Indian Journal of Marketing April 2004

Volume XXXIV • Number 4 •April 2004

Awareness and Perception of Educated Consumers about Consumer Protection Laws
A consumer is one who buys any goods or services, by paying its price, either for his own consumption or for his livelihood. Therefore, every body is a consumer in one or the other way. Philosophers and thinkers have regarded consumer as the base of every business. No business activities move in the country without the presence of consumers. But still it is a common practice that businessmen exploit the consumers as regards to quality, quantity, weight, price and other related factors involved in the daily business transactions. It was estimated that "The Indian consumer is being cheated by about Rs. 2000 crores every year". Legal environment is the most important factor in protecting the interests of the consumers. If proper support of law does not exist, the consumer cannot be defended in the court of law. For the protection of consumers, from time to time, the Government of India has enacted several laws. Presently there are more than 20 laws in the country either directly or indirectly protecting the interests of the consumers. But the million Dollar question is whether Indian consumers have the knowledge about these laws? Are they able to get benefit under these laws by exercising their rights, given under the respective Acts? The researchers try to answer these questions through the present paper.
Dr.Basavaraj C.S Reader Department of PG Studies & Research Gulbarga University,Gulbarga Karnataka	Shrimant F.Tangade Research Scholar Department of PG Studies & Research Gulbarga University,Gulbarga Karnataka
Outsourcing – The New Paradigm
The faster growth of communication and the Internet facilities have made the whole world as one market. The business enterprises are modifying and changing their strategic positions due to the increased pressure of the globalization, cut throat competition existing in the market and the general depression in the economy of the countries. With a view to ensure the profitability in the operations of the enterprises and to regain the competitive advantages, they have to find out new and efficient ways of utilizing their energies both in terms of resources and core competence. With a view to minimize cost and achieve efficiency, the companies are outsourcing their functions. In order to gain cost advantage and competitive advantage, the companies determine the whole activities as core and non-core activities and also find out the activities, where outsourcing is possible.
Prof.R.Vijay Kumar Senior Faculty GRD School of Commerce & International Business Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu	Prof. G. Thamizh Chelvan Senior Faculty GRD School of Commerce & International Business Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu
Tupperware Products – Perception of Users in Chandigarh
With the onset of liberalization, privatization and globalization, a revolutionary trend is reflected in the Indian homes. The changed family structure, increased number of working women and high disposable incomes has changed the lifestyle of the modern urban Indian. Paucity of time has set people looking for more convenient products. These help in maintaining a desired life style. Besides, an increasing consciousness about health and hygiene, status and right to pamper the self has also contributed to the change in the thought process with regard to spending the money earned and the aspired quality of life. Markets are flooded. The Consumer has a choice. Competition is continuously rising at all levels. Be it price, range, geographic spread, substitute and generic products, the clutter has become an uncomfortable din for the customer. All sellers are making special and unique attempts to stand out and seek attention of the consumer .The customer on the other hand has suddenly realized his status as the 'king' driving the competition.
Dr.Smriti Sood Reader University Business School Chandigarh	Ms.Shabnam Priyadarshini Mrs.Anita Sharma University Business School Chandigarh
Managing Supply Chain
Fast delivery is critical in most markets today. Many companies try to meet their market demand by carrying higher inventories. Inventory is a hedge against lead-time. Higher levels of inventory are often maintained because the company is unable to produce the material within the time demanded by the market. Analyzing the processes in supply chain can identify the causes and facilitate solutions to reduce overall throughput time. Compressing time, the chain of events from the time a customer places an order until the order is satisfied can provide a competitive edge without the burden of carrying excessive inventory. A supply chain is the process of moving goods from customer order through the raw materials stage, supply, production, and distribution of products to the customer. Supply chain in organizations vary depending upon the size of the organization and the type of product manufacturing. These networks obtain supplies and components, change these materials into finished products and then distribute them to the customer. Managing the chain of events in this process is what is known as supply chain management. Effective management must take into account coordinating all the different pieces of this chain as quickly as possible without losing any of the quality or customer satisfaction, while trying to keep costs down.
Ms.M.V.Subha Lecturer Guruvayurappan Institute of Management Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu
Factors Determining the Brand Preference of TV – With Special Reference to Thoothukudi District in Tamil Nadu
The topic of brand preference has drawn substantial attention in recent years, as a field of study and it is fair to say that much has been learned. It is a dynamic field and many discoveries are still to be made. The study of brand preference poses important problems for both marketers and consumers. The brand preference of consumer durables is largely influenced by a number of factors such as advertisement, price, quality, performance, after-sales service and the like. These factors play a vital role in the decision-making process and in the brand preference. In this article, an attempt is made to analyze the factors determining the brand preference of TV.
Dr.K.Ravichandran Reader Department of Management Studies Madurai Kamaraj University Madurai,Tamil Nadu	Mr.S. Narayanarajan Selection Grade Lecturer Department of Business Admn Aditanar College of Arts and Science Tiruchendur, Tamil Nadu
An Evaluation of Consumer Awareness in Rural Markets
This paper deals with the extent of awareness in the rural markets of India. It presents the "Gold" available in this steadily growing market, which has been going great guns since the 1980's and is now bigger than the urban market for both FMCG's and durables. (The former with 53 percent share and the latter with 59 percent of total market.) The annual size of the rural marketing value terms is currently estimated at around Rs. 50,000 Crore for FMCG's, Rs. 5000 Crore for durables, Rs. 45000 Crore for Agri Inputs and implements and Rs. 8000 Crore for automobiles. A rural Consumer has proved to be very potential in terms of purchasing power though he is branded as illiterate by the census definition. He is not at all unintelligent but quite intelligent as is proved in this study. The study is an empirical research based on survey method. The data has been collected through a questionnaire. The survey is intended to seek information about the buying experiences of those rural consumers who have been widely purchasing goods and services. Ranga Reddy Dist. in Andhra Pradesh has been chosen for the study. Ten villages have been selected for this purpose. Agriculturists, Businessmen, Professionals, Homemaker’s have been included in the sample. Altogether, a sample of 125 consumers has been selected for the study.
Dr.Y.Krishna Mohan Naidu Pragathi Mahavidyalaya Hyderabad
Strategies of Supply Chain Management in the Global Economy
Businesses the worlds over are struggling to sustain competitiveness in a globalized economy. They are at present in the midst of a revolutionary transformation: that of competition shifting from industrial age to the information age. Information age competition has initiated some unique challenges, which the businesses have to cope up with. Business environment's uncertainty has become a way of life. Accordingly, companies are finding it even more difficult to predict changes in their competitive environment. Customers are becoming competitors; competitors are becoming partners and unconventional competition is emerging. Businesses, however, must go on despite dramatic new business environments, that are at present not well understood.
Dr.B.Raja Shekhar Lecturer School of Management Studies University of Hyderabad Hyderabad
Impact of Consumer Involvement on Buying Decisions – A Conceptual Frame Work
Consumer involvement refers to the intensity of interest with which consumers approach the market place. It is related to the consumer's values and self-concept, which influences the degree of personal importance ascribed to a product or situation. Consumer involvement varies across different individuals, products, brands and situations. Today, the manufacturers are facing severe competition in marketing their goods and services. As such, there is the need to understand the impact of consumer involvement in buying decisions. A thorough knowledge of various factors that influence the involvement level of the consumers is also needed; The purpose of this paper is to discuss the conceptual framework regarding the impact of consumer involvement on buying decisions.
Prof.R.Sudarshan Chairman Board of Studies in Commerce & Business Management Kakatiya University Warangal,Andhra Pradesh	G.Sridhar K.Arun Jyothi Research Scholar Department of Commerce & Business Mgmt Kakatiya University,Warangal Andhra Pradesh
Challenges and Strengths of Supermarket
As progress moved across America in the late 1800's and early 1900's, millions of bright men and women opened Main Street stores. The first half of the twentieth century saw the arrival and the growth of large retail giants. This new group of discount stores redefined value and varieties with low prices and wide inventories. Though, the arrival of supermarkets in India was a bit late but they are fast becoming the rage amongst the retail enthusiasts. There are several obvious reasons for the burgeoning growth of the supermarkets, One, which is very obvious is that earlier assembling large parts of land in locations which offered good connectivity to the rest of the city was a difficult task. Today some of the bottlenecks are gradually easing.
Raju M.Rathod Lecturer P.G.Dept of Business Studies Sardar Patel University,Gujarat