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Introduction:

Multilevel Marketing (MLM) is a recent trend added to the business notion of Bangladesh. It is a concept used by many countries around the globe, with United States of America practicing it for almost fifty years. MLM not only operates as direct marketing channel but also it is being practiced by many companies to increase their customer base. The concept of MLM in Bangladesh was introduced by Global Guardian Network (GGN) in 1998. Since then many of the firms have ventured into the MLM practices with particularly one company having an exponential growth Destiny 2000. As the number of people operating as members distributors of MLM companies are increasing, this paper attempts to identify the social scenario of the MLM industry on the lifestyles of those involved in the industry. The MLM industry can offer much to the Bangladesh economy, and has the opportunity for considerable growth, judging from the overseas experience. Thus the government needs to concentrate on formulation of policy issues that will regulate the MLM industry and protect the interest of people involved in such practices.

Methodology:
The study contains both primary and secondary data. Theoretical part of the article heavily uses secondary sources, whereas the findings and interpretations are based on primary data. Structured questionnaire interview with members/ distributors of different MLM companies was administrated to collect primary data. Secondary source of data included review of scholarly journals; companys published documents, and other reading materials available in the Internet web site, textbooks, newspapers, and magazines. Sampling: Primary data was collected through questionnaire. The interviewer randomly selected the respondents. The total sample size for this study was 366.. The study extensively uses descriptive statistics in analyzing and interpreting data array. The limitation of the study is it was conducted in Dhaka city only as the authors initiated the project themselves and had no funding available.

Evolution of Multi Level Marketing (MLM):


The root of multilevel marketing are intertwined with those of Amway Corporation and its Nutritive product line (Burnett, Stephen, The Origin of Network Marketing)

Around fifty years ago in the US, a man producing a single cleaning product in his own garage formed a small company. He assumed that on the basis of rewarding people who referred their friends and acquaintances to use the product he was producing, he would be able to steadily increase his sales without using capital for advertising. The bonuses paid for the referrals were made after the product was sold, therefore eliminating the risk of spending money on advertising, which may or may not work. From these inauspicious beginnings, with only one product to market, this man joined into a partnership with another and new paradigm-network marketing and a company. Many millions of people are now familiar with Amway was born. Simply by continuing to reward people to refer their friends and relatives the company grew to become the largest Network Marketing Company in the world with an annual turnover of around $7 to $8 billion today. Today MLM is recognized throughout the world as a legitimate way for products to be moved into the market place whilst the individuals that make the referrals and distribute the products, are rewarded for their efforts. Even recognized and substantial conventional companies are embracing Network Marketing as an effective way to expand their customer bases. It is estimated that well in excess of 80 billion dollars in global business turnover is channeled through Network Marketing businesses. MLM companies deals with variety of products from chocolates and sweets through to petrol and cars with a gamut of products and services in between. Virtually all products and services, especially nutritional and health products, can be more effectively marketed by networking companies. The underlying success beneath the concept of network marketing is in a world full of marketing hype, consumers have become quite immune to the continual clamor of exaggerated claims and slick advertising gimmicks. Yet if a close friend or acquaintance shares his own experience with a particular product or service- all the advertising glitz and glamour and countless expenditure counts for nothing compared to a simple word of mouth referral. Network companies are able to cut down expenditure associated with advertising and other overheads. The costs of distribution and retailing often run at 70% or more of the gross turnover of conventional business operations (Loudon, 2004). The MLM Company allocates these savings to the distributor network i.e. to the members/distributors for marketing and servicing the customers on behalf of the Network Company. This allows the network company to concentrate on the distributing, manufacturing and warehousing of the products only and channel a large

volume of their gross revenue into the distributor organization. This is cost that conventional businesses and manufacturers would need to add to the price of a product to cover retailing, distribution and various other business overheads. The people who actually see the opportunity for what it is worth and are constantly making the referrals for the company and introducing others into their teams are the most rewarded. Reputable MLM companies always incorporate leadership bonuses into their marketing plans. This in turn, enables business minded people who see the vast opportunity to exploit the full potential of the plan, to generate a handsome income per month. Therefore, as a distributor person is not only rewarded for making a simple referral to a friend, but also rewarded by the company for helping and training others to understand the system and teaching them how to do the same thing as he/she does.

Overview of the Major MLM Companies Operating in Bangladesh:


There are 24 MLM companies actively found to be operating in Bangladesh and 17 other companies who claim themselves to be in MLM business. The nature of the business the companies deal with, mainly falls into three categories - health and health related products; computers, information, and communication technology; and convenience and consumer products. Appendix 1 gives the list of the MLM companies. In this article we have incorporated the company overview of three major MLM companies. Additional details of all other companies can be found in the above mentioned website.

Neway Bangladesh (Pvt.) Limited:


Neway Bangladesh (Pvt.) Limited is the pioneer and leading company in the MLM field in Bangladesh. Neway registered with the Registrar of the Joint Stock Companies in 1999 and started formal operations in the year 2000. The company brought about a new marketing concept that had tremendous success in the western world. However, the concept is quite new and unfamiliar to Bangladeshis at large. The First two years of operation of the company saw a gradual increase. Neway introduced concepts such as, Be your own boss: The members/ distributors of MLM Company are self employed and are not accountable to anyone for their actions and decisions.

Open membership: Anyone who fulfills the basic minimum requirement, can join the MLM company as member (There is no bar as to gender, religion, education, and income)

Working at your own time: The concept refers to the practice that as the MLM members are required to attract new members to join network, they can do so on their own free time.

Unlimited earning potential: A person who introduces numerous other members to the system can earn thousands of taka per week in the form of commission.

All these ideas seemed unbelievable to Bangladesh and some feared these ideas to be a part of scam. Neway, was the first Network Marketing Company to offer branded products from reputed manufactures like STL, Toshiba, Rangs, Lapana, Guardian, and Das etc.

BizNas.com:
Biznas started functioning in Bangladesh in June 2003 as a software developer; however, in May 2004 it incorporated with the BizNas of Sharjah, UAE. Biz is for Business opportunity and Nas means people in Arabic. Therefore the name stands for Business opportunity for the people. The objective of Biznas is to provide solutions by applying New Technologies, New Ideas, New Approaches, New Systems, New Thinking, New Strategies and New Techniques through better access to Information and Knowledge. The Main founders have more than twenty years of combined experience in the related Industries. They have successfully built large networks of thousands of people across the world. They are recognized as pioneers and prime movers of the network marketing industry in the Middle East and South Asia region.

Grameen Star Education:


Grameen Star started its journey in 1999 as a computer, mobile and English languagetraining center. It offered various software and hardware training based on computer and Mobile Technology and is also known as an institute for English Speaking. In the field of network marketing referral for a course made by the member gets monetary benefit from the institution.

Findings:
Occupation Suitability:
The person 18 years or older is eligible to join the multilevel marketing schemes with no requirement for qualifications or previous experience. It was found that following group of people are interested to participate in such schemes People who relish the challenge of running their own business. People with health problems or disabilities that restrict their work options. Retired people who want to keep themselves active and increase their income level. Students looking for part time jobs People with full-time jobs looking for additional source of income Stay in parent (who stays home to take care of their young children) who can earn and take care at the same time i.e. mainly housewives People with no job or anyone who's finding it difficult to get a job.

Part or Full Time:


For most people MLM is a supplement source of income indicating that they have other responsibility and can only commit themselves on a part time basis. As we can see 251 respondents 68.6% of the respondents utilizes this opportunity as a part time profession, whereas, 23.2% as full time with 8.2% constitutes the missing frequency.

Education:
The survey gives the details about the level of education of the respondent member of MLM companies. It is interesting to note that 11.5% possesses masters degree, 57.4% of the respondents have done their graduation and 29.4% have completed secondary or highersecondary education level. The remaining 1.6% didnt answer to this question. Thus it can be inferred the MLM business practices are gaining more popularity in the literate class of people.

Length of Time:
1, 52.6% respondents are found to be involved in MLM practices for the period of 6 months or less. 29.4% are involved for the period greater than 6 months and less than 1 year. Only 8.7%

respondents are found to be involved in this business for about 12 to 18 months. It is interesting to note 90. 7% of the distributor/members are in this business for less than one and half years. Only 2.3% are involved in this practice for a period greater than three years. Thus it can be concluded the concept of MLM gained popularity in Bangladesh in recent time only.

Educational qualification and nature of involvement:


Members are undertaking MLM practices either part-time or full time. Thus the authors have tried to correlate educational practices with the nature of involvement. The correlation analysis does show relationship, which is however insignificant as the significance value is .075 greater than .05. The cause of insignificance can easily be identified by analyzing cross tabulation between educational qualification and nature of involvement by respondents. Where no particular trend can be ascertained except for the fact that people with graduate degree is more involved in the practices either part time or full time.

Gender:
82.8 of the respondents are male and 16.4 female. Bangladesh predominantly a Muslim country has strong religious values and beliefs which again is reflected in MLM membership based on gender.

Hours per week:


On average 76 spent 2-10 hours per week, 11.8 spent 11-20 hours per week and only 6 spent more than 25 hours per week. Such less hours of involvement by members / distributors indicate that most people are not taking the business seriously. It may also be a reason that their involvement in MLM practices is a new experience for them and they want to learn the trade before committing themselves seriously.

Profession of People involved in MLM Schemes:


The following pie chart shows the profession of the members/distributors involved in the MLM practices.

Change in Lifestyle:

Over 80 of the respondents claimed that their income has increased as a result of their involvement in direct selling. Which has a direct impact on their lifestyle due to increase of their purchasing power.

Conclusion:
This study of social impacts on those in the industry has thrown up some interesting results in terms of the very positive attitude toward the direct selling industry held by members of the independent sales force. While most had seen an improvement in lifestyle and in supplementary income, clearly the most compelling result were the way in which people believed they had benefited in more personal way. That is, they believed they had improved as people, they were more confident, more motivated, better communicators, and had developed new skills, particularly business and financial skills. This result has thrown new light on the industry. In many cases helping people with limited educational qualifications or limited resources. The main focus is the positive outcome that MLM companies open up new avenue of earning opportunity. Not all outcomes of the survey was positive, many felt that it did not provide them with the necessary improvement in their lifestyle they were hoping for. Many felt that it requires a considerable investment of time and money. Many expressed concerns that direct selling requires certain skills to succeed, which they lack. However this paper only attempts to identify the social Scenario and demographic characteristics of the members, distributors involved in the MLM practices. The researchers firmly believe numerous other predictors may also be important. Thus it encourages research examining the problems and opportunities available, motivations for involvement, economic impact of such practices on lifestyle and on economy of Bangladesh as a whole.

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