CHAPTER I

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Marketing is essentially about marshalling the resources of an
organization so that they meet the changing needs of customers on whom the
organization depends. As a verb, marketing is all about how an organization
addresses its markets.
Marketing is The management process which identifies anticipates
and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably.
Marketing is a total system of interesting business activities defined to
Plan, piece, promote and distribution want satisfying products & services to
present and potential consumers
- William. J. Stantion
Marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the
follow of goods and services from the producer to the consumer or user
- American Marketing Association
A social and managerial process, by which individuals and groups
obtain what they need and want, through creating and exchanging product
and value with others.
Customer satisfaction begins with a difficult faith; it starts with a
commitment to deliver the result for each customer which is also a concern of
the dealers. Hence for a manufacturing company, in order to satisfy its
customers, it is highly important to satisfy its dealers, as they are the direct
customers to them. Establishing satisfaction as the ultimate goal is like the
other ultimate goals of business pursuit of higher profits or shareholders
1
wealth. Perfect dealer service or satisfaction is one that meets the combined
need satisfaction is a systemized service that involves the entire organization.
But many organizations have yet to develop this kind of awareness of dealer
satisfaction strategy.
Dealer Satisfaction begins with the following specific assumptions
about company's relationship with the customers.
1. The dealer service activities focus mainly on existing dealers.
2. Some dealers are more important than others
3. They are the assets.
4. The dealer is always specific.
The dealer needs and value should influence every aspect of the
organization strategy, employee safety and performance, product and
organization strategy, employee safety and performance, product and service
development, sales and marketing programs, operational procedures and
information and measurement system.
Understanding the dealer is critical to the success of any customer
focus initiative, the first step in understanding the dealers is to listen to them.
A company needs to hear what its dealers are saying about its people,
product service and vision. Their information helps to develop meaningful
product and service.
2
Organizations need to listen to their dealer satisfied, dissatisfied
neutral and prospective. As one company executive said, talking to a
satisfied customer is talking to myself.
n the past, dealer satisfaction and service was the responsibility of a
separate organization that supported the dealer primarily after the sale.
Today, service is also likely to be interested with the every product
accompany offers.
High dealer satisfaction comes from providing effective services. But
giving that service is a continuous activity. t means being efficient, reliable,
courteous, curing and professional every time.
NEED OF THE STUDY

As there are a large number of dealers dealing with Roots Products,
the study was conducted to know the retailers satisfaction towards Roots
3
ndustries. This in turn enables the company to enhance its stringent
competitiveness in the auto parts market.
OBJECTIVES
1. To find the Dealers' Satisfaction Level with Roots ndustries
Limited [RL]
2. To find the factors influencing the dealers to deal with Roots Auto
Products.
3. To identity the dealers' suggestions with respect to Roots
ndustries Limited.
4
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1. The project is focused on the selected dealers in Salem city.
2. The data collection is carried out in Salem for a period of 20 days.
3. The project focuses the quality of roots horns.
4. The study enables to know the expectation of the distributors and
consequently the customers.
5. The project highlights the scope for future improvements on the
basis of present scale.
Limitations of the study :
5
1) Since the survey was done only in Salem the result obtained may
not be taken as universal suggestion.
2) Quality of the information highly dependent on the knowledge of
the respondents.
3) Concern person of shop keeping in charge will always change, so
that their assessment of the product and the relationship with the
company officials could not be adequate.
1.2 Industry ProfiIe
Automotive spare parts and components is a lesser known
industry yet a big one. n past few years the industry has grown enormously,
even more than the automotive industry itself not only in the ndian but global
scenario.
This vast industry includes automotive components,
6
accessories, gadgets, spare parts and tools; the consumers being the OEM
segment and the replacement and aftermarket sector. Automotive spare parts
replacement and aftermarket have in themselves become a major industry.
n mid 1990's the quality of ndian products increased a lot and
the prices were considerably lowered. This posed an interesting situation
where the ndian replacement and aftermarket industry had geared up to
meet the international standards and awaited an ideal opportunity for global
exposure.
Certain SME's through their focused operations are now
serving the global automotive giants directly or through suppliers. Online
catalogs and websites have added to the online presence of our clients.
The results are quite apparent, ndian automotive parts industry makes
original components of major automotive giants like General Motors and
Mercedes amongst others. They have, through consolidated efforts been
positioned as global players of the sector.
1.3 Company ProfiIe
n a dynamic world that is driven by technology, a successful
presence depends on the way you mould that technology to fit popular needs.
ndigenous talent, a daring attitude, courage to accept and learn new things
and the simple spark of an idea. That is the genesis of ROOTS.
ROOTS ndustries Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of HORNS in
ndia and the 11th largest Horn Manufacturing Company in the world.
7
Headquartered in Coimbatore - ndia, ROOTS has been a
dominant player in the manufacture of Horns and other products like Castings
and ndustrial Cleaning Machines.
Since its establishment in 1970, ROOTS has had a vision and
commitment to produce and deliver quality products adhering to nternational
Standards.
With a strong innovative base and commitment to Quality,
Roots ndustries Limited has occupied a key position in both international and
domestic market as suppliers to leading OEMs and after market. Similar to
products, Roots has leading edge over competitors on strong quality system
base. Now, RL is the first ndian Company and first horn manufacturing
company in the world to get SO/TS 16949 certification based on effective
implementation of QS 9000 and VDA 6.1 system requirement earlier.
RL has entered into technical collaboration with Robert Bosch,
SA to further enhance the technical competence. Roots' vision is to become a
world class company manufacturing world class product, excelling in human
relation.
Vision of Roots:
"We will stand technologically ahead of others to deliver world-
class innovative products useful to our customers. We will rather lose our
business than our customers' satisfaction. It is our aim that the customer
should get the best value for his money.
Every member of our company will have decent living
standards. We care deeply for our families, for our environment and our
8
society. We promise to pay back in full measure to the society by way of
selfless and unstinted service."
About the Founder:
An obsessive hobby went into the making of this self-made
industrialist. Born in an agricultural family, young Ramasamy had a great
interest in repairing automobiles. This led to his getting the master's degree in
Automobile Engineering from Lincoln Technical nstitute, USA in 1969 and
developing a unique Radiator Coolant Recovery System, which is today a
standard equipment in almost all vehicles manufactured by the advanced
countries.
n 1970, Mr. Ramasamy promoted M/s. American Auto Service,
which was taken over in 1992 by Roots ndustries Private Limited, a company
promoted by Mr. Ramasamy. This company entered into technical
collaboration with Robert Bosch, the world leaders in auto electrical to
manufacture all the range of Bosch Horns. Mr. Ramasamy had a very
inquisitive and innovative temperament. This led to his having many firsts in
his distinguished career.
Servo brakes were designed for the first time in ndia by Mr.
Ramasamy. He designed the first high frequency Wind Tone type horn which
was smaller and lighter thanconventional horns. Besides all the other firsts,
Mr. Ramasamy introduced electronically controlled Musical Air Horns for the
first time in the World.
The thirst for innovation and drive to move forward, led to the
establishment of a die casting unit to meet the captive requirement of
9
ROOTS. n 1987, Mr. Ramasamy set up a full-fledged modern tool room
equipped with the latest machines for the manufacture of precision tools and
dies. He promoted Roots Multiclean Ltd., a joint venture in Techno-financial
collaboration with M/s. Hako Werke GmbH, Germany to manufacture world
class ndustrial Floor Care and Floor Cleaning Equipments. RMCL is
successfully spreading the concept of Mechanized Cleaning in ndia and also
exports its products to various countries like Australia, Britain, Germany,
Japan Singapore, etc.
Mr. Ramasamy can very proudly claim that he is a self-made
industrialist and in recognition of the same, he has been conferred the Udyog
Shree Award in the year 1990. He has also been awarded the Udyog Rattan
Award by the nstitute of Economic Studies in the year 1991.
Roots group of companies:
1. Roots industries ltd Electric horns
2. Roots Auto Products (P) Ltd Air horns, switches
3. Roots Multi-clean ltd Cleaning Machines
4. Roots Precision Products Dies tools and Jigs
fixtures
5. Roots cast (P) Ltd, die cast. Aluminium and Zinc
pressure
10
6. Roots Digital engineering Digital engineering
Services (P) Ltd services
7. Roots metrology lab nstrument calibration,
quality systems
8. Roots Polycraft Plastic components
9. R.K. Nature cure home Nature cure therapy, yoga
and massages
10.Satchidananda Jothi Nikethan nternational school
11.Crystal clean care Range of modern
cleaning techniques
Auto mobiIe Horns
Roots ndustries specializes in the manufacture of a wide
range and line-up of automobile horns. Roots is a leading supplier to all the
major vehicle manufacturers like Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Mitsubishi Lancer,
Mahindra & Mahindra, Toyota, Tata Motors, Fiat Uno and Siena, TELCO, TVS
Motor Company, Kinetic Honda, etc.
Roots ndustries Limited places a premium on original
technology and innovation. ts technical collaboration with Robert Bosch S.S
of Spain in 1995 has helped it to further strengthen its R & D activities and
technical competence. This collaboration along with Roots' indigenous talent
has kicked off a spree of growth unmatched in the history of automobile OE
manufacturers.
11
t all started with just a honk. Encouraged by the response, we
kept on moving ahead. n the beginning, we did not realize that we would
make such an impact. Slowly but surely, the reverberations were felt far and
wide. ndian automobile market responded to our call. Soon the global market
too followed suit. Roots horns, in a very short span of time, got a place of
pride in millions of vehicles across the globe.
What more could we ask for? But we did ask more. We indeed
made a sound beginning but we could not rest on our laurels. The journey
has to go on. There are more miles to go. And more challenging territories, to
explore.
CHAPTER II
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology describes how the research study was
undertaken. This includes the specifications of research design, source of
data, method of data collection, the sampling method and the tools used.
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA:
12
The study is conducted in Salem City.
PERIOD OF COVERAGE:
The duration of project work is about 30 days
RESEARCH DESIGN:
The research design used in this project by the researcher is the
descriptive research design.
Descriptive research design:
Determining the relationship between two are more
variables.
t is well structured.
t is more economical, we can gather more information.
Problems can be found after the questionnaire
preparation.
t needs less time.
SAMPLE DESIGN:
PopuIation:
Population for this research is set of dealers those who are
dealing with Roots Auto Products in Salem City.
SampIe units:
The sampling units used by the researcher for this research,
are those who are dealing Roots Auto Products.
SampIe size:
The number of samples collected by the researcher is 40
dealers.
13
SampIing procedure / SampIing method:
The sampling method used for this study is non-profitability
convenience sampling, which is selected according to the easy and
convenience of the researcher.
METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION:
Primary data:
The researcher collected both by direct survey from the
retailers through questionnaire & interview schedule. The researcher
used structured non-disguised questionnaire.
Secondary data:
Here the researcher collected secondary data from the
company profile, industry profile and official web sites.
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT:
Research instrument used for data collecting is questionnaire
and interview schedule.
Questionnaire
The questionnaire is prepared in a well-structured and non-
disguised form so that it is easily understandable and answerable by
everyone. The type of questions include in the questionnaire are open-ended
questions, multiple choice questions and dichotomous questions.
14
Interview ScheduIe
The interview method of collecting data involves presentation
of oral-verbal stimuli and reply in terms of oral-verbal responses. Then the
responses are filled up in the questionnaire, for further analysis.
STASTICAL TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS:
The researcher carries out analysis through various statistical
tools. The statistical analysis is useful for drawing inference from the collected
information.
Simple percentage analysis.
Cross - Tabulation
ANOVA Test.
15