MANAGEMENT RESEARCH PROGRAMME REPORT ON

Impact of Employee Engagement on Productivity of Organization

FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMET FOR

THE AWARD OF POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT
SUBMITTED BY:
KUSHAGRA VERMA
PGDM 2008-10

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH

AND TECHNOLOGY,
(APPROVED BY AICTE, MINISTRY OF HRD,
GOVT.OF INDIA)
VIPUL KHAND-6, GOMTI NAGAR, LUCKNOW

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is serve gratitude to all those people without whom this PROJECT would have
never seen the light of day.

An endeavor is difficult to even initiate without the help of many souls who are always
there by the grace of God. Researcher project is a result of help provided by many people.

My project becomes a reality only because of cooperation of many people who had helped me in
completing this project. I sincerely extend my gratitude to Mr. Harsh Sir (Z.S.M)who has given me
this golden opportunity to have an insight in the corporate world and who has been a source of
guidance and support

I sincerely thank my esteemed guide Mr. Bhartendu Singh (T.S.M)for her valuable guidance
and co-operation rendered to me through out the project report. It would not have been possible for
me to complete this project without there meticulous guidance and suggestions.

I give my thanks to Mr. J.P. PATHAK (PROJECT GUIDE) and

MR. (DR) D. BOSE (DIRECTOR IMRT GROUPS) for their valuable contribution, co-
operation and guidance from time to time for completion of this project.

Last but not the least I would like to thank my parents, friends, Colleagues and the staff of
Bharti Airtel Lucknow, who directly or indirectly help me during the course of project without
which project would have been a Herculean task.

KUSHAGRA VERMA

2
 INDEX

Sr. Chapters Page

No. No.

1. Introduction 2
2. Objectives 13
a) Vision

b) Bharti Televenture

3. Airtel Broadband 22
4. Airtel Services 27
5. Case study of black Barry Handset 35
a)Product profile

6. Research methodology 41
a)Graphical Representation
7. Conclusion 51
8. Recommendation 52
9. Bibliography 53
10. Questionnaire 54

3
4
5
HISTORY OF COMPANY

6
Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications services based
on an aggregate of 66,689,943 customers as on April 30, 2008, consisting of 64,370,434 GSM
mobile and 2,319,509 Bharti Telemedia subscribers.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units
(SBU’s) - mobile services, telemedia services (ATS) & enterprise services. The mobile services
group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the ATS business
group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities. The enterprise services group has two
sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporates. All these services are
provided under the Airtel brand.

Company shares are listed on The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and The National Stock
Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one of the
largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company.

The company’s mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of the
broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers include
Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an information technology
alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology requirements and with Nortel for call
center technology requirements. The call center operations for the mobile services have been
outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, Teletech & Mphasis

MILESTONE OF COMPANY

7
1 Mobile phone operator, Bharti Airtel, became the first Indian telecom company to serve 50
million customers last month, and is now the world’s tenth largest wireless carrier.
2 Bharti has doubled its user base in the past 14 months alone, and hopes to reach 100 million
subscribers by 2010, according to company executives.
3 “Our next 50 million will largely come from rural India as our plan is to reach 5,200 census
towns and over five lakh villages, covering 96 per cent of the Indian population,” said Bharti
Airtel president and CEO, Manoj Kohli, at a news conference this week.
4 Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telecommunication services provider, today announced that it
had crossed the 50 million customer mark. With this, Bharti Airtel has achieved the distinction
of becoming the fastest private telecom company in world to achieve this landmark in a single
country - within 143 months of start of operations. The 50 million customer base covers
mobile as well as broadband & telephone customers.
5 Commenting on this major global landmark, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Joint Managing Director,
Bharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to have achieved this major landmark, which puts Bharti
Airtel amongst the top telecom companies in the world. It underlines the strength of our
unique business model and our vision to provide affordable services like lifetime prepaid to
customers across the length and breadth of the country. I would like to thank our partners for
having shared our vision. This milestone highlights the emergence of India as one of the top
telecom markets in the world and we are proud to have been at the forefront of this growth.
Going forward, we believe this growth momentum will remain intact and we are gearing
towards the 100 million customers mark.”
6 Bharti Airtel crossed the 10 million customer mark in November 2004. In July last year, it
crossed the 25 million customer mark.
7 The company added the next 25 million customers in just 14 months. This is amongst the
fastest rate of customer additions by any telecom company in the world.
8 Mr. Manoj Kohli, President & CEO, Bharti Airtel added, “This is a very proud moment for us
and I would like to thank our 50 million customers for believing in Airtel. It is a tribute to our
commitment to provide best-in-class services to our customers and lead the market with
exciting innovations. We are committed to create a world-class organization and benchmark it
with the best in the world. As the market gets ready for the next wave of growth, we are

8
 committed to expanding our telecom networks wider and deeper across the country and
partner India’s growth story.”
9 In the mobile business, Bharti Airtel plans to make considerable investments in Network
expansion to establish presence in all census towns and over 500,000 villages across India by
2010, thereby covering 95% of the country’s total population. The company’s strategic focus
will be on further strengthening the Airtel brand through best-in-class customer service, which
is backed by wide national distribution.
10 In the Enterprise business, Bharti Airtel will invest substantially in the long distance
business to achieve the scale of a global carrier within next 2-3 years. It is also strengthening
the corporate business towards becoming a preferred managed services partner for the top
2000 corporations. In Broadband & Telephone SBU, Bharti Airtel will initiate large-scale
deployments of broadband network infrastructure in 94 towns, with a sharp focus on the home
and SME segments. It is readying to offer triple play to its customers with the launch of its
IPTV service.

Bharti Tele-Ventures

9
Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications
services based on an aggregate of 28,692627 customers as on September 30, 2006, consisting
of 27,061,349 GSM mobile and 1,631,278 broadband & telephone customers

The businesses at Bharti Tele-Ventures have been structured into three individual strategic units
(SBU’s) –

1. mobile services
2. broadband and telephone services (B&T)
3. enterprise services

The Mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom
circles, while B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 94 cities.
The Enterprise Services group has two sub-units – carriers (long distance services) and
services top corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized
telecommunications with its world class products and services. Established in 1976, Bharti has
been a pioneering force in the telecom sector with many firsts and innovations to its credit.

Bharti provides a range of telecom services, which include Cellular, Basic, Internet and recently
introduced National Long Distance. Bharti also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and
cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments in India, it is
also the first company to export its products to the USA.

Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with a footprint in 16 states covering all four metros.
It has over 12 million satisfied customers

Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse fields
of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of India's finest brands, to becoming the largest
manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand, Bharti has
created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector. Bharti Tele-

10
Ventures is today acknowledged as one of India's finest companies, and its flagship brand 'Airtel',
has over 12 million customers across the length and breadth of India.

While a joint venture with TeleTech Inc., USA marked Bharti’s successful foray into the Customer
Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises’ dynamic diversification has continued with the
company venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti has successfully launched
an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO Holdings India Ltd., to export
fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and USA

"What other operators have achieved in one to two years, Bharti has done in just over a month.
In July 2002, one out of every two people buying a mobile across India chose AirTel. We are
truly proud to be spearheading the mobile revolution in the country."

- Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Tele-Ventures in 2002

Vision

BY 2010 AIRTEL WILL BE THE MOST ADMIRED BRAND IN INDIA:

o LOVED BY MORE CUSTOMERS.

o TARGETED BY TOP TALENT.

o BENCHMARKED BY MORE BUSINESS.

11
 Airtel comes to you from Bharti Tele-
Ventures Limited - a part of the biggest private integrated telecom conglomerate, Bharti
Enterprises. A consortium of giants in the telecommunication business. In it's six years of pursuit of
greater customer satisfaction, AirTel has redefined the business through marketing innovations,
continuous technological up gradation of the network, introduction of new generation value added
services and the highest standard of customer care.

Bharti is the leading cellular service provider, with an all India footprint covering all 23 telecom
circles of the country. It has over 12 million satisfied customers.

Cellular telephony was introduced in India during the early 1990s. At that time, there were only
two major private players, Bharti (Airtel) and Essar (Essar) and both these companies offered
only post-paid services. Initially, the cellular services market registered limited growth.

Moreover, these services were mostly restricted to the metros. Other factors such as lack of
awareness among people, lack of infrastructural facilities, low standard of living, and government
regulations were also responsible for the slow growth of cellular phone services in India.

Although the cellular services market in India grew during the late 1990s (as the number of players
increased and tariffs and handset prices came down significantly) the growth was rather marginal.
This was because the cellular service providers offered only post-paid cellular services, which were
still perceived to be very costly as compared to landline communications.

Following this realization, the major cellular service providers in India, launched pre-paid cellular
services in the late 1990s. The main purpose of these services was to target customers from all
sections of society (unlike post-paid services, which were targeted only at the premium segment).

12
13
 Bharti’s Mission

To be globally admired for telecom services that delight customers.

We will meet global standards for telecom services that delight customers through:

• Customer Service Focus

• Empowered Employees
• Cost Efficiency

• Unified Messaging Solutions

• Innovative products and services

• Error- free service delivery

Airtel`s Vision & promise

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:

Loved by more customers

Targeted by top talent
Benchmarked by more businesses
We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of
our customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise
and go out of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more

14
Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the Company has an optimum mix of Executive and Non-Executive
Directors, which consists of three Executive and fifteen Non-Executive Directors.

The Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, is an Executive Director and the
number of Independent Directors on the Board is 50% of the total Board strength. The
independence of a Director is determined on the basis that such director does not have any material
pecuniary relationship with the Company, its promoters or its management, which may affect the
independence of the judgment of a Director.

The Board members possess requisite skills, experience and expertise required to take decisions,
which are in the best interest of the Company.

The composition of the Board is as under:

o Sunil Bharti Mittal

o Rajan Bharti Mittal
o Akhil Gupta
o Rakesh Bharti Mittal
o Chua Sock Koong
o N. Kumar
o Kurt Hellstorm
o Donald Cameron
o Paul O’Sullivan
o Professor V.S. Raju
o Pulak Chandan Prasad
o Bashir Abdullah Currimjee
o Gavin Darby
o Syeda Imam
o Ajay Lal
o York Chye Chang

15
Airtel AllOver

16
 ACHIEVEMENTS

• First to launch Cellular service on November 1995.

• First operator to revolutionaries the concept of retailing with the inauguration of AirTel
Connect (exclusive showrooms) in 1995.
• First to introduce push button phone in India.
• First to expand it's network with the installation for second mobile switching center in
April, 1997 and the first to introduce the Intelligent Network Platform First to provide
Roaming to its subscribers by forming an association called World 1 Network.
• First to provide roaming facility in USA. Enjoy the mobile roaming across 38 partner
networks & above 700 cities Moreover roam across international destinations in 119
countries including USA, Canada, UK etc with 284 partner networks.
• BHARTI announces aggrement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the World's
Largest Telecom Operator into India
• Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Limited announce Partnership for a life
insurance joint venture in India
• Airtel Launches future factory - Centres of Innovation to Incubate Pioneering Mobile
Applications
• 16 states, 600 million people. Only India's leading mobile service offers you the truly
'freedom-packed' Prepaid!
• It is also the first company to export its products to the USA.

17
BHARTI announces agreement with VODAFONE marking the entry of the
World's Largest Telecom Operator into India

• Vodafone to invest approximately Rs. 6,700 crores (approx. USD 1.5 bn.) to acquire around
10% in Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd.
• Bharti Enterprises, SingTel and Vodafone to take Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. to unassailable
leadership position in India
• The largest single foreign investment ever in the history of India
• The largest investment in the Indian telecom sector
• Bharti establishes its supremacy in the Indian telecom market, having attracted Asia’s best –
SingTel, and now world’s best – Vodafone.
• Bharti set to gain global leadership in the telecom sector
• Bharti Enterprises continues to hold shareholding and management control in Bharti Tele-
Ventures.

Awards for the year 2007-2008

o BHARTI AIRTEL DRAWS TOP HONORS AT THE MIS ASIA IT

EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2006

o BHARTI AIRTEL AMONG THE TOP 10 BEST PERFORMING COMPANIES IN

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BUSINESSWEEK IT 100 LIST.

o SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL IS THE “CEO OF THE YEAR” AT THE FROST AND
SULLIVAN ASIA PACIFIC AWARDS 2006 AND BHARTI AIRTEL BAGS
“WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR” AND “COMPETITVE
SERVICE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR”.

o BHARTI TELE-VENTURES IS THE “BEST INDIAN CARRIER” AT THE

TELECOM ASIA AWARDS 2006.

18
AirTel: Appropriating the value of 'expression'
Over the last couple of years, the market has grown considerably, with deeper penetration and
wider usage of voice and data services, accompanied by much higher competitive intensity," Atul
Bindal, chief marketing officer, Bharti TeleVentures, expands on this. "In this context,
differentiating merely on network, coverage and SMS is just not enough. You need to go beyond
all the rational identifiers - which are prerequisites in any case - and connect at a deeper level. We
needed a strong differentiator in an increasingly commoditized and crowded market. We found this
differentiator in a core human truth that defines our category - which is that there are moments
when you need to make your point, when you need to be heard. Expressing and communicating are
perhaps two of the most basic emotions. AirTel enables you to make your point in the most
expressive way, anytime, anywhere. The campaign is towards owning this through 'Express
yourself.' We believe 'Express yourself' allows us to connect at a deeper level and create a
long-term platform for the brand."
For AirTel, the challenge also lay in presenting a unified 'face' to the consumer. This assumes
significance when viewed in the light of the company's pre- and post-paid communication, which,
in the past, had been treated very differently. Brand image, as a result, was being driven in two
different dimensions. "Brand AirTel is a category leader straddling completely different market
segments such as consumer, business and corporate, as well as different voice, data and payment
platforms," says Bindal. "'Express yourself' enables the brand to unify and connect across the entire
base of our existing and prospective customers."One of the most obvious benefits of owning a
property such as 'candid expression' (and 'Express yourself') is the expansive nature of the thought.
"The moment you have as broad a canvas as 'Express yourself', it becomes easy for anyone
working on the brand to come up with new ideas and executions. That's what makes a good
campaign idea," observes Rediff's Prashant Godbole, who, along with creative partner Zarvan
Patel, conceived the campaign. This is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, Patel adds. "We will be
taking the idea forward in many different ways in the forthcoming work," he informs. Patel also
credits his creative team for "fleshing out the idea"
In October 2002, Magic led the market, with 30% of the market share. Bharti claimed that its
strategies were one of the most ambitious experiments ever in the Indian pre-paid cellular
telephony market. However, given the increasing competitive pressure, doubts were being

19
expressed regarding the ability of Bharti's marketing initiatives to help Magic retain its 'Magic' in
the future.

20
Bharti Televentures is the fixed line operator business of Airtel. In the recent branding exercise, all
the services have been offered under the Airtel brand. Data is the next driver for growth. This is
clear to the operators who have belatedly realized the implications for having a pie in all the
segments of telecommunications. Hence Bharti ventured in the broadband market.

However, the main contention in the broadband market is the price offering which includes the
bandwidth costs as well as the cost of laying down the copper wire. Typically, in the mentality of
the profit making exercise, Airtel has so far focused only in those areas where it perceives that a
huge market is present. However, I still hold that their thrust should be in smaller towns and cities
where BSNL would ultimately usurp their potential customer base. It seems that their fancily paid
MBAs haven’t really understood the success of BSNL who focused on the B and C class cities
where it has drawn unparalleled support despite the lousy customer experiences. This is because of
the absence of any other operator.

The current offerings by Airtel does not really enthuse a potential customer who is looking at
sustained data transfer. It is the classic case of having something better than nothing.

Add to the lousy customer care that Airtel is slowly perfecting, it is staffed with people who usually
land up in their jobs with little idea of their job profile. The so-called Tech engineers have often
been unable to help a customer who is facing issues with the connectivity.

21
AIRTEL’s ENTERPRISE SERVICES

The company is a part of Bharti Enterprises, and is India's leading provider of

telecommunications services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three
individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile services, broadband & telephone services
(B&T) & enterprise services. The mobile services group provides GSM mobile services across
India in 23 telecom circles, while the B&T business group provides broadband & telephone
services in 90 cities. The Enterprise services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance
services) and services to corporates. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand.

Our Services:

• Voice Services
• Mobile Services
• Satellite Services
• Managed Data and Internet Services
• Managed e-Data Services

AirTel launches VQE (Voice Quality Enhancer) for the first time in
Kolkata.

Introducing VQE (Voice Quality Enhancer) for the first time in Kolkata. VQE is a revolutionary
new system that spectrally reduces background noise. It eliminates acoustic echo, adjusts speech
levels in both directions and does away with low or distorted speech so that every word of your's
can be heard clearly, wherever you may be speaking from.

The VQE technology has been sourced from Tellabs of USA, world leaders in Voice Quality
technology. Some of the prominent GSM operators using Tellabs solution in the world are SingTel,
Bell South, Telstra, BT Cell etc. The Tellabs noise reduction technology removes high background
noise from the wireless side of the call thus delivering near wireline clear call quality

22
on mobile phones. The Tellabs 3000 series of voice-quality enhancement echo technology also
eliminates the complexity of acoustic echo generated by digital mobiles and hands free kits.

So go ahead. Express yourself and feel the difference on Kolkata's only Non-Stop 2.5G Network

SERVICE TYPE OF DESCRIPTION PREPAID POSTPAID

NAME SERVICE CHARGES CHARGES
(Rs.) (Rs.)
Calling Line Automatic Displays the callers number Rs. 25
Identification only for new on your mobile phone screen
Presentation acquisitions
(CLIP)
Dial-a-service Automatic Users can call to get certain Rs. 2.40 per Rs. 2 per
only for new information and service. For minute minute
acquisitions instance, Dial 604 for
Infotel, Dial 131 for Railway
info. These call numbers are
available in the phone book
WAP Automatic download exclusive contents Per content Per content
only for new from Airtel's WAP site download download
acquisitions
GPRS & Automatic Access internet on the move GPRS GPRS
Masala only for new and download exclusive Charges - Rs Charges - Rs
acquisitions contents from Airtel's WAP 600 per 600 per month
site month
646 Calling Automatic Users can call into this voice Rs. 6 per Rs. 6 per
charges only for new recognition service and minutes minutes
acquisitions listen to jokes, movie
gossips, download ringtones
etc
VAS SMS Automatic Content offered by media Rs. 3 per
Charges only for new companies like Indiatimes,
acquisitions Rediff, Yahoo fall into this

23
24
 AIRTEL NEWS

• Bharti Airtel inks USD 400 million network expansion contract with
NOKIA

• Bharti Airtel limited: Q2 cash profit exceeds Rs. 1,600 crores, PBT crosses
Rs. 1,000 crores.

• Bharti Airtel is amongst India’s Most Admired Knowledge enterprises in

2006.

• Sunil Bharti Mittal receives ‘The Honorary Fellowship’ from IETE.

• Notice of postal ballot for seeking consent of the shareholders on scheme

of amalgamation of Satcom Broadband Equipments Limited and Bharti
Broadband Limited with Bharti Airtel Limited.

• Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from October 1, 2006.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

25
After the liberalization of the Indian Telecom Sector in 1994, the Indian cellular market witnessed
a surge in cellular services. By 2005, there were a total of 12 players in the market with the five
major players being Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited (Bharti), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL), Hutchinson-Essar limited (Hutch), Idea Cellular limited (Idea) and Reliance India Mobile
(RIM) (Refer Exhibit I).

All the players except RIM offered services based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM)
technology. RIM provided services based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology
as well as GSM.
As competition in the telecom arena intensified, service providers took new initiatives to woo
customers. Prominent among these were - celebrity endorsements, loyalty rewards, discount
coupons, business solutions and talk time schemes. The most important consumer segments in the
cellular industry were the youth segment and the business class segment. The youth segment was
the largest and fastest growing segment and was therefore targeted most heavily by cellular service
providers.

Bharti Tele-Ventures adopted celebrity endorsement as its chief promotional strategy. By 2004 it
emerged the unprecedented leader commanding the largest market share in the cellular service
market. (Refer Exhibit II). Hutch implemented the celebrity endorsement strategy partially, relying
primarily on its creative advertising for the promotion of its brand. BSNL, on the other hand,
attracted the consumer through its low cost schemes. Being a state owned player, BSNL could
cover rural areas, and this helped it increase its subscriber base. Reliance was another player that
cashed on its innovative promotional strategies, which included celebrity endorsements and
attractive talk time schemes. Idea, relied heavily on its creative media advertising sans celebrities.

26
RAHMAN TUNE CROSSES AIRTEL’S

EXCLUSIVITY BARRIER

Cellular service provider AirTel seems to have hit the right note with its new commercial starring
musician A R Rahman. The commercial which is currently on air has a beat which also doubles up
as a ringtone which is ostensibly available only to AirTel users. But the interesting part is that the
ringtone is being flaunted not just by AirTel customers but by customers of rival service providers
like BPL, Orange and Dolphin as well!

27
“We did expect the tune to catch up but this has really exceeded our expectations,” admits Bharti
Cellular’s chief marketing officer (western region) Pratik Pota. Overall, he explains, it is a great
advertising product for AirTel and works like a “walking, talking brand ambassador.”

The ringtone which is also the jingle for AirTel’s TV commercial, is proving to be a potent
advertising tool for the company. It is not very clear what this means for the other cellular
operators. Cellular users have been “forwarding” the tune to one another, which according to Mr
Pota, has given AirTel a chance to enter the “mind of the user” irrespective of which service he
opts for.

“It gives the user a chance to go back to the AirTel product and acts as a strong reminder medium,”
he explains. Marketing professionals like Samsika Marketing Consultants’ managing director
Jagdeep Kapoor point to the usage of an “audio celebrity” as something that is significant.

“The normal practice is to opt for film stars and sportsmen rather than an audio personality” he
says.

Rivals, though seemingly unfazed by the phenomenon, seem to be doing their own homework on
this brand of advertising. While none of them commented on AirTel’s strategy and its impact on
their own subscriber base, one advertising professional working with a rival service provider opines
that the tune is “transient” and not likely to have any long term impact as a brand building tool.

Being the latest entrant in the Mumbai circle, AirTel has had to find ways of cutting through
the clutter.

Says Mr Kapoor,” AirTel will have try to find ways to attract new customers and convert the
existing ones.” Explaining that the usage of an audio celebrity was more “strategic than
tactical”, he adds that non-AirTel users will have the AirTel “brand experience” inspite of
not using the service.

While Mr Pota highlights the fact that the usage of the tune by other operators means “free
advertising” for AirTel and the users having a positive disposition towards the product, the
nature of reaction from competition remains unclear.

28
“Competition will not do well to adopt a knee jerk reaction and will have to come out with
advertising that is well thought out” explains Mr Kapoor. He anticipates a situation where
the new entrant (AirTel) will continue to be more aggressive.

DATA SOURCES

Data is collected from both the Primary sources i.e. questionnaire and also

from Secondary sources.

Primary sources:

The primary source of data collection is through questionnaire. The

questionnaires are distributed among 35 peoples and their view is recorded

and used in analyzing the data

Secondary sources :

The secondary sources includes online sites, newspapers and templates from

AIRTEL distributions centers and AIRTEL Customer Care.

29
30
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

RETAIL AUDIT RESEARCH

Retail audit research now account for a large proportion of total expenditure on market
research in this country. Despite this fact, the method advantage and disadvantage and
problem connect with this type of research have received little attention in print. It is the
purpose of this article to attempt to fill this gap.

The job of retail audit is to provide information for a manufacturer or his advertising agent
about sales, stock and distribution of his product and of its competitor, in order to make
estimate of regional market trends.

A manufacturer will of course, know precisely what is own Ex-factory sales have been. But
unless he sells direct to the “final buyer” he does not have always accurate information
about the actual purchaser of his product. A rise in Ex-factory sales might be due to rise in
customers demand or to increase stock holding by wholesaler or retailer. Again a
manufacturer does not always have accurate information about the distribution, stock, cover,
display etc. of his product and of course, manufacturer does not normally know what the
sales of competing product are with any precision.

31
It is true that information of the type can be sending and is collected by other means. The
manufacturer own sales force will naturally collect a good deal of such information, but it is
likely to be biased, consciously, unconsciously and it may be non-systematic in character. It is
after all, not the main function of sales too collect information of this type.

Customer Survey

In worldwide internet market place, customer satisfaction surveys are often regarded as the
most accurate barometer to predict the success of a company because they directly ask about
the critical success of a business, if done effectively, Customer Satisfaction surveys can deliver
powerful incisive information and provide ways to gain a competitive edge.

Writing a Satisfaction survey can be tricky, but it’s of paramount importance to your
business or organization to understand how satisfied customers are with your business or
organization to understand how satisfied are customer with your service. Here are few tips
for writing a customer satisfactory survey.

• Start with the end in mind. Make sure you understand why you are writing and
creating a customer survey and what you are going to do with the results. How are you
going to change your process as result of these customers Satisfaction surveys results?

• Do not be biased in preparing questionnaire. Don’t assume that customers love or hate
your products. Try to gather satisfactory information without leading the customers
either way.

• Gather demographic information within your customer survey to help segment your
data during the analysis. You can easily gather zip code or state code information eg.
Only a particular segment is happy with your product.

• Open ended questions (text boxes) are crucial for understanding the satisfaction of
customers. For instances, if customer are unhappy with a particular aspect of your
service or product, you can ask them to expand on why they are unhappy. Beware that

32
 you do not bombard too many question on participant to lead him to skip answers i.e.
its leads to incomplete survey.

Make sure you are using vocabulary that your customers understand. Be clear to so everyone
can understand your questions. In fact, it often makes sense to “test drive” a survey with
some customers before you launch it to the entire survey participant population.

Product profile

Blackberry is always connected wireless solution which provides secure access to your mail
and data.

Blackberry is a high end product of Airtel used for E-mails and Internet Browsing moreover
you can access your companies data through intranet and extranet which is secure.

Founded in 1984 and based in waterloo research in motion (RIM) is a leading designer,
manufacture and marketer of Blackberry that is wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile
communication market.

Thousands of business customers around the world use BlackBerry - a complete mobile email
solution that allows you to send and receive email wherever you are. There's no need for a
laptop to view your emails, no need for a fixed phone line, and no need to log-on - they're
automatically 'pushed' straight to your BlackBerry handheld or blackberry connect
handhelds.

With growing need of mails on the move, Blackberry has become a very handy tool to be
always on always connected.

Blackberry is a complete, easy to use integrated phone, SMS, browser and organizer
applications for managing information and communications from a single, integrated device

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 Blackberry – What It Mean To customer

EMAIL ON THE MOVE

JUST GOT EASIER

• Single, integrated device for data and voice needs.

• Access existing email and browse internet wirelessly.
• Integrated phone, sms, browser and organizer applications.
• View email attachment in popular document formats
• Blackberry ‘push’ technology means entire email delivered automatically
• Advanced security for enterprise and government organizations
• Global address lookup
• Wireless calendar synchronization
• Bluetooth technology
• Excellent battery life
• Advanced call log ,QWERTY keyboard , high resolution screen
• Speaker phone, polyphonic ring tones
• Centralized management and support.
• Sleek and stylish handset
• Integration with an existing IPS email account
• Open personalized email id

user@airtel.blackberry.com

- Integrates 9 new pop3 /ISP enabled corporate or Internet mail accounts with
Blackberry handhelds

BLACKBERRY PRODUCTS
1. Pearl 8100 (Rs.21,990).

2. Curve 8300 (Rs.23,990).

34
3. 8700g (Rs.14,990).

4. 8800 (Rs.29,990).

5. 8820 (Rs.31,990).

6. 8120(Wi-Fi) (Rs.24,990)

7. 8310(with GPS) (Rs.24,990).

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 2.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Marketing research is often concerned with the behaviors of the consumer in the respect
marketing research have drawn heavily on the behavioral. Sciences such a psychology and

36
sociology in fact the contribution of these science to marketing research have been very
significant especially with regard to two aspect.

1. The research technique used by psychology and they have amply used sociologists
being of considerable relevance to marketing researchers.
2. The concept and the theories of these behavioral sciences are also proved to be
relevant to market researcher.

2.2 Method of data collection

Questionnaire:

This was the most popular method for conducting the survey. It helped in collecting the
information from the framed question, to get maximum necessary data for research. While
designing the questionnaire, following aspect were considered.

Type of information to be collected:

1. Phrasing of the questionnaire.

2. Order or sequence of the question.

3. Number of question to be asked.

4. Lay out of the questionnaire.

Graphical Representation:

37
Customer survey

Table WHICH MOBILE SERVICE YOU USE

Company Name In Number Percentage

Airtel 40 25%
Idea 45 28%
Reliance 29 18%
Vodaphone 29 18%
BSNL 17 11%
Total 160 100

Graphical Representation:

11%
25%
AIRTEL
18%
IDEA
RELIANCE
VODAPHONE

BSNL

18% 28%

Table: IMPORTANCE REGARDING SERVICE

38
What is important for you?

In Number Percentage
Connectivity 19 12
Coverage 40 25
Roaming 34 21
Local Call 24 15
All 43 27
Total 160 100

Graphical Representation:

12%
27% Connectivity

25% Coverage
Roaming
Local call
All
15%
21%

Feature of AIRTEL forced people to use AIRTEL is

39
 50
45
40 35 35
35
30
25 20
20
15 10
10
5
0
Advertisment Connectivity Schems Goodwill

Values shown in Percentage

Feature of AIRTEL is better than the people’s previous cellular

service.

40
 Schemes Advertismen
15% t
25%

Connectivity
60%

 Type of advertisement mostly like by people in AIRTEL is

41
 Audio
Visual
85%

Audio
Print
13%
2%

Celebrity liked by people very much in AIRTEL

Sachin Shahrukh
55% 38%

A.R. Kareena
Rehman 2%
5%

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People take benefits of schemes offered by AIRTEL

People take benifits of Schemes offered by AIrtel

2%
13%
Yes(85%)
No(13%)
Cann`t say(2%)

85%

43
People like most in AIRTEL is

Airtel Magic
5%

Nokia+Airtel Postpaid services

Airtel Board Band 8%
86%
1%

44
45
 CONCLUSION

The conclusion of my study is that AIRTEL’s Advertising has a major impact its users.

People like its schemes very much .AIRTEL had created a very good image on the mind of

the new users of cellular service. AIRTEL has adopted a very good strategy by providing a

new connection with NOKIA who is market leader in mobile set, many new users buy Nokia

sets and they get a free connection of AIRTEL. AIRTEL is successful in capturing the

highest market share by adopting Celebrity Endorsement Strategy. A.R. Rehmaan’s tune for

AIRTEL worked as free advertising for AIRTEL as another service user uses it too. Other

celebrities like Shahrukh Khan (bollywood) and Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket) has also

contributed very much in AIRTEL.

46
 RECOMMENDATIONS

By virtue of its connectivity and advertising strategy AIRTEL is successful in

grabbing the highest market share in India, but there are still some

recommendations from my study point of view is that AIRTEL needs to make

its network service more stronger than other service providers to dominate the

market in future too.

AIRTEL should introduce cheaper recharge cards than the other because

its competitor HUTCH had introduced it. AIRTEL should sign more celebrities

from cricket and bollywood.

47
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ON-LINE WEBSITE:

 WWW.GOOGLE.CO.IN
 WWW.AIRTEL.COM

NEWSPAPERS:

 Times of India (15 Oct 2006- 2 Nov 2006)

BOOKS:

 Marketing Management, Dr. S.L. Varshney and

Dr. R.L. Gupta, Third Revised Edition,

Sultan Chand and Sons.

48
 QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME…

ADDRESS…

OCCUPATION…

CELLULAR SERVICE USED…

If AIRTEL than proceed further

1. How did you know about AIRTEL cellular service?

a) Friends b) Advertisements c) Other Sources

2. Which feature of AIRTEL forced you to used AIRTEL?

a)Advertisements b) Connectivity c) Schemes

d) Goodwill

3. Which was your first choice of cellular service when you want to use mobile phone?

a) AIRTEL b) HUTCH c) IDEA

d)RELIANCE e)TATA INDICOM f) OTHERS

4. Which feature of AIRTEL is better than your previous cellular service?

a) Advertisements b) Connectivity c) Schemes

5. How many AIRTEL users in your phone book?

a) Less than 30% 30% - 70% b) More than 70%

6. Which type of advertisement you most like in AIRTEL?

a)Audiovisual b)Print c) Audio

49
7. Which celebrity you like very much in AIRTEL?

a) Sachin b) Shahrukh c) Kareena d) A.R. Rehman

8. Have you take benefits of any scheme offered by AIRTEL?

a) YES b)NO

9. Which you like most in AIRTEL?

a) NOKIA + AIRTEL b) AIRTEL MAGIC

c) Postpaid services d) Airtel Broadband

10. Which service you like most in AIRTEL?

a) AIRTEL missed you service b) Free Ringtones c) Free Hello tunes

11. Do you participate contest offered by AIRTEL like KBC-2 & Indion Idol-2?

YES NO

12. Which type of recharge cards you like most?

a) More talktime b) More validity c) Both (i.e. Post paid)

13. According to you is AIRTEL is #1 in India?

a) Yes b) No

50