1.

0 Rationale
1.1 Background of the company Ran Rasa Foods was established in 1995 as a sole proprietorship by Mr. Sunil Jayasuriya since then the company is well reputed among the locals in Mahara area. This company has started as a small pastry outlet with fewer product categories, but after few years of successful business commitment this has now grown up to a level where company expanded into its own distribution channels as well. This is primarily due to the quality of the products and to the excellent service offered to all the customers. During the early years, Ran Rasa Foods bought bakery items such as Buns; Bread and confectionary items for its local customers from other bakery product manufacturers, in the last few years, due to popular demand, Ran Rasa Foods started producing bakery products. Rasa Foods holds complete customer satisfaction as its central aim. We ensure this by providing the highest standards of products and services. This philosophy is to be underpinned by establishing and maintaining strong working relationships with our suppliers and customers and caring for our staff to work towards a common goal of mutual profitability, based upon trust and respect. Ran Rasa Foods, strive to maintain the high levels of quality that have been, and still are, famous for. While state of the art production equipment and ultra modern facilities have enabled them to maintain a competitive edge and high standards of quality, they have also enabled to give customers the best value for their money. Most of all, this technology has helped them manufacture optimum quality food that carries 10 years of consumer trust and bakery experience within them. 1.2 Products and processes Bread Biscuits Pastries Cakes Buns Confectionary products

1.3 Performance Since 1995 this company performs extremely well with its own strategies resulting in 500,000 per month. There is a workforce of 12 personnel working towards achieving objectives of the company.

2008 Gross Turn over

2009

2010

2011

2012

5,320,125

4,956,254

5,325,000

5,521,021

1.4 Issues and impacts of issues on performance Delay of raw materials inward and distribution Decrease profit margins because of increasing cost of manufacturing. Supplier quality issues Lost customer base. Market share will grabbed by competitor. Increase unit prices due to increase of unit cost. Difficulties to find employees Difficulties in storing for raw materials

1.5 Problem Statement There are key factors affecting consumer behavior in modern business environment even though customers consider few factors to buy in the past, it has changed drastically throughout past few decades. Factors such as Brand Name, cleanliness, packing etc. are pretty influential in modern day buying behavioral decision making. Among those factors cleanliness is considered as a crucial factor that directly affects customer behavior decision making. Especially in bakery industry cleanliness is a must to retain a good customer base. In Ran Rasa bakery, the companys effort is to maintain a superior cleanliness to satisfy their customers. But when you consider the demand for the bakery products mostly depends on customer buying behavior and it seems cleanliness plays a great role in the food industry. The researcher intends to identify relationship between cleanliness of bakery products and consumer buying behavior towards overall sales of the company.

2.0 Research Question

2.1 Issues Buying patterns differentiate with the cleanliness of bakery products. Sales volumes drastically changes with cleanliness.

2.2 Problem Questions 2.2.1 What is cleanliness and how it relates to the bakery industry? 2.2.2 How does the availability influence consumer satisfaction? 2.2.3 How does the price impact on customer satisfaction? 2.2.4 How quality does affect customer satisfaction? 2.2.5 How does consumer decision making influences customer satisfaction?

2.3 Hypothesis H1: There is a positive co-relation exists between cleanliness and Consumer Satisfaction. H2: There is a negative co-relation exists between Price and Consumer Satisfaction. H3: There is a positive co-relation exists between Quality and Consumer Satisfaction. H4: There is a positive co-relation exists between Availability and Consumer Satisfaction. H5: There is a positive co-relation exists between Consumer Decision Making and Consumer Satisfaction. 2.4 Variables Y = f(x1, x2, x3..) X1 = Cleanliness X2 = Price X3 = Packaging X4 = Quality X5 = Availability

3.0 Objectives
3.1 To find out what is cleanliness and how it relates to the bakery industry. 3.2 To find out how does the availability influence consumer decision making. 3.3 To discover how does the price impact on customer satisfaction. 3.4 To find out how does quality influences on customer satisfaction. 3.5 To find out how does consumer decision making influences customer satisfaction.

4.0 Proposed Research Methodology

4.1 Conceptual Frame work

Cleanliness

Price

Packaging

Consumer Decision Making

Consumer Satisfaction

Quality

Availability

Independent Variable

Intermediary Variable

Dependant Variable

4.2 Instrumentation and Data collection method Research will be conducted through a survey, questionnaires is the form which comprise qualitative and quantitative question forms will add more consistent and reliable on the data presented by the researcher. Researcher will conduct several interviews as well to get further information from related parties to add more accuracy to the data presented in the research.

4.3 Sampling Random sampling method and stratified method also will be used to collect primary data relevant to the research.

4.4 Data collection & Analysis To measure and analyze the customer satisfaction KANO MODEL will be used and other types of qualitative research statistics will also be used. Both descriptive and inferential statistics will be used for data presentation and analysis in the research. 4.5 Limitations There are wide ranges of factors in bakery industry; it is difficult to cover every factor, which affect to the customer decision making. Most previous researches are at the team level and researcher cannot assume that the same finding will be applicable at the individual level. There are limited opportunities to access online resources. Researcher does not have the free online access to Emerald research site. The researcher is planning to gather data through questionnaires, the probability of getting the feedback within the estimated time might be low. Customers might not provide data accurately to make decisions on customer decision making. There is a high possibility of managers not revealing true and correct data.

5.0 Research Plan

5.1 Summary of the report Chapter 01 Introduction In this chapter researcher introduces the subject of the research and presents the background of the problem. Problem Statement Purpose of the study Objectives Significant of the study Methodology Scope of the study Limitations of the study

Chapter 02 Literature Review Consider the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Chapter 03 Research Methodology With the help of literature review researcher develop the conceptual frame work to find the answers for the research questions. Formulate the hypothesis to build the clear frame work. And other part will include selecting sample, and data collection. Chapter 04 Findings & Analysis In this chapter will describe the method of data analysis and testing developed hypothesis through actual findings. Chapter 05 Conclusion & Recommendations

5.2 Time Plan Time February Activity Project proposal March April May

Collecting data

Organizing and analyzing data Finding recommendations Implementing strategies

Evaluating results

Writing the report

Completing the project

Submission of the report