Business Standard Management education broadly thought is a method which inculcates knowledge in one about PODC (Planning, Organizing,

Directing and Controlling) along with the knowledge of managerial communication, organizational structure & dynamics, organizational behavior, financial management, marketing management, political, moral and ethical aspects of corporate. This knowledge helps students to understand corporate thoroughly. Here in this page we think that we should provide answers of some key

P R E F A C E

questions to our readers of this report. We specifically identified three questions.. 1. What assumptions have guided the development of this report? 2. What is the core concept in this report? 3. How is this report important to the readers? We have tried to answer each of these questions.

ASSUMPTIONS:
In this report we gave facts and findings which we have collected in our research which was restricted to readers of financial newspapers in Ahmedabad city only. We have collected information from 100 respondents from the target segment and tried our best to analyze the data.

CONCEPT:
In this report we provide the information about the strategies followed by the MDD to increase the circulation and core functions of it, which will help the readers to learn the way how MDD works. It contains backroom operations and fieldwork.

Business Standard

IMPORTANCE:
This report will help to check our ability to put theories in practice. It will also help corporate people to have an insight into our personality and can also check our efficiency of doing the project.

P R E F A C E

Business Standard Getting this report to your hands was a team effort; in addition to our contribution we got support from corporate members of Business Standard, our faculty at TIMS and respondents who co-operatively provided the honest information through questionnaires. Let us begin our acknowledgement by thanking the whole Business Standard staff at Ahmedabad office for the co-operation and the support during our summer training. Himanshu Patwa (HR & Admn), Ashok Sharma (Production), Jay Saraiya (Space Marketing), Kamlesh Trivedi (Editorial), Amit Agrawal (System), Sameer Trivedi (Scheduling), Manoj Thomas (Baroda Head). We also take the opportunity to thank Mr. Kunal Panchal (Our project guide) and Mr. Mukund Shukla (Deputy Manager) without whom this project could not have been possible. We whole-heartedly thank them for being our guide and directing us towards right path in the marketing world. We are very grateful to all the faculties of the TIMS family and also the non-teaching staff. They have always been a source of inspiration and we would like to thank them for all their support and care in their efforts towards the summer training and the project. Thanking youKanishk Shah Mahesh Lalwani

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T

Business Standard Business Standard is Indias largest and fastest growing newspaper having growth rate of 300% in past five years. MDD: The role of this department goes beyond simply distribution of

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

newspapers to regular readers. Its primary activity is to identify the readers so it is formally known in the organization as MDD. Other Departments: No organization can stand on one pillar so there are six other departments, which accounts to the overall growth. Market development strategies : MDS is a tool to increase the circulation of newspaper with various tactics like mass subscription, schemes, sponsored copies, promotions etc. Research Design : We collected data through scheduled questionnaire which were transformed into information which was used by us to penetrate into the market coping up with competition and increasing our customer base. Our Findings : We found that management students have more potential to read business newspaper, further we found that awareness of Business Standard was 30.3% we also found that presently 41.18% were reading Business standard for mutual funds news also 63.3% were interested in schemes or offers. Our Suggestions: Business Standard should target management students to increase the circulation. It should also target undergraduates, who are preparing for management entrance exams, and they should also provide job appointment supplement and they should become media partner at various B-schools quizzes and seminars to create brand noise.

Business Standard Over the years newspaper reading has become a daily early morning regime. What for decades was a dull market place with limited number of newspapers is today a very diversified offering. Print offerings have multiplied and cater to diverse needs like travel, sports, fashion etc. Newspapers these days not just provide news and entertainment but also cater to niche audience. Financial newspapers are such newspapers that target niche corporate, businessmen and investors.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

With the era of multi edition newspapers and therefore multi newspaper markets, has given greater choice to readers and also resulted into a fierce fight for readers attention. But, the latest trend observed is that one reader is not necessarily habituated to reading only a particular newspaper, therefore even a small difference in price could sometimes bring about a change in the purchase decision. This has driven newspaper prices to a point where leading newspapers fetch virtually no circulation revenue for their publishers. The little that is collected from the reader goes almost entirely to the distributor or the hawker. The growth of newspapers have been highly affected by growth in computer and internet connectivity, mobile telephony which enables real time access to news, views and entertainment anytime anywhere! Recent changes in regulations permitting FDI in print and broadcasting media has further heated up the media market. With the entry of the foreign players, the Indian print media scene has changed tremendously. On the other hand the Indian print media now operates overseas as well and thus, it is not confined to Indian audience only. The newspaper plays an important role in contributing to social good, playing a critic and the watchdog function, helping to foster debates on

Business Standard agendas for social transformation. The one that best fulfils these roles will gain the maximum eyeballs share. With the growing literacy and income, particularly among the young, our media today is being forced to respond to the demands of a new readership one which is discerning and demanding, impatient with the old content and style and not bound by old codes of loyalty. This adds pressure on the newspaper companies to seek creative solutions and explore new roles and meanings for itself.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Business Standard Ltd. (BSL) was incorporated on 16th Dec. 1970 under the name of Desh Publications (p) Ltd. This was changed to Business Standard (p) Ltd. On 7th Sept. 1995 and subsequently converted into Business Standard Ltd on 23rd Nov. 1995 as a limited company. The HO is in Delhi. Several reputed investors own the company Kotak Mahindra Finance Limited-47.30% Great Eastern Shipping Company-31.87% OTHERS20.76%. The company believes in ethical conduct through professional management and has a forward-looking outlook. It is the 2nd largest circulated business newspaper in India. It gets published from Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai and is also printed at Kochi, Pune and Chandigarh. Mr. T.N. Ninan, the pre-eminent business journalist of the country and an ex-editor of The Economic Times, edits Business Standard. It has the distinction of an exclusive editorial syndicate with Financial Times of London. It has a readership of around a quarter million with seven editions. It is Indias fastest growing newspaper having grown 300% in the past five years.

Business Standard

Not only about news:

Readers Profile
1. 97% of BS readers are graduate and higher. 2. 98% live in town with more than 1 lakh population . 3. High visibility among corporate, CEOs and industry chief tans. 4. Young achievers in the 2534 age group are also an emerging set of readers who contribute to 45% of the reader base.

With 200 full time journalists, analysts and writers across the country, Business Standard delivers its readers the latest business news with in-depth coverage of breaking stories, events and penetrating analysis. Its array of highly respected columnists provide not only national, regional and global perspective to arm readers but also keen insights to sharpen their competitive edge in the world o business. It enriches their lives with lively supplements and vibrant sections on personal finance, managing careers, personal technology, travel destination, books, the arts and cultural reviews.

Its Readership: 150000 approx all India. 11000 approx all Gujarat. 5500 approx at Ahmedabad. 57% of the BS readers are having income above Rs.20 lakhs. 37% of the BS readers take more then 50 flights a year 55% of the Mercedes Benz owners read the BS.

Business Standard

VISION :
To stand at a respected position in the marathon and also keep up with the pace of the changing needs of their valued readers.

W H E N Y O U A R E S U R E

The agenda is to win more and more readers to their cause and also to deliver 100% of itself. MISSION: To expand the marked share of BS by creating a new market and by taking bites from competitors market share. CORE COMPETENCE: Content creation, content processing & content management OBJECTIVE : To provide comprehensive details of market development

Business Standard

IST section in Business Standard Page 1 2 4,5 6 7 8,9 10 11 Information General news The Economy Companies International Business Politics & public affairs Business Life Issues & Insights Opinion General news IInd section 13 14 15 16 17,18 19,20,21 22 IIIrd Section 23 24,25 26,27 28,29,30 Money & Markets General market news Commodities Money and currencies Stocks BS 200 Stocks/Mutual fund values Markets accent West General Gujarat Maharashtra Other regions

C O N T E N T S

12

Business Standard

PRODUCT PROFILE

Indian The W orld of b-school The Billionaire Club M otoring M anagement Newspaper

How to Spend it

Business Standard BS 1000

Banking Annual

The Strategist Gateway Fund M anager

Business Standard

SUPPLEMENTS:
The Smart Investor: Its a tabloid which is published every Mondays, a
total investment guide for retail investors Focus: Old economy, primary markets, secondary markets and new issues.

Who advertises In BS?

The Strategist: Published on every Tuesdays on glossary paper.

Focus: Theory and practice of business management. Guest columns from worlds foremost management thinkers.

S U P P L I M E N T Special Features S
Russia

Maruti, Ford, Fiat, Tata Indica, Intel, IBM, ICICI, Birla Sun life, SBI, UBI, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Citi Bank, Bajaj Allianz, Oracle, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley , BP etc are some of the BS regular clients.

Accent west: A local guide for all that you wanted to know of the western
region published as a tabloid on all weekdays except Monday and Saturday Focus: Gujarat business news, Maharashtra and other western regions news

Weekend: It is published on Saturdays.

Focus: Entertainment, enterprise, motoring, personal finance & leisure SPECIAL FEATURES: Special supplement that appear either within the newspaper or as a separate section providing analysis of development and detail information on particular industries, services, regions and countries.

Open sky,

Shipping MAGAZINES:

Business Standard The Strategist: It is an annual magazine, which is on the various companies strategies and a recall of great stories from the strategist supplement of Tuesdays Indian Management : It is a monthly magazine. It is the journal of all India Management Association. It is on management style. Banking Annual : It is a yearly magazine. It gives the information about bank and gives rank to banker. The Billionaire Club: It is a yearly magazine which gives information about the billionaires of India. BS 1000 : It is a yearly magazine giving information of the corporate world in India and gives rank to top 1000 companies by sale. The world of B-schools : A yearly magazine focusing on top b-schools in India. Spend : A yearly magazine giving information about how to spend your money in luxurious life. Gateway : A monthly magazine on life style Motoring : A monthly magazine on automobile sector. Fund Manager : A monthly magazine on mutual fund sector.

ORGANIZATION CHART :

Business Standard
T. N. Ninan (Chief Editor/ Publisher)

A.K . Bhattacharya (M anaging Editor)

M s. Akhila Urankar (President)

VP M arketing Rakesh Shah

VP Sales Abhay

VP Adminis-tration K .G .S.

VP Branding S. K elkar

VP System Alok Agrawal

Ashish Chakraborty (Zonal M anager)

R E G U L A T R Y

Institution Kaushalendra

Trade Richard

W est Zone

North Zone Rakesh Sharma (Zonal M anager)

East Zone M ilan Bhattacharya (Zonal M anager)

South Zone Issac John (Zonal M anager)

Jamshedpur Chandigarh Lucknow

M umbai

Chakraborty

B O D Y

Ashish

Pune Anant

Ahmedabad M ukund Shukla

Hyderabad

Chennai

Bangalore

Kochi

Business Standard Role Of ABC (Audit Bureau Of Circulation) In Print Media What is ABC? A bureau, which regulates the player in print media as publisher of newspaper. ABC their rules and policies which are followed by the members which help them to reflect their in circulations which are audited by ABC and authorized the number of valid copies. Few important issues to take care as per ABC certification: Trade terms to agents on subscription copies should not exceed In case of dailies-40% of the subscription price In case of weeklies-45% of the subscription price

C O N T . . . .

Publishers have to maintain the full record of subscribers with their address, name and signature. NET PAID SLES (NPS) : Net sale-unsold copies It includes actual paid sales which are sold on normal cover price 10% of the bulk sales include hotels, institutes; airport comes under Back copies would not count under NPS Indent confirmations given by agent will only be the part of Unsold copies are not counted in circulation copies equivalent to

and received payment routine through agents and retailers net paid sales.

circulation and will be invalid sales outstanding dues beyond the credit period as prescribed by the bureau provided.

There are two types of panels :

Business Standard 1. 2. & December The auditors to cover the outstanding dues provide Two If any distributors have more than 15000 subscriptions ABC plays a major role to stop the manipulation activity in months credit period to publishers. copies then he also come under the audit for ABC certification. the publication industry. Auditors panel Publishers panel Auditors will audit the circulation twice a year ending June

Business Standard

DEPARTMENTS

Editorial Department

Administration Department System Department

Space M arketing Department

Production Department

Scheduling Department

Business Standard

1. Market Development Department It is responsible for the circulation of the newspaper in the whole region which comes under the preview of the respective editions. 2. Space Marketing Department It is the only department which earns the revenue. The main function of this department is to sell space of Business Standard newspaper and its other products by collecting advertisements and generate revenue. 3. Scheduling Department It is responsible for the layout of the newspaper. Its core function is to adjust the advertisements and the editorial in the page. 4. Editorial Department It collects news on its own and from various news agencies. It edits the contents, fills the remaining allocated space by the advertisement department with articles and reports. 5. System Department It is responsible for the communication network through VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) and with dedicated leased lines with our branches.

D E P R T M E N T S

6. Production Department It is responsible for the production of the newspaper. 7. Administration Department It is responsible for the overall administration, also the Finance and HR activities are synchronized and looked after by this department.

Business Standard
Raw M aterial

Printing Press

Ahmedabad

Nadiad

Anand

Vadodara

Bharuch

Agent in Each City

Vendors Hawkers

Bookstalls Hawkers

End Users

Business Standard

1. Market Development Department

of

Functions MDD
Indent Revision

To manage the distribution channel properly is not the only task that the Market Development Department has to perform. The department also has to take care for the necessary steps required to tape the opportunities prevailing in the market. Market Development Department generally known as circulation department and responsible for the circulation of the newspaper in the whole region, which comes under the preview of that addition of the newspaper. Market Development Department is responsible for more than 40 routes for its regular supply. Addition to that market development department has daily back-room operations, which contains to give print order for the regular supply and for other copies like subscriptions, complementary and sponsored copies.

Print Order Generation Print Order Variance Daily Supply Report Yearly Supply Report Net Paid Sales Unsold Register Payment Receipt Book

Functions of Market Development Department:MDD handles various functions like Print Order Generation, Regulation of Dispatch and to receive the payment in mode of cash, cheque or DD against bill generated by it for the month. MDD also has to maintain following ledgers /books. Indent Revision: A book which keep the record of daily supply to each of the agent and the variation in the supply as per their requirement for the copies.

Business Standard Print Order Generation: A slip, which is issued by MDD to production department for the printing of, copies which contains the requirement of total number of copies to distribution for next day.

Print Order Variance: A transactional slip issued to Production Department, which is made by Dispatch Executive showing last moment change in print order.

of on s d

Channel Distributi Busines Standar Gujarat

Daily Supply Report: A master record book in which records of daily supplier of BS to each and every agent. Yearly Supply Report: A master record book which records an average annual supply of BS to each and every agent. Net Paid Sales: A master record book which contains the information about daily sale of BS on cover price. The formula for calculating NPS is NPS = Total Print Order Subscribers copy Complimentary copies Unsold copies

More than 50 agents More than 5000 hawkers More than 30000 wardboys More than 1000 Book stalls AND More than

Unsold Register: A register which maintain a record of daily unsold. Local unsold is maintained on day to day basis where as up country unsold is maintained on monthly basis, which will be credited in agents account as per the unsold norms.

Business Standard Payment Receipt Book: A transaction record, which shows the receipt of payment from the agents.

The role of Market Development Department goes beyond simply distributing the newspaper to readers. Circulation department also sell and

promote the newspaper. They must identify what readers want, when and at what price.

Rush mail is a written document pasted on the parcel of the newspape r to make it reach its destinatio n

MDD also includes Dispatch Control Department, which plays the role of to send right number of newspapers at right time, at right station to the right person. For the above purpose this department generates Print Order and Rush Mails of Business Standard. Print Orders shows the required number of newspapers to be printed for each station for the next day. The number of Rush Mails are generated accordingly. This department makes the parcel of newspaper for each destination, they put the rush mails on the parcel which shows the number of copies on the parcel and its destination. The expenses incurred during the circulation are : Taxi fare : Rs.3 per kilometer (approx.) Parcel packing : Rs. 7 per parcel (approx.)

The Law of Duality: In the long run every market becomes a two horse race.

Business Standard

Publication Process

Editorial Department

Space M arketing Department

Scheduling Department

Desk

Takes indent revision

Printing Press

Dispatch Officer

Dispatch

City Edition

Dark Edition

Business Standard

It plays a very important role to run a publication. It is the part and heart of the publication because it is the only revenue generating department, so all expenses like salaries, production expenses are paid from this department. For the company, the overall cost of one copy of BS newspaper is around Rs. 15, but they charge to the customers only Rs. 2 for the weekdays and Rs. 6 for the weekend and from this they give 28% to the vendors and 5% to the distributor as the commission. In Business Standard newspaper, the pages are predefined for the various types of advertisements. There are advertisement agencies which provide the service of advertising in any newspaper. The Space Marketing

S P A C E D E P A R T M E N T

Department is connected with these agencies. The client who puts ads in any newspapers generally contact the agencies and hardly they meet any publication directly. There are such 125 ad agencies in Ahmedabad city only. For these ads the commission paid to the agencies is 10 to 15%. The advertisement rates here are negotiable depending upon the clients. Advertisements can be classified into two main parts. 1. Response oriented ads : Display It consists of launching of new products and services, it is a product or service display ad. It consists of B2B, B2C and classifieds. Tender It is the offer made by the government, private companies and public sector companies.

Business Standard Feature It is a special and well focused category, for example, in summer we come across feature ad in main line, vernacular and business dailies of air conditioners, icecreams, refrigerators, etc. to catch the market. specific feature is also well known Sky. Industry Open like

A D V E R T I S M E N T S

Appointment Vacancies for various posts in the company are being filled by the ads in the newspaper.

2. Compulsion ads : Financial ads The advertisements which include any financial information about the company, as for example, Balance Sheet or Profit or Loss Account, etc.

Business Standard

C H E D U L I N G D E P A R T M E N T

Main task is to design the ad position, means which ad of which size for how many editions to be printed on which page. On the basis of all these information, the Scheduling Department of all editions coordinates with each other and makes a tentative. Tentative is a summary of ad positions for all seven editions. According to the tentative, they make the dummy pages. The dummy is prepared on a A4 size paper which is then send to the systems department. The Scheduling Department has to check that : The ad material is in PDF, EPS or TIFF file format Ad file is in CMYK color format (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) After the ad is printed in the final copy, it prepares a report to be sent to Delhi Front page ads must be booked to Kolkata (both sections) Back page ads must to booked to Mumbai (both sections) Front page ad can be of 25x4 only Ads on left page will be on left side of the page Ads on right page will be on right side of the page Stock pages carries only 3 ads of 5x2 Black and White ads must be of 1200 dpi Color ads must be of 300 dpi Government ads come on the left side

Business Standard

The main task of this department is to edit the story. This department plays

E D I T O R I A L D E P A R T M E N T

the role of parents in the publication. It is responsible for providing the news for the newspaper. There are three types of persons in the editorial department : 1. Reporter 2. Desk 3. Photographer Reporters produce the stories from different fields. They collect the news on their own and from various news agencies like PTI, AP, AFP, Rolta, PR agencies of the companies. Reporters file the stories and sends for final editing to the desk at Mumbai. Reporters of all the seven cities file the stories and send them to the desk at Mumbai and Delhi. The Desk decides which stories should be printed and what should be the title of the news, these all fall under the functions of the Desk. Photographers take the photographs at various places as and when required. How does this department work? This department collects the news and then edits the content and sends it to Mumbai and Delhi for the adjustment in the page. After allocating the space for advertisement it adjusts the remaining space for the article. For national dailies, the editorial versus advertisement ratio is 60:40.

Business Standard

It is linked with V-SAT and with the dedicated leased lines with its all seven branches and head office, for Ahmedabad edition it links by leased lines to only two cities Mumbai and Delhi, and all seven editions news are obtained from these centre This line is opened 24 hours connected with BSNL and ISDN use when it is necessary to take data from Mumbai or Delhi. Components of System Department 2 personal computers Delta tower-manages the speed between computer and Duo setter, because the speed of the computer is lower compared to duo setter Duo setter-produces the cassette of the positive to be printed at the production department. How the system department works? It uses the software called Quark Express. The final pages come from Delhi which is automatically saved to the computer. The people in this department checks the pages and saves it to the computer, then these pages are send to the Duo setter to make the cassette for printing positive image. The most important job is to receive a facsimile copy of newspaper and forward its print to the production department.

S Y S T E M D E P A R T M E N T

Business Standard

After receiving the facsimile copy from the system Department on butter paper or on a positive, this positive is framed on the aluminum plate. This plate is then fixed in the printing machine and then as per the printing orders, the printing starts. Raw material for this department is paper, aluminum plates, ink, etc. while the task of the printing is on the contract basis with Pearl Energy & Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. formerly known as Sambhaav Press for Ahmedabad edition. Newsprint comes in reel form. The weight of one reel of Salmon Pink paper is 400 kg and it costs Rs. 30,000 and it prints about 4000 copies of newspaper. Per 1000 copies machine charges Rs. 800 counting all other overhead costs. Per copy cost comes about Rs. 15.

Facsimile copy

Positive Aluminum plate Printing machine

Business Standard

It is responsible for the overall administration as well as the Finance and HR activities are also synchronized and looked after by this department.

A D M I N D E P A R T M E N T

Talking about the Finance Department the Equity base stands at around Rs. 50 Crores. This department is responsible for overall administration in the branch and also for book-keeping of various accounts and other expenses. BS is an unlisted company, so it is confidential about all the financial conditions. It also not gives its Balance Sheet or Profit and Loss Account to its branches. Its income comes from circulation, space marketing and others (like Scrap). BS has two accounts in Kotak Mahindra Bank. At Ahmedabad branch, the HR department doesnt have a core function but still it takes care of certain activities like : Recruitment HR department recruit people from two sources 1. External BS gives advertisement through ad agency and in BS also. 2. Internal It recruits people on the basis of employee recommendation also having specified set of skills. Employee attendance They make sure that every employee comes on time, if an employee is late, one red mark will be made and for every six red marks the employee will be punished with cut-off in one days salary. Rewards BS gives its employees good increments on the basis of their performances and target achievement.

Business Standard

STRENGTHS: Associated with Financial Times. Competitive cover price of Rs. 2. Quantitative and qualitative content. Diverse supplements. Unmatched editorial team.

WEAKNESSES:

S W O T

Low Brand Awareness. Third Party Publication. Product features- small font size, NAVs are not latest.

OPPORTUNITIES: Great market potential. Tie-up with different national newspapers. Increasing literacy and incomes.

THREATS:

Business Standard Competitors like Economic Times, Business Line, Financial Express etc. Threat from TV News channels. Entry of foreign Players. Access to online analysis.

A. Introduction

M A R K E T R E S E A R C H

Marketing research is the tool in the hands of the marketer either to find out the solution of any managerial or market related problem or to find the new opportunities and threats that are prevailing in the market. Marketing research is the systematic gathering, model building and fact finding process to solve the problem relating to marketing of goods and services. Marketing research can be of three types; 1. Descriptive research 2. Exploratory research 3. Causal research As part of our summer training, we first wanted to have an overlook at the present market conditions. So we first decided to do a pilot survey and based on that to make some strategy to enhance the awareness of Business Standard brand and to penetrate the BS relative to competitors. So we first took the sample of 100 respondents as a base and did the survey with the help of a questionnaire, which is displayed in the annexure. The results of the survey are discussed later in this section. B. Objectives of the Research: Following are the major objectives of our pilot survey; 1. To know the reading habits of people

Business Standard 2. To judge the awareness level about Business Standard 3. To make a market development strategy for Business Standard 4. To find the purposes for which people read financial dailies 5. To know the factors that is considered important for subscribing to any financial daily

C. Research Methodology:

C O N T . . . .

Research methodology is the most important part of marketing research which consists of the research design, sampling, data collection and data analysis parts. These are described hereunder. (a) Research Design Research design is the planning of how to do the research. It consists of all necessary answers to questions such as what should be the sample size, sampling method and the method of data collection. As Business Standard is the financial newspaper we had to be very specific in our research design because our target audience had to be selective. (b) Target audience The financial newspapers generally cater to the following target audience: Corporate executives Stock brokers Businessmen Bankers Management students and professors Investors Chartered Accountants & other Professionals

Business Standard

(c) Sample size

C O N T . . . .

As we just wanted to do a pilot survey, we took the sample of only 200 respondents. As the target audience is very specific we decided to go by Judgmental sampling method in which we included the respondents from all the audience classes described above.

(d) Data collection Since, data collection signifies a very crucial place in a pilot survey, we have collected primary data by personal interview through structured questionnaires. (e) Data analysis The actual work of researcher starts after the collection of data, because only heaps of data does not serve the purpose of marketing research. The data are to be classified and analyzed properly so as to get the deep insights into the problem or the prospects of the opportunity. On the basis of our questionnaire we are presenting the following facts and analysis.

Business Standard

1. Do you read financial dailies? The graph shows that out of 100 respondents 88% read financial dailies. So in our target audience there is a significant readership of FNPs.

No 12%

A N A L Y S I S

Yes No Yes 88%

2. What are the financial dailies that you are aware of?
The classification shows that approximately 30% of the readers are aware of the Business Standard brand.

Business Standard
6% 15% 46% 3% ET BS BL FE NA 30%

C O N T . . . .

3. Do you subscribe to any financial daily?

The graph shows that The Economic Times is the market leader with approx. 45% share and Business Standard stands at the Second position in the market with approx. 22% share.

21% 2%

22%

BS ET FE BL Don't Subscribe

10% 45%

4 How much time do you spend on reading financial dailies?

From the graph it can be seen that most of the people read the newspaper for less than 20 minutes and as per our interviews with them they are mostly concerned either with the stock values or business related news and they generally take a glance look at the financial dailies because of time their busy schedules.

Business Standard

N A 1. % 1 1 >2M =0 i n 2. % 6 7 <0 i 2M n 6. % 2 2
<0 i 2M n >2M =0 i n N A

5. What is your main purpose of reading a financial daily?

C O N T . . . .

The graph shows that for the economic news most of the readers preferred The Economic Times while Business Standard stood at the second position.

a E o o icN w . cnm e s
B L F E

4 % .5
B S

9 % .1

2 .0 5 %

B S E T F E B L

E T

6 .4 1 %

From the chart we can see that for the purpose of having the information on business related news majority of the people prefer The Economic Times and secondly they prefer Business Standard.

Business Standard

c Mt a F n N V . uul u d A s
B L 5% . 9 B S 4. % 1 2
B S E T F E B L

C O N T . . . .

F E 5% . 9

E T 4. % 7 1

From the chart we can observe that for the purpose of having information about the mutual fund NAVs Business Standard and Economic Times are almost at the similar positions. Also some of them appreciated the fact that Business Standard provides Stock and Mutual fund related information in the separate supplement called
b Bsn s Nw . ui e s e s
B L 50 .% B S 2. % 60
B S E T F E B L

F E 1. % 20

E T 5. % 70

the MONEY AND MARKETS & SMART INVESTOR are really very helpful to them. The chart shows that as far as the stock market information is concerned BS is having upper hand as far as quantity is concerned but getting down as far as the font size is concerned. Many of the

Business Standard respondents told us that the information is really very good but due to more information the font size is not even readable sometimes and because of this they prefer to read ET for this aspect.
dS c Mkt . t k ae o r
B L 7% . 8 F E 1. % 3 0

B S 2. % 6 0
B S E T F E B L

E T 5. % 3 3

C O N 6. Do any schemes attract you to buy a financial daily? T From the chart we can observe that majority of the respondents gave high . weight on discount as the factor for considering whether to subscribe any financial daily for the year. Also the gift as a factor had reasonable level of . The Law of Singularity: In each situation only one move will produce substantial results. weight. . 7. .
4 % .6 5 % .8
D cut is o n G ifts L c yD w u k ra s B G O

3 .9 7 %

5 .7 1 %

Would you consider shifting to any other financial daily? The chart shows that majority of the respondents denied to shift to another financial daily, but it is interesting to note that approx. 24% of the

Business Standard respondents were likely to shift to another financial daily if some incentive is provided and approx. 24% were not sure whether to shift or not.
R a in s t C a g ed es o hne

Myb a e 2 .1 4 %

Ys e 2 .1 4 %
Ys e N o Myb a e

N o 5 .9 1 %

Following are the limitations of our pilot survey: 1. As we just wanted to get an overview about the prevailing market

L I M I T A T I O N S

conditions, we used judgmental sampling and took a sample of only 100 from a huge population. 2. The region covered is only west part of India and that too only Ahmedabad city. So, it may not be fully representing the whole population of business newspaper readers in India. 3. Time Constraint: We had only a weeks time to carry out this pilot study.

Business Standard

PROMOTIONAL TOOLS
On the basis of our analysis, we found that around 60% of target audience will shift to other news paper ,if they are facilitated with some discounts and gifts . So we worked on this aspect and after much discussion and brainstorming we come to the conclusion that company should provide cash discount on annual subscription and a total business solution considering our target audience. This business solution includes executive bag cum one day travel bag and business planner. After this, we proposed our project incharge and deputy manager to launch the scheme. Fortunately, our proposal got approval from Head Office. With this approval, we were given a target of 250 subscriptions. But our performance was so outstanding that we over-achieved the target and booked more than 300 subscriptions within 10 days. By looking at our performance, our national head had thrown a new challenge of doing the market development work also in Baroda city with the target of 150 subscriptions in a week. Though the time was less and target was high, our team was so confident about the performance that we accepted the challenge and over-achieved the target by booking around 200 subscriptions.

S T R A T E G Y

Business Standard Overall, we booked more than 500 subscriptions which was a great achievement in itself. The national head was so impressed that he personally came to congratulate the team for this remarkable performance.

Being a summer trainee, we got a chance to be a part of strategic decision of the organization which itself is the rarest of the rare thing. Pleased with our performance, they arranged a one-day picnic for us and also a farewell party which were the memorable moments of our life.

To expand the readership base, Business Standard uses the market segment to identify homogeneous clusters within the readers and linked this information to readers loyalty. Then it is applied to non Business Standard reader base and designed relevant offers targeted to look alike prospects. The results identified different lifestyle cluster, each with a different profile. Promotional Schemes are tool for the Marketing Department to increase the readership base with various tactics like mass subscription, prepaid card, sponsored copies. REGULAR SUPPLY As per the goodwill of the Business Standard in readers it has regular circulation of more than 150000 copies all over India with its seven editions. Regular copy of B.S is supplied through the existing channel of hawkers and agents. Readers of B.S can get their copy early in the morning from the hawker or they can buy from the newsstand.

Business Standard Regular cover Price of B.S newspaper is for Monday to Friday Rs. 2 /- and for Saturday copy Rs. 6 /- of Ahmedabad Edition.

INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIPTION In individual subscription a person who wants to subscribe B.S has to pay amount for 6 months or 12 months in advance to any authorized agent of B.S.

P E N E T R A T I O N

Generally subscription rate are lower than its cover price of the particular edition and ABC rules. MASS SUBSCRIPTION To attract of special people towards the B.S the company launches scheme. e.g. B.S has special subscription for management student that they can get copy of B.S at their institute at very low price then the others.

In organization point of view this offer can give marginal increment to its daily circulation. JOINT SUBSCRIPTION OFFER This attractive offer is specially made for the management students as well the Management Gurus. They can get 12 copies of Indian Management (Monthly) + B.S Newspaper daily at their home @ 33 % discount. This

Business Standard offer helps Business Standard Ltd. To increase the subscriber base for both the products simultaneously.

C O N T . . . .

PREPAID CARDS This offer is available to the corporate worlds that want to give B.S Newspaper as a gift to their stack holders. Business Standard will supply the copy to the home of that particular that has prepaid card in their hand. B.S also put a striker on the front page displaying the advertisement of the particular corporate. In this way Corporate give an excellent gift to their employees, agents or Customer. E.g XYZ Pharmaceuticals Company can purchase 100 prepaid cards of 1 month and then cards distribute to the Doctors. Doctors will get copy of B.S at their home for one month with the sticker of XYZ Pharmaceutical on the right top corner of front page. The price of prepaid card is equivalent to the cover price of B.S which includes the cost of printing and pasting of the striker on the Newspaper and its distribution cost. From B.S point of view this offer will help to increase the figures of average circulation and promote it on lower cost. SPONSORED COPIES

Business Standard

This scheme is specially made for those corporate who want to give their advertisement in the newspaper in the way to save the cost. A corporate will get the copy of B.S to the target audience of sponsored company. In this way corporate get economical way of advertisement.

E.g Hitachi has sponsored the copies of B.S and it was distributed in various residential areas.Corporate and to the Western Parts of Ahmedabad and to the Airport for the outgoing passengers in Security halt. This scheme is beneficial for both the sponsored company and the B.S to promote the daily in Economical way. The sponsored copies were also increase the average circulation figure of the company. ROAD SHOW To promote the B.S the company has conducted a Road Show with the summer trainees in order to have awareness in the people of Ahmedabad. Almost whole of the Ahmedabad is covered during the Road Show and emphasize was on the Big Commercial areas. MOVIE SHOW It was a good learning when we the summer trainees along with our project in charge have gone to see the movie by wearing the T-shirts and caps of Business Standard so the people can directly came to the know the

P R O M O T I O N

Business Standard Brand and some of the people have actually Respondent on seeing this Behavior .

Business Standard

ONE DAY AT MDD:

10:00 p.m. Printing started 10:30 p.m. Printing completed 11:00 p.m. Up country dispatch 01:30 a.m. Dispatch Completed 02:00 a.m. Ahmedabad Dispatch 03:30 to 06:30 a.m.: Distribution Center 09:30 a.m. Reporting to office 10:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m. Editorial and space department work 06:00 to 06:30 p.m. Pagination and Scheduling 07:00 p.m. System sends We learnt that the media looks glamorous only from outside but when you know the inner story, you find the hectic work conditions. This sector provides infotainment and not entertainment so, there lies many social and ethical responsibilities which should be fulfilled. So, they have rightly written on their Notice Board: Sach

woh hai jise dekh awaaz uthe

Na ki ek atpata sannata chha jaye Ek Jagrut desh chahate hai hum Is liye uttejana nahi sach dikhate hai hum

Business Standard

From the study carried out and the analysis of the result obtain from the survey , the following suggestion and recommendation can help the firm to improve upon the product.

1) Increase the number of centers from where the news paper is available

S U G G E S T I O N S

2) Regarding news content. a. Give more values to foreign exchange rate. b. Increase the font size of stock details. c. Provide the separate columns of Banks and Insurance news. d. Cover all the scheme of Mutual Funds. e. Provide script code of BSE and NSE. f. Provide information of appointments and education abroad. 3) Management should design a vendor Relationship Management programme and should come up with some motivational aoffers and scheme for the vendors, so that they are self motivated and hance will push Business Standard from their side and would help in increasing the trade sales. 4) Business Standard as a newspaper can improve a MIS and keep a track of BS readers. Though this MIS business standard can focus on their existent readers and can work for customer retention and increase the circulation through word of mouth.

Business Standard

From the pilot survey we found that most of the customer regularly read this newspaper and they are satisfied with all the contents provided by the Business Standard. Looking at over all publication process, we came to know the whole process of printing till the final delivery of the newspaper. Understanding the theoretical aspect makes it look much easier but practically the publication process is very difficult and requires integrated efforts from all the departments. The distribution channel plays a very important role in newspaper industry. The distribution channel of Business Standard is similar to the other print industry. After completing the printing work of the newspaper dispatch officer sends the copies to the various cities, the agent of the various cities collects the copy and sells to their vendors and book stalls. A vendor sell their copy to the end user. As a part of promotional activity performed by business standard, subscription scheme at discounted price is offered to customer. The main objective behind this is to attract the non BS reader and make him try the newspaper. By doing so the company is able to increase the circulation with maximum customer retention after the scheme period. Finally looking at the acceptance of promotional scheme of Business standard, I conclude that the scheme offered was mostly liked by the readers and ultimately most of them were subscribing to it.

C O N C L U S I O N S

Business Standard 1. Time and Money factor. 2. Lack of Professional Approach since Researcher is a student. 3. The number of respondents of the survey was only 100 which is far lower than the actual population of the Business Newspaper Readers. 4. Respondents are biased in some questions while filling up the questionnaires.

L I M I T A T I O N S

Business Standard

We took the help of following resources to make this report, addition to our learning and experience during the summer training Business Standard brochures IRS figures NRS figures The 22 immutable laws of marketing- Al ries and Jack Trout www.Auditbureau.com www.businessstnadard.com wwww.unica.com

B I B L I O G R A P H y

Business Standard ABC BS BL DSR ET FE IRS MDD MDS NRS ROI SMD YSR Audit Bureau of Circulation Business Standard Business Line Daily Supply Report The Economic Times Financial Express Indian Readership Survey Market Development Department Market Development Strategies National Readership Survey Return on Investment Space Marketing Department Yearly Supply Report

A P P E N D I X

Business Standard

I N D E X