MARKETING STRATEGIES OF HP IN INDIA

A MINOR PROJECT REPORT

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree
of Bachelor of Business Administration programme of Guru Gobind Singh
Indraprastha University, Delhi.

SUBMITTED TO :

SUBMITTED BY:

MS.KOMAL AKHARIA

VIKHYAAT JAMWAL

FACULTY,KIHEAT

Enroll No:

KAMAL INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY

K-1 Extension, Mohan Garden,
New Delhi 110059
Batch (2015-2018)

DECLARATION

This is to certify that I have completed this Project titled Marketing Strategies of
HP in India under the guidance of Ms. Komal Akharia in partial fulfillment of
the requirement of the award of degree of Bachelor of Business Administration at
Kamal Institute Of Higher Education And Advanced Technology, Delhi. This is an
original piece of work and I have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.

DATE:

NAME: VIKHYAAT JAMWAL

PLACE: NEW DELHI

ENROLL NO:

CERTIFICATE
2

This is to certify that the project titled Marketing Strategies of Hp in India is an

academic work done by VIKHYAAT JAMWAL submitted in the partial
fulfillment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration from
Kamal Institute Of Higher Education And Advance Technology Delhi, under my
guidance & direction. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the data &
information presented by him in the project has not been submitted earlier
.
Ms. KOMAL AKHARIA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
KIHEAT

II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3

I find great pleasure in presenting this report entitled MARKETING

STRATEGIES OF HP IN INDIAI would like to extend my earnest gratitude to all
those whom I owe this report to.
I am grateful to the management and faculty of Kamal Institute Of Higher Education
And Advance Technology, affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,
Delhi for giving me such an exposure which has certainly been a rich learning
experience
In particular, I would like to thank Ms. KOMAL AKHARIA, my research guide for
her valuable suggestions and guidance.
Despite all efforts, I have no doubt that error and obscurities remain that seen to
afflict all research project and for which I am culpable.

VIKHYAAT JAMWAL

III

TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.NO

TOPIC

PAGE NO

Title Page

Declaration

Certificate

II

Acknowledgement

III

Chapter-I: Introduction

1-30

About HP
HP Fast Facts
HP Shared Values
Global Citizenship
Objectives Of the study
Scope Of The Study
Marketing Mix
Competititors

Chapter-II: Research Methodology

Research Methodology
Research Approach
Consumer Behaviour
Decision Making Process

31-39

Chapter-III: Data Analysis and Interpretation

Data analysis and interpretation

Findings OF The Study

Chapter IV: Conclusions

40-53

54-57

Conclusions
Limitations Of The Study
Suggestion

Questionaire

58

Bibliography

60

CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

About HP:
HP is a technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the world.
It explores how technology and services can help people and companies address their
problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations and dreams. It
applies new thinking and ideas to create more simple, valuable and trusted experiences
with technology, continuously improving the way our customers live and work.
No other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. It provides
infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of the
world's most powerful supercomputer installations. It offers consumers a wide range of
products and services from digital photography to digital entertainment and from
computing to home printing. This comprehensive portfolio helps us match the right
products, services and solutions to our customers' specific needs.

Mission:

HP's mission is to invent technologies and services that drive business value, create
social benefit and improve the lives of customers with a focus on affecting the
greatest number of people possible.

HP Fast Facts:

1. HP was founded in 1939.

2. Corporate headquarters are in Palo Alto, California.
3. Meg Whitman is president and CEO.
4. HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $127.2
billion for fiscal 2011.
5. HP's 2011 Fortune 500 ranking: No. 11
6. HP serves more than one billion customers in more than 170 countries on six
continents.
7. HP has approximately 324,600 employees worldwide.
8. HP's revenue for the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2011: $127.2 billion.
9. HP dedicates $3.6 billion (U.S.) annually to its research and development of
products, solutions and new technologies.

HPs Shared Values:

1. Passion for customers
It put our customers first in everything It do.
2. Trust and respect for individuals
It work together to create a culture of inclusion built on trust, respect and dignity
for all.
3. Achievement and contribution
It strives for excellence in all It do; each person's contribution is critical to our
success.
4. Results through teamwork
It effectively collaborates, always looking for more efficient ways to serve our
customers.
5. Speed and agility
It are resourceful and adaptable, and we achieve results faster than our
competitors.
6. Meaningful innovation
It is the technology company that invents the useful and the significant.

H.P.s Corporate Motives

1. Customer loyalty
It earn customer respect and loyalty by consistently providing the highest quality
and value.

2. Profit
It achieves sufficient profit to finance growth, create value for our shareholders
and achieve our corporate objectives.
3. Growth
It recognizes and seizes opportunities for growth that builds upon our strengths
and competencies.
4. Market leadership
It lead in the marketplace by developing and delivering useful and
Innovative products, services and solutions.
5. Commitment to employees
It demonstrates our commitment to employees by promoting and rewarding
based on performance and by creating a work environment that reflects our
values.
6. Leadership capability
It develops leaders at all levels that achieve business results, exemplify our
values and lead us to grow and win.
7. Global citizenship
It fulfills our responsibility to society by being an economic, intellectual and
social asset to each country and community where it does business.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. The major objective of the project is to understand the meaning of marketing
strategy an organization for the purpose of successful marketing.
2. To find how a good marketing strategy has helped HP in its marketing process.
3. To know how and why the marketing strategy of HP has helped it in attaining
the market share.
4. To study its goodwill in the market and appreciation all over the world.
5. The project will help understanding the changing dynamics of marketing with
increasing competition and changing environment.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study was to know the tactics and the strategies which made HP One of
the world's most successful IT companies and the numerous reasons HP success the
reasons for the worldwide acceptability of its products whether small or large business
or the individual customer. The HP persevere from the hard times surpassing its
competitors in the market globally. The factors which helped the company to grow
anonymously. To accomplish this, this procedure included the complete analysis of the
information available on the internet which provided me an inspirational learning.

Global citizenship:
Global citizenship is HPs commitment to hold ourselves to a higher standard of
integrity, transparency, and accountability. The values that have been present since HP
was founded in 1939 remain integral to our work today, helping us balance our business
7

goals with our impact on society and the planet. It has five global citizenship priority
areas: ethics and compliance, environmental sustainability, human rights and labor
practices, privacy, and social investment.
Its efforts in these areas help differentiate HP, reduce costs, and drive innovation as they
respond to growing market opportunities and stakeholder expectations.
They continue to focus on enriching people and communities around the world, striving
to be a force for positive and lasting change. At HP, practicing good global citizenship
includes supporting human and labor rights, making strategic social investments
particularly to advance student achievement and entrepreneur success, and protecting the
privacy of customer and employee information.

How does global citizenship contribute to HPs success?

Global citizenship helps our success because its important to our customers. Customers
care about HPs efforts in areas like climate change and human rights. They also value
ways it can help them be more successful. That could mean an energy-efficient data
center that cuts costs while reducing their carbon footprint, or a centrally managed
printing environment that increases productivity and saves resources. Global citizenship
also strengthens our own business in such areas as increasing efficiency, protecting
privacy and maintaining trust with our stakeholders.

Serving Enterprises:

At HP, It continually explores how technology and services can create new and better
ways for people to live, work, and play. Every day, it partner with our largest customers

to transform their current IT environments into business assets. It recognizes that CIOs
are now business managers who specialize in technology. It work hard to help them
create more manageable IT environments that cost less to operate and deliver more value
to the business. That can mean consolidating their IT infrastructures, speeding access to
information, enabling faster communication between branch offices and headquarters, or
helping them deal with obsolete IT equipment. HP solutions leverage our broad portfolio
from servers and storage to software and services, imaging and printing, and personal
computing technologyto help companies drive growth, lower business risk, and cut
costs.

Stock Performance Graph and Cumulative Total Return:

The graph below shows the cumulative total stockholder return assuming the
investment of $100 on the date specified (and the reinvestment of dividends thereafter)
in each of HP common stock, the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P Information Technology
Index.(1) The comparisons in the graph below are based upon historical data and are not
indicative of, or intended to forecast, future performance of our common stock.

Investment

Stock Performance Graph and Cumulative Total Return

300
200
2004/0ct
100
100
Hewlett-Packard
Company
0 100
S&P 500
S&P Information
Technology

100

2005/0ct

2006/0ct

2007/0ct

2008/0ct

2009/0ct

84.93

129.42

180.6

242.7

180.97

109.42

118.96

138.4

158.56

101.32

99.14

104.52

114.9

145.81

85.72

Hewlett-Packard Company

S&P 500

S&P Information Technology

Year

HP Retains Leadership:

2009 PC Shipments (Desktop PCs +

2010 PC Shipments (Desktop PCs +

Notebook PCs)

Notebook PCs)

Vendor

Market Share

Vendor

10

Market

Share

Hewlett-Packard

15.6%

Hewlett-Packard

18.2%

Dell

11.0%

HCL Info systems

9.8%

HCL Info systems

9.6%

Dell

9.7%

Lenovo

6.6%

Lenovo

4.7%

Descriptive Work
Indian IT Industry:

IT in India over the Years:

11

1. In 1991, new economic policies were introduced.

2. Foreign multinationals such as Coca Cola, Mercedes, IBM, HP flooded into
3. India, eager to take advantage of the cheap professional labor and the opening
up of one of the world's biggest markets.
4. Adoption of Globalization and liberalization principles brought tremendous
success BPO, IT, ITES, Retail and Insurance sector, health sector, education.
5. IT sector showed the most rapid growth amongst all the sectors.
6. Today more than 500 major international companies have IT operations in
Bangalore alone.
7. Intels Indian development center made chips for computer which are
compatible with Microsofts Operating System Vista.
8. Microsoft has established one of its 3 key centers in Bangalore other two being
in China and its HQ in New York.

12

MARKETING MIX

Marketing Mix is defined as the set of of the tools which the firm blends to
produce a positive response in the target markets

MARKETING MIX

PRODUCT

PRICE

PLACE

13

PROMOTION

1) The First PPRODUCT

Product is a key element in the market offering. Marketing mix planning being with
formulating to meet target customers need & wants. The customer will judge the
offering by three basic elements- features & quality, services mix & quality & price
appropriateness.
Kotler says that A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the
wants or needs of the consumers.
Products that are marketed include physical goods, services, events, experience, persons,
place, properties, organizations, informations & ideas.
A firm is not selling a product. It sells only the product benefit. Product is most
important variable in the marketing mix of the firm. If the product is sound & easily
acceptable to the market if it satisfies resellers need & consumer preference & is
carefully fitted to the needs & desires of the customers, sales success is assured. Hence
product is the center of all-marketing policies & decisions. The marketing planning
begins with the product & also ends with the product.

14

Company plans to increase their product range in the future. A brief

description of some products is as follows: Products Name:

Laptops, Notebook Computers & Tablet PCs

i. Everyday computing
Laptops for movies, music, photos and multitasking in your home or home office

ii. Performance & entertainment

Laptops for cutting-edge entertainment and gaming

iii. Ultra portable

Laptop computers or tablet PCs for on-the-go personal productivity and connectivity

iv. Mini
Perfect companion PC to keep you connected while you are on-the-go

Laptops for Business

i. EliteBook laptops
Best in class, packed with features and functionality

ii.

Compaq laptops
Advanced features for business

iii.

ProBook laptops

15

Stylish and affordable for small business options

Other laptops
HP Pavilion Home Desktop PCs
a)

Fitted with features that appeal to your whole family and yet flexible and reliable in meeting all
their needs.

b) Sleek in design; a stylish showpiece for the modern home however compact
the space, whatever the budget

HP Pavilion Elite Home Desktop PCs

a)

Fitted with features that appeal to your whole family and yet flexible and reliable in
meeting all their needs.

b) Sleek in design; a stylish showpiece for the modern home however compact the
space, whatever the budget.

i.

Monitors

i.

Home & Home Office monitors

ii.

Business Monitors

ii.

Options & Accessories

Keyboards, mice, memory, storage, speakers, headsets, webcams,

cables, gaming and other accessories for desktop computers.
i.

Home & Home Office desktop accessories

ii.

Business desktop accessories

16

i.

iii.

Extended service plans for Home & Home Office

iii.

Laser Printers, Inkjet Printers and Multifunction Printers

Color Printers
a)

Inkjet printers
DeskJet, Office jet, and Business Inkjet printers

I. Home inkjet printers

II. Business inkjet printers
b) Color laser printers

Color laser printers with HP LaserJet performance

I. Home colour lasers
II. Business colour laser

c) Large-format printers

HP Design jet, Design jet Commercial and Scitex printers; HP Indigo presses
I. Design jet printers
II. Other graphic arts products

ii.

Black & White Printers

17

1. Laser printers
HP LaserJet printers for high-speed, high-volume, high-quality Printing
Home laser printers
Business laser printers

iv.

Wireless printing

Enjoy the freedom to print from anywhere with HP's line of wireless
printers. Wireless allows greater mobility, no wires and shared printing.
Many HP printers have wireless printing built into the printer and HP offers

an

add-on to your existing printer.

Live Wirelessly. Print Wirelessly.

2. THE SECOND P- PRICE

Sales are only income for any business concern. But price is the main factor, which
affects the sale of the market. If the price is high, few buyers purchase and if the price is
low many buyers purchase. Therefore a sound pricing policy must be adopted to have
maximum sale revenue. Moreover, it is only through proper pricing policy the already
laid down marketing objective and corporate goals could be achieved.

Price is the exchange value of a product or service always expressed in tem of money. In
other words, price of a product or service is what the seller feels its worth on term of
money, when offered to a buyer.

18

To the customer, the price is an agreement between seller & buyer concerning what each
is to receive. The buyer is interested in the price of the whole package consisting of
physical product plus a bundle of expectation and satisfaction. The consumer has
numerous expectations such as after sale service, replacement of parts, technical
guidance & money other benefits.
However, to the seller, price is a source of revenue and a main determinant of profit. To
the seller, price is equivalent to the total product offering. This offering includes a brand
name, a package, product benefits, after sale service and so on. We can define price as
the money of the product or service agreed upon in a market transaction.
So,
Price in money = physical product + bundle of expectations

The Price Factor of PCs

India is a price-sensitive market. When the PC was launched in 1984, it cost well over
$4,450 here, and in the late 1980s, the price was around $2,220.
While the price was around $1,100 in the mid-90s, today, a MNC brand with multimedia
costs only around $761.
The Indian market has seen local assemblers stealing a march over their domestic and
multinational computer hardware rivals.
The Indian PC industry has also witnessed the rise and fall of many a domestic brand.
Prominent players who fell out include DCM-DP, Usha, PCL, Sterling and Unicorp,
though many Indian brands including HCL today account for nearly half of the branded
PC sales in the country.
The pricing adopted by HP India Pvt. Ltd. can describe under this subhead: Competitive pricing: - HP India Pvt. Ltd. adopted the method of pricing called
competitive pricing for their PCs. Under this policy, the price of HP PCs is fixed

19

according to the price of other competitor brand of the market & the price moves
accordingly.

The price list of the some IT Products of HP India Pvt. Ltd. is as follows:

Desktop

Price

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch Smart IQ504 Desktop

$972.99

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion Elite m9550f Desktop

$999.99

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Compaq Presario SR5710f

Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) TouchSmart IQ506 Desktop

20

$349.99

$799.96

Model

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion a6750f Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion s3710t Desktop Customizable

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch smart IQ526 Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch Smart IQ524 Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Firebird Voodoo DNA 802

Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch Smart IQ816 Desktop

21

$659.99

$379.99

$1175.0
0

$979.95

$972.99

$1299.9
9

3.)THE THIRD P PROMOTION

Promotion is the process of making communication involving information, persuasion

and influence. Promotion has three specific purposes. It communicates marketing
information to the customers, users & retailers. Promotion persuades and convinces the
buyer & enters into this consumer behavior. Promotional efforts act as powerful tools of
competition providing of cutting edge of its entire marketing programmed. Promotion
has been defined as the coordinated self initiated effort to establish channel of
information & persuasion to facilitate or faster the sale of goods or services, or the
acceptance of ideas of points of view. It is a non-price competition.
Broadly speaking, promotion means to push forward or to advance ideas in such a way
as to gain its acceptance & approval. It is an effort by the marketer to inform and
persuade buyer to accept, resell, recommend, or use the article, services or ideas, which
is being promoted. The promotional activity always attempts to affect knowledge,
attitude, preferences & behavior of recipient, i.e. buyers. The element of persuasion to
accept ideas, products, services etc., is the heart of promotion.
You may have the best product, package & so on. It may have a fair price. But people
will not buy your products, if they have never heard of it, and they are simply unaware
of its existence.

22

The market must communicate to his prospective buyer & provide them adequate
information in a persuasive language. People must know that the right product is
available at the right place & at the right price. This is the job of promotion in
marketing. In essence, promotion is the spark plug in our marketing mix. It is said that:Nothing until somebody promotes something
Promotion can create & stimulate demand, capture demand from rivals and maintain the
demand of your products even against keen competition. It is true that nothing can be
sold & nothing can make money (except mint) without means of promotion.

The communication & promotion mix includes four ingredients viz.

1.

Sales promotion.

2.

Advertising.

3.

Publicity.

4.

Personal selling.

1. Sales promotion

Sales promotion is an important instrument in marketing to lubricate the marketing

efforts. Today, sales promotion is a necessity & not a luxury. It is not expenditure, it is
an investment, which can pay a rich dividends. It is an integral part of marketing effort.
In a specific sense, sales promotion includes those sales activities that supplement both
personal selling & advertising & coordinated them and help to make them effective such
as displays, shows and expositions, demonstration and other nonrecurring selling effort
not in a ordinary routine. Sales promotion aims at stimulating the purchasing at the point
of sales & dealers effectiveness at the retail channel of distribution.

23

Sales promotion with the reference of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

Company plans to follow two kinds of promotional tool for their products. They are: -

(a)

Dealers promotion

(b)

Customers promotion

(a) Dealers promotion

To make a proper channel of distribution & to increase the market share of the company,
corporate plans to promote their dealer or retailers through the various promotional
strategies. Under which they provide a price off, a straight discount off the list price. The
offer encourages retailers as well as distributors to buy a quantity or carry a new item.

As it is company provide allowances to the distributors for the carrying out of the
companys brand. An advertising allowance compensates retailers for advertising the
companys products.

Company also provides free goods to the distributors as the offer for taking up extra
goods or for carrying new products. In the extra company plans to organize the industrial
associations in the form of trade fairs & conventions o stimulate the sale result of their
intermediaries.

(b) Customers promotion

24

Due to the proper attention towards the channel of intermediaries, company is not able
to give proper attention towards consumers promotion but they arrange whole the
method of local promotion for the awareness of the local customers. As it is they also
provides demonstration & gifts to the customers shortly by which products of the
company are able to create a spec in the customers mind.

2. Advertising
The modern age is an era of competition. To withstand competition manufactures have
to think of new & unfamiliar uses for their products or they have to find out new buyers
for their products. The patent medicine people were the first to prove what
advertisement could do.
Advertisement is the art of influencing human action the awakening for the desire to
possess & possess your product.
Advertisement consists of all the activities in presenting a group a non-personal, oral or
visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, services or idea.

Advertising with the reference of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

At present time the chairman of HP India Pvt. Ltd. give attention to make proper
distribution channel for their products. It is the companys policy that firstly they make
proper distribution channel for their products by which any customer either he/she will
be belongs to rural area or belongs to urban area got the product easily. After making
proper distribution channels, corporate plans to come through the media, because
advertisement on media requires heavy investment.
As far as advertisement is concerned HP India Pvt. Ltd. provides claim to their
respective stockiest of the different districts of the state for the local awareness /
promotion as per required by the stockiest of the districts.
Local promotion includes Banners, Holdings, and Cable TV. Adz Installing, Trade fairs,
Sponsorship etc. for the awareness of their products to the local customers. Because of
the company doesnt come through the media in present time i.e. why company bears all
the expanses for the local promotion as required by the distributors?

25

It is true, that it is not sufficient in todays high competitive marketing scenario, but after
the attainment of the proper distribution channel company definitely come through the
media which is a powerful source of demand generation in todays tough marketing
scenario & it is definitely provides a strong consumer pull to the new products of the HP
India Pvt. Ltd.

3. Personal selling
A salesman is one who practices the profession of selling. One can learn a lot about
selling and salesmanship just by thinking about definition of personal selling.
American marketing association defined salesmanship as the process of including and
assisting a prospective buyer to buy a commodity or service or to act favorably upon an
idea that has commercial significance to the seller.
E.F. Schumaker defined selling as the process affecting the transfer, with a profit to
buyer & seller, of goods & services that gives such lasting satisfaction that the buyer is
predispose to come back to seller for more of the same.
Personal selling refers to oral presentation in conversation or more prospective
customers for the purpose of making sales.
Personal selling involves two-way communication, a well defined problem is half
solved. Due to seller buyer interaction, personal selling alone can provide immediate
feedback of information, which enables salesman to understand properly the buyers
mind, his problems, his needs & his preferences.

Personal selling with the reference of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

As far as the HP India Pvt. Ltd. is concerned corporate plans the effective medium of
personal selling for their products. They provide full support to the salesman for selling
their products. Effective communication & facilities motivate salesman to make a good
relationship with the customers. Corporate actually knows the importance of the
phenomenon of the personal selling I.e. why they tries to implement the A-I-D-A-S
formula of personal selling. The brief description of this formula is as follows: -

26

A: - Attention The Attention of the customer.

I: - Interest

-- Create an Interest.

D: - Desire

-- Ignite the Desire of the customer.

A: - Action

-- Gaining an order.

S: - Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction.

4.)THE FOURTH P - PLACE

Marketer has to ensure the availability of its products to the target customers. If a
product is not available to the target customers at the right place, then he/she may shift
to competitive products. So place decision relates to:
(i)

Channel decision what kind of distribution channels a company adopts

between plants & consumer.

(ii)

Distribution channel policy whatever to go for extensive or selective or

exclusive distribution.

(iii)

Degree of selectivity among wholesalers & retailers.

(iv)

Effort to get the cooperation of the trade.

(v)

Physical distribution decision includes logistics, transportation, warehousing,

material handling, bulk packaging etc.

Meaning of channels of Distribution

Goods produced by the manufacturers must come to the knowledge of the ultimate
consumers. This is arranging by the sales promotion activities like salesmanship &
advertising. By mere knowledge, the prospective consumers are not happy. The products
must reach their hands for actual use. Channels of distribution are paths through which

27

products move from the point of production to the point of consumption. Distribution
channels are also called Trade channels.

Distribution Channels of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

State
Eastern

Distributors
Retailers
Customers

Central

Distributors

Western

Distributors

Retailers

Retailers

Customers

Customers

COMPETITORS

Major Brands of Computers in India

HCL Infosystems:
HCL Infosystems Ltd is one of the pioneers in the Indian IT market, with its origins in
1976. For over quarter of a century, we have developed and implemented solutions for
multiple market segments, across a range of technologies in India.

28

The countrys number one desktop brand had yet another great year selling
4.76 lakh units. The company targeted aggressively the B and C class cities and upped
its distribution network. The significant milestones over the last year include the launch
of the low cost Ezeebee Pride that came with an attractive price tag of Rs 12,990. It
attacked all the buying segments with low cost processors like via to industry standard
P4 HT offerings. The aggression HCL showed in pricing its product in a way kickstarted the price war with brands like Acer, and vendors like HP cutting down end-user
price points. Another significant development for HCL was its launch of the high-end
home PC called Neo, complementing its Beanstalk range. Neo was also the first desktop
brand in India to come with Windows XP Media Center OS. Meanwhile, on the
Notebooks front, HCL is the exclusive distributor of Toshiba in India whose volumes
scaled to 20,000 units, compared to last years 11,600 units. With Toshiba aligned to the
Higher end of the spectrum HCL was unable to tap the low and mid-end segments of the
portables. And to plug that, during the year the company made a low key launch of its
own brand of notebooks called eZeebee and Powerlite, which summed up to 3,000 units
during the fiscal. Meanwhile, the banking vertical did buy aggressively with large
mandates from SBI and other nationalized banks. From the government side, nodal
agencies like Tamilnadu ELCOT also went for large-scale installations. As a result of
growing demand for its offerings, the company is in the process of expanding its
Pondycherry plant.

Acer Computer International Limited

Few IT companies offer the breadth and depth of products that Acer Group does.
Leveraging the vast collective technological resources available - Acer India (Pvt) Ltd.,
was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International Ltd. on
9th September 1999. Acer's mission in India is to translate the Group's goal of making
computer technology easier to use and more affordable - to everyone in this country.
With a focused customer-centric approach, Acer in India is offering unmatched uptime
for all it's systems through a vast network of Service points, innovative and user friendly

29

functionality while continuously lowering barriers that limit the access to the fruits of
technology.

Zenith Computers:
This Indian company has, over the years, reinvented itself in more ways than one. In
that, FY 2004-05 can be called the year of innovation and new product launches for
Zenith. It launched seven notebookscalling it the power of sevenand priced it
aggressively, starting from Rs 35K for a low-end model and a Centrino at the sub Rs
60K. With its state of the art plant in Goa, zeniths manufacturing capabilities got upped
considerably and as a result of the number of manufacturing best practices the company
put in place, it went ahead full steam. The company claims that its impressive
performance was a result of it introducing higher and better range products, and backing
them with superior quality control and distribution. Meanwhile, on the exports front, the
company had mandates from Bangladesh and other SAARC countries, and its entire
product offerings were certified with CE and FCC norms.

IBM:
The acquisition of IBMs PC division by Lenovo in December 2004 was probably a
shocking and unexpected development in the global PC industry. Lenovo took over
IBMs personal computing division and in the bargain became the third largest computer
company in the world. According to IDC, Lenovos 2004 product volumes stood at 14
mn units. Meanwhile for IBM India, in the first three quarters of 2004, it shipped close
to 39,450 ThinkPad notebooks as against 16,036 the corresponding period the previous
year, representing a 146% growth. What drove the demand is buying from two kinds of
consumersfirst time notebook buyers went for the low cost sub Rs 40k notebooks,
while consumers who already owned notebooks went for high-end wireless notebooks.
Overall, IBMs market share in the notebook space hovered around 26% during the year.

Compaq India:
30

The worlds largest seller of PCs entered India in 1994. Initially, the commercial
segment (large corporations, government, educational & research institutions) was its
main target segment. But with recession in the economy in mid 1990s and the
consequent slashing of IT budgets of corporate, it turned its attention to the home
segment. However, it soon realized that its PCs, although perceived well on reliability
and quality, were considered too expensive. The assemblers and Indian brands were
cornering a major chunk of the market. It slashed prices of its sub brand Presario from
Rs.65, 000 to Rs.50, 000 to penetrate into the price conscious Indian households.
At the same time, Compaq is aggressively going after corporate segment by offering a
range of products tailored around services to meet specific needs. Its merger with Digital
Equipment further strengthened its position in the high-end server market.

Wipro Limited:
Wipro intends to focus more on the lucrative services business in future. Already,
services accounts for more than half of its turnover. In contrast, the contribution of
systems business dropped from 43 per cent to 25 per cent.
It had a joint venture with Acer for marketing the Wipro-Acer brand of PCs. However,
they called it off in 1999.
Wipro has a 500-strong dealer network. It also distributes IBM PCs and Sun
Microsystems.

31

CHAPTER-2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

32

Research Methodology
In application of market research the research has to go through several steps or stages
and these steps are following.

Step 1: Defining the Problem:

Defining the problem is the most important part of the market research process, because
wrong definition misdirects research.
The type of the research to be carried out, the questions to be raised, and the sampling
procedure to be followed and the data to be collected, all depend on the current
understanding of the problem.
HP is having tough competition in the market with other players these players are
assemblers and branded. There are many factors, which influence the buyer for
purchasing the PC.
A major step in the conduction of marketing research is the decision regarding the nature
of research design we are selecting for the purpose of our study.
The benefits of research design are that it evaluates clients need in terms of results and
the analytical work on the gathered data that will convert it to useful findings for the
management.
The selection of a particular design depends on the causality of the variables involved.
For the purpose of our study we intend to take up descriptive design.
They cover research designs that are intended to produce accurate descriptions of
variables relevant to the decision being faced, without demonstrating that some
relationship exists between variables.
Decision makers very often choose or are willing to accept descriptive data, which
would permit only inferences to be drawn about causation.
33

Here we are using cross-sectional design to produce a picture of the phenomena in

which the decision maker is interested for example, the market shares of various firms,
consumers brand images and consumption, consumer perception regarding PC

Step 2: Develop the Research Plan:

The second stage of marketing research calls for developing the most efficient plan for
gathering the needed information.
Designing a research plan calls for decisions on the data sources, Research approaches,
research instruments, sampling plan, and contact methods.

Research Approaches:
Primary data can be collected in five ways: Observation, Focus groups, Surveys,
Behavioral-data, and Experiments.

Observation research:
Fresh data can be gathered by, observing the relevant actors and settings.

Focus group research: A focus group is a gathering of six to ten people who are invited to spend a few hours
with a skilled moderator to discuss a product, service, organization, or other marketing
entity. The moderator needs to be objective, knowledgeable on the issue, and skilled ingroup dynamics. Participants are normally paid a small sum for attending. The meeting
is typically held in pleasant surroundings and refreshments are served.

Survey research: Surveys are best suited for descriptive research. Companies undertake surveys to learn
about people's knowledge, beliefs, preferences, and satisfaction, and to measure these
magnitudes in the general population.

34

This approach best suited for project-research hence this method was adopted (surveyresearch) for the project work.

Behavioral Data:
Customers leave traces of their purchasing behavior in store scanning data, catalog
purchase records, and customer data bases. Much can be learned by analyzing this data.

Experimental research:
The most scientifically valid research is experimental research. The purpose of
experimental research is to capture cause- and-effect relationships by eliminating
competing explanations of the observed findings.

1. Data Sources: The researches can gather secondary data, primary data, or both.
Secondary data are data that were collected for another purpose and already exit somewhere. Primary data are gathered for specific purpose or for a specific research project.
When the needed data do not exist or are dated, inaccurate, incomplete, or unreliable, the
researcher will have to collect primary data. Most marketing research projects involve
some primary data collection.
Same is the case for our project as well. For the purpose of our study we have collected
primary data in the form of (1) the datas nature and (2) its function in the ultimate
interpretation and analysis.

35

Types of data
1. Demographic
2. Sociological
3. Psychographic
4. Behavioral

Here we are going to analyze the opinions that how people perceive something what
they believe about it and what those believes signify. The most potent form of opinions
tends to be attitudes, which are mental sets of predispositions to act in some manner.
Here in our project we intend to analyze the opinions and attitudes of the target
population by using appropriate sample. So the data collected in our project is basically
demographic and behavioral.

Communication approaches
In deciding on which of the several of communication means to choose, a researcher has
much to consider a simple division of communication media into two broad types:
observation and questioning. Also we will consider the matters of whether to use
structure and disguise.
From the point of view of our project we have selected the questioning method of
communication with our selected respondents, and for that purpose we have drafted a
questionnaire to quantify and evaluate the customer responses.

2. Questioning

36

In the majority of research problems, the required information can be gained only by
asking for it. This is done mainly by interviewing, but also data maybe obtained through
self-administered questionnaires distributed by mail and other ways. As explained earlier
that we have selected the questionnaire method of data acquisition, therefore, we choose
to draft the questionnaire having closed ended questions and that will help us quantify
the results in an appropriate format.

Research instruments:
Marketing researchers have a choice of two main research instruments in collecting
primary data: Questionnaires and mechanical devices.

Questionnaires:
A questionnaire consists of a set of questions presented to respondents for their answer.
Because of its flexibility, the questionnaire is by far the most common instrument used
to collect primary data. Questionnaires need to be carefully developed, tested, and
debugged before they are administered on a large scale.
In preparing a questionnaire, the professional marketing researcher carefully chooses the
questions and their form, wording, and sequence. The form of the question asked can
influence the response. Marketing researchers distinguish
between closed-end and open-end questions. Closed-end questions-prespecify all the
possible answer. Open end-questions provide answers that are easier to interpret and
tabulate. Open-end questions often reveal more because they do not constrain
respondents, answers.
Finally, the questionnaire designer should exercise care in the wordings and sequencing
of questions. The questionnaire should use simple, direct, unbiased wording and should
be protested with a sample of respondents before it is used. The lead question should
attempt to create interest.

37

3. Mechanical

instruments:

Mechanical devices are occasionally used in marketing research. One example is of

Galvanometers used to measure the interest or emotions aroused by exposure to a
specific and or picture.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR- BASIC STRATEGY

It is a matter of wonder that why people behave the way they actually do in the market
place. At times we are mystified by our own acts being unable to rationalize them.
Innumerable questions constantly agitate the mind. For example, do advertisements lure
us into buying the products advertised? Why people buy impulsively on some occasions,
but in other instances act as careful shoppers?
These questions and such other questions infact are of equal importance to the marketer.
For example, if a marketer can unravel the consumer behavior what do they buy, how
do they buy and so on he can orient his strategy around these answers. Such a marketer
can acquire, serve, and retain the customers for life.
Knowing the customer thus is very important. A study of consumer behavior, though not
guaranteeing 100% success in the market place, raises the possibility of success. By
studying the potential customer, marketer gains insight into the attitudes, interests,
lifestyles, etc.of the target segment. It will help, for example a marketer to understand
how westernized portrayal of women will be acceptable to the customers in say, a
cosmetic ad. Thus, broadly speaking, consumer behavior study aims at identifying
groups of consumers with similar life styles who are likely to behave in a similar manner
when some product related news is communicated to them. Then a marketer can adopt
effective strategies to reach them, and make an offer.

38

DECISION MAKING PROCESS

When a prospective customer receives a marketing cue (product, price, promotion, and
placement related) he undergoes a process of decision making. This decision making is
conditioned by a variety of factors like personal, interpersonal, and non-personal factors.
If the impact of these factors is positive, then the customer can decide to purchase else a
purchase may not take place.
The consumer decision-making model is an appropriate tool this time to present the real
conditions in which the consumer decides to purchase. The all circumstances he goes
through. This model represents that upon receiving a marketing stimulus a customer
processes through the phenomenon of perception, learning, motivation, attituditional
disposition, etc.

Data source
To meet with consumers and asked to fill structured questionnaire and no secondary data
was collected.
Personal interviewing is the most versatile method. The interviewer can ask more
questions and record additional observations about the respondent, such as dress and
body language. Personal interviewing takes two forms. In arranged interviews,
respondents are contacted for an appointment.
Intercept interviews involve stopping people at a shopping mall or busy street corner and
requesting an interview.

39

Step 3: Collect the Information:

The data collection phase of marketing research is generally the most expensive and
most prone to error. The information collected should be both accurate and relevant as
per as the requirements of research project. Depending on the requirement, the
researcher has to work out a suitable data collection method.
Broadly data collection method can be classified into,
(a) Primary Methods: when data is directly collected by a researcher, they are known
as primary methods e.g. interviews and questionnaires.
(b) Secondary Methods: The data are termed secondary data when they were not
originally collected for use in the research project under consideration, they were
collected rather for use by some other person or for some other project.

Step 4: Analyze the Information:

The next step in the marketing research process is to extract findings from the collected
data. The researcher tabulates the data and develops frequency distributions. Averages
and measures of dispersion are computed for the major variables. The researcher will
also apply some advanced statistical techniques and decision models in the hope of
discovering additional findings.

Step 5: Present the Findings:

As a last step of market research process, Results (findings) are extracted from the
Analysis of information and are presented to the related party. The researcher should
present major findings that are relevant to the major marketing decisions facing
management. The findings should be written in a concise, simple and objective
orientated language.
For the purpose of our project, the analyses were conducted on the basis of following
conditions. As we earlier suggested that we are going to categorize the scores into
various intervals. Now as we have attached scores to all the parameters according to
their importance .
40

CHAPTER-3
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION

41

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Analysis is based on the responses, which I got from the different secondary data. Each
question has its own outcome and my result based on these outcomes.

The analysis is given below.

CONSUMERS WHO PURCHASE ASSEMBLED PC

50%

50%

CONSUMERS WHO PURCHASE BRANDED PC

1.

Co
mparison between Branded & Assembled.

42

It has been found that branded PC has equal market with assembler PC. But, in previous
years assembler were dominating the Indian PC market. But due to cutting the price by
companies branded PC has been growing in the market. I have also observed that
companies are highly indulged with the promotional activities as well as advertising to
take grip on the market. Companies have tie up with different banks to provide easy
finance schemes. Consumers are going for finance schemes to purchase the computers.

2. If we consider only branded players then the most preferable PCs

are as follows.

4% 4%
32%
12%
8% PCS ZENITH IBM OTHERS
HCL COMPAQ LG
8%
32%

HP and Compaq is the most preferable PC used by the consumers. Both the brands are
having a good image in the market. IBM is having 4% market share but IBM is good
brand but due to its high prices its not more preferable by the Indian consumers.

43

HP & Compaq both is having 32% shares in branded PC market. After that comes zenith
with 12% market. Zenith is also preferred by consumers because of its low price than
others. PCS and LG also having 8% share in the market.
There are also many players in branded segment like Wipro, dell etc. are having 4%
share.

Factors, which are taken into consideration while purchasing the PC.

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

TOP 6 PREFERED FACTORS FOR PURCHASING THE PRODUCT

44

COST

160

QUALITY

145

SERVICE

140

SUPPORT

130

BRAND

80

DISCOUNT

75

Taking all the factors combined & assigning them some value according to their rank in
preference it has been observed that cost & quality play equal roles whereas support
comes next followed by serviceability. Brand comes on second last and finally comes
discount.
Study shows that while selecting a product for purchase cost plays the vital role in the
Indian minds. Next factor that comes is quality followed by brand image. Discount also
play role for purchasing the computer.

4. Measure the need of the PC either for personal or official use.

45

Indian consumers mainly purchase the computer for personal use.80% consumer use the
computer for personal use and rest of the use for official use.

5. Measure how do customer purchase the PC.

46

WAY OF PURCHASING THE PC

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

FINANCE

CASH

It has been found that 90% consumer purchase the PC through cash and rest through the
finance options. Consumers mainly opted for finance schemes but due to more
documentation and hidden costs either they purchased the PC through case or they leave
it for future

6. Finance Purchase given by PC vendors

47

FINANCE PURCHASE GIVEN BY PC VENDORS

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

HP gives the 30% finance purchase of total finance purchase HP is providing the many
finance schemes for consumers. HP has tie up with U.B.I., ICICI and B.A.F.L. and
providing the better opportunity of finance to the consumers. And 30% finance purchase
goes to assemblers but it is mainly the self-finance by the consumers. And 20% finance
goes to Compaq. Rest to others.

48

7. MEASURE HOW DO CONSUMERS COME TO KNOW ABOUT

PARTICULAR PC.

CONSUMER COME TO KNOW ABOUT PC THROGH VARIOUS FACTORS

60%
50%
40%
30%

CONSUMER COME TO KNOW ABOUT PC THROGH VARIOUS FACTORS

20%
10%
0%
advertisement

relatives & friends sales promotion

sales executive

Consumers come to know about the PC through advertisements and after through
relatives and friends, branded companies are mainly indulging with advertisements. For
example HPS 499 get the PC in just 499 RS. These are advertisements conducted by the
HP. Relatives and friends of the consumers also take the main part for choosing the PC.
Sales promotion and sales executive comes in last.

49

9. MEASURE WHICH BRAND IS THE BEST BRAND IN THE

CONSUMERS MIND.

BEST BRAND OPTED BY CONSUMERS

50%
BEST BRAND OPTED BY CONSUMERS

0%

BRAND

OPTED

RANK

HP

44%

COMPAQ

32%

DELL

12%

IBM

10%

HP is the
brand
to

best
OTHERS

2%

according

consumers in the Delhi region. It is in top because of its lower price among good brands
and its better quality.
Compaq is on the second position because of its quality and brand name. Compaq is the
big competitor of HP.

50

DELL comes on third position because of its brand name and its customization of the
product according to the consumer need. IBM comes after DELL

9. .MEASURE THE POST PURCHASE PROBLEM IN THE PC.

POST PURCHASE PROBLEM IN THE PC

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

POST PURCHASE PROBLEM IN THE PC

Compaq has less post purchase problems than others. HP is having 12% post purchase
problems in the PC. Assembled computers has 16% post purchase problem & PCS has
highest purchase problems in the PC.

51

1) MEASURE THE PERFORMANCE OF PC

HP PERFORMANCE MEASURE BY CONSUMERS

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
EXCELLENT

V.GOOD

GOOD

FAIR

20% consumers say that HP is excellent in performance, 60% consumers says that HP is
very good in performance and 20% thinks that its good in performance.

52

COMPAQ PERFORMANCE

COMPAQ PERFORMANCE
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

EXCELLENT

V.GOOD

Compaq performance is the same as HP performance.

53

GOOD

FAIR

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

MAJOR FINDINGS
Any survey conducted in the market places flashes back hidden truths and basic facts,
which affects the business of company directly or indirectly. Which are the out coming
of the research, are known as the findings.
The information gathered from the market, which are accountable in the achievement of
the objective and for the company, which makes the project report more interesting, are
basically known findings.

The findings of this project are as follows:

1. HP is market leader in PC market but have very close competition with Compaq.
2. Most people thinks that HP only deals in desktop PCs and servers where as only
few thinks that HP also provides facility of software development, networking,
internet services, facility management and high end solutions.
3. Most people think that HP is typically hardware firm having no relation with
software.
4. Compaq and HP are two companies that are at top of mind in consumers mind.

54

5. Cost, quality and service are two major factors that are taken into consideration
while purchasing the PC. HP is excellent in all factors.
6. Technology Wise HP is considered to be number 4 where as IBM, DELL

and

Compaq HP are number 1,2 and 3 respectively.

7. Cost wise HP is at third number after LG and zenith enjoy 1 and 2 position
respectively.
8. Corporate image of HP is not so good. It holds third rank in this category while
IBM & Compaq are number 1 and 2 respectively.
9. According to customer satisfaction index HP is no.1 with Compaq. Whereas
IBM is on second position.
10. HP is no 1 in providing the finance purchase to the customers
11. After sales service and technology are the perceived weaknesses of the HP

55

CHAPTER-4
CONCLUSION

56

Conclusion

The most interesting and crucial phase of any research is the presenting of findings and
this project is no exception. After concluding with the project I am in a position to
present the following:
HP Infosystems Ltd is one of the pioneers in the Indian IT market, with its Origin in
1976, for over quarter of a century, they have developed and implemented solutions for
multiple market segments, across a range of technologies in India.
Undoubtedly HP INFOSYSTEMS was leader in after sales services but now the
company is lacking in this field. Company is having good quality product with low price
but its lacking in technology. Company should change its technology. But HP is most
preferable brand in India then others.
Now for our own personal experience this project was a real rewarding experience for us
and helped us gain insights into the ways marketing research works. The survey let us
know the functioning of the survey reports and their preparation. We are really indebted
to our faculty to have provided us with this opportunity.

57

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study is bond to come with some limitations and constraint, which made the
Efficiency of the same and to some extent deviates it from its main line of thought.
Though no stone was left unturned to make the study more precise, accurate and
Relevant to the objective, yet there are some limitations and general problems,
Which are not worthy to make study meaningful.

TIME:Due to the constraints, sampling was done and thus the final Result could not be taken
the final result could not be taken for Granted and are subjected to fluctuations.

58

SUGGESTION:-

1. Perception about HPS after Sales Service and technology has to be changed
because HP is way behind in it compared to its competitors.
2. More awareness should be created regarding the various services offer by HP.
3. HP has to try to establish its after sales service department.
4. Perceived corporate image of HP is not very good so an effort has to be made to
improve it.
5. They should pay proper attention towards checking of various components of PC
before end user delivery. Otherwise it tends towards defame of brand name in
comparison to rivals.
6. Need to expend customer care center as the consumer base of HP Ezeebee is
increasing with tremendously fast pace.
7. Proper attention should be paid for advertisement planning otherwise it may lead
to problem for dealer as well as for company.
59

8. Company should tie up with some event management company to organize

various promotional activities like canopy, Carnival.
9. Company should make policy for fixed end user price for all dealers so that fair
game will be played & dealer would not to compromise on their margin.
10. Company should tie up with good banks by which company can provide easy
finance schemes to the consumers because every consumer search for easy
available finance scheme.
11. Company should improve the quality of product
12. Company should give the service of customization of product to the consumers.

QUESTIONAIRE

Name :_______________
Age

:_______________

Mobile No :______________

1. Do you have a personal computer ?

YES
NO
2. Whether you have branded or assembled ?
Branded
Assembled
60

If Branded which do you have

A. HP
B. COMPAQ
E. DELL

C. IBM

F. ZENITH

3. Why you opted for this brand?

Cost
Support

H. HCL

Service

D. LG
I. OTHERS

Quality

4. Why do you need a pc?

Personal Use

Official Use

5. How do you purchase your pc?

Cash Purchase

Finance Schemes

Brand

6. How did you know about our pc?

Advertisements
Sales personnel of the company
Relatives and friends
Sales promotion

7. According to you which brand is the best brand?

HP
COMPAQ
IBM
LG
DELL
ZENITH
HCL
OTHERS
8. Did you get any discount on the purchase of pc?
Yes
No
If yes, to what extent
1-5%
6-10%
11-15%
More than 15%
9. What is the guarantee period of your PC?
1yr
2yr
3yr
4yr

more than 4yr

10. Do you have any post- purchase problem with your pc?
Yes
No
If yes ____________________________
11. Do you refer your pc to others also?
Yes
No
12. How will you rate the performance of your pc?
Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
61

Poor

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS REFERED:

1. Kothari, C.R. Marketing Research, 3rd edition, 1997, Vikas Publishing

House

Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

2.

Kotler, Philip, Marketing Management

-CHHABRA T.N (2000), Principles & practices of marketing management,
Dhanpat Rai and co. (p) Ltd, Delhi

WEBSITES:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

www.indiainfoline.com
www.wikipedia.com/hp
www.computerworld.com
www.hpinfosystem.com
www.google.com

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63