Ben Vox: December 2008

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION ABOUT MARKETING

What is marketing?
Almost every marketing textbook has a different definition of the term “marketing.” The American Marketing Association (AMA) uses the following: “The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.”

REASONS FOR STUDYING MARKETING
There are several good reasons for studying marketing. First of all, marketing issues are important in all areas of the organization—customers are the reasons why businesses exist! In fact, marketing efforts (including such services as promotion and distribution) often account for more than half of the price of a product.
THE MARKETING Vs THE SELLING CONCEPT
Two approaches to marketing exist. The traditional selling concept emphasizes selling existing products. The philosophy here is that if a product is not selling, more aggressive measures must be taken to sell it—e.g., cutting price, advertising more, or hiring more aggressive (and obnoxious) sales-people. When the railroads started to lose business due to the advent of more effective trucks that could deliver goods right to the customer’s door, the railroads cut prices instead of recognizing that the customers ultimately wanted transportation of goods, not necessarily railroad transportation
The 4 Ps—product, place (distribution), promotion, and price—represent the variables that are within the control of the firm (at least in the medium to long run). In contrast, the firm is faced with uncertainty from the environment.

THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
The marketing environment involves factors that, for the most part, are beyond the control of the company. Thus, the company must adapt to these factors. It is important to observe how the environment changes so that a firm can adapt its strategies appropriately.

Consider these environmental forces:
 Competition: Competitors often “creep” in and threaten to take away markets from firms. For example, Japanese auto manufacturers became a serious threat to American car makers in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
 Economics: Some firms in particular are extremely vulnerable to changes in the economy. Consumers tend to put off buying a new car, going out to eat, or building new homes in bad times.
 Political: Businesses are very vulnerable to changes in the political situation. For example, because consumer groups lobbied Congress, more stringent rules were made on the terms of car leases. The tobacco industry is currently the target of much negative attention from government and public interest groups. Currently, the desire to avoid aiding the enemy may result in laws that make it more difficult for American firms to export goods to other countries.
 Legal: Firms are very vulnerable to changing laws and changing interpretations by the courts. Firms in the U.S. are very vulnerable to lawsuits. McDonald’s, for example, is currently being sued by people who claim that eating the chain’s hamburgers caused them to get fat.
 Technological: Changes in technology may significantly influence the demand for a product. For example, the advent of the fax machine was bad news for Federal Express. The Internet is a major threat to travel agents.
 Social: Changes in customs or demographics greatly influence firms. Fewer babies today are being born, resulting in a decreased demand for baby foods. More women work outside the home today, so there is a greater demand for prepared foods. There are more unmarried singles today. This provides opportunities for some firms (e.g., fast food restaurants) but creates problems for others (e.g., manufacturers of high quality furniture that many people put off buying until marriage). Today, there are more “blended” families that result as parents remarry after divorce. These families are often strapped for money but may require “duplicate” items for children at each parent’s residence.

STRATEGIC PLANNING AND THE MARKETING PROCESS

PLANS AND PLANNING:
Plans are needed to clarify what kinds of strategic objectives an organization would like to achieve and how this is to be done. Such plans must consider the amount of resources available. One critical resource is capital. Microsoft keeps a great deal of cash on hand to be able to “jump” on opportunities that come about. Small startup software firms, on the other hand, may have limited cash on hand. This means that they may have to forego what would have been a good investment because they do not have the cash to invest and cannot find a way to raise the capital. Other resources that affect what a firm may be able to achieve Trademarks/brand names: It would be veryincluding factors such as: difficult to compete against Coke and Pepsi in the cola market. Patents: It would be difficult to compete against Intel and AMD in the microprocessor market since both these firms have a number of patents.

LEVELS OF PLANNING AND STRATEGIES.
Plans for a firm can be made at several different levels.
 Corporate level, the management considers the objectives of the firm as a whole.
 Business unit level. For example, although Microsoft is best known for its operating systems and applications software, the firm also provides Internet access and makes video games.
 Functional level, to allow managers to specialize and to increase managerial accountability. Marketing, for example, may be charged with increasing awareness of Microsoft game consoles to 55% of the U.S. population or to increase the number of units of Microsoft Office sold.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer behavior involves the psychological processes that consumers go through in recognizing needs, finding ways to solve these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to purchase a product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret information, make plans, and implement these plans (e.g., by engaging in comparison shopping or actually purchasing a product).

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
The major factors influencing consumer behavior are cultural, social personal, and physiological.

CULTURAL FACTORS
Cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior.
Culture
Culture is the most fundamental determined of a person’s wants and behavior; whereas lower creatures are governed by instinct human behavior is largely learned. The growing child acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behavior through a process of socialization involving the family and other key institutions.
Sub Culture
Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific identifications and socialization for its members. Four types of subcultures can be distinguished
 Nationality groups such as the Irish, British, Italians, Americans, Chinese, and Indians are found within large communities and exhibit distinct ethnic tastes and productivities.
 Religious groups such as Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, etc., represent cultures with specific cultural preferences and taboos.
 Radical groups.
 Geographical areas such as Deep South California, New England Asian sub continent are distinct subcultures with characteristic lifestyles.

SOCIAL FACTORS
A consumer’s behavior is also influenced by such social factors as reference groups’ family and social roles and statuses.

REFERENCE GROUP
A person’s reference group consists of all the groups that have a direct or indirect influence on the person’s attitude or behavior. Groups having a direct influence on a person called membership groups. These are groups with to which the person belongs and interactions, such as family, neighbors and co-workers. Primary group tend to be more formal and where there is less continuous interaction. They include religious, professionals, and trade union groups.

FAMILY
Family members constitute the most influenced primary reference groups shaping a buyer’s behavior. The family of orientation consists of one’s parents. From parents a person acquires as orientation towards religion, polities and economics and a sense of personal ambition, self worth, and love.

ROLES AND STATUSES
A person participates in many groups, throughout life, family, clubs, and organizations. The person’s position in each can be defined in terms of role and status. Marketers are aware of the status symbol potential of products and brands. However, status symbols vary for social classes and also geographical.

AGE AND LIFECYCLE STAGE
Marketers often choose lifecycle groups as their target markets. Some recent work has identified psychological lifecycle stages. Adults experience certain passages or transformations as they go through life.

OCCUPATION
A person’s consumption pattern is also influences by his or her occupation groups that have above average interest in their products and services. Company can specialize their products for certain occupational groups.

ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES
Product choice is greatly affected by one’s economic circumstances. People’s economic circumstances consists of spend able income, savings and assets, borrowing power, and attitude towards spending versus saving.

LIFESTYLE
A person’s lifestyle is the person’s pattern of living in the world as expressed in the person’s activities, interests, and opinions. Lifestyles part says the ‘whole person’ interacting with his or her environment. Lifestyle reflects something beyond the person’s class or personality.

1.1 NEED FOR THE STUDY

Customers view a brand as an important part of a product, and brand can add value to a product. Branding has become a major issue in product strategy. On the other hand, developing a branded product requires a great deal of long term marketing investment, especially for advertising, promotion, and packaging. Powerful brand names have consumer Franchise – they command strong consumer loyalty. Therefore the need for the study becomes necessary to chalk out some information on preference, opinions, and satisfaction of the customers related to electronic products with special reference to Sony Products.
This study is aimed to provide some valid points for the management and other relevant persons to take some policy decisions in marketing.

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE
 To study the Brand Loyalty of Sony’s Products with special reference to Sony World, Coimbatore.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE
 To assess the source of awareness.
 To evaluate the reason for preferring Sony’s Products.
 To interpret the reasons for second buying of Sony’s Products.
 To assess the opinion of customers’ satisfaction about the Sony’s Products.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

 Creating awareness on the part of the management about the quality consciousness of the customers is one of the major scopes of the study.

 Knowing about the preferences of the customers may help the company to improve in many areas, so as to build a brand image to stabilize the reputation in today’s competitive market.

 By assessing the satisfaction of the customers, the services rendered to them can be improved accordingly.

CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing research is often needed to ensure that we produce what customers really want and not what we think they want.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research is an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge. It is the pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation, and experiments. As such the tern ‘research’ refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the problem formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data, analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solutions towards the concerned problem or in certain generalizations for some theoretical formulation.
The study in this research is an exploratory study which means exploring of facts from the respondents. The objective of exploratory research is the development of hypotheses to test various aspects.

THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS:
Marketing research is gathered using a systematic approach. An example of one follows:
1. Define the problem. Never conduct research for things that you would 'like' to know. Make sure that you really 'need' to know something. The problem then becomes the focus of the research. For example, why are sales falling in New Zealand?
2. How will you collect the data that you will analyze to solve your problem? Do we conduct a telephone survey, or do we arrange a focus group? The methods of data collection will be discussed in more detail later.
3. Select a sampling method. Do we us a random sample, stratified sample, or cluster sample?
4. How will we analyze any data collected? What software will we use? What degree of accuracy is required?
5. Decide upon a budget and a timeframe.
6. Go back and speak to the managers or clients requesting the research. Make sure that you agree on the problem! If you gain approval, then move on to step seven. 7. Go ahead and collect the data.
8. Conduct the analysis of the data.
9. Check for errors. It is not uncommon to find errors in sampling, data collection method, or analytic mistakes.
10. Write your final report. This will contain charts, tables, and diagrams that will communicate the results of the research, and hopefully lead to a solution to your problem. Watch out for errors in interpretation.
SOURCES OF DATA
Data plays a vital role for the successful completion of any research. Since, every possible source are needed to tap information required for the study, two sources to collect data i.e., primary and secondary sources have been used in this research.

PRIMARY DATA
Primary data are the data directly collected from the respondents by using any structured methodology. The researcher also collects the primary data using a structured questionnaire.

SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data are the data which are already collected by someone else, i.e., data collected through broachers and catalogues, newspapers, magazines, web sites, etc,.

SAMPLE DESIGN
A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items for the sample. Sampling design in this research includes the sampling method, sampling units, and sampling size.

SAMPLING METHOD
For the purpose of sampling, convenience sampling was used, which belongs to the category of non-probability sampling.
SAMPLE UNITS
The sample units taken for this research are the owners of Sony Products in Coimbatore City.

SAMPLE SIZE
The sample size taken for this research was 100. It consists of owners of Sony Products.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION
The researcher has collected data through personally administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared and supplied to the respondents. Direct interview method is also used to get information from some respondents. The first part of the questionnaire contains personal details of the respondents and the second part of the questionnaire deals with brand preference and satisfaction with various factors of Sony Products.

2.1 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUE USED FOR ANALYSIS
The data collected through questionnaire have been tabulated and analyzed by using the following techniques

 Simple Percentage analysis
 Chi – Square Technique
 Sign Two Sample Before – After Test
 Mann Whitney U Test
 ANOVA F – Distribution
SIMPLE PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS

The percentage analysis is mainly used to standardize the response of the respondents. This analysis is carried out for all the questions given in the questionnaire, mainly to the asses, how the respondents are distributed in each category.

Percentage analysis uses percentage to process the data. This method is used as a percentage simple number, reducing them into “0-100” range through percentage.
Percentage =

n = Number of respondents assured

N = Total number of respondents

2.2 CHI – SQUARE TECHNIQUE

It is a statistical measure used in the context of sampling analysis for comparing variance to a theoretical variance. It can be used to determine if categorical data shows dependency or the two classifications are independent and also used to make comparison between theoretical population and actual data when categories are used.
2 =
Where,
E = RT * CT
(RT = Row Total; CT = Column Total)
O = Observed number of respondents.
E = Expected number of respondents.
N = Total number of observations.
The total value is found at 5% level of significance and for available degree of freedom,
(R – 1) * (C – 1)
Where, R = Number of rows
C = Number of columns

If the calculated value is less than the table value then the hypothesis is accepted and if the calculated value is greater than the table value then the hypothesis is rejected.
2.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The following are the limitations of the study,
 The findings of the study solely depend on the response given by the buyers.
 The study is restricted only in and around Coimbatore District.
 The study is limited to the owners of Sony Products in Coimbatore District only. So, it is not applicable to universe.
 All the findings and observations made in this study are purely based on the respondent’s awareness. The response may be due to personal factor.
 The number of respondents included for the study is limited owing to the time constraints.
 However, adequate attempts have been made to collect unbiased data. The limitations of the tools used in the study are applicable to the study.

CHAPTER 3
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Business Week's section recently published an article on what it takes to successfully position business brand, a particularly challenging exercise when budgets are tight and creativity can be stretched by day-to-day demands.
BRAND EQUITY
Brand equity refers to the intangible value that accrues to a company as a result of its successful efforts to establish a strong brand. A brand is a name, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes the company's goods or services in the marketplace. Consumers often rely upon brands to guide their purchase decisions. The positive feelings consumers accumulate about a particular brand are what makes the brand a valuable asset for the company that owns it. Alan Mitchell of Marketing Week described brand equity as "the storehouse of future profits which result from past marketing activities."

Many companies structure their marketing programs around building and preserving their brand equity. "To be a strong brand, a company must instill a clear, unwavering consumer perception of the distinctive emotional or functional benefits of its products and services," Duane E. Knapp explained in an article for Risk Management. "At the end of the day, the brand is the sum total of the consumer's impressions about the product and service.
BUILDING BRAND EQUITY
The basis of brand equity lies in the relationship that develops between a consumer and the company selling the products or services under the brand name. A consumer who prefers a particular brand basically agrees to select that brand over others based primarily on his or her perception of the brand and its value. The consumer will reward the brand owner with dollars, almost assuring future cash flows to the company, as long as his or her brand preference remains intact. The buyer may even pay a higher price for the company's goods or services because of his commitment, or passive agreement, to buy the brand. In return for the buyer's brand loyalty, the company essentially assures the buyer that the product will confer the benefits associated with, and expected from, the brand.

In order to benefit from the consumer relationship allowed by branding, a company must painstakingly strive to earn and maintain brand loyalty. Building a brand requires the company to gain name recognition for its product, get the consumer to actually try its brand, and then convince the buyer that the brand is acceptable. Only after those triumphs can the company hopes to secure some degree of preference for its brand.

Name awareness is a critical factor in achieving brand success. Companies may spend vast sums of money and effort just to attain recognition of a new brand. But getting consumers to recognize a brand name is only half the battle in building brand equity. It is also important for the company to establish strong, positive associations with the brand and its use in the minds of consumers. The first step in building brand equity is for the company to define itself and what it hopes to represent for consumers. The next step is to make sure that all aspects of the company's operations support this image, from its product and service offerings to its marketing programs to its customer service policies. When all of these elements support a distinctive image of the company and its products in the minds of consumers, the company has established brand equity.
MEASURING AND PROTECTING BRAND EQUITY
Although measuring brand equity can be difficult, it can also provide managers with a good indication of their company's future profitability. "Companies which develop good measures of their brand equity have an early warning indicator of likely future profit trends, and can get a much better feel of the dangers of short-termism," Mitchell noted. "If brand equity is falling, you're storing up trouble for yourself…. If brand equity is rising, you're investing in future performance, even if it's not showing through in profits today. Real business performance therefore equals short-term results plus shifts in brand equity."
Unfortunately, measuring brand equity is not as simple as counting the number of people who recognize a brand name or symbol. It is also dangerous to assume that simply because its brand is well-known, a company enjoys strong or growing brand equity.

In fact, the most powerful brands can easily be diluted by company missteps or inconsistent marketing messages. Mitchell explained that the best way to measure brand equity depends on the particular company and its industry. For example, in some cases assessing consumer perceptions of product quality may provide the best indication of brand equity. In other cases, more traditional business measures such as customer satisfaction or market share may be more closely correlated with brand equity.
Finding an appropriate measure of brand equity is vital in order for companies to ensure that they protect this valuable asset. In his Risk Management article, Knapp claims that managers must remain constantly vigilant to protect their brand equity, since a declining brand image poses a significant risk to company earnings. If a brand loses its distinctive image in the minds of consumers, then the branded product becomes more like a commodity and must compete on the basis of price rather than value. Customer loyalty decreases, which has a corresponding negative effect on market share and profit margins. In order to prevent this decline, Knapp recommends that companies consider the impact of major decisions on consumer perceptions and brand equity. Every action taken by management—including the introduction of new products or advertising strategies, or the decision to lay off employees or relocate a factory—should be assessed for its effect on brand equity.
POSITIVITY
Brand equity cannot be negative. Positive brand equity is created by effective marketing - advertising, PR and promotion in all forms, and the ability of the brand's performance to consistently maintain customer relationships -- trust.
The greater a company's brand equity, the greater the probability that the company will use a family branding strategy rather than an individual branding strategy. This is because family branding allows them to leverage the equity accumulated in the core brand.
Examples
In the early 2000s, the Ford Motor Company made a strategic decision to brand all new or redesigned cars with names starting with "F". This aligned with the previous tradition of naming all sport utility vehicles since the Ford Explorer with the letter "E". The Toronto Star quoted an analyst who warned that changing the name of the well known Windstar to the Freestar would cause confusion and discard brand equity built up, while a marketing manager believed that a name change would highlight the new redesign. The aging Taurus, which became one of the most significant cars in American auto history would be abandoned in favor of three entirely new names, all starting with "F", the Five Hundred, Freestar and Fusion. By 2007, the Freestar was discontinued without a replacement, and Ford announced record losses. In a surprise announcement, the discarded Taurus nameplate would be re-used on an improved Five Hundred which had disappointing sales and whose nameplate was recognized by less than half of most people, but an overwhelming majority was familiar with the Taurus.
BRAND ARCHITECTURE
It is the structure of brands within an organizational entity. It is the way in which the brands within a company’s portfolio are related to, and differentiated from, one another. The architecture should define the different leagues of branding within the organization; how the corporate brand and sub-brands relate to and support each other; and how the sub-brands reflect or reinforce the core purpose of the corporate brand to which they belong. [Bennie, 2000]

TYPES OF BRAND ARCHITECTURE
There are three generic relationships between a master brand and sub-brands:
1. Monolithic brand or Branded house Examples include Virgin Group, Red Cross or Oxford University. These brands use a single name across all their activities and this name is how they are known to all their stakeholders – consumers, employees, shareholders, partners, suppliers and other parties.
2. Endorsed brands Like Nestlé’s KitKat, Sony PlayStation or Polo by Ralph Lauren. The endorsement of a parent brand should add credibility to the endorsed brand in the eyes of consumers. This strategy also allows companies who operate in many categories to differentiate their different product groups’ positioning.
3. Product brand or House of brands Like Procter & Gamble’s Pampers or Henkel’s Persil. The individual sub-brands are offered to consumers, and the parent brand gets little or no prominence. Other stakeholders, like shareholders or partners, know the company by its parent brand.

BRAND LOYALTY
It has been proclaimed by some to be the ultimate goal of marketing.[1] In marketing, brand loyalty consists of a consumer's commitment to repurchase the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy.[2] True brand loyalty implies that the consumer is willing, at least on occasion, to put aside their own desires in the interest of the brand.[3]

Brand loyalty is more than simple repurchasing, however. Customers may repurchase a brand due to situational constraints, a lack of viable alternatives, or out of convenience.[4] Such loyalty is referred to as "spurious loyalty". True brand loyalty exists when customers have a high relative attitude toward the brand which is then exhibited through repurchase behavior.[2] This type of loyalty can be a great asset to the firm: customers are willing to pay higher prices, they may cost less to serve, and can bring new customers to the firm.[1][5] For example, if Joe has brand loyalty to Company A he will purchase Company A's products even if Company B's are cheaper and/or of a higher quality.
An example of a major brand loyalty program that extended for several years and spread worldwide is Pepsi Stuff. Perhaps the most significant contemporary example of brand loyalty is the fervent devotion of many Mac users to the Apple company and its products.
From the point of view of many marketers, loyalty to the brand - in terms of consumer usage - is a key factor:

USAGE RATE
Most important of all, in this context, is usually the 'rate ' of usage, to which the Pareto 80:20 Rule applies. Kotler's `heavy users' are likely to be disproportionately important to the brand (typically, 20 per cent of users accounting for 80 per cent of usage -- and of suppliers' profit). As a result, suppliers often segment their customers into `heavy', `medium' and `light' users; as far as they can, they target `heavy users'.
LOYALTY
A second dimension, however, is whether the customer is committed to the brand. Philip Kotler, again, defines four patterns of behaviour:
 Hard Core Loyals - who buy the brand all the time.
 Soft Core Loyals - loyal to two or three brands.
 Shifting Loyals - moving from one brand to another.

THE BRAND WHEEL - Our approach to developing strong brands
Every brand is unique. The origin, organization, culture, and personality of one brand are different from all other ones. Any process addressing the brand's key strategic issues has to be tailor-made. The Brand Wheel is a description of the stages typically involved in brand development. Exactly what is done and how the work is organized is unique for each brand.

We apply a working methodology based on a unique toolbox for consumer and customer dialogue - IMPSYS. IMPSYS is used throughout all phases of the brand wheel process.

PORTFOLIOS OF BRANDS
Andrew Ehrenberg, then of the London Business School said that consumers buy 'portfolios of brands'.[citation needed] They switch regularly between brands, often because they simply want a change. Thus, 'brand penetration' or 'brand share' reflects only a statistical chance that the majority of customers will buy that brand next time as part of a portfolio of brands they favor. It does not guarantee that they will stay loyal.
Influencing the statistical probabilities facing a consumer choosing from a portfolio of preferred brands, which is required in this context, is a very different role for a brand manager; compared with the - much simpler - one traditionally described, of recruiting and holding dedicated customers. The concept also emphasizes the need for managing continuity.

BRAND PERSONALITY:
Your identity is who you are, the characteristic perspective and belief that distinguish you from others. Those who have not answered the question of identity have not started living and their personalities have no value in the market of life.
Branding is a subset of marketing management. It is a concept of identity in marketing. In advertising, branding is the image created in the minds of people when they see or hear a name, product or logo. It is a marketing function that differentiates a product from others. A successfully branded product appreciates overtime both in price and popularity than an unbranded product. For instance, Coca-Cola being the number one brand in the world has a global recognition and its market value has increased significantly from other soft drinks. Other most celebrated brands in the world include Microsoft, IBM, Nokia, yahoo, General Electric, Disney etc.
Branding though use mostly for products and services, it can also be applied to people. Individuals can create a brand for themselves that makes them unique and peculiar from others. Ronaldinho, Ophrah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, David Beckham are examples of those who have successfully branded themselves in their fields and in the world at large.
Personality branding is becoming necessary in a world of merger and synergy, so as not to lose your individuality. Until you have a Unique Selling Point (USP), the destiny you represent will not be known in the market of life. We are all salesmen. We must sell something in order to live! You are either selling your brains, health, strength, ingenuity, originality, creativity, resourcefulness, initiative, courage, or your executive ability. The question really is not what you sell, though this is important, but it is more of how you package what you sell, in branding, the container is more important than the content.
Some of us sell ourselves too dearly; others too cheaply. Many of us even fail to keep ourselves sold a large part of the time. The quality of our goods is not the best and so it is often returned or undesired. There are many things you are selling that perhaps you don’t realize. Have you ever stopped to think that you are selling your appearances, your dress, your carriage, your conversation, your optimism, your mental attitude toward life, toward work and toward others? The quality of the merchandise you offer and the price you desire will indicate the sort of character material you have manufactured or accumulated.
Personality branding is a call to re-inventing yourself, to make your own impression, to re-package your personality and its content, to come out with your own style and be unique for something, so as to boost your market value. Don’t bury yourself in the crowd that is going nowhere, dare to be different!
In branding, the rule is to make it SIMPLE, but DEVIATE from the norm, and remember that identity comes before synergy. In the process of branding, let superiority be your trademark, resolve that your life’s work shall be a masterpiece, as much as you can, be original and real; for the life span of a fake product and person is very short. Your brand is your logo, your identity, your image; make it simple, make it real and outstanding.

MARKET INERTIA
On the other hand, one of the most prominent features of many markets is their overall stability - or inertia. Thus, in their essential characteristics they change very slowly, often over decades - sometimes centuries - rather than over months. This stability has two very important implications. The first is that if you are a clear brand leader you are especially well placed in relation to your competitors, and should want to further the inertia which lies behind that stable position. This will, however, still demand a continuing pattern of minor changes, to keep up with the marginal changes in consumer taste (which may be minor to the theorist, but will still be crucial in terms of those consumers' purchasing patterns - markets do not favor the over-complacent.). But these minor investments are a small price to pay for the long term profits which brand leaders usually enjoy. Only farm-hands make a career out of milking cows, and only fools jeopardize the investment contained in an established brand leader.
The second, and more important is that if you want to overturn this stability, and change the market (or significantly change your position in it), then you must expect to make massive investments to succeed. Even though stability is the natural state of markets, however, sudden changes can still occur and the environment must be constantly scanned for signs of these.

1. Reichheld, Frederick F. and W. Earl Jr. Sasser (1990), "Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services," Harvard Business Review (September-October), 105-11.
2. Dick, Alan S. and Kunal Basu (1994), "Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 22 (2), 99-113.

3. Oliver, Richard L. (1999), "Whence Customer Loyalty?," Journal of Marketing, 63 (3), 33-44.
4. Jones, Michael A., David L. Mothersbaugh, and Sharon E. Beatty (2002), "Why Customers Stay: Measuring the Underlying Dimensions of Services Switching Costs and Managing Their Differential Strategic Outcomes," Journal of Business Research, 55, 441-50.
5. Reichheld, Frederick F. (1993), "Loyalty-Based Management," Harvard Business Review, 71 (2), 64-73.
• P. Kotler, 'Marketing Management ' (Prentice-Hall, 7th edn, 1991)
• D. Mercer, ‘Marketing’ (Blackwell, 1996)
• Jacoby, J. and Chestnut, R.W., 1978, Brand Loyalty: Measurement Management (John Wiley & Sons, New York).Arindam ghosh(MBA ,iipm)

3.1 GLOBAL TOP – TEN BRANDS, 2007

CHARACTERS OF A SUCCESSFUL BRAND
Here is a review of the six characteristics of a successful brand:
1. Relevance: A brand needs to match what your core customer audience is looking for and expecting. Basically, what a business is promising and delivering in their message and product needs to matter to your audience and have discernible, practical value to them. What's also important to remember is that brands need to evolve to stay contemporaneous with their audiences who are also changing,

2. Simplicity: Lots of concepts, words, ideas, features, details (you get the point) overwhelm audiences to the point that they will shut down their receptors. It's critical to synthesize your brand, brand value, product positioning, packaging, etc. to the point that the essence is distilled and presented. That's the core of what audiences take in, and once that clear message resonates, then a business can expand into details (but still in an orderly, structured fashion.)

3. Differentiation: A brand needs to be able say "we're different" and be able to actually and tangibly support that difference. The differentiation war cannot be won by claims alone, no matter how much money a business may have to spend, because end customers/consumers are simply too savvy in this online world to take proclamations at face value. It's not enough for a business to just claim that you are better than your competitors, you need to zero in on what being better means and articulate those concepts/facts.

4. Believability: Will your customers/market audiences accept what you are saying and delivering, and under the auspices of your current brand platform, or does a specific positioning or strategy stretch what they think is acceptable coming from your company? This is a critical, core analysis point in determining how to launch or reposition products, packaging, and campaigns. Miss here, and a business needs to go back to the starting gate.

5. Credibility: Delivering on your promises, always. Acting responsibly, always, operating with respect, always, doing business according to a high standard of business ethics and values. A business builds credibility with every interaction it has with the marketplace, and it can sometimes take just one deviation to damage trust.
6. Defensibility: Is easy or hard for a competitor to copy what you make/provide and go to market? To have a defensible market position, offerings can't be easy to imitate and you need to consistently and rigorously reinforce the brand's positioning. In the end, the brand itself may become the most defensible asset in your arsenal.

CHAPTER 4
COMPANY PROFILE

Masaru Ibuka & Akio Morita
Sony’s Founders

Genji Ogawa
Entered Sony in 1968 ; engaged in mechanical design on tape recorders.

Tetsunari Ogawa
Entered Sony in 1978 ; engaged in marketing of system components.

Makoto Chikuchi
Professor at the TOKAI University and adviser to Sony about "human, technology and culture".

Takashi Kanai
Audio Business HQ
Joined Sony in 1978.
Designed units for the ESPRIT, R1 and R10 series, the original TA-F777ES (1982/83), the complete 9000ES series (SCD-9000ES, TA-E9000ES, TA-DA9000ES etc) and... countless others !

Yoshio Matsumoto
General Audio Business Dept.
Engaged in development of NT-1 (starting in 1985), MD Walkman, electric design (audio block) for MZ-1.

Masaru Fujii
Home Video Dept.
Design Manager of MDP-A1, designing LaserDisc Players since LDP-505.

Ichikawa
MD project Dept.
Personal Audio Design Dept.
Joined Sony in 1986, designing radio cassette, headphone & active speakers.

Yuuji Morimiya
TV/AV Design Group
Joined Sony in the mid 1980s after 5 years at JVC. Designer of CCD-TR55, CCD-M7, CCD-F330 camcorders and of the TA-ER1 masterpiece. Also engaged in TV design.

Masao Morita
Head of Audio Business Dept.
Entered Sony in 1981, leading Home Audio Business.

Gotoh
Chief of New Media Design group
Joined Sony in 1977, remote controller & personal computer design.

Tomomichi Itoh
Managing Director of Sony Digital Products
Entered Sony in 1968, designed Liberty series (LBT-715/717) etc. Also leading the products division of Sony Digital Products which currently comprise the R series, ES series and PIXY.

Takuyoshi Kawano
Products Communication Group
MD design center
Manager of AV sector
Entered Sony in 1978 and engaged in products design. Design management from
1990, now managing design at Shibaura Technology Centre.

Kitukawa
Interface Design CAD group
Inventor of 3D program "FRESDAM",
camcorder form designer
`

Yoshinori Ichino
AV instructor at Personnel Group Marketing
Entered Sony in 1952, engaged in audio marketing from 1970. Chief of Technology Information Dept during 1973-79. Commentator at NHK broadcasting as "introduction of audio course". Now part-time adviser to Sony.

REBUILDING FROM THE ASHES
In September 1945, Masaru Ibuka returned to Tokyo to begin work in the war-damaged capital. A narrow room with a telephone switchboard located on the third floor of the Shirokiya Department Store (Tokyu Department Store which closed on January 1999) in Nihombashi became the new workshop for Ibuka and his group. Having barely survived the war fires, the building had cracks all over its concrete exterior. Without windows, the new office was small and bleak. Gradually, the office environment started to improve as the silicon steel boards, drilling machines and other equipment were transported from the Suzaka factory, and the personnel who had been tying up loose ends there joined the Shirokiya staff.
In October, Ibuka and his group established a new facility, called "Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo"(Totsuken), or "Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute." Although everyone was eager to work for the new company and to help rebuild post-war Japan with their engineering know-how, no one knew what to do at first.
Most of the salaries were paid out of Ibuka's small, and dwindling, savings. To stay in business, they had to do something. After the war, the Japanese were hungry for news around the world. Many had war-damaged radios, or ones that had had the shortwave unit disconnected by the military police to prevent from tuning into enemy propaganda. Ibuka's factory repaired radios and made shortwave converters or adapters that could easily make medium-wave radios into super heterodyne or all-wave receivers. Demand for such radios was rapidly increasing.
The shortwave adapters attracted wide attention, and the Asahi Shimbun featured them in its "Blue Pencil" column. As a result, demand increased even further. This article also brought Ibuka and Akio Morita back together again(*). As the war ended, Morita was back home at Kosugaya, in Aichi Prefecture. One day, he read the column that mentioned Ibuka's name, and he wrote to his friend immediately. Ibuka replied at once, urging Morita to come to Tokyo. Since he had been offered a job as a lecturer at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokodai), Morita wasted no time in moving to Tokyo and in renewing their acquaintance
In addition to work, radio repairs brought employees an extra reward as well. They often received rice from houses they visited on service calls, in addition to a normal service fee. This was treasured during a time of serious food shortages

The electric rice cooker

Subsequently, Ibuka's factory worked on an electric rice cooker.As the war plants had closed down, there was more electricity than was needed at the time. This surplus fed Ibuka's desire to produce items which were needed for everyday life. The electric rice cooker, made by merely interlocking aluminum electrodes which were connected to the bottom of a wooden tub, was a primitive product. The result depended heavily on the kind of rice used and the weight of the water. Tasty rice was a rarity, as the rice cooker produced mostly undercooked or overcooked rice. It was a memorable first failure for Ibuka and his staff.
The rice needed for the development of the electric rice cooker was procured by Shozaburo Tachikawa on the black market. Tachikawa was a distant relative of Ibuka's, and as a child, Ibuka used to visit the Tachikawa family, who operated a marine products wholesaler in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Whenever Ibuka visited Tachikawa, the whole family would make such a big fuss, saying, "Masaru is here," and they would hide their clocks and other such items so as to prevent Ibuka from tinkering with them. Tachikawa felt close to Ibuka and looked up to him like an elder brother. Upon graduating from university, Tachikawa had expertly handled the Japan Measurement Instrument Company (Nissoku)'s general affairs. At Totsuken, he took charge of finance, personnel and general affairs. One of his first major task was to purchase rice on the black market, a routine that continued for several years until the food supply situation improved.
Needless to say, some Totsuken products were very successful. Vacuum-tube voltmeter that Yasuda worked on frome the time of Nissoku was an excellent example. The company began supplying this product to government offices. The new business of Ibuka and his group was well under way by the end of 1945.

(*) Ibuka and Morita, the founders of Sony, first encounterd each other at the meetings of the Wartime Research Committee that was studying new types of weapons during the war. The two men became close friens, thought Ibuka was more than a dozen years older.

THE FOUNDING PROSPECTUS
On May 7, 1946, more than twenty management and staff attended the inauguration ceremony which officially established Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Totsuko). Ibuka's father-in-law, Tamon Maeda was appointed president of the new company. Maeda was the former Minister of Education in the postwar Higashikuni and Shidehara Cabinets.
Ibuka had prepared a founding prospectus for the new company and had left it with Tachikawa. Since Ibuka was so involved with preparations for the inauguration, he completely forgot to ask for the prospectus. When he saw it later, Ibuka reaffirmed the significance of this document. Since he had found the document, he made this the focus of his inauguration speech. He said, "We must avoid problems which befall large corporations," "While we create and introduce technologies which large corporations cannot match. The reconstruction of Japan depends on the development of dynamic technologies."
The new company, capitalized at \190,000, had no machinery and little scientific equipment. Possessing only their intelligence and engineering know-how, Ibuka and his engineers set about creating new markets. Their creativity and innovation would be their sole guide in an unknown territory. President Maeda echoed Ibuka's speech. He told the ardent young engineers, "Today our small company has made its start. With its superior technologies and spirit of perfect unity, the company will grow. As it does so, we can certainly make a contribution to society." With that, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) was born.
From the next day onward, everyone worked extremely hard. As they worked well into the night, long after the Shirokiya department store had closed, they often found themselves locked inside. They were sometimes caught by zealous policemen when using the emergency exits. Who could blame a policeman for mistaking someone sneaking out of a fire exit so late at night for a thief? The young engineers, however, used their technical skills to their advantage. They duplicated keys for the main entrance and exits and were soon slipping freely in and out of the building. But before long this trick was detected. These were difficult, yet happy days for the young force.
Such diversions could not obscure the difficulties the engineers were having due to lack of materials. On May 8, Ibuka visited the Ministry of Communications and received an order for fifty vacuum tube voltmeters. Vacuum tubes were then hard to come by. Finding them on the black market required trips to either Akihabara, in Tokyo, the Yokohama area or as for as Ibaraki Prefecture. Even then, only fifty out of one hundred vacuum tubes met voltmeter specifications.
The situation was no better for equipment, as the company could not afford to spend scarce money on them. The engineers at Totsuko made all the equipment themselves. Beginning with soldering irons, they made screwdrivers from motorcycle springs fished out of the war ruins. They constructed their own electrical coils and substituted telephone cables for electrical wiring in their trial products. Although such deficiencies posed problems, these young engineers actually enjoyed working this way.
The biggest concern of all, however, was financing. The burgeoning company's urgent need for financing had also been affected by the government's policy of switching from the old yen currency to the new, as laid out in the Emergency Financial Measure Ordinance of February 1946. Therefore, earning new yen notes became vital for the company to stay in business. The best-selling Totsuko product for the new yen market was an electrically heated cushion.

MOVING TO GOTENYAMA
Soon after their move to the Tokuya Building in Ginza, Totsuko was asked by NHK(national broadcasting station) to convert military-use wireless equipment into relay receivers for broadcasting applications. NHK's facilities had been severely damaged during the war, as had most communication facilities in Japan. It was vitally important for NHK to repair its studios and build wireless relay receiving stations throughout the country, in order to restore a national broadcasting network. This was a top priority for Japan's post-war recovery. Shigeo Shima, who was then working in the Facilities section of NHK, was in charge of this project.
Since Japan lacked all kinds of materials and supplies, Shima thought of utilizing military war reserves. The army's communications equipment reserve, in Yamanashi Prefecture, included many "Ground-2" air-search short- and medium-wave wireless receivers with plug-in coils. Shima obtained these receivers from the government, promising to "use them for Japan's peaceful reconstruction."
Shima had a good reason to ask Totsuko to repair and remodel the "G-2" receivers. At that time, almost all Japanese companies in the telecommunications industry were working exclusively on restoration of telephones in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications. There were a few companies working on wireless equipment, and these were strictly bound by rigid contracts and could not adapt quickly to any design changes. Besides, the cost was very high and NHK's budget was limited. But Shima was sure that Ibuka's company could do the job. This became Totsuko's first connection with NHK.
At that time, Totsuko's employees enjoyed their lunchtime more than anything else. While it is natural for a company today to provide a cafeteria, in those days food was so scarce that it was rare for any company to serve rice. Totsuko's lunches were prepared at their Ginza office, put in rucksacks and carried on crowded trains to the factories in Kichijoji and Mitaka. When lunchtime neared, workers would take out their own side dishes and wait impatiently, frequently poking their heads out of the factory windows, wondering when their rice would arrive.
The work environment at Totsuko was healthy and its business with NHK and the government was going well. But just when Totsuko was beginning to realize a steady profit, the owner of the factory in Kichijoji began pressuring the company to leave -- he said he planned to begin production work himself. Perhaps the real reason had to do with electricity. At that time, electricity would be cut off when consumption exceeded the allowed quota. Since Totsuko's employees worked day and night, not caring about such restrictions, the factory owner feared that his own power would be cut off.
It was inconvenient for the company to have factories and offices in three different locations spread far from each other. This also made the company incur higher operating costs. So Ibuka and Morita began looking for another place to rent, a place big enough for everyone to work together.
It was at the end of 1946 when Ibuka and Morita began their search. Because the company had sold its only truck, a used Datsun, Ibuka and Morita had to make their search on foot during the increasingly cold nights.

In front of the Gotenyama factory (From left to right: Akira Higuchi, Kazuo Iwama, Masuru Ibuka, and Akio Morita).
4.1 ESTABLISHMENT

1946 May Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation), also known as Totsuko, established in Nihonbashi, Tokyo with start-up capital of 190,000 yen for the research and manufacture of telecommunications and measuring equipment.

1947 Feb Company head office and factory relocated to Shinagawa, Tokyo.

Oct Successful commercialization and sales launch of Sony's “power megaphone.”

1949 Sep Completion of first magnetic tape recorder prototype.

1950 Mar Japan's first magnetite-coated, paper-based recording tape, “Soni-Tape,” launched.

Jul Japan's first magnetic tape recorder, the G-Type, launched.
1954 May Sendai plant established in Tagajo, near Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. (in April 1992 it was renamed Sendai Technology Center.)

Jul Announcement of Japan's first PNP alloy-type transistor and germanium diode.
1955 Feb Decision made to use SONY logo on Totsuko products.

Aug Totsuko listed on the OTC (over-the-counter) market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

Sep Japan's first transistor radio, the TR-55, launched.

1962 May The world's smallest and lightest all-transistor TV, TV5-303, launched.

1965 May Sales launch of the Chromatron-type 19-inch color TV, 19C-70.

Aug World's first home-use open-reel VTR, the CV-2000, launched.

Oct Japan's first all-silicon transistor stereo amplifier, the TA-1120, launched.

1966 Apr Sony Building in Ginza, Tokyo, opened.

Nov Sales launch of Sony's first cassette tape recorder, the “Magazine-matic 100” TC-100.
1973 Jan Hispano Sony established in Barcelona, Spain.

Feb Sony France S.A. established in Paris, France

May Sony receives the first Emmy ever awarded to a Japanese company for developing the Trinitron color TV system.

1974 Jun Operations commenced at color TV assembly plant in Bridgend, Wales, in the U.K.

Aug Operations commenced at cathode ray tube (CRT) plant in San Diego, the first ever integrated color TV production facility to be established by a Japanese company overseas.

1979 Jul Sales launch of the TPS-L2, the first personal headphone stereo “Walkman.”
1981 Aug Technology announcement related to Sony's magnetic video camera based the “Mavica” magnetic recording standard.

1982 Oct World's first CD player, the CDP-101, launched.

1985 Jan 8mm camcorder, the CCD-V8, launched.

1990 Dec Launch of the HD-equipped, 16:9 wide aspect ratio, 36-inch consumer-use television, the KW-3600HD.

1992 Nov MD system launched.

1993 Jul World's first continuous-wave room-temperature operation of blue semiconductor lasers successfully developed.

Nov Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. established.
1996 Oct Sony China established.

Oct Sales launch of the digital still camera “Cybershot” DSC-F1.

1997 Apr Sony Marketing Co., Ltd. Established.

May Development of “Digital Reality Creation,” technology to create highly-realistic 4x picture resolution based on standard television signals, using Sony's exclusive digital signal processing algorithm.

Jun Introduction of Corporate Executive Officer System.

Jul Home-use PC “VAIO” series launched

1999 May Sales launch of Super Audio CD players, SCD-1.

Jun Sales launch of the entertainment robot “AIBO” ERS-110.

2000 Jun Sony Center am Potsdamer Platz Berlin opened.

Nov Small Biped Entertainment Robot SDR-3X announced.

Dec Sales launch of the personal IT television “Airboard” IDT-LF1.

2001 Feb Sony develops world's largest (13 inch) full color organic EL display.

Apr Sony Bank established in Japan.

Apr Sony EMCS established.

Oct Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications established.

2002 Oct Sony absorbs AIWA by merger.

Nov Sales launch of the “CoCoon” channel server CSV-E77.

2003 Apr Sales launch of the world's first next-generation high capacity optical disc “Blu-ray Disc” recorder BDZ-S77.

Jun First “QUALIA” products launched.

Jun Corporate shift to “committee-based” organizational model.

Oct “SDR,” a compact bipedal entertainment robot, began activity as Sony group's “corporate ambassador,” under the new nickname “QRIO.”

2004 Jan FeliCa Networks, Inc. established.

Apr Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) becomes wholly owned subsidiary via exchange of shares.

Apr Sony Financial Holdings Inc. established.

May Sony develops new 4K SXRD high-resolution LCD panel, the industry's first LCD device to meet advanced digital cinema DCI-recommended specifications of 4K (4906H x 2160V) setting the global standard for digital cinema projectors.

Aug Sony BMG Music Entertainment established.

Sep Development and commercial production of world's first mercury-free button-shaped silver-oxide battery.

Oct Sales launch of HDR-FX1, the world's first consumer use digital HD video camera recorder conforming to HDV standard 1080i.

2005 Apr Consortium, including Sony, completes acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) of the US.

Jul Sales launch of the “Hi Definition Handycam” HDR-HC1, the world's smallest digital HD video camera recorder.

Sep Sales launch of new “BRAVIA” brand HDTV-compatible flat-screen TVs.

Oct New organizational model introduced, replacing “internal companies” system with one centering on “business groups.”

Dec Sony Communication Network Corporation delists as a subsidiary tracking stock. Sony Communication Network Corporation (renamed So-net Entertainment Corporation in Oct. 2006) listed on the Mothers Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

2006 Jan World's-first signal-processing circuit technology compatible with "xvYCC" format developed---supporting a far wider gamut for color reproduction.

Apr Sony and Samsung reach agreement on manufacturing 8th generation amorphous TFT LCD panels at their joint venture, S-LCD Corporation.

REPRESENTATIVE CORPORATE EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

 Howard Stringer
Chairman and CEO

 Ryoji Chubachi
President and Electronics CEO

 Katsumi Ihara
Executive Deputy President,
Officer in charge of Consumer Products Group

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Howard Stringer

Ryoji Chubachi

Katsumi Ihara

Akishige Okada

Yotaro Kobayashi

Sakie T. Fukushima

Yoshihiko Miyauchi

Yoshiaki Yamauchi

Peter Bonfield

Fueo Sumita

Fujio Cho

Ryuji Yasuda

Sir Howard Stringer
Chairman & CEO of Sony Corporation

Sony Headquarters
Sony Brand Ambassadors

Hrithik Roshan

Maria Sharapova

Sony World

CHAPTER 5
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
TABLE – 1
CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF AGE

AGE GROUP

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Below 20 yrs

6
6 %

20 – 30 yrs

32
32 %

30 – 40 yrs

45
42 %

Above 50 yrs

17
17 %

TOTAL

100
100%
INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that the most of the respondents relate to the group of 30 – 40 years of age with 45%. The next age group is 20 – 30 with 32%.

GRAPH 1

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF AGE

TABLE – 2

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF GENDER

GENDER

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Male

82
82 %

Female

18
18 %

TOTAL

100
100 %

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that majority of the respondents are male and it is 82%. The minority of the respondents is female and it is 18%.

GRAPH 2

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF GENDER

TABLE – 3

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF
MARITAL STATUS

MARITAL STATUS
NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Single

32
32 %

Married

68
68 %

TOTAL

100
100 %

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that 68% of the respondents are married and the rest of the 32% are single. Hence it can be made clear that the majority group is married respondents.

GRAPH – 3

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF
MARITAL STATUS

TABLE – 4
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS WHO PREFER THE BRAND SONY

OCCUPATION

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Business

52
52 %

Govt. Employee

12
12 %

Pvt. Employee

16
16 %

Others

20
20 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that 52% of the total respondents doing business prefer the brand Sony the most over any of the above mentioned categories.

GRAPH – 4

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF OCCUPATIONAL STATUS WHO PREFER THE BRAND SONY

TABLE – 5
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THEIR
MONTHLY INCOME

MONTHLY INCOME

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Below 10000

13
13 %

10000 – 20000

38
38 %

20000 – 30000

24
24 %

Above 30000

25
25 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that people who earn from 10000 to 20000 prefer the brand Sony the most, and the level of preference of the brand stays almost equal among 20000 to 30000 and above. Hence most of the Sony users belong to the higher income group.
GRAPH – 5

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THEIR
MONTHLY INCOME

TABLE – 6

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE MEDIA OF
CREATING AWARENESS

SOURCE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Television

29
29 %

Radio

04
04 %

Newspaper

27
27 %

Magazine

26
26 %

Others

14
14 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that television, newspaper, and magazine play a vital role in the creation of awareness towards the brand Sony which are 29%, 27%, and 26% respectively.
GRAPH – 6

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE MEDIA OF
CREATING AWARENESS

TABLE – 7
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THEM TO BUY SONY PRODUCTS

FACTORS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Self

36
36 %

Friends

28
28 %

Spouse

13
13 %

Children

11
11 %

Sony Salesman

12
12 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that self determination plays the most important role with 36% in influencing them to purchase Sony Brands. The next two important factors are friends and spouse with 28% and 13% respectively.

GRAPH – 7

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THEM TO BUY SONY PRODUCTS

TABLE – 8
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SONY’S BRANDS
THEY HAVE ALREADY PURCHASED

PRODUCTS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Television

53
53 %

Music System

17
17 %

Video Player

09
09 %

Game

06
06 %

Others

15
15 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that 53% of the respondents have already purchased Sony televisions. Next come the Music Systems with 17%.

GRAPH – 8

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SONY’S BRANDS
THEY HAVE ALREADY PURCHASED
TABLE – 9
CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF
THE DURATION OF THEIR USAGE

DURATION

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Below 6 months

06
06 %

6 months – 1 year

16
16 %

1 – 3 years

19
19 %

3 – 5 years

15
15 %

Above 5 years

44
15 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that 44% of the customers are using Sony products for more than 5 years. Next stands the users of 1 – 3 years with 19%.

GRAPH – 9

CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS ON THE BASIS OF
THE DURATION OF THEIR USAGE

TABLE – 10

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SOURCE OF
FUND THEY HAVE USED TO PURCHASE

SOURCE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Personal Money

35
35 %

From Friends

11
11 %

Loan

33
33 %

Relatives

13
13 %

Others

08
08 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that personal money and loan are both almost equally considered with 35% and 33% respectively as the source of fund to purchase the Sony products.
GRAPH – 10

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SOURCE OF
FUND THEY HAVE USED TO PURCHASE

TABLE – 11
CLASSIFICATION ON PREFERENCE TOWARDS SONY WORLDS’ ENVIRONMENT/FUNCTIONS

FUNCTIONS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

High Profile Salesmanship
26
26 %

Premium Environment

25
25 %

Apt Promotion

36
36 %

Others

13
13 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that 36% of the respondents prefer apt promotional mix to be the function which is necessary for maintaining the Sony’s Brand image and then comes the salesmanship with 26%.
GRAPH – 11

CLASSIFICATION ON PREFERENCE TOWARDS SONY WORLDS’ ENVIRONMENT/FUNCTIONS

TABLE – 12
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE FACTOR WHICH INFLUENCED THEM TO PURCHASE SONY PROUCTS

FACTORS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Brand Image

55
55 %

Features

11
11 %

Durability

09
09 %

Price

01
01 %

Quality

24
24 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that the main factor that induced to purchase the Sony products is the Brand Image with 55% and next is the inevitable factor that is none other than the quality with 24%.

GRAPH – 12

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE FACTOR WHICH INFLUENCED THEM TO PURCHASE SONY PROUCTS

TABLE – 13

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS DUABILITY

MEASURES

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Strongly Satisfied

75
75 %

Fairly Satisfied

15
15 %

Neither

06
06 %

Fairly Dissatisfied

03
03 %

Strongly Dissatisfied

01
01 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that the overall satisfactory level towards the durability of the product is strongly satisfied with 75% and the fairly satisfied respondents are 15%.

GRAPH – 13

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS DUABILITY

TABLE – 14
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THEIR SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS CUSTOMER SERVICE

MEASURES

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Strongly Satisfied

53
53 %

Fairly Satisfied

34
34 %

Neither

10
10 %

Fairly Dissatisfied

01
01 %

Strongly Dissatisfied

02
02 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that the overall satisfactory level towards the customer service is strongly satisfied with 53% and the fairly satisfied respondents are 34%. Hence it can be concluded certainly that most of the customers are satisfied.

GRAPH – 14

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THEIR SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS CUSTOMER SERVICE

TABLE – 15

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS AFTER-SALES SERVICE

MEASURES

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Strongly Satisfied

42
42 %

Fairly Satisfied

34
34 %

Neither

16
16 %

Fairly Dissatisfied

06
06 %

Strongly Dissatisfied

02
02 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be understood that the overall satisfactory level towards the after-sales service is with 42% of the respondents mentioning strong satisfaction and 34% with fair satisfaction. Hence they are immoderately satisfied.
GRAPH – 15

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS AFTER-SALES SERVICE

TABLE – 16

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE PREFERENCE TOWARDS COMPETITIVE BRANDS

COMPETITORS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Onida

18
18 %

Samsung

46
46 %

LG

06
06 %

Panasonic

13
13 %

Philips

17
17 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that the most competitive brand for Sony is Samsung with 46% and then comes Onida and Philips with 18% and 17% respectively.

GRAPH – 16

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE PREFERENCE TOWARDS COMPETITIVE BRANDS

TABLE – 17
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF PREFERENCE AMOUNG VARIOUS SONY’S BRANDS

RANK
PRODUCTS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

01
Television

29
29 %

02
Music System

24
24 %

03
Digital Camera

17
17 %

04
Video Player

16
16 %

05
Others

13
13 %

06

Games
01
01%

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that television is preferred first with 29% and then comes the music system with 24, which is followed by the digital camera with 17%.

GRAPH – 17

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF PREFERENCE AMOUNG VARIOUS SONY’S BRANDS

TABLE – 18
CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

MEASURES

NO. OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

Strongly Satisfied

54
54 %

Fairly Satisfied

32
32 %

Neither

08
08 %

Fairly Dissatisfied

05
05 %

Strongly Dissatisfied

01
01 %

TOTAL

100
100%

INFERENCE:
From this table, it can be inferred that 54% of the respondents are strongly satisfied and 32% are fairly satisfied towards the physical environment of Sony World. Hence the satisfaction towards the physical environment in Sony World trade good.

GRAPH – 18

CLASSIFICATION ON THE BASIS OF THE SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

CHI – SQUARE TEST No. 1
NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO):
There is no significant difference between the gender and the factors influencing to buy the Sony products.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1):
There is significant difference between the gender and the factors influencing to buy the Sony products.

FACTOR
GENDER

TOTAL
MALE FEMALE

Brand Image

52
3
55

Features

7
4
11

Durability

5
4
9

Price

0
1
1

Quality

18
6
24

TOTAL

82
18
100

CHI – SQUARE TABLE:

CELL

O
E
O – E
(O – E)2
(O – E)2/E
R1 C1 52 45.1 6.9 47.61 1.06
R1 C2 3 9.9 -6.9 47.61 4.81
R2 C1 7 9.02 -2.02 4.08 0.45
R2 C2 4 1.98 2.02 4.08 2.06
R3 C1 5 7.38 -2.38 5.66 0.77
R3 C2 4 1.62 2.38 5.66 3.49
R4 C1 0 0.82 -0.82 0.67 0.82
R4 C2 1 0.18 0.82 0.67 3.72
R5 C1 18 19.68 -1.68 2.82 0.14
R5 C2 6 4.32 1.68 2.82 0.65

TOTAL
100 100 0 121.68 17.97

To Calculate the Tabulated Chi – Square Value:

Degree of Freedom = (R – 1) X (C – 1)
= (5 – 1) X (2 – 1)
= 4
Level of Significance = 5%, i.e., 0.05
Table Value = 9.488

INTERPRETATION:
At 5% level of significance and 4 degree of freedom the computed value of Chi – Square is 17.97 and the table value is 9.488. The computed value is greater than the table value, hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

INFERENCE:
Hence, it may be concluded that there is significant difference between the gender and the factors influencing to buy the Sony products.

CHI – SQUARE TEST No. 2
NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) :
There is no significant difference between the occupation and satisfaction level on the quality of Sony products.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1)
There is significant difference between the occupation and satisfaction level on the quality of Sony products.

MEASURES

OCCUPATION

TOTAL
Business Govt. Emp. Pvt. Emp. Others
Strongly Satisfied 36 7 13 19 75
Fairly Satisfied 11 4 0 0 15

Neither 4 0 1 1 6
Fairly Dissatisfied 1 0 2 0 3
Strongly Dissatisfied 0 1 0 0 1

TOTAL

52
12
16
20
100
CHI – SQUARE TABLE:

CELL
O
E
O – E
(O – E)2
(O – E)2/E
R1 C1 36 39 -3 9 0.23
R1 C2 7 9 -2 4 0.44
R1 C3 13 12 1 1 0.08
R1 C4 19 15 4 16 1.07
R2 C1 11 7.8 3.2 10.24 1.31
R2 C2 4 1.8 2.2 4.84 2.69
R2 C3 0 2.4 -2.4 5.76 2.40
R2 C4 0 3 -3 9 3.00
R3 C1 4 3.12 0.88 0.7744 0.25
R3 C2 0 0.72 -0.72 0.5184 0.72
R3 C3 1 0.96 0.04 0.0016 0.00
R3 C4 1 1.2 -0.2 0.04 0.03
R4 C1 1 1.56 -0.56 0.3136 0.20
R4 C2 0 0.36 -0.36 0.1296 0.36
R4 C3 2 0.48 1.52 2.3104 4.81
R4 C4 0 0.6 -0.6 0.36 0.60
R5 C1 0 0.52 -0.52 0.2704 0.52
R5 C2 1 0.12 0.88 0.7744 6.45
R5 C3 0 0.16 -0.16 0.0256 0.16
R5 C4 0 0.2 -0.2 0.04 0.20
TOTAL
100 100 0 65.40 25.54

To Calculate the Tabulated Chi – Square Value:

Degree of Freedom = (R – 1) X (C – 1)
= (5 – 1) X (4 – 1)
= 12
Level of Significance = 5%, i.e., 0.05
Table Value = 21.02607

INTERPRETATION:
At 5% level of significance and 12 degree of freedom the computed value of Chi – Square is 25.54, and the table value is 21.02607, the computed value is greater than the table value, hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

INFERENCE:
Hence, it may be concluded that there is significant difference between the occupation and satisfaction level on the quality of Sony products.

CHI – SQUARE TEST No. 3
NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) :
There is no significant difference between the factors influencing the brand awareness and the brand loyalty to purchase Sony products.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1)
There is significant difference between the factors influencing the brand awareness and the brand loyalty to purchase Sony products.

PRODUCTS
FACTORS TOTAL
Television Music System Video Player Game Others
Television 26 1 0 0 2 29
Radio 0 0 0 0 4 4
Newspaper 7 8 7 5 0 27
Magazine 18 6 0 0 2 26
Others 2 2 2 1 7 14

TOTAL 53 17 9 6 15 100

CHI – SQUARE TABLE:

CELL O E O – E (O – E)2 (O – E)2/E
R1 C1 26 15.37 10.63 113.00 7.35
R1 C2 1 4.93 -3.93 15.44 3.13
R1 C3 0 2.61 -2.61 6.81 2.61
R1 C4 0 1.74 -1.74 3.03 1.74
R1 C5 2 4.35 -2.35 5.52 1.27
R2 C1 0 2.12 -2.12 4.49 2.12
R2 C2 0 0.68 -0.68 0.46 0.68
R2 C3 0 0.36 -0.36 0.13 0.36
R2 C4 0 0.24 -0.24 0.06 0.24
R2 C5 4 0.6 3.4 11.56 19.27
R3 C1 7 14.31 -7.31 53.44 3.73
R3 C2 8 4.59 3.41 11.63 2.53
R3 C3 7 2.43 4.57 20.88 8.59
R3 C4 5 1.62 3.38 11.42 7.05
R3 C5 0 4.05 -4.05 16.40 4.05
R4 C1 18 13.78 4.22 17.81 1.29
R4 C2 6 4.42 1.58 2.50 0.56
R4 C3 0 2.34 -2.34 5.48 2.34
R4 C4 0 1.56 -1.56 2.43 1.56
R4 C5 2 3.9 -1.9 3.61 0.93
R5 C1 2 7.42 -5.42 29.38 3.96
R5 C2 2 2.38 -0.38 0.14 0.06
R5 C3 2 1.26 0.74 0.55 0.43
R5 C4 1 0.84 0.16 0.03 0.03
R5 C5 7 2.1 4.9 24.01 11.43
TOTAL 100 100 0 360.21 87.34

To Calculate the Tabulated Chi – Square Value:

Degree of Freedom = (R – 1) X (C – 1)
= (5 – 1) X (5 – 1)
= 16
Level of Significance = 5%, i.e., 0.05
Table Value = 26.296

INTERPRETATION:
At 5% level of significance and 16 degree of freedom the computed value of Chi – Square is 87.34, and the table value is 26.296, the computed value is greater than the table value, hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

INFERENCE:
Hence, it may be concluded that there is significant difference between the factors influencing the brand awareness and the brand loyalty to purchase Sony products.

SIGN TEST
TWO – SAMPLE TEST
NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) :
There is significant difference between the customer service provided before– and after – sales in Sony World.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1) :
There is no significant difference between the customer service provided before– and after – sales in Sony World.

FACTOR
CUSTOMER SERVICE

TOTAL
BEFORE AFTER
Strongly Satisfied 53 42 95
Fairly Satisfied 34 34 68
Neither 10 16 26
Fairly Dissatisfied 01 06 07
Strongly Dissatisfied 02 02 04

TOTAL
100 100 200

CALCULATION:

BEFORE AFTER SIGN
53 42 +
34 34 0
10 16 -
01 06 -
02 02 0

Total number of Positive Sign : 01

Total number of Negative Signs : 02

Sign Test = n Cx Px q n-x

Here,
n = 3
P = 0.5
Q = 0.5
X = 1
Sign Test = n Cx Px q n-x
= 3C1 (0.5)1 (0.5)3-1
Calculated Value = 0.375
Level of Significance = 5%, i.e., 0.05
Table Value = 0.1

INTERPRETATION:
At 5% level of significance the computed value of Sign Test is 0.375, and the table value is 0.1, the computed value is greater than the table value, hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

INFERENCE:
Hence, it may be concluded that there is no significant difference between the customer service provided before– and after– sales in Sony World. The service is also good even after the sales of the product. This enhances Sony to make the customers more loyal towards the brand.

MANN WHITNEY U TEST

NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) :
There is no significant difference between the usage rate and the factors influencing to purchase Sony products.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1) :
There is significant difference between the usage rate and the factors influencing to purchase Sony products.

S.NO.

USAGE
VALUES
FACTORS
VALUES

01
Below 6 months

06
Brand Image

55

02
6 months – 1 year

16
Features

11

03
1 – 3 years

19
Durability

09

04
3 – 5 years

15
Price

01

05
Above 5 years

44
Quality

24

CALCULATIONS:

USAGE VALUES
U1 RANKS
FACTORS
U2 RANKS

06

9
55
1

16

5
11
7

19

4
09
8

15

6
01
10

44

2
24
3

Total ranks of Usage Rate (R1) = 26
Total ranks of Factors (R2) = 29

FORMULA:
U1 = [ n1n2 + n1(n1+1)/2] – R1
U2 = [ n1n2 + n2(n2+1)/2] – R2

Here,
n1 = 5
n2 = 5

U1 = [ n1n2 + n1(n1+1)/2] – R1
= [ 5 x 5 + 5 (5+1)/2 ] – 26
= 14

U2 = [ n1n2 + n2(n2+1)/2] – R2
= [ 5 x 5 + 5 (5+1)/2 ] – 29
= 11

U is the lowest value of U1 and U2

Hence, U = 11 (Calculated Value)

From the above table, n1 = n2 = 5
Table Value of 5 = 2.
Calculated Value = 11
Level of Significance = 5%, i.e., 0.05
Table Value = 2

INTERPRETATION:
At 5% level of significance the computed value of Mann Whitney U Test is 11, and the table value is 2, the computed value is greater than the table value, hence the null hypothesis is rejected.

INFERENCE:
Hence, it may be concluded that there is significant difference between the usage rate and the factors influencing to purchase Sony products.

ANOVA ONE WAY

NULL HYPOTHESIS (HO) :
There is no significant difference between the satisfaction level towards the durability and the physical environment for the second purchase of Sony products.
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS (H1) :
There is significant difference between the satisfaction level towards the durability and the physical environment of Sony for the second purchase of Sony products.

MEASURES

DURABILITY
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Strongly Satisfied

75
54

Fairly Satisfied

15
32

Neither

06
08

Fairly Dissatisfied

03
05

Strongly Dissatisfied

01
01

TOTAL

100
100

SAMPLE X1 X1 – MEAN (X1 – MEAN)2 SAMPLE X2 X2 – MEAN (X2 – MEAN)2
75 55 3025 54 34 1156
15 -5 25 32 12 144
06 -14 196 08 -12 144
03 -17 289 05 -15 225
01 -19 361 01 -19 361
100 0 3896 100 0 2030

S12 = Σ (X1 – MEAN)2 / n1 – 1
= 3896 / 5 – 1
= 974
S22 = Σ (X2 – MEAN)2 / n2 – 1
= 2030 / 5 – 1
= 507.5
S12 > S22

Hence, F = S12 / S22
= 974 / 507.5
= 1.91

To Calculate the Tabulated Chi – Square Value:

Degree of Freedom = V1 = n1 – 1 and V2 = n2 – 1
= 5 – 1 and 5 – 1
= 4 and 4
Level of Significance = 5%, i.e., 0.05
Table Value = 6.3883

INTERPRETATION:
At 5% level of significance and 4 degree of freedom the computed value of F – Distribution is 1.91, and the table value is 6.3883, the computed value is lesser than the table value, hence the null hypothesis is accepted.

INFERENCE:
Hence, it may be concluded that there is no significant difference between the satisfaction level towards the durability of the product and the physical environment of Sony World which influence in the second purchase of Sony products. From this it can be very well understood that Sony is giving equal importance to its product and service.

CHAPTER 6
FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS, AND CONCLUSION
6.1 FINDINGS

AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
Most of the respondents relate to the group of 30 – 40 years of age with 45%. The next age group is 20 – 30 with 32%.

GENDER WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
Majority of the respondents are male and it is 82%. The minority of the respondents is female and it is 18%.

MARITAL STATUS WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
Here 68% of the respondents are married and the rest of the 32% are single. Hence it can be made clear that the majority group is married respondents.

OCCUPATION WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
Here 52% of the total respondents doing business prefer the brand Sony the most over any of the above mentioned categories.

MONTHLY INCOME WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
It can be inferred that people who earn from 10000 to 20000 prefer the brand Sony the most, and the level of preference of the brand stays almost equal among 20000 to 30000 and above. Hence most of the Sony users belong to the higher income group.

MEDIA IN THE CREATIVITY OF AWARENESS WISE DISTRIBUTION
Television, newspaper, and magazine play a vital role in the creation of awareness towards the brand Sony with 29%, 27%, and 26% respectively.

FACTORS INFLUENCING TO PURCHASE WISE DISTRIBUTION
It can be analyzed that self determination plays the most important role with 36% in influencing them to purchase Sony Brands. The next two important factors are friends and spouse with 28% and 13% respectively.

OWNERSHIP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
It can be inferred that 53% of the respondents have already purchased Sony televisions. Next is the Music Systems with 17%.

DURATION OF USAGE WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
It can be found that 44% of the customers are using Sony products for more than 5 years. Next are the users of 1 – 3 years with 19%.

SOURCE OF FUND USED TO PURCHASE SONY PRODUCTS
It can be inferred that personal money and loan are both almost equally considered to purchase Sony products with 35% and 33% respectively.

PREF. TOWARDS SONY WORLDS’ ENVIRONMENT/FUNCTION
It can be extrapolated that 36% of the respondents prefer apt promotional mix to be the function which is necessary for maintaining the Sony’s Brand image and then comes the salesmanship with 26%.

INFLUENCING FACTOR TO PURCHASE WISE DISTRIBUTION
It can be deduced that the main factor that induced to purchase the Sony products is the Brand Image with 55% and next is the inevitable factor that is none other than the quality with 24%.

SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS DURABILITY
It can be generalized that the overall satisfactory level towards the durability of the product is strongly satisfied with 75% and the fairly satisfied respondents are 15%.

SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS CUSTOMER SERVICE
It can be derived that the overall satisfactory level towards the customer service is strongly satisfied with 53% and the fairly satisfied respondents are 34%. Hence it can be concluded certainly that most of the customers are satisfied.

SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS AFTER SALES SERVICE
It can be understood that the overall satisfactory level towards the after-sales service is with 42% of the respondents mentioning strong satisfaction and 34% with fair satisfaction. Hence they are immoderately satisfied.

COMPETITIVE BRANDS WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
It can be inferred that the most competitive brand for Sony is Samsung with 46% and then comes Onida and Philips with 18% and 17% respectively.

PREFERENCE WISE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENTS
It can be generalized that television is preferred first with 29% and then comes the music system with 24, which is followed by the digital camera with 17%.

SATISFACTORY LEVEL TOWARDS PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
It can be extrapolated that 54% of the respondents are strongly satisfied and 32% are fairly satisfied towards the physical environment of Sony World. Hence the satisfaction towards the physical environment in Sony World trade’s good
FINDINGS FROM TESTS:

 It may be concluded that there is significant difference between the gender and the factors influencing to by the Sony products.
 It may be concluded that there is significant difference between the occupation and satisfaction level on the quality of Sony products.
 It may be concluded that there is significant difference between the factors influencing the brand awareness and the brand loyalty to purchase Sony products.
 It may be concluded that there is no significant difference between the customer service and the after – sales service provided in Sony World. The service is also good even after the sales of the product. This helps to make the customer more loyal towards the brand.
 It may be concluded that there is significant difference between the usage rate and the factors influencing to purchase Sony products.
 It may be concluded that there is no significant difference between the satisfaction level towards the durability of the product and the physical environment of Sony World, which influence in the second purchase of Sony products. From this it can be very well understood that Sony is giving equal importance to its product and service

6.2 SUGGESTIONS:

Brand Loyalty
Sony can improve its Brand loyalty when compared to their competitors, through several promotional schemes.

Brand Awareness
Sony can improve its media of awareness by implementing newer Corporate Social Responsibilities and also by conducting several on – road shows.

Market Segmentation
Sony can target the people in the segment of different occupation in order to increase its sales.

Customer Relationship Management
Most of the customers are strongly satisfied with the after – sales service and the durability of Sony products, hence these have had to be consistently maintained.

Product Expansion
The company can introduce wide range of products that suits the preference of the customers.
6.3 CONCLUSION:

From the study conducted on the Brand Loyalty with special reference to Sony World, R S Puram, Coimbatore; the researcher has found that the repetition of purchase is quite huge. To enhance and develop the network of the customers, the company needs to take measures and steps as indicated in order to attract new customers and add on loyalty among existing customers.

Thus by following the suggestions given by the researcher and also taking more steps to persuade customers, the level of loyalty could be brought to a higher level, and there is no doubt for being a market leader among the competitors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Text Books
 Marketing Management, Philip Kotler, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2003, PP 39.
 Marketing Research, Beri G.C, Tata Mc Graw – Hill Publications Co. Ltd; 3rd edition; PP 81.
 Research Methodology, Kothari C.R, Wishwa Prakasham, New Delhi, 2002, PP 122.
 Hakauson S., International marketing and purchasing of Industrial goods: An international approach, John Willy, New York 1982.

Websites
 http://www.sony.com/
 http://www.sony.co.in/
 http://www.sony.com/geoTrack/GeoIntercept.php

“A STUDY ON BRAND LOYALTY OF SONY’S PRODUCTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SONY WORLD, R S Puram, COIMBATORE.”
Questionnaire
1. Name :
2. Age
□ Below 20 years □ 20 – 30 years □ 30 – 40 years □ Above 50 years
3. Gender
□ Male □ Female
4. Marital Status
□ Single □ Married
5. Occupation
□ Business □ Government Employee □ Private Employee □ Others
6. Monthly income level in rupees
□ Below 10000 □ 10000 - 20000 □ 20000 - 30000 □ Above 30000
7. How did you come to know about Sony Products
□ Television □ Radio □ Newspaper □ Magazine □ Others
8. Who influenced your decision to buy Sony Products
□ Self □ Friends □ Spouse □ Children □ Sony Salesman
9. Which Sony’s product do you own
□ Television □ Music System □ Video Player □ Game □ Others
10. How long have you been using Sony Products
□ Below 6 months □ 6 months - 1 year □ 1 - 3 years □ 3 - 5 years □ Above 5 years
11. Which source of fund have you preferred for purchasing the product
□ Personal Money □ From Friends □ Loan □ Relatives □ Others
12. What market function is necessary for maintaining Sony’s Brand image.
□ High Profile Salesmanship □ Premium environment □ Apt Promotion □ Others
13. Which factor mostly influenced to make a purchase decision of Sony Product
□ Brand Image □ Features □ Durability □ Price □ Quality
14. How do you feel about the quality of Sony Products
□ Strongly Satisfied □ Fairly Satisfied □ Neither

□ Fairly Dissatisfied □ Strongly dissatisfied

15. Your satisfaction towards customer service
□ Strongly Satisfied □ Fairly Satisfied □ Neither

□ Fairly Dissatisfied □ Strongly dissatisfied

16. How do you feel about the after-sales service of Sony World
□ Strongly Satisfied □ Fairly Satisfied □ Neither

□ Fairly Dissatisfied □ Strongly dissatisfied

17. According to you, whom do you think the real competitor of your brand
□ Onida □ Samsung □ LG □ Panasonic □ Philips
18. Rank the satisfaction level for the following
a. Television ( ) b. Music System ( )
c. Video Player ( ) d. Games ( )
e. Digital Camera ( ) f. Others ( )
19. Taking the physical environment into consideration, what is your overall rating of Sony World
□ Strongly Satisfied □ Fairly Satisfied □ Neither

□ Fairly Dissatisfied □ Strongly dissatisfied

20. What is the more important complaint against Sony’s Products
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ .

Saturday, December 27, 2008

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