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Executive Summary

SingTel is the largest telecommunication brand in Singapore. Being the largest

telecommunication company in Singapore, the company has been investing huge amount of
its revenue on the brand management wherein it has been focusing on the brand awareness
of subscribers. In this way, it appeared focusing on two aspects namely improving service
quality as well as sponsoring different mega events in Singapore. This research study aimed
at determining the brand perception of SingTel. Brand perception or the way customers
perceive the products or services is of great importance in telecommunication. It is assessed
that the way products and services perceived by customers affect their decision-making
about using products.

Through this study, two hypotheses are tested whether quality service and customer
satisfaction has impact on the number of subscribers of SingTel Company, additionally; good
will and good name of the company has impact on the number of subscribers of the
company. Upon testing the hypotheses, it is revealed that there is positive relationship
between variables, as quality service and customer satisfaction level is of great importance
for customers and it affects their perception as well as selection of products.

Background

Singapore Telecommunication Limited, also commonly known as SingTel, is a Singapore

based telecommunication company. With 416 million customers making a large mobile
subscriber base, the company has been operating the largest mobile network across
Singapore. It mainly serves and offers telecommunications services and investment holding
(Logan, 2008). It has been operating in three main segments including Singapore, Australia,
and Associates & Joint Ventures. In Singapore, it operates in services and products under
the brand name SingTel. In Australia, it offers products and services under the brand name
of Optus. On the other hand, Associates & Joint Ventures operates in investments and joint
ventures (Huurdeman, 2003). As of 2011, with the expansion and operation in 25 associate
countries, SingTel is the 20 largest mobile network operators in the world. It offers its
clientele based ISP (SingNet), IPTV (Mio TV), fixed line telephony, and mobile phone
services. The success of the company lies in the expansion of its operation inside and
outside Singapore. Its expansion is extended to countries such as India, Pakistan,
Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand and Australia and Philippines. On the basis of
capitalization, SingTel is the largest company on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The main
products and services offered are mobile telecommunication, telephone, information and
technology, data and internet and pay television. As of 2013, the company witnessed more
expansion and growth in the sale of international mobile market (Financial_Times, 2013). As
of 2010, 70% of company revenue is generated from the operation and investment in the
international market.

Singapore has been recognised as living digital hub. Information and communication
telecommunication has emerged as significant industry in the country. On account of
continuous role of the ICT in the economic growth, there is increasing opportunity for ICT
industry of Singapore to capture the international market. After the importance of service
quality, customer satisfaction, and integration to modern technology, brand perception of
telecommunication organization has critical importance in determining the growth and
success (Loke et al., 2011). In this way, it is observed that brand perception is the way
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customers or users of product/ service experience and develop opinion about a product.
Telecommunication companies focus on investing and developing brand image and brand
recognition to attract more and more subscribers. SingTel Limited has also been investing
significant amount of its revenue in building brand image and brand recognition, so that its
subscribers acquire positive brand perception about the company. However, the company
expects to receive the return on the investment made on the marketing activity designed
particularly for creating brand perception. It is not yet measured whether or not the company
has been successful in its marketing venture. There is need for conducting research to
determine the effectiveness of marketing activity of the company in relation to brand
perception of SingTel Limited.
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Problem Statements(s) & Operational Definitions(s)

Brand perception has significant impact on the success of business, as it determines the
ways customers perceive to meet service satisfaction level and quality expectations. It
affects the customer decision making about selection of products or service (Dtler & Städtler,
2011). Therefore, it has also widespread influence on the growth and profitability of the
company. Brand does not only denote to product or service, rather it denotes to all
associated benefits and features incorporated in the products. Thus, brand perception is
majorly formed by experience with the product or service such as speed, quality, reliability
and performance (Macdonald & Sharp, 2003). SingTel Limited, which is Singapore’s largest
telecommunication company, has been investing large amount of its revenue on the
marketing venture that can result in creating brand awareness in customers. However, other
different factors together greatly contribute in increasing total revenue of the company. There
is little known about the extent to which marketing and operational efforts made by company
have been effective and efficient in creating and building brand perception. Since brand
perception has been identified as significant marketing tool in persuading the customers to
choose or continue the use of telecommunication product, therefore, for SingTel, it is
critically important to comprehend that the marketing undertakings of the company has effect
on changing perception of customers.

In addition, two hypotheses are developed to be tested through this study:

H0: Quality service and customer satisfaction level has no impact on the number of
subscribers of SingTel.

h1: Quality service and customer satisfaction level has impact on the number of
subscribers of SingTel.

h0: Good will or good name of SingTel has no impact on the number of subscribers

h2: Good will or good name of SingTel has impact on the number of subscribers.

Research Design

Research Approach: Broadly, there are two types of research approaches namely
qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research approach is an approach in which
researcher focuses on the qualitative aspects and features of the study. On the other
hand, quantitative research approach is an approach in which quantitative aspects
are studied through testing hypotheses. This study has been developed using
quantitative approach wherein hypotheses are to be tested through regression and
correlation models. According to Xu (2005), for marketing research, the most
appropriate research approach is qualitative because it helps in getting in-depth
insight of the identified research phenomena. However, this study involves testing
hypotheses; therefore, quantitative research approach is the most appropriate
approach.

Sampling Plan: A sampling plan is outline drawn for the measurement to be taken. It
includes materials, resources, and the ways measurement of research is to be
conducted (Panneerselvam, 2004). The first step of sampling is to identify the
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population on whom researcher aims to conduct research. Since this study aims at
identifying and examining the brand perception of SingTel, therefore, targeted
population of the study is users of telecommunication product. The second step of
sampling plan is to determine the size of sampling (Kumar, 2005). According to
Nargundkar (2003), in marketing research, large sample size helps in acquiring in-
depth insight of the problem. However, in order to approach large sample,
considerable resources are required. For this study, 40 participants or users of
telecommunication products are randomly chosen to be made part of the study.

Data Collection

Data collection is such systematic process, which involves preparation as well as collection
of data for a research study (Stawarski & Phillips, 2008). Data collection process is mainly
carried out to achieve the research purpose and to study the research problem in the context
of either previous research or experience of research participants (Sapsford & Jupp, 2006).
Data collection methods vary on the basis of the kind of data being collected. There are two
types of data namely primary data and secondary data. Primary data collection is the one, in
which researcher reviews the previous research or analyzes the primary collected data. Most
common methods used for collecting primary data are interviews, questionnaire, surveys,
observation and experiments (Pawar & Pawar, 2004). Secondary data collection is the one
in which researcher studies and reviews the previous literature to provide support for the
research question (Olsen, 2011). For this study, primary data collection is done through
survey questionnaire distributed in 40 users of telecommunication products. For this
purpose, research participants were approached to fill the survey questionnaire to respond
to questions presented in the questionnaire. Survey questionnaire contains nine (9) close-
ended questions with regard to research problem.
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Data Analysis and Findings

In order to determine the brand perception of SingTel, survey questionnaire was conducted
with forty (40) research participants. By using .SPSS software, data was analyzed for simple
statistics analysis as well as regression model analysis. With the help of simple statistics
analysis, mean, mode, median, and frequency of data is measured. Moreover, regression
model analysis is carried out to test the hypotheses. In order to present the data analysis
and findings, the section is divided into two. First, data analysis extracted from the simple
statistics will be discussed. Secondly, hypotheses testing analysis is presented. This
research aimed at studying and examining the way subscribers and users of SingTel Limited
perceive the products or services of the company. In this way, it is studied that in
telecommunication sector, brand perception is greatly related to quality service and
customer satisfaction level. Moreover, it is also found that good will of the company plays
significant role in determining the way people perceive the products or services.

Data Analysis of Simple Statistics

The discussion and analysis of simple statistics will allow assessing the result of each
question. Analysis will be conducted through explaining and depicting answers in bar charts.
For this purpose, bar chart of each question will be used to ensure depiction of frequency of
responses.

a. Age of Participants
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b. Telecommunication service provider do you currently subscribe to

c. How many years have you been with the telecommunication service provider?
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d. Which Telco is your preferred telecommunication service provider?

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e. Attributes that is important to you as a customer

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f. Experiences and/or knowledge with telecommunication service providers in

Singapore.
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g. Which Telecommunication service provider do you feel the following events

are related to?
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h. Will you continue and/or consider using your current telecommunication

service provider in the near future?
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i. if your peers and/or family members will likely to have influence in your
selection of Telecommunication service provider choice?

From the analysis of simple statistics, it is assessed that mostly subscribers of

telecommunication products are from age group between 21 and below and 27-31. Among
40 respondents, majority of respondents were subscribers of SingTel Company whereas
highest level of duration for using the telecommunication products was 2-5 years. Question
enquiring the most preferred telecommunication brand indicates that SingTel is the most
preferred product for the subscribers.

Question regarding the most preferred attributes important to customers provided

respondents to rate innovation, pricing, network coverage, customer loyalty, and loyalty
programs. The responses received from respondents for the question reflect that innovation
is not of great concern for the subscribers. On the other hand, pricing has been found of
critical importance. Similarly, there is high rate of responses in the favour of network
coverage, which shows that network coverage is of great importance for subscribers when it
comes to use and choose telecommunication products. Conversely, mixed responses
received when participants were asked to rate the importance they give to customer loyalty
program or loyalty programs.

In telecommunication sector, network coverage is associated with quality service.

Telecommunication subscribers relate the strong network coverage with the quality service
level. However, for attaining the highest customer satisfaction, customers choose low priced
products. The responses received in the favour of network coverage and pricing asserts the
notion that customer associate the quality service with network coverage and low pricing.

In order to determine and assess whether or not SingTel Company is ranked as the highest
performer, respondents were asked to rate each telecommunication companies including
SingTel, StarHub and M1. From the responses, it is asserted that SingTel Company is
highest performer. Upon analyzing and assessing the pricing attribute associated by
subscribers with their telecommunication brand, it is determined SingTel pricing is of mixed
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trend. On the other hand, there is high rate of responses affirming that network coverage of
SingTel is good. Similarly, when respondents were asked to rate the performance of SingTel
on the basis of its customers service and loyalty program, the responses received reflect
neutral trend.

Additionally, respondents were asked to relate the name of telecommunication brand to

given event. The main purpose of this question was to determine the good will of
Telecommunication Company and assess the brand awareness of customers. In this regard,
for Singapore Grand Prix: Singapore Formula 1 Night Race, mainstream of respondents
answered SingTel, whereas in the response of other events, mostly respondents appeared
unaware.

Regression Model Analysis and Hypotheses Testing

Hypothesis 1: Quality service and customer satisfaction level has impact on the
number of subscribers customer of SingTel

In the above hypothesis, quality service and customer satisfaction are independent variables
whereas number of subscribers is dependent variable. In this way, it was hypothesized that
when quality service and customer satisfaction level is high, there is increase in the number
of subscribers of the SingTel Company. In order to test the hypothesis, different attributes
related to quality services were used including innovation, pricing, network coverage, and
customer service.

The above ANOVA table represents the result of the hypothesis wherein the significance
level of linear regression indicates strong correlation between dependent and independent
variables. It can be observed that significance level is .032, which is lower than 1. If
significance level is lower than 1, hypothesis is accepted. It is because significance value
that is lower than 1 is the indication that there is strong correlation between variables. Thus,
null hypothesis of the study is rejected and alternative hypothesis of the study is accepted.
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The individual assessment of attributes demonstrates that each attribute has distinct effect
on the number of company’s subscribers. The significance value plotted in the above table
shows that the attribute innovation has weak correlation with number of subscribers, as
significance value is .800. Similarly, other attributes such as network coverage and customer
service show weak correlation.

On the other hand, pricing and loyalty program are the attribute, which demonstrate that
pricing and loyalty program offered by the SingTel Company are the attribute, due to which
customers are motivated to use the brand of the company.

Hypothesis 2: Good will of SingTel has positive impact on the brand perception that
customers of SingTel carry.

In the second hypothesis, good will of the company is the independent variable whereas
number of subscribers is the dependent variable. The hypothesis aimed at measuring
whether or not there is correlation between these variables.

The above ANOVA table represents the result of the hypothesis wherein the significance
level of linear regression indicates weak correlation between dependent and independent
variables. It can be observed that significance level is .912, which is closed to 1. Therefore, it
is asserted that alternative hypothesis is rejected and null hypothesis is accepted. It further
reflects that good will of the company does not affect the number of subscribers of SingTel
Company.
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Recommendation and Conclusion

Through this research paper, it was intended to measure and examine the brand perception
of SingTel Company. For this purpose, simple statistics and simple linear regression was
conducted to determine the correlation between independent and dependent variables.
Moreover, simple linear regression was also used to test the hypotheses. From the findings
of simple statistical analysis, it is determined that there are more numbers of subscribers of
SingTel company. In addition, it is found that attributes that are of great significance for the
subscribers of telecommunication are pricing and network coverage. These findings indicate
that quality service is what sought by customers of telecommunication in Singapore.
Moreover, upon assessing the perception of customers about SingTel company, it is found
that SingTel Company is innovative than others. SingTel Company has been ranked higher
for offering the competitive prices, network coverage, and customer service than other
telecommunication brands. In addition, hypotheses testing reveal that quality service of the
company has influence on the number of subscribers of the company whereas good will of
the company has no influence on the number of subscribers of the company. It indicates that
telecommunication subscribers relate quality service with the attributes of pricing, and
network coverage whereas they are more likely to stick to brand, which focuses on delivering
the quality service rather than good will of the company. Therefore, it is recommended to
SingTel Company to upgrade its service level to provide service satisfaction to its customers.
In this way, it should maintain the pricing and network coverage. Moreover, it should improve
the customer service of the company.

Relative Contribution Made by each Team Member

This marketing research paper and its all related sections are performed by Jessica,
Elizabeth, Tan, Anna, Michelle, and Justin. In order to carry out this research in the group,
we divided different task amongst all members.
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Since research paper has five main sections to be written, therefore according to difficulty
and complexity of task, different number of members was assigned on task. Jessica was
responsible for writing executive summary, which was written at the end of the paper.

Elizabeth and Tan Lishan together worked on researching and writing background of the
research for which they carried out in-depth research on SingTel and the telecommunication
industry in Singapore.

Anna and Michelle contributed for writing methodology section. They conducted a thorough
research to provide with justification for choosing the appropriate methodology for the
research.

For conducting survey and collecting primary, all team members equally contributed where
contribution was made by each team member in the process of drawing questionnaire and
processing data through SPSS software to analyze the data.

Result and analysis section was done by Jessica, Justin, and Tan Lishan, where each of
them parted in completing the simple statistics analysis and regression model analysis.

Conclusion and recommendation was written by Anna, Michelle, and Elizabeth.