Index: Introduction To The Study

Shivaji University, Kolhapur
INDEX
Chapter No. TOPIC Page No.
Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study

1.1 Introduction 2
1.2 Objectives of the Study 3
1.3 Scope of the Study 3
1.4 Limitation of the Study 5
1.5 Sources of Collections 5
Chapter 2 Company Profile
2.1 Introduction Telecom Sector 6
2.2 Brief History of the Organisation 6
2.3 Vision 7
2.4 Mission 7
2.5 Objective of Firm 7
2.6 Infrastructure of Business of BSNL 8
2.7 Area’s Of BSNL 8
2.8 Organisation Of Structure 8
2.9 Services Provided By BSNL 9
2.10 Social Responsibility 11
2.11 Future Plan 11
Chapter 3 Theoretical Background 14
Chapter 4 Data Analysis & Interpretation 29
Chapter 5 Findings & Observations 39
Chapter 6 Suggestions & Conclusions 40
Bibliography 43
-1- Vivekanand College,

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CHAPTER I
Introduction to Study :
1.1. Introduction:
In a company’s marketing mix and factors present in the external

environment, a buyer is also influenced by personal characteristics and the
process by which he/she makes decisions. A buyer’s cultural characteristics,
including values, perceptions, preferences, and behavior learned through family or
other key institutions, is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants
and behavior. Consumer markets and consumer buying behavior have to be
understood before sound marketing plans can be developed.
The consumer market buys goods and services for personal

consumption. It is the ultimate market in the organization of economic activities.
In analyzing a consumer market, one needs to know the occupants, the objects,
and the buyers' objectives, organization, operations, occasions and outlets.
The buyer's behavior is influenced by four major factors: cultural

(culture, subculture, and social class), social (reference groups, family, and roles
and statuses), personal (age and life cycle state, occupation, economic
circumstances, lifestyle, and personality and self-concept), and psychological
(motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes). All of these provide
clues as to how to reach and serve buyers more effectively.
Before planning its marketing, a company needs to identify its target

consumers and their decision processes. Although many buying decisions involve
only one decision maker, some decisions may involve several participants, who
play such roles as initiator, influencer, decider, buyer, and user. The marketer's
job is to identify the other buying participants, their buying criteria, and their
influence on the buyer. The marketing program should be designed to appeal to
and reach the other key participants as well as the buyer.
The amount of buying deliberateness and the number of buying

participants increase with the complexity of the buying situation. Marketers must
plan differently for four types of consumer buying behavior: complex buying

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behavior, dissonance-reducing buying behavior, habitual buying behavior, and

variety-seeking buying behavior. These four types are based on whether the
consumer has high or low involvement in the purchase and whether there are
many or few significant differences among the brands.
In complex buying behavior, the buyer goes through a decision

process consisting of need recognition, information search, and evaluation of
alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior. The marketer's job is
to understand the buyer's behavior at each state and what influences are
operating. This understanding allows the marketer to develop an effective and
efficient program for the target market.
The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select

between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products); The psychology of how the
consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs,
media); The behavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing
decisions; Limitations in consumer knowledge or information processing abilities
influence decisions and marketing outcome; How consumer motivation and
decision strategies differ between products that differ in their level of importance
or interest that they entail for the consumer; and How marketers can adapt and
improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to more effectively
reach the consumer. Understanding these issues helps us adapt our strategies by
taking the consumer into consideration. For example, by understanding that a
number of different messages compete for our potential customers’ attention, we
learn that to be effective, advertisements must usually be repeated extensively.
We also learn that consumers will sometimes be persuaded more by logical
arguments, but at other times will be persuaded more by emotional or symbolic
appeals. By understanding the consumer, we will be able to make a more
informed decision as to which strategy to employee.
1.2. Objective of Study :

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1) To find out the responsible factors for the changing customer

behaviour of BSNL services.
2) To study the customers attitude to hands BSNL services in
comparison to other telecommunication services.
3) To verify the customers buying decision process.
4) Reviewing the effect of BSNL on the consumer as a “Public
Organisation “
5) Defining the problem faced by the customers of BSNL.
6) Estimating the customers behaviour for BSNL Services.
7) Providing practical suggestion for increasing the demand for BSNL
services.
1.3. Scope of Study:
The study of consumer buying behaviour is concerned with marketing

department and directly or indirectly with other department. This study is going to
help marketing department to increase consumer satisfaction towards firms at
and can give maximum profit.
The subject of the study was selected by looking the necessity and
importance to selling the product or services in society and to give valuable
suggestion to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Kolhapur District.
1.4. Limitations of the Study:
One of the major limitations of the study was lack of Sufficient Time.
The major limit has not permitted to take all the details regarding the Consumer
Buying Behaviour. This study limits only to BSNL, Tarabai Park, Kolhapur.
1.5. Sources of Collection:

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The sources of information can be divided into two main parts i.e.
1. Primary Data
2. Secondary Data
1. Primary Data :
The first hand information collected is called primary data.
I. Questionnaire: information obtained through questionnaire i.e.

Customer who have taking any one type of telephone service.
II. Interviews: interviews of the subscribers of students, professionals,
rural persons, House wife’s, Labour s, daily wages personals etc. and
Interview with suppliers.
III. Observation: information collected through directory observing
when consumer buying process.
2. Secondary Data :
The secondary data was collected through various magazines, News

articles, and various management books. The information which is all ready
collected by the some agencies and is utilized by the researcher for his use is
called secondary data.
I. Information collected through magazines.

II. Information obtained through internet
III. New and bulletins
IV. News paper
V. Organization printed material

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CHAPTER II
Introduction to the organisation
2.1 Introduction to Telecom sector :
In 1975, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T.

DoT was responsible for telecom services in entire country until 1985 when
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the
telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. In 1990s the telecom sector was opened
up by the Government for private investment as a part of Liberalization-
Privatization-Globalization policy. Therefore, it became necessary to separate the
Government's policy wing from its operations wing. The Government of India
corporatised the operations wing of DoT on October 01, 2000 and named it as
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Many private operators, such as Reliance
India Mobile, Tata Telecom, Hutch, BPL, Bharti, Idea etc., successfully entered the
high potential Indian telecom market.
2.2 Brief History of Organisation :
The foundation of Telecom Network in India was laid by British

sometime in 19th Century & history of BSNL is linked with the beginning of
Telecom in India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th century, the Telecom
in India was operated as a Government of India wing. Earlier it was part of
erstwhile Post &Telegraph Department (P&T). In 1975 the Department of Telecom
(DoT) was separated from P&T. DoT was responsible for running of Telecom
services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
(MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and Mumbai. It
is a well-known fact that BSNL was carved out of Department of Telecom to
provide level playing field to private telecom. Subsequently in 1990s the telecom
sector was opened up by the Government for Private Investment, therefore it
became necessary to separate the Government's policy wing from Operations
wing. The Government of India corporatised the operations wing of DoT on
October 01, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL
operates as a public sector unit. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed in October,

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2000, is World's 7th largest Telecommunications Company providing

comprehensive range of telecom services in India: Wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM
Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS- VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN
Services etc. Within a span of five years it has become one of the largest public
sector unit in India
2.3 VISION: -
To become the largest telecom Service Provider in South East Asia.
2.4 MISSION:
1. To provide world class State-of-art technology telecom services on
demand at affordable price.
2. To provide world class telecom infrastructure to develop the country's

economy.
2.5 Objectives of Firm
 To be a Lead Telecom Services Provider.
 Build customers confidence through quality and reliable service.
 Provide Bandwidth on demand.
 Contribute to: National Plan Target of 250 million subscriber base for the
country.
 Broadband customers base of 20 million in the country by 2010 as per

Broadband Policy 2004.
 Telephone in all villages.
 Implementation of Triple play as a regular commercial proposition.

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2.6 Infrastructure of Business of BSNL:
BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and

now Focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom
services with ICT applications in villages and wining customer's confidence. Today,
it has about 47.3 million line basic telephone capacity, 4 million WLL capacity,
20.1 Million GSM Capacity, more than 37382 fixed exchanges, 18000 BTS, 287
Satellite Stations, 480196 Rkm of OFC Cable, 63730 Rkm of Microwave Network
connecting 602 Districts, 7330 cities/towns and 5.5 Lakhs villages.
2.7 Area’s of BSNL:
BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts and Planned
initiatives to bridge the Rural-Urban Digital Divide ICT sector. In fact there is no
telecom operator in the country to beat its reach with its wide network giving
services in every nook & corner of country and operates across India except Delhi
& Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier and North-eastern
region of the country. BSNL serves its customers with its wide bouquet of telecom
service.
2.8 Organization Structure:
In BSNL smooth and efficient functioning can be partly attributed to

the administration department, which performs a vital function in its growth &
development. The CMD is the heads the department and overlooks the entire
administration in the all over the India. In the district level of the administration
the General Manager Telecom actively supervises the functioning of the District.
This department contains within the Accounts section, Establishment section,
commercial office, works and accounts section, planning section, Stores section,
Marketing section’s, TRA section, computer Cell and various technical sections is
present in the department. BSNL’s infrastructure is very vast. The BSNL’s
infrastructure is spread in the terrible rural area. BSNL open exchanges in these
rural areas for provide good service to the rural people.
2.8.1 Telecom Circles:

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Telecom Circles & Metro districts are responsible for providing service
to the customers. There are 24 Telecom Circles and 2 Metro districts.
2.8.2 Information regarding the Firm :
Name of the Firm :- BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED
(A Government of India Enterprises)
Establishment :- 1st October 2000
Type of Firm : - PSU
Working Staff : - 1458 Persons
Total Customers : - Approximately 3, 00,000
Age Group of Customers : - All age group
Software Used : - Dot Soft and HRMS pay Modules
2.9 Services provided by the BSNL :
• Services provided by the BSNL are as follows:

 Telephone:
 Phone Plus Service
 New Telephone Connection
 Fixed line services
 Permanent Connection
 Shift Of Telephone
 Transfer Of Telephone
 Mobile Phone :……………………………………………..
 CellOne / Excel
 WLL Mobile
 Internet :
 Network

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 Broadband
 MPLS VPN
 ISDN
 Leased Line
 Intelligent Network
 Free Phone Service
 Premium Rate Service
 India Telephone Card (ITC)
 Virtual Private Network (VPN)
 Universal Number
 Universal Personal Number
 Tele Voting
 Video Conferencing
 Audio Conferencing
 I Net
 Telex/ Telegraph
 EPABX
 Centrex

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2.10. Social Responsibility: -
BSNL is committed to provide quality Telecom Services at affordable price

to the citizens of the remotest part of the Country. BSNL is making all effort to
ensure that the main objectives of the new Telecom Policy 1999 (salient points
indicated below) are achieved.
Access to telecommunications is of utmost importance for achievement of
the country's social and economic goals. Availability of affordable and effective
communications for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of the new
Telecom policy 1999.
Strive to provide a balance between the provision of universal service to all
uncovered areas, including the rural areas, and the provision of high-level services
capable of meeting the needs of the country's economy; Encourage development
of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal areas of the country;
Transform in a time bound manner, the telecommunications sector to a
Greater competitive environment in both urban and rural areas providing equal
opportunities and level playing field for all players.
2.11. The Future Plan :
Quality of life though a number of applications, including Tele-

education, Tele-medicine, e-Governance, as well as entertainment. More
government services will be available on-line and electronic commerce will be
facilitated. It should be made mandatory for public sector bodies to make their
services available on -line.
In high-rise flats or homes builds in the same complex by real estate
developers or the communities, broadband must be encouraged.
The government needs to connect all schools to the Internet, where
teacher may give homework via broadband. The " always on " feature of
broadband will also stimulated real time chatting among housewives in large
apartment complexes, free of cost unlike telephony. On line bulletin broads and

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on line communities may be vary popular among ordinary citizen, who want to
speak up and communicate. Tax breaks can be allowed for manufactures of
broadband equipment.
The key to populating BSNL services is the cost of services than other
service provider. It is only when the infrastructure picks up, will there be
subscribers. And only when there are a large number of subscribers will the costs
drop.
BSNL the country's largest fixed line carrier is poised to convert its
lines to broadband cable as part of an emerging race among Indian phone
companies to be first to capture this new market. Broadband communication
offers all this and can cause a dramatic change in the way we communicate. It's
only a matter of time before things happen before our own eyes.

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CHAPTER III
Theoretical Background
3.1. Introduction about Consumer Buying Behaviour :
Marketing concept starts with the Consumer needs and ends in

Consumer Behaviour in meeting these needs, every action of a person is based on
needs, the problem is to learn what a customer takes into consideration when he
chooses a particular brand. Such a study is concerned with consumer behaviour
Customer buyer behaviour is that subset of human behaviour that is

concerned with decision and acts of individuals in purchasing and using products.
consumer behaviour is a sub set of Customer /buyer behaviour , is concerned with
decisions that lead up to the act of purchase.
The modern marketing concept makes Customer at the centre-stage

of organisation efforts. The focus, within the marketing concept to reach the
target customer, set the ball rolling for analyzing each of the conditions of the
target market. The first being to find out interest of such persons as would
become prospective Customers. Then comes the willingness of such interested
persons to buy the offered product. But since Customer needs come first and then
the organisation offers the product, as imperative of the marketing concept,
Customer ‘s willingness to buy cannot be studied in isolation of the interest of
such prospects to satisfy a basic need from different satisfiers. Customer’s need
recognition ,their involvement level, the available alternatives, the decision to buy
and post purchase behaviour, all are part of the overall consumer behaviour.
Every consumer is unique and this uniqueness is manifest in search, purchasing,
consuming, reacting etc. Thus, consumer behaviour must be properly understood
by marketers.

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3.2. Concept
3.2.1. Concept of consumer:
Traditionally, the term ‘consumer’ was used to define strictly in terms

of economic goods and services, based on view that consumers are potential
purchases of purchasers of products and services offered for sale. In course of
time this view has broadened so that Atleast some scholars now consider a
monetary essential to the definition of consumers. It implies that potential
adopters of free services or even philosophies or ideas can also be encompassed
by the definition. The rationale for the position is that many of activities that
people engage in regarding free services, ideas, and philosophies are quite similar
to those they engage in regarding commercial products and services.
3.2.2. Consumer
A “consumer” is one who actually purchases a product or service from

a particular organisation or shop. A customer is always defined is term of a
specific product or company. However the term consumer is far wider term
encompassing not only the actual buyer or customer but also all its users i.e.
consumers and customers may occur.
i) When the service or product is provided free
ii) When the consumer is not the actual user of the product or is only one of the
many users.
The second situation needs greater elaboration as it is of critical

significance for us.

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Behaviour :
Behaviour refers the way of acting or functioning behaviour is the

interaction with the ambient surrounding environment inherent in living creatures
and mediated by their external and inner activeness. Behaviour is generally
mediated by needs, motives, personality, perception, learning, involvement
attitude, communication, persuasion, culture, reference groups, family, and social
class.
3.3. Definitions & Meaning

Definitions:
1) Consumer behaviour is defined variedly. The dictionary of Marketing and

Advertising defines consumer behaviour as “observable activities chosen to
maximize satisfaction through the attainment of economic goods and services
such as choice of retail outlet, preference for particular brands and so on.
2) Ostrow and Smith’s
“The action of Consumer in the marketplace and the underlying

motives for those actions. Marketers expect that by understanding what causes
Consumers to buy particular good and services they will be able to determine
which products are needed in the market place, which are obsolete, and how best
to present the goods to consumer.”
3) Definition of consumer behavior is "The study of individuals, groups, or

organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of
products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that
these processes have on the consumer and society." Although it is not necessary
to memorize this definition, it brings up some useful points:
• Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e.g.,
friend’s influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization
(people on the job make decisions as to which products the firm should use).

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• Consumer behavior involves the use and disposal of products as well as the
study of how they are purchased. Product use is often of great interest to
the marketer, because this may influence how a product is best positioned
or how we can encourage increased consumption. Since many
environmental problems result from product disposal (e.g., motor oil being
sent into sewage systems to save the recycling fee, or garbage piling up at
landfills) this is also an area of interest.
• Consumer behavior involves services and ideas as well as tangible products.
• The impact of consumer behavior on society is also of relevance. For

example, aggressive marketing of high fat foods, or aggressive marketing of
easy credit, may have serious repercussions for the national health and
economy.
2. Meaning
Buying behaviour is all psychological, social and physical behaviour of

potential Customer as they become aware of evaluate, purchase , consume , and
tell other people about products and service. It includes the acts of individuals
directly involved in obtaining and using economic goods and services including
actual purchase is only a part of the decision process. In buyer behaviour we
consider not only why, how , and what people buy but other factors such as where
, how often and under what conditions the purchase made. An understanding of
buyer behaviour is essential in marketing planning and programmes. In the final
analysis buyer behaviour is one of the most important key to successful
marketing.

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3.4. A Model of Consumer Behavior
3.5. Factors influencing the Consumer Buying Behaviour

3.5.1. Cultural
1. Culture
Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer.

That is, culture represents influences that are imposed on the consumer by other
individuals.
The definition of culture offered in the text is "That complex whole

which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by man person as a member of society. Cultural factors have
a significant impact on customer behaviour. Culture is the most basic cause of a

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person’s wants and behaviour. Growing up, children learn basic values, perception
and wants from the family and other important groups. Marketing are always
trying to spot “cultural shifts” which might point to new products that might be
wanted by customers or to increased demand.
2. Subculture
Each culture contains “sub-cultures” – groups of people with share

values. Sub-cultures can include nationalities, religions, racial groups, or groups of
people sharing the same geographical location. Sometimes a sub-culture will
create a substantial and distinctive market segment of its own. For example, the
“youth culture” or “club culture” has quite distinct values and buying
characteristics from the much older “gray generation”
3. Social class:
Differences in social class can create customer groups. In fact, the

official six social classes in the UK are widely used to profile and predict different
customer behaviour. In the UK’s socioeconomic classification scheme, social class
is not just determined by income. It is measured as a combination of occupation,
income, education, wealth and other variables:
Percentage
Class name Social Status Occupational Head of Household of
Population
Higher managerial, administrative or
A Upper middle 3
professional
Intermediate managerial, administrative
B Middle 14
or professional
Superiors or clerical, junior managerial,
C1 Lower middle 27
administrative or professional
C2 Skilled working Skilled manual workers 25
Semi-skilled and un-skilled manual
D Working 19
workers
E Those at lowest State pensioners or widows, casual or 12
level of lower-grade workers

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Subsistence
3.5.2. Social
Reference groups
A group that serve as reference point and influence an individuals

affective responses, cognition and behaviour. It influences a person thoughts and
actions. Most people rely on several reference groups for information on various
groups or relating to different decisions.
Affinity marketing is focused on the desires of consumers that belong

to reference groups. Marketers get the groups to approve the product and
communicate that approval to its members. Credit Cards etc.!!
The degree to which a reference group will affect a purchase decision

depends on an individual’s susceptibility to reference group influence and the
strength of his/her involvement with the group.
e.g. an individual going on honeymoon may consult one reference

group and while shopping a loan for a car may consult another reference group.
Knowing the reference and using those reference groups play a vital
role in designing marketing strategies.
Family
As the fundamental social unit, the family’s influence on consumer

behaviour is most important. Family acts as a purchasing unit and may supplying
needs of perhaps two or more generation.
For example :
In our families the parents not only look after the needs of their
children but also of their grand children.
One view about religion, polities is influences by the family.

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One’s attitude towards material possessions and thrift are shaped by the family..
In addition the family socialises children to adopt particular form of purchasing

behaviour in the purchases of products and services and acts a major influences
group. In May cases the children imitate the elders.
For examples:
If you ask a young person why did you open your accounts in this
bank, you may get answer “my dad has it here.”
Roles and status
Roles are the patterns of needs, goal, beliefs, attitudes, values and
behaviour that are expected of an individual occupying a particular position in the
society. Every individual has a specific role or position within each group to which
and individual belongs. In a family individual may act as husband/father/wife/
mother, son/brother or daughter/sister. And same individual may be in the role of
sales person, supervisor, and on Sunday may assume a role of social worker or
adult education instructor. Each role can affect how the individual behaves when
purchasing the tools related to the role.
Status is the positioning of an individual within a group, organisation

or society. Generally individuals are ambitious and are desirous to achieve higher
status within the given role. This desire affects their buying behaviour. Such
individuals are interested in prestigious brands and service offering and willing to
pay whatever prices are set. Higher the price, greater the status. Based on this
perception the advertiser designs their ads which appeal directly to desire of
status. For example an advertisement may claim that carrying a particular card is
a sign of status.

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3.5.3. Personal
Some of the personal factors that affect the consumer behaviour are
age, stage in the family life style, personal economic circumstances, occupation,
lifestyle, personality and self concept.
Age and family life cycle stage :
The kinds of services people buy change over the course of their
lifetime. Individual progress through a series of stages relating to their family
situation. These stages have a very important influence on the tastes and
consumption patterns of the individual and the family unit.
The family life cycle concept is based on age, marital status, number
and age of children and work status each of which affects the consumers needs,
wants and ability to buy.

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Financial Banking needs

Stages
situation
Young, single
people Few financial burdens, Low cost checking ,auto
recreation oriented loan, credit card
Home purchasing peak, Mortgage, credit cards

Full nest : youngest
liquid asset low, many revolving credit line, bill
child under six
working mother. consolidation loan.
Home improvement loans
equity credit line,
Full nest : older
Good financial position, certificates of deposits
couples with
many working mothers. money market deposit
dependent children
accounts, other
investment services
Empty nest: older Monthly income checks
couples no children at Significantly reduced on CDs, estate planning,
home one or both income direct deposit of social
retired. security check.
Occupation :
Employment patterns also affect services. Several jobs require

specialized equipment or clothing. In addition, people buy services that will give
them greater status in the workplace.
Economic Circumstance

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With income changes over time, an individual’s ability to use financial

serves also change. Although it is important to use income as a base for
segmentation but net worth figures are benchmarks and do not presume credit
worthiness.
Personal economic factors such as income, saving , net worth and

ability to borrow affect people’s power to buy.
Personality and self concept
Personality can be defined as the aggregation an individual’s traits or

characteristics that make him or her unique. Some people are outgoing; other are
shy. Some are nonconformists; other is cautious and so on. Marketers look for
specific personality traits in target market and sell into it.
Self concept is closely related to personality; it refers to the way we

see ourselves and think others see us. People select products, banks and other
services that coincide with their self concept.

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4. Psychological
Motivation
Motivation is nothing but stimulate the personnel or individual to buy

particular thing in terms of services or goods. Generally the tools motivation is
used to creation of sprit in individual behaviour so that they enforced to
purchase particular goods or services.
Perception
Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain attempts to

make sense out of the stimuli to which we are exposed. This works well, for
example, when we "see" a friend three hundred feet away at his or her correct
height; however, our perception is sometimes "off"—for example, certain shapes
of ice cream containers look like they contain more than rectangular ones with the
same volume.
Learning
Learning involves "a change in the content or organization of long

term memory and/or behavior." The first part of the definition focuses on what we
know (and can thus put to use) while the second focuses on concrete behavior.
For example, many people will avoid foods that they consumed shortly before
becoming ill. Learning is not all knowledge based. For example, we may
experience the sales people in one store being nicer to us than those in the other.
We thus may develop a preference for the one store over the other; however, if
pressed, we may not be able to give a conscious explanation as to the reason for
our preference.
Much early work on learning was actually done on rats and other animals (and
much of this research was unjustifiably cruel, but that is another matter).

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Beliefs and attitudes
Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s (1) beliefs about, (2) feelings
about, (3) and behavioral intentions toward some object--within the context of
marketing, usually a brand or retail store. These components are viewed together
since they are highly interdependent and together represent forces that influence
how the consumer will react to the object. A consumer may hold both positive
beliefs toward an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as negative beliefs (e.g.,
coffee is easily spilled and stains papers). In addition, some beliefs may be neutral
(coffee is black), and some may be differ in valance depending on the person or
the situation (e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates--good on a cold morning, but not
good on a hot summer evening when one wants to sleep). Note also that the
beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that pork contains little
fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer examination, be contradictory (e.g., that a
historical figure was a good person but also owned slaves).

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3.6. Consumer Buying Process:
Awareness
Search and
Comprehension
Attitude Development
Evolution of
alternative
Purchase
Adoption and post

purchase behaviour

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3.7. Consumer Buying Process:
The consumer buying process is generally regarded as being similar in

services to the purchase of other products and services. The consumer moves
through number of stages leading Upto purchase. The stages in the model can be
explained as under.
Stage 1
Awareness
Before any services officering can be considered underlying
motivations to be aroused or to surface as desire to solve a problem or state of
tension. Concurrently there will also be number of inhibitors such as lack of time
availability other alternatives which can cause postponement of decision or
terminate the search process. At this stage there is a limited knowledge about the
service.
Stage 2
Search and comprehension
In this stage the buyer obtains more information to assess the benefits
a service might offer. This could involve the evaluation of a number of alternatives
which might meet the requirements of the consumer.
Stage 3
Attitude development
The attitude development depends on the nature of stimuli receive in
the previous stage. It also depends on whether the purchase is high involvement
(expensive and risk laden) or low involvement (routine and not risky). Consulting
other, verifying the information drawing on previous experiences will either
reinforce and existing attitude or bring a change on the part of the buyer.

Kolhapur
Stage 4
Evaluation of alternatives
The prospective customer will make more detailed analysis and
comparison between competing offerings, rank the alternative and will move to
preferences. The ranking will be based on analysis and as set of choice criteria
such as price, recommendation needs, convenience, convention etc during this
stage. Only then will a consumer be in a position to match the benefits offered to
their. If the match is suitable he or she will proceed to purchase convinced about
the potential benefits.
Stage 5
Purchase
The consumer will buy the service offering subject to time and
financial constraints. The latter two factors could still precipitate a withdrawal
from purchase at this late stage.
Stage 6
Adoption and post purchase behaviour
If the experience of service consumed is satisfactory, the consumer
will repurchase the service. It is possible that a consumer will have misgivings
about the purchase as it did not meet expectations because alternatives to such a
service appear more attractive in comparison. In such cases the feeling of concern
held by the consumer is referred to as logniture dissonance.

Kolhapur
CHAPTER IV
Data Analysis & Interpretation.
Table No. I
TABLE SHOWING MARKET SEGAMENTATION OPTIONAL

CHOICE WISE RESPONDENDS
CHOICE OF NO OF
PERCENTAGE
SERVICE RESPONDENTS
BSNL 54 77
PRIVATE 16 23
77%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40% BSNL
30% 23% PRIVATE
20%
10%
0%
BSNL PRIVATE

Kolhapur
Interpretation:
The above table and graph shows that majority respondents were
considers BSNL service before buying other private services i.e. 77Percentage and
only 23Percentage respondents were considers other telecommunication
services.
From the above analysis the researcher has find out that majority of the
respondents were planned to take BSNL or other private services before deciding
to buy BSNL because those respondents are dual mind.

Kolhapur
Table No. II
TABLE SHOWING CONSUMER ATTITUDE TOWARDS BSNL
SERVICES OPINION ABOUT PURPOSE
OF SERVICE
NO OF
PURPOSE PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS
Family 32 46
Business only 20 29
Personal use 18 25
Total 70 100
50% 46%
40%
29%
30% 25% Family
Busines
20%
Personsal
10%
0%
Family Business Personal

Kolhapur
Interpretation :
The 46 percent of the consumer consume these services for family+
business purpose. On the other hand 29 percent consumers are having these
services for business purpose. And rest of them mean 25 percent consumers are
using for personal purpose.

Kolhapur
Table No. III
TABLE SHOWING RESPONDENTS OPINION ABOUT SERVICE OF

BSNL
NO OF
Service Percentage
RESPONDENTS
Satisfied 42 60
Dissatisfied 28 40
40%
60%
Satisfied
Dissatisfied

Kolhapur
Interpretation :
In the above table shows that majority of respondents were satisfied
after sales service of the BSNL services i.e. 60 percentage but 40 percentage
respondents were dissatisfied.

Kolhapur
Table no. IV
TABLE SHOWING SEX WISE MARKET SEGAMENTATION
BSNL PRIVATE
NO OF NO OF
GENDER PERCENTAGE PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS RESPONDENTS
MALE 47 67 17 24
FEMALE 23 33 7 10
70
60
50
40
MALE
30 FEMALE
20
10
0
BSNL PRIVATE

Kolhapur
Interpretation :
The above table and graph shows that, male customer is 67Percentage
and female customers are 33Percentage for BSNL services.
On the other hand there are 24Percentage and 10 Percentage male and
female customers for private telecommunication for respectively.

Kolhapur
Table No. V
RESPONDENTS OPINION ABOUT COMPETITIVE STRENGTH OF

BSNL
STRENGTH NO OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE
100Percentage agreed 45 64
50 Percentage agreed 20 29
Not agreed 5 7
COMPETITIVE STRENGTH OF BSNL
100% Agreed
50 % Agreed
7% Not agreed
29%
64%

Kolhapur
Interpretation
The above table and graph shows that 64 percent respondents strongly
agreed with competitive strength of BSNL 29 percent consumer agreed with BSNL
competitive strength. And 7 percent respondents are disagreed for the same

Kolhapur
CHAPTER V
OBSERVATIONS AND FINDING
The finding and conclusions are based on the data collected and
interpreted in earlier chapter.
Observations And Findings

1) Due to increasing cutthroat competition in the telecommunication services. The
customer has plenty of option to take new services. Due to the company
reputation and easy plan the customer are having taking services of BSNL than
other private services.
2) Basically respondents are using BSNL services for family and business purpose
because BSNL is providing “Sulabh Plan” for just incoming and “Yakin Nahi
AAta” plan for intercalling free facility.
3) It is observed that the customers of BSNL are quite satisfied with the welcome
schemes. But due to lack of sufficient knowledge about schemes the
employees of BSNL are not give the highest quality services to the customers.
4) Male customers always exploring for good coverage network. BSNL is proving
this service properly. Ultimately male customers are intensifying for BSNL
services than others
5) From the above analysis the researcher has find out the majority of
respondents agreed with competitive strength about BSNL’S service purchased.

Kolhapur
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Conclusion
1) Since earlier days of Telecommunication services BSNL has been providing
quality services hence, it creates good faith in the society or market. Thus it
influences, existing customers and prospects positively.
2) Due to competition in the telecommunication services all service provider cut
the rate of call. So customers have plenty of option to take services hence
customer has dual mentality in consuming service. But BSNL has been
preferred because company reputation, easy plans and no other extra charges.
3) BSNL provides its services after verification of documents but its time
consuming.
4) BSNL has its own advanced infrastructure. Hence they are not need to charge
any hidden charges. E.g. clip facility, roaming charges etc like other private
telecommunication services.
5) The BSNL is the first service provider in the telecommunication service. Hence
it becomes most experienced one in the telecommunication sector than other
service provider.
6) BSNL creates new innovation in telecommunication that is Video conferacing,
up coming Cable TV, Fast Broad band service etc. these type of service not
provided by the other service provider hence the competitive strength of
BSNL’s is greater than other service provider.
7) The highest number of customers of the BSNL is Landline are either home use
or Businessman.
8) Majority of the customer are BSNL’s old customers.
9) T.V. advertisement, radio advertisement, newspaper and friends and relatives
are the important sources of information about to the customers.
10) No any other charges, striates schemes, low maintenance are the strong points
of the BSNL.
11) Majority of the customers of BSNL services are satisfied regarding welcome
schemes provided by the BSNL.

Kolhapur
Suggestions
Competitive advertisement strategy can be adopted by the BSNL.
2. Frequently new sales promotion activities can be introduced by the BSNL to
increase the awareness of customers.
3. Customer can be properly motivated when he visits the CSC of BSNL for first
time with intension for purchasing.
4. BSNL can make more use of T.V. Newspaper and magazines for advertisement
about the new plans and it is improvement.
5. Process of giving connection is very lengthy that should be easy and
clear.
6. They can provide facility of on line registration by Internet.
7. Still few employees are not known about the services and their uses.
Give the proper training to them.
8. They have to promote Plans and promotion campaign.
9. Still BSNL is not appoints sales girls and sales person in the Customer
service centers. Appointment of Sales girls and sales person shall be beneficial
for BSNL collection of revenue.
10. Researcher would like to suggest BSNL to promote information of
behavioral training to maintain and retain good relation with their subscribers.
11. Through BSNL is providing better services than private sector there is
need to provide telecommunication service access to the needs and changing
consumption pattern of subscribers.
For example
a) They can adopt the token payment policy for payment of the telephone and
mobile bills.
b) Online disconnections and reconnections of telephone are required.
c) Working environment is improved.
This will enable BSNL to create distinct position in the competitive market.

Kolhapur
 Bibliography
◙ Telephone directory
◙ BSNL Marketing section
◙ Www. BSNL. co. in
◙ www.marketigngteacher.com
◙ www.learnmarketing.net
◙ Marketing management (Eleventh Edition) by Philip

Kotler
◙ Marketing research and consumer buying behaviour by

Gordon w. Paul

Kolhapur

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Shivaji University, Kolhapur

Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study

-1- Vivekanand College,

In a company’s marketing mix and factors present in the external

The consumer market buys goods and services for personal

The buyer's behavior is influenced by four major factors: cultural

Before planning its marketing, a company needs to identify its target

The amount of buying deliberateness and the number of buying

-2- Vivekanand College,

behavior, dissonance-reducing buying behavior, habitual buying behavior, and

In complex buying behavior, the buyer goes through a decision

The psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select

1.2. Objective of Study :

-3- Vivekanand College,

1) To find out the responsible factors for the changing customer

1.3. Scope of Study:

The study of consumer buying behaviour is concerned with marketing

1.4. Limitations of the Study:

1.5. Sources of Collection:

-4- Vivekanand College,

The first hand information collected is called primary data.

I. Questionnaire: information obtained through questionnaire i.e.

The secondary data was collected through various magazines, News

I. Information collected through magazines.

-5- Vivekanand College,

In 1975, the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T.

2.2 Brief History of Organisation :

The foundation of Telecom Network in India was laid by British

-6- Vivekanand College,

2000, is World's 7th largest Telecommunications Company providing

To become the largest telecom Service Provider in South East Asia.

2. To provide world class telecom infrastructure to develop the country's

 To be a Lead Telecom Services Provider.

 Build customers confidence through quality and reliable service.

 Provide Bandwidth on demand.

 Broadband customers base of 20 million in the country by 2010 as per

 Telephone in all villages.

 Implementation of Triple play as a regular commercial proposition.

-7- Vivekanand College,

2.6 Infrastructure of Business of BSNL:

BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and

2.7 Area’s of BSNL:

2.8 Organization Structure:

In BSNL smooth and efficient functioning can be partly attributed to

2.8.1 Telecom Circles:

-8- Vivekanand College,

2.8.2 Information regarding the Firm :

Name of the Firm :- BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED

(A Government of India Enterprises)

Establishment :- 1st October 2000

Type of Firm : - PSU

Working Staff : - 1458 Persons

Total Customers : - Approximately 3, 00,000

Age Group of Customers : - All age group

Software Used : - Dot Soft and HRMS pay Modules

2.9 Services provided by the BSNL :

• Services provided by the BSNL are as follows:

-9- Vivekanand College,

-10- Vivekanand College,