Volume XXXIX • Number  9  • September 2009

"SHAKTI" : A Strategic Marketing Approach of FMCG Giant,HUL-Enabling A Journey Towards Business Excellence In The Era of Globalization

Business Excellence can not be attributed to a common set of actions and it doesn’t happen overnight. A ‘Strategic Approach’ is the urgency which requires renewed conceptual understanding and significant insights into the contemporary environment. This makes the transformation of tactical marketing activities into strategic marketing essential. Today cost-efficiency does not provide long-term competitive advantage for companies whereas marketing, when conducted strategically, does (Kotler, 1999). In this study an attempt has been made for understanding of the strategic background of the project ‘SHAKTI’, a rural marketing initiatives of FMCG giant HUL, which the organization is thinking as the only option for sustenance and for excellence, in the era of globalization.

An Investigation of Customer Awareness With Reference To Green Marketing of Automobiles :An Empirical Study Conducted at Indore,Madhya Pradesh

The first part of this article focuses on detailed literature review in the area of green marketing, as it was felt by the authors that little attempt has been made to understand this area in the Indian context. The second part of the work deals with assessment of awareness for the green automobiles among the customers of various segments in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh. Looking to the adopted methodology, the study is termed as an empirical study. The work includes testing of three hypotheses related to the above objective. Few questions of the questionnaire used in the study have been analyzed and presented in detail to bring out the attitude of customers towards the green automobile. A factor analysis was also carried out to get more insight into the obtained responses to the variables used in the study.The results of this survey are encouraging in the sense, that they reveal significant awareness about green marketing among the customers, and more so in higher age group. They also appear to be ready, to pay a marginal extra price for obtaining a green automobile. It can be concluded that, the product appears to be welcome in rural as well as urban segments, with owners of four wheelers, favoring it more.

The globe is spinning at a very rapid pace and the world of marketing is in the revolution mode. The customers of modern India are far different from the‘Me Too’ category of customers, they are the rebellions. They want to look different, consume different and behave differently. The customers, their needs, their buying behaviour and expectations has transformed radically over the period of time. These changes have made the marketers to think beyond the Four ‘P’s of marketing. The marketers and the marketing practices keep on evolving with the changing times. Today, the organisations like GODREJ, CEAT and many others which have served Indian markets for the years are busy with brand makeovers. Every marketer is trying to connect with its customers in all possible manners. The advertising and promotion done by the marketers has progressed from print and broadcast media to more customized and interactive digital/online media to ambient media. The marketers have ensured the product availability right from the physical retail stores (brick) to online/e-stores (click). This paper attempts to bridge the gap between the present day customers and marketers. It highlights the emerging socio-cultural trends in the consumer markets. The paper proposes the new marketing mix strategies and practices required by the marketers to target young and modern India.

A Study of Consumer's Buying Pattern of Cosmetic Products In South Haryana

The Indian cosmetics and personal care industry has been growing at a rate of 15-20 percent. But still the market penetration of cosmetics and toiletries products in India is meager. The cosmetic companies are now eyeing the small cities as it is an untapped market and present vast opportunities. The present study attempts to study the buying pattern of consumers and the impact of demographic variables thereon. Results indicate that The prime reason for using cosmetics was ‘to look appealing’ followed by ‘to be with current trends’. Quality and Price were found to be the most important criterion for buying cosmetics.

Impact of Store Amenities on Buyers Behaviour : A Study of Convenience Goods Buyer In Organized Retail Sector in India

In the Global Context of open market economics of today, the consumer has become the king. He operates through his autonomous power. He enjoys a lot of freedom in his purchase decision. A consumer is in position to influence the manufacturer or marketer regarding size, quality and contents of the product, price, and post sale service, among other things. As a result the markets have no longer remained “seller markets”, it obviously turned into “buyers markets”. In Indian Retail market there are so many players are entering and the growth rate is increasing. More numbers of customers are visiting organized retail mall as compare to traditional retail malls. As the more and more numbers of national and international players are entering, the competition is becoming very tuff. Everyone tries to attract more customers to their retail store. To attract customer most of the time of a year the promotions are going on for any convenience goods. But this paper tries to find out whether store amenities will be able to attract customer or not. The consumers purchase decision making process was examined with the help of structure questionnaire. The result shows that the customer is attracted by store amenities.

SSI is widely recognized as a powerful instrument for socio-economic growth and balanced sectorial development. One of the distinctive characteristics of the SSI sector is its capacity to create broader employment opportunities, assist in entrepreneurship and skills development and ensure better use of scarce financial resources and appropriate technology. The Indian National Congress took over the reins of power after India's Independence in 1947. Most of the Congress leaders came to occupy responsible positions in the Central and State Governments. It was, therefore, expected that the sanctity bestowed on Khadi and village industries by Gandhi would be preserved and adopted unhesitatingly as a national and public policy in free India. It was also expected that the ideals of building self-reliant villages was a commitment that had to be discharged faithfully by the party and the followers of Gandhiji. Because of the then prevailing political environment, especially the place and the role Gandhiji played in the struggle for independence, there was no serious debate on or critical scrutiny of the issues Gandhiji was associated with and had expressed his clear views. There were, however, many who were extremely critical of the Gandhian philosophy for socio-economic development of the country.

Banks are the mart of the world, the nerve center of economics and are also the barometer of nation’s property. The biggest asset on the balance sheet of banks today is the ignorance of customers of their own rights, and their reluctance to fight for them. Due to globalization and the development of WTO, banking has gone under paradigm shift and has resulted in transformation of whole banking industry. At the same time customer to be satisfied in such a way for the success of the banks performance. This being situation a study has been made on select branches of SBI Associate operating in headquarters of the textile city of coimbatore during the month of May and June. The questions are arranged six various heads such as Infrastructure, Attitudes of the bankers, Services provided, Operations, Attitudes towards ATM and Redresal operations. The study reveals that on an average 80% of its customers are satisfied. Techno-savvy is not up to the mark of the customers which has to be improved. When overall rating has been calculated it can be concluded that State Bank of Travancore stood first as per the study.