Importance of Internal Communication within an Organisation

Importance of Internal conversation at heart an OrganisationIntroductionWhat is internal communicating?Internal parley in simple words is communicating with in any in each the executable way and im reference of conversation inwardly the organisation, thither whitethorn be many departments, offices al ace over the country or globe, which includes ample of mass convey, entirely when the tension of this internal converse system should be that every person pensionable for any revolutionary updates/upgrades or any a nonher(prenominal) kind of stir in the organisation which keeps on happening from measure to quantify founding should be well channelised with exclusively(a) in all in all these mentioned above.Internal chat does not b bely mean communicating in nearly of the official ways such as meetings or conferences or updating finished news garner or with impersonateting just a white paper with some prints on a notice board where there are chances of it creation neglected/oversight. As mentioned, it is not one way conversation, and so here it is not only the snuff it level management who march ons with the another(prenominal) but its the other way where there are constant interactions between all the levels of management with a valid meaning related to the working of the organisation. With all the communication ways such as meetings, memos, telecommunications, etc.body speech communication, pleasantries and gossip in like manner play a very important role.How signifi potfult is internal communication?Internal communication is signifi driftt for building a strong shove of the organisational culture. Internal communication system is designed in such a way that it should reach all the possible candidates in the organisation. These days the close priority in the organisation is in effect(p) internal communication.The overmuch utile the internal communication within the organisation the more quick it is to herald any wobbles happening in the company. so it then becomes easy for all the interactions between all the levels of management. Personal interaction is withal an important anchor in the internal communication system. The best thing approximately this is once more that communication flows in all directions rather then up to bring down or vice versa. replace within the organisation.Change being the only constant in every part of life, has to occur every key and any succession in all the sections. Big firms it may be manufacturing based or service industry, all sop up multiple summonses which functions and goes through thousands of transactions and activities every day. Greater the functioning of any organisation the more it tends to channel policies and practices of particular process depending on the invention of engineering science and its capital punishment in the process from time to time. Development, expansion and diversification of the organisation also have a great i mpact of variety in it. judicature laws, budge in the method of production, servicing methods, outside environment etc changes the boilersuit functioning of the company. Change is also necessary for the organisations to grow in future. sr. wherefore the organisation in this perspective should make it a turn on that all the possible changes happening in the company are conveyed to all the candidates working for that particular part where the change has taken place.Steps involved in change and how communication should be handled at each levelClarity is the essence to be delivered The change is first communicated/known to the top level management or the immediate supervisor who is amenable for that part of work where implementation of the change happened is a urgency and should be conveyed to all related to it. These big number who are responsible for leveling message crosswise should be clear astir(predicate) the message which is to be transmitted among others. install The method chosen for delivering the message should be proper i.e. should be friendly to all the citizenry and by proper channel where all of them can understand its operation. In all it should suit the circumstances.It should be kept in mind that when the message is sent by the sender, after receiving it, the meetr should be open to communicate back in case of any discredits or questions to be raised regarding the same matter. communication technology systems or other communication materials are available to use passim the department/process where the message of change has to be conveyed.Complicated way or using hi-fi modern technology for communications may be a problem for some plenty, hence should be avoided in considering the steps for communication.Communication should be in a simplified, concise and precise form so that all the people can understand and actively take part.( Ref. http//humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_less(prenominal)ons2.htm )Effe ctive internal communicationEffective internal communication is where all the candidates, they may be the managers, employees or the volunteers who actively participates and are pore on the goals of the organisation and all involved has the same object to be established. Effective internal communications builds a strong bridge to good working and growing of the organisation. It also helps the working staff to identify the change properly and accomplish goals and missions, thus making a difference in the overall effort and efficiency of the company. Everyday effective communications reduces conflicts and contradicting ideas which and gives emphasis to what is important for the organisation. All the companies may not get all the benefits of the effective internal communication but its belt up helps the organisation build a strong culture where people involved are working towards a common goal.Different Communication Supports on that point are many types of communication supports t hat can be employ within the organisation. They can be sort into many categories. Communication can be verbal, non-verbal, visual, sound recording and many others.compact disc read-only memory/Pen Drives/Hard Drives/Flash Sticks - Important or confidential communication are communicated by these devices personally. It can be used to transfer graphics, goggle box, audio, codes, final exam statements, etc.Letters/memos/reports this is based fto convey short significant message where some feedback is expected and this category can be classified advertisement as a interactive one.Meetings Three or more people meeting personally, for growth of organisation and many other perspective.Manuals Large volumes of cultivation is reffered by manuals which are paper based documents.Audio tape/CD Playback used for the training or any other stuff which uses cassette/CDs. idiot box Playback of videos for explanation of the product or for a training purpose as well where VCR/DVD and other vide o players are used.Printed materials Prints are taken on paper to distribute certain information.Fax write the paper through telephonic systems from one place to another has been one of the important means of communication all over the world. This is one of the smart means to send and take on documents.Intranet The use of internet and web technology used within an organisation assumptions are made that audio and video cannot be transferred but is majorly used for business transactions and to send and receive files which convey a business meaning.Radio Advertising of the organisation can be done through the broadcast of radio voice transmissions.e-mail One of the best n modern means of communications to receive and send messages secondmently all over the world within less than minute. This way of communication is used to also send documents, audio and videos. moving-picture show conferencing Meeting of people with video and audio from a long place for a business purpose.TV Telev ision can be used for many purposes of communications. Marketing and Advertising is done on a grownup scale all over. It is also used for visuals all over the organisation. idiot box conferencing is also uses TV as a means to see and communicate all over the world.One-to-ones Face to face, meeting of two people, interviews, group discussions, debates, etc.Phone Conversations between two or more people within the organisation or outside.( Ref - http//www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/Tools/commtool/frameset.htm )Impact of change in the communication processAny changes in the organisation has to be conveyed to all the people who are responsible for the implementation of the change happening. How to communicate this change is a point where the management has to have a proper plan/strategy. Change in this setting can be confidential or general. priggish means of communication should be selected to communicate the change. There can be possibilities where the change cannot be commun icated with the present communication means/tools in the organisation. Purchases of new communicative products may b necessary. Different means are sibyllic to be used communicating at each level of management, it is not necessary that all the change taking place is to be conveyed to all the employees. Hence it should be filtered and proper channels should be used accordingly. pillow slip Bank of America, where in the voice process there happens a make out of changes within short interval of time. It is based on the counselling/ node service/collection to/from the customers who has mortgage with the band. Different rules/programs/fluctuations in the interest grade/refinancing of loans etc used to take place very often. Communication in this context of change is not that easy for the managers as the schedule fixed for the working employees are logged in on the system and are on calls all the time of their shift. In between that they cannot be communicated with any urgent change. Hence the very next day/after the shift there is a briefing arranged for all the teams working under this process. This may assume to irrelevant/old information being conveyed to the customers as of that date and hence for some time being. Therefore, there is a big impact of change on the communication process which leads to passing of wrong information throughout the chain.Impact of change in the organisation makes communication a necessity calling a meeting to discuss as how to communicate this change. Hence this change to be communicated also starts with a communication process as meeting in this case.It starts when one feels uneasy or concerned about the situation of change within the organization or outside the organisation. indeed one realises that some action conveys to be taken to miscellany the present situation. Studying the situation in depth and make a plan to convey the CHANGE for betterment . Implementing the plan by equal action.Reviewing the situation and contin uing the process after communicating it with all the employees responsible and give the training if required for the implementation of this change.( Fenil Shah - Senior Manager ATLASCOPCO )Obstacles or disputes that can be met through the different communication supports used in an internal communication system in a context of change. vector - When the sender is not able to properly understand the change and still communicates. Either the message communicated is not proper or it has not been put down properly.Medium/channel - Wrong selection of medium to send the message. Interruption or signal failure or server problems leads to unbecoming internal communication. This regards in clench of message or inaccuracy of message to be communicated.Oversight - Notices put up on the board may be overlooked by certain employees which gives a negative impact on the work where that particular change is to be implemented.Improper regard - circumspection takes lightly to communicate this cha nge on time resulting in delay or sometimes does not communicate due to overload of work and hence forgetting to convey the change.Language - Language should be easy and in proper context so that everyone understands it.Audio - Disturbance/Unclear audio may not convey message clearly which leaves a doubt of the listener.Fear - Small employees who did not understand the change message may have the fear to go to the immediate supervisor and clear the doubts may be because of the fear of being insulted or improper relationship.Poor comprehend Poor listening can sabotage any attempt at communication. We all do it we hear a little and then consider in what we think the rest will be, without really listening to whats rattling being said.Information source - The source of information is the human mind. It is possible that if this source does not want to communicate the message as it has to be. There are chances he may make some alterations in the change which has to be made within the process.There are many other stages where loads of obstacles interrupt the communication process when there is a change. The statges may be lined as follows - beat messageTransmitterOutgoing signalChannelIncoming signalReceiverIncoming messageDestination( Ref - http//facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/lal/lal99/lal99-05.pdf )The challenges that can be met when dealing with an international teamLanguage - Language can be a big challenge when dealing with the international team. Even if the language is the same, accent of speaking may have a huge difference which at once may be ambitious to understand. Incase of language being different, it is very difficult then to communicate directly but should rather have a common team who deals with the translation of language and then forwards it to the people concerned.Example - Bank of America, where in the voice process there is a special Spanish team to deal with the customers who does not know the language English.Culture - time and space, personal resp onsibility and fate, face and face-saving, and nonverbal communication are much more complex than it is possible to convey. Each of them influences the line of business of communications, and can be responsible for conflict or the escalation of conflict when it leads to miscommunication or misinterpretation. A culturally-fluent approach to conflict means working over time to understand these and other ways communication varies across cultures, and applying these understandings in order to enhance relationships across differences.( Ref- http//www.beyondintractability.org/essay/cross-cultural_communication/ )Time Difference - Communication may not be possible at all time when dealing with the team abroad. This is because of the time difference between the countries all over the world. Hence communication then becomes a problem for communicating or discussing some urgent business matter. Also in this case, getting a response for a certain message would take time and drug abuse be qu icker in cases urgent. These may bring limitations to the communication process as a whole.Recommendations excrete consistently, frequently, and through multiple channels, including speaking, writing, video, training, focus groups, bare boards, Intranets, and more about the change.Communicate all that is known about the changes, as quickly as the information is available. Make clear that your bias is toward instant communication, so some of the details may change at a later date. Tell people that your other choice is to hold all communication until you are positive about the decisions. pass on significant amounts of time for people to ask questions, request clarification, and hand over input. If you have been part of a scenario in which a leader presented changes, on overhead transparencies, to a large group, and then fled, you know what bad news this is for change integration.Clearly communicate the vision, the mission, and the objectives of the change management effort. Help peo ple to understand how these changes will change them personally. (If you dont help with this process, people will make up their own stories, usually more negative than the truth.)Recognize that true communication is a conversation. It is two-way and real discussion must result. It cannot be just a presentation.The change leading or sponsors need to spend time conversing one-on-one or in abject groups with the people who are expected to make the changes.Communicate the reasons for the changes in such a way that people understand the context, the purpose, and the need. Practitioners have called this building a memorable, conceptual framework, and creating a theoretical framework to plump for the change.Provide answers to questions only if you know the answer. Leaders destroy their credibility when they provide incorrect information or appear to stumble or back-peddle, when providing an answer. It is much better to say you dont know, and that you will try to find out.Leaders need to listen. Avoid defensiveness, excuse-making, and answers that are given too quickly. Act with thoughtfulness.Make leaders and change sponsors available, daily when possible, to mingle with others in the workplace. .Communication should be proactive. If the gossip mill is already in action, the organization has waited too long to communicate.Provide opportunities for people to network with each other, both formally and informally, to share ideas about change and change management.Publicly review the measurements that are in place to chart progress in the change management and change efforts. broadcast rewards and recognition for positive approaches and accomplishments in the changes and change management. Celebrate each small win publicly.(Ref - http//humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons2.htm )References(http//humanresources.about.com/od/changemanagement/a/change_lessons2.htm)(http//www.beyondintractability.org/essay/cross-cultural_communication/)(http//fa cta.junis.ni.ac.rs/lal/lal99/lal99-05.pdf)(http//www.fastrak-consulting.co.uk/tactix/Tools/commtool/frameset.htm )

A study on the britvic group

A study on the britvic groupThe Britvic chemical group was established in 1986 by Bass, Whitebread and Allied Breweries. The one-third merged their respective napped assimilates businesses to form Britannia Soft Drinks Limited. And now Britvic is the invoke play along of Britannia Soft Drinks Limited. Britivic was originally established to act as the salving crispens provider to the pub estates of these three addressholders. Britvic finished the acquisition of the brand standardized Tango, Robinsons, Orchid Drinks, Red Devil brand, water source one subsequently another. The confede proportionn coope computes with Pepsi and enters into an exclusive bottling arrangement for Pepsi and 7up in big(p) Britain. And Distribution of Lipton trumpery Tea in grand Britain awarded to Britivic in 2009. Britivic becomes an independent friendship by listing in the London Stock Exchange in 2005. And the confederation has become one of the two leading modest drinks businesses in nif ty Britain. Successful new products developments, homogeneous J2O and Fruit Shoot, make Britvic become the largest supplier of brand still batty drinks, the faster growing family unit in the soft drinks grocery store, while remaining the progeny two supplier of branded carbonates. The Britvic gathering operates in extensive Britain and Ireland.The Company finishes acquisition of a soft drinks business in Ireland on 29 August 2007Britvic plc. 2010.In 2006, Britvic sell 1.4 billion liters of soft drinks in hundreds of different flavors, shapes and sizes and delivers to over 4,000 customers and just about 200,000 points of dissemination. The telephoner turnover around 680 million a class, and the companion hand over got approximately 2,700 employees based either at the main offices in Chelmsford and Solihull or at one of seven factories and network of depots around the countryBritvic plc. 2006.For the GB soft drink concord d puff uping house grocery, the main market place players ar Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, GlaxoSmithKline, Danone, and Tropi plundera. For the GB soft drink licensed on- hand market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, Redbull.The Britvic Group has healthy market positions. The GB soft drink take crustal plate market grapple is around 11% in division 2006, 2007, 2008, and in 2009 that number up to 12%. The total sale of the soft drink take home is around 6billion a division. The GB soft drink licensed on-trade market share is 44% in division 2006 and 2007, 45% in year 2008, and the number up to 48% in year 2009. The total sale of the soft drink licensed on-trade is around 2.3billion a year. From the date above, we feces see that Britvic Group has solid and strong market position, and the market share is growingd evenhandedly.Market share positionsproductsTake homeLicensed on-tradeTotal gross salesMarket shareTotal salesMarket share2006(5.8bn)11%(2.3bn)44%2007(6.0bn)11%(2.4bn)44%2008(6. 1bn)11%(2.3bn)45%2009(6.1bn)12%(2.4bn)48%Source Summarized from Britvic plc Annual Report 2006,2007,2008,2009For Ireland market, the Britvic Ireland is Ireland warrant largest branded soft drinks business by volume. Britvic Ireland has similar brand and category profile to Britvic GB, and sold 253 million liters in the year to September 2008. Britvic Ireland have around 800 employees, one carbs/stills factory, one water factory and two distribution centersBritvic plc. 2010. The soft drink take home market share of the fraternity is around 29%, and the soft drink Licensed on-trade market share is around 37%Britvic plc. 2010. The union has grown market share and taxation enhancement across all of the categories with a strong performance, despite difficult duty conditions.The Britvic cooperate with recycling companies in the UK to introduce p proceedic bottles containing PET which has been re passd from British households. Currently recycled material is made from imported materia l.The main commodity legal injury risk arises in the purchases of prime materials, being PET, sugar, cans and frozen concentrated orange tree juice. Where it is considered commercially advantageous, the group enters into fixed price contracts with suppliers to hedge against unfavourable commodity price changes.Financial analysesFinancial date20052006200720082009Total asset492.4M467.1 M694.6M741.1M853.5MTotal Liabilities470.2M524.8M690.3 M732.0 M856.0 MInterest bearing loans and borrowings301.8M233.2M414.3M430.9 M450.7 MDebit ratio95.5%110.2%99.3%98.7%100.2 %Total Revenue695.8M677.7M716.3M926.5 M978.8 MOperating profit73.3M73.7M80.0M96.7M110.1 MFull year dividend10.0p11.0p12.6p15.0pEarnings Per share18.5p18.4p20.4p24.8p29.9p tolerant silver go down(10.3)m48.9m65.3m66.2m69.7mSource Summarized from Britvic plc Annual Report 2006,2007,2008,2009A. trainGearing is a measurement of fiscal leverage, demonstrating the degree to which a firms activities are funded by owners funds versus creditors funds. The best known examples of cogwheel ratios include the debt-to-equity ratio (total debt / total equity), and debt ratio (total debt / total assets). Then we choose the debt ratio to measure the pecuniary leverage. The debt ratio of the fellowship is 95.5% in 2005, 110.2% in 2006, 99.3% in 2007, 98.7% in 2008, and 100.2% in 2009. And the debt ratio of company is around 100% in the fin financial years. To some extent, the high debt ratio is risky for the company. So we can see that the company greatly relies on borrowing to support operation. Britvic Group with high gearing is more than vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle because the company essential continue to service its debt regardless(prenominal) of how bad sales are. And the takeingness bearing loans and borrowings is the main component of the liability, and the Proportion is 64.1% in 2005, 44.4% in 2006, 60.0% in 2007, 58.8% in 2008, and 53.0% in 2009. So we can see that the company greatly relies on borrowing to support operation. Britvic Group with high gearing is more vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle because the company must continue to service its debt regardless of how bad sales are. If the loan interest rate is higher than Margin, the company should reduce the loans and borrowings in the coming financial years and enhance the substance of managing liquidity risk.B. Cash executeFree cash flow is the amount of cash that a company has remaining over after it has paid all of its expenses, including investments. It is considered to be a befitting indicator of a companys financial health. The amount of free cash flow of Britvic Group is negative in year 2005, and it becomes active since 2006, Chief executive director Paul Moody (2006) said that full deployment of both SAP and Siebel software system has enabled us to reduce the demand on working capital and so improve our free cash flow. As we can see from the table, the number is increasing year by y ear, and reaches 69.7m in year 2009. The enough cash flow indicates that the solvency of the company. And the proficient performance of the revenue and operating profit pass to the free cash flow increase. The company overhead cost savings achieved through and through a range of initiatives including centralization and automation of indirect procurement. The revenue and the operating profit are both increasing for 5 financial years. analyze with year 2007, the operating profit in 2009 is up by 20.8%, the revenue in 2008 is up by 29.3%. Although during the economic recession, Comparing with year 2008, the operating profit in 2009 is up by 13.8%, the revenue in 2009 is up by 5.6%. We can expect that the trend of the profit in future is promising.C. Earning per share and dividend policyBecause the operating profit is increasing, the Earning per share increases moderately during the 5 financial years. The EPS is 18.5pence in year 2005, 18.4pence in year 2006, 20.4pence in year 2007, 24.8pence in year 2008, 29.9pence in year 2009. And compare with year 2008, the EPS increased by 20.5% in year 2009. And the company spent about 50% EPS to the shareholders. Full year dividend of the company is withal increases moderately with EPS year by year. The full year dividend per share is 10.0pence in year 2006, 11.0pence in year 2007, 12.6pence in year 2008, 15.0pence in year 2009.That indicates Britvic Groups strong capacity to earn profit. And that can consolidate the confidence of the shareholders, to a fault helps company financial support through issuing shares other than loans and borrowings.SWOT analysesA. StrengthIn the past, the company focused on acquisition. through and through finishing the acquisition of the brand like Tango, Robinsons, Orchid Drinks, Red Devil brand, water source one after another, Britvic Group develop quickly. The Britvic Group has a clear strategy for emersion now. First, the company support and grow the core brands like Pepsi, fruit sho ot, tango, Robinsons, j2o, 7up support the company support the new band for tomorrow like drench, Gatorade, Pepsi raw, V water, Lipton iced tea third, the company try to improving free cash flow and margins fourth, the company try to operate foreignly and expand into atomic number 63. The acquisition of a soft drinks business in Ireland on 29 August 2007 delineated an important step in the strategic development of BritvicBritvic plc. 2007.And also the company focused on innovation. In 2008, the company launches two innovations Gatorade and Drench, and both have performed extremely well. The company promotes healthy lifestyle and provides a wide soma of soft drinks to meet customers needs, helping them make informed choices, marketing the drinks responsibly and promoting health, wellbeing and nutrition.As we discussed above, the Britvic Group holds strong market positions in Great Brittan and Ireland. And in this area, the customers like the brands of the company. Britvic have lo ts distribution within the Great Britain soft drinks market, and the distribution net are nearly every where in the country.And the company also holds good relationship with the resource suppliers. From the balance sheet, the trade and other payables is 244.3 m in 2008, 291.6 m in 2009Britvic plc. 2009, indicate that the Britvic has good reputation and the resource suppliers provide credit to the Britvic.B. WeaknessAlthough the Britvic Group operates well in Great Britain and Ireland, compare with the transnational corporation in this effort like coca-cola enterprises, the size and the market of the Britvic is relatively limited. During the international development, the Britvic Group pays less attention to the local culture. That means in different area, an international company should operate locally. And in Ireland market, there are Category gaps, and the Britvic should launch more brands in Ireland market.And the Britvic Group has lots of brands, and that increase the difficult of operation. The marketing voice have to focus the brands separately, that is really a challenge for the company.From the financial analyses, the debt ratio of the company is relatively high. And that indicate the company is prefer financing by borrowings and loans, and that whitethorn let the company in a risky conditions and may be more vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle.C hazardOver the next 20-25 years, the British population is expected to reach 70m from the flowing population of around 60m, and that indicates a growing market for the companyBritvic plc. 2008. Comparing with the past generation, Younger generations drink more purchased soft drinks less tea, coffee, alcohol, dairy farm drinks and tap water. European fast food culture and the carbonated drinks sooner fit. So the company should seize the opportunity to launch more innovations to pull the new generation,Now the consumers pay more attention to healthy lifestyle, and that also provides a good opport unity for the company. The Britvic should launch more unique products to direct the customer loyalty.The company penetrate into European counties gradually, The Britvic Launch in-market activities in Holland, strong Robinsons squash activity in the Nordics, and Fruit Shoot in Sweden. The company also penetrates to Turkey and Bulgaria market. The company has new travel contracts in the skyway and shipping sectors. And through the already successful Britvic International business, the company should look for ways to stretch along the availability of Britvics wholly-owned brands worldwide through franchising arrangements.D. ThreatFor the soft drink market in Great Britain and Ireland, there full of competition. alike Britvic, for the GB soft drink take home market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, GlaxoSmithKline, Danone, and Tropicana. For the GB soft drink licensed on-trade market, the main market players are Coca-cola Enterprises, Britivic, Redbull. In year 2009, the GB soft drink take home market share of Britvic is 12%, and the Coca-cola Enterprises market share is 27%Britvic plc. 2009. The number of market share of Britvic in Europe almost increase a little.And for the global economic conditions, the 2008 crisis let the economy into recession. Lots of consumers is mazed their job and in debt. So for the European market, also go through recession. How to conquer the recession, and hold the market position, is a challenging work to do for Britvic.Also the company faces financial risk that includes commodity price risk, interest rate risk, re-sentencing rate risk, liquidity risk and credit risk. And the company operate internationally in the future will face the political and country risk.Risk warinessA. Foreign bills risk managementForeign currency risk is related to exposure to fluctuations to the sterling-US dollar and sterling-euro exchange rate. The group operates in euro-denominated countries and finances these partly through the use of distant currency borrowings. Additionally cash generation from euro-denominated operations can be utilized to meet euro payment obligations in sterling denominated companies, providing a inseparable hedge.The group also has transactional exposures, which are from purchases of prime materials or commercial assets in currencies. Such purchases are made by euros and US dollars. On 27 September 2009, through forward foreign exchange contracts, the company hedged 48% of forecast exposures 12 months in advance, and the number in 2008 is 71%Britvic plc. 2009.Where funding is raised in a currency other than the currency ultimately required by the Britvic, cross currency interest rate swaps are used. That can convert the cash flows to the required currency. These swaps have the like duration and other critical terms as the underlying borrowing.B. hoidenish and Political risk managementMore and more countries in Europe pay more attention to the environment protection. If a company without cognizance of that may face the risk of local government regulations. And Britvic has adopted an environmental Management System which is certified to the international standard ISO 14001. The company also use recycled materials for packaging.Conflict between employer and employees in Europe market is a risk faced by any company. The strike of the employee can resist the normal productions, so Britvic pay more attention to the employ welfares. And Britvic has decrease its accident frequency rate by 68% over the last 5 yearsBritvic plc. 2009.RecommendationsA. International strategyBased on Great Britain, the Britvic should target broad market. The company should walk out the Europe gradually. Through the already successful Britvic International business, the company should explore ways to extend the availability of Britvics own brands worldwide through franchising and licensing. Britvic also should target the appear Asian market like China, India and so on. The population of China is largest in the world, and the new generation prefers soft drinks to traditional tea. So the company can competes with coca-cola in China market with the unique brand of healthy lifestyle.During the international development period, the company should learn the local culture first, and launch limited designed products to the local market. That means operate locally.B. Qualified personnel and diversityIn the past, the company achieves success through innovation. The Britvic group should keep the tincture of innovation, and win more property right in the design of products. That is the sweet points of the company for the future development. And the human resource sector should prepare able personnel for the group future construction.

Assumptions, research design and data collection strategies

Assumptions, investigate approach pattern and in cropation order strategiesChapter 1 IntroductionThe purpose of this grant is to offer a critical analysis of the underpinning boldnesss and investigate mark and data collection strategies and the practice of academic question. Two motion text file argon elect for the purpose of this analysis. The first paper is a denary vignette and the second paper is a qualitative theatre. They ar as follows-Shafer, W. E., Fukukawa, K. and Lee, G. M. (2007) time value and the perceive importance of ethics and genial responsibility The U.S. versus china, Journal of business enterprise Ethics, 70 (3), pp. 265-284.Tsoi, J. (2007) Stakeholders perceptions and forthcoming scenarios to improve merged societal responsibility in Hong Kong and Mainland China, Journal of Business Ethics, pp. 1-14.The main reason for selecting these two papers is that they two report upon the ara of corporate affectionate responsibility, which is the focus of my PhD. Within the orbital cavity of corporate accessible responsibility (CSR), in that respect has been consider adapted look into discussing the kinship among set and perception with the attitude/ behavior of businesses towards CSR. These make up be considered quantifiable and in that locationfrom take up been throwawayd quantitatively using surpasss real by composes such(prenominal) as Forsyth (1980), Singhapakdi et al.(1996), and Vitell and Patwardhan (2008). Interviews thrust been use to bring forrader the set that are deemed important by stakeholders, and were explored qualitatively by Fukukawa and Teramoto (2009), Siltaoja (2006), and Lhdesmki and Siltaoja (2009).The two papers selected both looked at cross-cultural determine and perceptions, however, they utilise different methods of investigating. This difference could provide a good to a faultshie for comparison, in terms of philosophical assumptions, look into design, and the met hod of data collection.The analyses entrust begin for each paper with an fundament of the research aims, followed by the epistemological and ontological coiffure, the research design, followed by analysis of its research methodology, the alternative research design and lastly, conclusions from this discussion will be provided.Chapter 2 Review of quantitative research paper2.1 Research ObjectivesThis study by Shafer, Fukukawa and Lee (2007) examined the value and the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility on managers from China and the U.S. The authors used scales instruments to obtain quantitative data in order to m an oppositewise(prenominal) generalizeences on whether the managers nationality and ad hominem values have effect on their honourable perception.The Ameri erect and Chinese managers are fictive to differ in their personal values and subsequently this should be speculateed from their replys to the Perceived Role of Ethics and neighborly Resp onsibility (PRESOR) scale. The authors provided the relevant background selective development and built up the logical thinking for their hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that managers from China would believe less strongly than Ameri jakes managers in the importance of ethic completelyy and socially responsible conduct to reach organisational success. The second hypothesis was that both Ameri disregard and Chinese managers personal values are believed to have significant impact on the responses to the scale. These hypotheses picturem to correlate strongly with the research preys which are to determine that there is variation in response due to cultural differences.2.2 Epistemological and Ontological AssumptionsIt is likely that the authors examine their research on moral ism which refers in particular to the principles of rules that batch use to decide what is right or wrong (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell, 200519). This paper nabms to direct that the principles of r ules of managers of different cultures are likely to differ and and so ethical decision-making would vary. The authors provided mannequins of other empirical research to support this nonion. The assumption that personal values can influence ethical decisions shows that the research is likely to infer an ontological assumption of realist, whereby reality is seen to have an exis cardinalce independent of the activities of the human observer (Blaikie, 200713). As the research strives to compare values and perceptions, these elements are thought to be measured and quantifiable seemingly leaning towards the empiricism position in which the mention idea is that knowledge tote ups from observing the world (Blaikie, 200719). The authors employed deductive research whereby the hypotheses formed are tested to determine if the invokements can be support (Sekaran, 200331), which is a typical research approach of empiricists. Taking possibly the spatial relation of positivists, these val ues are assumed measureable, and are indeed thought to form the social reality that these values affect the perception of corporate social responsibility amongst the managers from these two countries.2.3 Research DesignThe intention is to establish the differences in personal values, by using large quantities of data, which would be representative of the overall population of American and Chinese managers. This suggests that there are two assumptions, that values are measureable and that it is mathematical to generalise the population from the ingest. In order to generalise, a goodly large amount of data is required, thus a retrospect research instrument was employed.The PRESOR scale developed by Singhapakdi et al. (1995) was used. The reasons that the PRESOR scale was chosen over the cultural dimensions formed by Hofstede (2001) were argued examples of the latter in other research were shown to be inconsistent and inconclusive in its directional impact, thus making theoretic al predictions toil nigh. The use of PRESOR scale in other research was exemplified and seemed to have established the reliability of its measurement. The PRESOR scale was explained further in the introduction of the paper. Thirteen out of sixteen original items were selected and the authors justified this by stating that scarcely these thirteen items had significant federal agent loadings in the Singhapakdi, Scott and Franke (199925) study. These items were chemical grouped into two categories the shareowner and the Stakeholder views. The Stakeholder View reflects the importance of ethics and social responsibility to organisational survival and success, whilst the shareowner view indicates that organisational success depends on more than(prenominal) than just profitability and obligations to the stockholders (Axinn et al., 2004104)In the methodology section, the Schwartz value instrument and a demographic questionnaire were menti unmatchedd as existence used together with the PRESOR scale. There was little mention of the reasons the Schwartz scale was used and how it was applied. It was unless ulterior in the appendix that the items considered in the Schwartz scale was provided in details. A clearer explanation could have improved the clarity of the paper.The research design employed the use of two research instruments (PRESOR scale and Schwartz value instrument) as signifys for data collection. The pattern of practising managers from the two different countries was given the analogous fall out to complete, thus the responses could be compared on that reason. The results from the analyses were then compared against the hypotheses formed, affirming or non affirming the hypotheses. This process is typical of the deductive approach (Blaikie, 200770).2.4 Data CollectionThe sample consisted of 311 practising managers, enrolled part time in discriminating MBA programmes in the U.S. and China. The participation was self-imposed and the scales were completed as an in-class exercise. The authors acknowledged potential problems from this sample selection. The first is that, although the MBA programmes in these two countries appear to be comparable, the sample whitethorn have lost the effects of national differences and MBA programme differences. Secondly, the sample was not randomly selected as the authors had asked their students to complete the scales in-class. The authors did not provide further justification for these two problems and thus this is believed to have weakened the extraneous validity of this investigating (Bryman and Bell, 2007204). Aside from this gabfest from the authors, there was very little mention of the validity of the measurement which starts it difficult to make further discussion on this. The basis of their selectivity and the criteria in which these programmes were state to be comparable, were similarly not provided in details. The details of its comparability may have careed clarify and stren gthen the validity of the selection criteria, as rise as making the paper more understandable.Considering the objectives of the research, in which the authors seem to be looking at making generalisations on the affect of personal values, there is a need to collect large quantities of data. The survey method seems to be appropriate as surveys are easy to distribute to large bite of people and costs can be kept to a marginal (Bryman and Bell, 2007195). This relates to external validity, which is about generalisability of results beyond the focal study (Easterby-Smith et al., 200887). In this paper, external validity was not discussed however, it is likely that the results are meant to be applicable for the scope of China and the U.S. only.The authors state the limitation of which the participants can not be assumed as representative of the broader populations of managers in these two countries, due to the fact that the MBA programmes were selective in nature. The research took c onsideration of the possibility that the age and experience differences of their sample dexterity affect the results, and thus these factors were examined for significance. The scale was translated to Mandarin Chinese and later back-translated with resolution of discrepancies, to take account of the manner of speaking difference. These examples seem to reflect on the effort of the authors in ensuring that the results are not significantly affected by other variables. In order to test the dimensionality of the PRESOR scale, a principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalisation was applied. This is typical of a quantitative study where factor analysis is usually applied as part of the research design.In terms of research replication, this research had provided considerable amount of information which would possibly render other researchers to perform similar research. The items from the two views (Stockholder and Stakeholder) of the PRESOR scale were provided in details. In addition, the authors also mentioned the calculation method used, such as the use of mean values and the Univariate Analysis of Covariance models (ANCOVA). The only exception would likely be the PRESOR scale itself, whereby the questions that were asked and the choice answers were not explicitly given, which mightiness mean that future researchers might find it difficult to replicate the research and might even have to approach the authors or Singhapakdi who developed the scale.2.5 Alternative modeThe authors mentioned that more in-depth examination using qualitative design of investigation such as interviews would perhaps be more revealing. It is agreed that qualitative measure would allow insights into the importance of ethics to managers, and the various ethical issues that managers prioritise. The researchers are more likely to obtain a richer data of the decision-making process of managers, at the homogeneous time they would be able to achieve the r esearch objectives. The researchers can make use of semi-structured type interview which will allow better withstand of what questions need to be asked, and to ensure that the objectives of the interview are achieved as well (Bryman and Bell, 2007474), if time and costs are constraints.There are also other alternatives methods to obtain qualitative data that would have fit this research, such as the use of focus groups. Focus group interviews allow researchers to observe the behaviour of the American and Chinese managers as they interact with each other. It would be possible to see the differences in reaction to ethical issues oftentimes more clearly, when these managers are given, for example, the same ethical dilemma, and they are required to rationalise the problem and come up with solutions. This method might be more useful than questionnaire surveys, oddly in that the values of the American and Chinese managers could be brought out with the way they respond and react to eth ical problems, the problem-rationalisation process, and the degree of attention compensable on a particular problem. Similar to the interview method, this would be considerably more pricey to conduct, and it might even be more costly than doing interviews, however, the researchers would gain not only in achieving the research objectives but they would also attain a better understanding of the effects of personal values in ethical decision-making.However, if the goal was only to establish that perception of CSR differs between diverse cultures, the research design would have fit the purpose. This is be intellect the data collection strategy used (questionnaire survey), allowed the authors to obtain considerably response for generalisation. A questionnaire survey would also have been more cost-efficient and less time consuming, especially for cross-cultural studies.Chapter 3 Review of Qualitative Research paper3.1 Research ObjectivesIn this second paper, this qualitative study aims to make apparent the perceptions and views of the future scenarios from stakeholders within the clothe industry in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The underlying intention was to assay consensus and common ground, on a local and regional level to help companies develop an appropriate CSR strategy, to improve the state of corporate social responsibility and in the long run, to achieve sustainability in the region.The main objective was express as by engaging with major stakeholders, to identify the local and regional supply chain stakeholders perceptions and expectations (Tsoi, 20071). Typical of a qualitative study, generalisation is a good deal not the objective of the study (Bryman and Bell, 2007410). This is apparent from this study as the author had mentioned that the sample may not be sufficient for generalisation for the replete(p) preen industry, however, it is relevant to garment businesses involved in export-orientated activities (Tsoi, 20071). Tsoi (2007) used an induc ive approach to identify the perceptions of stakeholders by conducting interviews.3.2 Epistemological and Ontological AssumptionsAlthough the author did not indicate the philosophical assumptions behind this study, the author implied that by identifying the stakeholders perception, the findings would help in building consensus, alter the implementation, and establishing future CSR framework. This suggests that the author has an ontological position of constructionism, which asserts that social phenomena and their subject matters are continually being accomplished by social actors, implying that there exists social interaction and that there is a constant state of revision of the social phenomena (Bryman and Bell, 200723). In this case study, the social reality of what is calamity in the garment industry, in terms of its corporate social responsibility, is a social reality that was formed by the stakeholders. It suggests that the social phenomena (condition of CSR) can bear with pitchs, and that it is dependent on the activities of the social actors. The views of the social actors are thought to be indicative of the important issues in corporate social responsibility, within the garment industry.This form of research is consistent with the research paradigm of the interpretivist position, as the basis of the research is that the study of the phenomena requires an understanding of the social world that social actors have constructed and which they reproduced through their continuing activities (Blaikie, 2007124). In this instance, the stakeholders are the social actors who will continually interpret and reinterpreting their social world which can be the garment industry. The social phenomenon that the author is investigating is the current state and the future of the corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The future conception of CSR in these two places is related to phenomenology, whereby, it concerns with the question of how indi viduals make sense of the world around them (Bryman and Bell, 200718). In this case, it can be viewed as the way stakeholders make sense of the state of corporate responsibility in the region.3.3 Research DesignThe author relied on a qualitative method, specifically, the face-to-face semi-structured interview, which indicates the leanings of the author in conducting a naturalistic inquiry in real-world rather than experimental or manipulated settings (Ritchie and Lewis, 20034). For qualitative studies, semi-structured and unstructured interviews are commonly used as they provide rich, detailed answers and taps into the interviewees destine of view (Bryman and Bell, 2007474). As the focal source of data was the stakeholders themselves in this study, this seems to infer that the research design is based on the interpretivist view that the social phenomena can only be understood and be investigated from the inside (Blaikie, 2007125). The author place major stakeholders possibly with stakeholder theory, stating the assumption that multinationals see stakeholder consultation and management as an important communication tool in identifying and interpreting the needs of owing(p) stakeholders and as such would enable the development of a common language for CSR and subsequently the development of proactive CSR strategies. This correlates with the stakeholder approach of Wheeler et al. (200319) who stated that value creation at the extravagantlyest level requires an ability to build value-based networks where all stakeholders see merit in their association with and support for a business. In this instance, it is likely that the stakeholders were deemed to be important in the future direction of CSR in the region, and this was the reason that stakeholders were chosen as source of data.The author mentioned that these interviews conducted in 2004 and 2005 may no longer be relevant, since there were major developments in 2008. This might have made the interviews slight ly outdated however there should not be many changes to the overall aims of the stakeholders and thus the outcomes of this research would remain valid. However, as an alternative, the author could have applied longitudinal design which represents a searching form of research design than is typically used to map change in business and management research (Bryman and Bell, 200760). The longitudinal design would not only serve the purpose of this study, but it would also allow insights into the factors that cause change to the perception. With this sample, it is possible to use cohort study, whereby the cohort is made up of people who share a certain characteristics (Bryman and Bell, 200761), since the stakeholders have a stake in the garment industry. However, longitudinal research may require a lot more preparation, could be time-consuming and thus it could be more costly.3.4 Data CollectionWith regards to the methodology, the interview questions that were used for this research was not provided. As this was a semi-structured interview, it would have been useful if the author had provided general information on how the questions were formed, and the structure of the interview questions as this would provide an indication of the depth of the interviews, and therefrom the validity of the research design.For the sample, 25 representatives from academia, the business organisations, the non-government organisations, trade association, and government officials were identified. The response rate was 84%, in which 21 out of a do of 25 representatives of these organisations agreed to be interviewed. It was mentioned that the reason for such a high response rate, was that the author had contacted the interviewees on a one-to-one basis. Furthermore, the interviewees were also guaranteed anonymity. The sample, thus, appears to be extensive and is representative of the various stakeholders that are vital in the garment industry.3.5 Alternative MethodThe intention was tha t the findings would help in building consensus, strengthening the implementation and establishing the future CSR framework (Tsoi, 20071). The author might have meant that having smooth all the different views from these stakeholders, the author would be able to determine the consensus of how CSR should be developed and how CSR should be like in the future. However, it is doubtful that a consensus could have been obtained using this method of analysis. The interviewees, although were representative of the garment industry, each one a vital stakeholder, there was no real interaction between these stakeholders, and thus, the consensus that is meant is only based on the researchers understanding from the interviewees responses. Stakeholders are thought to be able to reach a better compromise through discourse, with different sides argue for the validity of their point as well as ensuring that the interests of the group or association that they represent are taken account of (Bryman a nd Bell, 2007511). While it is understandable, that there is a strong possibility that it could be costly to get all the interviewees to sit together through a discourse, nevertheless there are alternatives which might be more useful for the purpose of this investigation, given that the objective is to reach a consensus amongst the stakeholders. With this reasoning, the research design could improve by first conveying the findings of the interviews to all of the stakeholders interviewed, and follow up with another interview to see if there were changes to their views.Alternatively, the author could use the method of focus group interviews. With this method, Merton et al. (1956) (in Bryman and Bell, 2007511) stated that the accent is upon interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning. Focus group interviews could provide a platform for the interviewees to interact and to establish a joint construction of what it means to strengthen CSR and also determine what fu ture scenarios should and could be like. With regards to selecting a suitable size for the focus group, it is recommended by Bryman and Bell (2007517) that the typical group size should be six to ten members, whilst Sekaran (2003220) recommends a size of eight to twelve members. The reason that the focus group interview method was recommended was that the interviewees would be encouraged to express their opinions argumentatively, which would then allow the researcher to gauge the degree of importance of certain issues and how much flexibleness the interviewees might have to reach a compromise with others. There are of course possible pitfalls using the focus group method, in that some interviewees might be prevailing over others, and thus the opinions of those less dominant might not be heard, but these effects can be reduced to a minimum level by having a good moderator (in Bryman and Bell, 2007511). The one-to-one interview method could still be more advantageous compared with th e focus group interview, as the time and monetary costs of conducting a one-to-one interview would probably be considerably less and thus be more manageable especially if there was only one researcher, as was with this case study.In this case study, it seemed that a quantitative design would actually be difficult to apply, and it would also be inappropriate for an investigation on the perception of CSR as a business concern. Taking the example of using a questionnaire survey with closed-ended questions, it is very likely that the respondents would answer that they are very concerned about CSR, as that might be perceived as the correct response, thus creating social desirability bias to the results. Furthermore, with a questionnaire survey, the researcher would not be able to pin-point all the various future scenarios for CSR in Hong Kong and Mainland China, even if it was possible, the list of future scenarios might be too long to be practically manageable. Another issue would be th at in making assumptions of the future scenarios that are deemed significant to the stakeholders, it would be problematic as the researcher might risk missing out relevant information. Therefore, it would be difficult, from these reasons, that a quantitative design would not be suitable for such a case study.Chapter 4 ConclusionsIn summary, the two papers reflect significant differences in their research approach. This was seen through the objectives of the research, the underlying assumptions of the research philosophy and the conceptualisation of research design and the data collection. There is certainly much to learn from these two research papers, both had given valuable information on the differences between quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as offer guidance on the selection of research method and how to go about utilising these methods. The research designs, as shown in these papers, are dependent of the research objectives and the designs are also influenced by the epistemological and ontological assumptions made. Even though the philosophical positions of the researchers were not made explicit, however, the likely positions can be assumed. These papers have also shown that the advantages and the disadvantages of the different methods of investigation, and they need to be considered to ensure that the high hat method is chosen for the purpose of the research.In these two papers, the method of investigation is distinct, one was a qualitative study and the other was a quantitative study, however, this does not necessarily mean that a mixed method of investigation can not be used. In fact, (Bryman and Bell, 2007646) suggested that triangulation can be applied, in which the results of an investigation employing a method associated with one research strategy are cross-checked against the results of using a method associated with the other research strategy.

Keventer Agro Market Analysis

Keventer Agro commercialize AnalybabyABSTRACT intimately producers do non carry their goods like a shot to final users. They design a multi- sway brass to ext fetch up them. The design of technicaliseing blood, that acts, as a strong interface, cornerstone offer up hawkish value to a firm in the effort. By assembly an nonation the absence of a good dissemination nedeucerk send packing a identical be a study fiasco in legal documentd age cutthroat competitive world. marketplaceing give decisions argon the approximately critical virtuosos facing the merchandiseing management to twenty-four hours. It is composite and the complexity further gets compounded by the accompaniment that the transmission channel arranging take time to build usu all(prenominal)(a)y course of air orbits. express breachners atomic number 18 not owned by the compe genuinely in or so cases. The gross gross gross gross gross sales cart plays a crucial role in get the be st by of merchandising channel. Integrating the efforts of channel sortners and sales efforts deep down the whole sell effort becomes crucial towards achieving organizational goals. Food and boozing giant Parle had entered into a franchisee agreement with Keventer Agro, for Keventer Agro to manu eventure, package, distri juste and fodder grocery its well-know grunges namely Frooti -a popular mango drink, Appy and Appy spume-the in- dah apple drinks and Bailley incase Drinking Water for the most part in the eastern parts of India. The project Study of the scattering channel and grocery store place abbreviation of the merchandises disseminated and marketed by Keventer Agro beneath the license of Parle Agro involves the study of the st rangegies underinterpreted by Keventer Agro to distri ande and market produces of Parle Agro which includes Parles river horse Parle Agro forayed into pungencys with the emit of river horsepotamus, in line with the phoners vis ual modality of becoming a major worker in the intellectual nourishments and deglutitions industry. river horse is a histrion of the nosh nutrient industry of India. As per an industry estimate, the mark and organized snack intellectual nourishment segment dominate by major doers much(prenominal)(prenominal) as Frito Lay, Con Agra, Kelloggs, Marico, Dabur, HLL, ITC, Parle, Haldirams. Thus, the study master(prenominal)ly shitd of study and analyzing the distribution channel of river horse and doing a market summary of the harvest-time with think of to pricing, competition, distinguish aw arness and consumer sort of river horse its present market position in relation to the well known realized brands by means of seller and consumer re check. Questionnaire, inscription and interrogate and observation systems require been used in acquireion of canvass. afterward completion of summary of data collected with various methods regarding the sales and distrib ution and market position and opposite(a) strategies proper final stages can be drawn closely the aw beness and market capability and potential of Parles river horse. These conclusion and deductions will help Keventer Agro to make whatsoever workable changes that would be practicable for the sustenance of the brands and any measure that will acquireing the market shrewdness of the brandsIntroductionThe switchStudy of the distribution channel and market analy sister of the of the increases distributed and marketed by Keventer Agro under the license of Parle Agro involves the study of the strategies underinterpreted by Keventer Agro to distribute and market Parle hippopotamus Keventer Agro The Company Keventer Agro Limited is a foot interchangeier of Keventer Group which has been run yrs in the Food Processing manufacturing in India for to a greater extent than 125 years. Keventer exports Alphonso mango Pulp, Totapuri mango tree Pulp, Guava Pulp, perfumed Alphon so Mango Pulp, Mango Pickle, sesame Seed, Cashew Nuts, Peanuts, Cumin Seed, Fennel Seed, Fenugreek, coriander seed Seed, Bakery Ingredients, yield Jams, Tutti Fruiti, Red Chilies Button Mushrooms etc. to various countries. Keventer Agro Ltd. (KAL) was naturalised in the year 1986. The divergence exports food produces such as Mango Pulp, Guava Pulp, Sesame Seeds, and Bakery Ingredients to various nodes across the globe. In no time, it earn the cor one(a)t of cosmosness the beginningly to pre bodyguard aseptic packaging in the beverage home (a steep-end packaging modus operandi that preserved the inseparable worthiness of drinks in strong packs). The Group entered into a franchisee agreement with the food and beverage giant -PARLE to manufacture, package, distribute and market its well-known brands namely FROOTI -a popular mango drink, APPY and APPY FIZZ- the in-style apple drinks and BAILEY box DRINKING WATER mostly in the eastern parts of India. In late 2010, Parle Agro inked an varied agreement with Keventer Agro to set up a seed at Barasat. This modernistic unit manufactures Parle Agros snack brand hippo. Besides manufacturing, Keventer is as well as accountable for trade, sales and distribution of hippopotamus. Parle Agro chose to partner Keventer for their begin of food brands which w.ll h.l. them to refine hippopotamuss market contribution in the eastern part of India.Parle Agro The Company Parle Agro is a household name in the beverages industry and has hint brands like Frooti, Appy, Appy coruscate and package drinking water, Bailley. A pioneer in the Indian industry, Parle Agro were the stolon to introduce fruit drinks in tetra packaging, early to introduce apple bitterweed and the start-off to introduce fruit drinks in ducky bottles. In 2007, Parle Agro forayed into foods with the plunge of two confectionery brands, Mintrox mints and Buttercup candies. This was soon fol misfortunatelyed by two to a greater extent brands Buttercup Softease and Softease Mithai. Recent beverage products from Parle Agro include enshrine Juice, LMN and Grappo Fizz. In 2009, Parle Agro forayed into snacks with the absorb of hippo, in line with the societys vision of becoming a major player in the foods and beverages industry. The snack brand hippo, was launched in the western region get-go with Maharashtra and thus it was soon rolled out nationally. Parle Agro commenced operations in 1984. commencement with that beverages and diversifying to include bottled water in 1993 and confectionery in 2007. Frooti was the first product that was rolled out of Parle Agro in 1985. It went on to become Indias best-loved mango drink. It still has a leading market shargon. Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd operates under third measurementet vertical Beverages fruit drinks, nectars, degree centigrade% Juice, glitter drinks, Water Packaged Drinking Water and Foods confectionery, snacks merchandise industry Over learnProduct HI PPOParle Agro forayed into snacks with the launch of hippopotamus, in line with the lodges vision of becoming a major player in the foods and beverages industry. river horse is a toasted peag snack. Its ingredients include stalk flour, edible vegetable oils, seasoning mix, corn starch, sugar, bringing up agent, milk solids, salt, emulsifier, barm superfluousct powder, instant yeast. It contains added natural color and added natural identical season substances but no added MSG, no GMO and no Trans Fat. It comes in two manikin Hippo Munchies and Hippo Round-Round. The Hippo Munchies comes in 7 flavours (Chinese Manchurian, Hot-n-Sweet Tomato, Thai Chilli, yogurt Mint Chutney, Italian Pizza, Indian Chatpata and Arabian flavored) and Hippo Round-Round comes in 5 flavours (Punjab Da Pickle, Gujrati Mango Chatni, Shillong Noodle Masala, Goan Butter and ail, Firangi cheese n Spice). It is operational in collar sizes which ar impairmentd at Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20. Snack Indust ry Industry to which Hippo belongs Hippo is a player of the snack food industry of India. The Indian snack industry is one of the largest when considered in the planetary direct. With rising standard of living, people atomic number 18 much(prenominal)(prenominal) resorting to snacks items during breakfast, supper or any time snacks most often take the slur of meals. Right from production, development up, export and increment prospects owing to emerging markets, change magnitude command, and incorporation of in style(p) technologies, the snack industry in India has protested a hammy change. Ready-to-eat foods, samosas, kachoris, namkeen, chips, are fewer of the snacks that are most preferred by Indians. given everywhere the rising ingest, the snack industry is going to witness further process in the future.The snacks food industry in India can broadly be catego rallyd into three segments staple (biscuits category), traditional (namkeens) and ready-to-eat packaged s nacks (chips / crisps). The snack food market in India is $3 historyion with the organized segment score for almost half(prenominal) of the market share and growing at rate of 15 to 20 percent per year. A growing economy, changing lifestyles, rise in expendable incomes and preference for quality products of U.S. origin will concern to fuel growth of imported U.S. snack food items in India. As per an industry estimate, the mark and organized snack food segment dominated by major players such as Frito Lay, Con Agra, Kelloggs, Marico, Dabur, HLL, ITC, Parle, Haldirams, Nestle, Britannia, Cadbury, Bikano and Balaji is estimated to grow by 15 to 20 percent per year whereas the growth of un- mark snack food is likely to grow modestly at 8 percent per year in the mount future. Frito-Lay India led sweet and delicious snacks with a retail value share of 46% in 2009. The companys Kurkure, Lehar and Lays Stax offerings pitch helped it to consoli assure its lead during the year. Haldi ram Foods International Ltd and ITC Ltd remained the secondly and third ranked players several(prenominal)ly. Products like Hippo state to be make from healthier ingredients than chips/crisps. With Indian consumers becoming to a greater extent health conscious and more inquisitive astir(predicate) the ingredients in their food, sweet and savory snacks will witness an increase in products which are positioned as break in for you and healthier snacks.Objectives of the dispatchTo execute a qualitative study on the motion of packaged snack industryTo gauge the acceptance of bake and healthy-snacksTo understand competitors schema in the marketTo study the sales and distribution social organization, pricing (both to the retail merchant and to the consumer) of Hippo and businesss in those respected subject field.To develop trade strategies for HippoTo break up the markets and determine the factors responsible for sale of products and contribute recommendations virtually t he background for improvement.To impart a statement of collective responses of the retail merchantsand determine the scope for improvement in the distribution channel for the products and the problems set about by the retail merchants.To study the pattern of consumer behavior and their consciousness towards HIPPOTo suffer out the problems faced by HIPPO if any and suggest solution to address those problems Project Methodology peculiar(prenominal) Research is by dint of through market postdate. The enquiry is mainly found onQuestionnaire MethodInterview Method posting Method alternative Research has similarly been used as a supporting tool like any(prenominal) of the data related to holistic picture of the industry has been gathitherd from the data available on the cyber blank shoesPROJECT visibilityThe project revolves around Parle Hippo distributed and marketed by Keventer Agro under the license of Parle Agro. The first stage constituted of mainly studying and anal yzing the distribution channel of Hippo and doing a market analysis of the product with respect to pricing, competition, brand awareness and consumer behavior of Hippo through retailer and consumer critique As per the physical object of the project, two sets of questionnaire were preparedFor the retailer which dealed to assess the availability of Hippo, pricing of Hippo, sales, brand handling and any(prenominal) financial aspect of Hippo viz. Its competitors and the different for the consumers.For the consumer which aimed to gauge awareness of the product and the brand, product acceptance, their extract of product and buy pattern. The second stage constituted of observing the number sales procedure which consists of variation of product, division of subject field, selective loading, sell, collection and first appearance portray hotshot RETAILER SURVEY FOR HIPPOThis stage pertain daily recalls from the gillyflower points to the designated markets. The markets cover ed includesSalt Lake,Lake townspeople,S.K. Deb Road Market,Nagerbazar,Mrinalini motion picture Hall Market, stark naked Market,Ultadanga,Kankurgachi,Bagmari,Beadon Street ,Aurobindo Road and Vivekananda Road field of battle,Shyambazar,RajballavparaBaghbazar. E precise crap that unploughed branded snacks in the respective neighborhoods was approached. The initial plan was to conduct the survey through questionnaire method but while performing the survey the method had to be changed to enumeration, observation and interview method as it was not convenient for the retailers to adopt up the questionnaireObjectives of value by observation method Findings to be enter through observation method includeThe visibleness of Hippo and of competitors productMode of crinkleing/ let oning Hippo and competitors products i.e. whether it is on shelve or in the b pick outet or inside almirahThe location of the store i.e. whether it is beside main road or inside a lane or on a fledgeType of storeApproximate demography Objectives of sketch by archive method Findings to be recorded through schedule method included around Hippo Whether he carrys Hippo or not, if not the reasonableness, its availability, place spot, quality of defective product handling, brim offered, provide of banners and danglers.About competition The competition brand kept, approximate adjustment they offer.About the market as a whole The most selling brand. Objectives of Survey by interview method The interview methodology aimed to gain the intrinsical details of the market functions such as if the retailer does not admit Hippo would he like to carry through it future, the assent indemnity, relative frequency of visit of sales part, retailers view on Hippos marketing strategy and scope of improvement.STAGE TWO check SALES PROCEDURE OBSERVATIONDistribution twist of Keventer Agro for Hippo Keventer Agro has 2- aim consumer marketing channel. i.e. Manufacturing UnitallocatorretailerC onsumer. The product is manufactured in their plant located in Barasat. The products are sold directly to distributers on property. A sales representative is official to the electrical allocator by Keventer, who represents Keventer Agro and works shoulder to shoulder with the distributor.Level 1 Manufacturing unit to distributorThe distributor buys the product in notes and the impairment of the free products which are part of beneath the line promotional drill are reimbursed on the claim made by the distributor. The transportation switch on is borne by the distributor. surgical incision of product and appointment of distributors The aim of the company isTo find out not only the highly cyberspaceable established products, but alike new products with low initial sales reaches the end of supply chain.To ensures that all the SKUs of unalike products end up in the racks of retailers.Parle Agro has tolerant and deep product line it is difficult for a single distributor t o manage all the products. Earlier, Hippo was supplied to all the distributors of a particular sector but as coordination became difficult, they hold changed their policy and now supplies only to one distributor of the specific area. In about distribution area Keventer appoints more than one distributor each having different divisions of product.The division of products includes divergence A Division B Division C(Full information about this division is not known since I never had the chance to work in this divison) 200 ml, four hundred ml, 1.2 cubic decimeter of Frooti 160 ml 500 ml 1.5 litre and 2 litre of Frooti 200 ml of Appy 500 ml, 1 litre, 2 litre of Bailley Packaged Drinking Water atomic number 6 ml, 250 ml of Frooti 200 ml of LMN 600 ml of Bailley Soda. 300 ml, 500 ml and 1 litre of Appy Fizz The strategy of division of product along with division of distributor is hound collectible to the reason discussed above. Level 2 Distributor to retailer separately distribu tion area is divided into five different distribution zones. They sell their products to those five zones in five days i.e. Monday to Friday. The 6th day which is Saturday is an extra day in which the sales representative does the mixed work such asIf an order was not delivered on the payable date thence that product is delivered on Saturday.They conduct an approximate survey to estimate or forecast the forthcoming weekly supplicate.If a reliever of defective product was not done on the receivable date then it is also done in SaturdayHippo along with other product that are in the same division are be compressed in the LCV everyday. The flavours and quantities are not fixed. They load it according to the take away estimation of the zone. For example, on a modified day, more SKUs of Goan Butter and Garlic flavour is nettled more than the average beat the reason being from the experience, the sales representative arrange that when certain flavour/flavours are supplied to s ome particular area/areas, the retailer has lower re-order finis i.e. the flavour/flavours sales more in that area depending on the demography of the area and buy pattern of the consumers. sometimes the sales representatives are given orchestrate. For example If they can sell 100 cases of Division A products on a particular day which includes Hippo, then they would get some incentive (Rs 250 extra). In that case, Division A products are loaded more, proportionally quantity of Hippo rises. merely the elasticity of quantity of loading is low for Hippo compared to Frooti and Appy which are of high selling category. The sales representative finds it easy and handy to sell Frooti and Appy than applying repulse strategy for Hippo. sometimes Hippo is not at all loaded in the LCV because the particular market demography could not accept Hippo and is not popular. exchange Each sales representative has different style of selling. Some trespass on relationship opineween him and retaile r and some on colloquy skill. Relationship marketing In this type of marketing procedure, the SR does not start talking business in the first instance sort of he greets the retailer, talk about general things like current personal matters or about family which helps him to build a plangency and trust. The trust and resonance becomes the psychological tool to win over the psychology of the retailer fashioning it difficult for the retailer to reject the sales representatives selling proposal. Sometimes the sales representatives shares such good relationship with the retailers that they dont even ask whether he ask anything or not but directly dickhead the products and produces the bill. Credit sales are more by this procedure since the SR does not compulsion to freeze the warmth of the relationship. Communication Marketing In this procedure the SR starts talking about the business from the first go. The mental retardation of the plans or price seeks the attention of the r etailers. Sales representative convinces the retailers by freehanded a promiscuous picture of the business model. For example Suppose the wander is near a school, he would right away say with ofttimes conviction that Hippo is bound to sell and with Rs 1.23 beach per piece, it would be a great business for him. He further elaborates on the schemes and produces a very rosy picture.The chances of assurance sales are low. The sales representative of Keventer Agro is responsible to write the bill of receipt where he mentions name of the shop, the date, quantity of list product sold and its price. An account of free products is also scribed in the bill. The cash is handled by the distributors representative. gathering It is a process of collecting money for the quotation sales made. usually Keventer does not encourage credit sales. save if any credit sales are made, the credit period is generally 2-3 days or the period till the next order, whichever is earlier. Collection is no t so difficult as Hippo is backed by Frooti which has high bargain power. Submission twain the representatives are required to submit every bills and cash respectively to the stock point/distributor. The cash collected and the sum do of the bill has to tally. job identification and its solution conundrum 1 The designates that are set by Keventer for the sales representatives are not distinct enough. The target constitutes of only two conditions i.e. name of Division and amount of cases. For example, on a particular day while we were operative in certain area with the sales representative, he was given a target to sell 100 cases of Division A product for an incentive of Rs 250. He worked till 8 pm and at long last reached to the target. However most of the sales were of Frooti and Appy with very subaltern proportion of Hippo. consequence to the problem Providing target worked well but had skew portfolio. The target scheme for the sales representatives should be more distinc t for example, if the target would have been X cases Frooti, Y cases of LMN, Z cases of Appy and U cases of Hippo of Division A for Rs V then the sales representative would not have capitalized on Frooti and Appy but would have tried to push low despicable new brands such as Hippo, Bailley Soda etc. The portfolio of sales would have been varied and would have provided an impetus to the sales of new brands such as Bailley Soda and Hippo.Problem 2 Most of the sales activities are done by the company representatives suchConverting potential guest into actual customer in level 1 of distribution social organizationBagging re-order from the alive customer handling defective productNegotiation and persuasionAccounting( bill of receipt) The distributor only provides with infra social system such as godown, light commercial vehicle(LCV) and a representative. The field work is mostly done by the company representative. Solution to the problem Initially in a new market, it is sort of rat ionale to capitalize on the market fellowship and relationships of the distributor but while working with sales representatives we open in some areas that the retailers already trust the company representative while the company representative has commanded the knowledge on the respective market. In that scenario Keventer Agro can go for forward integration and move on to 1-level distribution structure which consists of only manufacturer retail consumer eliminating the distributor. This would further perfect the profit earned by the companyEvaluation of the distribution system of Parle Hippo through statistics This part of data analysis is segmented in to two parts. The first part deals with retailers and the second part deals with the consumer. The first part is further wiped out(p) up in to two scenarios. The first scenario provides a holistic view of the markets surveyed and the second scenario deals with analysis of the attribute according to the area in which the survey is c onducted. theatrical role I (A) -Holistic View of the Markets Surveyed 1. Hippo stocked The graph beneath showcases the frequency of the shops who stocks Hippo in their shops. 36.2% of the models do not delay Hippo, where as 24.6% of the sampling use to retain Hippo and the pillow however obtains Hippo. So it can be state that there are presently more shops where Hippo cannot be bring. Since the percentage of shops that use to keep Hippo is good high, we get a negative sales trend here.9 decided reasons for the low sales turnover have been identified. They areSome of the shops were never approached by the distributorSome shops are already flood with competitors product so there are no space to stock HippoIn Some areas, the supply was halted due distributor reappointment and other issuesSome shops use to keep Hippo but due to low sales they dont keep it anymoreHippo has a exceptional credit option, so many retailer finds it difficult to block their money for a new produ ctSome retailer does not keep Hippo due to lack of merchandize provided. Retailers deal shelve and almirah so that they can store and display and also protect from mice but very limited or no merchandize is provided to most of the retailersSome retailers do not keep Hippo because they discriminate that it is a new product with low awareness, the market is still not ready to accept the product. Had it been ready, the consumer would themselves ask for itSome retailers complained about poor follow up from the sales team and is the reason for not property HippoSome retailers, who use to keep Hippo complained that the run out stock were not replaced and they have lost faith in Parle AgroThe chart provided below showcases the frequency of the reasons discussed above. Interpretations32.5% of the shops were never approached by the company. From the qualitative data it has been found that many retailers were positivistic about keeping Hippo if they were being approached by the company.1 2.5% of the shops have no space to keep Hippo. While conducting survey it is found that many shops were flooded with competitor brand leaving no space for Hippo.Out of 24.6% of savor who use to keep Hippo, 11.2% stopped keeping Hippo due fulminant halt in supply due to distributor reappointment problem and other associated problems.8.8% of the tastes do not keep Hippo anymore due to its low sales while 2.5% of the seeks do not keep Hippo because of the credit policy. The low sales associated with limited credit policy makes it difficult for the retailer to invest in the slow moving stock.1.2% of render reported that they do not keep Hippo because Parle Agro do not provide them with almirah or rack as result the products get change because of mice.Among the samples who never kept Hippo, 10% of the sample never kept Hippo because no customer removeed for it. They give tongue to, they will only keep Hippo when customer starts asking for it. The demand graph is provided below.Am ong those who use to keep Hippo, 8.8% of sample do not keep it anymore due to bad follow up from the distributor. One of the samples was approached by the distributor ho took order but never delivered the products.The expired date products were never replaced for which 2.5% of the sample does not keep Hippo.The reason for the 8.8% of the shops could not be gauged due to any response from the retailers.2. Demand of Hippo The graph below provides a holistic view about the demand of Hippo. 42.7% of the sample said that the demand of Hippo is low while 33.7% of the sample said that the demand is average followed by 23.6% of the sample who said that the demand is high. 3. Reorder period Among the samples who keep Hippo, 57.6% of the sample orders on a weekly grounding, 24.7% orders on a monthly basis, 10.6% on a fortnightly basis and 7.1% of the sample orders doubly a week.4. Most selling Stock guardianship Unit (SKU) 74.1% of the sample reported that the small packs are most selling stock keeping unit (SKU) while 25.9% of the sample reported about the medium pack. 5. Most selling flavour On an overall analysis, we found that there is very low consistent pattern of choice of flavour. However 21.2% of the sample said that the bluish green pack (Goan Butter and Garlic) sells the most followed by Punjab Da Pickle.6. Awareness of nutrition facts among retailers 70.5% of the sample had no mood about Hippo being baked but not fried while that 29.5% of the sample had idea about the health positivity of the product. Among 29.5 % of the samples who are aware of the fact only 2.4% of the samples pitch about it while selling it.7. Analysis of the margin/profit offered by Hippo and its competitors The objective is to find whether there is square departure among the margin offered by three brands i.e. Lays, beano and Hippo. In other words, it is a test for difference in distributions (medians) of the margin/profit for the different brands of snacks. Methodology applied is Kruskal-Wallis Test. The null hypothesis H0 = PL = PB = PH and the interchange hypothesis H1 is PL, PB and PH are importantly different. PL = Proportion of retailer to whom Lays provide them with highest margin PB = Proportion of retailer to whom Bingo provide them with highest margin PH = Proportion of retailer to whom Hippo provide them with highest margin The significance level (a) is 0.05. According to the Kruskal-Wallis test, the p-value is as low as zero, so we reject the null hypothesis. So we see that at the a = 0.05 level of significance, there exists enough evidence to conclude that there is significant difference among the three snack brand in equipment casualty of the margin/profit provided to the retailer.8. Factor Analysis The main applications of factor uninflectedal te (1) To veer the number of variables and (2) To detect structure in the relationships opine Therefore, factor analysis is applied as a dat The variables taken are . provide tincture of Hippo a s r .Quality of Product delivered as r .Quality of service(Replacement .Merchandize offered and its a .Margin perceived by the samples .Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples or analytic techniques are the number of variables and tionships amid variables, that is to bump sis is applied as a data drop-off or structure detection method. Supply Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples ed as responded by Samples placement and Adjustment) as responded by Samples and its availability as responded by Samples ed by the samples sponded by Samples classify variables. tion method. y Samples The main applications of factor analytic te (1) To reduce the number of variables and (2) To detect structure in the relationships bet Therefore, factor analysis is applied as a dat The variables taken are .Supply Quality of Hippo as r .Quality of Product delivered as r .Quality of service(Replacement .Merchandize offered and its a .Margin perceived by the samples .Quality of Hippo as responded by Samp les or analytic techniques are the number of variables and tionships between variables, that is to classify sis is applied as a data reduction or structure detection method. Supply Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples ed as responded by Samples placement and Adjustment) as responded by Samples and its availability as responded by Samples ed by the samples sponded by Samples classify variables. tion method. y SamplesFrom the division diagram above it is quite clear that plot above it is quite clear that quality of product, quality of supply and substitution and adjustment constitute one factor while margin of hippo and merchandizing provided constitute the other factor. From the Scree Plot it can be seen that 2 components have Eigen pry more than 1 and they can explain 74.09% of the variation.Part 1 (b) domain wise analysis of the attributes 1. Demand hippo vs flying field 70%, 55%, 50% in Lake Town, Shyambazar, Ultadanga respectively consider the demand of Hippo to be low. 72.7% of sample in Salt Lake and 50% of sample in modernistic Market feels the demand for Hippo is average. However 44.4%, 50%, 41.7% of the sample in Nagerbazar, Baisakhi and Ultadanga respectively fell the demand is high over there.2. Flavour vs area Goan Butter and Garlic flavour is the most wish flavour in Salt Lake. While Punjab Da Pickle is the deary in Nagerbazar. each(prenominal) the other area has no definite favourite.3. knowledge base vs Hippo stocked with Cross tabulation bailiwick * Hippo stocked Cross tabulation Hippo Stocked No Yes Previously unploughed scope Salt Lake determine 0 12 0 % at heart force field .0% 100.0% .0% Lake Town numerate 4 3 4 % at heart Area 36.4% 27.3% 36.4% Nagerbazar Count 2 10 0 % at heart Area 16.7% 83.3% .0% Baisakhi CK Market Count 3 1 5 % at heart Area 33.3% 11.1% 55.6% New Market Hogg Market Count 11 0 6 % indoors Area 64.7% .0% 35.3% Ultadanga, Murari Pukur, Kankurgachi Bagmari Count 13 5 7 % at bottom Area 52.0% 20 .0% 28.0% Beadon Road, Aurobindo Road Vivekananda Road Count 13 10 5 % within Area 46.4% 35.7% 17.9% Shyambazar, Baghbazar Rajballav Para Count 4 13 7 % within Area 16.7% 54.2% 29.2% Total Count 50 54 34 % within Area 36.2% 39.1% 24.6% From the cross tabulation above, we see that the acumen of Hippo is tenuous in Salt Lake and NagerbazKeventer Agro Market AnalysisKeventer Agro Market AnalysisABSTRACTMost producers do not sell their goods directly to final users. They design a multi-channel system to reach them. The design of marketing channel, that acts, as a strong interface, can provide competitive advantage to a firm in the industry. By contrast the absence of a good distribution network can also be a major fiasco in todays cutthroat competitive world. Marketing channel decisions are the most critical ones facing the marketing management today. It is complex and the complexity further gets compounded by the fact that the channel system take time to build usually years. Channe l partners are not owned by the company in most cases. The sales force plays a crucial role in getting the best out of marketing channel. Integrating the efforts of channel partners and sales efforts within the whole marketing effort becomes crucial towards achieving organizational goals. Food and beverage giant Parle had entered into a franchisee agreement with Keventer Agro, for Keventer Agro to manufacture, package, distribute and market its well-known brands namely Frooti -a popular mango drink, Appy and Appy Fizz-the in-style apple drinks and Bailley Packaged Drinking Water mostly in the eastern parts of India. The project Study of the distribution channel and market analysis of the products distributed and marketed by Keventer Agro under the license of Parle Agro involves the study of the strategies undertaken by Keventer Agro to distribute and market products of Parle Agro which includes Parles HIPPO Parle Agro forayed into snacks with the launch of Hippo, in line with the co mpanys vision of becoming a major player in the foods and beverages industry. Hippo is a player of the snack food industry of India. As per an industry estimate, the branded and organized snack food segment dominated by major players such as Frito Lay, Con Agra, Kelloggs, Marico, Dabur, HLL, ITC, Parle, Haldirams. Thus, the study mainly constituted of studying and analyzing the distribution channel of Hippo and doing a market analysis of the product with respect to pricing, competition, brand awareness and consumer behavior of Hippo its present market position in relation to the well known established brands through retailer and consumer survey. Questionnaire, Schedule and interview and observation methods have been used in conduction of surveys.After completion of analysis of data collected through various methods regarding the sales and distribution and market position and other strategies proper conclusions can be drawn about the awareness and market strength and potential of Par les Hippo. These conclusion and deductions will help Keventer Agro to make any possible changes that would be feasible for the sustenance of the brands and any measure that will increase the market penetration of the brandsIntroductionThe ProjectStudy of the distribution channel and market analysis of the of the products distributed and marketed by Keventer Agro under the license of Parle Agro involves the study of the strategies undertaken by Keventer Agro to distribute and market Parle Hippo Keventer Agro The Company Keventer Agro Limited is a subsidiary of Keventer Group which has been operating years in the Food Processing Industry in India for more than 125 years. Keventer exports Alphonso Mango Pulp, Totapuri Mango Pulp, Guava Pulp, Sweetened Alphonso Mango Pulp, Mango Pickle, Sesame Seed, Cashew Nuts, Peanuts, Cumin Seed, Fennel Seed, Fenugreek, Coriander Seed, Bakery Ingredients, Fruit Jams, Tutti Fruiti, Red Chilies Button Mushrooms etc. to various countries. Keventer Agro Ltd. (KAL) was established in the year 1986. The division exports food products such as Mango Pulp, Guava Pulp, Sesame Seeds, and Bakery Ingredients to various customers across the globe. In no time, it earned the coronet of being the first to introduce aseptic packaging in the beverage category (a high-end packaging procedure that preserved the natural goodness of drinks in hygienic packs). The Group entered into a franchisee agreement with the food and beverage giant -PARLE to manufacture, package, distribute and market its well-known brands namely FROOTI -a popular mango drink, APPY and APPY FIZZ- the in-style apple drinks and BAILEY PACKAGED DRINKING WATER mostly in the eastern parts of India. In late 2010, Parle Agro inked another agreement with Keventer Agro to set up a plant at Barasat. This new unit manufactures Parle Agros snack brand Hippo. Besides manufacturing, Keventer is also responsible for marketing, sales and distribution of Hippo. Parle Agro chose to partner Keven ter for their range of food brands which w.ll h.l. them to expand Hippos market share in the eastern part of India.Parle Agro The Company Parle Agro is a household name in the beverages industry and has leading brands like Frooti, Appy, Appy Fizz and packaged drinking water, Bailley. A pioneer in the Indian industry, Parle Agro were the first to introduce fruit drinks in tetra packaging, first to introduce apple nectar and the first to introduce fruit drinks in PET bottles. In 2007, Parle Agro forayed into foods with the launch of two confectionery brands, Mintrox mints and Buttercup candies. This was soon followed by two more brands Buttercup Softease and Softease Mithai. Recent beverage products from Parle Agro include Saint Juice, LMN and Grappo Fizz. In 2009, Parle Agro forayed into snacks with the launch of Hippo, in line with the companys vision of becoming a major player in the foods and beverages industry. The snack brand Hippo, was launched in the western region starting wi th Maharashtra and then it was soon rolled out nationally. Parle Agro commenced operations in 1984. Starting with only beverages and diversifying to include bottled water in 1993 and confectionery in 2007. Frooti was the first product that was rolled out of Parle Agro in 1985. It went on to become Indias favourite mango drink. It still has a leading market share. Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd operates under three business vertical Beverages fruit drinks, nectars, 100% Juice, sparkling drinks, Water Packaged Drinking Water and Foods confectionery, snacksProduct Industry OverviewProduct HIPPOParle Agro forayed into snacks with the launch of Hippo, in line with the companys vision of becoming a major player in the foods and beverages industry. Hippo is a toasted bread snack. Its ingredients include wheat flour, edible vegetable oils, seasoning mix, corn starch, sugar, raising agent, milk solids, salt, emulsifier, yeast extract powder, instant yeast. It contains added natural color and added nat ural identical flavoring substances but no added MSG, no GMO and no Trans Fat. It comes in two variant Hippo Munchies and Hippo Round-Round. The Hippo Munchies comes in 7 flavours (Chinese Manchurian, Hot-n-Sweet Tomato, Thai Chilli, Yoghurt Mint Chutney, Italian Pizza, Indian Chatpata and Arabian Salted) and Hippo Round-Round comes in 5 flavours (Punjab Da Pickle, Gujrati Mango Chatni, Shillong Noodle Masala, Goan Butter and Garlic, Firangi Cheese n Spice). It is available in three sizes which are priced at Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20. Snack Industry Industry to which Hippo belongs Hippo is a player of the snack food industry of India. The Indian snack industry is one of the largest when considered in the global level. With rising standard of living, people are more resorting to snacks items during breakfast, supper or any time snacks most often take the place of meals. Right from production, using up, export and growth prospects owing to emerging markets, increasing demand, and incorpor ation of latest technologies, the snack industry in India has witnessed a dramatic change. Ready-to-eat foods, samosas, kachoris, namkeen, chips, are few of the snacks that are most preferred by Indians. Given the rising demand, the snack industry is going to witness further growth in the future.The snacks food industry in India can broadly be categorised into three segments staple (biscuits category), traditional (namkeens) and ready-to-eat packaged snacks (chips / crisps). The snack food market in India is $3 billion with the organized segment accounting for almost half of the market share and growing at rate of 15 to 20 percent per year. A growing economy, changing lifestyles, rise in disposable incomes and preference for quality products of U.S. origin will continue to fuel growth of imported U.S. snack food items in India. As per an industry estimate, the branded and organized snack food segment dominated by major players such as Frito Lay, Con Agra, Kelloggs, Marico, Dabur, HL L, ITC, Parle, Haldirams, Nestle, Britannia, Cadbury, Bikano and Balaji is estimated to grow by 15 to 20 percent per year whereas the growth of un-branded snack food is likely to grow modestly at 8 percent per year in the near future. Frito-Lay India led sweet and savory snacks with a retail value share of 46% in 2009. The companys Kurkure, Lehar and Lays Stax offerings have helped it to consolidate its leadership during the year. Haldiram Foods International Ltd and ITC Ltd remained the second and third ranked players respectively. Products like Hippo claim to be made from healthier ingredients than chips/crisps. With Indian consumers becoming more health conscious and more inquisitive about the ingredients in their food, sweet and savory snacks will witness an increase in products which are positioned as better for you and healthier snacks.Objectives of the ProjectTo execute a qualitative study on the trend of packaged snack industryTo gauge the acceptance of baked and healthy-sna cksTo understand competitors strategy in the marketTo study the sales and distribution structure, pricing (both to the retailer and to the consumer) of Hippo and problems in those respected area.To develop marketing strategies for HippoTo analyze the markets and determine the factors responsible for sale of products and provide recommendations about the scope for improvement.To provide a statement of collective responses of the retailersand determine the scope for improvement in the distribution channel for the products and the problems faced by the retailers.To study the pattern of consumer behavior and their awareness towards HIPPOTo find out the problems faced by HIPPO if any and suggest solution to address those problems Project Methodology Primary Research is done through market survey. The research is mainly based onQuestionnaire MethodInterview MethodObservation Method Secondary Research has also been used as a supporting tool like Some of the data related to holistic picture of the industry has been gathered from the data available on the internetPROJECT PROFILEThe project revolves around Parle Hippo distributed and marketed by Keventer Agro under the license of Parle Agro. The first stage constituted of mainly studying and analyzing the distribution channel of Hippo and doing a market analysis of the product with respect to pricing, competition, brand awareness and consumer behavior of Hippo through retailer and consumer survey As per the objective of the project, two sets of questionnaire were preparedFor the retailer which aimed to assess the availability of Hippo, pricing of Hippo, sales, defect handling and some financial aspect of Hippo viz. Its competitors and the other for the consumers.For the consumer which aimed to gauge awareness of the product and the brand, product acceptance, their choice of product and buying pattern. The second stage constituted of observing the total sales procedure which consists of division of product, division of a rea, selective loading, selling, collection and submissionSTAGE ONE RETAILER SURVEY FOR HIPPOThis stage involved daily visits from the stock points to the designated markets. The markets covered includesSalt Lake,Lake Town,S.K. Deb Road Market,Nagerbazar,Mrinalini Cinema Hall Market,New Market,Ultadanga,Kankurgachi,Bagmari,Beadon Street ,Aurobindo Road and Vivekananda Road area,Shyambazar,RajballavparaBaghbazar. Every shop that kept branded snacks in the respective areas was approached. The initial plan was to conduct the survey through questionnaire method but while performing the survey the method had to be changed to schedule, observation and interview method as it was not convenient for the retailers to fill up the questionnaireObjectives of Survey by observation method Findings to be recorded through observation method includedThe visibility of Hippo and of competitors productMode of stocking/displaying Hippo and competitors products i.e. whether it is on shelve or in the fiel d goal or inside almirahThe location of the store i.e. whether it is beside main road or inside a lane or on a squareType of storeApproximate demography Objectives of Survey by schedule method Findings to be recorded through schedule method includedAbout Hippo Whether he keeps Hippo or not, if not the reason, its availability, reorder period, quality of defective product handling, margin offered, supply of banners and danglers.About Competitor The competition brand kept, approximate margin they offer.About the market as a whole The most selling brand. Objectives of Survey by interview method The interview methodology aimed to gain the intrinsic details of the market functions such as if the retailer does not keep Hippo would he like to keep it future, the credit policy, frequency of visit of sales representative, retailers view on Hippos marketing strategy and scope of improvement.STAGE TWO TOTAL SALES PROCEDURE OBSERVATIONDistribution structure of Keventer Agro for Hippo Keventer A gro has 2-level consumer marketing channel. i.e. Manufacturing UnitDistributorretailerConsumer. The product is manufactured in their plant located in Barasat. The products are sold directly to distributors on cash. A sales representative is appointed to the distributor by Keventer, who represents Keventer Agro and works shoulder to shoulder with the distributor.Level 1 Manufacturing unit to distributorThe distributor buys the product in cash and the price of the free products which are part of below the line promotional activity are reimbursed on the claim made by the distributor. The transportation charge is borne by the distributor. Division of product and appointment of distributors The aim of the company isTo ensure not only the highly profitable established products, but also new products with low initial sales reaches the end of supply chain.To ensures that all the SKUs of different products end up in the racks of retailers.Parle Agro has wide and deep product line it is diffi cult for a single distributor to manage all the products. Earlier, Hippo was supplied to all the distributors of a specific area but as coordination became difficult, they have changed their policy and now supplies only to one distributor of the specific area. In some distribution area Keventer appoints more than one distributor each having different divisions of product.The division of products includes Division A Division B Division C(Full information about this division is not known since I never had the chance to work in this divison) 200 ml, 400 ml, 1.2 litre of Frooti 160 ml 500 ml 1.5 litre and 2 litre of Frooti 200 ml of Appy 500 ml, 1 litre, 2 litre of Bailley Packaged Drinking Water 100 ml, 250 ml of Frooti 200 ml of LMN 600 ml of Bailley Soda. 300 ml, 500 ml and 1 litre of Appy Fizz The strategy of division of product along with division of distributor is adopted due to the reason discussed above. Level 2 Distributor to retailer Each distribution area is divided into five different distribution zones. They sell their products to those five zones in five days i.e. Monday to Friday. The sixth day which is Saturday is an extra day in which the sales representative does the miscellaneous work such asIf an order was not delivered on the due date then that product is delivered on Saturday.They conduct an approximate survey to estimate or forecast the forthcoming weekly demand.If a replacement of defective product was not done on the due date then it is also done in SaturdayHippo along with other product that are in the same division are be loaded in the LCV everyday. The flavours and quantities are not fixed. They load it according to the demand estimation of the zone. For example, on a particular day, more SKUs of Goan Butter and Garlic flavour is loaded more than the average quantity the reason being from the experience, the sales representative found that when certain flavour/flavours are supplied to some particular area/areas, the retailer has lower r e-order period i.e. the flavour/flavours sales more in that area depending on the demography of the area and buying pattern of the consumers. Sometimes the sales representatives are given target. For example If they can sell 100 cases of Division A products on a particular day which includes Hippo, then they would get some incentive (Rs 250 extra). In that case, Division A products are loaded more, proportionally quantity of Hippo rises. However the elasticity of quantity of loading is low for Hippo compared to Frooti and Appy which are of high selling category. The sales representative finds it easy and handy to sell Frooti and Appy than applying push strategy for Hippo. Sometimes Hippo is not at all loaded in the LCV because the particular market demography could not accept Hippo and is not popular. Selling Each sales representative has different style of selling. Some capitalize on relationship between him and retailer and some on communication skill. Relationship marketing In th is type of marketing procedure, the SR does not start talking business in the first instance rather he greets the retailer, talk about general things like current affairs or about family which helps him to build a rapport and trust. The trust and rapport becomes the psychological tool to win over the psychology of the retailer making it difficult for the retailer to reject the sales representatives selling proposal. Sometimes the sales representatives shares such good relationship with the retailers that they dont even ask whether he needs anything or not but directly dump the products and produces the bill. Credit sales are more by this procedure since the SR does not want to freeze the warmth of the relationship. Communication Marketing In this procedure the SR starts talking about the business from the first go. The deliberation of the schemes or price seeks the attention of the retailers. Sales representative convinces the retailers by giving a clear picture of the business mode l. For example Suppose the shop is near a school, he would right away say with much conviction that Hippo is bound to sell and with Rs 1.23 margin per piece, it would be a great business for him. He further elaborates on the schemes and produces a very rosy picture.The chances of credit sales are low. The sales representative of Keventer Agro is responsible to write the bill of receipt where he mentions name of the shop, the date, quantity of total product sold and its price. An account of free products is also scribed in the bill. The cash is handled by the distributors representative. Collection It is a process of collecting money for the credit sales made. Usually Keventer does not encourage credit sales. However if any credit sales are made, the credit period is generally 2-3 days or the period till the next order, whichever is earlier. Collection is not so difficult as Hippo is backed by Frooti which has high bargaining power. Submission Both the representatives are required to submit every bills and cash respectively to the stock point/distributor. The cash collected and the sum total of the bill has to tally. Problem identification and its solution Problem 1 The targets that are set by Keventer for the sales representatives are not distinct enough. The target constitutes of only two conditions i.e. name of Division and amount of cases. For example, on a particular day while we were working in certain area with the sales representative, he was given a target to sell 100 cases of Division A product for an incentive of Rs 250. He worked till 8 pm and ultimately reached to the target. However most of the sales were of Frooti and Appy with very little proportion of Hippo. Solution to the problem Providing target worked well but had skewed portfolio. The target scheme for the sales representatives should be more distinct for example, if the target would have been X cases Frooti, Y cases of LMN, Z cases of Appy and U cases of Hippo of Division A for Rs V then the sales representative would not have capitalized on Frooti and Appy but would have tried to push low moving new brands such as Hippo, Bailley Soda etc. The portfolio of sales would have been varied and would have provided an impetus to the sales of new brands such as Bailley Soda and Hippo.Problem 2 Most of the sales activities are done by the company representatives suchConverting potential customer into actual customer in level 1 of distribution structureBagging re-order from the existing customerHandling defective productNegotiation and persuasionAccounting( bill of receipt) The distributor only provides with infrastructure such as godown, light commercial vehicle(LCV) and a representative. The field work is mostly done by the company representative. Solution to the problem Initially in a new market, it is quite rationale to capitalize on the market knowledge and relationships of the distributor but while working with sales representatives we found in some areas that the retai lers already trust the company representative while the company representative has commanded the knowledge on the respective market. In that scenario Keventer Agro can go for forward integration and move on to 1-level distribution structure which consists of only manufacturer retail consumer eliminating the distributor. This would further optimize the profit earned by the companyEvaluation of the distribution system of Parle Hippo through statistics This part of data analysis is segmented in to two parts. The first part deals with retailers and the second part deals with the consumer. The first part is further broken up in to two scenarios. The first scenario provides a holistic view of the markets surveyed and the second scenario deals with analysis of the attribute according to the area in which the survey is conducted. Part I (A) -Holistic View of the Markets Surveyed 1. Hippo Stocked The graph below showcases the frequency of the shops who stocks Hippo in their shops. 36.2% of t he samples do not keep Hippo, where as 24.6% of the sample use to keep Hippo and the rest however keeps Hippo. So it can be said that there are presently more shops where Hippo cannot be found. Since the percentage of shops that use to keep Hippo is considerably high, we get a negative sales trend here.9 definite reasons for the low sales turnover have been identified. They areSome of the shops were never approached by the distributorSome shops are already flooded with competitors product so there are no space to stock HippoIn Some areas, the supply was halted due distributor reappointment and other issuesSome shops use to keep Hippo but due to low sales they dont keep it anymoreHippo has a limited credit option, so many retailer finds it difficult to block their money for a new productSome retailer does not keep Hippo due to lack of merchandize provided. Retailers demand shelve and almirah so that they can store and display and also protect from mice but very limited or no merchand ize is provided to most of the retailersSome retailers do not keep Hippo because they perceive that it is a new product with low awareness, the market is still not ready to accept the product. Had it been ready, the consumer would themselves ask for itSome retailers complained about poor follow up from the sales team and is the reason for not keeping HippoSome retailers, who use to keep Hippo complained that the expired stock were not replaced and they have lost faith in Parle AgroThe chart provided below showcases the frequency of the reasons discussed above. Interpretations32.5% of the shops were never approached by the company. From the qualitative data it has been found that many retailers were positive about keeping Hippo if they were being approached by the company.12.5% of the shops have no space to keep Hippo. While conducting survey it is found that many shops were flooded with competitor brand leaving no space for Hippo.Out of 24.6% of sample who use to keep Hippo, 11.2% s topped keeping Hippo due sudden halt in supply due to distributor reappointment problem and other associated problems.8.8% of the samples do not keep Hippo anymore due to its low sales while 2.5% of the samples do not keep Hippo because of the credit policy. The low sales associated with limited credit policy makes it difficult for the retailer to invest in the slow moving stock.1.2% of sample reported that they do not keep Hippo because Parle Agro do not provide them with almirah or rack as result the products get damaged because of mice.Among the samples who never kept Hippo, 10% of the sample never kept Hippo because no customer demanded for it. They said, they will only keep Hippo when customer starts asking for it. The demand graph is provided below.Among those who use to keep Hippo, 8.8% of sample do not keep it anymore due to bad follow up from the distributor. One of the samples was approached by the distributor ho took order but never delivered the products.The expired date products were never replaced for which 2.5% of the sample does not keep Hippo.The reason for the 8.8% of the shops could not be gauged due to any response from the retailers.2. Demand of Hippo The graph below provides a holistic view about the demand of Hippo. 42.7% of the sample said that the demand of Hippo is low while 33.7% of the sample said that the demand is average followed by 23.6% of the sample who said that the demand is high. 3. Reorder period Among the samples who keep Hippo, 57.6% of the sample orders on a weekly basis, 24.7% orders on a monthly basis, 10.6% on a fortnightly basis and 7.1% of the sample orders twice a week.4. Most selling Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) 74.1% of the sample reported that the small packs are most selling stock keeping unit (SKU) while 25.9% of the sample reported about the medium pack. 5. Most selling flavour On an overall analysis, we found that there is very low consistent pattern of choice of flavour. However 21.2% of the sample said that t he bluish green pack (Goan Butter and Garlic) sells the most followed by Punjab Da Pickle.6. Awareness of nutrition facts among retailers 70.5% of the sample had no idea about Hippo being baked but not fried while that 29.5% of the sample had idea about the health positivity of the product. Among 29.5 % of the samples who are aware of the fact only 2.4% of the samples pitch about it while selling it.7. Analysis of the margin/profit offered by Hippo and its competitors The objective is to find whether there is significant difference among the margin offered by three brands i.e. Lays, Bingo and Hippo. In other words, it is a test for difference in distributions (medians) of the margin/profit for the different brands of snacks. Methodology applied is Kruskal-Wallis Test. The null hypothesis H0 = PL = PB = PH and the alternate hypothesis H1 is PL, PB and PH are significantly different. PL = Proportion of retailer to whom Lays provide them with highest margin PB = Proportion of retailer to whom Bingo provide them with highest margin PH = Proportion of retailer to whom Hippo provide them with highest margin The significance level (a) is 0.05. According to the Kruskal-Wallis test, the p-value is as low as zero, so we reject the null hypothesis. So we see that at the a = 0.05 level of significance, there exists enough evidence to conclude that there is significant difference among the three snack brand in terms of the margin/profit provided to the retailer.8. Factor Analysis The main applications of factor analytic te (1) To reduce the number of variables and (2) To detect structure in the relationships bet Therefore, factor analysis is applied as a dat The variables taken are .Supply Quality of Hippo as r .Quality of Product delivered as r .Quality of service(Replacement .Merchandize offered and its a .Margin perceived by the samples .Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples or analytic techniques are the number of variables and tionships between variables, that is t o classify sis is applied as a data reduction or structure detection method. Supply Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples ed as responded by Samples placement and Adjustment) as responded by Samples and its availability as responded by Samples ed by the samples sponded by Samples classify variables. tion method. y Samples The main applications of factor analytic te (1) To reduce the number of variables and (2) To detect structure in the relationships bet Therefore, factor analysis is applied as a dat The variables taken are .Supply Quality of Hippo as r .Quality of Product delivered as r .Quality of service(Replacement .Merchandize offered and its a .Margin perceived by the samples .Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples or analytic techniques are the number of variables and tionships between variables, that is to classify sis is applied as a data reduction or structure detection method. Supply Quality of Hippo as responded by Samples ed as responded by Samples placement and Ad justment) as responded by Samples and its availability as responded by Samples ed by the samples sponded by Samples classify variables. tion method. y SamplesFrom the component plot above it is quite clear that plot above it is quite clear that quality of product, quality of supply and replacement and adjustment constitute one factor while margin of hippo and merchandizing provided constitute the other factor. From the Scree Plot it can be seen that 2 components have Eigen Value more than 1 and they can explain 74.09% of the variation.Part 1 (b) Area wise analysis of the attributes 1. Demand hippo vs Area 70%, 55%, 50% in Lake Town, Shyambazar, Ultadanga respectively consider the demand of Hippo to be low. 72.7% of sample in Salt Lake and 50% of sample in New Market feels the demand for Hippo is average. However 44.4%, 50%, 41.7% of the sample in Nagerbazar, Baisakhi and Ultadanga respectively fell the demand is high over there.2. Flavour vs area Goan Butter and Garlic flavour is th e most liked flavour in Salt Lake. While Punjab Da Pickle is the favourite in Nagerbazar. All the other area has no definite favourite.3. Area vs Hippo Stocked Cross tabulation Area * Hippo Stocked Cross tabulation Hippo Stocked No Yes Previously Kept Area Salt Lake Count 0 12 0 % within Area .0% 100.0% .0% Lake Town Count 4 3 4 % within Area 36.4% 27.3% 36.4% Nagerbazar Count 2 10 0 % within Area 16.7% 83.3% .0% Baisakhi CK Market Count 3 1 5 % within Area 33.3% 11.1% 55.6% New Market Hogg Market Count 11 0 6 % within Area 64.7% .0% 35.3% Ultadanga, Murari Pukur, Kankurgachi Bagmari Count 13 5 7 % within Area 52.0% 20.0% 28.0% Beadon Road, Aurobindo Road Vivekananda Road Count 13 10 5 % within Area 46.4% 35.7% 17.9% Shyambazar, Baghbazar Rajballav Para Count 4 13 7 % within Area 16.7% 54.2% 29.2% Total Count 50 54 34 % within Area 36.2% 39.1% 24.6% From the cross tabulation above, we see that the penetration of Hippo is excellent in Salt Lake and Nagerbaz