Hindustan Times

THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
NEW DELHI
THESIS ON
PERCEPTUAL MAPPING OF HINDUSTAN TIMES
READERS AT NEW DELHI
SUBMITTED TO:
PROF. SUMANTA SHARMA
PROF. DIPTI SHARMA
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

MR. ______________
SUBMITTED BY:
_____________
ALUMNI ID NUMBER:
BATCH:
The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi
ABSTRACT
Perceptual mapping is used to describe a set of techniques designed to represent
perceptions about various mutual fund schemes and their similarities in a visual
"space".
It is useful for providing highly intuitive representations in order to
position mutual fund schemes on dimensions critical to consumer perceptions in that

visual space, a variety of simple to complex statistical methodologies can be used to
create them. Some of the latter include multi-dimensional scaling, factor or cluster
analytical methods, and conjoint analysis. Usually these techniques result in schemes
being mapped on 2 to 3 dimensions. Two- dimensional maps are the most popular as
they are most easily understood and interpreted by clients. There is also substantive
agreement that consumers use only a limited number of separate (though sometimes
complex and integrative) concepts to assess mutual fund schemes. To find out the
perceptual mapping for Hindustan times by the customer. News paper provide
various schemes to customers, where each scheme is targeted to different segments,
this study helps us in identifying the actual targeted segments of each section of HT
newspaper i.e. sports, business, Entertainment, General news from customer
perceptive. Opinion will be collected from customers. Position of different schemes
will be done by using Multidimensional Scaling technique for the selected variables.
From this the customers can understand where there is a gap and where there is a
cluster; accordingly they can use a new scheme for investment or restructure the
existing scheme.
BATCH: PGP/FW/2007-09
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ALUMNI ID NO.:
SIGNATORY PAGE
TO WHOMESOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
This is to confirm that Prerna Chauhan, student of IIPM, NEW DELHI, is doing a live
project(Thesis) on the topic PERCEPTUAL MAPPING OF HINDUSTAN
TIMES READERS AT NEW DELHI under my guidance and that the work being
done by the candidate is original and is of the standard expected by an MBA student.
May god bless her with all success in her career.
Warm regards
____________
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ALUMNI ID NO.:
TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER

Dear Mohd. Azam,
This is to inform that your thesis proposal on Perceptual Mapping of Hindustan
Times Readers in New Delhi, to be conducted under the guidance of Mr. Mohd.
Mobin Qaisar Siddique is hereby approved and the topic registration id number is
DS/09/11-M-07
Make it a comprehensive thesis by ensuring that all the objectives as stated by you in
your synopsis are met using appropriate research design; a thesis should aim at adding
value to the existing knowledge base.
You are required to correspond with your internal guide Prof. Alpi Jain at
alpi.jain@iipm.edu Ph.-0124-3350709 by sending at least six response sheets
(attached along with this mail) at regular intervals before the last date for thesis
submission.
NB:
1) A thesis would be rejected if there is any variation in the topic/title from the one
approved and registered with us.
2) The candidate needs to handwrite at least 1200 to 1500 words on the summary of
thesis at the time of viva
.
Regards,
Prof .Sumanta Sharma
Dean (Projects)
IIPM
Sumanta.sharma@iipm.edu
Phone:
+91 0124 3350701 (D)
+91 0124 3350715 (Board)
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ALUMNI ID NO.:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is well-established fact that behind every achievement lays an unfathomable sea of
gratitude to those who have extended their support and without whom the project
would never have come into existence.
I express my gratitude to IIPM, New Delhi for providing me an opportunity to work
on this thesis as a part of the curriculum.
Also, I express my gratitude to Prof. Sumanta Sharma and Prof. Dipti Sharma on the
completion of my project.
DS/09/11-M-07
ALUMNI ID NO.:
CONTENT
ABSTRACT................................................................................................ii
SIGNATORY PAGE..................................................................................iii
TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER...................................................................iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT..............................................................................v
APPROVED THESIS SYNOPSIS............................................................vii
1.
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................1
2.
COMPANY PROFILE......................................................................................5
3.
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................15
4.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................36
5.
FINDING AND ANALYSIS..........................................................................37
6.
CONCLUSION................................................................................................54
7.
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................55
8.
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................56
9.
ANNEXURE QUESTIONNAIRE...............................................................57
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ALUMNI ID NO.:
THESIS SYNOPSIS
DETAILS OF THE STUDENT:
Name
Batch
Specialization
Section
Phone No
Email Id
DESIRED AREA:
TITLE OF THE THESIS:
Marketing
PERCEPTUAL MAPPING OF HINDUSTAN TIMES READERS AT

NEW DELHI
PROBLEM DEFINITION /HYPOTHESIS /RESEARCH

OBJECTIVES
To find out the perceptual mapping for Hindustan times by the customer. News paper
provide various schemes to customers, where each scheme is targeted to different
segments, this study helps us in identifying the actual targeted segments of each
section of HT newspaper i.e. sports, business, Entertainment, General news from
customer perceptive. Opinion will be collected from customers. Position of different
schemes will be done by using Multidimensional Scaling technique for the selected
variables. From this the customers can understand where there is a gap and where
there is a cluster; accordingly they can use a new scheme for investment or
restructure the existing scheme.
LITERATURE RELATED TO THE RESEARCH (IN BRIEF)

Perceptual mapping is used to describe a set of techniques designed to represent
perceptions about various Marketing concept and their similarities in a visual "space".
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ALUMNI ID NO.:
It is useful for providing highly intuitive representations in order to position the

different marketing strategy schemes on dimensions critical to consumer perceptions
in that visual space, a variety of simple to complex statistical methodologies can be
used to create them. Some of the latter include multi-dimensional scaling, factor or
cluster analytical methods, and conjoint analysis. Usually these techniques result in
schemes being mapped on 2 to 3 dimensions. Two- dimensional maps are the most
popular as they are most easily understood and interpreted by clients. There is also
substantive agreement that consumers use only a limited number of separate (though
sometimes complex and integrative) concepts to assess the perceptual mapping.
SCOPE OF THE THESIS WORK
From the perceptual mapping the customers can understand where there is a gap and
where there is a cluster; accordingly they can use a new scheme for investment or
restructure the existing scheme.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SECONDARY DATA
I will collect the Secondary data from following sources:
Newspaper HT, TOI
Magazine - The Times. Harvard Business Review, 4ps
Website/Internet Hindustan times
Book Course book/ Philip Kotler
Notes- Professors Notes
PRIMARY DATAI will collect the data through structure questionnaire.

TOOL USEDExcel sheet, pie chart, and histogram
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SAMPLING METHOD
Random Sampling
SAMPLE SIZEI will try to collect data from more than 50 customers
Target AudienceStudents, housewife, Businessman, working group i.e. if I need to target business
segment probably I will take Banking customer in this account.
JUSTIFICATION FOR CHOOSING A PARTICULAR RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
The type of research carried for the study is descriptive research and sampling taken
is random sampling. Perceptual mapping is one of the few marketing research
techniques that provides direct input into the strategic marketing planning process. It
allows senior marketing planners to take a broad view of the strengths and
weaknesses of their product or service offerings relative to the strengths and
weaknesses of their competition.
SUMMER TRAINING REPORT (IN BRIEF)

During my internship I worked as a sales trainee in Reliance Capital Services.My
prime job was to regulate and increase the sales of financial products offered by the
company.My job also included comparative analysis of different financial product
lines demanded by different consumers.
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ALUMNI ID NO.:
DETAILS OF THE EXTERNAL GUIDE
Name of the Guide : MOHD MOBIN QAISAR SIDDIQUE
Qualification
: MBA
Designation
: ZONAL MANAGER (SALES&MARKETING)
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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

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INTRODUCTION
'Media' is the medium of carrying information, education and entertainment to the
masses. It is an easier and efficient means of communication which plays a key role in
the overall development of an economy. In an era where knowledge and facts are the
tools for economic, political and cultural exchange, presence of the strong and
constructive media in a country is important for catering to the diverse needs of
individuals, society as a whole, small and large business and production houses,
various research organizations, private sectors as well as the public sectors. Media is a
conscience-keeper of the nation and has many tasks to perform in our day-to-day
lives. It helps the Government to achieve various socioeconomic and political goals;
educate urban and rural masses; instill a sense of responsibility among the people; as
well as provide justice to the needy. It largely consists of print media like newspapers,
magazines, journals and other publications, etc. as well as electronic media like radio,
television, internet, etc. With the changing scenario of the world, it has acquired the
status of an industry.
In India, the media and entertainment industry is undergoing remarkable change and
is one of the fastest growing sectors. The main factors responsible for this are rising
per capita/ national income, high economic growth and strong macro-economic
fundamentals, democratic set up; good governance as well as law and order position
in the country. Specifically, spectacular growth of the television industry, new
formats for film production and distribution, privatization and growth of radio,
gradually liberalizing attitude of Government towards the sector, easier access to and
for international companies as well as advent of digital communication and its
technological innovations are the other attributes of the growth of the sector. The
media industry plays an important role in creating people's awareness about national
policies and programmes by providing information and education, besides creating
healthy business environment in the country. Thus, it helps people to be active
partners in the nation-building endeavor.
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Overview of newspaper scenario:

In India newspaper publication began in Calcutta in the 1780's and by 1800 there
were several dozen publications in English, with the numbers increasing periodically.
Now, the progress has been so much that every major newspaper from India has an
internet edition.
In India the print and the electronic media are both very active. It was reported that in
1993, there were approximately 4000 newspapers being published in the country.
Now the figure has increased to approximately 5,525 newspapers. Each week,
National Readership Survey (NRS) says, the print news media reaches 242 million
readers. These enormous numbers, the survey suggests, represent a chain of growth,
driven both by expanding literacy and improved living standards.
The publications in the country are in Hindi, English and all vernacular languages.
There is also a good range of weekly, fortnightly and monthly magazines in the
country which cover a whole range of national as well as international issues in depth.
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Top players:
Newspapers:
The Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
The Hindu
Indian Express
Malayalam Manorama.
Dainik Bhaskar.
Telegraph.
Mid Day Mumbai.
Deccan Herald.
The Economic Times.
PRINT MEDIA:
It is true that the age of electronic media has started; however printed information is
and remains omnipresent. The market for print products offers more variety than ever.
Usually, printed products are categorized into commercial printing and periodicals.
This classification differentiates printed matter with regard to its frequency of
publication.
Commercial printing refers to print products that are produced occasionally
(brochures, catalogs, leaflets, business cards). Periodicals are printed matters that
appear periodically (newspapers, journals, magazines).
Another way of categorizing printed products is by splitting them into special groups.
These individual groups are:
1. BOOKS:
Gutenbergs work and his invention, printing with movabe lead types, in the middle
of the fifteenth century triggered a revolution in the book production. A much greater
proportion of the population got the chance to acquire education, culture and
information than had been possible with hand written books.
2. MAGAZINES:
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The range of magazines consists mainly of periodicals, including trade magazines,

journals and illustrated magazines. Magazines usually have a shorter life span. This is
due to the content and it is the major characteristic of the periodicals.
3. NEWSPAPERS:
A newspaper is a written publication containing news, information and advertising,
usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often
feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and
sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns
which express the personal opinions of writers. Supplementary sections may contain
advertising, comics, coupons, and other printed media. Newspapers usually focus on
one particular geographic area where most of their readers live.
The newspaper is still one of the most significant mass media today. Most newspapers
are produced daily and have a high circulation. The two most important categories of
newspapers are daily papers and weekly papers.
4. BROCHURES:
Apart from the advertising insert that comes in the newspapers and magazines, there
is a large market for leaflets and product descriptions. Such printed matter is referred
to as brochures. Brochures are commercial print work. The print volume of brochures
is low. They are mainly used to describe something particular (e.g. company,
product).
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COMPANY PROFILE
India's foremost media conglomerate is home to the leading newspapers in the
country - Hindustan Times (the flagship English daily) and Hindustan (Hindi
newspaper). And it has a significant online presence with HindustanTimes.com.
The Hindustan Times Ltd. plans to consolidate itself as vibrant and modern media
powerhouse throuatiogh strategic partnerships, ever-increasing scope of operns and a
consumer focused approach.
Hindustan Times (HT) is India's leading newspaper, published since 1924 with roots
in the independence movement. Hindustan Times is the flagship publication of HT
Media Ltd.In 2008, the newspaper reported that with a (circulation of over 1.14
million) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations ranking them as the third
largest circulatory daily English Newspaper in India It has a wide reach in northern
India (barring Southern India), with simultaneous editions from New Delhi, Mumbai
Lucknow Patna, Ranchi and Kolkata. It is also printed from Bhopal and Chandigarh.
The print location of Jaipur was discontinued from June 2006. HT has also launched a
youth daily HT Next in 2004.
The Mumbai edition was launched on 14 July 2005. Indian Readership Survey (IRS)
2008-R2 revealed that it has readership of (6.6 million) raking them as the second
most widely read English Newspaper after Hindustan Times.
Other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Mint (English business daily),
Hindustan (Hindi Daily), Nandan (monthly children's magazine) and Kadambani
(monthly literary magazine). The media group also owns a radio channel Fever and
organises an annual Luxury Conference, which has featured speakers like designer
Diane von Frstenberg, shoemaker Christian Louboutin, Gucci CEO Robert Polet and
Cartier MD Patrick Normand. The KK Birla branch of the Birla family owns
Hindustan Times. Critics allege that the paper often toes the line of Congress (I), the
political party presently leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is in
power in India.
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HT Media Ltd
Print
Radio
Events
Digital
Print
Hindustan Times
Delhi
Mumbai
Chandigarh
Bhopal
Lucknow
Patna
Ranchi & Kolkata
Radio ,Fever 104
Hindustan
UP
Delhi
Bihar
Mint
Delhi
Mumbai
Bangalore
Jharkhand
Uttarakhand
Chandigarh
Chennai
Kolkata
Pune
Chandigarh
Delhi
Mumbai
Bangalore
Kolkatta
Events, Events And Solutions
Leadership Summit
Luxury Summit
Youth Nexus
Miss India world WIDE
Digital, Internet & Mobile
I Love Delhi
Delhi Shopping Carnival
Hindustan Times.com
Live Hindustan .Com
Live Mint .Com
Shine.com
Desi martini.com
HT mobile
BRANCH OFFICE OF HINDUSTAN TIMES JAIPUR

Hindustan Times being one of the growing company of Print Media having its
Branch Office in Jaipur. The entire operation of Hindustan Times in Rajasthan is
regulated from this office of Jaipur. The reporting done to the HO in New Delhi from
Jaipur branch. This office is located in Bani Park Area, Jaipur. The Office has four
divisions Media Marketing, Editorial, Sales and Circulation, Ad Operation and
AD Billing.
ORAGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY OF THE AREA OFFICE
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PRODUCTS OF HINDUSTAN TIMES

HINDUSTAN TIMES
The flagship publication of the Group has editions from Delhi, Lucknow, Patna and
Kolkata, thus, dominating the Northern, Eastern and Central regions of the country. It
is printed out of eleven centers including Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Nagpur,
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Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhagalpur, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur, reaching closer to the
consumers.
Its New Delhi edition continues to be the single largest English daily edition in the
country with a circulation of over 9.2 lakhs, while maintaining its leadership status in
Delhi as the largest circulated English daily at 5.5 lakhs.
Hindustan Times believes in continuous improvement and providing greater value to
its readers and advertisers. It has set many a standard for its competitors and will
continue to do so in the years to come. It is the first smart-age newspaper in India to
evolve into a new international size, sleeker and smarter, which ensures enhanced
ease of reading and convenient handling.
In its endeavor to provide its readers with greater value, it has revamped its existing
supplements and added new ones to its portfolio, offering a daily supplement catering
to specific target audiences. Supplements like HT Estates (on real estate and interiors)
are the first of their kind in their respective categories. The enlarged operations and
enhanced look have also paid off with a substantial increase in circulation across the
country.
In a major incentive for the advertisers as well as the readers, Hindustan Times has
entered into strategic alliances with The Indian Express, Business Standard, Mid-Day
and Deccan Chronicle. These alliances, along with its strong presence in North India,
make it one of the most of the most formidable media players.
HINDUSTAN TIMES.COM
HindustanTimes.com, a news led media portal is today one of the most popular port
of call for news and infotainment content seekers on the Web. Besides carrying
stories from the newspaper, the site has exclusive and in-depth coverage by its
independent editorial staff. Its exclusive properties include HTTabloid.com, which is
Asia's first tabloid on the Web; and HTCricket.com, a popular destination for
cricketing bytes. The site also provides sections written by popular columnists, along
with in-depth web exclusives on politics, business, new economy, entertainment,
fashion and lifestyle.
In another major achievement, HindustanTimes.com is the only Indian media site
featured amongst the top 10 international newspaper sites by Forbes for the third time
running, ranking above the likes of International Herald Tribune.
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HINDUSTAN:
The group's Hindi newspaper, Hindustan is the 9th largest read newspaper in the
country. (Source: National Readership Survey 2002). The publication's readership has
grown by an impressive 11% to 63.85 lakhs (NRS).
Hindustan has grown considerably from strength to strength and has gained
significantly across markets. It remains the Number 1 daily in Bihar with a market
share of more than 75% of the Hindi daily market. In Uttar Pradesh and Delhi,
Hindustan has grown by 34%. Lucknow has been a trailblazer, recording an
unprecedented growth of 169%.
The popular Hindi daily has also featured innovative advertising campaigns tailored
to meet the specific needs of advertisers.
HT MINTWhile newspapers may be a suffering in most markets, they remain a growth business
in India, according to RajuNarisetti, the former editor of the Wall Street Journal
Europe, who recently launched what is now Indias newest and fastest-growing
business newspaper, Mint.
Among the reasons he cites for newspapers still succeeding in India and other
developing countries are raising levels literacy and limited access to Internet.
The newspaper was not launched as a free newspaper because local distributors need
a share of revenue. That said, with a cover price of less than a cup of tea, potential
business readers will not
Media Marketing
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Media Marketing has become an important segment of advertisement in Print Media.

The overall revenue Print Media depends substantially on the revenue of the Media
Marketing. The revenue comes from the booking of advertisement under various
categories. As advertisement has become a effective tool of promotion for individuals,
companies as well as government thus the scope of media marketing has also
increased. The industry is booming and it has been also contributing in the GDP of
the country.
Media Marketing Scenario in RAJASTHAN:
Rajasthan is a state of business class and there is a growing need for advertisement.
The Print section has a considerable share of the entire pie and Hindustan Times
being has a great opportunity to explore the entire market of Rajasthan. Print
advertising of various categories can tap the segments according to their needs.
Especially in case of business segment where print advertisement can be an effective
tool for to promote their business.
SWOT Analysis of the organization
Strength:
Kolkata, thus, dominating the Northern, Eastern and Central regions of the country.
country with a circulation of over 9.2 lakhs.
Hindustan Times has set many a standard for its competitors. It is the first smart-age
newspaper in India to evolve into a new international size, sleeker and smarter, which
ensures enhanced ease of reading and convenient handling.
to specific target audiences.
In a major incentive for the advertisers as well as the readers, Hindustan Times has
entered into strategic alliances with The Indian Express, Business Standard, Mid-Day
and Deccan Chronicle. These alliances, along with its strong presence in North India,
make it one of the most formidable media players.
Weakness:
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Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times will suck most of the companys investments
and profitability for the next two years will be adversely affected. The Mumbai
edition is expected to incur losses for a couple of years.
In Mumbai, HTM faces immense competition from the established The Hindustan
Times and Indian Express, which also have greater financial resources. In addition,
other competitors entering the Mumbai market (DNA) will further extend HTMs
timeframe to make money.
Opportunity:
Newspapers only reach 35% of the adult population, of which 65% is literate, there
is significant room for growth.
The sheer number of publications has created fierce competition Which has kept
prices low which in turn has caused publishers to depend more on advertising
revenues.
Advertising revenues in 2006 are predicted to see a 15 to 20% spike. In 2005, 48%
of India's total advertising market went to newspapers,7% more than went to
television.
Circulation could rise by a whopping 14% riding the back of the advertising boom.
Threats:
In Mumbai, HTM faces immense competition from the established The Hindustan
Times and Indian Express. In addition, other competitors have entered the Mumbai
market like DNA
Advertisement And its classification

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Advertisement and Medias of advertisement

Advertising is a non-personal form of communication intended to persuade an
audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon
products, ideals, or services. It includes the name of a product or service and how that
product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade a target market to purchase
or to consume that particular brand. These brands are usually paid for or identified
through sponsors and viewed via various media. Advertising can also serve to
communicate an idea to a mass amount of people in an attempt to convince them to
take a certain action, such as encouraging 'environmentally friendly' behaviors, and
even unhealthy behaviors through food consumption, video game and television
viewing promotion, and a "lazy man" routine through a loss of exercise . Modern
advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Mass media can be defined as any media meant to reach a mass amount of
people. Several types of mass media are television, internet, radio, news programs,
and published pictures and articles.
Advertisement does
Increasing the sales of the product/service
Creating and maintaining a brand identity or brand image.
Communicating a change in the existing product line.
Introduction of a new product or service.
Increasing the buzz-value of the brand or the company.
Medias of advertisements
Print Media:
Under print media the different types are-Newspaper, magazine, broachers, fliers etc.
Electronic media:
Under Electronic media the different types are-Broadcast (Television[Entertainment,
Sports, News]&Radio), Internet, Cinemas Movies.
Word of mouth publicity:
Under this category pioneer ship, direct marketing.
Outdoor Marketing:
This category comprises of Billboards, kiosks, trade house and Events.
Categories Of Advertisement Of Hindustan Times
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DISPLAY:This is a very important category of advertisement. And has a great influence on

revenue of newspaper. Display ads basically are those ads which appears in a box .It
shows the brand, product and its features. Display ads show detailed information
about the company and its outlets. It can be of two types colour and black and white.
Display ads are measured in terms of SQCM
DAVP:The Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the nodal agency to
undertake multi-media advertising and publicity for various Ministries and
Departments of Government of India. Some of the Autonomous Bodies also route
their advertisements through DAVP. As a service agency, it endeavors to
communicate at grass roots level on behalf of various Central Government Ministries.
DIPR:DIPR stands for department of information and public relation. This ia an agency
which undertake media advertisement and publicity for various ministries and
department of state level government of India.
OBITUARY: This kind of category defines those ads, which are printed in relation
to condolences and remembrance of those who have passed away. This is generally
having a separate and permanent space in newspapers
SELF ADVERTISEMENT:
This refers to that category which prints ads in connection to the promotion of the
brand of newspaper itself. For instance when a newspaper gives ads in which it
shows its association with some kind a social cause Or when it print ads to promote a
special segment of its newspaper such a matrimonial.
AFR/UFR:These are special purpose advertisement printed on occasion like a festival or
anniversary. These ads basically are the ads, which display the financial report of any
company who wants to reveal its financial position to its financers; stakeholders like
shareholders suppliers and customers. They are printed yearly, half yearly or may be
quarterlys per the choice and policy of the company. AFR stand for audited financial
report and UFR stands for un-audited financial report.
FEATURES ADS:
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This kind of ads are printed rarely on special sary of a newspaper or other such
occasion
CLASSIFIEDS:
Classified advertising is a form of advertising which is particularly common in
newspapers online and other periodicals e.g. free ads papers or Penny savers.
Classified advertising differs from standard advertising or business models in that it
allows private individuals (not simple companies or corporate entities) to solicit sales
for products and services. A detailed description of classified is given in the pages to
come.
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LITRATURE REVIEW
Perceptual mapping is one of the few marketing research techniques that provides
direct input into the strategic marketing planning process. It allows senior marketing
planners to take a broad view of the strengths and weaknesses of their product or
service offerings relative to the strengths and weaknesses of their competition. It
allows the marketing planner to view the customer and the competitor simultaneously
in the same realm.
Perceptual mapping and preference mapping techniques have
been basic tools of the applied marketing research profession for over twenty years
now. It is one of the few advanced multivariate techniques that have not suffered very
much from alternating waves of popularity and disfavor. Although I personally
observed a minor waning of the use of the techniques in the early 1980's, it is now as
popular as ever. And although these techniques have been used extensively over a
large number of applied research studies, and for a very wide variety of product and
service categories, and have been subjected to extensive validations, there still remain
some very basic issues as to the procedure's applicability and usefulness.
In addition, there remain many outstanding issues concerning the proper procedures
and algorithms that should be used for perceptual mapping. So, I see that my main
task at this conference is to raise the issues, as I see them. I am taking a rather naive
approach. That is, I will approach these issues from the research manager's point of
view, and not the statistician's. These issues represent the kinds of questions that my
clients ask me and my staff. Obviously, I have some answers, and some biases, but I
will try to minimize those, and concentrate on the issues.
I know that many of these issues will be addressed at this conference, both in formal
presentations and in informal discussions. I am taking this route in the hope that this
introduction will encourage greater investigation, increase validation activities, and
provide fuel for additional conferences of this type.
CURRENT ISSUES IN PERCEPTUAL MAPPING

A. Defining and limiting the relevant space
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How is the relevant space limited? There are three types of limitations that must be
placed on the relevant multivariate space that will be analyzed and mapped. They are:
1. Limits on the population that is to be surveyed. This seldom poses a
serious problem because it tends to be self-defining in terms of users, or
purchasers of the products, services, or firms in question. However, there
are questions as to how familiar a respondent is with a product, or brand.
This will be discussed in a later section.
2. Limits on the relevant set of variables that will be used to define the
perceptual space. In my opinion, this is the most critical area for setting
limitations, except for those using the scaling methods based on overall
product similarities. The major question to the applied researcher is what
variables are to be used to orient the perceptual positioning of the various
competitors. There is a nearly unlimited set of variables available.
3. Limits on the relevant set of products, services, or firms that will be

mapped into the multivariate space is also a major issue. Although I don't
believe that this is as critical an issue as the selection of the relevant
variable set, it is still a serious one. A balance is required.
B. Are there particular product categories or merchandise lines or firm types where
discriminant analysis-based mapping works better? If so, then what are the
characteristics of those product categories or industries?
C. Is "high involvement" in the respondent rating process a necessary prerequisite for
multivariate mapping? What level of familiarity is necessary and sufficient to include
a set of ratings into the definition of the relevant multivariate space?
D. Extracting the dimensions.
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1. What are some good rules of thumb for determining how many dimensions
to use? How much variance needs to be explained to be comfortable? How
should we handle dimensions with low variance explained, but test as
significant?
2. How do you display more than two dimensions? What procedures and
graphics algorithms are available? What graphics procedures best convey
the information in the multivariate space to managers and creative
professionals?
3. If you are forced to use a two-dimensional map, but have three or more
significant dimensions, how do you adequately show those attributes that
are heavily loaded on the third dimension? Or, do you eliminate those
from the display. If you do eliminate them, what criteria should you use?
4. What actions should you take when the first extracted dimension explains
much more variance then the second dimension? Is it appropriate to
display those two dimensions as equal axes in the map?
E. Plotting the variables in the derived space raises some interesting questions.
1. Should variable coordinate weighting be used to show differences in the
amount of variance explained by each axis?
2. If so, what should be used as the appropriate weights percent of variance
explained by each axis, eigen values, or something else?
F. Plotting the firms/products in the perceptual space

1. How should we show which products or firms are significantly different
from others on the map?
2. Does anyone attempt to draw confidence limits around the mapped points
anymore?
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G. Is longitudinal mapping a valid concept? What are the critical issues in overlaying
maps? What are the best methods for doing this?
1. Line up "index" points from successive time periods so as to minimize the
variance between them? Should the index points be the vector of
importance ratings, or some other measure?
2. Select a very stable vector that consistently discriminates between at least
two of the products or firms, and minimize the variance between their
positions over successive time periods?
3. Use both of these methods in combination?
4. Re-generate the dimensions with each attribute from each time period
representing a separate attribute, and each product from each time period
representing a separate product?
5. Always use the original space, and simply plug in the standardized means
for each product from successive time periods into the linear dimensional
equations and calculate the new coordinates?
6. What other procedures are being used?
H. How can you incorporate volumetric data into multivariate mapping? In other
words, how can you show the marketing manager where the greatest demand exists
on the map or where the opportunities are?
a.
Are scatter plots of grouped respondent locations the only thing
available?
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b.
Or, can we develop a surface plot over the mapped space that will
depict
such things as dollars spent, or number of items bought, or even
number of
times visited? What methods are being used now? What could
be done with
the new graphics packages combined with multivariate
"smoothing"
routines to superimpose surface plots over the derived
space? Needless to say, there are still many outstanding issues and further
development opportunities with multivariate mapping procedures. I'm sure that there
are others besides these. I would like to challenge the readers to address these issues,
share them with your peers, publicize solutions to them, freely subject them to
validations, and give us more specificity in executing this most powerful and useful
marketing research procedure.
De bond and Thaler (1985) while investigating the possible psychological basis for
investor behavior ,argue that mean reversion in stock prices is an evidence of investor
over reaction where investor over emphasize recent firm performance in forming
future expectations.
Shanmugham (2000) conduct a survey of 201 individual investors to study the
information sourcing by investors,their perception of various investment strategy
dimention and the factors, psychological and sociological factors dominated the
economic factors dominated the economic factors in share investment decisions.
Incidentally ,an investment in mutual funds would be entitled to indexation benefits in
the computation of capital gains, which would ortherwise be denied to a direct
investment in debt securities .It is a common observation that large companies deploy
their investible
surplus in the fixed income schemes, which involves negligible
downward risk, and seek to leverage the tax arbitrage. From press reports that
mutual funds offer special plans, titled as serial plans, which allow an investors to
be the sole member of a scheme and the deployment of the money is effected in
avenues choosen by the said investor. Marketing Strategy:
HT adopted a two-stage process. They first focused on building the brand in a new
market by targeting the discerning English reader. Then they focused on building the
circulation. They concentrated specifically on households that subscribe to English
newspapers. They built quality circulation instead of just increasing sales numbers.
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Promotional Strategy:
HT used Let there be light ad campaign to spread the message of its superior
content. The positioning is that HT as a brand is a thought-stimulating product. The
TV commercial was made such that it showed HT readers were being distinguished
from a crowd of blindfolded people.
Pricing Strategy:
The sales and delivery model that lasted for so many decades are undergoing a radical
change. Newspapers traditionally had `newsstand' sales from where a fairly large
proportion of their readers picked up their daily fix. The remaining sales were made
through `hawkers' who delivered the newspaper home and collected the money at the
end of the month. Subscription sales for daily newspapers were always a very small
proportion of the total sales.
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The Hindustan Times has been touting a scheme where a newspaper has a cover price
of Rs 2.50 but actually costs just Re1 per day. A reader who goes in for the cash back
scheme on an advance payment of an annual subscription gets a glossy booklet with
twelve coupons affixed with a fancy hologram. A coupon is given at the end of every
month to the `hawker' who delivers the newspaper home. This gives a feeling of
security to the reader who is skeptical about a one-time advance payment.
Present Status:
Kolkata, thus, dominating the Northern, Eastern and Central regions of the country. It
is printed out of eleven centers including Bhopal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Nagpur,
Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhagalpur, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur, reaching closer to the
consumers.
country with a circulation of over 9.2 lakhs, while maintaining its leadership status in
Delhi as the largest circulated English daily at 5.5 lakhs.
to specific target audiences. Supplements like HT Estates (on real estate and interiors)
are the first of their kind in their respective categories.
HT NEXT:
Hindustan Times rolled out its youth edition - HT

NEXT. It is the first ever
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Newspaper launched especially for the youth. Loaded with new, views and interesting
trivia from around the world, the all-color edition of Hindustan
Times will is available at a price of Rs. 1.50 at stands across Delhi and NCR.
Targeted purely at young readers, HT Next promises to be a reader friendly,
comprehensive and holistic daily with substance and style.
The first Hindustan Times Luxury Conference, co-sponsored by the Ministry of

Commerce & Industry, Government of India, was held on 2006 in Mumbai.
Hindustan Times, one of Indias leading and most respected English dailies, has
always prided itself in spotting emerging trends and the Hindustan Times Luxury
Conference had been initiated to aid the development of the luxury industry in India.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Indias
premier trade body, was a partner in this endeavour.
Overview:
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In November 2003, Hindustan Times launched the Leadership Summit - an annual

conference that seeks to enhance the level of discussion on pressing issues, encourage
interaction among leaders in various areas and present international quality thought
platforms, as part of its mission to contribute to thought leadership and evolve action
plans for a secure and better future.
Relevance:
The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit is a platform for eminent leaders to interact,
share their opinions and views on important issues of concern and arrive at solutions.
The conference aims to understand the world's views on social, economic and
political issues. It tries to gain insights on India's role in the world and its importance
in the global growth scenario. The Hindustan Leadership Summit invites international
business leaders, strategists along with renowned personalities from India and abroad.
in the same realm.
Perceptual mapping and preference mapping techniques have been a basic tool of the
applied marketing research profession for over twenty years now. It is one of the few
advanced multivariate techniques that has not suffered very much from alternating
waves of popularity and disfavor. Although I personally observed a minor waning of
the use of the techniques in the early 1980's, it is now as popular as ever.
And although these techniques have been used extensively over a large number of
applied research studies, and for a very wide variety of product and service categories,
and have been subjected to extensive validations, there still remain some very basic
issues as to the procedure's applicability and usefulness.
In addition, there remain many outstanding issues concerning the proper procedures
and algorithms that should be used for perceptual mapping.
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So, I see that my main task at this conference is to raise the issues, as I see them. I am
taking a rather naive approach. That is, I will approach these issues from the research
manager's point of view, and not the statistician's. These issues represent the kinds of
questions that my clients ask me and my staff. Obviously, I have some answers, and
some biases, but I will try to minimize those, and concentrate on the issues.
I know that many of these issues will be addressed at this conference, both in formal
presentations and in informal discussions. I am taking this route in the hopes that this
introduction will encourage greater investigation, increase validation activities,
encourage additional, practitioner? oriented publishing activities, and provide fuel for
additional conferences of this type.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
So, let's start with the first issue. Just what is perceptual mapping? Or, is it preference
mapping? Or, is it structural segmentation? Or what? Here is a list of some of the
names that I have seen this procedure called:
- Perceptual Mapping
- Preference Mapping
- Structural Segmentation
- Brand Mapping
- Behavioral Mapping
- Strategic Product Positioning
Well, if the only difference
- MDS Mapping
- Market Mapping
- Product Mapping
- Goal Mapping
- Image Mapping
- Semantic Mapping
between these various names is the selection of a
particular attribute set, then I suggest that we rename the technique to just plain old
Multivariate Mapping. If one wishes to distinguish algorithms, then the proper
descriptive prefix can be used, such as discriminant analysis?based multivariate
mapping. Or, if one wishes to distinguish the types of attributes used, then an
appropriate suffix like multivariate mapping of consumer product preferences would
be more appropriate. Either, or both are far more descriptive and certainly reduces
confusion.
If there are true differences between these various names and the and the idea of
generic multivariate mapping, then we are obligated to make those distinctions and
perpetuate that nomenclature throughout the profession. As it stands now, the name
perceptual mapping is confusing to both marketing managers and many research
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professionals. Currently, most marketing managers assume that there is a fundamental

difference between perceptual mapping and, say, preference mapping. Is there really?
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS WITH CURRENT ALGORITHMS IN GENERAL
USE
Following are the three major classes of algorithms that are generally in use for
perceptual mapping in the applied marketing research arena. Included is a brief
discussion of their strengths and weaknesses, and some outstanding questions, from a
users viewpoint.
A. Discriminant analysis is still the most popular algorithm in use today for
applied multivariate mapping. The procedure is widely available. The
algorithm is robust in that the assumptions concerning the continuity of the
data, and the data distributions can be relaxed to a considerable extent.
The inputs to discriminant analysis consist of individual respondent ratings of
products across attributes. The basic assumptions are that the rating scales are
continuous and normally distributed. However, in using the technique for mapping
purposes, these assumptions can be relaxed to the point that products simply rank?
ordered on attributes will provide sufficient information for mapping purposes.
Discriminant analysis is much like regression analysis in that it uses a least?squares
approach in an attempt to fit linear models to the data. However, the dependent
variable is nominal. That is, for mapping purposes, the dependent variable is the
product being rated. Thus, each product rated by each respondent is an input record,
so if a respondent rated five products, that generates five input records.
Discriminant analysis then calculates the coefficients to a set of standardized linear
equations, called discriminant equations, that explain the differences between the
product ratings. Or, said a different way, explains the variance between product
ratings.
The formation of the linear equations follows an order, such that the first equation
explains the most variance, the second explains the most variance remaining after
accounting for the variance explained by the first, and so on until you reach a limit of
one less than the number of products being rated, or one less than the number of
variables, whichever is less.
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These linear equations are further constrained so that each one is uncorrelated to the
other. That is, they are orthogonal.
These two properties, the successive optimization of the variance explained, and the
orthogonality of the equations, forms the basis for mapping, because one is assured
that the first linear equation, which defines the X axis of a map, explains the most
variation between products, and the second linear equation, or Y axis, explains the
most variance between products, after accounting for the variance explained by the X
axis (given the limitations of the least?squares procedure). And the X and Y axes are
orthogonal.
In most cases, the first two equations define the majority of the variance between
product ratings, and are the only significant dimensions. Later, we will discuss
significant dimensions beyond two.
Assuming for the moment that there are only two significant dimensions, the
calculated coefficients of each variable in each equation define the X and Y
coordinates of the attribute on the map.
The X and Y coordinates of each product are calculated by substituting the mean
attribute ratings of each product into the two discriminant equations, and calculating
the results.
The linear discriminant equations allow the researcher to easily plot additional
products, or concepts into the derived space. These equations also allow the
researcher to explore the distributions of specific customer groups in the derived
space.
Most widely available discriminant analysis algorithms provide a variety of useful
statistics to the researcher, such as eigen values to show you the variance explained by
each equation, tests of significance for each equation, multivariate F statistics to show
the significance of the group differences, and correlations between the discriminant
functions and each attribute variable.
The procedure also has a few drawbacks.
Obviously it requires individual ratings of individual products (or services, or firms)
on each of a selected set of attributes. Consequently, there is a perpetual problem with
what to do with missing data points. Although I have read a dozen papers on handling
missing data in discriminant analysis, there seems to be no consensus short of case?
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wise deletion. Yet, the realities of today's marketing research industry often makes
this an unacceptable solution. Is mean substitution an appropriate solution? How does
mean substitution effect the calculation of the discriminant functions?
The procedure is dependent on the selection of the appropriate attribute set. The
omission of important discriminating attributes may lead to false conclusions
concerning the dimensionality of consumer ratings of product differences.
Also, the procedure highlights those variables that discriminate between products, and
will not display on the map attributes that may be extremely important, even
dominating product choice, but do not differentiate between products. Alternatively,
situations often develop where a particular variable discriminates between products,
but is not important in product choice.
Often, the selected set of attribute variables is highly correlated, consequently, there is
no control over the number of attribute variables, or which attribute variables, enter
the discriminant solution and define the relevant space. To overcome this situation,
multiple passes, forcing in variables in which there is a high interest, are often
required. This can be costly.
The inclusion or exclusion of one of the products or firms being rated often changes
the dimensionality of the space, especially when the set of firms or products under
consideration is small or radically different from other products. It is often difficult to
convey this situation to research managers and senior marketing management. A
radically changing product space detracts from the confidence that senior marketing
managers have in the procedure. Is there some way of overcoming this, short of
adding more products simply to stabilize the space? That solution is often not viable
in researching industrial products.
B. R-Type Factor Analysis is seldom used as a mapping procedure in today's
applied marketing research field, although in the 1970's it was the preferred
mapping procedure among many applied researchers. And, there are a few
empirical studies that show it is superior to discriminant analysis. Although
you have the same problems with what to do about missing data and selecting
the relevant set of variables as you have with discriminant analysis, this
procedure overcomes two of the problems with discriminant analysis. All
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variables are shown on the map, and the inclusion or exclusion of products has
no effect on the extracted dimensions.
The inputs to factor analysis are very similar to those for discriminant analysis,
product ratings across attributes. However, an additional ingredient is required. You
must also collect an importance rating from each respondent for each attribute. These
importance ratings are the basis for developing the mapping space. The basic
assumptions concerning the distribution and continuity of the rating scales should not
be relaxed.
At this point the two procedures part ways. Unlike discriminant analysis, where the
variance between product ratings is addressed, factor analysis attempts to explain the
correlation between importance ratings of the variables. That is, the first factor
equation is that linear equation that explains the maximum amount of correlation
between the variables, and the second extracted equation explains the most of the
remaining correlation, and so on, until 100% of the correlation is explained with a
number of factors equal to one less than the number of variables. The extracted
factors are linear equations which have a coefficient for each variable. These
coefficients are commonly referred to as factor loadings.
The output of factor analysis does meet the basic criteria for developing a map. The
first two dimensions explain the maximum amount of variance (i.e. correlation)
between the importance ratings of the variables (not the ratings of the products), and
they are orthogonal. Thus, to define a variable location on the map is a simple case of
using that variable's loading on the first factor as the X coordinate, and its loading on
the second factor as the Y coordinate.
Factor analysis is an interdependence procedure, thus the various differences in
product ratings is ignored until after the factor equations are derived. Product
locations in the derived space are calculated by averaging the first two factor scores of
that product's ratings to define the X and Y coordinates. Or alternatively, plugging the
average product scores on each attribute into the two factor scores and calculating the
X and Y coordinates.
The extraction of factors is highly sensitive to the number of correlated attributes. The
addition or deletion of an attribute may dramatically alter the dimensionality of the
derived space. In addition, extraction of factors is dependent on the intercorrelations
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between variables, and does not necessarily optimize the separation between products,
like discriminant analysis. Furthermore, a single variable that may be considered
extremely important and dominating the selection of products, like safety, may not
show up as a dimension on a map, simply because it is not correlated to any of the
other measures.
Myers and Tauber (Market Structure Analysis, AMA, 1977) recommended
overcoming this problem through the use of a "weighted covariance approach", where
the input to the factoring program is a matrix of product covariances, weighted by
regression scores derived from regressing the importance ratings against product
choice. But this has proved to be a bulky and difficult procedure to implement, and
there has been little empirical validation.
C. Non-metric scaling procedures are still used quite often for multivariate
mapping. However, I am only going to concentrate on one of those, and
briefly describe the others.
1. Correspondence Analysis or Dual Scaling techniques are gaining in
popularity, mainly because there has been a considerable amount
written on the technique over the last few years, it is an extremely
robust technique, it has simple data collection requirements, and the
algorithms are becoming widely available.
Correspondence analysis is often used as a post?hoc mapping procedure for studies
that did not originally contemplate multivariate mapping, because of its ability to use
summary distributions of nominal data. The procedure puts no significant demands on
the distribution of the data. In addition, the procedure does not require the standard
attributes?by?products data format required by other procedures. A matrix of
products?by?attributes works just as well, and will produce an identical map.
In addition, the point?point maps produced from correspondence analysis are directly
generated by most of the programs and they are much easier for general marketing
managers and creative promotional personal to understand.
Inputs to correspondence analysis can be as simple as a summary table of respondent
checks as to whether a product has a certain characteristic or not. Almost any data
collection procedure imaginable can be transformed, and used to provide inputs to
correspondence analysis. Respondents can be asked to name a single brand most
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associated with an attribute, or occasion, or store. Even open ended questions can be
used by asking respondents to name the qualities most associated with a brand, or
store, or personality. There are no restrictions as to how many, or how few items a
respondent associates with a product, or whatever.
The data input to the program is a matrix of counts of how many times a product,
service, firm, or whatever, is associated with an attribute, usage occasion, need, or
whatever.
Consequently, the data collection process is highly simplified. This has considerable
appeal in light of the industry's intense interest in "respondent abuse" and declining
response rates.
Correspondence analysis has a unique ability to integrate a large amount of data from
divergent perspectives on a single map. For example, brands, product attributes, needs
fulfillment, and usage occasions can all be shown on the same map.
The two main drawbacks of the technique are that it uses only summarized
distributions of nominal data for most of the algorithms that are currently available.
Thus, a considerable amount of the variance associated with a database of individual
responses is sacrificed. And metric data distributions must be "nominalized" to be
used in the procedure.
The exception is Benzacri's SPAD program that few researchers have access to.
SPAD allows you to input either the individual observations, or ratings, or the
summarized data. Interestingly, you will often get differing amounts of explained
variance, and/or different product and attribute locations on the map, depending
whether you use the individual observations or the summarized data. Frankly, I'm not
sure why this happens.
If there are a number of metric distributions that must be converted to nominal
variables, the selection of the appropriate break?points is critical, and has a
considerable effect on the amount of explained variance and the extracted dimensions
of the correspondence map. We need a solution to this situation, and guidelines on
proper procedures for nominalizing metric data.
2. KYST, PROFIT, INDSCAL, TORSCA, PREFMAP, PROXIMITY,
ALSCAL, SSA?1 thru SSA?4, MRSCAL, MINISSA, MINITRI,
PARAFAC, and MDSCALE, (to name a few) all fall into a class of
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mapping procedures called non?metric multidimensional scaling

procedures. However, in actuality, some of these algorithms are more
metric in nature than non?metric. Although conceptually different from
correspondence analysis, for the most part they have been replaced
with correspondence analysis because the data collection procedure is
as easy for one as the other.
These methods release the researcher from having to specify the appropriate attribute
set, and instead rely on how consumers judge the products in question to be similar, or
dissimilar. The data collection process is often an unstructured sorting task, their
respondents are asked to sort products into piles that are similar, or simply rank order
products based on their similarity.
Orthogonal scales are then derived to explain the consumers' perceived differences
between the complete set of products. The derivations are based on minimizing stress
in the fewest dimensions possible, while preserving respondents' order of similarity.
The nature of the dimensions are determined by inspecting the manner in which each
product is aligned with each dimension.
Explanatory variables can be depicted on the map by asking consumers to correlate
the similarity of a given attribute, or usage occasion, to the products.
The procedures for the most part are quite sensitive to the number of products in the
data set. The addition or deletion of one product, will often change the dimensionality
of the space.
In addition, several of these algorithms require complicated, and often conceptually
difficult, data transformations to work correctly and they are quite sensitive to the
types of transformations undertaken. (see "Multidimensional Scaling", by Kruskal and
Wish, Sage University Press, 1978.)
CURRENT ISSUES IN PERCEPTUAL MAPPING
A. Defining and limiting the relevant space
How is the relevant space limited? There are three types of limitations that must be
placed on the relevant multivariate space that will be analyzed and mapped. They are:
1. Limits on the population that is to be surveyed. This seldom poses a
serious problem because it tends to be self?defining in terms of users,
or purchasers of the products, services, or firms in question. However,
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there are questions as to how familiar a respondent is with a product,

or brand. This will be discussed in a later section.
2. Limits on the relevant set of variables that will be used to define the
perceptual space. In my opinion, this is the most critical area for
setting limitations, except for those using the scaling methods based on
overall product similarities. The major question to the applied
researcher is what variables are to be used to orient the perceptual
positioning of the various competitors. There is a nearly unlimited set
of variables available.
The selection of the relevant variable set determines the type of map that will be
produced. That is, will the map be based on such things as purchase behavior,
organizational images, product usage behaviors, product attribute characteristics,
brand images, consumer goals, consumer needs, convenience issues, or some
combination of these.
This is a critical decision, and requires the agreement of senior marketing
management to concur with the appropriate attribute set. Determination of the
relevant set requires the professional marketing researcher to critically examine
previous research in the category, conduct qualitative research, and creatively select
those variables that will provide senior marketing managers with the insight necessary
to form marketing strategy.
The problem is that we all have seen empirical evidence that the relevant set of
attributes changes dramatically from product category to product category, and even
among sub?categories. Yet, there is no substantial body of knowledge to tell us what
is the relevant set of variables that should be used in any one category. We are left to
re?inventing the wheel every time we approach a new product category with
multivariate mapping. This severely detracts from the general adaptation of
multivariate mapping procedures at the strategic marketing planning level.
3. Limits on the relevant set of products, services, or firms that will be
mapped into the multivariate space is also a major issue. Although I
don't believe that this is as critical an issue as the selection of the
relevant variable set, it is still a serious one. A balance is required.
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In this era of market fragmentation, and the rapid emergence of new product
categories, and sub?categories, brought on by an acceleration of differentiated
products flooding the market place, the selection of the relevant competitive set of
products or services is ever?changing.
If the relevant set of products, services or firms is too broad, we may fail to uncover
those truly discriminating variables that may reveal an opportunity for a competitive
advantage. That is, some non?competitive products may so skew the spatial
dimensions of the map that differences between the true set of competitors may be
hidden or overlooked.
On the other hand, the selection of too narrow of a competitive set may destine the
marketing planner to focus on the wrong competitors and wrong dimensions. As an
example, department stores for years focused on competing department stores as the
relevant set, ignoring the single merchandise line specialty stores and the deep
discounters until the department stores' bottom lines started gushing red ink.
Given the rapid nature of change in the competitive set for most product and service
lines, we could not rely on a body of literature to solve this problem. What is needed
is a set of generally accepted procedures for determining the relevant competitive set
at any point in time.
Permit me to continue the discussion of issues in multivariate mapping in a more
abbreviated manner. I will limit my remarks from here on to discriminant analysis?
based multivariate mapping, since that is what most of us are using.
B. Are there particular product categories or merchandise lines or firm?types
where discriminant analysis?based mapping works better? If so, then what are
the characteristics of those product categories or industries.
C. Is "high?involvement" in the respondent rating process a necessary
prerequisite for multivariate mapping? What level of familiarity is necessary
and sufficient to include a set of ratings into the definition of the relevant
multivariate space?
D. Extracting the dimensions.
1. What are some good rules of thumb for determining how many
dimensions to use? How much variance needs to be explained to be
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comfortable? How should we handle dimensions with low variance

explained, but test as significant?
2. How do you display more than two dimensions? What procedures and
graphics algorithms are available? What graphics procedures best
convey the information in the multivariate space to managers and
creative professionals?
3. If you are forced to use a two?dimensional map, but have three or
more significant dimensions, how do you adequately show those
attributes that are heavily loaded on the third dimension? Or, do you
eliminate those from the display. If you do eliminate them, what
criteria should you use?
4. What actions should you take when the first extracted dimension
explains much more variance then the second dimension. Is it
appropriate to display those two dimensions as equal axes in the map?
E. Plotting the variables in the derived space raises some interesting questions.
1. Should variable coordinate weighting be used to show differences in
the amount of variance explained by each axis?
2. If so, what should be used as the appropriate weights ? percent of
variance explained by each axis, eigenvalues, or something else?
F. Plotting the firms/products in the perceptual space
1. How should we show which products or firms are significantly
different from others on the map?
2. Does anyone attempt to draw confidence limits around the mapped
points anymore?
G. What about "ideal" points?
1. Should "ideal" points be used at all?
2. If so, what is the best way of doing that?
a. Use importance ratings and treat these as another product
rating? In other words, do we permit importance ratings to
assist in the definition of the relevant space?
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b. Or, should we calculate standardized mean importance ratings

and plug those values into the previously extracted dimensional
linear equations to calculate the coordinates of the ideal point?
c. Should we use respondents' highest rating of any firm/product
on each attribute and use that as a set of ratings for the "ideal"
product?
d. What about using respondents' preferred firm/product and
simply duplicate that rating as the set of "ideal" ratings under
the assumption that the respondent will purchase or use that
product closest to their ideal ?
e. Is it appropriate to map a "generalized" space, then segment the
sample on importance ratings or product preferences, then
impose the mean ratings of those segments as multiple "ideal"
points on the map?
f. What other methodologies are there for generating "ideal
points"?
g. What do you do when any one of these procedures dramatically
skews the map?
H. Is longitudinal mapping a valid concept? What are the critical issues in
overlaying maps? What are the best methods for doing this?
1. Line up "index" points from successive time periods so as to minimize
the variance between them? Should the index points be the vector of
importance ratings, or some other measure?
2. Select a very stable vector that consistently discriminates between at
least two of the products or firms, and minimize the variance between
their positions over successive time periods?
3. Use both of these methods in combination?
4. Re-generate the dimensions with each attribute from each time period
representing a separate attribute, and each product from each time
period representing a separate product?
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5. Always use the original space, and simply plug in the standardized
means for each product from successive time periods into the linear
dimensional equations and calculate the new coordinates?
6. What other procedures are being used?
I. How can you incorporate volumetric data into multivariate mapping? In other
words, how can you show the marketing manager where the greatest demand
exists on the map? Or, where the opportunities are.
a.
Are scatter plots of grouped respondent locations the only thing available?
b.
Or, can we develop a surface?plot over the mapped space that will depict such
things as dollars spent, or number of items bought, or even number of times visited?
What methods are being used now? What could be done with the new graphics
packages combined with multivariate "smoothing" routines to super?impose surface
plots over the derived space?
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SECONDARY DATA
I will collect the Secondary data from following sources:
Newspaper HT, TOI
Magazine - The Times. Harvard Business Review, 4ps
Website/Internet Hindustan times
Book Course book/ Philip Kotler
Notes- Professors Notes
PRIMARY DATAI will collect the data through structure questionnaire.

TOOL USEDExcel sheet, pie chart, and histogram
SAMPLING METHOD
Random Sampling
SAMPLE SIZEI will try to collect data from more than 50 customers
Target AudienceStudents, housewife, Businessman, working group i.e. if I need to target business
segment probably I will take Banking customer in this account.
JUSTIFICATION FOR CHOOSING A PARTICULAR RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
The type of research carried for the study is descriptive research and sampling taken
is random sampling. Perceptual mapping is one of the few marketing research
techniques that provides direct input into the strategic marketing planning process. It
allows senior marketing planners to take a broad view of the strengths and
weaknesses of their product or service offerings relative to the strengths and
weaknesses of their competition.
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FINDING AND ANALYSIS

Q. which kind of institution is this?
Inference:
Institutes select a media to give an adv respect to the courses they deal in and this
response gave us the real picture that which kind of a institute it is.
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Q. How many students are there in your institute?
4500 and above

3500 7%
RESPONSE
10%
2500
17%
500
46%
1500
20%
Inference:
Above response showed the strength of the institute through the intake of students.
And strength of institutes give a pave to advertisement for the same
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Q3.What is the target audience
RESPONSE
North
India
4%
Rajsthan
23%
All India
73%
Inference:
Institutes have to target a segment for the further plans of adv. Response gave us the
picture that institutes target which region. PAN India is at pinnacle.
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Q4. If Nationally, Which are those region students come from? Please specify
RESPONSE
Madhyapradesh
14%
Other
Utter pradesh 3%
1%
bihar
0%
Jharkhand
82%
Inference:
Advertisement gives a platform for an institute to attract prospect customers from
different region. And the result jot down says Jharkhand is at highest
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Q5.What is the percentage of student in take in rajsthan?
RESPONSE
20%-40%
3%
80%-100%
32%
40%-60%
27%
60%-80%
38%
Inference:
Within the native region how a city edition will work this response gives us the exact
blue print to be followed. Here 38% of institutes said that they intake 60%-80%
within rajasthan.
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Q6.Who is your Target audience?
Inference:
Institute has to make a segment to focus upon. And via response we can observe that
graduates is at supreme by 48%
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Q7.When does your admission process starts?
Inference:
Every institute has a particular time period when the admission process is at boom.
Response tells that its mainly in May-June with a percentage of 69 when the
advertisement is at hike.
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Q8.Who are your nearest competitors?
Inference:
Competition creates opportunity to increase potential. So by this response institutes
come to know their nearest competitors and accordingly they can advertise. So here
colleges with different universities are highest.
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Q9.What is your annual budget of advertising?
Inference:
Annual budget for advertising has to plan out according to the availability of
resources. In this response 46% institutes say that their budget range is 25-50lakhs
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Q10.What is the purpose of your advertising?
RESPONSE
Admission
Notice
15%
Marketing and
brandingActivity
67%
Appointments
18%
Inference:
Ultimately motive is what matters, so here in this response it has been seen that the
supreme purpose for advertising is marketing and brand-activity with a percentage of
67.
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Q11. Which media do you prefer to advertise?
RESPONSE
Exhibition and
events
23%
BTL
4%
Outdoor
media
8%
print media
61%
Electronic
media
4%
Inference:
Medium is of great importance while advertising. This response shows that 61% of
institutes prefer print media as their promotional tool.
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Q12.Which publication you prefer the most for local advertising in news paper?
RESPONSE
Hindustan
Times
30%
Dainik Bhaskar
37%
Rajasthan
patrika
15%
D.N.A
6%
Times of India
12%
Inference:
Above analysis says that for local advertising in newspaper Dainik Bhaskar is the
most preferred publication with a peak percentage of 37.
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Q13. What criteria do you consider while selecting a media for advertising?
top of
the mind
recall
17%
catering
to target
audience
19%
reach/cirpercepti
coct response culation on
18%
11%
8%
availibilit
y
27%
Inference:
There are many criteria through which media are chosen. Above response states that
27% of institutes keep availability as the utmost criteria followed by catering to target
audience.
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OVERALL PRESENTATION OF THE HINDUSTAN TIMES
CUSTOMER RATING
RESPONDENT
Excellent
83
Good
125
Average
42
Poor
10
Very poor
INTERPRETATION:
From the above chart it is clearly seen that the overall presentation of TOI is good
majority of the people are satisfied with the overall presentation of the paper. So the
company can maintain the same way of presenting the news.
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EDITORIAL CONTENT OF THE HINDUSTAN TIMES

CUSTOMER RATING
RESPONDENT
Excellent
24
Good
64
Average
98
Poor
68
Very poor
INTERPRETATION:
The customers fells that the editorial column in the paper is average and needs
improvement, some customers felt that the overall editorial content need to increase
as there is only one side in the newspaper with editorial content.
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OVERALL CONTENT OF THE HINDUSTAN TIMES

CUSTOMER RATING
Excellent
Good
Average
Poor
Very poor
RESPONDENT
35
150
65
10
0
INTERPRETATION;
Majority of the customers fell that the overall content in the newspaper is good does
not require any improvement while some felt that some column in the paper needs
improvisation.
THINGS WHICH CUSTOMERS LIKE IN HINDUSTAN TIMES
THINGS
Pricing
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RESPONDENT (in %)
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Content
Front page
presentation
local news
Sports
Supplements
6
16
16
8
16
8
INTERPRETATION:
When customers were asked about the two thing they like the first response from
them was the pricing and then the next option was the front page news coverage, thus
the above chart explains the customers likings in Hindustan Times.
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CONCLUSION
in the same realm. Perceptual mapping and preference mapping techniques have been
a basic tool of the applied marketing research profession for over twenty years now. It
is one of the few advanced multivariate techniques that has not suffered very much
from alternating waves of popularity and disfavor. Although I personally observed a
minor waning of the use of the techniques in the early 1980's, it is now as popular as
ever. And although these techniques have been used extensively over a large number
of applied research studies, and for a very wide variety of product and service
categories, and have been subjected to extensive validations, there still remain some
very basic issues as to the procedure's applicability and usefulness. In addition, there
remain many outstanding issues concerning the proper procedures and algorithms that
should be used for perceptual mapping.
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RECOMMENDATION
The major players of English Newspapers are The Times Of India , The Hindu
, The Economic Times , Business Standard , Business Line, Hindustan Times
etc.
The survey states that among Non Business dailies The Times Of India is the
most preferred English daily while among Business dailies The Business
Standard was most Preferred by the people
Major age groups Reading English Newspaper was 25 to 35 years group
Most of the people agreed that English Newspaper was easily available in the
city .A large number of people (41%) stated that The Times Of India was most
easily available English Newspaper.
Newspapers are a source of news and information. If man wants food for his belly, he
also needs news for his mind to keep pace with the world. The latter he gets from
newspapers. They refresh his knowledge and ideas. The newspapers have a very
important position and place in a democratic country. They are the critics of
administration, justice and law. They play the part of social reformers. They remove
the barriers separating man from man. They are the advocates of liberty; equality and
fraternity. They enforce the right and redress the wrong.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
Donald R. Cooper and Pamela S. Schindler (2001), Business Research Methods,

eighth Edition, Tata McGraw Hill Publishers.
2.
C R kothari, Research Methodology - Methods and Techniques (2006), 23rd

revised Edition, New Delhi.
1.
www.asiamarketresearch.com/glossary/brand-mapping.htm
2.
www.blackcoffee.com/brand-mapping.html
3.
www.mcorpconsulting.com/services/tools/brandMapping.asp
4.
www.mm4xl.com/software/tools/brand.php
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ANNEXURE
Q1. which kind of institution is this?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q2. How many students are there in your institute?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q3.What is the target audience
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q4. If Nationally, Which are those region students come from? Please specify
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q5.What is the percentage of student in take in Rajasthan?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q6.Who is your Target audience?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Q7.When does your admission process starts?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q8.Who are your nearest competitors?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q9.What is your annual budget of advertising?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q10.What is the purpose of your advertising?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q11. Which media do you prefer to advertise?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q12.Which publication you prefer the most for local advertising in news paper?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Q13. What criteria do you consider while selecting a media for advertising?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M-07

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THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

It is useful for providing highly intuitive representations in order to

position mutual fund schemes on dimensions critical to consumer perceptions in that

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

FINDING AND ANALYSIS..........................................................................37

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

TITLE OF THE THESIS:

PERCEPTUAL MAPPING OF HINDUSTAN TIMES READERS AT

PROBLEM DEFINITION /HYPOTHESIS /RESEARCH

LITERATURE RELATED TO THE RESEARCH (IN BRIEF)

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

It is useful for providing highly intuitive representations in order to position the

SCOPE OF THE THESIS WORK

Newspaper HT, TOI

Magazine - The Times. Harvard Business Review, 4ps

Website/Internet Hindustan times

Book Course book/ Philip Kotler

Notes- Professors Notes

PRIMARY DATAI will collect the data through structure questionnaire.

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

SUMMER TRAINING REPORT (IN BRIEF)

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

DETAILS OF THE EXTERNAL GUIDE

Name of the Guide : MOHD MOBIN QAISAR SIDDIQUE

: ZONAL MANAGER (SALES&MARKETING)

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

Overview of newspaper scenario:

ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

The Hindustan Times

Mid Day Mumbai.

The Economic Times.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

The range of magazines consists mainly of periodicals, including trade magazines,

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

BRANCH OFFICE OF HINDUSTAN TIMES JAIPUR

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

PRODUCTS OF HINDUSTAN TIMES

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New

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Media Marketing has become an important segment of advertisement in Print Media.

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Advertisement And its classification

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New