SYNOPSIS Study to Determine the Factors Influencing Business to Business Sales & Organizational Buying A Study with special

l reference to PVC Pipe Manufacturing Industry in Kerala

1.Introduction
Business-to-business sales (B2B) describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer. Contrasting terms are business-to-consumer and business-to-government. Business to Business is also used in the context of communication and collaboration. Organizational buying refers to the purchasing done by organizations for resale purposes, for use in the manufacture of other goods and services, or for the operation of their businesses. There are many PVC pipes manufacturers in Kerala. As result of boom in the construction industry demand for the PVC pipes also increases.The PVC pipe industry in kerala had a growth 4% last year. There are about 20 PVC pipe manufacturing companies are there in Kerala. Shakthimaan super, Hycount, Supreme and Kelachandra are the major players in the PVC pipe industry.Chloroplast was established in 1986 to manufacture PVC pipes as extension of Nediyara chemicals, which started the manufacturing in 1974. Chloroplast is the largest producers of ISI marked pipes in Kerala. They were the first pipe manufacturers in Kerala to have IS 4985:2000. Chloroplast were the only company in Kerala which sells only the ISI marked pipes and have market share of about 35%. PVC pipes were widely used in household and agriculture industrial field.

2. Statement of problem
All the pipe manufacturing companies are trying hard to improve their sales and to become the market leader, by devising various strategies also. Some companies are concentrating on advertisements others on pricing and companies like chloroplast on the quality of products.Though most of the pipe manufacturing companies in Kerala are ISI certified , they sell non ISI pipes at lesser prices. Builders and land developers are the most important customers who buys PVC pipes in large quantity. Their needs are relatively high as compared to the individual house contracters , hence contribute to a large amount of sales for the PVC pipe industry. To satisfy

them companies will have to understand their needs and expectations which are unexplored to the desired extend. This study is an attempt to trace down the same.

3. Objectives of the study

1. To determine the factors influencing Business to Business sales in PVC pipe segment

2. To find out the dominant player in PVC pipes in Business to Business segment

3. To find out the sales channel structure and payment methods in Business to Business PVC pipe sales

4. Research methodology
Descriptive research design may be used for carrying out the present study because it will be very useful in finding needs of builders and factors influencing the business to business sales in PVC pipe segment. The focus will be on the major builders from Ernakulam and Trichur who are the consumers of PVC pipes.

4.1 Data Source

Primary and secondary data will be collected for the requirements of the study. The preliminary study and extensive literature review will be carried out. The scope of internet for collecting data may be exploited. Secondary data may be explored from the available source of data from company. Primary data will be collect from the respondents, using a pre-tested questionnaire.

4.2 Research Approach

Survey using a questionnaire shall be adopted in this study. The questionnaire shall be circulated to the respondents (purchase managers or other concerned people who are responsible for taking decisions regarding buying pvc pipes in building firms) , who are as per the research design

4.3 Research instrument

A questionnaire will be prepared with the objective of collecting all relevant information required for achieving the research objectives. Wide discussions with experts in the

field of PVC pipe industry shall be conducted before selecting the questions to be included in the questionnaire. The prepared questionnaire will be pre-tested before being used for the study purpose.

4.4 The Population

The population may be defined as those purchase managers or other concerned people who are responsible for taking decisions regarding buying pvc pipes in building firms from Ernakulam and Trichur region who are the major customers of PVC pipes .

4.5 Pilot Study

A pilot study will be conducted by using the framed questionnaire with a sample of 5 respondents from each district. The collected data from the respondents will be studied in detail. Necessary changes can be incorporated to the content of the questionnaire after the pilot study.

4.6 Sample size

Total number of builders in Ernakulam and Trichur will be identified .

4.7 Sampling procedure

The sample size thus estimated shall be contacted by adopting quota sampling.

5. Scope of the study

The study will help the company to make strategies to understand the expectations of builders there by formulating strategies to improve the sales .

6. Limitation of the study

Some respondents may not cooperate or some may give misleading answers.