Executive Summary

This report expresses our analysis and findings of the research project that was conducted on The performance management system of Advanced Chemical Industries Limited. It is an overview of how ACI manages a huge number of employees and continuously develop their performance. The various requirements for conducting the research as concise in the lecture were exclusively followed while performing the research on various performances measuring techniques and writing the report. We went to ACI to talk with the HR executives and some employees of ACI to know how their performance is measured, training methods and bonus systems.
ACI is a place to learn, grow and contribute for improving the quality of life of people. They believe that Human Resources are the most important asset of the organization. We identify the training needs and provide trainings accordingly to develop the knowledge and skills of our human resources. They provide an enabling working environment to unleash the full potential of the employees and a performance based career progression. They practice modern HR Policies and procedures for Recruitment & Selection, Manpower Planning and succession planning.

We analyzed the information that we gathered and tried to understand how effective their performance management system is. After all the analysis on their performance management system and employee satisfaction level we have come with some recommendations for ACI. In effect we recommended ACI Limited to incessantly use the techniques to develop the performance of their employees and introduce new appraisal and training techniques to have more satisfied and better employees.
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Introduction
This report is an elaboration of the research work that we conducted on the young urban consumers of Bangladesh value product feature, price, brand loyalty/image, etc more than patriotism when they make a buying decision. In our lifetime, we use different types of products to fill different needs of us. The main fact is that some of them are made in Bangladesh and some are foreign. Nowadays urban people of our country are more biased towards foreign products rather than local ones. Behind this buying behavior they just consider the products not the patriotism. According to them if the product is good, then it does not matter that it is local or foreign. The face of business and market structure in Bangladesh has changed immeasurably in the past two decades, due to the establishment of different foreign companies in different industries like consumer products, telecommunication etc. Foreign companies are now trying to leave behind the trademarks of local companies in providing high quality products and advanced services in attempt to delight customers. The business sector is like any othercompanies compete with each other for higher revenue or larger market share by attracting new customers or capturing them form their competitors. In Bangladesh, at the same time, lots of exciting new players have appeared in recent times. Bangladesh is now trying to establish itself as the next rising star in South Asia for foreign investment. The government has implemented a number of policy reforms designed to create a more open and competitive climate for private investment. Thats why foreign companies are entering the Bangladeshi market to do business and grabbing away the customers from the local companies. In this competitive world of business, our local companies are not that much eligible to compete with the foreign companies. Due to products feature, attributes and brand recognition young people are switching from local to foreign products.

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This phenomenon persuaded us to conduct a research on the buying behavior of young generation in our country. According to our research it is found that local companies have to develop their products and brand because the young people dont give priority to patriotism, they just think about the product itself. We believe the way to overcome this problem is to offer a greater variety of quality products and services. Along with this, local companies can use our cultures and trends in case of promoting the products but the main point is they have to come up with quality and excellent products. This report will elaborate the methods and outcomes of the various forms of research that we have conducted. In-depth analysis of our research findings, as well as recommendations for local companies to increasing market share and attract young customers through enhancing the values of the customers.

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Research Problem &

Hypothesis
Background of the Problem
Since last two decades noteworthy numbers of foreign investors or companies are entering Bangladesh in different industries. Gradually they occupied a strong position over our local companies in all the sectors. For example, Grameenphone (Telecommunication), Unilever (Consumer Products) etc. The underlying reasons behind these foreign companies aggression in our country over local companies are the inability of our local companies to come up with better products and lack of significant marketing strategy to grab more customers. It is clear form the local companies position against foreign companies is poor because local companies always failed to come up quality products. They hardly looked at more innovative products and marketing strategies. In effect the young educated people of our country prefer foreign products. A significant portion of the customers in our country are the young people who always justify the product before making a buying decision, and they always seek those product which offer a diverse array of features and attributes. In this case foreign companies gain position over our local companies because they have been able to attract customers through their vast array of product offerings. The rationales why young people choose foreign products are Product features Product attributes Price Quality services
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 Brand recognition etc. Hence form the above facts it is clear that the young people are concerned about the product itself while making a buying decision, in this case they dont take patriotism under consideration.

Exploratory Research
Before formally starting any research project it is often useful to conduct some initial research simply to identify the problem. Exploratory research is the initial research conducted to clarify or define a problem. It is not very systematic or scientific. Exploratory research is mainly conducted during the problem discovery stage where we can sense a problem but are unaware of its identification. Tools used for conducting exploratory research are experience surveys, pilot studies (includes focus group and depth interviews), secondary data analysis, and case studies. Our research topic did not allow us to conduct much exploratory research with secondary data or with case studies since due to lack of availability of information concerning Bangladeshi products in libraries and in the internet. We did not have any relevant ready-made case studies that we could solve to be aware of the problem. So our exploratory research was basically experience surveys. Our research data was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. We collected some secondary data to what extent it was availablesince relevant secondary data was difficult to find. This included some newspaper articles written by investment experts, article from business magazines. Most of the primary data was however collected through survey. For conducting the primary research we have designed a survey questionnaire and selected a sample size of 100 respondents to accomplish the survey.

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Problem Definition
Considering the above problem, we have formulated a formal problem definition: Young people are making their buying decisions based on product quality, price, brand image; not based on patriotism.

Research Hypothesis
It is important that the problem definition is converted into specific research hypothesis. The hypothesis of our research is: Emphasizing on producing quality products will help the local companies to attract young customers and as well as it will increase patriotism in their minds while making a buying decisions

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Research Design
A master plan that specifies the methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing needed information is called research design. Typically research design is the second stage of the marketing research process. Research design stage is the stage in which we the researchers determined the overall framework for the research plan of action by basically selecting the research method. We actually have done our project with quantitative research design and most of the measurement of the questions was likert method. To test our hypothesis we have to develop all of the research method and those are: exploratory, descriptive and causal. Our research data was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. We have collected some secondary data to what extent it is available.

Data Collection Method

All four members in our group have involved in data collection. We, the four group members went to different places like university campuses, shopping malls etc. We therefore collected response from 100 respondents who are young, educated and people between 16-30 years of age. Since we collected 100 responses, we achieved our target ratio. We have given the questionnaires to them and explained them what to do. Thus we have done data collection.

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Data Processing and Analysis

The collected data was processed by applying standard editing and coding procedures. For analyzing the data we will utilize simple tabulation and cross tabulation formats. Statistical methods and procedures such as simple and multiple regression analysis, hypothesis testing and ANOVA have been applied for conducting data processing and analysis. For this purpose we used more than one software packages including SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Sciences), Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel. In-depth analysis of the relevant part of the research has been given in the latter part of the report.

The Sampling Frame

We had selected different university campuses and shopping malls as our locations from where we chose the sampling frame. We had 100 respondents, of who all are young people and between 16-30 years.

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Survey and Research

Methodology
The methodology for our survey research has been described briefly in this section.

Survey Project Goals

Our primary research objective is to determine whether product features, quality, price, brand name affect more than patriotism while young people make a buying decision. Specifically, this research objective can be sub-categorized into the following: Investigate whether the existing product line is adequate for capturing the target audience. If not, then identify the underlying reasons for the product line to be inadequate. Find out what additional product offerings are demanded by existing and potential customers of local products. Develop and propose some new product items that could be offered by the local companies to attract customers. Care would be taken to ensure that it is feasible for the company under its existing capacity to offer these new products. Determine whether the introduction of such new products would positively contribute towards attracting new customers.

Conceptual and Operational Definitions

Marketing Research and Analysis In order to make fact-based decisions regarding marketing strategy and design effective, costefficient implementation programs, and firms must possess a detailed, objective understanding of

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their own business and the market in which they operate. In analyzing these issues, the discipline of marketing management often overlaps with the related discipline of strategic planning.

Traditionally, marketing analysis was structured into three areas: Customer analysis, Company analysis, and Competitor analysis (so-called "3Cs" analysis). More recently, it has become fashionable in some marketing circles to divide these further into five "Cs": Customer analysis, Company analysis, Collaborator analysis, Competitor analysis, and analysis of the industry Context. The focus of customer analysis is to develop a scheme for market segmentation, breaking down the market into various constituent groups of customers, which are called customer segments or market segments. Marketing managers work to develop detailed profiles of each segment, focusing on any number of variables that may differ among the segments: demographic, psychographic, geographic, behavioral, needs-benefit, and other factors may all be examined. Marketers also attempt to track these segments' perceptions of the various products in the market using tools such as perceptual mapping.

Company Analysis In company analysis, marketers focus on understanding the company's cost structure and cost position relative to competitors, as well as working to identify a firm's core competencies and other competitively distinct company resources. Marketing managers may also work with the accounting department to analyze the profits the firm is generating from various product lines and customer accounts. The company may also conduct periodic brand audits to assess the strength of its brands and sources of brand equity. The firm's collaborators may also be profiled, which may include various suppliers, distributors and other channel partners, joint venture partners, and others. An analysis of complementary products may also be performed if such products exist.

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Marketing management employs various tools from economics and competitive strategy to analyze the industry context in which the firm operates. These include Porter's five forces, analysis of strategic groups of competitors, value chain analysis and others. Depending on the industry, the regulatory context may also be important to examine in detail.

Product Lining Product lining is the marketing strategy of offering for sale several related products. Unlike product bundling, where several products are combined into one, lining involves offering several related products individually. A line can comprise related products of various sizes, types, colours, qualities, or prices. Line depth refers to the number of product variants in a line. Line consistency refers to how closely relate the products that make up the line are. Line vulnerability refers to the percentage of sales or profits that are derived from only a few products in the line. The number of different product lines sold by a company is referred to as width of product mix. The total number of products sold in all lines is referred to as length of product mix. If a line of products is sold with the same brand name, this is referred to as family branding. When you add a new product to a line, it is referred to as a line extension. When you add a line extension that is of better quality than the other products in the line, this is referred to as trading up or brand leveraging. When you add a line extension that is of lower quality than the other products of the line, this is referred to as trading down. When you trade down, you will likely reduce your brand equity. You are gaining short-term sales at the expense of long term sales. Image anchors are highly promoted products within a line that define the image of the whole line. Image anchors are usually from the higher end of the line's range. When you add a new product within the current range of an incomplete line, this is referred to as line filling. Price lining is the use of a limited number of prices for all your product offerings. This is a tradition started in the old five and dime stores in which everything cost either 5 or 10 cents. Its
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underlying rationale is that these amounts are seen as suitable price points for a whole range of products by prospective customers. It has the advantage of ease of administering, but the disadvantage of inflexibility, particularly in times of inflation or unstable prices.

There are many important decisions about product and service development and marketing. In the process of product development and marketing we should focus on strategic decisions about product attributes product branding product packaging product labelling product support services but product strategy also calls for building a product line.

Marketing Mix Model The marketing mix model is often expanded to include sub-mixes. For example, the promotion variable can be further decomposed into a promotional mix consisting of advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, direct marketing, undercover marketing, viral marketing, and e-marketing. Within the promotional mix, advertising can be further broken down into an "advertising media mix" that specifies how much emphasis is placed on television ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, internet ads, magazine ads, etc. Mix coherency refers to how well the components of the mix blend together. A strategy of selling expensive luxury products in discount stores has poor coherency between distribution and product offering.

Editing and Cleaning Data

After collecting the data form the survey, it had to edit. Editing is the process of checking the data for necessary corrections. We found that all of the respondents filled the questionnaires and we did not need to make any corrections.

Survey Pretest
After preparing our questionnaire (which was checked and rechecked with the course instructor for accuracy, consistency, and legitimacy of the questions), we decided to pretest the
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questionnaire with some respondents, to see if the questionnaire is easily comprehensible and whether the respondents are comfortable with the questions. Some questions had to be altered.

Ethical Consideration
In our marketing research project, we have tried to protect the information of our respondents. In addition, we havent gather the questionnaire of every respondents serially rather haphazardly. Moreover, we havent take or influence the respondents to write down their names or contact number. So that the information of every respondents was highly confidential. In addition, we let them know for what purpose the survey is conducting and ensure them that the information will not reveal to anyone. Furthermore, as we have done the marketing research course with our honorable course instructor, we were well prepared for how to conduct an indepth survey. So we have applied the procedures what we have learnt from this course.

Coding
Coding is the process of assigning numbers to alternatives when we are doing data entry into the statistical software SPSS. We prepared a code book as follows: No. q1 q2 q3 q4 q5 q6 q7.1 q7.2 Variables Buying behaviour Preferable soft drinks CSR activity VOIP scandal Daily commodities National theme in packaging Cloths Perfume Codes Variable Type Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal
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q7.3 q7.4 q8 q9 q10 q11 q12 q13 q14 q15 q16 q17.1 q17.2 q17.3 q17.4 q18 q19 q20

Electronics Cosmetics National icon vs. International icon Symbol over company name and product GP's logo and impacts on sales Foreign soft drinks' preference over local soft drinks' New local products Adherence to specific brands Buying a product for the first time Similar local and foreign product Faith on local pharmaceuticals Cloths Perfume Electronics Cosmetics Multinational companys contribution Foreign mineral water over local mineral water Decision making affected by patriotism

Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal Nominal

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Data Analysis
In this section of the report we will analyze our data of the questionnaire survey. Our questionnaire consisted of twenty (20) questions which are related to our research topic. We have entered the data in SPSS and run various statistical processes. Here we discuss them. We begin with simple frequency distribution of some of our most important questions in the questionnaire, including the relevance for the question in the report as well as relating the marketing logic that would help us to prove or disprove our hypothesis. After analyzing the simple frequency distributions, we will analyze various cross-tabulations that we have prepared to analyze our findings. Finally the statistical processes, the various statistical (ANOVA, T-test, F-test, reliability analysis, etc) tests that we have performed have been explained in simple language for the convenience of the reader.

Buying Behavior
Valid Product Feature Brand Loyalty Product Local Foreign Total Frequency 36 42 9 13 0 100 Percent 36.0 42.0 9.0 13.0 0.0 100.0 Valid Percent 36.0 42.0 9.0 13.0 0.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 36.0 78.0 87.0 100.0 100.0

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Buying Behavior

Our question was when you decide to buy something what factor first comes to your mind?

From the frequency table we can see most of the people around 42% people prefer brand loyalty when they decide to buy something. The second majority part of 36% said they prefer product features. Only 9% of the respondents said they focus only on product itself and 13% said they prefer local products. This question was relevant because we wanted to know the factors that drive young people to make a buying decision.

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Preferable Soft Drink

Valid Coca-Cola Pepsi Mojo RC Cola Others Total Frequency 19 20 19 25 17 100 Percent 19.0 20.0 19.0 25.0 17.0 100.0 Valid Percent 19.0 20.0 19.0 25.0 17.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 19.0 39.0 58.0 83.0 100.0

Preferable Soft Drink

Our question was when you go for a soft drink you first search for. From the table we can see there were 25% of the respondents said the search for RC Cola when to go buy a soft drink. And there were 20% of the respondents said they search for Pepsi. CocaCola said 19% respondents; Mojo 19% and 17% respondents prefer other drinks.
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CSR Activity
Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 40 30 11 10 9 100 Percent 40.0 30.0 11.0 10.0 9.0 100.0 Valid Percent 40.0 30.0 11.0 10.0 9.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 40.0 70.0 81.0 91.0 100.0

CSR Activity

Our question was in Bangladesh, multinational companies are maintaining proper CSR (Corporate social responsibility) activities. From the table we can see there were 40% of the respondents said they strongly agree with the question. And there were 40% of the respondents said they only agree. 11% were neutral; comparatively 10% and 9% people disagreed and strongly disagreed with the term.
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VOIP Scandal
Valid Yes No Thought about it Frequency 12 43 45 Percent 12.0 43.0 45.0 Valid Percent 12.0 43.0 45.0 Cumulative Percent 12.0 55.0 100.0

Total

100

100.0

100.0

VOIP Scandal

Our question was does the foreign telecoms VOIP scandal induced you to switch to Teletalk (The only government owned mobile operator)?

From the chart we can see that most of the respondent 45% said that they about it while only 12% said yes to switch to teletalk and 43% respondents disagreed to switch from GP.

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Daily Commodities
Valid Local Foreign Frequency 30 70 Percent 30.0 70.0 Valid Percent 30.0 70.0 Cumulative Percent 30.0 100.0

Total

100

100.0

100.0

Daily Commodities

Our question was in case of choosing your daily commodities what do you prefer? From the chart we can see that only 30% of the respondents said that they will go for local products while choosing their daily commodities. On the other hand, rest of the 70% respondents said that they will go for foreign products.

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National theme in packaging

Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 10 10 5 45 30 100 Percent 10.0 10.0 5.0 45.0 30.0 100.0 Valid Percent 10.0 10.0 5.0 45.0 30.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 10.0 20.0 5.0 70.0 100.0

National theme in packaging

Our question was products that use national theme in packaging attract you more than the products that have good packaging.

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10% of the respondents said they strongly agree with the question. 10% said they just agree, 5% were neutral. 45% of the respondents said they disagree with the question. And rest of the 30% strongly disagreed with the term. Price is the most influencing factor Clothes
Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 39 30 11 10 10 100 Percent 39.0 30.0 11.0 10.0 10.0 100.0 Valid Percent 39.0 30.0 11.0 10.0 10.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 39.0 69.0 80.0 90.0 100.0

Clothes

Among our 100 respondents, 39% strongly agreed with the fact that price is the factor that drives them toward a buying decision in case of purchasing clothes. 30% said they just only agree. 11% respondents were neutral to this question and both disagree and strongly disagree answered by 10% of respondents each.
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Price is the most influencing factor Perfume

Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 30 35 10 15 10 100 Percent 30.0 35.0 10.0 15.0 10.0 100.0 Valid Percent 30.0 35.0 10.0 15.0 10.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 30.0 65.0 75.0 90.0 100.0

Perfume

Among our 100 respondents, 30% strongly agreed with the fact that price is the factor that drives them toward a buying decision in case of purchasing perfume. 35% said they just only agree. 10% respondents were neutral to this question and 15 % respondents disagreed and 10% respondents strongly disagreed with the question.

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Price is the most influencing factor Electronics

Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 33 28 21 9 9 100 Percent 33.0 28.0 21.0 9.0 9.0 100.0 Valid Percent 33.0 28.0 21.0 9.0 9.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 33.0 61.0 82.0 91.0 100.0

Electronics

Out of our 100 respondents, 33% strongly agreed with the term that price is the factor that drives them toward making a buying decision in case of purchasing electronics. 28% said they just agree with the question. 21% respondents remained neutral, 9% respondents disagreed and 9% respondents strongly disagreed with the question.

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Price is the most influencing factor Cosmetics

Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 30 35 10 15 10 100 Percent 30.0 35.0 10.0 15.0 10.0 100.0 Valid Percent 30.0 35.0 10.0 15.0 10.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 30.0 65.0 75.0 90.0 100.0

Cosmetics

Amongst our 100 respondents, 30% strongly agreed with the term that price is the factor that drives them toward making a buying decision in case of purchasing cosmetics. 35% said they just agree with the question. 10% respondents remained neutral, 15% respondents disagreed and 10% respondents strongly disagreed with the question.

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National icon vs. International icon

Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 2 2 24 37 35 100 Percent 2.0 2.0 24.0 37.0 35.0 100.0 Valid Percent 2.0 2.0 24.0 37.0 35.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 2.0 4.0 28.0 65.0 100.0

National VS International Icon

Our question was a product endorsed by a national icon makes you more attractive than a product marketed by international icon. From the chart we can see that out of our 100 respondents 37% disagreed with this question. 35% strongly disagreed and 24% remained neutral in this fact. On the other hand 2% strongly and 2% just only agreed that a product endorsed by a national icon is more attractive.
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Symbol over company name and product

Valid Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total Frequency 1 2 17 40 40 100 Percent 1.0 2.0 17.0 40.0 40.0 100.0 Valid Percent 1.0 2.0 17.0 40.0 40.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 1.0 3.0 20.0 60.0 100.0

Symbol over company name and product

Our question was symbol attracts you more than company name and product. From the chart we can see that out of our 100 respondents 40% disagreed and 40% strongly disagreed with the fact that symbol attracts them more than the company and product.17% of the respondents remained neutral. On the other hand 1% strongly and 2% just only agreed with this question.
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GP's logo and impacts on sales

Valid Yes No Total Frequency 20 80 100 Percent 20.0 80.0 100.0 Valid Percent 20.0 80.0 100.0 Cumulative Percent 20.0 100.0

GP's logo and impacts on sales Our question was do you think that when Grameen Phone changed logo it created a positive impact on its volume of sale? From the chart we can see that out of our 100 respondents 20% said that changing its logo created an impact on Grameen Phones sales. By contrast, rests of the 80% respondents think that changing their logo did not create any positive impact on its sales.

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