Abstract

The study examines the evolution of Procter & Gamble‘s (P&G) strategies from 1930s to the start of the present century. It discusses in details the company’s effort to constantly evolve its brand management model in response to the changes in the external environment and customer needs and preferences. The study also examines P&G’s major brand management systems, such as concept of brand manager, the category management model, the ‘glocal’ branding strategy and finally the cohort management strategy. It also explains the rationale for a major restructuring exercise initiated by the company, called ‘Organisation 2005’, a six year long program and the distribution of brand portfolio associated with it. The study analysis the brand management system of P&G —the rationale for its changes with time, the evolution of new system and the strategies connected thereof and collates the learnings that can be applied to other companies.

Abstract

There has been extensive research conducted in the area of service quality and the factors that encourage customers to repurchase a product. In some service settings the servicescape can have a significant effect on what a customer experiences and the subsequent perceptions and behaviour of that customer. The material presented in this document has been extracted from a larger doctoral thesis research study of five hundred coffee shop patrons, which was undertaken to measure the effect of servicescape on consumer’s perceptions of service quality, and further investigated the potential significance of the inclusion of the ‘servicescape’ in a model relating customer service quality with customer behavioural outcomes in a service setting.

The results contribute to marketing theory by empirically showing that the addition of the servicescape construct with other service quality constructs improves the prediction of customer post-purchase perceptions and behaviours with a parsimonious model identified.

However, and of greater significance in contributing to marketing theory, a more complete general service quality model relating customer service quality with post-purchase customer behaviours, the PAWs model of Future Customer Behaviour, was developed combining a specific set of service quality constructs, which may be of value to researchers and practitioners alike in studying various service sector organisations.

Abstract

On line services offer customers a splendid display of benefit such as enhanced control, ease of use and reduction transaction charges. In the last few years we have witnessed a substantial growth of Internet —based services, both from pure Internet businesses and from traditional companies that are developing online service. One of the key challenges of the internet as a service delivery channel is how they manage service quality, which holds a significant importance to customer satisfaction. the purpose of the research was to gain a better understanding of the service quality dimension that affect customer satisfaction in internet banking sector from a consumer perspective,  five service  quality dimension were selected to be tested in internet trading sector in order to explore the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.  The key to successful trading in the equity markets are not only attainable, they can also be learnt and taught. The successful investor exudes self-confidence, self-assurance and singleness of purpose. The research aimed to determine the service quality of Online Trading, to find the relative importance of the service quality dimension in online trading provided by trading companies with its customer satisfaction and customer perceptions of service quality. This survey was carried out in various places in Tamil Nadu by using questionnaire. A sample of 150 respondents has been chosen to collect the primary data.

Abstract

The marketing literature has provided some insight into buyer behavior by discussing different frames of reference that consumers take. One such phenomenon that has been discussed is described in the sociological literature by Merton and in the psychological literature by Srole as anomie and anomia respectfully.

The problem exists in there is little research that has been done as it relates to how this aberrant behavior affects the marketplace.

Rosenbaum, et al. in their work in 2002 looked at how anomie might affect return policies of certain retail accounts. This work however did not address the relationship between the consumer who may have high or levels of anomie and the sales professional who may be involved in the sales transaction/.

This paper addresses the issues surrounding physical traits of sales professionals in the area of weight and posits that consumers high in anomie would attempt to be corrupt in their dealings with such obese sales professionals.

An Anomic Sales Transaction Model is created to explain the theoretical constructs of this relationship.

This paper has furthered the research on sales transactions and phenomena that may surround consumer behavior and how physical traits may play a part in determining if a consumer buys or not.

Abstract

Commercial banks in India have undergone a significant change since the initiation of the structural adjustment programme in 1991.  The increasing competition in the market, coupled with the growing customer aspirations, is forcing the commercial banks to be market-oriented.  Market orientation of an organization consists of generation of market intelligence, dissemination of the intelligence across departments and organization-wide responsiveness to it. This study intends to measure the extent of market orientation among the commercial banks and to analyze the important components of market orientation.  Also the important discriminating factors among the three major categories of commercial banks namely public sector, private sector and new generation private sector banks have been analysed.

Abstract

The striking feature of healthcare industry in India is its potential to grow at a much faster rate in the foreseeable future.  In this prevailing situation, Health Tourism has emerged as a separate industry with incredible potential. India is the most touted healthcare destination for countries like South-East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Yemen with 12 percent patient inflow from developing countries. Health/Wellness tourism refers to trips that are taken by tourists with the principal purpose being to improve their health and/or wellbeing. What attracts medical tourists the most to India is its low cost treatment, compared to western standards, along with the diverse tourism opportunities. Here, tourists can enjoy the vivacious culture, amazing contradictions, diverse geography , the most unique attribute — unity in diversity and are able to receive an orientation that will help them improve their life in terms of health and general wellness. Government and private sector studies in India estimate that medical tourism could bring between $1 billion and $2 billion US into the country by 2012. The reports estimate that medical tourism in India is growing by 30 per cent a year.  Today, once again, promoting the healthful and health-care benefits of a destination is gaining popularity because tourism marketers need ways to differentiate their products. At the moment, Kerala Tourism is a global super brand and is regarded as one of the destinations with the highest brand recall. The tag line Kerala- God's Own Country was adopted in its tourism promotions and has become synonymous with the state. Kerala's equable climate, natural abundance of forests (with a wealth of herbs and medicinal plants) and the cool monsoon season (June - November) are best suited for curative and restorative packages. In order to cope with the growing demand for wellness, resorts, hospitals, medical practitioners and Government have taken ample measures to promote alternative health care in Kerala. This paper examines the various factors that contribute to Kerala’s strength as a preferred destination for Ayurveda based Wellness tourism. An attempt is made to study the Ayurvedic health care scenario by focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats posed by the sector. It also examines the diverse challenges that need to be addressed by the medical tourism industry to realize its potential and suggests relevant guidelines for health tourism customers to choose this niche area and evolve successful.

Abstract

This study is focusing on the comparison of private and public life insurance companies with respect to their capacity in performing life insurance business. The potential has been checked based on three criteria namely premium income, capital base and profit or loss in the past two years recession time. The finding is that Public sector insurance companies namely Life insurance Corporation of India and SBI are faring better than other private sector companies. The above mentioned insurance companies are more competitive in terms of low premium charge and high claims ratio.

Abstract

A sound banking system should possess three basic characteristics to protect depositor's interest and public faith. These are a fraud free culture, a time tested Best Practice Code, and an in house immediate grievance remedial system. All these conditions are either missing or extremely weak in India.

The report contains a discussion on the rise of banking frauds and various methods that can be used to avoid such frauds. A “Bank Fraud” is a deliberate act of omission or commission by any person carried out in the course of banking transactions or in the books of accounts, resulting in wrongful gain to any person for a temporary period or otherwise, with or without any monetary loss to the bank.

Technology is a key driver in the banking industry, which creates new business models and processes, and also revolutionizes distribution channels. Banks which have made inadequate investment in technology have consequently faced an erosion of their market shares. The beneficiaries are those banks which have invested in technology. Adoption of technology also enhances the quality of risk management systems in banks. Recognizing the benefits of modernizing their technology infrastructure, banks are taking the right initiatives. While doing so, banks have four options to choose from: they can build a new system themselves, or buy best of the modules, or buy a comprehensive solution, or outsource. In this context banks need to clearly define their core competencies to be sure that they are investing in areas that will distinguish them from other market players, and give them competitive advantages. A further challenge which banks face in this regard is to ensure that they derive maximum advantage from their investments in technology and avoid wasteful expenditure which might arise on account of uncoordinated and piecemeal adoption of technology; adoption of nappropriate/ inconsistent technology and adoption of obsolete technology.

Challenges of the Technology used by the bank are:

• New markets, products, services, delivery channels are being opened up after the phase of liberalization and deregulation.
• The banks have also opened up for the market of derivatives as they give higher returns though they have higher risk value.
• The upcoming challenge for banks is to finance the growing technology firms IT innovation.
• The use of technology has implications for the stability of banks and of the economy stability and future growth.

The study determines Default and Frauds in the Indian banks due to the use of lagging technology and the steps to be taken in order to reduce or eliminate them.