Chapter 1

ORIGIN OF THE REPORT

This report is made on Selecting Appropriate Marketing Strategy for Otobi Furniture. As an Associate
Professor of Project Work Course Dr. Monowar Hossain Mahmood orally authorized me to make this
report as a part of Course of Bachelor of Business Administration Program of East West University. It is
due on 20th August 2007.

Purpose

Purpose of this report is to select the appropriate marketing strategy for Otobi Furniture. We know that
the competition in the furniture industry is increasing day by day as new firms are coming in the market
like Studio 45, legacy. As a result now a day Otobi Furniture is facing a huge competition. For maintaining
their previous position in the market, I am preparing this report to select the appropriate marketing
strategy for Otobi Furniture.
Scope

The Project Work is a comprehensive study of the consumers belief about the Otobi Furniture. The
report focuses on the Consumers belief, perception, lifestyle etc. and the current and appropriate
marketing strategy of Otobi Furniture.

Limitations

To preparing the report I face some problems that effect to make a good report. Such as,
v I did not get the real annual sales data of Otobi Furniture. It was easy for me to identify their current
position if I got that.
v For most of the corporate information of Otobi Furniture I totally depends on the information that
provided by the officials of Otobi Furniture Showrooms.
v I did not get sufficient time to make a successful report and for this reason I made it as early as
possible.
v I did not get any report prepared in past in our library, so I only depends on instructions given to me.
v Initially I selected only 70 respondents as sample. Among these 70 questionnaires I found some of
them are faulty. As a result these 70 respondents I selected 60 as my report sample.
v I use both Microsoft Excel and SPSS software to make this analysis. It would be better if I make this
whole analysis by SPSS software as SPSS software gives most critical analysis than Microsoft Excel.

Historical Background

We know that the competition in all kinds of industries is increasing day by day. Furniture industry is not
an exception. So all the firms are now facing huge competition as people have so many alternatives now.
As a result I am preparing this report to find an appropriate marketing strategy for Otobi Furniture.
Report Preview
I made this report on the topic Selecting Appropriate Marketing Strategy for Otobi Furniture. In this
report Introduction parts contains Reports origin, Purpose, Scope, Limitations to prepare this report and
Historical background. Study Methodology will come next. In Study Methodology part I show the Study
approach, by what style I collected data; which problem I faced with Methodology; how I collect our
information. I made the main part of the report in ten parts. The first part contains the company profile,
The second part contains the 6 Ps of Otobi Furniture, third part contains the profile of the target market,
forth part contains the external factors that influence purchase of Otobi Furniture, fifth part contains
procedure of information processing of the consumer, sixth part contains attitude of the consumer
towards Otobi, seven part contains how Otobi can change these attitudes, eighth part contains
relationship of Otobi with the consumers emotion and lifestyle, ninth part contains how can Otobi
motivate the customers and the last part contains drawbacks and suggested strategies for Otobi.
I made this report in this way as I want to discuss the purpose, scope and limitation first; then how I
collected the data, how I made this analysis, then I discuss about present position of Otobi Furniture,
then their target market, then factors that influence the purchasing decisions of Otobi and the peoples
attitude towards Otobi, then how can Otobi change these attitudes and at last the drawbacks and
promotional strategies for better understanding of our respected readers.

Literature Review:

Consumer Attitude and the buying decision

An attitude is a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way with
respect to a given object (A product category, a brand, a service, advertising, a web site or a retail
establishment). According to the tricomponent attitudes model, attitudes consist of three major
components: a cognitive component, an affective component and a conative component. The first
component of the tricomponent attitudes model consists of a persons cognitions, that is, the knowledge
and perceptions that are acquired by a combination of direct experience with the attitudes object and
related information from various sources. A consumers emotions or feelings about a particular product
or brand constitute the affective component of an attitude. Conaton is concerned with the likelihood or
tendency that an individual will undertake a specific action or behave in a particular way with regard to
the attitudes object. ( Leon G. Schiffman & Leslie Lazar Kanuk )

An attitude is an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes

with respect to some aspect of our environment. Thus, an attitude is the way one think, fells, and acts
toward some aspect of his or her environment. It is useful to consider attitudes as having three
components: cognitive (beliefs), affective (feelings) and behavioral (response tendencies). The cognitive
component consists of a consumers beliefs about an object. For most attitudes objects, people have a
number of beliefs. Feelings or emotional reactions to an object represent the affective component of an
attitude. The behavioral component of an attitude is ones tendency to respond in a certain manner
toward an object or activity.
Analyses of consumer purchasing decisions are not uncommon (Engel et al. (1968); Howard and Sheth
(1969); Nicosia (1966) being among the seminal works in the area), and a body of knowledge has
developed, as will be discussed briefly in the following section. The majority of this literature, however,
concerns differentiable products, be it brand or store, and therefore may not be directly applicable to a
good such as electricity. It is necessary therefore, to understand the inherent difference between utility
products and more conventional products, before the existing literature can be applied to this context.
Utilities as products
Consumer goods are normally categorised as being convenience, shopping, speciality or unsought goods.
Table I summarises the main characteristics of each of these types. Although utility products cannot
easily be fitted into any of these categories, they perhaps most closely fall in the convenience good
category. Convenience goods, as the name suggests, are those goods that the consumer needs on a
regular basis (obviously with electricity and gas supply this concept is taken to the extreme as supply
must be continuous), often have limited differentiation, and where the consumer exhibits little
involvement in the decision process.
If we focus upon electricity supply, we can note that, although it shares some of the characteristics of
convenience goods, it differs markedly in a number of aspects. First, it is intangible, although it should be
noted that its benefits are not (e.g. the light comes on when the switch is flicked). As mentioned earlier,
supply is also continuous, whereas staple goods, although purchased frequently, are finite. There are
also no true substitutes; gas may be viewed as an alternative source of power for certain appliances (e.g.
cooking or heating), but for most modern households there is no alternative source of power available
for lighting, and other appliances such as television, hi-fi, etc. Again, although some staple goods may be
limited to the extent to which they can be differentiated, there is generally some differentiation possible,
and a number of substitute products available (e.g. lamb can be differentiated in terms of fat content,
rearing and treatment of livestock, and can be substituted by other meat products). Electricity, however,
is truly undifferentiable[2]: consumers require that their electricity supply be continuous, reliable and
supplied with sustained frequency and voltage (Steiner, 2000) but, beyond these most basic attributes,
there is nothing that electricity providers can do in terms of differentiating their product from
competitors.
It can thus be argued that households cannot choose simply not to require an electricity supplier, but
instead will be deciding on who that supplier should be. A parallel could be drawn here between retailers
of a range of staple goods although any single good can be substituted, consumers will need to select a
retailer from whom they will purchase their group of staples. However, whereas retailers of convenience
goods can compete for store patronage along a number of dimensions, such as price, location and
product range, arguably the only basis upon which electricity suppliers can compete is price and service.

Having established the distinguishing characteristics of electricity consumption, the buying process is
now examined.
The buying decision
There has been substantial research on consumer behaviour, examining the decision process, and
influences upon it, in terms of both brand/store attributes and consumer characteristics. Central to these
models is the belief that consumers go through a decision process of varying complexity, depending on
the nature of the decision they are making, with a number of possible variables which influence this
process at a number of stages. It is believed that the buying process begins with need recognition.
Having recognised a need, consumers then search for information about retailers/products that might
satisfy the need. Having gathered information, consumers will then evaluate the alternatives, and make
a purchase decision. Following purchase will be some form of post-purchase feeling/behaviour, when
the decision is assessed (Kotler, 1997).
Whether consumers actually do go through each of the stages outlined, and the amount of time spent at
any one stage, is likely to vary with the nature of the purchase. Where the purchase is perceived to be of
high risk, it is likely that the consumer will spend more time in the information search and evaluation
stages. Such buying decisions are termed complex or high involvement decisions (Assael, 1987). For
routine or habitual purchases, the decision process will probably be simplistic or low involvement: no
formal process of information search or evaluation will be gone through, and consumers will rely on past
experience.
As discussed in the previous section, utility products differ from conventional products in a number of
ways. In order to understand consumer behaviour for these products, it is therefore appropriate to
consider the impact of these attributes on each stage of the buying process. Thus, each stage of the
model is considered in turn and, relating to the marketing mix, the implications for consumer behaviour
are considered.
Need recognition
Needs may be functional or psychological in nature, and retailers are often trying to satisfy psychological
needs as much as functional ones (Babin et al., 1994). In the case of electricity or gas, the need is
obviously functional in nature but, whereas with most functional goods there is an obvious stimulus
resulting in need recognition (e.g. the refrigerator is empty, the carpet worn, etc.), for electricity or gas it
is less so. When you switch on the light, do you give a second thought as to whether electricity is going
to flow or, indeed, who provided that electricity? Electricity itself is intangible and, although its effect is
transparent, it is taken for granted. Exacerbating this problem is the continuous nature of the product
most goods that consumers buy are finite in duration (again, either in functional or psychological terms)
electricity is provided continuously, with no practical need to seek out new suppliers. In fact, the only
situation in which consumers arguably actively need to search for an electricity provider, is on moving
house.
Given the above discussion, how then can providers stimulate need recognition? In essence the only way
in which suppliers can try and alter consumer behaviour is through promotion. However, the
effectiveness of promotion may be limited, as the literature suggests that consumers are naturally
conservative and therefore tend to display inertia, that is, they are inherently reluctant to change. Sheth
and Parvatiyar suggest that marketers will try to create an environment for increasing consumer inertia
by providing conveniences and process simplification to minimise the desire to seek other alternatives

(Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995, p. 4). The fact that consumers are encouraged to pay through direct debit
schemes, so making it more complicated to change supplier, suggests that utility companies are
attempting to create an environment to further promote the already inherent inertia in order to
maintain customer loyalty. Such practices, along with the continuous nature of electricity supply, suggest
that incumbent providers are likely to be at an advantage over newcomers.
Search for information
Once consumers recognize the need for a good or service, they will then undertake an information
search. This may be passive (using internal sources such as the consumers memory), or active (using
external sources, such as advertisements, magazine articles, family/friends). It has been suggested (see
Assael (1987) for discussion) that the extent and depth of this search will depend upon the nature of the
buying decision. Where the good being bought is a routine product (staple), or of little value/perceived
risk, then the buying decision is said to be of low involvement. In such a case there is unlikely to be an
extensive information search indeed, the information search may simply consist of the consumers
memory.
Electricity and gas can be viewed as routine purchases (although as discussed previously they are not
discrete transactions in the traditional sense), and as such the information search is likely to be limited.
The decision to change suppliers, however, alters the nature of that relationship and requires a more
extensive search pattern. Arguably, therefore, and given the complexity of the search, unless consumers
have a particularly strong motivation to search for new suppliers, it is unlikely that they will actively
search for information, and hence remain loyal to their existing supplier. That is, as long as consumers
are relatively satisfied with their existing supplier, and mindful of the perceived complexity of the
information search process, they will not seek information on other providers.
Consumers may also remain loyal as a reaction to information overload. Electricity is a mundane, routine
purchase, and so consumers may not be prepared to devote time to sort through all the information
available to them on electricity providers. As Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995) argue, because consumers
have a limit to their ability to process information, they may exhibit satisficing behaviour rather than
maximising. In other words, they will only seek further information if they are unsatisfied [3], even if
there is a possibility that there may be an alternative that would derive them greater utility.
Given that consumers are unlikely to be willing to search extensively for information, what type of
information can electricity companies provide to impact consumer behaviour? As mentioned earlier,
electricity or gas is an undifferentiable good, and therefore the prime type of information the consumer
is likely to seek will relate to price. Indeed, for most low involvement goods, purchases are frequently
made on the basis of price (Assael, 1987). However, offering a lower price may not be sufficient to cause
customers to change supplier, as consumers are thought to exhibit threshold responses (see, for
example, Malhotra (1983)). Thus, it may be that customers will only change supplier if the price
differential reaches a certain level, presumably as small gains in price will not compensate for the
inconvenience of having to change supplier.
The issue is complicated further, as consumers are unlikely to know the price their current suppliers
charge, or their volume of usage, and so any price message can easily become confusing, and as such
probably ignored. Indeed the potential for confusion marketing (Cruickshank, 2000) in utility pricing is
a real danger to the logical progress of competition. Although consumers are likely to primarily consider
price as the key determinant of choice of electricity provider, the service suppliers provide may also

come under scrutiny, as may environmental issues, and these may be easier messages to get across to
consumers. However, whether these alone will be enough to prompt a change in supplier is
questionable.
Evaluation
How consumers evaluate electricity suppliers will depend on the relative importance they place on
convenience, price, service, and other factors such as environmental issues. As has been stressed before,
there is a high probability that the consumer will prefer the convenience of remaining with their existing
supplier, rather than having to go through the inconvenience of changing supplier. Even if electricity
suppliers could take on all the tasks associated with changing supplier (e.g. filling in forms, cancelling
direct debits, etc.), whether the customer would trust them to do so is perhaps another matter.
Decision
Even if the consumer has taken time to gather information, and evaluate alternatives, and given that
supply of electricity is continuous, whether consumers actually act on this is another matter, as it is
something that can always be postponed until tomorrow. This provides a particular challenge for
suppliers: how to ensure that consumers act promptly in response to the information available to them.
Using door-to-door salespeople who require an instant decision on behalf of the consumer may ensure
that the decision is not postponed indefinitely but, on the other hand, may be viewed as an aggressive
tactic, and alienate consumers. This practice has drawn considerable opprobrium in the electricity and
gas industries, and its use has been reduced by several leading companies (Taylor, 1999).
Post-purchase evaluation
After purchasing a good and consuming it, the consumer will evaluate the goods performance. Where
the consumer is satisfied with the goods performance, repeat purchase is more likely (Szymanski and
Henard, 2001). However, for a low involvement purchase such as a utility, it is unlikely that any postpurchase evaluation will be made, unless the performance of the good is unsatisfactory. With a product
like electricity, for example, the performance of the product itself is not a matter of question, and so
providers will need to convince consumers that there is sufficient price/service differential in their
offering to induce the need for change.
The analysis of the consumer behaviour literature suggests, therefore, that, given consumers intrinsic
inertia, the mundane nature of electricity, and the lack of need stimulus, consumers are unlikely, ceteris
paribus, to change suppliers. Is this a conclusion supported by the industry-specific literature?

Marketing mix
Marketing, the way most textbooks treat it today, was introduced around 1960. The concept of the
marketing mix and the Four Ps of marketing product, price, place and promotion entered the
marketing textbooks at that time [26]. Quickly they also became treated as the unchallenged basic
model of marketing, so totally overpowering previous models and approaches, such as, for example, the
organic functionalist approach advocated by Alderson[27, 28] as well as other systems-oriented

approaches (e.g. [29, 30]) and parameter theory developed by the Copenhagen School in Europe (e.g.
[31, 32]) that these are hardly remembered, even with a footnote, in most textbooks of today. Earlier
approaches, such as the commodity (e.g. [33]), functional (e.g. [34]), geography-related regional (e.g.
[35]) and institutional schools (e.g. [36]) have suffered a similar fate. Only a few models from these
approaches have survived. The American Marketing Association, in its most recent definition, states that
marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution
of ideas, goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organizational objectives*37+.
Eventually the Four Ps of the marketing mix became an indisputable paradigm in academic research, the
validity of which was taken for granted[10, 16, 38]. For most marketing researchers in large parts of the
academic world it seems to remain the marketing truth even today. Kent[38] refers to the Four Ps of the
marketing mix as the holy quadruple of the marketing faith written in tablets of stone (p. 146). For
an academic researcher looking for tenure and promotion, to question it has been to stick out his or her
neck too far. Prospective authors of textbooks, who suggest another organization than the Four Ps
solution for their books, are quickly corrected by most publishers. As a result, empirical studies of what
the key marketing variables are, and how they are perceived and used by marketing managers, have
been neglected. Moreover, structure has been vastly favoured over process considerations[38]. In
marketing education, teaching students how to use a toolbox has become the totally dominating task
instead of discussing the meaning and consequences of the marketing concept and the process nature of
market relationships. Marketing in practice has, to a large extent, been turned into managing this
toolbox instead of truly exploring the nature of the firms market relationships and genuinely catering to
the real needs and desires of customers.
A paradigm like this has to be well founded by theoretical deduction and empirical research; otherwise
much of marketing research is based on a loose foundation and the results of it questionable. The
marketing mix developed from a notion of the marketer as a mixer of ingredients*39+. The marketer
plans various means of competition and blends them into a marketing mix so that a profit function is
optimized, or rather satisfied. The marketing mix, concept was introduced by Neil Borden in the 1950s
(e.g. [40]), and the mix of different means of competitions was soon labelled the Four Ps[26].
The marketing mix is actually a list of categories of marketing variables and, to begin with, this way of
defining or describing a phenomenon can never be considered a very valid one. A list never includes all
relevant elements; it does not fit every situation, and it becomes obsolete. And, indeed, marketing
academics every now and then offer additional Ps to the list, since they have found the standard tablet
of faith too limited*41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54+. It is, by the way, interesting to
notice that since the Four Ps were definitely canonized some time in the early 1970s, new items to the
list almost exclusively have been in the form of Ps[55, 56]. Advocators of the marketing mix management
paradigm have sometimes suggested that service should be added to the list of Ps (e.g. [53, 57]). This
would be disastrous, because it would isolate customer service as a marketing variable from the rest of
the organization, just as has happened with the Four P marketing mix variables. It would effectively
counteract all attempts to make customer service the responsibility of everyone and not of a separate
department only.
In fact, the Four Ps represent a significant oversimplification of Bordens original concept, which was a
list of 12 elements not intended to be a definition at all. Moreover, the elements of this list would
probably have to be reconsidered in any given situation. McCarthy either misunderstood the meaning of

Bordens marketing mix, when he reformulated the original list in the shape of the rigid mnemonic of the
Four Ps where no blending of the Ps is explicitly included, or his followers misinterpreted McCarthys
intentions. In many marketing textbooks organized around the marketing mix, such as Philip Kotlers
well-known Marketing Management[58], the blending aspect and the need for integration of the Four Ps
are discussed, even in depth, but such discussions are always limited owing to the fact that the model
does not explicitly include an integrative dimension.
In the 1950s in Europe, researchers within the so-called Copenhagen School approached marketing in a
similar way to the notion of the marketing mix, based on the idea of action parameters presented in the
1930s by von Stackelberg[59]. Rasmussen[31] and Mickwitz[32] developed what became known as
parameter theory, which was a dynamic marketing mix approach linked to the product life cycle and
where the parameters were integrated by means of varying market elasticities. Moreover, Mickwitz also
stated that the demand side has to be connected to the supply side in a managerial marketing theory.
This was done using an economic approach rather than a behavioural approach. Parameter theory was a
much more developed model than the Four Ps version of the marketing mix notion. Unfortunately, it
never received enough international attention, and eventually it was overwhelmed by the Four Ps that
were much easier to comprehend and teach. Today, the key aspects of parameter theory, dynamism and
an integration of consumer behaviour and managerial decision making are pointed out as important
research topics (cf. [3]).
Probably Bordens original idea of a list of a large number of marketing mix ingredients that have to be
reconsidered in every given situation was shortened for pedagogical reasons, and because a more
limited number of marketing variables seemed to fit typical situations observed in the late 1950s and in
the 1960s by the initiators of the short-list of four standardized Ps. These typical situations can be
described as involving consumer packaged goods in a North American environment with huge mass
markets, a highly competitive distribution system and very commercial mass media. However, in other
markets the infrastructure is, to varying degrees, different and the products are only partly consumer
packaged goods. Nevertheless, the four Ps of the marketing mix have become the universal marketing
model or even theory and an almost totally dominating paradigm for most academics, and they have had
a tremendous impact on the practice of marketing as well. Is there any justification for this?

The nature of the marketing mix

Any marketing paradigm should be well set to fulfil the marketing concept, i.e. the notion that the firm is
best off by designing and directing its activities according to the needs and desires of customers in
chosen target markets. How well is the marketing mix fit to do that?
One can easily argue that the four Ps of the marketing mix are not well able to fulfil the requirements of
the marketing concept. As Dixon and Blois*60, p. 4+ put it, indeed it would not be unfair to suggest
that far from being concerned with a customers interests (i.e. somebody for whom something is done)
the views implicit in the Four Ps approach is that the customer is somebody to whom something is
done! (Emphasis added). To use a marketing metaphor, the marketing mix and its Four Ps constitute a
production-oriented definition of marketing and not a market-oriented or customer-oriented one (see
[10, 16]). Moreover, although McCarthy[26] recognizes the interactive nature of the Ps, the model itself

does not explicitly include any interactive elements. Furthermore, it does not indicate the nature and
scope of such interactions.
The problems with the marketing mix management paradigm are not the number or conceptualization
of the decision variables, the Ps, as the American Marketing Association, as well as the authors of most
publications criticizing the marketing mix management paradigm, argue. Rather, the problem is of a
theoretical nature. The Four Ps and the whole marketing mix management paradigm are, theoretically,
based on a loose foundation, which in a recent Journal of Marketing article was also demonstrated by
van Waterschoot and Van den Bulte[61]. They conclude:
To our knowledge, the classification property(-ies) or rationale for distinguishing four categories labelled
product, price, place and promotion have never been explicated Though casual observation of
practitioners, students, and textbooks suggest a general consensus to classify marketing mix elements in
the same categories, the lack of any formal and precise specification of the properties or characteristics
according to which marketing mix elements should be classified is a major flaw.
Van Waterschoot and Van den Bulte[61, p. 85] recognize three flaws in the Four Ps model:
The properties or characteristics that are the basis for classification have not been identified. The
categories are not mutually exclusive. There is a catch-all subcategory that is continually growing. (See
also [38, 62].)
Many marketing-related phenomena are not included [63]. Moreover, as Arndt[64, 65] has concluded,
marketing research remains narrow in scope and even myopic, and methodological issues become more
important than substance matters:
Research in marketing gives the impression of being based on a conceptually sterile and unimaginative
positivism The consequence is that most of the resources are directed toward less significant issues,
overexplaining what we already know, and toward supporting and legitimizing the status quo [64, p.
399].
Unfortunately, far too little has changed in mainstream marketing research since this was written over a
decade ago.
The usefulness of the Four Ps as a general marketing theory for practical purposes is, to say the least,
highly questionable. Originally, although they were largely based on empirical induction and earlier lists
of marketing functions of the functional school of marketing (cf. [66]), they were probably developed
under the influence of micro-economic theory and especially the theory of monopolistic competition of
the 1930s (e.g. [67]), to add more realism to that theory. However, very soon the connection to microeconomic theory was cut off and subsequently totally forgotten. Theoretically, the marketing mix
became just a list of Ps without roots.
Even in the area of consumer goods marketing in North America, some doubts concerning marketing mix
management has been expressed. Regis McKenna[68], a respected marketing consultant and writer,
concludes in a discussion about the decline in North America of advertising, the flagship of traditional
marketing, that: the underlying reason behind (this decline) is advertisings dirty little secret: it
serves no useful purpose. In todays market, advertising simply misses the fundamental point of
marketing adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness (p. 13).

Undoubtedly, this is to take it a little bit to the extreme, but the point is well taken. An interest in turning
anonymous masses of potential and existing customers into interactive relationships with well-defined
customers is becoming increasingly important (see, for example [68, 69, 70]).

Consequences of the marketing mix

Managing the marketing mix makes marketing seem easy to handle and organize. Marketing is separated
from other activities of the firm and delegated to specialists who take care of the analysis, planning and
implementation of various marketing tasks, such as market analysis, marketing planning, advertising,
sales promotion, sales, pricing, distribution and product packaging. Marketing departments are created
to take responsibility for the marketing function of the firm, sometimes together with outside specialists
on, for example, market analysis and advertising. Both in the marketing literature and in everyday
marketing vocabulary the expression marketing department, and organization unit, is used as a
synonym for marketing function, which is the process of taking care of the fulfilment of customer needs
and desires. However, the organizational approach inherent in the marketing mix management paradigm
is not very useful either (see e.g. [15, 16, 71, 72, 73]). The psychological effect on the rest of the
organization of a separate marketing department is, in the long run, often devastating to the
development of a customer orientation or market orientation in a firm. A marketing orientation with, for
example, high-budget advertising campaigns may be developed, but this does not necessarily have much
to do with true market orientation and a real appreciation for the needs and desires of the customers.
The existence or introduction of such a department may be a trigger that makes everybody else lose
whatever little interest in the customers they may have had[15]. The marketing department approach to
organizing the marketing function has isolated marketing from design, production, deliveries, technical
service, complaints handling, invoicing and other activities of the firm. As a consequence, the rest of the
organization has been alienated from marketing. Therefore, it has made it difficult, often even
impossible, to turn marketing into the integrative function that would provide other departments with
the market-related input needed to make the organization truly market oriented and reach a stage of
co-ordinated marketing (cf. *72, pp. 19-24]).Furthermore, the marketing specialists organized in a
marketing department may get alienated from the customers. Managing the marketing mix means
relying on mass marketing. Customers become numbers for the marketing specialists, whose actions,
therefore, typically are based on surface information obtained from market research reports and market
share statistics. Frequently, such marketers act without ever having encountered a real customer.
The marketing department concept is obsolete and has to be replaced by some other way of organizing
the marketing function, so that the organization will have a chance to become market-oriented. A
traditional marketing department will always, in the final analysis, stand in the way of spreading marketorientation and an interest in the customer throughout the organization (cf. [15, 16, 71, 72]).
Sometimes the term marketing has become a burden for the marketing function. Managers as well as
their subordinates in other departments and functions do not want to take part in the marketing
function. But, according to the relationship marketing approach and contemporary models of industrial
marketing and service marketing, they do undoubtedly belong to this function. The use of the marketing
mix management paradigm and the Four Ps has made it very difficult for the marketing function to earn
credibility. Some firms have solved this problem not only by downscaling or altogether terminating their

marketing departments but also by banning the use of the term marketing for the marketing function (cf.
[15]). Perhaps we even need this kind of semantics.

Contemporary theories of marketing

In most marketing textbooks the marketing mix management paradigm and its Four Ps are still
considered the theory of marketing. Indeed, this is the case in much of the academic research into
marketing, especially in North America but also to a considerable extent in other parts of the world as
well. However, since the 1960s, alternative theories of marketing have been developed. As Mller[63]
observes in a recent overview of research traditions in marketing:
from the functional view of marketing mix management our focus has extended to the strategic role of
marketing, aspects of service marketing, political dimensions of channel management, interactions in
industrial networks; to mention just a few evolving trends (p. 197).
Some of these theories have been based on studies of the market relationships of firms in specific types
of industries. In this section the emerging theories and models of the interaction/network approach to
industrial marketing and the marketing of services will be discussed. The growing interest in focusing on
customer relationship economics and the long-term profitability of customer retention and market
economies will also be touched on.

Relationship of Mkt MIX and Consumer Attitude

The practical implications for marketing strategies that result from understanding the consumer attitude
factor were address. (David L. Loudon & Albert J. Della Bitta).
In general, all three components of an attitude tend to be consistent with each other. Thus, if marketing
managers can influence one component, the other components may also be influenced (Del I. Hawkins).

Consumer attitudes toward marketing activities are important from both a theoretical and a managerial
standpoint (Gaski and Etzel, 1986). The advent of an organized consumerism movement in the USA
during the 1970s led to tremendous interest among researchers in studying the attitudes of consumers
toward business (Gaski and Etzel, 1986). As consumer perceptions significantly affect their behavioral
responses to marketing activities, consumer attitudes toward marketing have been found to be linked to
several key macroeconomic variables and have been used in economic forecasts (Chopin and Darrat,
2000). Such information can also help in the formulation of effective strategies for companies and the
development of policies by government agencies to regulate industries and to protect consumers
interests. While some researchers have assessed the overall attitude of consumers toward marketing
(Gaski and Etzel, 1986; Varadarajan and Thirunarayana, 1990), others have dealt with consumer attitudes
toward specific marketing activities such as advertising and pricing (Nwachukwu et al., 1997; Webster,
1991). In general, researchers have asked the following three questions:
1. How do consumers perceive marketing in a specific economy?

2. Are there significant differences in consumer attitudes toward marketing?

3. And if so, what factors explain such differences?
Barksdale and Darden (1972) pioneered the research on consumer attitudes toward marketing in the
USA and replicated their study for a number of years in the 1970s. They measured consumer attitudes
toward the four marketing mix variables, consumerism, government regulation, and consumer
responsibility. Overall, they found that consumers had rather negative attitudes toward marketing
practices. Later, Gaski and Etzel (1986) modified the Barksdale scale and labeled it as the Consumer
Sentiment toward Marketing. They found that although the attitudes of US consumers toward marketing
were negative, the reputation of marketers had shown improvement over time. Their results also
suggested that women perceived marketing more positively than did men. In another study, Webster
(1991) found significant differences in consumer attitudes toward various marketing practices including
product, pricing, advertising, and retailing or selling; however, many of the differences remained even
after social class and income effects were removed. Therefore, the factors that explain the differences in
consumers attitudes need clarification.
Recently, several researchers have found that a number of other factors influence consumers attitudes
toward marketing. Treise et al. (1994) examined the perceptions of familiar advertising controversies:
targeting practices and message strategies. Their results show that consumers believe that advertising
often violates broad ethical norms. In addition, the degree to which consumers judge advertising as
ethical or unethical varies as a function of their ethical philosophies, such as relativism and idealism
(Treise et al., 1994). Nwachukwu et al. (1997) found that perceptions of individual autonomy, consumer
sovereignty, and the nature of the product played significant roles in consumers ethical judgment of
advertising and marketing.
The major problem with the marketing mix and its Four Ps has been their position as the major, and in
many situations as the only, acceptable marketing paradigm. Relationship marketing must not become
such a straitjacket. However, developing enduring customer relationships and achieving exchanges in
such relationships through a relationship marketing approach (cf. [115]) is not only another addendum
to marketing mix management. Rather, it is a different approach compared to achieving exchanges in
isolated transactions through the use of the Four Ps of the marketing mix. As Reichheld observes,
building a highly loyal customer base cannot be done as an add-on. It must be integral to a companys
basic business strategy*86, p. 64]. Hence, it should be useful to think about possible marketing
approaches or strategies along a marketing strategy continuum[116]. Relationship marketing is placed at
one end of the continuum. Here, the general focus is on building relationships with customers (and other
parties as well, although only customers are discussed in this context). At the other end of the
continuum is transaction marketing where the focus of marketing is on one transaction at a time (cf. [4]).
Thus, marketing revolves around creating single transactions or exchanges at a time and not around
building long-term relationships. The continuum and some marketing and management implications are
illustrated in Figure 1.
Various types of goods and services can be placed along the continuum as indicated by the bottom part
of Figure 1. The exact place and corresponding marketing approach cannot, of course, be located. This is
indicated by the arrows. Marketers of consumer packaged goods will probably benefit most from a
transaction-type strategy. Service firms, on the other hand, would normally, but probably not always, be
better off by applying a relationship-type strategy. Manufacturers of consumer packaged goods have

mass markets but no immediate contacts with their ultimate customers, while service firms almost
always have such contacts, sometimes on a regular basis, sometimes only at discrete points in time.
Therefore, the interface between the firm and its customers is expanded far outside the marketing
department of marketing and sales specialists.
In consumer durables the customer interface is broader than for consumer packaged goods, and a pure
transaction-type strategy is not the only naturally available option. Industrial goods, ranging from massproduced components to complex machines and projects, would probably fit best between consumer
durables and services. However, in many industrial marketing situations the customer relationships are
similar to many service situations, and here no distinctions between the industrial marketer and service
marketer can be made on the continuum.

The time perspective of marketing differs depending on where on the continuum a firm is. As transaction
marketing means that the firm focuses on single exchanges or transactions at a time, the time
perspective is rather short. The unit of analysis is a single market transaction. Profits are expected to
follow from todays exchanges, although sometimes some long-term image development occurs. In
relationship marketing the time perspective is much longer. The marketer does not plan primarily for
short-term results. Their objective is to create results in the long run through enduring and profitable
relationships with customers. In some cases, single exchanges may even be unprofitable as such. Thus,
relationships as such are equally the units of analysis.
The quality customers perceive will typically differ, depending on what strategy a firm uses. According to
the model of total perceived quality developed within the Nordic School of Services[15, 117, 118]) the
customer-perceived quality is basically a function of the customer perceptions of two dimensions: the
impact of the outcome or the technical solution (what the customer receives), and an additional impact
based on the customers perception of the various interactions with the firm (how the so-called
moments of truth*119+ are perceived). The former quality dimension is sometimes called the technical
quality of the outcome or solution, whereas the latter dimension is called the functional quality of the
interaction process[15].
A transaction marketing approach includes no, or minimal, customer contacts outside the product and
other marketing mix variables. The benefits sought by the customers are embedded in the technical
solution provided by the product. The customer will not receive much else that will provide them with
added value, other than perhaps the corporate or brand image in some cases. Hence, the technical
quality of the product, or what the customer gets as an outcome, is the dominating quality-creating
source in transaction marketing.
In relationship marketing the situation is different. The customer interface is broader, and the firm has
opportunities to provide its customers with added value of various types (technological, information,
knowledge, social, etc.). Hence, the second quality dimension, how the interaction process is perceived,
grows in importance. When several firms can provide a similar technical quality, managing the
interaction processes becomes imperative also from a quality perception perspective. Thus, in
relationship marketing the functional quality dimension grows in importance and often becomes the
dominating one. Of course, this does not mean that the technical quality can be neglected, but it is no
longer the only quality dimension to be considered as one of strategic importance.

Chapter 2
Study Approach
In order to make this report I visit three showrooms of Otobi furniture. I collected information from
them by questionnaire. After that I make a questionnaire for the general people to know their
perception, belief, attitude and lifestyle. I made of all analysis by their answers of those questions.
Different tables and graphs were prepared to gain a better view of the consumers perception. Microsoft
Word, Microsoft Excel and SPSS software are used for this purpose. After the analysis I suggest the
strategies. I may also collect data by reading journals and magazine by library researching or selecting
two firms, observing their performance in furniture market or I can take report made in this topic in the
past. But I did not take these policies. I made the analysis of this report by Questionnaire survey
methods. At last I select some people as sample and made this report.
Problem Faced With Methodology
I faced some problem with this methodology. The questionnaire was a very critical one. As a result most
of the despondences made mistake to fill it. Not only has that it taken to much time to understand the
questionnaire by all the despondence though I always try to tell the format of the whole questionnaire
as easy as possible. And most of all I am working with sample. As a result the whole analysis may not
fully correct.
Information Need
For making this report I need the information about the profile of Otobi Furniture, their marketing and
promotion strategy, their competition and competitor, on which variables they are giving much
importance, their turnover, target achieved and their average net profit.
Sampling Plan

For getting my respondents I visited two corporate houses and an apartment building. Some of my
samples come from the different professional group and other samples come from our university
faculties and student.

Sample Characteristics
I collected information for this report mainly from primary survey. I selected 60 people as sample.
Among them 38 were male and rest of them are females. 28 of them fall under the 20-29 age group, 16
under the age 30-39, 9 under the age 40-49 and 7 of them are under the 50-Above group.
Chapter-3
Introduction

Otobi Furniture a part of Otobi Group is one of the market leaders of furniture market of Bangladesh.
They started their business in Bangladesh in the year 1975 with the slogan Trusted across the World.
And now they crossed the boundary and operating business also in India. They are assuming themselves
as the market leader for last 10 years. Though their price is a bit higher but as they provide the best
quality furniture people are ready to get that with any cost. Not only that they have the biggest brand
image in our country. They have already earned the first place in the office furniture. That is why now a
day corporate office means, furniture from Otobi. Otobi furniture a part of Otobi limited which is a
combination of four different types of business. They are as follows,
v Otobi Furniture: Combination of office and furniture.
v Home appliances: Washing Machine, air conditioner
v Carpet: under: Appolo Limited.
v Decorative Light: Also under Apolo Limited.
Otobi furniture has the biggest collection of furniture like world class chair, world class computer
furniture, world class home furniture, world class table, world class swivel chair and file cabinet and
plastic furniture. Otobi furniture was given the award of enterprise of the year 2001. Beside their
corporate office in Dilkhusha, Dhaka, they have 8 sales and display center in Dhaka and Chittagong city
and around 100 dealers in the whole country. They have about 16 outlets outside the country.

Mission of Otobi Furniture:

The mission of Otobi Furniture is To provide the middle class and higher middle class people of the
country world class furniture in a very comfortable price.
Historical Background:
Otobi Furniture stared its journey in the year 1975. They have a huge past records to tell. They are the
market leader in the furniture industry for the whole last decade. We know that otobi furniture is a part
of Otobi limited which was the creator of SAARC Foara of Karwanbazar, Sculpture of Rajshahi University,
and Sampan of Chittagong Airport. All this are the biggest symbolic assets of our country. In fact the
architect of these sculptures was Mr. Nitun Kundu who was the father of Mr. Onimesh Kundu, the
Managing Director of Otobi Limited.
Sales Volume:

Otobi Furniture has an unbelievable sales amount in the prospect of Bangladesh. They have a sales
volume of Tk. 15 crore per month that means, they have a sales of about one hundred and eighty crore
taka per month which is bigger than any other furniture company of Bangladesh. Among the sales after
deducting all the expenses they have about 20% profit per year. That means they have a profit of Tk. 46
crore per year which is unbelievable in the prospect of Bangladesh. Not only as they are planning to

increase the business in Bangladesh and outside Bangladesh we expect that the amount will be bigger in
the future.
Future Plan:

The future plan of Otobi Furniture is to expand their sales not only in Bangladesh but also outside the
country. Their primary target is India, Singapore and Malaysia.
Competitors:
The competition in the furniture market is increasing day by day as so many new firms are coming in the
market. As a result, Otobi Furniture is facing a huge competition now a day. Their main competitors are,
v Navana Furniture
v Partex
v Studio 45
v Hatil
v Tanin
v Legacy
Chapter-4
Products:

We know that Otobi is the biggest furniture brand of our country. They have about 26 different types of
furniture. Not only that Otobi furniture is the symbol of status now a day. Most of the big corporate
house now purchasing their office furniture from Otobi. They provide both customize and standardize
product. For customize product a buyer give the order and Otobi produce according to that and in case
of standardize product Otobi make the product itself and keep it in the outlet for buying of the people.
Among the 26 different brands the main brands of Otobi are,

World Class Chair

Computer Table

Home Furniture

Table & File Cabinet

Most of these products has different slogan to establish themselves in the mind of the people. They are,
World Class Chair

Chair that satisfies your need.

Table

Create your ideal office environment

Swivel Chair

Beauty you can See

Home Furniture & File

Cabinet

World Class Furniture

Not only that they also take the orders for kitchen fittings. The main advantages with the Otobi products
are,
v Multiple colors
v Knock Down System
v Elegant Design
v Competitive Price
v After Sales Service
Beside all this lamination board furniture they have already introduce Plastic and Wooden furniture.
Price:

We know that Otobi now a day is one of the symbols of status. The price of Otobi furniture is a bit higher
than that of the competitors. According to the officials of the outlet of Otobi As they are giving the best
quality raw materials in each furniture their price is a bit higher. They also told us that they import each
of the raw materials from the country where they get the best one. But according to them though their
raw materials are more costly than their competitors their price is competitive. The price range of
different furniture are given below,
Table: Price Range of the different products of Otobi Furniture
Products

Price range

Chair

Tk. 970 18,000

Table

Tk. 4,600 40,500

File Cabinet

Tk. 8,900 65,500

Bed

Tk. 9,900 40,000

Dinning Table

Tk. 5,300 16,500

According to the officials of the Otobi Furniture their price is depends on the quality of raw materials,
high technological machineries and overhead cost.
Place:

The target market area of Otobi Furniture is the metropolitan city area. In fact the main target area is the
Dhaka city and Chittagong city. For that reason all the showrooms of Otobi furniture is in these two
cities. The addresses of the showrooms are,

Otobi Corporate Office: 14 Dilkusha Commercial Area Dhaka 1000

Otobi Center: Plot 12 Block CWS (C) Gulshan South Avenue Gulshan 1 Dhaka 1212

Elephant Road: 230 New Elephant Road Dhaka

Gulshan: SE(F) 3 Gulshan Avenue Dhaka

Uttare: House # 21 Road #7 Sector # 4 Uttara Model Town Dhaka

Shewrapara: 923 Begum Rokeya Sharani Mirpur Dhaka

Panthapath: D. H Tower 129 Panthapath Dhaka

Chittagong: Zohora Tower, 1401, Agrabad C/A, Chittagong 1400

Beside these showrooms Otobi has about 100 dealers all over the country to sale and promote their
furniture. Not only that they have about 16 outlets outsides the boundary of the country. Their factory is
situated in Savar, Dhaka which is bigger than all other furniture factory of the country. They use their
own van to distribute their furniture in the country.
Promotion:
All the firms try to keep their brand on the top ladder of the people mind by its promotional activities.
Otobi also has its own promotional activities to keep itself on the top of the peoples mind of
Bangladesh. Otobi use both ATL (above the line: TV, Newspaper, Direct Selling) and BTL (Poster, Banner,
Neon Sign) promotional strategies. But for a product like furniture Above the Line promotional
strategies specially direct selling, are the main one.
Direct Selling:

Otobi Furniture has some very skillful and experienced marketing executives. Usually they go to the big
corporate houses of Dhaka and Chittagong city with their leaflets and other promotional tools. In this
case they try to describe the advantages of the furniture of Otobi and try to sell as many as furniture
possible.
The descriptions of the Otobi Furnitures TV and paper ads are explained below.
Banner:
The banner is specially made because of the present Rainy season. In fact they use another ATL strategy
in the banner. To promote the sales in this season they give 10% discount to all the furniture. This
information and their showrooms are given in the banner.
Paper ad:

The paper ad basically shows the high status of Otobi Furniture. In this paper ad Otobi use their slogan
Barashar char That means the furniture of Otobi has a biggest status and prestigious image that
people are buy Otobi furniture with seasonal discount. Not only that as when International trade Fair
was on going the special offer 15% discount was also mentioned in the newspaper ad.
TV ad:
The TV ad also shows that people are motive to buy the furniture in the Rainy season. Then a person
says Apni Kinchen Kobe? This ad shows that Otobis Furniture are so good that one people motivate
the another people to buy the product with seasonal desire.
People:
Otobi has very skilled and efficient human resources to run its business. The whole firm is lead by the
Managing director of Otobi. About two thousand and five hundred employees are working with Otobi
Furniture now. The top three post of Otobi is occupied by,
Managing Director

Omiti Kundu

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Sabbir Hasan Nafiz

Head of Marketing

Mr. Saleh Muzahed

There are about two thousand five hundred employees are working with Otobi Furniture now. A huge
percentage of the total employees are working in the Savar and shyumpur factory of the Otobi Furniture
and others are working in the showrooms of the Otobi.
The employee flowchart of Otobi Furniture is given below
Managing Director

Figure: Employee flowchart of Otobi Furniture

Packaging:
It is not possible to give packaging for furniture. But after purchasing the furniture they rapped the
whole furniture or the sensitive portion by the plastic raping paper.
With the survey findings, I attempted to draw a profile of the target market.
Chapter 5
Age, Sex and Family Member
Otobi Furniture is marketing one of the best quality furniture in Bangladesh. They are mainly promoting
their products to the corporate houses as well as houses. In this factor age is not a big consideration as
purchasing of furniture in a corporate house made by the officials who involve with purchase or the
directors. Their age may be 25, it may also 55. Not only that purchasing home furniture in home may be
influence by the father, mother or may be the children. So here we also find a big age range. And same
we can say about the sex. The purchase may be influence by male or it may influence by female. As
people do not buy furniture impulsively and it is a high involvement product in most cases these
demographic factors is not working like the other products. As the family member influence the buying
of furniture we also try to know the number of family members of our respondents. We found that 27%
respondent has a family of 2 to 4 persons, 47% respondent has a 5 to 7 persons, 23% respondent has 8
to 10 persons and 3% has 11 or more than that.

Social Class

The social class of the target market was determined according to their family income. From the figure
we can see that 45% people are coming from the income level of Tk. 15001 to Tk. 40000. We will call
them middle class. This percentage is bigger in size. 27.5% are from the income level of Tk. 40001 to Tk.
75000 who is the upper class, 10% are from Tk. 75001 to Tk. 100000 who are upper class and at last 17.5
% are from the income level of Tk. 15000 or less who are the lower class. So we found that most of the
members of the target market are from middle and upper class people. But when we make the average
we find that the average income of our respondents is more than Tk. 40000 but less than Tk. 75000.

My survey also found the social class of the people by their occupation and the educational qualification.
And I find that from our respondents 8% has educational qualification of College, 57% has educational
qualification of graduate, 19% has postgraduate, 3% has PHD and 13% has other types of educational
qualification.
And our respondents occupation table is given below,
Table: Occupation of the Respondents
Occupation

Frequency

Businessman

13

Service Holder

16

Teacher

Doctor

Lawyer

Student

15

Housewife

Shopping Activity
Number of shopping also reflects the social class of a person. Because if you are a person of higher class
you should have a higher number of shopping and it will decrease in middle class and lower class
respectively. From my respondent I found that, 30% of our respondents shop once a month, 35% of
them shop twice a month, 10% of them shop once a week and 25% shop more than four times a month.
After the average we found that our target market has a habit to shop more than twice a month but not
more than once a week.
Table: Shopping Activity of the Respondents

Shopping Time

Frequency

Once a Month

18

Twice a Month

21

Once a Week

More than Four a Month

15

Shopping Place
Sopping place is now a symbol of status for the people of our country. As a result we are able to find out
the social class from the shopping place habit of the people. 64% of our total respondents shop usually
from Eastern Plaza, Riffles Square and New Market. We can categories them in middle class group. And
remaining 36% shop from Bashundara City. We can categories them in upper class.TV Channel, Clothing,
Food Habit, Shopping Place are the cultural indicators that influence the behavior of the people more.
TV Channel
The choice of the TV channels has sufficient effect on the cultural preference of the target market. From
our findings of the survey I get that foreign TV channel has a big impact on the peoples mind of our
country. It also promoting the foreign culture to our country especially Indian culture in the young
generation and in female more. Among those respondent 17 % like music channel, 24% like Bangla
Channel, 21% prefer Informational choice, 15% prefer sports and 6% prefer Hindi channel.
Table: Favorite TV Channel of the Respondents
Channel

Frequency

Music Channel

10

Bangla channel

14

Information

13

News

10

Sports

Hindi

Clothing

Clothing shows the cultural values as well as the social status of a person. That is why clothing is an
important indicator of the cultural view or social status. In this case now a day people clothing behavior
is frequently changing by the effect of the Indian serial.
Table: Favorite Brand of Cloth
Channel

Frequency

Cats Eye

14

Pride & Dandy

Raymonds & Century

Levis & Rex

Monsoon & Soul Dance

Body shop

10

Artisti

Shada Kalo & Arong

Others

Eating Place
The intension to take foods outside is increasing at the present time which shows that our culture is
changing as the western culture. Though this habit is only for the urban areas all of our target market
lives there.
Table: Favorite Eating Place
Eating Place

Frequency

Pizza Hut

15

American Burger

Midnight Sun

Boomers

12

Hazi Biriani

10

Others

From our respondent we found that only 12.5% people response about the local food item. And all other
mentioned about the fast foods or the Chinese restaurants.
Culture is the distinctive way of life of a group of people, their complete design for living. Cultural factors
play a very important role for purchasing any kind of product. Without matching with the culture a
product is not able survive in the market.

Relevant Cultural Values

The important values that affect the purchase of Otobi Furniture are,
v Status: Status is one of the cultural values that effect the purchasing of Otobi Furniture. We know that
decorating a house or a corporate office by the lamination board furniture is the symbol of status now a
day. As a result, people are buying lamination board furniture. As Otobi is the oldest brand people
already have a believe that their quality is good. So most of the time they prefer to buy from Otobi.
v Non-Traditional: We know that people are like to change their lifestyle now a day. As a result most of
the people now switching from the traditional wooden furniture to lamination board furniture.
v Being good to myself concept: We know that being good to myself concept is cherished by all in the
society. As a result now people are thinking if they have money they will buy the expensive and exclusive
products for their use. As a result, Lamination board furniture purchasing is increasing.
v Fashionable: For making a home into sweet home people are now expensing a lot for its fashion and
design. And it is possible for only lamination board furniture to provide more fashionable and stylist
products. So lamination board furniture purchasing is increasing.
Gender Roles
Gender difference has got a very little role to play in the case of choice of purchasing furniture because
the influence of purchasing furniture from Otobi may come from any gender of a family or a corporate
house. As a result I did not find any relationship with purchasing of furniture with gender.
Chapter-6
Group Influence
Purchasing furniture is sometime a group decision and sometime an individual decision. It is also a highinvolvement product. When furniture is purchase for corporate house it is a decision where group has
some influence in some cases but some cases it is an individual decision. Not only that when it is
purchase for household purpose again some is individual decision and some are group. In case of
household purpose it can be influence by the purchase of anyones reference group members.

Types of Influence

Only Identification influence might be present in the purchase of furniture.

Identification Influence:
Identification influence is also called value-expressive influence, occurs when individuals have internalize
the groups values and norms. These then guide the individuals behaviors without any thought of
reference group sanctions or rewards.
We know that furniture is now a symbol of status. So people are using lamination board furniture to
show their status to the other people.

Degree of Reference Group Influence

It is a visible and necessary product. So the reference group influence should have been high in both
product & Brand as it signifies the personality.

Ad Strategy
As the reference group influence is high, Otobi should show ads where it will more reflect the
prestigious, high status and exclusive products. Show people like you having furniture from Otobi, it will
signify the status and prestige he have. It may be an option of Otobi to use the group influence that is
present in the choice of lamination board furniture.
Otobi Furniture affects the consumers information processing process by exporting them to stimuli,
gaining their attention, making those stimuli those easy to interpret, making them learn and finally
installing the stimuli in the memory of the consumer.
Perception is the constitute of first three steps of information processing (Exposure, Attention and
Interpretation)
Chapter 7
Exposure
Otobi Furniture is trying to expose itself to its target market through various means. They are,
v TV: Otobi Furniture has placed TV advertisement quite frequently in the few years ago. But now a day
number of advertisement is decreasing day by day. The reason may be the new ads are coming.
v Newspaper: Otobi Furniture placed its advertisement in the newspaper also but not frequently now.
v Banner: Some banner is shown in the different areas of Dhaka city just to give a reminder about the
Pavilion no and special discount offered by the Otobi furniture in the International Trade Fair.

v Direct Selling: Direct selling is the most effective strategy for giving exposure to the people. Because by
direct selling people can easily now a lot about the product form the officials who involve with that.
Attention
Attention occurs when the stimulus activities one or more receptor nerves and the resulting sensations
go to the brain for processing. Otobi Company tries to gain attention mainly through the following ways:

Stimulus Factors: The stimulus factors that Otobi uses are,

v Size: Big news paper ad and banner are the best example of this stimulus factor.
v Color and Movement: The paper ads are very colorful with the picture of their products.
v Position: In newspaper the usually place their ads at the middle in the last page or middle in the third
page where possible to give colorful ads. It helps to attract the peoples attention easily. They also
positioned their banner in a very attractive way. For example, When the International Trade Fair was
going we find so many banner of Otobi Furniture brand with the discount offer in all the prime places of
Dhaka city on an eye sight height.
v Information Quality: In all of the banners, Television ads and paper ads Otobi just try to promote their
discount offer 10% or 15% discount. It is a good strategy as it is a high involvement product.

Individual Factors: Individual factor is not a very important indicator in this case as it is not an
impulsive product. As a result the only way to influence the purchasing decision is direct selling.
And Otobi is doing so by sending their executives to the corporate houses.

Situational Factors: Situational factors include stimuli in the environment other than the focal
stimulus and temporary characteristics of the individual that are induced by the environment,
such as the time pressures or a crowded store. For example, consumers pay less attention to a
commercial in a commercial in a large cluster of commercials than they do to one in a smaller
set. Considering that Otobis ads are smaller in size to attract people attention.

Non-Focused Attention

Hemispheric Lateralization: Otobi is trying to influence the left side of the brain. It used symbolic
representation in its ads.

Interpretation
Interpretation is the assignment of meaning to sensations. The factors that effect the interpretation of
Otobi Furniture are the following,

Individual Characteristics:

Expectation: Individuals interpretation of stimuli tends to be consistent with their expectations.

Considering the old saying First impressions matter Otobi Furniture decorate their showrooms in a
furnished way. Not only that their set of expectations also depends on the behavior of the salesperson.
As a result, Otobi give their executives training about the behavior of the consumer.

Situational Characteristics:

Logo: The logo that used by Otobi Furniture is the symbol of Trust as they used their slogan Trusted
across the World use in the logo.
Learning is the term used to describe thee processes by which memory and behavior are changed as a
result of conscious and nonconscious information processing.
Relevant Learning Theories

Classical Conditioning: The classical conditioning is taking place in the advertisements of Otobi
Furniture as they show the status and prestigious issue there.

Operant Conditioning: Discount is given in the Rainy season to promote the sales of Otobi.

Iconic Rote Learning: Otobi is placing their ads and remaindering their customers that it is a
prestigious product.

Characteristics of Learning

Strength of learning: The following indicators are important to determine the strength of
learning.

v Importance: Otobi Furniture is a high involvement product. That is why result is high in this case.
v Reinforcement: Otobi Furniture tries to increase the purchase with the best quality, durability and
strong brand image.
v Repetition: The number of Otobis ads showing everyday in the television is very low. Though they
have the strongest brand image they should give more ads in television and in newspaper.
v Mood: Otobi Furniture always gives positive mood during the presentation of the ads.
Memory is the total accumulation of prior learning experience. It consists of two interrelated parts:
Short-term and long-term memory. Both types are influence by the Otobi Ads.
Short-term Memory

Short-term memory has a limited capacity to store information and sensations. Two basic types of
information processing activities occur in short-term memory. They are,

Elaborate Activities: The previously stored experiences, attitudes, beliefs such as Otobi furniture
is the symbol of status, prestige and fashion.

Maintenance rehearsal: The repetition of banner in the same road (Bijoy Soroni) is a good
example in this regard.

Long-term Memory

Long-term memory is viewed as an unlimited, permanent storage. The three basic types of long-term
memory for which marketers are interested are given below,

Semantic Memory: Semantic memory is the basic knowledge and feelings an individual has
about a concept. In the case of Otobi Furniture, it is a stylist, non-traditional and exclusive
products.

Episodic Memory: This is the memory of a sequence of events in which a person participated. In
this case a persons office room and home both may be furnished by Otobi Furniture. So he is
using Otobi in his whole day life.

Schematic Memory: Memory can be changed and shaped as it is accessed. Memory of an actual
event may be altered as new or additional information about that event is received. The
schematic memory of Otobi Furniture is given below:

In our country most of the people yet buying wooden furniture though wooden furniture are heavy in
weight and unfriendly to use. But in some cases this believe is changing rapidly and people are moving
towards lamination board furniture. But the good news is that most of them prefer Otobi Furniture as it
is the oldest and biggest furniture brand of our country. But as the market is open some new and
competitive brand has come in the market. As a result, Otobi furniture is facing a huge competition as
people as substitute products now.
Once upon a time in peoples mind it was set that furniture brand means Otobi. But it has replaced in
some cases. As other brands are also providing about similar quality level price in a bit lower price. We
know that Otobi mainly targets the Office furniture. Some of the big corporate house is also using Otobi.
Most of the time these purchase influences by the decision of the officials involve in purchasing. And
about home furniture, most of the cases anyone of the family can influence the purchase decision.
Another thing we noticed that the advertisement in the television about all the furniture brands are
lower than any other industry. As a result, advertisement does not influence much. Another important
factor that influencing the purchase of lamination board furniture is lamination board furniture is now
the symbol of status now a day. So for making a corporate house prestigious and exclusive one or
decorating a home more fashionable and non-traditional people are now buying lamination board
furniture.
Otobi is the market leader in the furniture industry. So it has already created a favorable attitude in the
top ladder of the mind of the target customers. They have already created an emotional relationship
with the people. But before trying to influence their attitudes, first it needs to measure the cognitive,
affective and behavioral attitude towards Otobi Furniture.
The cognitive component consists of the belief that the people have towards different furniture. To
measure the cognitive component towards Otobi Furniture we asked consumers to place beliefs about
two products of Otobi and their ideal furniture in a semantic scale. To fully evaluate it we also asked
them to place their beliefs about two products of Navana Furniture as they are the main competitors of
Otobi. We thus compared Otobis Chair with Navanas Chair and Otobis File Cabinet with Navanas File
Cabinet. We then took the simple average of the respondents beliefs towards the furniture of Otobi and

Navana on each factor. The position of these averages on the scale, the weighted of each factor and final
results are given below for each type of furniture.
(i)

Otobi Chair Vs. Navana Chair

Low Price

____ ____ __I_ ____ __N_ __O_ ____

High price

Comfortable

____ ____ _OIN ____ ____ ____ ____

Less Comfortable

High Status

____ __O_ ____ _NI_ ____ ____ ____

Low Status

User Friendly

____ ____ _OIN ____ ____ ____ ____

Less User Friendly

Fashionable

____ __O_ __N_ __I_ ____ ____ ____

Common

(Here I = Ideal Chair, O = Otobi Furniture and N = Navana Furniture)

Giving a weight of 30% to price, 25% to comfortability, 15% to status, 15% to friendliness and 15% to
Fashionable we find,

Attitude towards Otobi Chair 1.5

Attitude towards Navana Chair 0.75

(ii)

Otobi File Cabinet Vs. Navana File Cabinet

Low Price

____ ____ __I_ ____ _N__ __O_ ____

High price

Comfortable

____ ____ _OIN ____ ____ ____ ____

Less Comfortable

High Status

____ __O_ _N__ __I_ ____ ____ ____

Low Status

User Friendly

____ ____ _OIN ____ ____ ____ ____

Less User Friendly

Fashionable

____ __O_ __N_ __I_ ____ ____ ____

Common

(Here I = Ideal Chair, O = Otobi Furniture and N = Navana Furniture)

Giving a weight of 30% to price, 25% to comfortability, 15% to status, 15% to friendliness and 15% to
Fashionable we find,

Attitude towards Otobi file cabinet 1.5

Attitude towards Navana file cabinet 0.90

The above analysis shows that the consumers belief about Otobi Chair and Otobi File Cabinet is not
favorable than the Navana Chair and Navana File Cabinet. The reason of this is the price according to the
respondents. The price is one of the main factors to buy furniture. Not only that in case of status and
fashionability Otobi is providing more than the ideal one. But in this case Otobi Chair is more favorable
than the Otobi File Cabinet.
The affective component reflects the emotional reaction towards a particular product. As an old and
established product Otobi Furniture has a very good emotional relationship with people. Though a lots
of new brands are coming, 67.5% of our total respondents says that Otobi is the furniture brands that

come to their mind when the think about any types of furniture. To measure the affective component, a
likert scale was used. The critical analysis of the part with the help of SPSS software is given below.

Likings of Otobi Furniture

Liking of Otobi Furiture

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

10.0

10.0

10.0

Neutral

10

16.7

16.7

26.7

Agree

30

50.0

50.0

76.7

Strongly
Agree

14

23.3

23.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

In case of likings of Otobi Furniture we find that 23.3% respondents say that they strongly like Otobi
Furniture, 50% say that they like otobi Furniture, 16.7% is neutral about the matter and 10% dislike Otobi
Furniture. This means, about 73.3% of our total respondents like Otobi Furniture. As a result Otobi has a
place in the mind of the people.
Quality of Otobi Furniture

Otobi Furniture ensures more quality than its competitors

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

10.0

10.0

10.0

Neutral

17

28.3

28.3

38.3

Agree

25

41.7

41.7

80.0

Strongly
Agree

12

20.0

20.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

100.0

In case of quality 20% of our respondents strongly agree that Otobi ensures more quality than its
competitors, 41.7% agree with the subject matter, 28.3% are neutral and 10% percent are disagree with
the matter. That means about 61.7% of the respondents at least agree that Otobi Furniture ensures
more quality than its competitors.

Brand Image of Otobi Furniture

Otobi Furniture has the biggest brand image in Bangladesh

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

3.3

3.3

3.3

Neutral

12

20.0

20.0

23.3

Agree

30

50.0

50.0

73.3

Strongly
Agree

16

26.7

26.7

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Brand Image is the reflection of the peoples thinking of a particular brand. In case of Otobi we find that
26.7% of the total respondents say that Otobi has the biggest Brand Image in Bangladesh, 50% are agree
and remaining 20% are neutral about the matter. That means, about 76.7% people at least agree that
Otobi has the biggest brand image in Bangladesh

Price of Otobi Furniture

Do you think the price of Otobi Furniture is comfortable?

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Strongly
Disagree

13.3

13.3

13.3

Disagree

13

21.7

21.7

35.0

Neutral

25

41.7

41.7

76.7

Agree

12

20.0

20.0

96.7

Strongly
Agree

3.3

3.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Price is the main factor to purchase any kind of product. According to the officials of Otobi the price of
Otobi Furniture is a bit higher. And after our survey I find the same thing. I find that 41.7% of the
respondents are neutral about matter, 20% are agreeing and 3.3% are strongly agreed about the matter.
On the other hand 21.7% are disagreeing and 13.3% are strongly disagreeing about the matter. It means
that 35% are at least disagreeing about the matter. That means the price of Otobi Furniture is not that
much comfortable.

Durability of Otobi Furniture

Otobi Furniture is more durable than other brands

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Strongly
Disagree

1.7

1.7

1.7

Disagree

11

18.3

18.3

20.0

Neutral

12

20.0

20.0

40.0

Agree

28

46.7

46.7

86.7

Strongly
Agree

13.3

13.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Durability is a very important factor for a product like furniture as people will not buy furniture everyday.
In case of durability of Otobi Furniture we find that 13.3% of the total respondents strongly agree that
Otobi furniture is more durable than the competitors and 46.7% agree about the matter. On the other
hand 1.7% respondents are strongly disagree that Otobi furniture is not more durable than the other
brands, 18.3% are disagree and 20% are neutral about the matter. So we find that about 60%
respondents are at least happy with the durability of Otobi Furniture.
Conformance Quality of Otobi Furniture

otobi Furnitures Conformance quality is high

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

15.0

15.0

15.0

Neutral

14

23.3

23.3

38.3

Agree

30

50.0

50.0

88.3

Strongly
Agree

11.7

11.7

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Conformance quality means the promise that made by the seller of a product and how much of that
people get after the purchase. In case of conformance quality of Otobi Furniture I find that 11.7% of the
total respondents strongly agree that Otobi furnitures conformance quality is high and 50% agree about
the matter. On the other hand 15% respondents are disagreeing that Otobi furnitures conformance
quality is high and 23.3% are neutral about the matter. So we find that about 61.7% respondents are at
least happy with the conformance of Otobi Furniture.
Behaviors of Otobis Employees & Sales Executives

Employees & Sales Executive are friendly and cooperative in Otobi furnitures showrooms

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

8.3

8.3

8.3

Neutral

18

30.0

30.0

38.3

Agree

26

43.3

43.3

81.7

Strongly
Agree

11

18.3

18.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

In case of behavior of the Employees and Sales Executives of Otobi Furniture 18.3% respondents are
strongly agree that their behavior is friendly and 43.3% are agree about that. On the other hand only
8.3% respondents are disagreeing about the matter, 30% are neutral and no one strongly disagree. That
means about 61.6% of the total respondents are at least happy with the behavior of the employees and
sales executives of Otobi Furniture.
Distribution Center of Otobi Furniture

Otobi Furniture has enough distribution centers in Dhaka city

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

12

20.0

20.0

20.0

Neutral

13

21.7

21.7

41.7

Agree

24

40.0

40.0

81.7

Strongly
Agree

11

18.3

18.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

In case of distribution center of Otobi Furniture 18.3% respondents are strongly agree that their Otobi
has enough distribution center in Dhaka city and 40% are agree about that. On the other hand only 20%
respondents are disagreeing about the matter, 21.7% are neutral and no one strongly disagree. That
means about 58.3% of the total respondents are at least agree that Otobi Furniture has enough
distribution center in Dhaka city.
Style and Design of Otobi Furniture

Otobis Furnitures are fashionable, stylist and non-traditional

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Strongly
Disagree

1.7

1.7

1.7

Disagree

8.3

8.3

10.0

Neutral

16

26.7

26.7

36.7

Agree

33

55.0

55.0

91.7

Strongly
Agree

8.3

8.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

In case of style and design 8.3% respondents are strongly agree that Otobi Furnitures fashionable, stylist
and non-traditional and 55% are agree about that. On the other hand only 8.3% respondents are
disagreeing about the matter, 26.7% are neutral and 1.7 is strongly disagreeing. That means about 63.3%
of the total respondents are at least agree that Otobis Furniture are fashionable, stylist and nontraditional.
Correlation Analysis is a group of techniques to measure the association between two variables. And the
coefficient of correlation describes the strength of the relationship between two variables. It can assume
any value from -1.00 to 1.00 inclusive. A correlation of -1.00 or 1.00 indicates the perfect relationship.
The value of Coefficient of correlation less than -0.5 and above 0.5 shows strongly negatively correlation
and strongly positively correlation respectively. The value between -0.5 to 0.5 may not be consider.
****** Method 2 (covariance matrix) will be used for this analysis ******
R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L P H A)

Correlation Matrix

LIKINGS

QUALITY

LIKINGS

1.0000

QUALITY

B_IMAGE

.7654

B_IMAGE

.1763

DURABLE

DURABLE

1.0000

.2866

PRICE

PRICE

.2905
.3235

.6195

1.0000
.2193

.6540

1.0000

.2845

.2952

1.0000

C_QLTY

.7454

.6407

.1633

.1649

.6402

FRIENLI

.0766

.2203

.2055

.1977

.2274

DISTRIBU

-.1598

STYLIST

.0055

C_QLTY

FRIENLI

C_QLTY

1.0000

FRIENLI

.1863

DISTRIBU
STYLIST

-.0800
.0479

.3120

.0030
.0050

.1461
-.0529

DISTRIBU STYLIST

1.0000

.1405
-.0226

N of Cases =

-.1752

.3419
.2466

1.0000
-.1646

1.0000

60.0

Inter-item
Correlations

Mean Minimum Maximum

.2216

.7654

-.1752

Reliability Coefficients

.9406 -4.3677

9 items

.0623

Range Max/Min Variance

Alpha = .7188

Standardized item alpha = .7192

In this correlation matrix we find that maximum value of the coefficient of correlation is 0.7654 between
likings and quality of the Otobi Furniture. That means the people who like Otobi Furniture, like because
of the quality of the furniture. On the other hand the minimum value is -0.1752 between the distribution
and the brand image of Otobi Furniture. That means the brand image and distribution is negatively
correlated. In this case the people who prefer the brand image will not prefer the distribution center.
This is true as for the exclusive products people do not bother about the distribution.

From our analysis I also find that there are strongly positively correlation between durability and
conformance quality with the likings, durability and conformance quality with quality and conformance
quality with durability. That means people who like Otobi Furniture like because of durability and
conformance quality and the quality mean durability and conformance quality.

Crosstabs analysis shows the relationship between two variables. In this case, price and the quality. The
12 respondents who strongly agree that Otobi Furniture ensure more quality 1 strongly disagree that
price is comfortable, 1 is disagree, 3 are neutral about the matter, 5 are agreed and 2 strongly agreed.
After that 25 respondents who agree that Otobi Furniture ensure more quality 2 strongly disagree that
price is not comfortable, 6 disagreed, 13 are neutral and only 4 agreed about the matter. Then the 17
respondents who neutral about the quality 4 strongly disagree that price is comfortable, 3 disagreed, 8
are neutral and only 2 agreed about the matter. At last the 6 respondents who disagree about the quality
1 strongly disagree that price is comfortable, 3 disagreed, 1 is neutral and only 1 agreed about the
matter.

Otobi Furniture ensures more quality than its competitors * Do you think the price of Otobi Furniture
is comfortable? Crosstabulation

Count
Do you think the price of Otobi Furniture is
comfortable?

Otobi
Furniture

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Total

ensures
more
quality than
its
competitors
Strongly
Agree

Neutral

17

13

25

12

13

25

12

Agree

Total

60

The whole analysis shows that Otobi Furniture has the biggest brand image in Bangladesh, ensures more
quality than the competitors, more durable, conformance quality is high, fashionable, stylist, nontraditional and as a result people like Otobi Furniture but the price is not too much comfortable and the
number of distribution center is not sufficient as per the correlation analysis.

Test of hypothesis: (Two tail T Test)

1) Price validity in terms of Quality of Otobi Furniture:

Here Null hypothesis is= Price of Otobi in terms of quality is comfortable

Alternative hypothesis= Price of Otobi in terms of quality is not comfortable

of Variancesttest for Equality

of
Means FSig.tdfSig. (2-tailed)Mean DifferenceStd. Error Difference95% Confidence Interval of the
Difference
LowerUpperDo you think the price of Otobi Furniture is comfortable?Equal variances
assumed.310.582-1.08029.289-.43.395-1.235.381 Equal variances not assumed -.9416.640.379-.43.4531.510.657
Levenes Test for Equality

Independent Samples Test

Interpret: Here Critical value is 2.045 and t value is -1.080 which lies under the critical value. So null
hypothesis is accepted. That means the price of Otobi furniture in terms of quality is comfortable among
those respondents.

2) Price validity in terms of Gender:

Here Null hypothesis is= Price of Otobi in terms of gender is comfortable

Alternative hypothesis= Price of Otobi in terms of gender is not comfortable

Independent Samples Test

Levenes Test
for Equality
of Variances

Gender

Equal
variances
assumed
Equal
variances
not
assumed

1.189

Sig.

.287

t-test for Equality of Means

Df

Sig.
(2tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std. Error
Difference

95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower

Upper

.551

23

.587

-.10

.186

-.488

.283

.548

22.130

.589

-.10

.187

-.490

.285

Interpret: Here Critical value is 2.069 and t value is -.551 which lies under the critical value. So null
hypothesis is accepted. That means the price of Otobi furniture in terms of gender is comfortable among
those respondents.
3) Price validity in terms of occupational level:

Here Null hypothesis is= Price of Otobi in terms of occupational level is comfortable

Alternative hypothesis= Price of Otobi in terms of occupational level is not comfortable

Independent Samples Test

Levenes
Test for
Equality of
Variances

Sig.

t-test for Equality of Means

df

Sig.
(2tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std. Error
Difference

95%
Confidence
Interval

of the Difference
LowerUpperOccupation typeEqual variances assumed2.682.115-.17523.863.11.623-1.398.180 Equal variances not assumed -.17622.643.861-.11.618-1.3881.170

Interpret: Here Critical value is 2.069 and t value is -.175 which lies under the critical value. So null
hypothesis is accepted. That means the price of Otobi furniture in terms of occupational level is
comfortable among those respondents.

4) Price validity in terms of household income:

Here Null hypothesis is= Price of Otobi in terms of household income is comfortable
Alternative hypothesis= Price of Otobi in terms of household income is not comfortable

Independent Samples Test

Levenes
Test for
Equality of
Variances

Sig.

t-test for Equality of Means

df

Sig.
(2tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std. Error
Difference

95%
Confidence
Interval

of the Difference
LowerUpperHousehold incomeEqual variances assumed.637.433-.35323.727.11.309-.748.530 Equal variances not assumed -.35622.429.725-.11.306-.742.524

Interpret: Here Critical value is 2.069 and t value is -.353 which lies under the critical value. So null
hypothesis is accepted. That means the price of Otobi furniture in terms of household income is
comfortable among those respondents.

5) Price validity in terms of prefer favorite brand of cloths:

Here Null hypothesis is= Price of Otobi in terms of brand prefers is comfortable
Alternative hypothesis= Price of Otobi in terms of brand prefer is not comfortable

Independent Samples Test

Levenes
Test for
Equality of
Variances

Favorite
brand of
cloths

Equal
variances
assumed
Equal
variances
not
assumed

.161

Sig.

.692

t-test for Equality of Means

df

Sig.
(2tailed)

Mean
Difference

Std. Error
Difference

95%
Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
Lower

Upper

.314

23

.756

-.19

.612

1.458

1.074

.315

22.926

.756

-.19

.611

1.457

1.073

Interpret: Here Critical value is 2.069 and t value is -.314 which lies under the critical value. So null
hypothesis is accepted. That means the price of Otobi furniture in terms of brand prefers is accepted
among those respondents.

6) Furniture are fashionable, stylist with prefer of brand of cloths :

Here Null hypothesis is= Otobis Design is prefer by the brand loyal people
Alternative hypothesis= Otobis Design is not prefer by the brand loyal people
Independent Samples Test

Levenes Test for

Equality of Variancest-test for Equality
of Means FSig.tdfSig. (2-tailed)Mean DifferenceStd. Error Difference95% Confidence Interval
of the Difference
LowerUpperFavorite brand of clothsEqual variances
assumed6.301.0172.20036.0341.66.755.1303.192 Equal variances not
assumed 3.3808.815.0081.66.491.5462.775

Interpret: Here Critical value is 2.31 and t value is 2.2 which lie under the critical value. So null
hypothesis is accepted. That means, Otobi furniture prefers by the brand loyal people.
The behavioral component of an attitude is ones tendency to respond in a certain manner toward an
object or activity. It means a series of decisions to purchase or not purchase the furniture of Otobi. To
measuring the behavioral component of the people at the end of our survey we asked our respondents
Will you buy furniture from Otobi the very next time you buy any furniture?
The results of the questions from the survey are shown in the graph below,Though most of the
respondents at least agree that Otobi Furniture ensures quality than its competitors, have biggest brand
image, more durable, high conformance quality, fashionable, stylist and non-traditional but according to
the buying behavior for the very next time I find that 20% respondents obviously buy from Otobi, 35%
may buy and 35% are not sure. On the other hand 2.5% may not buy and 7.5% obviously not buy from
there. As a result we can say that majority of the respondents are not sure weather they buy from Otobi
Furniture or not. The reasons may be price, availability of the products and substitute products. As a
result, Otobi Furniture is facing a tough competition. So for keeping their market share or increasing the
market share the need to readjust their price, make available their products.
Otobi Furniture can change their target markets affective, cognitive and behavioral component.
Otobi Furniture can change the consumers beliefs towards their products by changing beliefs, shift
importance and add beliefs.

Chapter 8
Change Beliefs
This strategy involves shifting beliefs about the brand. People have a belief that Otobi Furniture is
expensive. As a result they sometimes purchase products from other brands. So they can show people
that why their price is high or they can shift the belief that Otobi Furniture is more exclusive than other
brands.
Add Beliefs
Another approach to changing the cognitive component of an attitude is to add new beliefs to the
consumers belief structure. For that the price of furniture is high as for good quality raw materials and
high technological machineries.
Shifting Importance
Most consumers consider some product attributes to be more important than others. Most of the
people consider price is the main indicators to purchase of furniture. The sometime did not consider
quality or durability more. As a result, Otobi may try to shift their beliefs from price to quality and
durability as the main indicators.
Classical Conditioning
Otobi Furniture can use classical conditioning to change the affective components of the target market.
It could create an exceptional type of music for its television ads to keep itself always in the mind of the
people. Not only that they can show the picture of big corporate houses with their furniture and well
furnished home in the ads by which people can easily associate Otobi with these things.
Affect toward the Ad or Website
Likings the advertisement generally increases the tendency to like the product. Somewhat similar results
are associated with liking the website on which an ad appears. But website of Otobi is closed for a long
time. So they need to open and develop a sophisticated website as early as possible.
Mere Exposure
Otobi Furniture is a high involvement product but it needs mere exposure to create positive feelings in
the mind of customers. Now a day number of advertisement in the television of Otobi Furniture is very
lower. As a result, for keeping their name in the mind of the people Otobi needs to show their ads more
in the television and in newspaper.
Behavior, specifically purchase or use behavior may precede the development of cognition and effect. Or
it may occur in contrast to the cognitive and affective components. Otobi is trying to change the
behavioral components of the people by using operant conditioning. They are giving 10% discount on all
furniture in the Rainy season. By this they are also showing that the price of Otobi is decreased.

Using Celebrities: Otobi did not use any celebrities in the advertisement. They can use celebrities
to promote their products.

Using Humor Appeal: Otobi can use humor in the advertisement as people do not remind the
brand but remind the dramatic presentation on the ads. As a result, Otobi can use humor to
promote their products in the television.

Positive emotions should be aroused in Ads. The slogan of Otobi World Class Furniture has not been
very successful in eliciting positive emotion in the consumers mind as from our survey I find that the
recall rate is not too good only 42.5%. As a result, they should give more advertisement in the
newspaper or in the television.
We previously stated that, our survey showed that the target market see themselves as very discipline
and very colorful. They are also dominating, organized and formal.
Is Otobi Projecting Their Self-Concept
Otobi is more or less projecting the self-concept of the target market. The image of Otobi Furniture is
matched with the target markets self concept. Otobi always try to position itself as a prestigious and
high status product. And that is going with the self-concept of the people. Otobi furniture usually placed
in the corporate houses where people need to be formal, discipline and organized. That is why Otobi
more or less projecting the self-concept of the target market.
As Otobi Furniture can be used by anyone all peoples lifestyle need to match with Otobi. In our country
the people who are the major target of Otobi Furniture according to the VALS system can be classified as
Status Oriented who want to achieve more in the life. If go deeper than that, we can classified them
into the Actualizer. Actualizers are the people who are successful, sophisticated and active and who have
much resource, who prefer image than anything else.
Otobi Furniture mainly targeted the corporate houses and home. The target markets life-style is more
organized, formal and discipline. As a result Otobi fits into their lifestyle. From our survey we find that
Otobi Furniture is very formal and prestigious and also reflect a persons image to the others. That
means Otobi fits with their organized and formal lifestyle.
On the other hand, Otobi also fit with the lifestyle of the people who using it in their homes. I also make
the survey with the housewives and get the same results as before. Considering all this we can say that
Otobi fits with the lifestyle of the target market.
Otobi started its journey in the year 1975. That time it was the only furniture company in the market.
And for a long time they were alone. After that So many new firms come into the market. And as a
result, competition in the furniture industry is increasing day by day. And now the market share of Otobi
has divided in to so many parts though yet they are the market leader of the industry. But in some extent
though their quality, durability and conformance quality is high price is not that much comfortable to the
people. Perhaps other firms take this as an opportunity for them. May be by compromising with the
quality they reduce their price. And for that reason though Otobi has monthly sales of 15 crore taka but
market share is decreasing slowly.
The basic motive to buy furniture varies man to man. Some people buy for its basic need, some for
creating image, some for fashion and some for aristocracy. The most of the firms are giving the same
products but why people prefer different brands. When I asked this to our respondents I find different

answers. Some prefer the quality, some prefer the brand loyalty, some prefer the durability, some prefer
the price, and some prefer the conformance quality.
Otobi Furniture motivates their customers by giving more and more preference to the quality and
durability of the furniture. But for that reasons price increased a bit. Form my survey I also get the same
result and this is also known by the officials of Otobi. When I asked them about the matter, they told us
that if they are able to provide the best quality furniture, why people will not pay more to them. And
they have already the biggest brand image in Bangladesh and they are the first furniture firm which
export furniture outside the boundary of our country. For that reason they have a very big brand image.
And big brand image creates more loyal customers. As a result though number of new firms is increasing,
Otobi yet in the same position as before.
The main drawback of Otobi Furniture is the price. From our survey it is clearly found that people are not
really comfortable with the price. Rather than price it has also draw backs in the promotional and
distribution activities.
Otobi is the market leader in furniture industry. But unfortunately I find a very few advertisement in the
newspaper and television of Otobi Furniture. My survey also shows the same results. When I asked our
respondents about watching promotional exposure in television or newspaper last week, their answers
reflect the same. Only 42% respondents answered Yes. On the other hand 25% answered No and
33% are not sure about the matter.
As a result, we can conclude that Otobi has some problems with their promotional activities. On the
other hand, I find frequent advertisement of Navana and other brands. We know that exposure creates
attention. So Otobi may loose some of the peoples attention if this strategy not changed by Otobi
Furniture. Some of our respondents also give extra suggestions to increase the advertisement.
Banner

The banner that we see now a day in the roads mainly for the Rainy season with the 10%
discount offer. After the Rainy season they will be useless. But before the Rainy season I did not
see any single banner in the roads any where in Dhaka city.

Newspaper and TV Advertisement

Before the Rainy season the paper and Television advertisement was stopped for a long period
of time. And have no variety. Not only that these ads did not reflect the actual brand image of
Otobi Furniture.

Some of our respondents also give extra suggestions to increase the distribution of Otobi Furniture.
Problems that are lying with the distributions are,

We know that Otobi has the biggest brand image but there are only seven outlets are situated in
Dhaka city and only one in Chittagong.

Khulna is the third big city of Bangladesh but in 31 years Otobi Furniture did not open any outlet
there.

Price

Otobi Furniture should decrease their price a bit to make their price more competitive in the market.
For that they need to decrease their cost. We know that they imported most of their raw materials from
outside the country. So they can make long term contract with the exporter or may take backward
linkage strategies.
Other suggested strategies are,
Distribution Activity
The number of distribution outlets should be increased in Dhaka and Chittagong city. They also need to
increase their outlets into other big cities like Khulna.
Newspaper Advertisement
v Number of newspaper advertisement should be increased. Not only that Otobi can also use variety of
advertisements.
v The advertisement of newspaper should also contain more relevant information about the products.
v Otobi should also provide more colorful paper ad to attract the attention.
Television Advertisement
v Number of television advertisement should be increased. Not only that Otobi can also use variety of
advertisements.
v In some case they can use humor in the ads as people may not remind the brand name but remind the
dramatization of the advertisement.
v They should also show the prestigious and status issue more in the advertisement.
v These ads should be shown more at night as people watch more television at night.
v The ads should also try to change the beliefs of people about price by giving more emphasis on quality
and other attributes.
Billboards
v Otobi Furniture can use billboards as their promotional activities. They should provide as many
information and picture of different products in the billboards.
v The billboard also should be more colorful to attract more attention.
v The billboard should be placed in a persons visual field.
Banner
v Otobi can also use colorful banner in all the prime places of Dhaka city. In this case after finishing the
Rainy season they should change their entire present banner and use more colorful banner.
Direct Selling

v For a product like furniture Direct Selling is a very important promotional strategy. From our survey I
find no one say about direct selling as their last exposure of Otobi furniture though about 50% of our
respondents are businessperson or service holders. As a result direct selling should be increased.
Sponsor
v Otobi did not sponsor any kind of event in past. But they can use it as a promotional tool by
sponsoring furniture fair.

Positioning
From our survey, I got the following perceptual map for the furniture of Otobi and other brands.

Expensive & Expensive

Traditional
Otobi should be positioned downward as a less expensive product.

Md. Asaduzzaman

Officer, Sales
Otobi Limited
923 Rokeya Sharone Shewrapara
Dhaka 1216 Bangladesh

Dr. Monowar Hossain Mahmood

Associate Professor

Faculty of Business
East West University

Del I. Hawkins, Roger J. Best, Kenneth A. Coney, (2004) Consumer Behavior

McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020

Table of Crosstabs analysis:

Otobi Furniture ensures more quality than its competitors * Do you think the price of Otobi Furniture
is comfortable? Crosstabulation

Count
Do you think the price of Otobi Furniture is
comfortable?

Otobi
Furniture
ensures
more
quality than
its
competitors
Strongly
Agree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Total

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Total

17

13

25

12

13

25

12

60

Frequencie distribution Table:

Liking of Otobi Furiture

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

10.0

10.0

10.0

Neutral

10

16.7

16.7

26.7

Agree

30

50.0

50.0

76.7

Strongly
Agree

14

23.3

23.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Otobi Furniture ensures more quality than its competitors

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

10.0

10.0

10.0

Neutral

17

28.3

28.3

38.3

Agree

25

41.7

41.7

80.0

Strongly
Agree

12

20.0

20.0

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Otobi Furniture has the biggest brand image in Bangladesh

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

3.3

3.3

3.3

Neutral

12

20.0

20.0

23.3

Agree

30

50.0

50.0

73.3

Strongly
Agree

16

26.7

26.7

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Do you think the price of Otobi Furniture is comfortable?

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Strongly
Disagree

13.3

13.3

13.3

Disagree

13

21.7

21.7

35.0

Neutral

25

41.7

41.7

76.7

Agree

12

20.0

20.0

96.7

Strongly
Agree

3.3

3.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Otobi Furniture is more durable than other brands

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Strongly
Disagree

1.7

1.7

1.7

Disagree

11

18.3

18.3

20.0

Neutral

12

20.0

20.0

40.0

Agree

28

46.7

46.7

86.7

Strongly
Agree

13.3

13.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

otobi Furnitures Conformance quality is high

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

15.0

15.0

15.0

Neutral

14

23.3

23.3

38.3

Agree

30

50.0

50.0

88.3

Strongly
Agree

11.7

11.7

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Employees & Sales Executive are friendly and cooperative in Otobi furnitures showrooms

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

8.3

8.3

8.3

Neutral

18

30.0

30.0

38.3

Agree

26

43.3

43.3

81.7

Strongly
Agree

11

18.3

18.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Otobis Furnitures are fashionable, stylist and non-traditional

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Strongly
Disagree

1.7

1.7

1.7

Disagree

8.3

8.3

10.0

Neutral

16

26.7

26.7

36.7

Agree

33

55.0

55.0

91.7

Strongly
Agree

8.3

8.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Otobi Furniture has enough distribution centers in Dhaka city

Valid

Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Disagree

12

20.0

20.0

20.0

Neutral

13

21.7

21.7

41.7

Agree

24

40.0

40.0

81.7

Strongly
Agree

11

18.3

18.3

100.0

Total

60

100.0

100.0

Table of correlation analysis

****** Method 2 (covariance matrix) will be used for this analysis ******

R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L P H A)

Correlation Matrix

LIKINGS

QUALITY

LIKINGS

1.0000

B_IMAGE

PRICE

DURABLE

QUALITY

.7654

B_IMAGE

1.0000

.2866

PRICE

.2905

.1763

DURABLE

.3235

.6195

1.0000
.2193

.6540

1.0000

.2845

.2952

1.0000

C_QLTY

.7454

.6407

.1633

.1649

.6402

FRIENLI

.0766

.2203

.2055

.1977

.2274

DISTRIBU

-.1598

STYLIST

.0055

C_QLTY

FRIENLI

C_QLTY

1.0000

FRIENLI

.1863

DISTRIBU
STYLIST

-.0800
.0479

.3120

.0030
.0050

.1461
-.0529

DISTRIBU STYLIST

1.0000

.1405

.3419

-.0226

N of Cases =

-.1752

.2466

1.0000
-.1646

1.0000

60.0

Inter-item
Correlations
.2216

-.1752

Mean Minimum Maximum

.7654

Reliability Coefficients

Alpha = .7188

.9406 -4.3677

Range Max/Min Variance

.0623

9 items

Standardized item alpha = .7192

Quality of otobi Furniture ( Pie chart)

Brand image of Otobi Furnitire (Pie chart)

PROFILE OF THE TARGET CUSTOMER AND THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARDS OTOBI FURNITURE
Otobi Furniture is one of the market leaders of lamination board furniture industry of Bangladesh. They
are the pioneer in the luxury furniture industry with remarkable customer care and profound standard of
value offering to the consumers. And therefore, this is an attempt to survey the Profile of the target
customer and their attitude towards Otobi furniture that their current and potential prospects
perceived. This study is being conducted by me of East West University student as the part of my project
in project work course. Your participation in the study will help me to enrich my practical educational
implementation on this particular brand. Your response will be kept in strict confidence since no attempt
will be made to disclose your opinion. The survey will take only in 5-10 minute. Your participation is
absolutely voluntary and you may withdraw your opinion any time.