1. LOW-INCOME CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: A CASE STUDY, Page No 1-23
K. Abraham & Y. Subbarayudu
ABSTRACT
India is a country with huge population. There are various groups of people based on castes, sub-castes, religions, tribes etc., with different cultures. Hence, it has become very tough to the producers and marketers to produce and sell the goods and services according to the ever changing requirements of such groups. The ‘An ethnographic study of low-income consumer behaviour’ is a new term used in the present study where sociology, anthropology and marketing subjects are integrated. Because of so many influencing factors there, the Veblenian socio-cultural factors (like culture, sub-culture, social class, reference group, family and its supporting elements) were taken for the study. Multi-stage stratified disproportionate random sampling technique was employed in the sample selection. We found that most of the low-income consumers were being influenced by social class and family among the above said factors. It was found that ‘lowprice’, ‘credit facility’,’distance’, ‘familiar shopkeeper’,’qunatity’, ‘quality’ and other benefits were the factors which had been creating relationship between the low-income consumers and market place. It is suggested that the public distribution system is the right place to capture the new market.
Key words: Ethnography, ethnic group, ethnographic study, consumer behaviour, Veblenian factors
2. MR. BHATIA’S DILEMMA – WHAT NEXT?, Page No 24-35
Sanjay Mishra & Abhishek Sharma
ABSTRACT
Indian retail is dominated by a large number of small retailers consisting of the local kirana shops, owner-manned general stores, chemists, footwear shops, apparel shops, paan and beedi shops, hand-cart hawkers, pavement vendors, etc. which together make up the so-called “unorganized retail” or traditional retail. The last 3-4 years have witnessed the entry of a number of organized retailers opening stores in various modern formats in metros and other important cities. Still, the overall share of organized retailing in total retail business has remained low. While total retail sales have grown from Rs. 10,591 billion (US$ 230 billion) in 2003-04 to Rs. 14,574 billion (US$ 322 billion) in 2006-07 and subsequently to US$ 411.28 billion in 2011 and expected to reach, US$ 804.06 billion by 2015 which is at an annual compound growth rate of about 11 per cent , the organized retail sales grew much more at about 20 per cent per annum from Rs. 350 billion (US$ 7.6 billion) in 2003-04 to Rs. 598 billion (US$ 13.2 billion) in 2006-07. As a result, the share of organized retail in total retail grew, although slowly, from 3.3 per cent in 2003-04 to 4.1 per cent in 2006-07 and currently is fairing at almost 6%.
This although augurs well for the big box retail but has caused concerns for the unorganized retailers as the small scale retailing provides livelihood security to around 20 million urban workers and 13 million rural workers. India being a labour intensive economy with poor literacy rates finds small scale retailing to be an effective mode of not only providing gainful employment but also a substantial contribution to the GDP, according to a research report named ‘Retail sector in India’ by Research and Markets, Indian retail sector currently accounts for 12 to 14 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
The given case of Mr. Bhatia a small scale retailer operating in a tier 2 town of India namely Bareilly in the state of Uttar Pradesh puts forward the problems, challenges, and strategies of unorganized retailers while competing with the big box retail in India.
Key Words: FDI in Retail, Unorganised Retail, Organised retail, Big Box Retail, Shopertainment, Malls, Mom and Pop Stores.
3. SHOULD HPTDC RESTART ITS TIMESHARE SCHEME?, Page No 36-56
Sukarn Sharma, Nimit Chowdhary , Jasdeep Kaur & Divya Pandey
ABSTRACT
Timeshare was introduced by HPTDC on 05th November, 1998 by the name of “Himalayan Leisure”. The scheme had the guarantee of 100 percent return on investment after 20 years. This scheme was only operational for a year’s time and was finally wounded up on 10th November, 1999 even when HPTDC is a Government organisation and people have more trust in the same. Now as the consumer satisfaction index with timeshare is reaching a high of 85%, it calls for an examination which would help students in exploring the pros and cons of the scheme and to reach a decision i.e. “Should HPTDC restart its timeshare scheme?”
This case study is useful for teaching development of business plan especially in case of timeshare business. This introduces the reader to HPTDC’s timeshare scheme, its main features, benefits, purchase procedure, occupancy limit, exchange flexibility, marketing strategy, target market, marketing cost, pricing chart, week classification chart, position of HPTDC during the past five years i.e. from 2005 to 2009 in terms of room occupancy percentage along with average & weighted average, profits & losses, the strengths and weakness of HPTDC and finally discusses the responses of HPTDC’s timeshare customers and states one of the probable options that HPTDC can go for.
Keywords: Condominiums, Timeshare, Fractional ownership, Second homes, Multi-ownership, Tourism accommodation
4. WISE FINANCIAL PLANNING, Page No 57-61
Arindam Banerjee & Vikas Kumar
ABSTRACT
Financial planning is an important and emerging area. Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB), India defines it as “….the process of meeting your life goals through the proper management of your finances. Life goals can include buying a house, saving for your child’s higher education or planning for retirement….”. This case is based on a real life study of an individual, who has a defined set of goals, like Children education, Own House, Family Holidays, Post Retirement income etc. However, this is possible only through a careful planning of his limited resources. This case study explores financial planning of an individual, who is trying to achieve life goals within limited resources.
Key words: Financial Planning, Financial Goals, Investment Planning, Risk Management
