AProject reportonA Study on Customer Perception and Market Potential for Indiacom Yellow PagesforIndiacom Ltd

Submitted byUmesh Dnyaneshwar KhadtareUnder the guidance ofProf. Mahesh GadekarSubmitted ToUniversity of PuneIn Partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)(2009-11)

ThroughVishwakarma Institute of ManagementPune-48

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Before we get into the thick of the things I would like to add a few heartfelt words for the people who were the part of this project in numerous ways people who gave unending support right from the stage the basic idea was conceived.This dissertation from a part of my two year M.B.A program and is in partial fulfillment of the requirement of their in reference.I acknowledge with sense of reverence my gratitude towards the management of Indiacom Ltd. for providing me an opportunity to work as a summer trainee in their esteem organization.I want to give special thanks to Mr. Palas Chatterjee (Marketing Manager) and other staff of the company who helped me to complete the project. I also thank my Director Dr. Shailesh Kasande and my internal guide Prof. Mahesh Gadekar for guiding me from time to time.

Umesh D. KhadtareMBA (MARKETING)VIM, PUNE

INDEX Chapter. No.Chapter NamePage No.

1Executive Summary

1

2Company Profile

5

3Objectives of the study

27

4Research Methodology

31

5Data Analysis

39

6Findings

54

7Suggestions & Conclusions

56

8Limitations60

9Bibliography62

List of Tables

Table NoTable NamePage No.

1Respondents Business40

2Awareness about Indiacom Yellow Pages41

3Penetration Of the Company42

4Competitors Penetration43

5Perception about Indiacom Yellow Pages44

6Customer Suggestion45

7Media used while seeking information46

8Categories/ Information looked47

9Respondents view on advertising48

10Advertising Pattern49

11Share in Print Media50

12Preferred media for advertisement by customers51

13Reason for not advertising in Yellow Pages52

14Parameters considered while giving an advertisement53

Chapter IExecutive Summary

Executive summary

As a part of my curriculum of MBA (Master in Business Administration) third semester ,I had to do project in my specilization. It was for two months. I got opportunity to work with Indiacom Ltd. Its been very great experience to be part of many years old premier and one of the biggest information sourcing company in the India. Indiacom ltd is one of the old and premier organisation in information industry. They have very wide market coverage in the Western India promiently. The organisation is very innovative and comes up with new products as per technological advancements and customer expetations. As a part of their Reasearch and development they appoint project trainee for their projects. My project was market research to assess market potential for Yellow Pages. My project area was limited for Pune city . In the first week itself we all marketing trainee people were got familirized with the companys products, services, nature of working, culture, industry, policies and othe related factors through training sessions. From the next week onwards we had been told to go to the market randomly. I used to go the market, then meet the concerned person, give him a brief introduction about the company, ask the questions, get filled the forms, then submit the forms in the office. This was my general daily routine. Every week we were having meeting with Senior Marketing Manager Mr. Palash Chattarjee. We were fortunate enough to have meeting with Director of the organisation. We were also got opportuinity with interact with different senior employee of the organisation. During the project, I had to visit different types of the organisations. I was not restricted to any specific type of organisation. This was very great experience as I got a chance to interact with different kinds of the people, having different business, having different social class, having different educational qualifications, having different customer base. I met with the concerned person, in case of their absence I had to meet his/her assistant. During the project I came to know that every business has its own structure and requirement. Sometime it was used to happen that concerned person was not at all having time to meet me. In that case I used to leave that customer and went on to meet next.Finally collected data had to be given in the office to the concerned person for database updation. I undertook descriptive type of research in order to know understand market characteristics and behaviour characteristics. The sample size taken by me was 100. They were chosen as a prospective customers. They were from diverse organisations. Feedback from customers is taken through questions from questionnairs. The objective of the research was to assess market potential for yellow pages as the product is in maturity stage. I chalked out the research design to carry out the research process. Then I analysed and interpreted the collected data with the help of various statistical and analytical tools. From the analysis of the collected data, I came to know very interesting facts. The trend in the advertising industry is going to be online media based. More and more people are using the internet for seeking any type of information and they require it oftenly. The company is having an average penetration in the market. The major competitor of the company is Tata Infomedia Yellow Pages followed by Just Dial. As technology is having its impact on each and every type of business.So it does have on advertising industry. So the organisantions in advertising industry basically in print media needs to do an introspection and try to concentrate on online media as early as possible.

Chapter II

Company Profile

Company History

M/S Indiacom Limited formerly known as Sesa Seat Information system Limited was incorporated in technial and financial collaboration between Sesa Goa Ltd and Seat Spa of Italy on 21st January 1988. During the year 1988, Seat Italy had decided to step out of this joint venture as their global policy and they had disinvested their shareholdingwhich was 40% in favour of core Managers of the company at a nominal price. Subsequently company had reconstituted the board and the eminant personalities of International repute and broad vision were appointed as directors who gave new direction to the company. In the Information Business - Indiacom's main objective is to compile authentic business information, categories and disseminate it in the form of Directories including Telephone Directory with Yellow Pages, Stand-alone Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Online, SMS and Voice.

Company started baning with Canara Bank in1991-92. The dealings of the company over the last decade are satisfactory. The company has been giving large quantum of Non-fund business for issue of Bank Guarantee and Letter of credits. In order to cater the growing need of additional finance company has formed consortium with induction of Citi Bank as a member bank with sharing pattern of 60:40 in 2000-01.

Company profile Indiacom Limited (formerly known as Sesa Seat InformationSystemsLimited) was formed in technical &financial collaboration between Sesa Goa Limited and STETS S.p.a. of Italy (a Division of IRI) on 21st of January 1988 to add wider dimension to the Information Industry in India.

In the Information Business - Indiacom's main objective is to compile authentic business information, categories and disseminate it in the form of Directories including Telephone Directory with Yellow Pages, Stand-alone Yellow Pages, Yellow Pages Online, SMS and Voice.

A professionally managed company, Indiacom has a strong network of 18 branches with a dominant presence in Western India. The Company has a strong presence, particularly in the most industrialized states of India - Maharashtra, Gujarat & Punjab. It has now expanded its branches to all important business locations across the country.

Indiacom is involved in printing and publishing of Telephone Directory and Yellow Pages for Pune, Ahmedabad & Hyderabad amongst the mini-metros, for Bhubneshwar, Faridabad-Gurgaon, Rajkot & Vadodara amongst the faster developing cities & for Aurangabad, Bhavnagar, Dhenkanal, Jamnagar, Jind, Junagadh, Khargone, Rewari, Rourkela, Sambalpur & Warangal amongst the emerging cities. Indiacom also publishes stand-alone publications like the Regional Business Directories, Homemaker's Guide, Neighborhood Guides, and Mall Guides across multiple regions and cities. Many more projects are in the pipeline.

Indiacom believe in providing complete and comprehensive information in the most easy-to-refer formats and this has been the endeavor all along. This is manifested through its product line.Most members of the core team have been with the company almost since its inception and have served the company for more than five years & another about hundred employees have been serving the organisation between two to five years. Indiacom has an ideal mix of experienced and young blood to take on the challenges of the millennium. Average age of the Board Members 56 yrs.

Average age of the Managers 34 yrs.

Average age of the Support Staff 25 yrs.

Average age of the Field Force 27 yrs.

Average age of the Total Employees 31 yrs.

StatisticsCities with BSNL's Telephone Contracts handled till date35

No. of Editions Published till date350

No. of Personnel Employed274

No. of BSNL's Contracts in Hand14

No. of Stand Alone Yellow Pages Directory22

Infrastructure

Indiacom Limited has a strong network of 28 branches with a dominantpresence in Western India. The manpower strength is 274, of which 98 work out of the Corporate Head Quarters in Pune.

Organization Chart

Managing Director

General Manager

Deputy General Manager

Regional Manager

Divisional Sales Manager

Head of Location

Area Sales Manager

Sales Executive

Profile of the Board of DirectorsSir Natalino Duo Chairman Chairman of the company. He is an Italian national and was earlier the Director of the company in 1994-95 as a representative from SEAT S.p.a He has a vast experience in Corporate Management and was the Chief of Intrernational Activity Division at SEAT, Italy till 1995. He was the CEO of PERFETTI in India from 1996-99.

Ashok Mandore- Managing Director A Postgraduate in Business Management from Bajaj Institute, Mumbai, he has held various management positions with business houses before joining the company in 1990 as General Manager. He has over 32 years of experience in the industry.

Abhey Yograj - DirectorHe is the Chairman & Managing Dierctor of tecnova India Pvt. Ltd.New Delhi and on the Board of Loreal India Ltd., zaffiro Fashions Ltd., Cortec Hygiene Products Ltd. and many other companies. He specializes in setting up operations of foreign companies in India. He has vast experience in business management covering board spectrum of Industries.

Dr. MadanMohan Rao Director As a member of Indiacom Board, Dr. Rao contributes in the formulation of strategies of Growth in the electronic media particularly, Internet and E-Commerce. A graduate from IIT-Bombay and a Computer Science Doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, He is a well known Information Technology Consultant with special interest in Web related areas. He is a regular contributor to the press and one on the sought after speakers on the subject of Internet in India and Abroad.

Ashok Dhingra Director Ashok Dhingra is a management graduate with vast experience of 35 years in diverse businesses in well known multinational companies. Started his career in 1970 with Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever). He worked for over 23 years in different businesses and diverse functions of Hindustan Lever Limited across the country before moving on to join Perfetti Ven Melle at its inception in 1994, where he worked for the next 10 years to become the international Marketing Director and established the company as a front runner in confectionary space in India

V.Srinivasa Rao- Whole- time Director A Fellow Member of the Institute of company secretaries of India, he had earlier held the position of Vice president (Corporate Affairs) and company Secretary before being co-opted as a member on the Board of Directors of the company. With the company since 1989, he has with him a rich experience of more than 29 years in the field of Accounts, Finance, Law and Corporate Affairs.Vision, Mission & Objective

Our Vision:-

To be the Most Admired Global Player in the Information Industries.Our Mission:- To make available reliable, uninterrupted and quality information to our customers.Our goal:-

Our immediate goal is to become the most preferred directory & yellow pages publisher.Objective:-

Indiacoms main objective is to compile authentic business information, categories and disseminate.

Company Product Line

1.Regional Business Directory With almost all cities and towns across the country being interlinked commercially, there exists a tremendous need to have access to business information of cities with a high level of business transactions. In response to this information need, Indiacom has introduced a range of print directories under the name of Business Users' Guide and the Regional Business Directory, which compiles and disseminates information across the region. Indiacom has published the Business Users' Guide for Hyderabad, soon to be followed by one for Vadodara. The South Gujarat Business Directory was the first of the block, followed by RBDs for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat

2. Online yellow pagesIn this information age, every Organization and Individual has to keep abreast of technical innovations and newer channels of reaching out to their business partners. Indiacom has launched www.Indiacom.com - the country's most comprehensive yellow page online with information of over 11, 50,000 businesses in India spread 2000+ categories and 32 locations including metros, mini-metros . The Indiacom Yellow Pages on CD covers business information across 28 cities, 4, 50,000+ Listings and 2000+ Categories.

3. Homemakers Guide

The Homemaker's Guide is Yellow Pages primarily targeted at Home Makers. One of the first of its kind, the Homemaker's Guide disseminates business information on home usage needs. Changing family patterns, lifestyles and high level of mobility among professionals, the Homemakers Guide provides in-depth information on all B2C products and services. Research shows that the average homemaker is reluctant to use mainline Yellow Pages as most of the content is business related. Indiacom, therefore, has taken utmost care to cover all home-related categories while minimizing the business related content to negligible levels.

The Homemaker's Guide has a lot of interesting features like Shopping Offers, City Information Pages, Discount Coupons & much more... The typical Homemaker's Guide would have 18,000 business listings across more than 650 categories catering to home needs

4. Mall Guide The Indiacom Mall Guide is an attractive Shopping Guide aimed at providing guidance to Shoppers in identifying outlets, which offer the best of brands, products and services. A colorful, attractive and handy compilation, the Mall Guide provides prospective shoppers multiple choices of outlets / locations for shopping, browsing and also information on avenues of entertainment.

5. Neighbourhood Guide

Neighborhood Guide provides in-depth information on your immediate locality, which includes topical articles related to the area. It also provides information on all outlets situated in the neighborhood making it extremely convenient to shop around. Indiacom recently launched the neighborhood Guide in Pune for "Kalyani Nagar" and "Kondhwa". The response has been so overwhelmingly positive that Indiacom will soon be presenting Neighborhood Guides for various important localities across Pune City.

6. Specility Directories

At last count, there were more than 2000 events across the country in 2004. Indiacom, with over 18 years of expertise in the dissemination of business information, has the infrastructure to provide back-end support to Organizers of events, Expos and Exhibitions to bring out well, put together Directories on the event in print and/or on CD ROM and Online."Your Handy Guide on the Move" - the Pocket Pages is specially conceptualized and designed taking into consideration the needs of any person traveling within the city or a visitor to the city. This book contains all Emergency and Utility Service numbers presented in a format ideal to be kept in your pocket or the purse, hence a source of information when you are neither at your home nor at the office.

7. Tourist Guide

Tourism is one of the most dynamic sectors today. Given the need for updated and authentic information on tourist cities, Indiacom launched "Hello! GAO", which provides all the information a tourist requires in GAO. This is the first of the 'Hello!' series of products.

8. Business Users Guide Indiacom Yellow Pages Plus, our line of Stand Alone Yellow Pages products reach out to businesses in commercially important cities across the country like Goa, Nashik, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, etc.

9. Phone Book with Yellow Pages

The Company publishes the Official BSNL Phone Book with Indiacom Yellow Pages in mini-metros like Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Faridabad-Gurgaon, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, etc. With a total print run of over 2.75 million copies this year, the Phone Book reaches all Telephone Subscribers in these cities.

10. Meri Website

Meri website is ideal for businesses who are looking for a full-featured professional website small & growing businesses who wants to establish a strong, professional presence on Internet It Offers a comprehensive and content rich website reflecting a Prominent image of your Company on Internet. It Offers Quick Start Online Presence exclusively quickly & affordably on www.indiacom.com

11. Tell meIndiacom has just taken the lead in launching a Unique Voice Based Service with a difference. Unlike other services that provide callers information on products, services and businesses, TellMe goes a step further.

Callers can get information on Special Offers, Discounts, Train Info & lots more on in the city for the product/service category that they want. This would help potential buyers get the biggest bang from every rupee they spend. Initially launched in Pune, Ask Indiacom will soon be launched in other cities across the country too.

Departments

The company is having following departments.

Marketing

Human Resource

Accounts

Data Collection and Processing

Research and Development

Note on Competitor

Infomedia India Limited A professionally managed information media cum commercially printing company from ICICI group. Initially started publishing Telephone Directory with Yellow Pages (TDYP) with contracts of Ahmadabad and Rajkot. It entered in Mumbai in 1992 with Stand Alone publication by taking advantage of absence of TDYP in the Metros. Presently pubishing SYP for four metros- Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and four mini metros- Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. Also ventured into publications activities at Vadodara, Ludhiana, Coimbatore and Indore. It have business plan, vision similar to Indiacom ltd and has made a soft launch of Talking Y.P. at Mumbai. The aim of the company is to acquire a decent market share in these locations. They follow aggressive market techniques to solicit customers. Infomedia is into different line of business. They are only publishing only private Yellow Pages. They are competing with Indiacom in few locations. Infomedia is very active in Mumbai and Delhi and majority of their revenue comes from these locations. We are not present in these two locations. Two years back it was acquired by ICICI ventures and brand name Tata is no longer used. Plan of owners are not clear as yet.

Just DialCorporate office located at Mumbai. Presently concentrating on voice located at Pune, Delhi, Banglaore, Hydrabad, Chennai and Culcutta. They are active now and have raised private equity funds at good valuation. It is one of the major competitors of the Indiacom Ltd.

Indiacoms working nature in short.Collection of Information: Indiacom.com compiles information through various sources/channels like:1. You provide us information through' phone directly, via marketing or through' order forms filled by you at the time of booking an advertisement with us. 2. Your data is collected when you login to our website for any information you seek. 3. Your feedback, suggestions & queries via emails or letters. 4. From publicly available sources of information like newspapers, magazines. 5. From other Telecommunication & information service providers. 6. Your business associates, etc.

Usage of Information1. To verify your identity 2. To inform you how to use our services better 3. To conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness & other related financial matters. 4. To keep you updated with changes in our products & services. 5. To assist you to understand your audience and confirm the value of advertising on our website. 6. To promote & market your services to our other users. 7. To contact you from time to time about the improvised & updated versions of your content which would provide the users such features that would benefit you. 8. To provide response to your inquiry or to process your requests. 9. To research, develop, improvise & monitor the performance of the structure of our website. 10. To deliver user-friendly website to the interest of our users.

Disclosure of Information: In order to deliver the services you require and for the purposes set out above, Indiacom may disclose your personal information to entities outside Indiacom.The disclosure may be done: For the purpose of marketing, customer enquiry. For Billing & Debt recovery functions. To credit providers, bankers. To our professional consultants, advisors, auditors & lawyers. To other telecommunication & information service providers. To promote your business. For market research Indiacom takes reasonable steps to ensure confidentiality and privacy obligations towards protection of your personal information.Indiacom uses two types of form for agreement purpose A form & B form

Terms and conditions of agreement.

A form

1.Definition & validity : By virtue of signature the customer authorise Indiacom limited (hereafter referred to as Indiacom) to proceed with the offer for inclusion of the advertisement in Indiacom print publication / voice service/ online pages as applicable and stated in the offer on the following terms and conditions.

2. Indiacom is responsible only for those omission and errors in the advertisement which annual or seriously damages the effectiveness of the same and are noticed by registered post within 90 days from the date of publication of the yellow pages and or directories /inclusion in the voice service/Hosting on the websites. Moreover the condition customer absolves Indiacom (and those acting on Indiacom behalf) from any responsibility arising out of the provision of the contracted service and also from non-implementation of part implementation thereof, to early or delayed implementation and the modification and completeness of the same.

3. Customer hereby agrees that general terms and conditions mentioned herein and commercial terms & advertisement size /specification mentioned in the invoice sent by Indiacom, consequent to the acceptance of this offer shall be binding upon both Indiacom and the customer. Customer shall intimate Indiacom of discrepancy, if any in the invoice by registered post acknowledgement due within 7days of its receipt.4. The customer expressly permits Indiacom full liberty in the matter of positioning of the artwork /text for printing under the appropriate category/classification, in case of advertisement in print. For voice and online advertisement Indiacom provides no guarantee of listing out the advertisers name at top or in any preference, unless specifically informed. The listing of the advertisement shall be in the order of results provided by computer programme developed by Indiacom taking in to account various factors like optimum utilization of space, viewers convenience etc. No special position is assured and any commitment made otherwise from the authorised representative shall not be binding on Indiacom. 5. Indiacom reserves the right to continue the service under the same brand name club the service with some other service of the company, to discontinue the service ,change the telephone number /online pages/in which service will be provided at any time without an obligation to informed the customer in advance.

6. No cancellation of advertisement can be accepted after the advertisement on voice has commenced /advertisement or listing hosted on websites /processing of directory has begun. No refund shall be made on such cancellation.

7. Indiacom shall be entitled to reject text /advertisement contents of which do not conform to the norms of decency/are obscene/which violate any law.

Chapter III

Objective of the Study

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Objectives are the statements that researcher wants to achieve. They should be meaningful, specific, attainable, and measurable. Objectives are of two types, primary and secondary. Indiacom Ltd. is one of the old and premier institutions for collection, maintenance, and dissemination of authentic business information. It has different directories, publications under its name and they are successful. The study undertaken by me was market research about Pune Directory plus Yellow Pages. It is telephone directory containing name, address, and even advertisement of the small and large business organization of registered customers. It is concentrated at both B2B as well as B2C customers. The product is in maturity stage in life cycle of the product. In the new era of Digital World, there is considerable impact of technology on day-to-day living. One of the most important technological advancement is evolution of Internet. It is forcing every business organization whether small or big, regional or multi-national to change their nature of working. The nature of business organization is changing every day. They are trying to adapt the technological advancement. So it was also important for organization to do introspection about its products as most of them were in print format. Internet has changed the pattern in advertising industry to the considerable extent. Todays market is competition driven. There is a cut throat competition in the industry like never before. New entrants also posing considerable amount of threat. Due to growth in Information industry there is great demand for authentic information. Various big houses are also fascinated by this industry. Thus threat from new entrants is also looming. Thus in order to retain organizations customer base, it was very important to re-assess the existing market situations. There was need to know what customers think about the product, what are their expectations from the product, what changes they would like to see in the product and so on. The threat from established organizations is also increasing. They are also trying to explore new ways to retain their position in the market. So in response to that organization was required to do introspection on various fronts. Advertising industry is also in boom. With technological advancements it has also shaded its old form. Statistics shows that there is considerable scope in an advertising industry. Internet has also changed the way organizations used to advertise. So it was also important to predict the advertising trend that is going to prevail. More and more people and organization are concentrating large part of their advertisement expenditure on internet. Thus it is hampering the print industry. Finally every organization aims at large profit margin, so it was necessary to identify the prospective customers in order to increase profits.

Objectives

Primary Objective To assess market potential for Yellow Pages

Secondary Objectives To know market penetration of the company.

To know customers perception about the product.

To know the preferred media for advertising by the prospective customers.

To identify the prospective customers.

Chapter IV

Research Methodology

Research Design

The main objective of Research Design is to study and conduct market research on feedback; perception of the customers and also to analyze satisfaction level of the customer in a economical way and simultaneously it has to linked with business strategy and should respond to emerging scenarios in the market place.

The effective market research process involves following steps.

1. Problem Definition2. Research Objectives3. Research Design4. Sources of Data5. Data Collection6. Data Analysis7. Report and Presentation

Each aspect is described in brief as follow.

1. Problem DefinitionFirst of all we have to define the problem. In problem definition, it is important to be specific, avoid ambiguities and generalities.

2. Research ObjectiveThe objectives of research process should be specific, attainable, and measurable.3. Research DesignThere are three types of research designs namely Exploratory, Descriptive and Causative. After considering our problem and objective, Descriptive Research was preferred.

Descriptive ResearchIt is undertaken when researcher wants to understand the behavioural characteristics.

4. Sources of DataData is of two types, primary and secondary data.

Primary Data is collected through primary sources. The method adopted here is the personal interview with the help of questionnaire. The questions asked were of close ended type.

Secondary Data was collected from the Internet, Newspapers, various Govt , Private Publications and Magazines. The major advantage of secondary data was economical and time saving.

5. Data Analysis

The collected data is analyzed with the help of various analytical tools to interpret the data. Most commonly used tools were arithmetic analysis. On the basis of analysis logical conclusion, suggestion had been drawn out.

6. Report and Presentation

Finally report on market research had been prepared and submitted to the decision maker.

Scope Of The Study Indiacom Ltd. is one of the old and premier institutions for collection, maintenance, and dissemination of authentic business information. It has different directories, publications under its name and they are successful. The study undertaken by me was market research about Pune Directory plus Yellow Pages. It is telephone directory containing name, address, and even advertisement of the small and large business organization of registered customers. It is concentrated at both B2B as well as B2C customers. The product is in maturity stage in life cycle of the product.

The study conducted by me explores around benefits, limitations, areas to be improved and other aspects of the product. In the new era of Digital World, there is considerable impact of technology on day-to-day living. One of the most important technological advancement is evolution of Internet. It is forcing every business organization whether small or big, regional or multi-national to change their nature of working. The nature of business organization is changing every day. They are trying to adapt the technological advancement. So it was also important for organization to do an introspection about its products as most of them were in print format. Internet has changed the pattern in advertising industry to the considerable extent.

Due to growth in Information industry there is great demand for authentic information. Various big houses are also fascinated by this industry. Thus threat from new entrants is also looming. Thus in order to retain organizations customer base, it was very important to re-assess the existing market situations. There was need to know what customers think about the product, what are their expectations from the product, what changes they would like to see in the product and so on. The threat from established organizations is also increasing. They are also trying to explore new ways to retain their position in the market. So in response to that organization was required to do introspection on various fronts. Advertising industry is also in boom. With technological advancements it has also shaded its old form. Statistics shows that there is considerable scope in an advertising industry. Internet has also changed the way organizations used to advertise. So it was also important to predict the advertising trend that is going to prevail. More and more people and organisation are concentrating large part of their advertisement expenditure on internet. Thus it is hampering the print industry. Finally every organization aims at large profit margin, so it was necessary to identify the prospective customers in order to increase profits.

So it was very essential to re-evaulate, reassess the market potential for the product. Internet has also affected the way people seek the information. So it had affected the market potential for yellow pages. It was essential to know what customers think about the product, what were their expectations, trend in advertising sector, to know about the competitors, in order to survive.

Methodology

* Sample Size and Description:-

After deciding on the research approach and instruments, I decided to design a sampling plan. Sampling method was suitable as it was not possible to cover each and every prospective customer. The key to reliable conclusion is the sampling procedure or the manner in which sample is drawn. Samples were selected by random method of sampling.

The sample size was taken to be 100 customers of which 5-7 customers were visited individually every day.PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION For collecting the data, procedure adopted was survey method. In surveying , personal contact method was preferred because of its higher response rates and more meaningful responses.

TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION

Tool used for collection of data was questionnaire. A questionnaire consists of set of questions to be presented to the respondents .Questionnaire needs to be carefully developed, tested and debugged before they are administered on large scale. Questions designed were of close ended type. The chief person or purchase manager was contacted for the feedback.

Project area was Pune city .There was no specific area that was assigned to me. I was asked to go on my own to any area. During the project I visited many small and medium scale industries, public limited organizations, multi-national corporations, corporate offices, institutions, Govt undertakings, M.I.D.C. areas of Pimri, Chinchwad. I had visited manufacturing and service industries, institution, and corporate office, small and big organization whatever I found in my way. My project was not confined that I have to visit selected companies. The product given to me could be requirement of any company. I had to visit the owner of the organization or purchase manager of the organization. Then I had to ask them questions from the questionnaire and some unwritten questions about their general business working nature. I had to collect their visiting cards and signature, designation of the person to be interviewed. Sometimes it happened that the concerned person or the decision maker or purchase manager were not present. So I required again going to that organization and trying to meet the concerned person. In case of big and multi-national organizations, there were circumstances that senior purchase manager was not present at the time or they had to be very busy that they didnt entertained me, then I had to contact junior purchase manager or assistant purchase manager. Thus so collected information was to given to the concerned person in my organization, then they were required to update their database. The database of the organization had to be segregated sector-wise. Chapter V

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Q.1 What kind of business do you deal in?Table No.1Respondents BusinessSr. NoNameNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Real Estate1414

2Automobile1313

3Dealers1111

4Hospital77

5Hotels1515

6Travel agency1313

7Home Appliances1111

8Others1616

Total100100

Graph No.1

Above graph shows the information about business type of the respondents. According to graph the respondents are from diverse area of business.

Q.2 Do you know about Indiacom Yellow Pages? Table No.2Awareness about Indiacom Yellow PagesSr NoParticularsNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Yes6767%

2No3333%

Total100100

Graph No.2From above graph it is clear those 67% respondents are aware of Indiacom Yellow Pages and 33% are unaware about the product.

Q.3 Have you received copy of Indiacom Directory plus Yellow Pages? Table No.3Penetration of the CompanySr NoParticularsNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Yes4949%

2No5151%

Total100100

Graph No.3From above graph it is clear that out of 100 respondents 49% respondents have received copy of Indiacom Yellow Pages and that of 51% havent received the directory.

Q.4 If not which directory you refer?Table No.4Competitors PenetrationSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Tata Infomedia2651%

2Maharashtra Industrial Directory1122%

3Citizen918%

4Other59%

Total51100

Graph No.4It is clear from above graph that out of the remaining respondents 51% refers Tata Infomedia Directory followed by Maharashtra Industrial Directory i.e.22% then Citizen 18% and 9% refers local directory.

Q.5 How would you rate Indiacom Yellow Pages?Table No.5Perception about Indiacom Yellow PagesSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Useful1939%

2Very Useful2755%

3Satisfactory36%

4Not Satisfactory--

Total49100

Graph No.5It is clear from above graph that out of the total respondents who refer Indiacom Yellow Pages 39% feel that it is useful, 55% think that it is very useful, 6% think that it is satisfactory. There was no single respondent that think that product is not satisfactory.Q.6 Do you think that product needs an improvement?Table No.6Customer SuggestionSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Yes24%

2No4796%

Total49100

Graph No.6From above graph it is clear that out of the total respondents who refers Indiacom Yellow Pages, 4% think that product need any improvement while 96% feel that product doesnt need any improvement.

Q.7 Which media you use while seeking information?Table No.7Media used while seeking informationSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Print3434%

2Online5252%

3Voice1414%

Total100100

Graph No.7Above graph shows that while seeking any information, 34% people refer to print media, 52% people refer to online media, and 14% people refer to voice media. It can be interpreted from above graph that more people are using internet for seeking information followed by print media and then voice media. Q.8 What type of information you look for?Table No.8Categories/ Information lookedSr. NoCategories/information lookedNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Product related7171%

2Service related2929%

Total100100

Graph No.8Above graph shows that 71 times information required by the user is of product related and 29 times it is service related.First three graphs shows the trend prevailing in information industry i.e. media used by the people. It can be interpreted from above three graphs that people require information quite often about product related and they prefer online media for that purpose. Q.9 Do you think your business needs an advertisement?Table No.9Respondents view on advertisingSr NoParticularNo of CustomerPercentage

1Yes7272%

2No2828%

3Total100100

Graph No.9It is clear from above graph that 72% people think that their business needs an advertisement while 28% dont think their business need an advertisement.

Q.10 Do you have an advertisement on any of the following media?Table No.10Advertising PatternSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Print 1313%

2Online5151%

3Voice88%

4No2828%

5Total100100

Graph No.10Above graph shows that out of 100 people, 13% people have advertised in Print Media, 51% in Online Media while 8% in Voice media and 28% people havent made any advertisement. From above graph it is clear that people are more interested in online advertising then followed by print media advertising and voice media advertising.Q.11 Where you have given your advertisement?Table No.11Share in Print MediaSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Indiacom Yellow Pages431%

2Tata Infomedia754%

3Maharashtra Industrial Directory215%

Total13100

Graph No.11From above graph it is clear that 31% people are having an advertisement in Yellow pages, 54% in Tata Infomedia Yellow pages and 15% in Maharashtra Industrial directory. It can be interpreted from above figure that Tata Infomedia Yellow Pages is dominant player followed by Indiacoms Yellow Pages.

Q.12 On which media do you feel your presence is necessary?Table No.12Preferred media for advertisement by customersSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Print1919%

2Online6868%

3Voice1313%

Total100100

Graph No.12Above graph shows that 68% people have preference for online media followed by print media i. e. 19% and then followed by voice media i.e. 13%.It can be interpreted from above graph that trend in advertising industry is going to be online media based.

Q. 13 Why you dont give an advertisement in Yellow Pages?Table No.13Reason for not advertising in Yellow PagesSr NoParticularNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Outdated2949%

2High Cost712%

3Already given in other media1831%

4Other Reasons58%

Total59100

Graph No.13It is clear from above graph that out of the total respondents 49% think that Yellow Pages are outdated, 12% think its cost is high, 31% respondents have already gave their advertisement in other media while 8% respondents dont advertise in Yellow Pages for other reasons.

Q.14 What factors you will consider while giving an advertisement?Table No.14Parameters considered while giving an advertisementSr NoParticularsNo of RespondentsPercentage

1Cost4242%

2Brand Name 2323%

3Discounts/Schemes3131%

4Additional free facilities33%

Total100100

Graph No.14Above graph shows that 43% people think of the cost while giving the advertisement, 23% people think of brand of the organization, 31% think of discounts and schemes given and 3% thinks of additional free facilities. It can be interpreted from above graph that most of the organization thinks of the cost when giving the advertisement.

Chapter VI

Findings

FINDINGS

The market penetration of the company is quite satisfactory.

The company is having average awareness in the market.

The customers perception about the product is good.

The major competitor of the company is Tata Infomedia.

In case of the advertising people are more interested in online media.

Most of the customers are highly satisfied from the services & products provided by Indiacom Limited.

Most of customer is negative towards print media, because of improper services.

Chapter VIISuggestions and Conclusions

Suggestions

The distribution pattern of the product needs to be revised.

The company needs a strong advertising campaign in an order to remind the customer about the product and the company.

The salesperson needs to increase their daily calls, more appointments with clients.

The company should concentrate on online media.

The company should reconsider their pricing strategy for print media.

Conclusions

Most of the advertising agencies are basically interested in catering to just the needs of the customer irrespective of the nature of the product or service proposed to be advertised.

In Pune most of the companies are well aware about the Indiacom yellow pages and its special features.

Respondents give first preference to the product performance followed by reliability of product and then to the price.

From analysis we can find that most lucrative market for yellow pages is service and manufacturing sector.

Most of the customers are influenced by advertisement and according to their opinion most effective media of advertisement is print media.

Most of the firms have planned to give there advertisement in yellow pages in future so that Indiacom has a good chance to capture the market.

During my research I also found that most of the people want to stick with online advertising because of lack of knowledge of yellow pages.

Yellow pages are the best kind of advertisement media available over a long period of time. And its more beneficial for the company. The other services provided by Indiacom like tell me and online are helpful to the company.

Chapter VIIILimitations

Limitations The research is totally based on opinion of respondents which may vary depending upon their personal view. AREA LIMITATION: The study was limited to particular area only. Hence findings may differ from other parts of Pune city where I have not visited NON-RESPONSE ERROR: It is almost impossible to obtain data from each & every respondent covered in sample. There are always some respondents who refuse to give information. Most of the times the concerned person was not present so I had to contact his/her assistant. Due to which it was not possible to get expected response. TIME CONSTRAINT: There was time constraint to this project. The project has to be completed within 2 months. Some big organizations do not allow marketing executives to entertain into the company. The research project was for all organizations. Hence it was not possible to do sector-wise analysis.

Chapter IX Bibliography

BIBLOGRAPHYBooksMarketing Management-Rajan Saxena

Internet siteswww.indiacom.comwww.infomedia.comwww.justdial.com

Annexure

QUESTIONNAIRE1. Name of the Organization

2. Nature of Business: ___________________________________________________________________3. Address: _____________________________________________________________________________________Pin code: ____________ Tel No: ___________________ Fax: ______________ Web: ________________________

5. Name of the Owner ________________________________________________________

6. Mobile : _________________________

E-Mail: ______________________________________________

7. Do you know about Yellow Pages?A. YesB. No8. Do you know about Indiacom Yellow Pages?A. YesB. No 9. Have you received Directory plus yellow pages of this year?A. YesB. No10. How would you rate Indiacom Yellow Pages?A. UsefulB. Very UsefulC. SatisfactoryD. Not Satisfactory13. Do you think that product needs to be improved?A. YesB. No14. Suggestions

15. If not which directory you refer?

16 .Which directive media you generally use to seek information?A. PrintB. OnlineC. Voice

17 .What type of categories/information you look for?A. Product RelatedB. Service Related18. Do you think your business needs an advertisement?A. YesB. No

19. Do you have advertisement on any of the following media?A. PrintB. OnlineC. VoiceD. No20. Where you have given your advertisement?

21. On which media do you feel your presence is necessary?A. PrintB. OnlineC. Voice21. What parameters you will consider while giving an advertisement?A. PriceB. Brand NameC. Discounts/ SchemesD. Additional Free Facilities1