RUKMINI DEVI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES INTERNAL HOME ASSIGNMENT

MBA (2nd Shift) - Third Semester - September, 2013 Paper Code: MS 209 Subject: Consumer Behaviour Max. Marks: 15 Note: Attempt all questions.

1. Comment / Explain / Answer the following a) Compare and contrast Howard and Sheith model and Nicosa model These different decision making models are approaches the problem of consumer decision making differently. The Engel-Kollat-Blackwell model is essentially a conscious problem solving and learning model of consumer behaviour. This model has a good description of active information seeking and evaluation processes of consumer. The information processed in this model is the stimulus. The consumers decision processes act upon this stimulus in order to determine a response to it. These models attempt to explain each stage and show interrelated between the stages of consumer buyer behaviour from the stimulus, through the purchase to post purchase behaviour. The Howard-Sheth model (1969) is a learning model designed to explain the brand choice of an individual faced with several choice alternatives. This model is an attempt to explain rational brand choice behaviour within the constraints of limited individual capacities and incomplete information. This model can divided roughly into four fundamental parts- (1) stimulus input variables, (2) exogenous variables, (3) sequential output variables, and (4) the internal state of buyer. However, the limitation of this model is that it has little practical value for marketing practitioners. The two major advantages of the Howard-Sheth model are following: (i) It has been partially tested empirically, thus establishing some credibility for the model (ii) The model is also a dynamic model Overall the Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model provides more comprehensive and accurate comparison with Howard-Sheth model. The two models are similar in as much as they both propose a rational consumer, but one who is prepared to satisfies where appropriate. The environmental influences of the Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model compare directly to the exogenous variables as outlined in the explanation of Howard-Sheth model. Another famous consumer behaviour model is Nicosia model (1966). Francesco Nicosia was one of the first consumer behaviour modelers to shift focus from the act of purchase itself to the more complex decision process that consumers engage in about products and services. This model is characterized as a communications model that begins with a firms communication to the consumer via advertising and culminates with consumer feedback to the firm. This model contains four major components or fields: (1) the firms attributes and outputs or communications and the consumers psychological attributes, (2) the consumers search for and evaluation of the firms output and other available alternatives, (3) the consumers motivated act of purchase, and (4) the consumers storage or use of the product.

Francesco Nicosia assumes that the consumer is seeking to fulfilled specific goals and that initially there is no history between the consumer and the firm, so no positive or negative predispositions toward the firm exist in the consumers mind. There are some limitations in Nicosia model which include an inadequate understanding of the influence and interrelationships among the consumer attributes represented by Subfield and the questionable assumption that no prior consumer knowledge or experience with the product exists.

b) Tri Component Model and its relevance for marketers

Model of Business Buyer Behavior

5 Marks 2. Define Culture. Explain the affect of culture and sub culture on consumer behavior. Give suitable examples to support your answer. 5 Marks

Ans) Every person carries him- or herself patterns of thinking, feel- ing, and potential acting that were learned throughout their life- time. Using the analogy of the way computers are pro- grammed, this book will call such patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting mental programs, or software of mind. A customary term for such mental software is culture. The sources of ones mental programs lie within the social environ- ment in which one grew up and collected ones life experiences. Culture consists of the unwritten rules of the social game. It is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishing the members of a group or category of people from others. Parts of Culture Culture: norms, roles, beliefs, values, customs, rituals, artifacts Culture classifies things into discontinuous units of value in society Codes classified units, develops behaviors, specifies priorities, legitimizes and justifies the classifications

Consumer socialization - the process by which people develop their values, motivations, and habitual activity Culture creates meanings for everyday products We study how the use and/or collections of products and their meanings move through a society Nature of CultureComponents Norms: rules that designate forms of acceptable and unacceptable behavior Customs: behaviors that lasted over time and passed down in the family setting Mores: moral standards of behavior Conventions: practices tied to the conduct of everyday life in various settings Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view ones own culture as better or superior to others Key Points about Culture It is learned: transmitted from generation to generation It rewards acceptable behaviors It stays the same, yet can change Family, Religion, School and Peers: what is the relative influence of each? Values Transfusion Model shows how these combine Will any become more, less relevant? Consumer socialization: the acquisition of consumption-related cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors. For instance. . .

What determines a hot lunch and why it is desirable What determines holiday foods? What is a breakfast food? Colors of foods? Correct clothing for various events Why do you turn around when entering an elevator? Why do men wear ties and women do not? Why do people shake hands, and not touch elbows? Why do you know what constitutes good vs. bad manners?

3.

Write short note on a) Consumption Pattern at different stages of Family Life cycle

Ans) Consumption is a major concept in economics and is also studied by many other social sciences. Economists are particularly interested in the relationship between consumption and income, and therefore in economics the consumption function plays a major role. Different schools of economists define production and consumption differently. According to mainstream economists, only the final purchase of goods and services by individuals constitutes consumption, while other types of expenditure in particular, fixed investment, intermediate consumption, and government spending are placed in separate categories (See consumer choice). Other economists define consumption much more broadly, as the aggregate of all economic activity that does not entail the design, production and marketing of goods and services (e.g. the selection, adoption, use, disposal and recycling of goods and services Consumption is defined in part by comparison to production. In the tradition of the Columbia School of Household Economics also known as the New Home Economics commercial consumption has to be analyzed in the context of household production. Opportunity cost of time affects the cost of home-produced substitutes

and therefore demand for commercial goods and services.,. [2][3] The elasticity of demand for consumption goods is also a function of who performs chores in households and how their spouses compensate them for opportunity costs of home production b) Behavioral Learning Theories 5 Marks

Ans) Behavioral learning theories are a part of behaviorism, which is the study of the behavior of a person or animal reacting to something in the environment. The reaction is termed the "response," and the thing causing the reaction is the "stimulus." Psychologist B.F. Skinner began working on behavioral learning theories in the 1930s, and defined the terms "classical conditioning" and "operant conditioning. Classical Conditioning

Peter Gray's "Psychology" defines classical conditioning as the "process by which a stimulus that previously did not elicit a response comes to elicit a response, in reflexlike fashion, after it's paired for one or more trials with a stimulus that already elicits a response." Dr. Ivan Pavlov first experimented with this phenomenon in the early 20th century. What started as a study of the types of saliva dogs produce when anticipating food turned into a study of learning, as Pavlov inadvertently taught the dogs to associate a ringing bell with feeding time. Soon, the dogs began salivating when the bell rang, even if no food was nearby. Pavlov called the dog's natural response to the food the "unconditioned response," and the food was "the unconditioned stimulus." The act of salivating to the food is the "unconditioned reflex." The act of salivating to the bell is the "conditioned reflex," the bell is the "conditioned stimulus" and the salivation is the "conditioned response." In dog training, for example, you could use classical conditioning to retrain a dog jumps around when you're putting on his leash to go for a walk. If he knows to sit on command for a treat, tell him to sit down by the door with his leash on. When he does, give him a treat and take him outside for a few minutes. Bring him back in and repeat until he quickly sits for his treat, then start asking him to sit without a treat. Again, when he sits, take him out. Repeat until he sits by the door without being asked. Operant Conditioning

Gray describes operant conditioning as the idea that "the consequences of a response increase or decrease the likelihood that the response will occur again." This type of response is called an "operant response." Psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike studied operant conditioning at approximately the same time as Pavlov's research. He put a cat in what he termed a "puzzle box," with food just outside of the box. By scratching around the inside the box, the cat would eventually hit the trigger for the door and escape to the food. After many repetitions, the cat released itself as soon as it was placed in the box. To use operant conditioning to teach your dog to wait patiently as you're getting ready to take him out, stand at the door with him. When he sits down accidentally, even if it takes a while, immediately open the door and take him out. Walk around for a few minutes, bring him back in, and repeat the procedure until he sits immediately when you bring him to the door.