A

SUMMER TRAININGPROJECT REPORT

ON

SUKHDEV ENTERPRISES
Submitted for partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of

Degree

Of

Bachelor of Business Administration

Of

Chandigarh University, Mohali

Under The Supervision Of Submitted By:

Company Mentor MANNU

Ms. KOMALJEET SINGH UID: 17 BBA 1224

(SRA Manager)

Faculty Mentors

Ms.Manpreet
 DECLARATION
I, Mannu solemnly declare that the report of the projrct work entire SUKHDEV
ENTERPRISES., is based my own work carried out during the course of my
study under the supervision of Mr.Komaljeet singh

I assert that the statement made and conclusion drawn are an outcome of the report
work. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief that the project
report does not contain any part of any work which has been submitted for the
award of any other degree/diploma/certificatein this University or any other
University.

_____________________

Mannu

UID : 17 BBA 1224

University school of Business

Chandigarh University
 CERTIFICATE BY SUPERVISOR

This is certify that the report of the project submitted is the outcome of the project
work entitled SUKHDEV ENTERPRISES. carried out by Mannu bearing Roll
No: 17 BBA 1224 carried by under my guidance and supervision for the award of
degree in bachelor of business Administration of Chandigarh University.

To the best of the my knowledge the report,

i. Embodies the work of the candidate him/herself,

ii. Has duly been completed,
iii. Fulfils the requirement of the ordinance relating to the BBA degree of the
University and,
iv. Is up to the desired standard for the purpose of which is submitted.

____________________

Ms. Komaljeet singh

(SRA Manager)

Sales Department

SUKHDEV ENTERPRISES PVT. LTD

LUDHIANA
 CERTIFICATE BY PROJRCT GUIDE

This is certify that the project entitled SUKHDEV ENTERPRISES PVT. LTD.
an academic work done by Rohit Kumar submitted in the partial fulfillment of the
award of the degree Bachelor of Business Administration from Chandigarh
University under my guidance and direction to the best of my knowledge and
belief of the date and information presented by him in this project has not been
submitted earlier elsewhere.

_____________________

Ms.Manpreet

(Faculty Mentor)

Prof. Chandigarh University

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Unparalleled help and guidance from respected person with whom I have been
acquainted with in the course of the project support my project work. I fell
extremely satisfied to be able to acknowledge their help and support in the
completion of my project work. I express my gratitude and thanks to my mentor
Mr. Komaljeet singh, SUKHDEV ENTRPRISES SRA Manager and Asst. Prof.
Ms.Manpreet, my project guides whose inspiring suggestions and guidance made
it possible for me to go on with the project and had great influence on my thinking.

I am indebted to my faculty member who

had a great influence on my thinking, serving aas a positive role model and
showing their immense faith to me.

It has been great pleasure and varies enriching experience working in SUKHDEV
ENTERPRISES PVT. LTD., Sales Department (Ludhiana). I wish to accord my
gratitude to each and every person of the “Training department” for their help
rendered to me.

_____________________

Mannu

UID: 17 BBA 1224

Semester: 5th

BBA
Executive Summary

Sukhdev enterprises is one of the largest building material producers in punjab. It belongs to
sukhdev group. It has overtaken Gap largest building material retailer in Punjab state. The main
competitive advantage of sukhdev entreprises is its quick response changing need of the
construction and experimenting with new methods.

construction industry is one of the most booming industries in the whole world. This industry is
mainly an urban based one which is concerned with preparation as well as construction of real
estate properties. The repairing of any existing building or making certain alterations in the same
also comes under construction industry

Sukhdev enterprises is owned by sukhdev groups of companies who own 5 other companies
which includes trucking and textiles.

Sukhdev enterprises faces competation from many large and small firms as construction industry
is one of the blooming industries in india and there are many small firms who are providing
construction material at a very low price than large firms so due to this large firms have to share
their profits with the other small firms. The manufacture of building materials is an established
industry in many countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented into specific
specialty trades, such as carpentry, plumbing, roofing and insulation work. This reference deals
with habitats and structures including homes. The construction industry operates on the basis of
contractual agreements. Over the years different types of contracts have been developed. It
mainly depends on the magnitude and nature of work, special design needs, annual requirements
of funds and complexities of job. Construction projects can be materialised through number of
smaller contracts which mainly depends upon size of the project and diversified nature of
activities to be carried out in the project. As a result, Subcontracting is a common phenomenon
in the construction industry.
Table of Contents

Student declaration ……………………………………………………………………………… i

Certificate from Guide ……………………...…………………………………....…............ii

Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................... .iii

Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………..……. iv

CHAPTER- 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 About the Industry

1.2 About Organization/ Company Profile

CHAPTER – 2: Literature Review

Literature Review

CHAPTER – 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1Objective of the Research

3.2Survey Design

3.3Type of Research

3.4DataCollection Method

3.4.1Primary Data

3.4.2Secondary Data

3.5Sampling Methods

3.5.1Univerese

3.5.2Sampling Unit

3.5.3Population

3.6Sample size & Design

3.7Research Period

3.8Research Instrument
3.9Instrument for data collection………………………………………………………

3.10 Drafting of a questionnaire…………………………………………….

3.11Limitations of the Study

CHAPTER – 4: ANALYSIS& INTERPRETATION

4.1 Income Statement

INTRODUCTION

Over view of the industry

The Construction industry of India is an important indicator of the development
as it creates investment opportunities across various related sectors. The
construction industry has contributed an estimated US$ 3000 billion to the national
GDP(PPP) in 2011-12 (a share of around 19%).[1] The industry is fragmented, with
a handful of major companies involved in the construction activities across all
segments; medium-sized companies specializing in niche activities; and small and
medium contractors who work on the subcontractor basis and carry out the work in
the field. In 2011, there were slightly over 500 construction equipment
manufacturing companies in all of India.[2] The sector is labor-intensive and,
including indirect jobs, provides employment to more than 49.5 million people.
The construction sector is visualized to plays a powerful role in economic growth,
in addition to producing structures that adds to productivity and quality of life.
economic development is a term that economics politician and other have used
frequently in the 20th century, modernization westernization and specially
industrialisation are other terms people have used while discussing economic
development. economic development has a direct relationship with the
environment. government undertaking to meet go abroad economic objectives such
as price stability,high employment and sustainable growth,such efforts include
financial and economic policies,regulations of financial industry trade and tax
policies. The period from 1970 to mid 60’s witnessed the government playing an
active role in the development of these services and most of construction activities
during this period were carried out by state owned enterprises and supported by
government departments. In the first five-year plan, construction of civil works
was allotted nearly 50 per cent of the total capital outlay.

The first professional consultancy company, National Industrial Development

Corporation (NIDC), was set up in the public sector in 1954. Subsequently, many
architectural, design engineering and construction companies were set up in the
public sector (Indian Railways Construction Limited (IRCON), National Buildings
Construction Corporation (NBCC), Rail India Transportation and Engineering
Services (RITES), Engineers India Limited (EIL), etc.) and private sector (M N
Dastur and Co., Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Ansals, etc.).

In India Construction has accounted
investment during the past 50 years.
population depends on construction
industry employs over 30 million
200 billion.
for around 40 per cent of the development
Around 16 per cent of the nation's working
for its livelihood. The Indian construction
people and creates assets worth over ₹

It contributes more than 5 per cent to the nation's GDP and 78 per cent to the gross
capital formation. Total capital expenditure of state and central govt. will be
touching ₹ 8,021 billion in 2011-12 from ₹ 1,436 billion (1999-2000).

The share of the Indian construction sector in total gross capital formation (GCF)
came down from 60 per cent in 1970-71 to 34 per cent in 1990-91. Thereafter, it
increased to 48 per cent in 1993-94 and stood at 44 per cent in 1999-2000. In the
21 st century, there has been an increase in the share of the construction sector in
GDP and capital formation.

GDP from Construction at factor cost (at current prices) increased to ₹

1.745 billion (12.02% of the total GDP ) in 2004-05 from ₹ 1,162.38 billion
(10.39% of the total GDP) in 2000-01.

The main reason for this is the increasing emphasis on involving the private sector
infrastructure development through public-private partnerships and mechanisms
like build-operate-transfer (BOT), private sector investment has not reached the
expected levels.

The Indian construction industry comprises 200 firms in the corporate sector. In
addition to these firms, there are about 120,000 class A contractors registered with
various government construction bodies. There are thousands of small contractors,
which compete for small jobs or work as sub-contractors of prime or other
contractors. Total sales of construction industry have reached ₹ 428854 million in
2004 05 from ₹ 214519 million in 2000-01, almost 20% of which is a large
contract for Benson & Hedges
HISTORY OF SUKHDEV
ENTERPRISES
Sukhdev enterprises is started in 1990 in Punjab state as a sand dealer by the time
1996 it extended its operations to all kinds of building materials.as construction
industry is blooming at a very fast rate in india sukhdev enterprises does not take a
long time in becoming a large group of companies. There are mainly three
segments in the construction industry like real estate construction which includes
residential and commercial construction; infrastructure building which includes
roads, railways, power etc; and industrial construction that consists of oil and gas
refineries, pipelines, textiles etc. The construction industry in India is highly
fragmented. There are number of unorganised players in the industry which work
on the subcontracting basis. To execute more critical projects, nowadays bids are
increasing placed in consortium. But the profitability of the construction projects
varies across different segments. Complex technology savvy projects can fetch
higher profit margins for construction companies as compared to low technology
projects like road construction. Various projects in Construction industry are
working capital intensive. Working capital requirement for any company depends
on the order mix of the companies. Sukhdev enterprises main motive is to make a
place in the top players of the construction industry.sukhdev enterprises delever
stateof art plans and ideas for construction most of its customers come from the
local market so it has a very large goodwill in the industry.

Sukhdev enterprises is one of the largest building material producers in punjab. It

belongs to sukhdev group. It has overtaken Gap largest building material retailer in
Punjab state. The main competitive advantage of sukhdev entreprises is its quick
response changing need of the construction and experimenting with new methods.

Sukhdev enterprises faces competation from many large and small firms as
construction industry is one of the blooming industries in india and there are many
small firms who are providing construction material at a very low price than large
firms so due to this large firms have to share their profits with the other small
firms. The manufacture of building materials is an established industry in many
countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented into specific
specialty trades, such as carpentry, plumbing, roofing and insulation work. This
reference deals with habitats and structures including homes. The construction
industry operates on the basis of contractual agreements. Over the years different
types of contracts have been developed. It mainly depends on the magnitude and
nature of work, special design needs, annual requirements of funds and
complexities of job. Construction projects can be materialised through number of
smaller contracts which mainly depends upon size of the project and diversified
nature of activities to be carried out in the project. As a result, Subcontracting is a
common phenomenon in the construction industry.

CORPORATE OVERVIEW
Staretd in 1990 by Mr.sukhdev singh and their 3 others partners sukhdev
enterprises no a leading supplier of construction materials and now a providing
employment to nearly 10000 people working in different departments

PRIMARY BUSSINESS
CONSTRUCTION-Supply and development of building material is one of the
main bussines in which sukhddev enterprises deal in.

TRANSPORTATION-after gaining success in construction business sukhdev

enterprises expand their business activities to the transportation bussiness

Marketing Strategy
Meaning:-

• The marketing strategy is the means of achieving the corporate objectives.

• It gives messages to the stakeholders, or publics.It says:

• "This is where we are going", and

 "When we will get there", and
 "This is our stance"
Marketing Strategies of sukhdev enterprises.
A marketing strategy refers to a business' overall game plan for reaching
prospective consumers and turning them into customers of the products or services
the business provides. A marketing strategy contains the company’s value
proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and
other high-level elements. A carefully-cultivated marketing strategy should be
fundamentally rooted in a company’s value proposition, which summarizes the
competitive advantage a company holds over rival businesses. For example,
Walmart is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices,” whose
business operations and marketing efforts revolve around that ideal.

Whether it's a print ad design, mass customization, or a social media campaign, a

marketing asset can be judged based on how effectively it communicates a
company's core value proposition. Market research can be helpful in charting the
efficacy of a given campaign, and can help identify untapped audiences, in order to
achieve bottom-line goals and increase sales.

Handling a large area to deliver construction material in a nation who is developing

day by day is not a easy task but sukhdev enterprises unique strategies help the
organization in making a place in one of the toughest markets in the Indian
economy. The target market is the type of customers you target within the market.
For example if you are selling jewellery you can either be a generalist or decide to
focus on the high end or the lower end of the market. This section is relevant when
your market has clear segments with different drivers of demand. In my example
of jewels, value for money would be one of the drivers of the lower end market
whereas exclusivity and prestige would drive the high end. From a tactical point of
view, this section is also where you need to place your competitive edge without
mentioning it explicitly. In the following sections of your business plan you are
going to talk about your competition and their strengths, weaknesses and market
positioning before reaching the Strategy section in which you'll explain your own
market positioning. What you want to do is prepare the reader to embrace your
positioning and invest in your company. The aim of this section is to give a fair
view of who you are competing against. You need to explain your competitors'
positioning and describe their strengths and weaknesses. You should write this part
in parallel with the Competitive Edge part of the Strategy section. The idea here is
to analyse your competitors angle to the market in order to find a weakness that
your company will be able to use in its own market positioning.

Consumer preference of products of sukhdev

enterprises-

Sukhdev enterprises provide good quality building material which are developed
after proper research and experiments so that they can keep up with the innovative
world of construction.construction industry requires a continuous experiment and
research so that we can built a strong nation as construction industry is the fastest
growing industry which needs continous research and development which is the
main motive of sukhdev enterprises. Whether you’re a large company or small
business, crafting a brand-driven marketing strategy is one of the most important
things you can do for your business. Creating a strong, differentiated brand is the
key to turning prospects into customers. While individual consumers may not give
much thought to why they prefer one product over another, for businesses and
marketers who make a living based on consumer demand, it is pretty much a
science. In addition to a product's price and its availability, knowing consumer
preferences can predict how likely a product is to sell and how much it can be sold
for. Preferences vary from one product to another and the components of those
products can each affect preference. Consumer preference is defined as the
subjective tastes of individual consumers, measured by their satisfaction with those
items after they’ve purchased them. This satisfaction is often referred to as utility.
Consumer value can be determined by how consumer utility compares between
different items.

Consumer preferences can be measured by their satisfaction with a specific item,

compared to the opportunity cost of that item since whenever you buy one item,
you forfeit the opportunity to buy a competing item. The preferences of individual
consumers are not contained within the field of economics. These preferences are
dictated by personal taste, culture, education and many other factors such as social
pressure from friends and neighbors. For example, someone who prefers to own a
specific brand of a smartphone because her friends all have the same brand.

People often prefer some aspects of a product, but not others. When comparing
sofas, the color, fabric and size of the sofas can each have an impact on consumer
preference, as well as the number of extra cushions they have. Not all of these
aspects carry the same weight. When comparing two restaurants, for example, you
may prefer the food and the ambiance of one over the other, but having a rude
waiter at one restaurant may cause you to prefer the other restaurant overall.

While consumer preference is an indicator of consumer demand, it’s important to

note that consumer choices are not always determined by preference alone.
Choices are often limited by a consumer’s income or budget, compared to the cost
of the item, which is why so few people drive luxury cars or fly first-class.

Why sukhdev enterprises have a upper hand on

competatiors-
Understanding of local market: One of the main advantage to sukhdev enterprise
is that is start as a small firm in the local market so it understand the need of the
local market.

Location:Sukhdev enterprises is located at the industrial hub of punajb so it can

easily carry its operations and transportations activities

Stronghold in the parent state: Sukhdev enterprises gets its most of the sale in
the Punjab state which give them a upper hand on its competatiors

Advertising: sukhdev enterprises adveretise on local level and also provide

sponsorships in the local events.
Competitive analysis of Sukhdev enterprises-
Sukhdev enterprises faces competation from many large and small firms as
construction industry is one of the blooming industries in india and there are many
small firms who are providing construction material at a very low price than large
firms so due to this large firms have to share their profits with the other small
firms. The manufacture of building materials is an established industry in many
countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented into specific
specialty trades, such as carpentry, plumbing, roofing and insulation work. This
reference deals with habitats and structures including homes. The construction
industry operates on the basis of contractual agreements. Over the years different
types of contracts have been developed. It mainly depends on the magnitude and
nature of work, special design needs, annual requirements of funds and
complexities of job. Construction projects can be materialised through number of
smaller contracts which mainly depends upon size of the project and diversified
nature of activities to be carried out in the project. As a result, Subcontracting is a
common phenomenon in the construction industry. To determine what consumers
prefer, you have to give them similar products to compare. When offering them
two or more products to evaluate, each product should be complete. Asking them
to compare apples to oranges is fair, but asking them if they would rather have six
apples or two oranges is not. One preference that does not change when evaluating
commodities is that consumers always prefer more to less. As well, if consumers
prefer product A over product B, and they prefer product C to product A, then it is
always safe to assume they prefer product C over product B.
Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of
Sukhdev enterprises-
The construction industry is highly competitive and the changing fads, socio-
economic and behavioural culture possess a major challenge for the companies
operating in this industry. Back end integration, high raw material cost and
advertising cost are the other factors that affect the construction industry
companies by and large. The definition of a potential customer will depend on your type of
business. For example if you are opening a small shop selling office furniture then your market will be all
the companies within your delivery range. As in the example above it is likely that most companies
would have only one person in charge of purchasing furniture hence you wouldn't take the size of these
businesses in consideration when assessing the number of potential customers. You would however
factor it when assessing the value of the market.

Customer analysis in the Marketing strategy of

sukhdev enterprises.
The purpose of undertaking customer analysis as part of a business plan is to
examine the consumers most likely to purchase your product or service in-depth.
Brands can establish different groups of customers and the needs of those
customers. By understanding what motivates them to make a purchase, brands can
build their business around providing solutions to those needs.

Sukhdev enterprises main focus is on that custumers give bulk orders because it
increase the sale of the company and also provide a great confidence to the
company.
While individual consumers may not give much thought to why they prefer one
product over another, for businesses and marketers who make a living based on
consumer demand, it is pretty much a science. In addition to a product's price and
its availability, knowing consumer preferences can predict how likely a product is
to sell and how much it can be sold for. Preferences vary from one product to
another and the components of those products can each affect preference.

VISION
Our stringent commitment is to become the largest supplier of building material in
the state of Punjab by continous research and development in our products and
help in building a strong nation,

DEDICATION
To employees, customers, shareholders and the public.

MISSION
Sukhdev enterprises Textile is devoted to achieve consistent improvement in the
system of providing products & services to the customers through On Time
Delivery & Enhancing Customers Satisfaction by means of Quality and Value."

STRATEGY
Value based management is our internal philosophy, directed toward maximizing
long term cash flow:

• Focus on companies core profitable segments to build our position as a

leading construction company.
• Investment in developing new techniques of construction to continue
innovates.
• Providing good quality products to compete with the large players of
construction industry.
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or

organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy

their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace

and the underlying motives for those actions.

Marketers expect that by understanding what causes the consumers to buy

particular goods and services, they will be able to determine—which products are

needed in the marketplace, which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods

to the consumers. Consumer behaviour is different for different products. There are

some consumers who may buy more quantity of certain items and very low or no

quantity of other items. For example, teenagers may spend heavily on products

such as cell phones and branded wears for snob appeal, but may not spend on

general and academic reading. A middle- aged person may spend less on clothing,

but may invest money in savings, insurance schemes, pension schemes, and so on.

Consumer Characteristics

Consumer characteristics are explained by: Cultural characteristics, Social

characteristics, Personal characteristics, and Psychological Characteristics. These
characteristics are identified, by the marketer, in order to identify the consumer and
to be able to decide on the strategy to what kind of consumer to target. Hence,
these characteristics are used in order to segment the market and target specific
consumer groups.
Cultural Characteristics
The Cultural Characteristics are recognized as the main influencer of consumer
behaviour. These characteristics are developed by three features under pinning
consumer behaviour: Culture, Subculture, and SocialClass.

Culture is mentioned as the most basic cause of a person’s wants and needs. Kotler
and Armstrong (2007) argues that human behaviour is mostly learned and that I are
exposed to different sets of values and beliefs from a young age, and that these
values influence our behaviour and decision making. Hence, these characteristics
are interesting for marketers and important indicators of certain consumer
behaviour and taste.

Subcultures are small group formations with a certain number of people that share
values and beliefs such as nationalities, religions or geographic regions. An
identified subculture can serve as an important and effective market segment which
can be targeted.

Social class is recognized by Kotler and Armstrong (2007) as a class structure,

consisting of a combination of factors which gather different types of members.
Some identified factors are income, age, education, and wealth

Social Characteristics

The Social Characteristics are divided into three different categories, namely
Reference Groups, Family and Social Role and Status.

Reference Groups–According to Kotler and Armstrong (2007) the effects of the

Reference Groups is mainly based on the belief that a person’s behaviour is
influenced by many small groups. When a group has a direct influence it is called a
Membership Group, for example: family, neighbours and co-workers. Reference
Groups are the groups to which the person often wants to be long to and to be apart
of but is not. These groups indirectly and directly form a person’s behaviour and
attitudes. There are three different ways by which these groups influence a
person’s behaviour; they may expose a person to new behaviours and lifestyles,
influence a person’s attitudes and self-concepts and also create a pressure of
confirmation by Reference Groups. Another influence of importance is the opinion
leader . An opinion leader is a person that influences others to follow his believes
and attitudes towards certain issues, products or areas (Kotler& Armstrong,2007).

Family–Family members have a great influence on the buying behaviour. The

involvement and influence by different family members varies, both to which
degree but also in what way. Therefore, it is important for marketers to understand
which role is played by whom in the family and direct the advertisement towards
the main influencing part of the family.

Roles and Status–Each person belongs to different types of groups and also plays
different roles whilst having different positions in the various groups. Roles are
identified by Kotler and Armstrong (2007) as what activities people are expected
to perform from other members of the group.

Personal characteristics

These personal characteristics are categorized into: Age and Life-CycleStage,

Occupation, Economic Situation, Lifestyle, Personality and Self-Concept.

The Age and Life-Cycle Stage These stages explain different periods in life that
the consumer experiences as he goes through life. These different stages also
represent different changes that the consumer may experience when reaching a
new stage. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2007) marketers, therefore, define
their target markets interms of the different stages in order to develop appropriate
marketing plans.

Occupation–The occupation tends to have an effect on the products and services

bought by the consumers. This leads to the possibility of developing different types
of products or services that suits interests identified to be above average within an
occupation.

The Economic Situation–Wealth will affect a consumer’s product choice. A

consumer may be price- sensitive or not depending on the level of income, level of
savings, level of interest rates, and also the product or service itself.

Lifestyle–This is identified to be a person’s way of living which is recognized by

the activities, interest, or opinion she or she has and it also explains the way a
consumer interacts in the world.
Personality–This is mainly explained by the terms self-confidence, dominance,
sociability, autonomy, defensiveness, adaptability and aggressiveness. These
psychological factors are a result of one’s environment. Personality can be defined
as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that
uniquely influences his or her motivations, and behaviours invarious situations
(Ryckman,2004).

Self-concept or Self Image–Is the conceptual understanding that people’s

possessions reflect their personalities. This concept does bring some conflicts in
case people may have an image that satisfies who they are but does not agree with
who they want to be (the ideal self-concept),the question then arises which one I
would want to satisfy.

Psychological Characteristics
The psychological characteristics are divided into the following concepts:
Motivation, Perception, Learning, and Beliefs and Attitudes.

Motivation–Motivation refers to a person needs that must be satisfied. These needs

are of different kind; some are biological, such as hunger, thirst and discomfort
,and some are psychological such as the need for recognition, esteem and
belonging. Needs are not satisfied until they reach a certain point of intensity and
become a motive for the consumer to satisfy them. Kotler and Armstrong (2007)
discuss several motivation theories, among them are Freud’s and Maslow’s
theories of motivation. Freud argued that a person does not really and fully
understand his or her motivations. Maslow on the other hand wanted to understand
why some people set out to satisfy some needs before others.

He then came to the conclusion that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy from
the most pressing to the least pressing, as Kotler and Armstrong (2007) explains it.
These needs are listed as psychological needs, safety needs, socialneeds, esteem
needs, and self-actualization needs. When one need has been satisfied, a person
moves on to satisfy the next.

Perception-This characteristicis based on the understanding of how differently I

perceive the same situation or the same stimuli. Kotler and Armstrong (2007)
explains perception as the process by which people select, organize, and interpret
information. There are three different processes that decide how I interpret certain
information. These are Selective Attention, Selective Distortion, and Selective
Retention.

Learning–Learning is, according to Kotler and Armstrong (2007), an act that

changes people’s behaviour because of their experience. It occurs through drives:
strong internal wants that call for action, stimuli: object that drives for certain
action, cues: small stimuli that determinate when, where and how the person will
respond and reinforcement: when the response and stimuli towards an object is
experienced more than once.

Beliefs and Attitudes–These are acquired by people through learning and

experiencing. They influence the buying behaviour by making up brands and
product images in the consumer’s heads. A belief is explained by Kotler and
Armstrong (2007) as a descriptive thought about something and is based on real
knowledge, opinions or faith. Beliefs can also be emotionally charged. Attitudes
are described as a person’s evaluations, feelings, and tendencies towards
something, but also determinations of people such as like and dislikes.
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Lee (2005): carried out study to learn the five stages of consumer decision
making process in the example of China. The researcher focuses on the facts that
affect the consumer decision making process on purchasing imported health food
products, in particular demographic effects such as gender, education, income and
marital status. The author employed questionnaire method in order to reach the
objectives of the research. Analysis of five stages of consumer decision making
process indicate that impact of family members on the consumer decision making
process of purchasing imported health food products was significant.
The author further explains this by the fact Chinese tradition of taking care of
young and old family members have long been developed and marriage is
considered to be extremely important in Chinese tradition. This reflects in the
findings of the study that the purchase of imported health food products made by a
person for the people outside the family is declined significantly by both male and
female Chinese after they get married.
Backhaus et al (2007): suggested that purchase decision is one of the
important stages as this stage refers to occurrence of transaction. In other words,
once the consumer recognized the need, searched for relevant information and
considered the alternatives he/she makes decision whether or not to make the
decision. Purchasing decision can further be divided into planned purchase,
partially purchase or impulse purchase as stated by Kacen (2002) which will be
discussed further in detail in the next chapters.
Finally, post-purchase decision involves experience of the consumer about their
purchase. Although the importance of this stage is not highlighted by many authors
Neal et al (2004) argues that this is perhaps one of the most important stages in the
consumer decision making process as it directly affects the consumers’ purchases
of the same product or service from the same supplier in the future.
Hoyer et al. (2012) social factors impacting consumer behaviour arise as a
result of interactions of perspective consumers with others in various levels and
circumstances. Targeting members of society perceived as opinion leaders usually
proves effective strategy when marketing products and services due to the potential
of opinion leaders to influence behaviour of other members of society as
consumers.
Lastly, cultural factors affecting consumer behaviour are related to cross-cultural
differences amongst consumers on local and global scales. Culture can be defined
as “the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society”
(Oxford Dictionaries, 2015) and the tendency of globalisation has made it
compulsory for cross-cultural differences amongst consumers to be taken into
account when formulating and communicating marketing messages.
Christopher (1989): studied the shopping habits of consumers to form an idea
of whether or not the store concepts, product ranges and strategies of the
companies are appropriate towards consumer requirements. He believed that
consumer behaviours are unpredictable and changing continuously changing; while
trying to under try to understand how individual or group make their decision to
spend their available resources on consumption-related items. These are factors
that influence the consumer before, during, and after a purchase (Schiffiman and
Kanuk, 1997), for example, feedback, from other customers, packing, advertising,
product appearance, and price (Peter & Olsonetc, 2005).
Michael R. Solomon (2001) consumer behaviours typically analyse the
processes of group selected or individual purchases/dispose of product, service,
concept or experiences to satisfy their need and desires. Additionally, Kotler
(1996) suggested that consumer behaviours have a huge impact in a firm marketing
decision making process every year. There is a risk that what a consumer does will
inflict on his or her behaviour and generate consequences. (Snoj, Pisnik Koda &
Mumel, 2004). The user and the purchaser can be different person, in some cases;
another person may be an influencer providing recommendations for or against
certain products without actually buying or using them (Solomon 1999; Solomon
et al. 1999).
(Lunn et al, 1997) The common value terms often involve in the trade-off
between quality and price, which also may also be defined the ‘value-for-money
between quality and price, which also may defined the ‘value-for-money
perspective (Change and Wildt, 1994; Hansen, 2001; Sweeney and Soutar, 2001).
Zeithaml (1988) and Levy (1999) purpose that consumers are ‘value driven’.
Zeithaml (1988) claims that customer’s perceived value may be seen as a reacting
of the overall evaluation of the consumption of a product or service based on
perceptions of what is received and what is given.

On the other hand, the value emerges partly from what consumers perceive they
are receiving and partly from what consumers perceived they are giving.
Dawar and Parker (1994): depicted that cues assist consumers to determining
the quality of the product when there is a need to reduce the perceived risk of
purchase and when consumer involvement is low. ‘Low-involved’ consumers use
simple decision ways or indicators in their assessments to the quality or the overall
performance of a product. In contrast, the behaviour of ‘high-involved’ consumers
are analysed and described on the basis of the information processing perspective.

(Fazio et al. 1989):Good attitude towards the product might move to a

purchase decision. Attitude is connected to behavioural intention and buying
forecast (Fishbein, 1980). Attitude is what we can feel about a concept that could
be a person, a brand, a category, an ideology or other things we can think about
and applying feeling into (East, 1997). Many writers agree that attitude is an
evaluation. Attitudes are individuals’ broad evaluations of a concept or subjective
assessments of an idea (Kotler and Armstrong, 2001). Attitude can be the most
important factor in consumer decision process because they theoretically conclude
that a consumer evaluation of an object (product, brand or company) represent
positive or negative feeling and behavioural towards the object (Belch and Belch,
1998).

Rachlin (1994) states that mind equal behaviour and sequences or patterns of
behaviour rather than single acts. This implies that mental phenomena such as
intentions, attitudes as well as pain are all defined as extended patterns of
behaviour. When pain is taken as an example, people know that somebody else is
in pain because of the behaviour the other person emits: grimacing, groaning,
holding his arm, etc. (Foxall, 2007). “A whole series of final causes may each be
nested within one another, diffused over time, the whole sequence being necessary
to a full explanation of the behaviour that produced them” (Foxall, 2007: 132)

Rachlin (1994) points out that in order to understand the full complexity of
behaviour’s consequences, a significant elapse of time may be required, as the
events that explain behaviour are temporarily extended, it will take time for the
whole sequence to be completed and with that understand behaviour. When it
comes to consumer buying behaviour, teleological behaviourism helps
understanding consumer’s brand choice (Foxall, 2007). Teleological behaviourism
helps to understand why consumers only consider only a few brands out of all the
brands they can choose from when making a buying decision (Foxall, 2007).
Consumers will only consider brands of which they have direct use-knowledge and
which products characteristics show the greatest match compared to the
consumer’s spending power. Teleological behaviourism also helps understanding
why consumers change patterns and decide to buy another brand than they usually
do. It does so by acknowledging the conflict consumers can face between
utilitarian reinforcement and informational reinforcement.

Bruner and Pomazal (1988) argue that a purchase is done by a consumer

after s/he first recognises some kind of problem, and thus the purchase is a solution
to the experienced problem. Further, Bruner and Pomazal (1988) state that to be
able to conduct a purchase the problem recognised needs to be defined. Consumer
tend to choose to buy the product by considering characteristics such as location,
price assortment personnel, store image and service etc (Boone and Kurtz, 2006).

Kotler et al.(2010): advertising is part of promotional mix which also consists

of public relations, direct marketing, sales promotion and personal selling.
Advertising and public relations are mass-promotion tools which are used by
companies to inform consumers about a new product or service whereas others
mentioned have a more personal and direct way of communicating. Companies use
paid media to inform, persuade and remind consumers. When firms create their
promotional mix they can choose from two strategies: push or pull strategy.
Through push strategy the companies are ‘’pushing’’ their product forward through
distribution channels towards e.g. wholesalers and retailers. The main emphasis on
the promotional mix is usually sales promotion and personal selling. Pull strategy
tries to influence the consumers and thereby increase the demand.

Kornberger( 2010): Branding helps to identify the product and can also help to
distinguish it from other products such as designer labels. Companies find it easier
to manage their market with branding since the consumer is more likely to
recognise the product when it has been advertised. Advertising promotes the brand
name (Rix 2007 p.272). Brands help to identify our culture, social status and also
shape our lives. Studies show that brands can bring an emotional connection
between people.
Widing et al. (2003 p.223): however argues that reference groups can differ
through the formality or informality. In formal groups the ‘’member’’ is expected
to act in a specific way whereas in informal groups a person has more freedom and
is not guided too much by the group. The influence of reference groups does not
influence on consumer behaviour as much as the actual need. People buy things
because of need, but occasionally the reference groups might have impact on what
to buy.

Barletta (2006): women are the most powerful and biggest consumers today.
The concept of women has changed over time. Today’s women are educated,
powerful and sometimes earning even more than men and marketers are starting to
see this. According to Statistics Finland(2010) the income levels of women and
men is very similar(Appendix B). Word of mouth is a powerful tool since ladies
tend to exchange information about their lives more frequently than men. Women
share information where as men tend to keep it to themselves. The word-of mouth
marketing has become a big tool amongst this target.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Primary objective
The objective of the research is to find out the consumer behavior towards a well
known brand and a local brand is consumer prefer brand over quality or quality is
bigger than the brand.

Secondary objective

 What main factors affect the consumer when considering and making
a purchase ?
 How do these factors influence the consumer when purchasing ?
 What kind of segments can be found within the identified consumers
when purchasing ?
 What is the connection with the identified factors and consumer
segment groups?
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is a collective term for the structured process of conducting
research. A research methodology defines what the activity of research is, how to
proceed, how to measure progress, and what constitute success. The term research
methodology also referred to as research methods, usually encompasses the
procedures followed to analyse and interpret the data gathered. Research
methodology adopted should be such that the research objectives are achieved with
great accuracy. Systematic methodology followed provides great insights in
solving the research problem.

I will attempt to find the main factors that influence the consumer when making an
purchase. In order to broaden my own understanding of the subject I conducted my
initial research in literature on consumer behaviour and . I reviewed studies that
had similar aims and paid particular attention to their results.

For my own research I decided that the most appropriate approach would be a
questionnaire that would be filled out by students and employees.

This study started out as an exploratory study but developed into an explanatory
study since I started out with first gaining knowledge about consumer behaviour to
further being able to gain knowledge about consumer behaviour. Having this
knowledge I continue to identify specific factors that are of importance when the
consumer is making purchases. This information is then used in order to find
relationships and correlations between these variables.