5.

RESEARCH METHOLODY

Research is systematic, gathering, reporting and analyzing of data about problems relating with the marketing of goods and services and implementing it to overcome the problem. Business research is a systematic inquiry that gives information to take business decisions. Research helps to gather information for solving problems. Research gives an idea to solve the problem of consumers and their satisfaction.

5.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The study basically aimed at examining the consumer behavior of individuals towards TATA NANO after its launch. Specifically, the perception and their experience with the car was examined and the factors that motivate them to purchase this small car. Besides, we want to know the preference, attitude, perception of consumer towards TATA NANO. So our research problem statement is given as Consumer Behavior Towards TATA NANO

5.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

When the above given problem is break down into number of questions we get research questions. The basic research questions for Tata Nano are: What is the consumers attitude towards TATA NANO? What is his perception about the car? Will he prefer TATA NANO or the other car? Is he satisfied and comfortable with the car? Is he dissatisfied and uncomfortable with the car? What and where is the point of dissatisfaction?

5.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The prima-facie objectives of this research project are:

To know the consumer behavior towards TATA NANO in order to remove the flaws from the product, improve the product performance, overcome the weakness and hence enhance its sales, sales volume and profit subsequently.

To examine their preference, perception, experience and attitude with and towards the car

To study and determine the various factors that affect and/or motivate them to purchase this small car.

5.4 LIST OF INFORMATION NEEDED

The gender profile of the customers. The income profile of the customers. The occupation profile of the customers. The level of satisfaction of the customers. The features of car preferred by the customers. The way they perceive this car. The attitude of customers towards the car, as inferred from their recommendations to others

5.5 VARIABLES
CATEGORICAL VARIABLES Nominal
Gender Occupation

Ordinal
Income

CONTINUOUS VARIABLES Ratio

Attitude Perception Preference Satisfaction Status Symbol Dissatisfaction

RESEARCH DESIGN
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH WITH COMMUNICATION METHOD
For this research we will use the Descriptive Research Design, as name suggests; the main objective will be to describe something the consumer behavior towards the car. At this stage the researchers build some idea about sampling methods. Descriptive Research helps to describe the characteristics/profiles of a certain group, test hypothesis generated by exploratory research, make predictions based on the relationship between selected variables.

5.6

DATA COLLECTION

PRIMARY DATA
Primary data is collected from 100 sample respondents living in a single location Surat city, by personal interview (communication) administered by interviewers at the place of customers as well as at intercepts like on streets as well as malls.

PERSONAL INTERVIEWING (COMMUNICATION)

The personal interviewing process is characterized by the interaction of four entities; the researcher, the interviewer, the interviewee, and the interview environment. The interviewer and interviewee interact and simultaneously influence one another in an interview environment.

MALL INTERCEPT
Shopping-center interviews are a popular solution when funds are limited and the respondents must see, feel or taste something. Interviewers stationed at entrances or selected locations in a mall, randomly approach them and either question them at that location or invite them to be interviewed at a special facility in a mall.

SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION:

Secondary Data was collected through magazines, journals, articles and earlier reports. Secondary Data helped in finding the variables that has an effect on the perception made by the people towards TATA Nano.

5.7
a.

SAMPLING PLAN
POPULATION

All people residing in Surat city who are the customers of Tata Nano. It includes:

ELEMENTS

All people residing in Surat city who are the customers of Tata Nano.

SAMPLING UNIT:

Here, in our research project the sampling units are those who have purchased and used Nano cars, i.e. they are customers of Nano Cars.

EXTENT

Surat City covering all the major areas of Surat possible

TIMINGS

February April 2011

b.

SAMPLE FRAME

No sample frame or samples list is available since the customers of Nano in Surat are scattered and no list was provided by the authorized dealer of the company. A tentative list of 30-40 known samples was there. So whoever owned a TATA NANO car and was encountered during survey period was included in sample frame and was a part of sample.

c.

SAMPLING UNIT

Here, in our research project the sampling units are those who have purchased and used Nano cars, i.e. they are customers of Nano Cars.

d.

SAMPLING METHOD

Since no concrete sample list is available we have used Non Probabilistic sampling methods. From non-probabilistic sampling method we have used Judgmental and convenient sampling method. Judgmental is used because only those customers who have Tata Nano were surveyed. Convenient is used because the samples were surveyed on the basis of convenience of interviewers as well as respondents.

e.

SAMPLE SIZE:

Sample size of 100 was taken based on convenient and judgmental Sampling keeping in view the socio-economic characteristics.

5.8

MEASUREMENT AND SCALING

a.

MEASUREMENT

Measurement is the process of assigning the numbers or symbols to the characteristics of an object according to some standard-pre-specified rules.

b.

SCALING

Scaling involves a continuum on which measured objects are located. Here in our research project gender-occupation profile and question 1-3 measures nominal data, income profile measures ordinal data whereas question 4 invovles non-comparative scaling measured on an itemized Likert Scale ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree on the scale of 1-5, which produces ratio scale data.

5.8.1 INSTRUMENT OF MEASURING

Since the data to be collected is primary data with the help of interviewer controlled survey (personal interview) the instrument used is Questionnaire with 4 questions and 17 statements.

5.9

DATA ANALYSIS PLAN

Data will be analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) package v 19.0 by IBM. The data analysis tool applied here is Factor Analysis. Factor analysis- a set of techniques of which, by finding correlation between variables, reduces their number into fewer factors explaining much of the original data was used. 17-statements were taken as a base to study the consumer behavior which were measured on a Likert Scale.

5.10 LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY

Time-Money-Energy are a scarce resource & hence major constraints. Apart from it, the no. of samples are too limited and small and are located in a single location (Surat City)

 Besides this, Convenient / Judgmental sampling method is used, i.e; Non Probabilistic sampling methods are used and hence the samples are selected by human judgment rather than by known probability or chance. There exists a probability that the respondent may give biased answer or socially desirable answer. Interviewers are not experienced and hence there exists a possibility that the research is may be conducted improperly in some cases.

5.11

BENEFITS OF THE STUDY

The study will be useful to the company, to the marketers of the product, to the distributors as well as a base for research studies which can be extended from the point at which this research study concluded. The benefits of the study are: This study will help the company to identify the strength and weakness of the product, thus helping us to earn a competitive advantage over our competitors by capitalizing on our strength. It will also identify weakness or bottlenecks, thus helping us to overcome the weakness and turning that weakness into a potential strength. By knowing which factors motivate consumer buying, the company works more on that factor, add more features to Nano, thus giving thrust to its sales profit and overall market share.