Assignment I

Determinants while Buying Mid Segment Cars

Submitted To: Mr. Ashwani Panesar Lecturer in Research Methodology Department of Management L.P.U

Submitted By: Arvinder Singh (22) Tarandeep Singh (12) B.Tech MBA (Integrated) CSE Sec: E1 7B1 Contents Page No.

ives of the study

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 Type of Research Data Collection Time Dimension

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Scope, Breadth and depth of the study Research Control of Variables Purpose of Study Research Environment Sampling Technique xii xii xii xii

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Abstract This study is carried out to explore various factors that are considered while buying mid segment car. It merely focuses on analyzing buying behavior of customer at Punjab, India. It helps to identify what factors that influence individual to buy Mid Segment car. As there are many companies that are selling mid segment car survey will also be carried out on different features that one looks into while spending such a huge amount.

To understand and explore the various determinants we will go and acquire the data from the organizations and will use the useful information acquired from them. After

conducting the survey what we found that the customers are most often attracted by the finance option available and promotions available with them. One thing more that was concluded was that at the end of the year when companies give large offers and discounts then large unit of cars were sold.

Customers also focus on after sales service and low maintenance cost of vehicle. Another factor relating to buying a car is auto insurance. Again, it is important to compare rates before choosing an insurance policy and to know what our limit is before we make any final decision.

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Introduction Indias car manufacturing industry is seventh largest in the world. The industry has changed the way people live and work. It has seen a sparkling growth in sales as in

2009; India emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of passenger cars, behind Japan, South Korea and Thailand. Large proportions of Indians are now buying cars for the sake of comfort and safety. In car segment major share of sales is contributed by mid segment car cars (mid segment). One of the reasons is the ease of smaller size thats easy to drive in crowded areas and second low overheads. A mid-size car is referred to as an automobile with a size between that of compact and full size cars. The mid-size car market in India has grown tremendously in the last few years. A mid-size car is an automobile which have a size that is between a compact and a car of full size. It typically has the capacity to carry 4 passengers. In India, the mid-size car price ranges between ` 3-8 lakh. Although the automobile market in India is growing at 7% per year, the mid-size car market in India is growing at the rate of around 20% per year. This shows how fast the growth is taking place in the market of mid-size car in India. It is no wonder therefore, that most of the latest car launches in India have been in the mid-size segment. The credit of manufacturing of these cars goes to companies like- Fiat India, Ford, General Motors, Hindustan Motors, Hyundai motors, Maruti Udyog, San Motors and Tata Motors. The various reasons for the growth of the mid-size car market in India are:

income. This money is being spent by the people in buying the mid-size car. s have been launched by the automobile manufacturers and financial institutions giving a boost to the market of mid-size car in India. government in relation to the automobile industry have taken out various polices such as reducing the import tariffs and also relaxing the equity regulations. This has led to the reduction in the prices of the mid-size cars.

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the country. This enables them to buy the mid-size car which further boosts the mid-size car market in India. Research Problem

It defines the problems of study of various determinants that influence the choice of mid segment cars The general form the problem is concerned with the financial budget of the customer and in return what gives them maximum benefits and returns while choosing the mid segment cars one must think over the variety of cars that are in the market. The customer also think about the various factors in his mind that helps him to buy his choice of car.

The choice of mid segment cars is influenced by following features:

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Literature Review

industry: A survey of car manufacturers and suppliers strategies and relations", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 22, Issue: 7, pp.741 758

According to the study intense competition and structural changes characterize the car industry. Several trends (i.e. general changes over time) concerning sourcing strategies and supplier relations can therefore be identified. It aims to analyze how these trends correspond to the actual situation in the car industry.. The results show that both car manufacturers and suppliers continue to reduce product development time. They also increase supplier involvement in product development and the share of inbound JIT-deliveries. However, while suppliers increase their outsourcing and globalization of production and product development activities, car manufacturers do not. Only some of the identified sourcing-related trends are actually supported by the presented results.

Hence at crux we concluded about the picture of the current development within the car industry.

Artur L. Brito, (2007) "Customer choice of a car maintenance service provider: A model to identify the service attributes that determine choice", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 27 Issue: 5, pp.464 481

It helped to identify the determinants of customer choice of a car maintenance service provider after the warranty period. It focuses on the alternative of using branded car dealers, who provide this service during the warranty period, or independent garages. Service attributes that determine customer choice are the ones consumers simultaneously consider important and perceive differences in ~v~

performance between the service providers. The branded dealers service operation proved to be relatively weak, having only one of these attributes, while being better evaluated in less important ones. Independent garages have a much better offer justifying their gain in market share. Only economic cars (1,000cc) were analyzed. Convenience and location were only partially controlled and could play a more significant role in some decision settings.

Conclusion: What we gained is the private garages have greater share as they give

maintenance at a much cheaper price and charge nominal money for each service they render.

perspectives on supply chain relationships", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 30 Issue: 12, pp.1269 1290.

It aims to employ transaction cost theory and social exchange theory to compare how buyers and suppliers perceive relationship mechanisms. The paper also explains the dynamics of relationship performance by comparing buyer and supplier perceptions of the same relationships. It specifically focuses on the issue of relationship success and test the hypothesis that the antecedents of perceived relationship success for buyers differ from those of suppliers within supply chain relationships. The study found that buyers and suppliers have significantly different perceptions of their relationships across a range of dimensions for buyers and suppliers. Given the use of both transaction cost and social exchange theory, the breadth of the dimensions studied, the unique access to practitioners gained and the nature of the matched-pair data.

Conclusion: It directly compares transaction cost theory and social exchange theory and finds that both are useful in explaining success in buyer-supplier ~ vi ~

-supplier

relationships in the Turkish automotive industry", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 26 Issue: 9, pp.947 970

Using a baseline model of buyer-supplier relationships, it aims to identify the types of relationships in the Turkish automotive industry, and to test predictions as to how these relations would differ across contextual, managerial, and social climate variables. Three relationship types (captive supplier, market exchange, and strategic partnership) were identified both in the buyer and supplier data. Significant differences were observed in terms of contextual (product and supplier characteristics), managerial (information exchange and cooperation), and social climate variables (mutual understanding, payoff equity, and satisfaction). Differences across the groups were tested using ANOVA and Scheff tests. Strategic partnership led to cooperation in both samples, and to satisfaction, mutual understanding, and equity in the supplier sample.

Conclusion: To strategically segment their suppliers based on product and supplier characteristics, whereas supplier groups were differentiated along social climate variables.

-Hee Lee, (2010) "Hybrid car purchase intentions: a cross-cultural analysis", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 Issue: 2, pp.96 103

It aims to compare US and Korean consumers' intentions to purchase a high involvement, environmentally friendly product: the hybrid car. The self-image congruence and propensity to seek information about green products have strong positive relationships with intentions to purchase a hybrid car among consumers from both countries. Perceived social value associated with the ~ vii ~

consumption of hybrid cars also has a strong positive relationship with intentions to purchase a hybrid car among Korean and, contrary to expectations. However, marketers of hybrid cars in the USA limit references to the social value of green products, in general, which may be a turn-off. The Originality/value of this paper increases knowledge about the impact of social and cultural factors on decision making regarding hybrid cars.

Conclusion: It communicates about the social value of hybrid vehicle adoption and the positive reflection of ownership on the consumer's self-image, focusing on consumers who actively seek information about green products.

and the country of manufacturing of automobiles: An experimental study of consumers' brand personality perceptions", International Marketing Review, Vol. 27 Issue: 2, pp.164 178.

It offers a new perspective of country of origin effects on consumers' brand

personality perceptions of domestic and imported automobiles. It aims to assess the perceived similarities and differences between automobiles from two countries with respect to the country of origin of the brand (COB) and the country of manufacturing (COM) of that same brand. The COM of a car influenced the perceived brand personality of the car more than the COB.

Conclusion: It indicates that consumers' brand personality perceptions varied according to the country of origin (COB) of the brand and the country of manufacture (COM) of the brand.

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2009. Volume 38, Issue 2

Car dealers and manufacturers have arranged pricing in a manner designed to daze and confuse the consumer. However, simply by understanding the tricks of the trade, consumers can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars on their new cars. Here, Consumer Reports has created The New Car Price Service. This New Car Price Service breaks down the negotiating process into a few simple rules: break the dealer's code, find out about unadvertised dealer

incentives and holdbacks, play the game and trade in.

- A study of Consumer Perception

Today is the most lucrative industry. Due to the increase in disposable income in both rural and urban sector and easy finance being provided by all the financial institutes, the passenger car sales have increased at the rate of 38% per annum in June 2005-06 over the corresponding period in the previous year. Further competition is heating up in the sector with a host of new players coming in and other like Porsche, Bentley, Audi, and BMW all set to venture in the Indian markets. One factor that could help the companies in the marketing of their product is by knowing and creating a personality for their brands.

Conclusion: It will help in knowing what a customer (or a potential customer) thinks about a given brand of car and what are the possible factors guiding a possible purchase.

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Objective of the Study The overall aims of this research project is to understand the consumer behavior of

customers which helps them to buy their new car, and to do a reliable study of new car buyers behavior towards various factors like car brand, price of car, etc. while buying a new car.

Hypothesis

Development of Hypothesis: A hypothesis is a possible answer to a question. Development of hypotheses implies generating basically alternative answers to research questions. The research determines which of these alternative answers is correct. It is not always possible to develop hypotheses, but efforts should be made.

Hypothesis for our research paper will be: f the car.

Variables that affect the Buying Decisions

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Research Design

Exploratory Research:

Exploratory research is a type of research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects. It should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Given its fundamental nature, exploratory research often concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist.

Exploratory research often relies on secondary research such as reviewing available literature and/or data, or qualitative approaches such as informal discussions with consumers, employees, management or competitors, and more formal approaches through in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies. The Internet allows for research methods that are more interactive in nature. For example, RSS feeds efficiently supply researchers with up-to-date information; major search engine search results may be sent by email to researchers by services such as Google Alerts; comprehensive search results are tracked over lengthy periods of time by services such as Google Trends; and websites may be created to attract worldwide feedback on any subject.

The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision-making by themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a given situation. Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to the

"why", "how" and "when" something occurs, it cannot tell us "how often" or "how many".

Exploratory research is not typically generalizable to the population at large.

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The methods used for exploratory research will be:

Primary Data: New data gathered to help to solve the problem at hand as compared to secondary data which is previously gathered data. An example is information gathered by a questionnaire. Qualitative or quantitative data that are newly collected in the course of research, Consists of original information that comes from people and includes information gathered from surveys, focus groups, independent observations and test results. Data gathered by the researcher in the act of conducting research. This is contrasted to secondary data which entails the use of data gathered by someone other than the researcher information that is obtained directly from first-hand sources by means of surveys, observation or experimentation.

Primary data is basically collected by getting questionnaire filled by the respondents.

Secondary Data:

Information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose. Sources include census reports, trade publications, and subscription services. Data that have already been collected and published for another research project (other than the one at hand). There are two types of secondary data: internal and external secondary data. Information compiled inside or outside the organization for some purpose other than the current investigation. Data that have already been collected for some purpose other than the current study. Researching information which has already been published. Market information compiled for purposes other than the current research effort; it can be internal data, such as existing sales-tracking information, or it can be research conducted by someone else, such as a market research company. Published, already available data that comes from pre-existing sets of information, like medical records, vital statistics, prior research studies and archival data.

Secondary source of data used consists of magazines and websites

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The study entailed data collection with the help of a questionnaire from the residents of Jalandhar region, India. Data was collected by personally contacting the

respondents and explaining in detail about the survey. A total of 100 respondents from different areas were to be contacted. The respondents were from different professional backgrounds will be chosen to fill the questionnaire.

The Time Dimension used by us in our research will be Cross Sectional studies in which is carried out once and represent a snapshot in one point of time.

The scope, breadth and depth of the study of our research will be case study.

Under this we will use Experimental study to control and to manipulate variables in study.

To do descriptive study of all the factors that is considered while buying mid segment car.

Field setting environment will be used to carry out research activity.

In this research work, Simple Random Sampling technique will be used to fill our questionnaire to collect the qualitative data to do our work. Each respondent from the

targeted population will be chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each subject has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process.

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References Books:

Internet Sites: