Microsoft's monopolistic power. Computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-

Packard are responding by shipping PCs and servers loaded with Linux. And big

business-software providers such as BEA Systems, SAP, and VERITAS are making

products that run on Linux.

Meanwhile, the use of other types of open-source software is growing. The Firefox

browser, for instance, which is an alternative to proprietary-software browsers like

Internet Explorer and Safari, is being downloaded and used by Web surfers with

increasing regularity.

33

Gaming

Video games now take in more of Americans' money than movies on the big screen,

which are themselves less products of photography and more shifting digital displays

rendered with extremely powerful animation software. Video game giant Electronic

Arts had revenue in excess of $3 billion in 2005, and lots of other players in this space

are making a pretty penny. Meanwhile, sales of professional animation software,

which can cost thousands of dollars, continue to climb. And the growth in demand for

gaming software for non-computer platforms (such as cell phones) is giving a further

boost to this sector. Creative types who want to apply their talents to make games can

find plenty of opportunities with companies making software meant to entertain.

The computer software market is most commonly segmented according to the type of

work a product does. A few of the major market segments are listed below, along with

the names of a few companies that are active in each.

System Software

Microsoft Windows is by far the dominant example in this category-but not the only

one. Apple's Mac OS X is still alive and well, while Linux is gaining a reputation as a

reliable alternative in business settings. Red Hat has actually made a business out of

packaging and providing support for a version of Linux, which itself is available free

on the Internet.

Productivity

Productivity includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database

management, graphic design, and other applications that help people do their jobs.

Key players: Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Microsoft (Word, PowerPoint,

Excel), Autodesk (computer-aided design applications).

Enterprise

The term denotes the large and expensive software packages sold by the likes of

Oracle, SAP, and IBM that enable companies to organize the complex flow of

materials, payments, and data necessary for the vast cast of global operations that

keep the modern corporation working, as well as less expensive niche software

packages sold by smaller, niche players in the enterprise software space.

34

Education

Educational software helps your kids learn to read, teaches you geography or a

foreign language, stimulates logical thinking, and so on. This category also comprises

children's educational games, the so-far slow-to-catch-on electronic-book industry,

teaching resources, and music instruction. Key players: Disney, Microsoft, Scholastic.

Gaming

A highly competitive and extremely broad market segment, this includes role-playing

software, auto and flight simulation, sports, strategy games such as chess, and

children's games. Key players: Electronic Arts, Activision, Take-Two, THQ. Also,

note that there are many small, thriving studios that use the bigger players for

distribution and marketing, as well as big-name individual designers who will work

for game companies on a project-by-project basis.

Don't count on the high salaries that were typical of the industry in the late 1990s.

Now that software development can be outsourced to many politically stable, English-

proficient countries with advanced communications infrastructures, the expanded

supply of technically skilled (and low-cost) workers has blunted demand. Still, don't

underestimate the power of the local. It's hard to efficiently collaborate with workers

many thousands of miles away; many software projects-especially those with tight

deadlines, rapidly changing requirements, and applications specific to American

regulations and culture-will stay in this country. Take heart from the Bureau of Labor

Statistics, which predicts that occupations in the computer software industry will be

one of the fastest growing between 2004 and 2014.

Much of the activity in computer software is happening in Silicon Valley, but you

also might check out opportunities in other high-tech regions including Boston,

Austin, Minneapolis, New York City, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Boca Raton, and the

Research Triangle region of North Carolina.

Successful software businesses are of course built on more than technical talent.

Sales, marketing, and customer service provide many jobs for those who prefer

thinking and talking about software to actually writing it. On the technical side, high-

level software architecture skills are likely to become more valuable as the nuts and

bolts of software projects are outsourced overseas.

35

Importance of IT sector

The flow of information has changed the way we live in today world. Information is

the backbone of every system. Every morning when we read a newspaper having out

so much information we came to know the latest happening in the world (of course in

details), yeah you are right even the internet edition also. This is just a very basic

example of IT.

All our Railways, Air and even sea networks are connected with the help of IT. The

information is very vital for running these smoothly. Even if we have do not have

information for one minute it may result into a big disaster.

We can take the example of banking. It is very easy to transact any amount of money

from part of the world to other with help of e-commerce. We can purchase anything

online with help of debit and credit cards. This has made our lives more and simpler.

Now a day if we want to buy something and are not getting it nearby store then we

can simply search for that thing on internet and then order it on the internet. We will

get it delivered at our doorstep with just few clicks of mouse.

Similarly if we want to travel around the world we can book airline tickets online and

even book rooms for our hotels (of course at competitive rates).

People are working on the internet without really having to go outside to their

workplace. IT has changed the whole scenario.

Factors influencing the growth of IT Sector

According to P. Fleeger, most oftheseproductsarenotfreefromfaults.

Withthousands or evenmillionsof linesof code,itcanbea dauntingtaskto deliver a

bug – freeproducttoatargetmarket.Whileitmaybeunreasonabletorequirea100

percenterror – freeproduct,thereisstillmuchroomfor improvement.

A fewdistinctionsexistbetweensoftwareengineeringandtraditionalfieldsof

engineering (Brookshear,2000). Traditionalfieldsof engineering(e.g.,mechanical

engineering)have always beenabletouse previouslydevelopedcomponents as

building

blocks.Withsoftwareengineering,previouslydevelopedcomponentstendtohavean

36

internaldesignthatisdependenton aspecificapplication.Toreuseacomponentfor a new

applicationwould requirethatitbereengineered.

A seconddistinctionbetweensoftwareengineeringandtraditionalfieldsof

engineeringdealswiththeroleof tolerances.Thefunctioningof anairconditioning

systeminahomemaybeconsideredacceptableifitcoolsthehomewithinacertain

acceptablerangeof coolingdifferential.Software,incontrast,eitherworks properly,or it

does notoperateproperly.For instance,aspreadsheetprogramthatoperateswithinaone

percent marginof error is notacceptable.

As the distinctionbetweensoftwareengineeringandtraditionalfieldsof

engineeringisidentifiedas thelackofquantitativesystemsfor measuringpropertiesof

software.Consumer ReportsMagazinereportsmonthlyon thequalityofvarious

mechanicaldevicesby measuringthematimebetweenfailures,whichmeasureshow

welltheitemhandleswearandtear.In contrast,softwaredoes notwearout,so

proceduresofmeasuringqualitydo notapply.

Therearetwo majorapproachestosoftwareengineering:thesystemsapproach,

andtheengineeringapproach.Thetwo approachesarenotnecessarilymutually

exclusive.Theengineeringapproachcanandshouldbuildfromthesystemsapproach.

Thatis,as soon as theelementsof the systemareidentified,categorized,andprioritized,

thentheengineeringapproachcanbeused to maketheelementsof thatsystema

developmentalproject.

Besidesthetwo basicapproachestosoftwareengineering,modeling should be

consideredwhen attemptingtoimprovesoftwaredevelopmentprojects.Models are

basicallycategorizedeitherstaticor dynamic.AccordingtoP Fleegerastatic

modeldepictsaprocess, showing thattheinputsaretransformedtooutputs.A dynamic

modelcandepicthow productsaretransformedatvarioussteps of the process.

Therehavebeenanumberof modelsthathavebeendesignedby academicsthat

purporttoconsiderallfactorsrelevanttoandnecessaryfor thesuccess of aproject. P.

Fleegerpresentsanintroductiontoseveralmodels,includingthewaterfallmodel,

thewaterfallmodelwithprototyping,theV model,theprototypingmodel,the

operationalspecificationmodel,McCall’squalitymodel,thetransformationalmodel,the

phaseddevelopmentmodel,theCapabilityMaturityModel,andthespiralmodel.Each

modelpresentsauniqueway of representationof factorsthatmustbeconsideredina

project.37

Itmightbewonderedwhetheror notatwo-dimensionalrepresentation(i.e.,a

writtendiagram)caneverbesufficientto modelthe “real world”especiallysincewe live

and operateinathree-dimensionalworld. Actually,we liveinthethreedimensionsof

physicalspace,plusthefourthdimensionof time.Wecontinually progress forward

intime.Wecanalsogo backintime,figurativelyspeaking,by studying

historicallyrelevantsituationsand/orcasestudies.So itseems,therefore,thatamodel

shouldbeused onlyas aguideline.Perhaps athreedimensionalmodelwould be more

accuratethanatwo-dimensionalmodelinthatactionsandproceduresrelatedtoadesign

projectcanoccurnotonlyatdifferenttimes,butatdifferentplaces.Computermodeling

canapproximatethree-dimensionalprojections,butan effective managermustconsider

how thatmodelwill evolve or developovertime.Projectmanagerswho relysolelyon

modelsdepictedtwo dimensionallyor linearlywillneglectsomeoftheconsiderations

necessarytosuccessfullycompleteasoftwareprojecton timeandwithinthe initial budget

Perhaps anintegrationof modelingapproacheswould be moreeffective.

In geometry,for instance,thestudyof polyhedronmodelshas revealeddualmodels,in

whichtwo differentthree-dimensionalshapes complementeachotherby being

symmetricallycompatible. An effectivemanagerof software

developmentprojectsmayneedtointegratetwo or moremodelingapproachesthatmay

seemdissimilar,butareactuallycomplimentary.

Theimportanceof discussingmodelingandapproachestosoftwareengineeringis

thatoncetheprocess anditscomponentsareunderstood,potentialprojectcanthenbe

analyzedindetailtodeterminewhereproblems,potentialproblems,or deficiencies

reside.Theearliertheseproblemsaredetectedandcorrected;theyorlikelyitwillbe

thattheprojectwillbesuccessful.

Size of the IT industry

38

According to market researcher Data Monitor, the size of the worldwide

software industry in 2008 was US$303.8 billion, an increase of 6.5%

compared to 2007. Americas account for 42.6% of the global software

market's value.

The industry has been growing rapidly. It grew at a rate of 38% over 2005. For

the FY06 financial year the projections is of US$7.2 billion worth of services

provided by this industry. The base in terms of headcount being roughly

400,000 people directly employed in this Industry.

The global IT Industry is estimated to be worth 120-150 billion dollars; of this

the offshore IT is estimated to be some US$11.4 billion. India thus has some

5-6% share of the total Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore

component.

The U.S $7.2 billion also represents some 20% of the IT Industry which is in

total expected to have revenues worth US$36 billion for 2006.

The headcount at 400,000 is some 40% of the approximate one million

workers estimated to be directly employed in the IT Sector.

39

Contribution of IT to National Economy & to GDP in India

40

India is 13th in services output. The services sector provides employment to 23% of

the work force and is growing quickly, with a growth rate of 7.5% in 1991–2000, up

from 4.5% in 1951–80. It has the largest share in the GDP, accounting for 55% in

2007, up from 15% in 1950.Information technology and business process outsourcing

are among the fastest growing sectors, having a cumulative growth rate of revenue

33.6% between 1997–98 and 2002–03 and contributing to 25% of the country's total

exports in 2007–08.The growth in the IT sector is attributed to increased

specialization, and an availability of a large pool of low cost, highly skilled, educated

and fluent English-speaking workers, on the supply side, matched on the demand side

by increased demand from foreign consumers interested in India's service exports, or

those looking to outsource their operations. The share of the Indian IT industry in the

country's GDP increased from 4.8% in 2005–06 to 7% in 2008.In 2009, seven Indian

firms were listed among the top 15 technology outsourcing companies in the world

41

Global IT Market by Industry

Information Technology 43

Financial Services 17

Communication (Telecom) 16

Consumer Goods/ Services 15

Trends of growth of IT sector in last 5 years

42

1. Next-Gen Mobile - Smart Devices and TabletsIt's obvious to the casual observer these days that smart mobile devices based on iOS,

Android, and even Blackberry OS/QNX are seeing widespread use. But comparing

projected worldwide sales of tablets and PCs tells an even more dramatic story. Using

the latest sales projections from Gartner on tablets and current PC shipment estimates

from IDC, we can see that by 2015 the tablet market will be 479 million units and the

PC market will be only just ahead at 535 million units. This means tablets alone are

going to have effective parity with PCs in just 3 years. Other data I've seen tells a

similar story.

So, while it's still early days yet, it's also quite clear that enterprises must start treating

tablets as equal citizens in their IT strategies. So why won't they? For several reasons:

2. Social Media - Social Business and Enterprise While mobile phones technically have a broader reach than any communications

device, social media has already surpassed that workhorse of the modern enterprise, e-

mail. Increasingly, the world is using social networks and other social media-based

services to stay in touch, communicate, and collaborate. Now key aspects of the CRM

process are being overhauled to reflect a fundamentally social world and expecting to

see stellar growth in the next year. As Sales force’s Marc Benioff was very clear in

his dramatic keynote at Dream force last month, leading organizations are becoming

social enterprises.

There now seems to be hard data to confirm this view: McKinsey and Company is

reporting that the revenue growth of social businesses is 24% higher than less social

firms and data from Frost and Sullivan backs that up across various KPIs. The

message is that companies are going to -- and have every reason to -- be using social

media as a primary channel in the very near future, if they aren't already. It's time to

get strategic.

3) Cloud computingOf all the technology trends on this list, cloud computing is one of the more

interesting and in my opinion, now least controversial. While there are far more

43

reasons to adopt cloud technologies than just cost reduction, according to Mike

Vizard perceptions of performance issues and lack of visibility into the stack remain

one of the top issues for large enterprises. Yet, among the large enterprise CTO and

CIOs I speak with, cloud computing is being adopted steadily for non-mission critical

applications and some are now even beginning to downsize their data centers.

Business agility, vendor choice, and access to next-generation architectures are all

benefits of employing the latest cloud computing architectures, which are often

radically advanced compared to their traditional enterprise brethren.

4) Consumerization of ITI've previously made the point that the source of innovation for technology is coming

largely from the consumer world, which also sets the pace. Yet that's just one aspect

of consumerization, which some like I and Ray Wang are calling "CoIT" for short.

Consumerization also very much has to do with its usage model, which eschews

enterprise complexity for extreme usability and radically low barriers to participation.

Enterprises which don't steadily consumerize their application portfolios are in for

even lower levels of adoption and usage than they already have as workers continue to

route around them for easier and more productive solutions. Another decentralized

and scalable solution is, as with next-gen mobile, to help workers help themselves to

third party apps that are deemed safe and secure.

5) Big dataBusinesses are drowning in data more than ever before, yet have surprisingly little

access to it. In turn, business cycles are growing shorter and shorter, making it

necessary to "see" the stream of new and existing business data and process it quickly

enough to make critical decisions. The term "big data" was coined to describe new

technologies and techniques that can handle an order of magnitude or two more data

than enterprises are today, something existing RDBMS technology can't do it in a

scalable manner or cost-effectively. Big data offers the promise of better ROI on

valuable enterprise datasets while being able to tackle entirely new business problems

that were previously impossible to solve with existing techniques. While most

companies are still addressing their big data needs with data warehousing, according

44

to Loraine Lawson, one need only scan the impressive McKinsey report on Big Data

to see the major opportunities it offers on the business side.

45

COMPANY PROFILE

KNOWLADGE

46

Type Private

Industry Software services

Founders Joby Paul

Headquarters Kochi,Kerala

Area served India, Abroad

Services Information technologyproducts, educational

software

Employees 350

Website www.KnowlAdge.in

KnowlAdge is a software development and marketing company located at

Kothamangalam, Kerala. KnowlAdge is a young, dynamic and technology driven

organization formed by experts from various fields with a view of bringing all types

software products to make education simpler.

KnowlAdge started in 1992, headquartered at Cochin, engaged in the development

and marketing of various software products. Our products are in the market for more

than 12 years and used by thousands of reputed institutions and lakhs of students in

India and abroad. Our products help the students to learn their subjects much better,

faster, easier, and effective.

47

http://www.knowladge.in/

Our dedicated team includes experienced professionals with over a decade of

experience in education, software development, marketing, personality development

trainings etc.

KnowlAdge CD’s helps the students immensely to learn even the most complex

concepts in the easiest possible manner. It makes learning fun and visually

stimulating. Students will find it easy to understand the lessons explained with visual

display of images, graphics, pictures and animations.

KnowlAdge CD is an interactive multi-subject learning aid that will enhance the

knowledge and improves academic performance of the students.

Mission

To develop innovative educational products and help the students to get a clear idea of

their topics and learn the most complex concepts in the easiest possible manner.

Vision

To develop into a company that deals with A to Z software solutions for education.

To help the students all over the world to study their topics in the easiest way at their

reach and save their time.

CSR ACTIVITIES

Fun Fair Event

KnowlAdge folks set up a lot of innovative games and food stalls in the office, and

theemployees had a great time participating in the fun fair. While having loads of

fun, we also collected funds for prevention of Ebola globally.

Blood Donation Camp

48

We set up a blood donation camp at our office. Seventy-six donors from our office

And the neighboring offices lined up to donate blood!

My Tree challenge

We conducted my tree challenge. The My Tree Challenge is an activity involving

planting a sapling and challenging others to do so. The challenge, which was inspired by

the Ice Bucket Challenge, was launched in Kerala to promote the preservation of nature.

Day with Special Kids

A group of volunteers from KnowlAdge spent a day with the special kids at

Snehanilayam special school and involved the children in activities such as

painting, singing, dancing and playing games.

Overall, the Joy of Giving Week brought in joy to each and every one of us at

KnowlAdge!

CHAPTER 3

49

REVIEW

OF

LITERRATURE

Review of Literature

The Customer Perception Report includes questions in four key areas, Expectations,

Purchase Decisions, Customer Service, and Future Purchases. So the customer should

be invited to participate in the survey. Setting realistic expectations during the sales

process is a vital component of making happy customers. How a company sets and

meets product and service expectations plays a pivotal role in fashioning customer

opinions. How a company meets or exceeds expectations is measured in three

important areas: product/service, support, and price. These three areas will be used to

factor a score for the Expectations category. The results of the three questions will be

used to factor an overall expectations perception score.

50

The Purchase Decision category gives us a better understanding of how the customer

perceives the purchase process. Two key areas for questions include an open ended

question on why they purchased and a ratings question on their experience. The rating

Question data will be used for the analysis of Purchase Decision category. The open

ended responses from the “Why” questions will be used for product strengths

analysis. The results of the purchase experience question will be used for the overall

Purchase perception analysis. Customer service is one of the most important

differentiations a company can have. For this report, customers will rate a company in

three key areas: customer service, timeliness for problem resolution, and expertise.

These three areas will be used to factor a score for the Customer Service category.

Purpose of Literature Review

Literature review is one of the prime parts of every project. The very basic purpose of

the literature review is to gain insight on the theoretical background of the research

problem. It helps the researcher to gain strong theoretical basis of the problem under

study and also help to explore whether any one has done research on the related issue.

That’s why literature review helps one to find out the path of problem solving. In this

regards the very basic purpose of the literature review in this dissertation is same as

mentioned

Statement of the Problem

The present study would like to have an insight of consumer’s perception about the

criteria of selecting the KnowlAdge product especially to figure out whether it is

brand driven or quality driven.

Need of the study

There is no doubt that the company’s market share is falling down. So this study will

help to understand and identify what the consumer feels or perceives about

51

KnowlAdge educational software products. This will help the marketer to identify

which all are the factors that a consumer looks in to when he selects a particular

product. And also explains how a consumer selects and interprets the qualities of the

product.

Objectives of the Study

1) To analyze consumer perception towards knowledge products.

2) To get feedback on what consumer expects from knowledge.

3) To analyze consumer perception towards services offered by KnowlAdge.

Methodology

The research will be done through survey method. The collection of data will be done

through questionnaire, interview and related websites

The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers those who having

KnowlAdge product.The area of this survey consists of Kochi city.

The collection of data will be done with the help of a structured questionnaire. The

designing of questionnaire needs precision and classification of the subject, so that the

respondents can easily understand the question and can answer it sincerely and

correctly.

Sources of Data

Primary data:-

Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is

firsthand information for the direct users of respondents. The tools used to collect the

data may vary and can be collected through various methods like questionnaire,

personal interview

Secondary data:-

52

Secondary data is the data which is already been collected and assembled. This data is

available with the companies or firms and it can be collected from newspapers,

periodicals, magazines, websites etc.

Sample Design

Sample

The sample size taken for this research is 100 customers having KnowlAdge product.

Sampling Technique

Convenient Sampling technique is used for this project.

Data Collection Tool

Questionnaires as the primary form of collecting data.

Statistical techniques

3. Bar Diagrams

4. Pie-Chart

Statistical tools

2. Statistical software like Microsoft Excel

Scope of the study:-

The study helps in having an awareness of customer satisfaction towards KnowlAdge.

As the product had a good reputation in the market, this study will help to know that

53

how KnowlAdge lost their grip in IT industry. It also helps us to increase our practical

knowledge towards marketing of a company.

Limitations of the study:-

a) In this study it is not possible to collect the opinion of all the customers

owing to personal constraints. So the assumptions are drawn on the basis

of the information given by the respondents.

b) The study needs to be completed within a specified time of two month and

in certain restricted areas. So the findings cannot be generalized for the

company as a whole.

c) This study covers only a limited IT sector. So this study will not be

applicable for those areas.

Factors influencing consumer perceptions of a brand

Kotler defined perception as the process by which information is received, selected, organised and interpreted by an individual. Some of the factors that influence consumer perceptions of a brand include:

Quality: this is one of the factors which consumers take into account when making their choice of brand. According to Uggla, quality is an integrals part of brand identity.

Price:McDonald and Sharp stated that price can be used as a reason for brand choice in two ways; either by going for the lowest price in order to escape financial risk or the highest price in order to achieve product quality. According to söderlund, price, place and brand are three important factors when deciding consumers purchase choice in everyday product.

Influence by others: according to Kotler et al, influence by others plays a vital role in consumer’s decision processes. Consumers have the habit of consulting each other regarding a new product or brand and seeking their advice. The advices of other people have a strong effect on consumers buying behaviour. However, the degree of such affect depends on the situation or individual. Later adapters tend to be more influenced than early adapters. Influence by others cannot be sharpened by marketers. A buyer can also be influence culturally i.e. value, behaviour and preferences from family or other institution or socially.

54

Advertising: the main aim of advertisement is to create awareness. Advertisement is a conspicuous form of communication. According to Aaker, if advertising, promotion and packaging embrace a regular positioning strategy over a period of time, there is the tendency that the brand will be strong. Some ways of reaching and communication to consumers through advertising is through television, cinema, radio, bill board etc.

Packaging: this is the process of designing the cover of a brand/product. According to Kotler et al, packaging is a form of advertisement in the sense that it sales duties such as attracting consumers, describing and selling the product

Convenience: according to Lin and Chang, convenience of a brand has a significant effect on consumer. In other word, easy access to brand/product in store is vital when buying low involvement product.

CHAPTERIZATION

1. Introduction

2. Research Methodology

3. Profile of the Industry and Company

4. Analysis of the Data Collected

5. Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion

Bibliography

55

CHAPTER 4

ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION

INTRODUCTION

Research methodology is a framework, a blue print for the research, which guide the

collection and analysis of data.

56

Research methodology is being framed in order to achieve the research objectives. It

is an expression of what is expected of the research exercise in terms of result and the

analytical input need to convert data into research findings.

Research methodology minimizes the degree of uncertainty involved in the

management decisions. Research lays the structure for decision-making.

RESEARCH DESIGN

• Type of Research:

This research is descriptive in nature. Descriptive research includes surveys

and face- finding enquires of different kind. The Major purpose of descriptive

research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. The main

characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the

variables.

The data collected here may relate to the demographic or the behavioral variables

of the respondents under study.

• Research Instrument:

In the survey method I have used questionnaire as a research instrument this is

written & organization format contemning the entire question relevant to solicited

the required information.

Because of its flexibility the data is collected from large population about their

awareness attribute, opinion past present behavior to check that the questionnaire

surveys the necessary purpose it should be tested as a limited scale and this is

technically known as pilot survey.

This questionnaire consist multiple choices and some this close-ended structured

question are easy to summarize and there is no scope for misinterpretation.

• Data Collection

57

The decision-making must be objective and fact based in nature. This is achieved

by collecting and analyzing appropriate data. Data may be broadly divided into

two categories namely primary data & secondary data. The primary data are those

data, which are collected for the first time by the organization, which having

already been collected by some other agency but also can be used by organization

under considering. Primary data may be collected by observation, oral

investigation and questionnaire method or by telephone interview. In this study,

for primary data collection we have used questionnaire method. This is written

and in organized format containing all question relevant to soliciting type, in

which all questions and answers is specified and comments in the respondents

own words are held to a minimum, the unstructured questionnaire is useful in

carrying out in depth interviews where the aim is to probe for attitudes and

reasons. For this study we are using structured questionnaire (annexure-A) and

carry out the personal interviews with users and dealer. Sometimes we have

carried out in-depth interviews and observe the situation to get more in depth

information about the topic. In the structured personal interview method the

information is likely to be more accurate and reliable because the interviewer can

clear up doubts and cross check the respondents. Moreover this method is most

flexible, no response is very low. Supervision & control is possible.

For secondary data we have used the data prepared by KnowlAdgeEducational

Software Company & other data circulated by Educational Software manufacturer

companies.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

58

TABLE SHOWING CONSUMERS USING KNOWLADGE

PRODUCTS

Sl. No. Opinion Number of respondents Percentage

1 Yes 86 86%

2 No 14 14%

3 Total 100 100%

59

CHART

INTERPRETATION

86% of the respondents are the consumers of KnowlAdge products, and remaining

14% of the respondents are not consumers of KnowlAdger products.

TABLE SHOWING REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING

KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

Sl. No. Opinion Number of respondents Percentage

1 High price 37 37%

2 Low quality 0 0%

60

3 Less availability 50 50%

4 Lack of variety 13 13%

5 Total 100 100%

CHART

61

37

50

13

CHART SHOWING REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

High PriceLow QualityLow AvailabilityLack Of Variety

INTERPRETATION

From the above table it is clear that consumers are giving preference to the factors

mainly higher price and less availability. And they give second preference to the lack

of variety in KnowlAdge products.

TABLE SHOWING REASONS FOR PURCHASING KNOWLADGE

PRODUCTS.

62

Sl. No Opinion Number of respondents percentage

1 Quality 69 69%

2 Price 0 0%

3 Design 11 11%

4 Special interest to KnowlAdge 20 20%

5 Total 100 100%

CHART

63

Quality Price Design Special Interest to Knowladge

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7069

0

11

20

CHART SHOWING REASONS FOR NOT PURCHASING KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

Respondents

INTERPRETATION

There is a tendency that majority of the respondents are buying KnowlAdge products

(69%) because of its quality. Some others are buying the product with special interest

to KnowlAdge products (20%), and rests of the peoples are giving consideration to

the design of the product.

TABLE SHOWING QUALITY OF KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

64

Sl. No. Particulars Number of respondents Percentage

1 Declining 9 9%

2 Increasing 51 51%

3 Constant 26 26%

4 Don’t know 14 14%

5 Total 100 100%

CHART

65

Declining Increasing Constant Don't Know0

10

20

30

40

50

60

9

51

26

14

CHART SHOWING QUALITY OF KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

Respondents

INTERPRETATION

From the above table we can realize that 51% of respondents tell about increasing

quality of KnowlAdge product, 26% is says that the quality of KnowlAdge product is

constant.

TABLE SHOWING CONSUMER’S RESPONDS TOWARDS

PACKAGES OF THE PRODUCTS

66


1 Excellent 30 30%

2 Good 56 56%

3 Average 10 10%

4 Poor 4 4%

5 Very poor 0 0%

CHART

67

30

56

10

4

CHART SHOWING CONSUMER’S RESPONDS TOWARDS PACKAGES OF THE PRODUCTS

ExcellentGoodAveragePoorVery Poor

INTERPRETATION

From the above chart is clear that most customers have good respondents towards the

packing of KnowlAdge products.

TABLE SHOWING HIGH PRICE FOR THE KNOWLADGE

PRODUCT

68


1 Yes 70 70%

2 No 22 22%

3 Don’t know 8 8%

4 Total 100 100%

CHART69

Yes No Don't know0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

70

22

8

CHART SHOWING HIGH PRICE FOR THE KNOWLADGE PRODUCT

Respondents

INTERPRETATION

Here 70% of the respondents are of the opinion that the prices of the KnowlAdge

products are very high. But the opinion of the 22% of respondents is saying against

them and 8% of the respondents have no idea about it.

TABLE SHOWING SOURCES OF AWARENESS ABOUT THE

PRODUCT70

Sl. No Sources Number of respondents Percentage

1 advertisement 32 32%

2 friends 26 26%

3 family 40 40%

4 others 12 12%

5 total 100 100

CHART

71

32

26

40

12

CHART SHOWING SOURCES OF AWARENESS ABOUT THE PRODUCT

AdvertisementFriendsfamilyothers

INTEPRETATION

The survey says that 40% of respondents are aware about the product from

family.32% respondents aware about the product from advertisement.26%from

friends and very less percentage is aware from others.

YEARLY SALES OF KNOWLADGE

72

INTERPRETATION

From the above data it was found that only in the year 2008-09 company

showed high performance. Graph shows the growth and decline of the company.

Company has to perform much higher than the last year’s sales in order to sustain in

the market.

TABLE SHOWING COMPARISON OF KNOWLADGE

PRODUCTS WITH ITS COMPETITORS PRODUCTS

Sl. No Particulars No. of respondents Percentage

1 About the same 15 15%

2 Much better 45 45%

3 Somewhat better 28 28%

4 Somewhat worse 7 7%

5 Much worse 5 5%

CHART

73

About the same

Much better Somewhat better

Somewhat worse

Much worse0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

15

45

28

75

CHART SHOWING COMPARISON OF KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS WITH ITS COMPETITOR’S PRODUCTS

Respondents

INTEPRETATION

45% of respondents say that KnowlAdge products are much better than its

competitor’s products. 28% says somewhat better and very less percentage have

worse reply toward the products of KnowlAdge.

TABLE SHOWING WILLINGNESS OF RESPONDENTS TO

PURCHASE THE PRODUCTS AGAIN

74

Sl. No Particulars No. Of respondents Percentage

1 Definitely 62 62%

2 Might or might not 34 34%

3 Definitely not 4 4%

CHART

75

Definitely Might or might not

Definitely not0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7062

34

4

CHART SHOWING WILLINGNESS OF RESPONDENTS TO PURCHASE THE PRODUCTS AGAIN

Respondents

INTEPRETATION

About 62% of respondents are definitely willing to purchase the products again.

About 34% have the decision pending. Very less percentage is not willing to buy the

products again.

76

CHAPTER 5

FINDINGSAND

CONCLUSION

FINDINGS

77

• Quality of the KNOWLADGE EDUCTIONAL SOFTWARE COMAPANY

is good.

• The distribution channel of the company is poor.

• 86% of the respondents are the consumers of KNOWLADGE products, and

remaining 14% of the respondents are not consumers of KNOWLADGE

products.

• The products of the company are sold mainly at our own outlets.

• Sales promotion activities of company are very poor.

• Good infrastructural facilities.

• Most of the respondents are of the opinion that the prices of the products of

KNOWLADGE are very high.

• The company has fewer shares in the market.

• The factory has well equipped lab and uses modern technologies.

• Customers are not aware of KNOWLADGE products because of lack of

advertisement.

• Maximum priority is given to produce quality products.

• From the survey it was found that the company has less variety of products.

• About 62% of respondents are definitely willing to purchase the products

again. About 34% have the decision pending. Very less percentage is not

willing to buy the products again.

78

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION79

In my brief study of the organization, I came to know that KNOWLADGE

EDUCTIOANL SOFTWARE’s production here is of excellent quality. In this

competitive world, unless our industries adopts modern techniques and know how to

produce high quality products with fewer prices, it is difficult to survive.

To sum up the KNOWLADGE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE COMPANY is an

organization which contribute significant role for the educational development of

Kerala state. It provides direct and indirect employment opportunity to large number

of people. The successful performance of the company is essential not only for the

development of a specialized locality but also our country as a whole.

80

CHAPTER 6

SUGGESTIONS

81

SUGGESTION

• The company should appoint efficient distributors to supply products.

• They should ensure that KNOWLADGE educational products are

available to the customers.

• Put more effort in supplying products in Publisher’s shops.

• KNOWLADGE should give importance to sales promotional activities to

increase sales.

• They should employ young workers having technical skills.

• KNOWLADGE should conduct proper marketing researches to know the

customers tastes and preferences.

• The company should provide good working environment to increase

productivity of workers.

• They should improve brand image in urban area.

82

BIBLIOGRAHPY

83

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TEXTBOOKS REFERRED

Kotler Philip, Marketing Management, Pearson Education Inc. 11th Edition.

Consumer Behavior – Building Marketing Strategy 9th Edition 2003, Tata

McGraw Hill.

Stanton William J, Etzel Michael J, Walker Bruce J, Fundamentals of

Marketing,

McGraw-Hill international, Singapore, 1998

MAGAZINES

Business Today

Business World

Business standard

NEWSPAPER REFERRED

Economics Times

Business Times

The Times of India

Business Standard

WEBSITES

www.knowladge.in

www.wikipedia.org

www.quickmba.com

www.netmba.com

84

http://www.netmba.com/

http://www.quickmba.com/

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.knowladge.in/

APPENDIX

Topic- A study on Customer’s Attitudes Towards KNOWLADGE EDUCATIONAL

SOFTWARE COMPANY with special references to KNOWLADGE EDUCTIONAL

SOFTWARE COMPANY, KOCHI.

Section 1

• Name of the respondent:

• Sex:

• Age:

• Occupation:

Section 2

• Do you know about KNOWLADGE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE

COMPANY?

Yes ( ) No ( )

• Are you a user of KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS?

Yes ( ) No ( )

• How long you have used KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS?

Less than 6 months ( ) more than 6 months but not less than 1 year ( ) 1-3

years ( ) over 3 years ( ) never used ( )

• How would you rate our products?

Excellent ( ) good ( ) average ( ) poor ( ) very poor ( )

• How often do you buy?

Once per week or month often ( ) 2 to 3 times per month ( )

Once per month ( )

• Compared to other competitor’s products KNOWLADGE PRODUCTS are ;

About the same ( ) much better ( ) somewhat better ( ) somewhat worse ( )

Much worse ( )

• What do you say the value of the company’s products as compared to its price;


• How satisfied are you with regards to the usage;

Very satisfied ( ) somewhat satisfied ( ) neither satisfied nor dissatisfied ( )

somewhat dissatisfied ( ) dissatisfied ( )

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• What you look in your purchase please in order of performance ;

Price ( ) brand image ( ) company image ( ) quality ( ) features ( )

• Your opinion about packages of the products ;


• Will you purchase the products again ;

Definitely ( ) probably ( ) might or might not ( ) probably not ( ) definitely

not ( )

• What is the experienced quality level of the product ;


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CUSTOMER PERCEPTION

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