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CONSUMER BHEAVIOUR TOWARDS TVS MOTORS

CONTENTS

CHAPTERS TITLE PAGE

NUMBER

1. INTRODUCTION 1-7

2. COMPANY PROFILE

3. RESEARCH DESIGN

4. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

5. FINDINGS,SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

ANNEXURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION
One thing that we all have in common is we are all consumers. Every one of this world
consumes one thing or the other, thus attracts the brand, ‘consumer’. We buy and consume
incredible variety of goods and services. However, we all have different tastes, likes, dislikes
and adopt different behavioural patterns while making purchase decisions. This is exactly the
truth about the consumers in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. It is as much necessary to
know who are the people who consume the products or services as it is to ascertain why they
do so. In marketing, many of the scholars have tried to define the consumer and the consumer
behaviour.

McNair and Hansen (1949) pointed out “the

consumer’s needs, wants, desires, preferences, beliefs, habits, and eccentricities constitute an
important determinant of the products you offer, the channels through which you sell them,
the promotional efforts which you employ and the price you will be able to obtain”. The term
“consumer” refers to anyone engaged in searching, evaluating, acquiring, using or disposing of
goods and services (David l. Loudon & Albert j Della Bitta 1979). Consumers are those
individuals who purchase for the purpose of individuals’ or household consumption (Howard
and Sheth)3 . Adam smith stated that consumption is the sole end and purpose of all
production. Consumer behaviour is an integral part of human behaviour and cannot be
separated from it. Consumer behaviour may be defined as behaviour exhibited by people in
planning, purchasing and using economic goods and services. Walter (1970) says consumer
behaviour is the process whereby individuals decide, what, when, where, how and from whom
to purchase goods and services4 . Activities of the people who engage in when searching for,
selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing.

Consumer behaviour is the study of

individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose
of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these
processes have on the consumer and society. It blends elements from psychology,sociology,
social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the decision-making processes of
buyers, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such
as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also
tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference
groups, and society in general.

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Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing
the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Research has shown that consumer behaviour
is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. Relationship marketing is an influential asset
for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning
of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater
importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management,
personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized
into social choice and welfare functions.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

1. Cultural Factors
Consumer behavior is deeply influenced by cultural factors such as: buyer
culture, subculture, and social class.

• Culture

Basically, culture is the part of every society and is the important cause of person
wants and behavior. The influence of culture on buying behavior varies from country to country
therefore marketers have to be very careful in analyzing the culture of different groups, regions
or even countries.

• Subculture

Each culture contains different subcultures such as religions, nationalities,

geographic regions, racial groups etc. Marketers can use these groups by segmenting the
market into various small portions. For example marketers can design products according to the
needs of a particular geographic group

• Social Class

Every society possesses some form of social class which is important to the
marketers because the buying behavior of people in a given social class is similar. In this way
marketing activities could be tailored according to different social classes. Here we should note
that social class is not only determined by income but there are various other factors as well
such as: wealth, education, occupation etc

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2. Social Factors
Social factors also impact the buying behavior of consumers. The important
social factors are: reference groups, family, role and status.

• Reference Groups

Reference groups have potential in forming a person attitude or behavior.

The impact of reference groups varies across products and brands. For example if the product is
visible such as dress, shoes, car etc then the influence of reference groups will be high.
Reference groups also include opinion leader (a person who influences other because of his
special skill, knowledge or other characteristics)

• Family

Buyer behavior is strongly influenced by the member of a family. Therefore

marketers are trying to find the roles and influence of the husband, wife and children. If the
buying decision of a particular product is influenced by wife then the marketers will try to
target the women in their advertisement. Here we should note that buying roles change with
change in consumer lifestyles.

• Roles and Status

Each person possesses different roles and status in the society depending
upon the groups, clubs, family, organization etc. to which he belongs. For example a woman is
working in an organization as finance manager. Now she is playing two roles, one of finance
manager and other of mother. Therefore her buying decisions will be influenced by her role and
status.

3. Personal Factors
Personal factors can also affect the consumer behavior. Some of the
important personal factors that influence the buying behavior are: lifestyle, economic situation,
occupation, age, personality and self concept

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• Age
Age and life-cycle have potential impact on the consumer buying behavior. It is
obvious that the consumers change the purchase of goods and services with the passage of
time. Family life-cycle consists of different stages such young singles, married couples,
unmarried couples etc which help marketers to develop appropriate products for each stage.

• Occupation
The occupation of a person has significant impact on his buying behavior. For
example a marketing manager of an organization will try to purchase business suits, whereas a
low level worker in the same organization will purchase rugged work clothes.

• Economic Situation
Consumer economic situation has great influence on his buying behavior. If the
income and savings of a customer is high then he will purchase more expensive products. On
the other hand, a person with low income and savings will purchase inexpensive products.

• Lifestyle

Lifestyle of customers is another import factor affecting the consumer buying

behavior. Lifestyle refers to the way a person lives in a society and is expressed by the things in
his/her surroundings. It is determined by customer interests, opinions, activities etc and shapes
his whole pattern of acting and interacting in the world.

• Personality
Personality changes from person to person, time to time and place to place. Therefore
it can greatly influence the buying behavior of customers. Actually, Personality is not what one
wears; rather it is the totality of behavior of a man in different circumstances. It has different

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characteristics such as: dominance, aggressiveness, self-confidence etc which can be useful to
determine the consumer behavior for particular product or service

4. Psychological Factors
There are four important psychological factors affecting the consumer buying
behavior. These are: perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes.

• Motivation
The level of motivation also affects the buying behavior of customers. Every
person has different needs such as physiological needs, biological needs, social needs etc. The
nature of the needs is that, some of them are most pressing while others are least pressing.
Therefore a need becomes a motive when it is more pressing to direct the person to seek
satisfaction.

• Perception
Selecting, organizing and interpreting information in a way to produce a
meaningful experience of the world is called perception. There are three different perceptual
processes which are selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention. In case of
selective attention, marketers try to attract the customer attention. Whereas, in case of
selective distortion, customers try to interpret the information in a way that will support what
the customers already believe. Similarly, in case of selective retention, marketers try to retain
information that supports their beliefs.

• Beliefs and Attitudes

Customer possesses specific belief and attitude towards various products. Since
such beliefs and attitudes make up brand image and affect consumer buying behavior therefore
marketers are interested in them. Marketers can change the beliefs and attitudes of customers
by launching special campaigns in this regard.

IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The modern marketing management tries to solve the basic
problems of consumers in the area of consumption. To survive in the market, a firm has to be
constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer needs and tastes. It will be

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extremely useful in exploiting marketing opportunities and in meeting the challenges that the
Indian market offers. It is important for the marketers to understand the buyer behaviour due
to the following reasons.

 The study of consumer behaviour for any product is of vital importance to marketers in
shaping the fortunes of their organisations.

 It is significant for regulating consumption of goods and thereby maintaining economic

stability.

 It is useful in developing ways for the more efficient utilisation of resources of marketing. It
also helps in solving marketing management problems in more effective manner.

 Today consumers give more importance on environment friendly products. They are
concerned about health, hygiene and fitness. They prefer natural products. Hence detailed
study on upcoming groups of consumers is essential for any firm.

 The growth of consumer protection movement has created an urgent need to understand
how consumers make their consumption and buying decision.

 Consumers’ tastes and preferences are ever changing. Study of consumer behaviour gives
information regarding colour, design, size etc. which consumers want. In short, consumer
behaviour helps in formulating of production policy.

 For effective market segmentation and target marketing, it is essential to have an

understanding of consumers and their behaviour.

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CHAPTER-2

COMPANY PROFILE

TVS Motor Company is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and
one among the top ten in the world, with annual turnover of more than USD 1 billion in 2008-
2009, and is the flagship company of the USD 4 billion TVS Group.

Founded in 1979, TVS Motor Company, the USD 1.5 billion,

flagship company of the 100 year old, USD 7 billion, TVS Group, is one of India’s leading two-
wheeler manufacturers and among the top seven in the world. The company has the widest
range of products in the Indian two and three wheeler industry with exports to more than 60
countries worldwide. Driven by technology and innovation at the helm, TVS Motor Company
boasts of a rich talent pool of more than 7000 personnel who constantly emphasize the
company’s commitment to ensure best practices in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at
Hosur in Tamilnadu, Mysore in Karnataka, Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh and Karawang in
Indonesia.

Mr.Venu Srinivasan, the Chairman of TVS Motor Company has led by example,
winning many laurels including the prestigious “Padma Shri” award. “Order of Diplomatic
Service Merit" medal from Korean President, The JRD Tata Corporate, The Star of Asia award by
Business Week, The Jamsheji TATA Lifetime Quality Achievement Award and Emerging
Corporate Giant - Times & Harvard Business School Association are other high-profile awards
bestowed on him, on behalf of the company. He was also awarded the coveted Ishikawa-Kano
Award presented by Asian Network for Quality. Among the latest honours conferred on him
was an honorary doctor of science degree by Purdue University, USA.

The company’s penchant for quality resulted in it becoming the first two-wheeler
manufacturer to win the coveted Deming Award in 2002. It was the first Indian company to
deploy a catalytic converter in a 100 cc motorcycle and the first to indigenously produce a four
stroke 150cc motorcycle. In 2006, the company’s TVS Apache became the first Indian
motorcycle to consecutively win six prestigious awards in a row. In 2007, TVS became the first
Indian automobile manufacturer to roll out as many as seven new products on a single day, a
testimony to its manufacturing prowess. In 2012, TVS Motor Company was declared as ‘India’s
most trusted Two Wheeler Brand’ by the Brand Equity Most Trusted Brand Survey and in 2014

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TVS Jupiter became the most awarded scooter in India, winning six ‘Scooter of the Year’ awards
from leading publication houses in the country.

In2015, TVS Motor Company emerged as the most awarded two wheeler manufacturer of the
year having received ‘Two wheeler manufacturer of the Year’, ‘Motorcycle of the Year upto 110
cc’ : TVS StaR City+ and ‘Two Wheeler Commercial of the Year’: TVS Sport at the NDTV Car and
Bike awards 2015, ‘Motorcycle of the Year Upto 110cc’ : TVS StaR City+ at the Car India Bike
India Awards 2015 and ‘Scooter of the Year’ : TVS Scooty Zest at the Bloomberg Autocar India
Awards 2015, ET Zigwheels Awards 2014 and CNBC Overdrive Awards 2015.

In the inaugural edition of JD Power IndiaTwo-wheeler IQS

2015, TVS brands featured in the top three, across segments. While TVS Wego and TVS Jupiter
claimed top spots, TVS Sport, TVS Star City+ featured in the top three in economy motorcycles
and TVS Apache RTR 160 and 180 in the top three in premium category. TVS Motor Company’s
customer inspired engineering approach, has enabled it to introduce the widest product range
that caters to all segments of the two and three wheeler industry in India. Total customer
satisfaction is achieved through excellence in quality that stems from the company’s
management philosophy which is based on the five pillars of TQM (Total Quality Management).
Quality awareness therefore percolates through the entire organisation from new product
development to after sales services.

TVS Motor traces its origins back to the entrepreneurial spirit of Trichur Vengaram Sundaram
Iyengar who gave up lucrative careers in the Indian Railways and in banking to set up his own
business. He began with Madurai's first bus service in 1911 and founded T.V.Sundaram Iyengar
and Sons Limited, a company that consolidated its presence in the transportation business with
a large fleet of trucks and buses under the name of Southern Roadways Limited. When he died
in 1955 his sons took the company ahead with several forays in the automobile sector,
including finance, insurance, manufacture of two-wheelers, tyres and components. The group
has managed to run 33 companies that account for a combined turnover of nearly $3 billion.

PRODUCTS
TVS Motor Company’s products straddle all industry segments with TVS Sport and
TVS StaR City+ in the economy segment, TVS Phoenix 125 in the executive segment and TVS
Apache series RTR in the performance segment. The company also manufactures TVS Max4R, a
product dedicated to rural commuters. The scooter segment of the company comprises of TVS
Scooty Pep+, TVS Scooty Streak, TVS WEGO, TVS Jupiter and TVS Scooty Zest while TVS XL Super

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and Heavy Duty comprise the mopeds segment. The company’s three-wheeler TVS King is
India’s first 200 cc auto rickshaw with electric start and elegant styling, available in Petrol, LPG,
CNG and Diesel versions.

Distribution
Today TVS Motor functions through a strong nationwide network of more than 3500 touch
points including dealers, authorised service centres and other certified points across all the
states in India.

Global Presence
TVS Motor Company’s wholly owned subsidiary - PT TVS Motor Company Indonesia,
manufactures TVS Neo, TVS Rockz & TVS Tormax - the new generation of bebeks, to cater to
ASEAN markets. The motorcycle portfolio of PT TVS Motor, Indonesia includes TVS Apache RTR
160, TVS Apache RTR 180 and TVS Apache RTR 180 ABS. The company recently introduced TVS
Dazz, its first offering in the automatic skubek space. Currently TVS Motor Company has
international presence in more than 60 countries in Asian, African and Latin American
Continents.

BEYOND BUSINESS – SRINIVASAN SERVICES TRUST

Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social arm of Sundaram-Clayton Limited and TVS Motor
Company for charitable purposes was established in 1996 and has been promoting holistic and
sustainable development of rural communities in TN, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Himachal
Pradesh Since inception, SST has been actively engaging in community development work in
order to enhance the socio-economic status of the people through a multi-sector approach of
strengthening the education system, providing access to better economic improvement, water
and irrigation facilities, improving health services and sanitation facilities, developing
community infrastructure and creating a clean and green environment. The work of SST has
changed the lives of people in more than 1200 Villages across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. SST has won several awards in recognition of its
achievements in the field of rural development and nation building, the most recent being the
prestigious Times Of India Social Impact Award on Advocacy & Empowerment in Corporate
category in 2013.

Future Outlook
With technology and innovation as its key drivers, TVS Motor has invested significantly in
research and development and is committed to bringing out new generation products which

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would redefine segments, while consolidating and strengthening the existing position of TVS
Motor Company in the two and there wheeler segments, worldwide.

Early Years
Sundaram Clayton, then the flagship company, was founded in 1962 in collaboration
with Clayton Dewandre Holdings, United Kingdom. It manufactured brakes, exhausts,
compressors and various other automotive parts. The company set up a plant at Hosur in 1978
to manufacture mopeds as part of a new division. A technical collaboration with the Japanese
auto giant resulted in the joint-venture Ind-Suzuki Limited in 1982 between Sundaram Clayton
Ltd and Suzuki Motor Corporation. Commercial production of motorcycles began in 1984

TVS motors in recent days

Over the years TVS Motor has grown to be the largest in the group, both in terms of size and
turnover, with four state of the art manufacturing plants in Hosur, Mysore and Nalagarh in
India and Karawang in Indonesia. TVS Motor is credited with many innovations in the Indian
automobile industry, notable among them being the introduction of India's first two-seater
moped, the TVS 50cc.

The company became the leader in its category of sub 100 cc mopeds,
having sold 7 million units. It also introduced the TVS Scooty, which is India's second largest
brand in the scooterette segment. The TVS Jive launched in November 2009. became India's
first clutch-free motorbike aimed at a stress-free rider experience while the unisex scooter TVS
Wego is targeted at urban couples, featuring body-balance technology for easier handling. On 1
June 2012, TVS Motors reported a dip of 5% in its total sales for May 2012. In July 2012, TVS
Motors and BMW Motorrad were reported to be in talks for technology sharing.

Awards and Recognition

TVS Motor won the Deming Application Prize in 2002, becoming
the first and only Indian two-wheeler company to win the award given to companies that do
outstanding work in the field of Quality Management. It is considered to be one of the world's
most prestigious quality awards. The same year, the work done for the TVS Victor motorcycle
won TVS Motor the National Award for successful commercialization of indigenous technology

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from the Technology Development Board, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of
India.

In 2004, TVS Scooty Pep won the 'Outstanding Design Excellence Award'
from Business World magazine and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. The effective
implementation of Total Productivity Maintenance practices won TVS Motor the TPM
Excellence Award given by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance in 2008. TVS Motor has
won several management awards, notable among them being the Emerging Corporate Giant in
the Private Sector awarded by The Economic Times and the Harvard Business School
Association of India. Business Today magazine awarded TVS Motor the Best Managed Company
and the Most Investor Friendly Company awards. Its advertising practices won it the Good
Advertising award by Auto India Best Brand Awards 2009.

Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan is a recipient of several awards for corporate excellence
such as the Star of Asia Award by Bloomberg Business Week and the JRD Tata Corporate
Leadership Award. The University of Warwick, United Kingdom gave him an honorary Doctorate
of Science degree while the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, one of
India's highest civilian distinctions.

Deming Award — TVS Motor is the third Indian Company to win the Deming Prize. Only two
other TVS companies have managed this before. It's been a long time since the Union of
Japanese Scientist and Engineers instituted the Deming Prize. But very, very few organizations
outside Japan have had the honour of receiving it. In fact, the TVS Motor Company is the
world's first motorcycle company to be awarded the prize.

As for the TVS — Group its' a third. Sundaram — Clayton Ltd., (Brakes Division) and Sundaram
Brake Linings Ltd., have already won it. The Deming Prize is the ultimate confirmation of our
commitment to quality control. A confirmation known to every TVS rider across the country. An
achievement not many can lay claim to. Star of Asia Award — Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and
Managing Director of TVS Motor Company recognized as none of the Stars of Asia by Business.
Week International, that featured Asia's 25 top achievers, was today presented with a special
plaque in recognition of his achievements by Former President of the United States, his
Excellency, Mr. Bill Clinton, at CEO forum in Hong Kong.

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Manufacturing Excellence
Launch of 7 vehicles on the same day - Manufacturing Excellence
makes this feasible At the heart of the new product launches is the Production Team, setting to
motion the dream put forward by the R&D.

Driven by the Five Pillars of TQM

The management philosophy is based on five pillars of TQM (Total
Quality Management) which rests on the foundation of Total Employee Involvement, daily
management and Kaizen (Continuous improvement).

The Total Employee Involvement

The Total Employee Involvement program ensures that responsibility
for the company's performance is the shared responsibility of all levels of employees. It
provides all employees with the opportunity to be involved in breakthrough activities and other
improvements, over and above their daily routine

Daily work management

Daily work management consists of defining and monitoring key
processes, ensuring that they meet set targets, detecting abnormalities and preventing their
recurrence. TVS Motor encourages continuous improvement in all aspects of work,using Cross
Functional Teams (CFT), Supervisory Improvement Teams (SIT) Quality Control Circles (QCC) and
suggestion schemes

The five pillars start with policy management, which is used to arrive at the annual
breakthrough objectives. There are generally not more than three company objectives, arrived
at after a detailed exercise, which are deployed and reviewed periodically The company
conducts an exhaustive range of training programs, utilising both inhouse skills and consuftants
from all over the world. The programs are conducted for all employees, at all levels.

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The Inspiration Moment

When we won the Deming Prize in Quality in 2002, we were the
only two wheeler manufacturer in the world to have won the award. However, our penchant
for quality continues as we work in line with the principles of Kaizen (Japanese for Continuous
improvement) and TQM (Total Quality Management). TVS Motor company Ltd (TVS Motor)-
member of the TVS group is the largest company of the group in terms of size and turnover.

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