MINOR PROJECT REPORT

ON
MARKETING STRATEGIES OF HP IN INDIA

UNDER THE

GUIDANCE OF
MS.KOMAL AKHARIA
FACULTY,KIHEAT
SUBMITTED BY:
VIKHYAAT JAMWAL

Roll no:

KAMAL INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND ADVANCE

TECHNOLOGY
Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha university,Delhi

DECLARATION

This is to certify that I have completed this Project titled Marketing Strategies of
HP in India under the guidance of Ms. Komal Akharia in partial fulfillment of
the requirement of the award of degree of Bachelor of Business Administration at
Kamal Institute Of Higher Education And Advanced Technology, Delhi. This is an
original piece of work and I have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.

DATE:

NAME:

VIKHYAAT JAMWAL
PLACE: NEW DELHI

ENROLL NO:

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project titled Marketing Strategies of Hp in India is an

academic work done by VIKHYAAT JAMWAL submitted in the partial
fulfillment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration from
Kamal Institute Of Higher Education And Advance Technology Delhi, under my
guidance & direction. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the data &
information presented by him in the project has not been submitted earlier
.
Ms. KOMAL AKHARIA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
KIHEAT

II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I find great pleasure in presenting this report entitled MARKETING

STRATEGIES OF HP IN INDIAI would like to extend my earnest gratitude to all
those whom I owe this report to.
I am grateful to the management and faculty of Kamal Institute Of Higher Education
And Advance Technology, affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,
Delhi for giving me such an exposure which has certainly been a rich learning
experience
In particular, I would like to thank Ms. KOMAL AKHARIA, my research guide for
her valuable suggestions and guidance.
Despite all efforts, I have no doubt that error and obscurities remain that seen to
afflict all research project and for which I am culpable.

VIKHYAAT JAMWAL

III

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

STUDENTS DECLARATION

CERTIFICATE FROM THE GUIDE

II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

III

Introduction

ABOUT HP

HP FAST FACTS

HPS SHARED VALUES

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

MARKETING MIX

10

COMPETETIONS

23

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

26

Recommendations/Suggestions

CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

About HP:
HP is a technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the
world. It explores how technology and services can help people and companies
address their problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations
and dreams. It applies new thinking and ideas to create more simple, valuable and
trusted experiences with technology, continuously improving the way our
customers live and work.
No other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. It
provides infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to
some of the world's most powerful supercomputer installations. It offers consumers
a wide range of products and services from digital photography to digital
entertainment and from computing to home printing. This comprehensive portfolio

helps us match the right products, services and solutions to our customers' specific
needs.

Mission:

HP's mission is to invent technologies and services that drive business value, create
social benefit and improve the lives of customers with a focus on affecting the
greatest number of people possible.

HP Fast Facts:

1. HP was founded in 1939.

2. Corporate headquarters are in Palo Alto, California.
3. Meg Whitman is president and CEO.
4. HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $127.2
billion for fiscal 2011.
5. HP's 2011 Fortune 500 ranking: No. 11
6. HP serves more than one billion customers in more than 170 countries on six
continents.
7. HP has approximately 324,600 employees worldwide.
8. HP's revenue for the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2011: $127.2 billion.
9. HP dedicates $3.6 billion (U.S.) annually to its research and development of
products, solutions and new technologies.

Technology Leadership:
1. HP's three business groups drive industry leadership in core technology
areas:
2. The Personal Systems Group: business and consumer PCs, mobile
computing devices and workstations
3. The Imaging and Printing Group: inkjet, LaserJet and commercial printing,
printing supplies, digital photography and entertainment
4. The Technology Solutions Group: business products including storage and
servers, EDS, managed services and software

Contribution
Global citizenship encompasses our commitment to align our business goals with
our impacts on society and the planet. It is one of our seven corporate objectives,
rooted in HPs founding values and key to our success. For more than 70 years,
global citizenship has influenced how it runs our business, holding us to higher
standards of integrity, contribution and accountability in everything It do.
It focuses our energies and expertise in five areas:
1.

Ethics and compliance

2.

Human rights and labor practices

3.

Environmental sustainability

4.

Privacy

5.

Social investment

HPs Shared Values:

1. Passion for customers
It put our customers first in everything It do.
2. Trust and respect for individuals
It work together to create a culture of inclusion built on trust, respect and
dignity for all.
3. Achievement and contribution
It strives for excellence in all It do; each person's contribution is critical to
our success.
4. Results through teamwork
It effectively collaborates, always looking for more efficient ways to serve
our customers.
5. Speed and agility
It are resourceful and adaptable, and we achieve results faster than our
competitors.
6. Meaningful innovation
It is the technology company that invents the useful and the significant.

H.P.s Corporate Objectives

1. Customer loyalty
It earn customer respect and loyalty by consistently providing the highest
quality and value.
2. Profit
It achieves sufficient profit to finance growth, create value for our
shareholders and achieve our corporate objectives.

3. Growth
It recognizes and seizes opportunities for growth that builds upon our
strengths and competencies.
4. Market leadership
It lead in the marketplace by developing and delivering useful and
Innovative products, services and solutions.
5. Commitment to employees
It demonstrates our commitment to employees by promoting and rewarding
based on performance and by creating a work environment that reflects our
values.
6. Leadership capability
It develops leaders at all levels that achieve business results, exemplify our
values and lead us to grow and win.
7. Global citizenship
It fulfills our responsibility to society by being an economic, intellectual and
social asset to each country and community where it does business.

Global citizenship:
Global citizenship is HPs commitment to hold ourselves to a higher standard of
integrity, transparency, and accountability. The values that have been present since
HP was founded in 1939 remain integral to our work today, helping us balance our
business goals with our impact on society and the planet. It has five global
citizenship priority areas: ethics and compliance, environmental sustainability,
human rights and labor practices, privacy, and social investment.
Its efforts in these areas help differentiate HP, reduce costs, and drive innovation as
they respond to growing market opportunities and stakeholder expectations.
6

They continue to focus on enriching people and communities around the world,
striving to be a force for positive and lasting change. At HP, practicing good global
citizenship includes supporting human and labor rights, making strategic social
investmentsparticularly to advance student achievement and entrepreneur
success, and protecting the privacy of customer and employee information.

How does global citizenship contribute to HPs success?

Global citizenship helps our success because its important to our customers.
Customers care about HPs efforts in areas like climate change and human rights.
They also value ways it can help them be more successful. That could mean an
energy-efficient data center that cuts costs while reducing their carbon footprint, or
a centrally managed printing environment that increases productivity and saves
resources. Global citizenship also strengthens our own business in such areas as
increasing efficiency, protecting privacy and maintaining trust with our
stakeholders.

Serving Enterprises:

At HP, It continually explores how technology and services can create new and
better ways for people to live, work, and play. Every day, it partner with our largest
customers to transform their current IT environments into business assets. It
7

recognizes that CIOs are now business managers who specialize in technology. It
work hard to help them create more manageable IT environments that cost less to
operate and deliver more value to the business. That can mean consolidating their
IT infrastructures, speeding access to information, enabling faster communication
between branch offices and headquarters, or helping them deal with obsolete IT
equipment. HP solutions leverage our broad portfoliofrom servers and storage to
software and services, imaging and printing, and personal computing technology
to help companies drive growth, lower business risk, and cut costs.

Driving Technology Transformation:

With the volume of data today increasing faster than our ability to capture and use
it, the industry is rapidly shifting to a model where everything can be delivered as a
service. People want instantaneous access to content and information that they care
about. Meeting this worldwide demand for information and rich digital content will
require dynamic, compelling services. The fundamental building blocks of this
model will be smarter, more intelligent networks; next-generation data centers; and
perhaps most importantly, software that binds all the disparate elements together.
Over the next five years, HP will invest almost $20 billion in R&D around three
technology areas It believe have the power to propel the industry forward and
improve the way our customers live and work.

Stock Performance Graph and Cumulative Total Return:

The graph below shows the cumulative total stockholder return assuming the
investment of $100 on the date specified (and the reinvestment of dividends

thereafter) in each of HP common stock, the S&P 500 Index, and the S&P
Information Technology Index.(1) The comparisons in the graph below are based
upon historical data and are not indicative of, or intended to forecast, future
performance of our common stock.

Investment

Stock Performance Graph and Cumulative Total Return

300
200
2004/0ct
100
100
Hewlett-Packard
Company
0 100
S&P 500
S&P Information
Technology

100

Hewlett-Packard Company

2005/0ct

2006/0ct

2007/0ct

2008/0ct

2009/0ct

84.93

129.42

180.6

242.7

180.97

109.42

118.96

138.4

158.56

101.32

99.14

104.52

114.9

145.81

85.72

S&P 500

S&P Information Technology

Year

HP Retains Leadership:

2009 PC Shipments (Desktop PCs +

2010 PC Shipments (Desktop PCs +

Notebook PCs)

Notebook PCs)

Market

Vendor

Market Share

Vendor

Hewlett-Packard

15.6%

Hewlett-Packard

18.2%

Dell

11.0%

HCL Info systems

9.8%

HCL Info systems

9.6%

Dell

9.7%

Lenovo

6.6%

Lenovo

4.7%

Descriptive Work
Indian IT Industry:

10

Share

 IT

in India over the Years:

1. In 1991, new economic policies were introduced.

2. Foreign multinationals such as Coca Cola, Mercedes, IBM, HP flooded into
3. India, eager to take advantage of the cheap professional labor and the
opening up of one of the world's biggest markets.
4. Adoption

of

Globalization

and

liberalization

principles

brought

tremendous success BPO, IT, ITES, Retail and Insurance sector, health
sector, education.
5. IT sector showed the most rapid growth amongst all the sectors.
6. Today more than 500 major international companies have IT operations in
Bangalore alone.
7. Intels Indian development center made chips for computer which are
compatible with Microsofts Operating System Vista.
8. Microsoft has established one of its 3 key centers in Bangalore other two
being in China and its HQ in New York.

11

MARKETING MIX

Marketing Mix is defined as the set of of the tools which the firm blends to
produce a positive response in the target markets

MARKETING MIX

PRODUCT

PRICE

PLACE

12

PROMOTION

1) The First PPRODUCT

Product is a key element in the market offering. Marketing mix planning being
with formulating to meet target customers need & wants. The customer will judge
the offering by three basic elements- features & quality, services mix & quality &
price appropriateness.
Kotler says that A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy
the wants or needs of the consumers.
Products that are marketed include physical goods, services, events, experience,
persons, place, properties, organizations, informations & ideas.
A firm is not selling a product. It sells only the product benefit. Product is most
important variable in the marketing mix of the firm. If the product is sound &
easily acceptable to the market if it satisfies resellers need & consumer preference
& is carefully fitted to the needs & desires of the customers, sales success is assured.
Hence product is the center of all-marketing policies & decisions. The marketing
planning begins with the product & also ends with the product.

13

Company plans to increase their product range in the future. A brief

description of some products is as follows: Products Name:
Laptops, Notebook Computers & Tablet PCs
i. Everyday computing
Laptops for movies, music, photos and multitasking in your home or home office

ii. Performance & entertainment

Laptops for cutting-edge entertainment and gaming

iii. Ultra portable

Laptop computers or tablet PCs for on-the-go personal productivity and connectivity

iv. Mini
Perfect companion PC to keep you connected while you are on-the-go

Laptops for Business

i. EliteBook laptops
Best in class, packed with features and functionality

ii.

Compaq laptops
Advanced features for business

iii.

ProBook laptops

14

Stylish and affordable for small business options

Other laptops
HP Pavilion Home Desktop PCs
a) Fitted with features that appeal to your whole family and yet flexible and reliable in
meeting all their needs.
b) Sleek in design; a stylish showpiece for the modern home however
compact the space, whatever the budget

i.

HP Pavilion Elite Home Desktop PCs

a) Fitted with features that appeal to your whole family and yet flexible and reliable
in meeting all their needs.

b) Sleek in design; a stylish showpiece for the modern home however compact
the space, whatever the budget.

i.

Monitors

i.

Home & Home Office monitors

ii.

Business Monitors

ii.

Options & Accessories

Keyboards, mice, memory, storage, speakers, headsets, webcams,

cables, gaming and other accessories for desktop computers.
i.

Home & Home Office desktop accessories

ii.

Business desktop accessories

15

i.

iii.

Extended service plans for Home & Home Office

iii.

Laser Printers, Inkjet Printers and Multifunction Printers

Color Printers
a)

Inkjet printers
DeskJet, Office jet, and Business Inkjet printers

I. Home inkjet printers

II. Business inkjet printers
b) Color laser printers

Color laser printers with HP LaserJet performance

I. Home colour lasers
II. Business colour laser

c) Large-format printers

HP Design jet, Design jet Commercial and Scitex printers; HP Indigo presses
I. Design jet printers
II. Other graphic arts products

ii.

Black & White Printers

16

1. Laser printers
HP LaserJet printers for high-speed, high-volume, high-quality Printing
Home laser printers
Business laser printers

iv.

Wireless printing

Enjoy the freedom to print from anywhere with HP's line of

wireless printers. Wireless allows greater mobility, no wires and
shared printing. Many HP printers have wireless printing built into the
printer and HP offers an add-on to your existing printer.
Live Wirelessly. Print Wirelessly.

2. THE SECOND P- PRICE

Sales are only income for any business concern. But price is the main factor, which
affects the sale of the market. If the price is high, few buyers purchase and if the
price is low many buyers purchase. Therefore a sound pricing policy must be
adopted to have maximum sale revenue. Moreover, it is only through proper
pricing policy the already laid down marketing objective and corporate goals could
be achieved.

Price is the exchange value of a product or service always expressed in tem of

money. In other words, price of a product or service is what the seller feels its
worth on term of money, when offered to a buyer.

17

To the customer, the price is an agreement between seller & buyer concerning what
each is to receive. The buyer is interested in the price of the whole package
consisting of physical product plus a bundle of expectation and satisfaction. The
consumer has numerous expectations such as after sale service, replacement of
parts, technical guidance & money other benefits.
However, to the seller, price is a source of revenue and a main determinant of
profit. To the seller, price is equivalent to the total product offering. This offering
includes a brand name, a package, product benefits, after sale service and so on.
We can define price as the money of the product or service agreed upon in a
market transaction.
So,
Price in money = physical product + bundle of expectations

The Price Factor of PCs

India is a price-sensitive market. When the PC was launched in 1984, it cost well
over $4,450 here, and in the late 1980s, the price was around $2,220.
While the price was around $1,100 in the mid-90s, today, a MNC brand with
multimedia costs only around $761.
The Indian market has seen local assemblers stealing a march over their domestic
and multinational computer hardware rivals.
The Indian PC industry has also witnessed the rise and fall of many a domestic
brand. Prominent players who fell out include DCM-DP, Usha, PCL, Sterling and
Unicorp, though many Indian brands including HCL today account for nearly half
of the branded PC sales in the country.
The pricing adopted by HP India Pvt. Ltd. can describe under this subhead: -

18

Competitive pricing: - HP India Pvt. Ltd. adopted the method of pricing called
competitive pricing for their PCs. Under this policy, the price of HP PCs is fixed
according to the price of other competitor brand of the market & the price moves
accordingly.

The price list of the some IT Products of HP India Pvt. Ltd. is as follows:

Desktop

Price

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch Smart IQ504 Desktop

$972.99

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion Elite m9550f Desktop

$999.99

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Compaq Presario SR5710f

Desktop

19

$349.99

Model

HP (Hewlett-Packard) TouchSmart IQ506 Desktop

$799.96

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion a6750f Desktop

$659.99

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion s3710t Desktop Customizable

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch smart IQ526 Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch Smart IQ524 Desktop

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Firebird Voodoo DNA 802

Desktop

20

$379.99

$1175.0
0

$979.95

$972.99

HP (Hewlett-Packard) Touch Smart IQ816 Desktop

$1299.9
9

3.)THE THIRD P PROMOTION

Promotion is the process of making communication involving information,

persuasion and influence. Promotion has three specific purposes. It communicates
marketing information to the customers, users & retailers. Promotion persuades
and convinces the buyer & enters into this consumer behavior. Promotional efforts
act as powerful tools of competition providing of cutting edge of its entire
marketing programmed. Promotion has been defined as the coordinated self
initiated effort to establish channel of information & persuasion to facilitate or
faster the sale of goods or services, or the acceptance of ideas of points of view. It
is a non-price competition.
Broadly speaking, promotion means to push forward or to advance ideas in such a
way as to gain its acceptance & approval. It is an effort by the marketer to inform
21

and persuade buyer to accept, resell, recommend, or use the article, services or
ideas, which is being promoted. The promotional activity always attempts to affect
knowledge, attitude, preferences & behavior of recipient, i.e. buyers. The element
of persuasion to accept ideas, products, services etc., is the heart of promotion.
You may have the best product, package & so on. It may have a fair price. But
people will not buy your products, if they have never heard of it, and they are
simply unaware of its existence.
The market must communicate to his prospective buyer & provide them adequate
information in a persuasive language. People must know that the right product is
available at the right place & at the right price. This is the job of promotion in
marketing. In essence, promotion is the spark plug in our marketing mix. It is said
that:Nothing until somebody promotes something
Promotion can create & stimulate demand, capture demand from rivals and
maintain the demand of your products even against keen competition. It is true
that nothing can be sold & nothing can make money (except mint) without means
of promotion.

The communication & promotion mix includes four ingredients viz.

1.

Sales promotion.

2.

Advertising.

3.

Publicity.

4.

Personal selling.

1. Sales promotion

22

Sales promotion is an important instrument in marketing to lubricate the

marketing efforts. Today, sales promotion is a necessity & not a luxury. It is not
expenditure, it is an investment, which can pay a rich dividends. It is an integral
part of marketing effort.
In a specific sense, sales promotion includes those sales activities that supplement
both personal selling & advertising & coordinated them and help to make them
effective such as displays, shows and expositions, demonstration and other
nonrecurring selling effort not in a ordinary routine. Sales promotion aims at
stimulating the purchasing at the point of sales & dealers effectiveness at the retail
channel of distribution.

Sales promotion with the reference of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

Company plans to follow two kinds of promotional tool for their products. They
are: -

(a)

Dealers promotion

(b)

Customers promotion

(a) Dealers promotion

To make a proper channel of distribution & to increase the market share of the
company, corporate plans to promote their dealer or retailers through the various
promotional strategies. Under which they provide a price off, a straight discount off
the list price. The offer encourages retailers as well as distributors to buy a
quantity or carry a new item.

As it is company provide allowances to the distributors for the carrying out of the
companys brand. An advertising allowance compensates retailers for advertising
the companys products.
23

Company also provides free goods to the distributors as the offer for taking up
extra goods or for carrying new products. In the extra company plans to organize
the industrial associations in the form of trade fairs & conventions o stimulate the
sale result of their intermediaries.

(b) Customers promotion

Due to the proper attention towards the channel of intermediaries, company is not
able to give proper attention towards consumers promotion but they arrange
whole the method of local promotion for the awareness of the local customers. As it
is they also provides demonstration & gifts to the customers shortly by which
products of the company are able to create a spec in the customers mind.

2. Advertising
The modern age is an era of competition. To withstand competition manufactures
have to think of new & unfamiliar uses for their products or they have to find out
new buyers for their products. The patent medicine people were the first to prove
what advertisement could do.
Advertisement is the art of influencing human action the awakening for the desire
to possess & possess your product.
Advertisement consists of all the activities in presenting a group a non-personal,
oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, services or idea.

Advertising with the reference of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

24

At present time the chairman of HP India Pvt. Ltd. give attention to make proper
distribution channel for their products. It is the companys policy that firstly they
make proper distribution channel for their products by which any customer either
he/she will be belongs to rural area or belongs to urban area got the product easily.
After making proper distribution channels, corporate plans to come through the
media, because advertisement on media requires heavy investment.
As far as advertisement is concerned HP India Pvt. Ltd. provides claim to their
respective stockiest of the different districts of the state for the local awareness /
promotion as per required by the stockiest of the districts.
Local promotion includes Banners, Holdings, and Cable TV. Adz Installing, Trade
fairs, Sponsorship etc. for the awareness of their products to the local customers.
Because of the company doesnt come through the media in present time i.e. why
company bears all the expanses for the local promotion as required by the
distributors?

It is true, that it is not sufficient in todays high competitive marketing scenario,

but after the attainment of the proper distribution channel company definitely
come through the media which is a powerful source of demand generation in
todays tough marketing scenario & it is definitely provides a strong consumer pull
to the new products of the HP India Pvt. Ltd.

3. Personal selling
A salesman is one who practices the profession of selling. One can learn a lot about
selling and salesmanship just by thinking about definition of personal selling.
American marketing association defined salesmanship as the process of including
and assisting a prospective buyer to buy a commodity or service or to act favorably
upon an idea that has commercial significance to the seller.
E.F. Schumaker defined selling as the process affecting the transfer, with a profit
to buyer & seller, of goods & services that gives such lasting satisfaction that the
buyer is predispose to come back to seller for more of the same.
Personal selling refers to oral presentation in conversation or more prospective
customers for the purpose of making sales.

25

Personal selling involves two-way communication, a well defined problem is half

solved. Due to seller buyer interaction, personal selling alone can provide
immediate feedback of information, which enables salesman to understand
properly the buyers mind, his problems, his needs & his preferences.

Personal selling with the reference of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

As far as the HP India Pvt. Ltd. is concerned corporate plans the effective medium
of personal selling for their products. They provide full support to the salesman for
selling their products. Effective communication & facilities motivate salesman to
make a good relationship with the customers. Corporate actually knows the
importance of the phenomenon of the personal selling I.e. why they tries to
implement the A-I-D-A-S formula of personal selling. The brief description of this
formula is as follows: -

A: - Attention The Attention of the customer.

I: - Interest

-- Create an Interest.

D: - Desire

-- Ignite the Desire of the customer.

A: - Action

-- Gaining an order.

S: - Satisfaction Customer Satisfaction.

4.)THE FOURTH P - PLACE

Marketer has to ensure the availability of its products to the target customers. If a
product is not available to the target customers at the right place, then he/she may
shift to competitive products. So place decision relates to:
(i)

Channel decision what kind of distribution channels a company adopts

between plants & consumer.

(ii)

Distribution channel policy whatever to go for extensive or selective or

exclusive distribution.

(iii)

Degree of selectivity among wholesalers & retailers.

26

(iv)

Effort to get the cooperation of the trade.

(v)

Physical distribution decision includes logistics,

warehousing, material handling, bulk packaging etc.

transportation,

Meaning of channels of Distribution

Goods produced by the manufacturers must come to the knowledge of the ultimate
consumers. This is arranging by the sales promotion activities like salesmanship &
advertising. By mere knowledge, the prospective consumers are not happy. The
products must reach their hands for actual use. Channels of distribution are paths
through which products move from the point of production to the point of
consumption. Distribution channels are also called Trade channels.

Distribution Channels of HP India Pvt. Ltd.

State
Eastern

Distributors
Retailers
Customers

Central

Distributors

Western

Distributors

Retailers

Retailers

Customers

Customers

27

COMPETITORS

Major Brands of Computers in India

HCL Infosystems:
HCL Infosystems Ltd is one of the pioneers in the Indian IT market, with its
origins in 1976. For over quarter of a century, we have developed and implemented
solutions for multiple market segments, across a range of technologies in India.
The countrys number one desktop brand had yet another great year selling

28

4.76 lakh units. The company targeted aggressively the B and C class cities and
upped its distribution network. The significant milestones over the last year include
the launch of the low cost Ezeebee Pride that came with an attractive price tag of
Rs 12,990. It attacked all the buying segments with low cost processors like via to
industry standard P4 HT offerings. The aggression HCL showed in pricing its
product in a way kick-started the price war with brands like Acer, and vendors like
HP cutting down end-user price points. Another significant development for HCL
was its launch of the high-end home PC called Neo, complementing its Beanstalk
range. Neo was also the first desktop brand in India to come with Windows XP
Media Center OS. Meanwhile, on the Notebooks front, HCL is the exclusive
distributor of Toshiba in India whose volumes scaled to 20,000 units, compared to
last years 11,600 units. With Toshiba aligned to the
Higher end of the spectrum HCL was unable to tap the low and mid-end segments
of the portables. And to plug that, during the year the company made a low key
launch of its own brand of notebooks called eZeebee and Powerlite, which summed
up to 3,000 units during the fiscal. Meanwhile, the banking vertical did buy
aggressively with large mandates from SBI and other nationalized banks. From the
government side, nodal agencies like Tamilnadu ELCOT also went for large-scale
installations. As a result of growing demand for its offerings, the company is in the
process of expanding its Pondycherry plant.

Acer Computer International Limited

Few IT companies offer the breadth and depth of products that Acer Group does.
Leveraging the vast collective technological resources available - Acer India (Pvt)
Ltd., was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer
International Ltd. on 9th September 1999. Acer's mission in India is to translate
the Group's goal of making computer technology easier to use and more affordable
- to everyone in this country. With a focused customer-centric approach, Acer in
India is offering unmatched uptime for all it's systems through a vast network of
Service points, innovative and user friendly functionality while continuously
lowering barriers that limit the access to the fruits of technology.
29

Zenith Computers:
This Indian company has, over the years, reinvented itself in more ways than one.
In that, FY 2004-05 can be called the year of innovation and new product launches
for Zenith. It launched seven notebookscalling it the power of sevenand priced
it aggressively, starting from Rs 35K for a low-end model and a Centrino at the sub
Rs 60K. With its state of the art plant in Goa, zeniths manufacturing capabilities
got upped considerably and as a result of the number of manufacturing best
practices the company put in place, it went ahead full steam. The company claims
that its impressive performance was a result of it introducing higher and better
range products, and backing them with superior quality control and distribution.
Meanwhile, on the exports front, the company had mandates from Bangladesh and
other SAARC countries, and its entire product offerings were certified with CE
and FCC norms.

IBM:
The acquisition of IBMs PC division by Lenovo in December 2004 was probably a
shocking and unexpected development in the global PC industry. Lenovo took over
IBMs personal computing division and in the bargain became the third largest
computer company in the world. According to IDC, Lenovos 2004 product
volumes stood at 14 mn units. Meanwhile for IBM India, in the first three quarters
of 2004, it shipped close to 39,450 ThinkPad notebooks as against 16,036 the
corresponding period the previous year, representing a 146% growth. What drove
the demand is buying from two kinds of consumersfirst time notebook buyers
went for the low cost sub Rs 40k notebooks, while consumers who already owned
notebooks went for high-end wireless notebooks. Overall, IBMs market share in
the notebook space hovered around 26% during the year.

Compaq India:

30

The worlds largest seller of PCs entered India in 1994. Initially, the commercial
segment (large corporations, government, educational & research institutions) was
its main target segment. But with recession in the economy in mid 1990s and the
consequent slashing of IT budgets of corporate, it turned its attention to the home
segment. However, it soon realized that its PCs, although perceived well on
reliability and quality, were considered too expensive. The assemblers and Indian
brands were cornering a major chunk of the market. It slashed prices of its sub
brand Presario from Rs.65, 000 to Rs.50, 000 to penetrate into the price conscious
Indian households.
At the same time, Compaq is aggressively going after corporate segment by
offering a range of products tailored around services to meet specific needs. Its
merger with Digital Equipment further strengthened its position in the high-end
server market.

Wipro Limited:
Wipro intends to focus more on the lucrative services business in future. Already,
services accounts for more than half of its turnover. In contrast, the contribution of
systems business dropped from 43 per cent to 25 per cent.
It had a joint venture with Acer for marketing the Wipro-Acer brand of PCs.
However, they called it off in 1999.
Wipro has a 500-strong dealer network. It also distributes IBM PCs and Sun
Microsystems.

31

CHAPTER-2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

32

Research Methodology
In application of market research the research has to go through several steps or
stages and these steps are following.

Step 1: Defining the Problem:

Defining the problem is the most important part of the market research process,
because wrong definition misdirects research.
The type of the research to be carried out, the questions to be raised, and the
sampling procedure to be followed and the data to be collected, all depend on the
current understanding of the problem.
HP is having tough competition in the market with other players these players are
assemblers and branded. There are many factors, which influence the buyer for
purchasing the PC.
A major step in the conduction of marketing research is the decision regarding the
nature of research design we are selecting for the purpose of our study.
The benefits of research design are that it evaluates clients need in terms of results
and the analytical work on the gathered data that will convert it to useful findings
for the management.
The selection of a particular design depends on the causality of the variables
involved.
For the purpose of our study we intend to take up descriptive design.
They cover research designs that are intended to produce accurate descriptions of
variables relevant to the decision being faced, without demonstrating that some
relationship exists between variables.

33

Decision makers very often choose or are willing to accept descriptive data, which
would permit only inferences to be drawn about causation.
Here we are using cross-sectional design to produce a picture of the phenomena in
which the decision maker is interested for example, the market shares of various
firms, consumers brand images and consumption, consumer perception regarding
PC

Step 2: Develop the Research Plan:

The second stage of marketing research calls for developing the most efficient plan
for gathering the needed information.
Designing a research plan calls for decisions on the data sources, Research
approaches, research instruments, sampling plan, and contact methods.

Research Approaches:
Primary data can be collected in five ways: Observation, Focus groups, Surveys,
Behavioral-data, and Experiments.

Observation research:
Fresh data can be gathered by, observing the relevant actors and settings.

Focus group research: A focus group is a gathering of six to ten people who are invited to spend a few
hours with a skilled moderator to discuss a product, service, organization, or other
marketing entity. The moderator needs to be objective, knowledgeable on the issue,
and skilled in-group dynamics. Participants are normally paid a small sum for
attending. The meeting is typically held in pleasant surroundings and refreshments
are served.

Survey research: -

34

Surveys are best suited for descriptive research. Companies undertake surveys to
learn about people's knowledge, beliefs, preferences, and satisfaction, and to
measure these magnitudes in the general population.
This approach best suited for project-research hence this method was adopted
(survey-research) for the project work.

Behavioral Data:
Customers leave traces of their purchasing behavior in store scanning data, catalog
purchase records, and customer data bases. Much can be learned by analyzing this
data.

Experimental research:
The most scientifically valid research is experimental research. The purpose of
experimental research is to capture cause- and-effect relationships by eliminating
competing explanations of the observed findings.

1. Data Sources: The researches can gather secondary data, primary data, or
both. Secondary data are data that were collected for another purpose and already
exit some-where. Primary data are gathered for specific purpose or for a specific
research project.
When the needed data do not exist or are dated, inaccurate, incomplete, or
unreliable, the researcher will have to collect primary data. Most marketing
research projects involve some primary data collection.
Same is the case for our project as well. For the purpose of our study we have
collected primary data in the form of (1) the datas nature and (2) its function in
the ultimate interpretation and analysis.

35

Types of data
1. Demographic
2. Sociological
3. Psychographic
4. Behavioral

Here we are going to analyze the opinions that how people perceive something what
they believe about it and what those believes signify. The most potent form of
opinions tends to be attitudes, which are mental sets of predispositions to act in
some manner.
Here in our project we intend to analyze the opinions and attitudes of the target
population by using appropriate sample. So the data collected in our project is
basically demographic and behavioral.

Communication approaches
In deciding on which of the several of communication means to choose, a
researcher has much to consider a simple division of communication media into
two broad types: observation and questioning. Also we will consider the matters of
whether to use structure and disguise.
From the point of view of our project we have selected the questioning method of
communication with our selected respondents, and for that purpose we have
drafted a questionnaire to quantify and evaluate the customer responses.

36

2. Questioning
In the majority of research problems, the required information can be gained only
by asking for it. This is done mainly by interviewing, but also data maybe obtained
through self-administered questionnaires distributed by mail and other ways. As
explained earlier that we have selected the questionnaire method of data
acquisition, therefore, we choose to draft the questionnaire having closed ended
questions and that will help us quantify the results in an appropriate format.

Research instruments:
Marketing researchers have a choice of two main research instruments in collecting
primary data: Questionnaires and mechanical devices.

Questionnaires:
A questionnaire consists of a set of questions presented to respondents for their
answer. Because of its flexibility, the questionnaire is by far the most common
instrument used to collect primary data. Questionnaires need to be carefully
developed, tested, and debugged before they are administered on a large scale.
In preparing a questionnaire, the professional marketing researcher carefully
chooses the questions and their form, wording, and sequence. The form of the
question asked can influence the response. Marketing researchers distinguish
between closed-end and open-end questions. Closed-end questions-prespecify all
the possible answer. Open end-questions provide answers that are easier to
interpret and tabulate. Open-end questions often reveal more because they do not
constrain respondents, answers.
Finally, the questionnaire designer should exercise care in the wordings and
sequencing of questions. The questionnaire should use simple, direct, unbiased
wording and should be protested with a sample of respondents before it is used.
The lead question should attempt to create interest.
3. Mechanical

instruments:
37

Mechanical devices are occasionally used in marketing research. One example is of

Galvanometers used to measure the interest or emotions aroused by exposure to a
specific and or picture.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR- BASIC STRATEGY
It is a matter of wonder that why people behave the way they actually do in the
market place. At times we are mystified by our own acts being unable to rationalize
them. Innumerable questions constantly agitate the mind. For example, do
advertisements lure us into buying the products advertised? Why people buy
impulsively on some occasions, but in other instances act as careful shoppers?
These questions and such other questions infact are of equal importance to the
marketer. For example, if a marketer can unravel the consumer behavior what do
they buy, how do they buy and so on he can orient his strategy around these
answers. Such a marketer can acquire, serve, and retain the customers for life.
Knowing the customer thus is very important. A study of consumer behavior,
though not guaranteeing 100% success in the market place, raises the possibility of
success. By studying the potential customer, marketer gains insight into the
attitudes, interests, lifestyles, etc.of the target segment. It will help, for example a
marketer to understand how westernized portrayal of women will be acceptable to
the customers in say, a cosmetic ad. Thus, broadly speaking, consumer behavior
study aims at identifying groups of consumers with similar life styles who are likely
to behave in a similar manner when some product related news is communicated to
them. Then a marketer can adopt effective strategies to reach them, and make an
offer.

38

DECISION MAKING PROCESS

When a prospective customer receives a marketing cue (product, price, promotion,
and placement related) he undergoes a process of decision making. This decision
making is conditioned by a variety of factors like personal, interpersonal, and nonpersonal factors. If the impact of these factors is positive, then the customer can
decide to purchase else a purchase may not take place.
The consumer decision-making model is an appropriate tool this time to present the
real conditions in which the consumer decides to purchase. The all circumstances
he goes through. This model represents that upon receiving a marketing stimulus a
customer processes through the phenomenon of perception, learning, motivation,
attituditional disposition, etc.

Data source
To meet with consumers and asked to fill structured questionnaire and no
secondary data was collected.
Personal interviewing is the most versatile method. The interviewer can ask more
questions and record additional observations about the respondent, such as dress
and body language. Personal interviewing takes two forms. In arranged interviews,
respondents are contacted for an appointment.
Intercept interviews involve stopping people at a shopping mall or busy street
corner and requesting an interview.

Step 3: Collect the Information:

The data collection phase of marketing research is generally the most expensive
and most prone to error. The information collected should be both accurate and
relevant as per as the requirements of research project. Depending on the
requirement, the researcher has to work out a suitable data collection method.

39

Broadly data collection method can be classified into,

(a) Primary Methods: when data is directly collected by a researcher, they are
known as primary methods e.g. interviews and questionnaires.
(b) Secondary Methods: The data are termed secondary data when they were not
originally collected for use in the research project under consideration, they
were collected rather for use by some other person or for some other project.

Step 4: Analyze the Information:

The next step in the marketing research process is to extract findings from the
collected data. The researcher tabulates the data and develops frequency
distributions. Averages and measures of dispersion are computed for the major
variables. The researcher will also apply some advanced statistical techniques and
decision models in the hope of discovering additional findings.

Step 5: Present the Findings:

As a last step of market research process, Results (findings) are extracted from the
Analysis of information and are presented to the related party. The researcher
should present major findings that are relevant to the major marketing decisions
facing management. The findings should be written in a concise, simple and
objective orientated language.
For the purpose of our project, the analyses were conducted on the basis of
following conditions. As we earlier suggested that we are going to categorize the
scores into various intervals. Now as we have attached scores to all the parameters
according to their importance .

40

CHAPTER-3
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION

41

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Analysis is based on the responses, which I got from the different secondary data.
Each question has its own outcome and my result based on these outcomes.

The analysis is given below.

CONSUMERS WHO PURCHASE ASSEMBLED PC

50%

50%

CONSUMERS WHO PURCHASE BRANDED PC

1.

Co
mparison between Branded & Assembled.

42

It has been found that branded PC has equal market with assembler PC. But, in
previous years assembler were dominating the Indian PC market. But due to
cutting the price by companies branded PC has been growing in the market. I have
also observed that companies are highly indulged with the promotional activities as
well as advertising to take grip on the market. Companies have tie up with
different banks to provide easy finance schemes. Consumers are going for finance
schemes to purchase the computers.

2. If we consider only branded players then the most preferable PCs

are as follows.

4% 4%
32%
12%
8% PCS ZENITH IBM OTHERS
HCL COMPAQ LG
8%
32%

HP and Compaq is the most preferable PC used by the consumers. Both the brands
are having a good image in the market. IBM is having 4% market share but IBM is
good brand but due to its high prices its not more preferable by the Indian
consumers.

43

HP & Compaq both is having 32% shares in branded PC market. After that comes
zenith with 12% market. Zenith is also preferred by consumers because of its low
price than others. PCS and LG also having 8% share in the market.
There are also many players in branded segment like Wipro, dell etc. are having
4% share.

Factors, which are taken into consideration while purchasing the PC.

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

TOP 6 PREFERED FACTORS FOR PURCHASING THE PRODUCT

COST

160

44

QUALITY

145

SERVICE

140

SUPPORT

130

BRAND

80

DISCOUNT

75

Taking all the factors combined & assigning them some value according to their
rank in preference it has been observed that cost & quality play equal roles
whereas support comes next followed by serviceability. Brand comes on second
last and finally comes discount.
Study shows that while selecting a product for purchase cost plays the vital role in
the Indian minds. Next factor that comes is quality followed by brand image.
Discount also play role for purchasing the computer.

4. Measure the need of the PC either for personal or official use.

45

Indian consumers mainly purchase the computer for personal use.80% consumer
use the computer for personal use and rest of the use for official use.

5. Measure

how do customer purchase the PC.

46

WAY OF PURCHASING THE PC

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

FINANCE

CASH

It has been found that 90% consumer purchase the PC through cash and rest
through the finance options. Consumers mainly opted for finance schemes but due
to more documentation and hidden costs either they purchased the PC through
case or they leave it for future

6. Finance

Purchase given by PC vendors

47

FINANCE PURCHASE GIVEN BY PC VENDORS

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

HP gives the 30% finance purchase of total finance purchase HP is providing the
many finance schemes for consumers. HP has tie up with U.B.I., ICICI and
B.A.F.L. and providing the better opportunity of finance to the consumers. And
30% finance purchase goes to assemblers but it is mainly the self-finance by the
consumers. And 20% finance goes to Compaq. Rest to others.

48

7. MEASURE HOW DO CONSUMERS COME TO KNOW ABOUT

PARTICULAR PC.

CONSUMER COME TO KNOW ABOUT PC THROGH VARIOUS FACTORS

60%
50%
40%
30%

CONSUMER COME TO KNOW ABOUT PC THROGH VARIOUS FACTORS

20%
10%
0%
advertisement

relatives & friends sales promotion

sales executive

Consumers come to know about the PC through advertisements and after through
relatives

and

friends,

branded

companies

are

mainly

indulging

with

advertisements. For example HPS 499 get the PC in just 499 RS. These are
advertisements conducted by the HP. Relatives and friends of the consumers also
take the main part for choosing the PC. Sales promotion and sales executive comes
in last.

49

9. MEASURE WHICH BRAND IS THE BEST BRAND IN THE

CONSUMERS MIND.

BEST BRAND OPTED BY CONSUMERS

60%
40%
20%
0%

BEST BRAND OPTED BY CONSUMERS

BRAND

OPTED

RANK

HP

44%

COMPAQ

32%

DELL

12%

IBM

10%

HP is the
brand

best
OTHERS

2%

according to consumers in the Delhi region. It is in top because of its lower price
among good brands and its better quality.
Compaq is on the second position because of its quality and brand name. Compaq
is the big competitor of HP.

50

DELL comes on third position because of its brand name and its customization of
the product according to the consumer need. IBM comes after DELL

9. .MEASURE THE POST PURCHASE PROBLEM IN THE PC.

POST PURCHASE PROBLEM IN THE PC

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

POST PURCHASE PROBLEM IN THE PC

Compaq has less post purchase problems than others. HP is having 12% post
purchase problems in the PC. Assembled computers has 16% post purchase
problem & PCS has highest purchase problems in the PC.

51

10.

MEAS

URE THE PERFORMANCE OF PC

HP PERFORMANCE MEASURE BY CONSUMERS

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
EXCELLENT

V.GOOD

GOOD

FAIR

20% consumers say that HP is excellent in performance, 60% consumers says that
HP is very good in performance and 20% thinks that its good in performance.

52

COMPAQ PERFORMANCE

COMPAQ PERFORMANCE
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

EXCELLENT

V.GOOD

GOOD

Compaq performance is the same as HP performance.

SUGGESTION:-

53

FAIR

1. Perception about HPS after Sales Service and technology has to be changed
because HP is way behind in it compared to its competitors.
2. More awareness should be created regarding the various services offer by
HP.
3. HP has to try to establish its after sales service department.
4. Perceived corporate image of HP is not very good so an effort has to be
made to improve it.
5. They should pay proper attention towards checking of various components
of PC before end user delivery. Otherwise it tends towards defame of brand
name in comparison to rivals.
6. Need to expend customer care center as the consumer base of HP Ezeebee is
increasing with tremendously fast pace.
7. Proper attention should be paid for advertisement planning otherwise it
may lead to problem for dealer as well as for company.
8. Company should tie up with some event management company to organize
various promotional activities like canopy, Carnival.
9. Company should make policy for fixed end user price for all dealers so that
fair game will be played & dealer would not to compromise on their margin.
10. Company should tie up with good banks by which company can provide
easy finance schemes to the consumers because every consumer search for
easy available finance scheme.
11. Company should improve the quality of product
12. Company should give the service of customization of product to the
consumers.

54

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

MAJOR FINDINGS
Any survey conducted in the market places flashes back hidden truths and basic
facts, which affects the business of company directly or indirectly. Which are the
out coming of the research, are known as the findings.
The information gathered from the market, which are accountable in the
achievement of the objective and for the company, which makes the project report
more interesting, are basically known findings.

The findings of this project are as follows:

1. HP is market leader in PC market but have very close competition with
Compaq.
55

2. Most people thinks that HP only deals in desktop PCs and servers where as
only few thinks that HP also provides facility of software development,
networking, internet services, facility management and high end solutions.
3. Most people think that HP is typically hardware firm having no relation
with software.
4. Compaq and HP are two companies that are at top of mind in consumers
mind.
5. Cost, quality and service are two major factors that are taken into
consideration while purchasing the PC. HP is excellent in all factors.
6. Technology Wise HP is considered to be number 4 where as IBM, DELL
and Compaq HP are number 1,2 and 3 respectively.
7. Cost wise HP is at third number after LG and zenith enjoy 1 and 2 position
respectively.
8. Corporate image of HP is not so good. It holds third rank in this category
while IBM & Compaq are number 1 and 2 respectively.
9. According to customer satisfaction index HP is no.1 with Compaq. Whereas
IBM is on second position.
10. HP is no 1 in providing the finance purchase to the customers
11. After sales service and technology are the perceived weaknesses of the HP

56

CHAPTER-4
CONCLUSION

57

Conclusion

The most interesting and crucial phase of any research is the presenting of findings
and this project is no exception. After concluding with the project I am in a position
to present the following:
HP Infosystems Ltd is one of the pioneers in the Indian IT market, with its Origin
in 1976, for over quarter of a century, they have developed and implemented
solutions for multiple market segments, across a range of technologies in India.
Undoubtedly HP INFOSYSTEMS was leader in after sales services but now the
company is lacking in this field. Company is having good quality product with low

58

price but its lacking in technology. Company should change its technology. But HP
is most preferable brand in India then others.
Now for our own personal experience this project was a real rewarding experience
for us and helped us gain insights into the ways marketing research works. The
survey let us know the functioning of the survey reports and their preparation. We
are really indebted to our faculty to have provided us with this opportunity.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The study is bond to come with some limitations and constraint, which made the
Efficiency of the same and to some extent deviates it from its main line of thought.
Though no stone was left unturned to make the study more precise, accurate and
Relevant to the objective, yet there are some limitations and general problems,
Which are not worthy to make study meaningful.

59

TIME:Due to the constraints, sampling was done and thus the final Result could not be
taken the final result could not be taken for Granted and are subjected to
fluctuations.

QUESTIONAIRE

Name
Age

Mobile No.

1. Do you have a personal computer ?

YES
NO

60

2. Whether you have branded or assembled ?

Branded
Assembled
If Branded which do you have

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS REFERED:

1. Kothari, C.R. Marketing Research, 3rd edition, 1997, Vikas Publishing House
Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

2. Kotler, Philip, Marketing Management

WEBSITES:
61

1.
2.
3.
4.

www.indiainfoline.com
www.wikipedia.com/hp
www.computerworld.com
www.hpinfosystem.com

62