Professional

Networks
In India

Professional Networks in India is a

research project to understand the
consumer perception about the
internet services in India. We tried to
understand through the project what
Exploring Consumer
makes an individual to be a part of a Preference for Professional
social networking site. What are the
motivational factors, what are the
Network In India
inherent needs that makes them (http://prof.net.in)
active participants in the social
networking sites like Facebook and
LinkedIn?
 Professional Networks In India

A study to know the perception of Indian Professionals

towards Social Media Networks.

Under guidance

Of

DR.Vimi jham

(prof.Marketing and Comsumer Reaserch)

Team No.

Memebers

Mohit Sharma -09FT-088

Neeraj Kumar-09FT-096

Raghav Agarwal-09IB-041
Table of Contents
Abstract:......................................................................................................................................................7
Elements of Consumer Learning..................................................................................................................8
Motivation:..........................................................................................................................................9
Cues:....................................................................................................................................................9
Response:............................................................................................................................................9
Reinforcement:....................................................................................................................................9
Thee Hit Model..........................................................................................................................................10
Awareness.........................................................................................................................................10
Relevance..........................................................................................................................................10
Benefits..............................................................................................................................................10
Research Purpose......................................................................................................................................10
Research Objectives..................................................................................................................................10
Write up of In-depth Interviews:...............................................................................................................11
Questionnaire:...................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................19
 Acknowledgements

We express our sincere thanks to Dr vimi jham, our Mini Project guide to have given us the
opportunity to work on such a challenging project. We also would like to thank the professors and
students who helped us in the reviews, without which it would not have been possible to accomplish
the project successfully. Their timely feedback has facilitated in bringing the project in the present
form.

Last but not the least I would also like to thank our friends who took time off to share insights about
their experiences about social networks. This helped us immensely to understand the psyche of the
consumer. We just hope that the recommendations and suggestions presented by us are considered
seriously.
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Team No. has successfully completed the mini project, as
a part of academic fulfillment of Master of Business Administration (MBA) in
the area of Consumer Behavior.

PROJECT GUIDE
(Dr. Vimi Jham)
Date:
IMT-G
 Preface

Today’s business dynamics is very fast; environment is changing. To understand the changing
market behavior the organization has to do a systematic study. A project work is a scientific and
systematic study intended to catch the nerves of the problem or issue with the application of
management concept and skills. We were assigned to understand the customer’s perception and
attitude towards Online Professional Networks on internet. The Internet Penetration in India is
Increasing day by day and Professionals want to stay connected all the time with most of the people
which will increase their reach and connectivity .Service Industry is growing by huge numbers and
need of staying connected with people of the same genre is increasing .We have social media sites
like orkut ,facebook and you have professional site like likendin. However there is always a gap
where we can club social ethos with professional objectives .so to have a feel what our target
audience feels about the proposed network here we done with the study which has evolved some
useful results which be used in future for shaping up these ventures .

Apart from theoretical concept of the topic, we have included the findings and Suggestions.
 Abstract

Professional Networks in India connects the Professors and students of various B-schools in India.

Professional Network connects the Professors and students all over India to share their knowledge for
the well-being of the future generation. The network helps you to get in touch with the most
knowledgeable person on a particular subject and topic.

You can go through the posts of the faculty and students. The online chat system helps you get the
instant guidance.

If you want to learn, Professional Networks is the best place for you.

We are constantly putting our efforts to make this network much worth to you in terms of the content
and the knowledge shared by experienced professionals in Academic and Industry.

The aim is to create a network that helps you connect seamlessly on any topic and get guidance from
the Guru’s of that topic.

The rate at which companies are increasing their online marketing expenditures, the future of a social
networking site in India is good. The advantages like connectivity, knowledge sharing provided by the
social media networks is immense. Although many people complain the social media to take a share of
their day to day life what they could have used the better way. But this is a topic of use or abuse of a
particular innovation.

Social networking, popularized by teens sharing information with their friends online on Web sites such
as Facebook Inc., is now blooming in the business world, thanks to new social networks that enable
professionals and executives in industries such as advertising and finance to rub virtual elbows with
colleagues.

Millions of professionals already turn to broad-based networking sites like LinkedIn to swap job details
and contact information, often for recruiting purposes. Business executives also have turned to online
forums, email lists and message boards to sound off on information related to their industries.

Social networking is just one of many consumer technologies, including blogs, wikis and virtual
worlds, to cross over into the corporate world. It is happening as social networking is moving
more into the mainstream. Leading consumer social-networking sites attracted more than 110
million unique monthly U.S. visitors in July, up more than 40% from the previous July,
according to comScore Inc.
For a variety of reasons, social networking has been slower to take off in the business world.
Employees are wary of disclosing too much to potential competitors, and loose-lipped executives
can easily embarrass themselves and their companies online. Policing these services'
memberships to weed out impostors can be difficult, and the sites are still in the early stages of
turning their networks into sustainable businesses. Also, business users typically have less time
to devote to socializing online and are willing to do so only if they believe they are getting a
unique benefit from the site

Facts: - Available Research on Internet

Some of the stats collected by I4CP are as follows:

“About half (52%) of respondents whose organizations are using social networking sites do so to
keep internal staff and remote employees connected, while 47% of total respondents use the
networks to connect with potential clients and to showcase their skills. A total of 35% say they
use networks to assist them in finding a job. “

“Of those respondents who do not currently utilize social networks, the top reason (37%) is
simply that they don’t know what networks to use. The majority of respondents (59%) said they
would likely use social networks if they knew that such use would assist their professional
development (31% say they already do), and a full 77% would welcome using them if they
thought the networks could aid organizational efficiency.”

This report actually shows a gap in social networking. Much of social networking, hence
“social”, is used for entertainment purposes and I believe there’s a gap in the business social
space

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-networking-for-business-
professionals/5043/#ixzz0yIQbJcn7

Elements of Consumer Learning

Consumer learning is an ongoing process which evolves and changes as a result of newly acquired
knowledge or actual experiences.

The basic understanding of elements of consumer learning should be reflected in the product or service.
In ProfNet’s development we have incorporated the following elements:
Motivation:
The main targets of ProfNet are the B-School fraternity (i.e. Student, Professors), Alumni & Industry
experts/ mentors. So ProfNet aims to motivate them by providing certain mutual benefits:

1. Professional Networking: ProfNet aims to build a communication platform between

Management Gurus, professors and students of Top B-schools. ProfNet allows its users to
connect through your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter Accounts. This synchronizes
different online social media platforms to give a better connectivity.

2. Research work & Live Projects: It will help its users to exchange research papers, projects.
This network can bring long-term benefits to all participants in terms of education and
industrial exposure and project work.

Cues:
In order to promote ProfNet the following cues have been used:

1. Blogs, Write-ups, interviews

2. Students’ and Professors’ personal domains free of cost.

3. Promoting through banners & posters

4. Promotion through other social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.

Response:
ProfNet promotion created a lot of buzz in the IMT-Ghaziabad Campus. Within 2 days of initial
registration we had close to 50 hits. Apart from these students were quite enthusiastic about
posting their work on ProfNet.

During focus interviews there was a lot of excitement and suggestions from the students. This
showed that they are waiting for the service to start.

Reinforcement:
After the users start using ProfNet regularly it is highly imperative that ProfNet updates its
services for users’ convenience and efficient use by them. ProfNet intends to provide following
features to its users as a part of reinforcement strategy:
1. 5 Email IDs
2. Online Chat features
3. Cloud Computing
Thee Hit Model
Awareness

Relevance

Benefits

Attitude

Structural Model of Attitude

See from book

Tricomponent Attitude Models

See from book

Multiattribute Attitude Models

See from book

Attitude Formation
See from book

Strategies of Attitude change

See from book
 Research Purpose

To conduct feasibility study to find out if the concept of launching Professional Network in India is a
viable business solution.

Research Objectives
 To study the consumer group behavior of B-School graduates for providing access to knowledge
between different B-schools.

 To study the online surfing behavior of current B-school graduates.

Methodologies

 Focus Group Interviews

Target Group

 B schools Professors
 B school Students

Sample Size

 33

Tools Used

 Pen
 Paper
 Voice Recorder

Colleges Targeted

 IMT-G
  MDI
 FMS

Write up of In-depth Interviews:

We started with the random selection of the students from the I.M.T. Ghaziabad. We conducted 20 in-
depth interviews and 5 focus group interviews to study the consumer behavior of the students towards
the acceptability of Professional Networks in India (prof.net.in, henceforth).

Most of the students perceived the service as an innovative concept. For them, prof.net.in is an attempt
to collaborate all their work which in their views would make their life easy. They considered the
Professional Networks as the one stop solution for their day-to-day activities.

Few students supported the concept with the prediction of high future growth opportunities for this
service. But at the same time they were not clear about the motivations behind the engagements on the
network. They appreciated the search visibility whatever professional networks get on the search
engines. In addition, they argue for the benefits that should be given to them on part of being the
network. One of the participants suggested about the reward points on the articles posted by various
students and recognition in an annual seminar may boost up members to contribute more to the
network. They visualize the lack of ecosystem to support the continuous growth of this concept at this
particular time.

Some of the participants suggested having the critical mass and escape velocity first before launching
the network all over India. They suggested following strategy to grow slowly for the long term survival in
the market where giants like LinkedIn and Facebook already has a major presence and market share.

We also come to know that consumers perceive the online services to be available to them for free.
Very few students pay for the service they use on Internet. Although we are providing a service worth
6000/ per year to them at 1499/- per annum, still the willingness to grab the offer was not there. They
liked the service but were not ready for the service even at these prices. Most of the people perceived
the cost of company to come in the range of Rs 1000- Rs 1500/ for an individual.

Some of the students were satisfied with the services they got from the LinkedIn and Facebook. They
were not willing to spend even a minimal amount of 199/ per year for getting their domain name
registered on their name and the entire service for free.

Some of the students expected the service to help them in their placement process. They were willing to
maintain their profiles and blogs if placement committee approves the particular service and allows
them to mention their website URL on their resume. They also perceived that the recruiters already
come with criteria set in their mind and they do not have time to explore what a particular student has
done in his career. Instead, they select students who qualify as per their criteria and then they explore
their resume. In their views, the professional networks do not have much utility from placement point
of view.

Most of the people perceived the subscription fee as the major hurdle coming on the way to the
popularity of this concept. If you want to be LinkedIn or Google, you need to follow the same path. First
come with the basic services offer them for free, and try to move the user up the value chain using your
Pro services.

Some of the participants did not feel this particular service at all relevant to them. They wanted
instantaneous rewards from being the part of the network. They considered their selves as not internet
savvy and they looked for few but intense relationships. Internet, for them, is a superficial thing.

Some of the participants suggested targeting the different market segment where you can get premium
services as this service will have more relevance to them. The corporate, job seekers and entrepreneurs
were some other target segment in their mind for this type of networking.

Apart from these resistance, students were enthusiast about this particular service and wanted to try it
for free or for an annual charge of less than 500/.
Questionnaire:

Depending upon the qualitative analysis done in the previous stages, we identified following
factors of utmost importance to the social media consumers. I am quoting sentences from our in
depth interview conversations:

1. All my friends are already active there.

2. I can find and communicate with the person of my choice at anytime.
3. The company reputation, a big name supporting the service, matters.
4. They provide the services with no charges at all to me.
5. I do not feel any need of spending money on owning my name on space.

Depending upon the responses from the qualitative research, we came with the following questionnaire
to measure the factors contributing to the acceptability of a particular service quantitatively.

Questionnaire (http://tinyurl.com/profnet4u):

1. With how many different people do you communicate regularly via the Internet?
2. Has the usage of the Internet influenced your life in a positive way?
3. Rank the following depending upon hours per week you spend on the following Internet
services: Educational Sites/Contents, Entertainment, e-mail (reading, writing), Social
Networking Sites, other services (sports...)
4. Do you feel a strong necessity to go onto the Internet when you are not online?
5. Do you ever feel guilty or depressed after using the Internet for a long time?
6. Do you feel bringing Professors, Students and alumni of B-schools of India through
Professional Networks would help improve the connectivity.
7. “My name is my identity, I would not lose it so easily” – neerajnarayan.in
Since just one .com or .in domain exists for your name, don't you feel that you should
own your name? To what extent you agree with the above statement?
8. Do you feel this particular service would give you better visibility and separate identity in
the fast moving internet world?
9. To what extent do you feel this particular network could provide one stop solution to all
your learning and connectivity needs?
10. In your view, how much should it cost the service provider for a year for providing you
this particular service?
11. How much are you willing to pay for this particular service for the entire year, taking into
consideration you own your domain name and 50 mail ids?
1. With how many different people do you communicate regularly via the Internet?

2. Has the usage of the Internet influenced your life in a positive way?

3. Do you feel a strong necessity to go onto the Internet when you are not online?
4. Do you ever feel guilty or depressed after using the Internet for a long time?

5. Do you feel bringing Professors, Students and alumni of B-schools of India through
Professional Networks would help the participants in long run?

6. “My name is my identity, I would not lose it so easily” – neerajnarayan.in

Since just one .com or .in domain exists for your name, don't you feel that you should
own your domain name (Rs 199/year)? To what extent you agree with the above
statement?
7. Do you feel this particular service would give you better visibility and separate
identity in the fast moving internet world?

8. In your view, how much should it cost the service provider for a year for providing
you this particular service?

9. How much are you willing to pay for this particular service for the entire year,
taking into consideration you own your domain name and 50 mail ids?
10. To what extent do you feel this particular network could provide one stop solution
to all your learning and connectivity needs?

11. Cluster Analysis on : “Help participants, Sense of ownership, Better visibility, One-
stop solution, Attitude towards Internet, Internet necessity in life”
Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded that though there are number of people interested in this Project,
it would take some time to make students realize the value of the professional network.