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NSIBM, JAMSHEDPUR Page 1


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PROJECT ONMARKETINGDESIGNING THE MARKETING STRATEGY FORBUSINESS LINE

ANALYZING THE MARKET DATA AND THE MAKING OF A

PROPOSAL FOR PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY TO BOOST SALESUDITYA NARAYAN UJJAIN01/06/2011 TO 02/08/2011



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DECLERATION

.

I hereby declare that the project work entitled To study The Leadership BuildingStrategy of Business Line In Kolkata Through Business Line Reader SpecialSubscription Scheme.in Kolkata, It is an original and bonafide work done by me. This project is being

carried out as compulsory two-month summer training, a part of MBA curriculumfrom, BUSINESS LINE (THE HINDU)"Kolkata, (W.B.)The content of this report is based on the information collected by me during my

tenure from different primary and secondary data used.This training is being done to get exposure of industry. This project is used only foreducational purpose and it will never published in any magazine, newspaper, or anyresearch paper.

UDITYA NARAYAN UJJAIN



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CERTIFICATE FROM INTERNAL GUIDE

This is certify that project entitle Designing the market strategy for influencing thereaders of business line in the market is that bonafide work carried out by Mr.Uditya narayan Ujjain student of MBA, NETAJI SUBHAS INSTITUTE OFBUSINESS MANAGEMENT, JAMSHEDPUR(university Rollno.09MBA2100096)form 01/06/2011 to 01/08/2011 in the partial fulfillment of therequirement for the summer internship project for the Degree of Master in BusinessAdministration. The project has not formed for the award of any other degree,

associate ship, fellowship or any other similar titles.

DATE:-1st Aug.20011

Name and signature of faculty

___________________

Prof. S. RAHULFaculty of Marketing

NSIBM, JAMSHEDPUR



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CERTIFICATE



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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to place on record my deep sense of gratitude to BISUNESS LINE (THEHINDU), for providing me an opportunity to take up this project and giving me a

platform which is the first step of my professional career..

A successful project can never be prepared by the single efforts of the person towhom project is assigned, but it also demand the help and guardianship of someconversant person who helped the undersigned actively or passively in the completionof successful project. I did my summer project for nine weeks in the Kolkata city ofW.B.

At the point of submission of this report, I feel honored to be associated withthe leading key maker of the world, with one of its Branches located at Kolkata. Itwas a great experience staying with Business Line, where I have (The Hindu group). Icome to know about many aspects of this profession.

'To initiate with anything I would like to record my sincere thanks to Mr.Manojit kar (senior sales officer) to give me an opportunity to work as trainee in theorganization, at Kolkata unit. I would also like to extend my thanks to Mr. RonyGupta (Regional manager) who spared valuable time from their busy schedule toguide me on certain occasions white my project work was in progress.

Finally, I give my sincere thanks to all the members ofThe Hindu Group, Kolkata and my respected Faculty members who helped meand motivated me for preparing this project.

Thanks and regards

UDITYA NARAYAN UJJAIN



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Executive Summary

This project is on Designing the market strategy for influencing the readers of

Business Line in the market I have attempted to study the news media sector in Indiathat is currently passing through an exciting and challenging phase. The basic aim isto do a comparative study of the various newspaper companies with focus onfinancial newspaper.

Further the project attempts to analyze the factors that influence the choice of thecustomers in choosing financial newspaper.

The study involve a survey of several respondents using questionnaire as the researchinstrument augmented with informal interviews of the customers and also makethrough use of information available on the internet.

A part of the project report also dealt with understanding the behavioral aspect of theconsumer and some doubt regarding financial paper and trying to give some guideline regarding that.



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TABLE OF THE CONTENTS

Contents Page NoIntroduction 9--12

Preface 11Objectives of the study 11Scope of the study 12Limitations of the study 12Research Methodology 12Data Collection Tools 13

Training Activities 13

Industry Overview 13--20

The newspaper industry 13 --14Opportunities for FDI 14Threats from new age media 14--15

Newspaper distribution channel 15--16Types of newspaper selling 16--18Financial newspaper in west Bengal 18--19

Company Profile 21--28The Hindu 21The Business Line 22Sections of Business Line 22--23Supplements of business Line 23Marketing Mix for business Line 24--25Strategic business planning form 25--26SWOT analysis for business line 26--28



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Contents Page No

Competitor and its content analysis 28--33Economic Times 28--29Business Standard 29--30

Financial Express 30--31Mint 31Competitive overview 31--32Secrets of success of financial newspaper 33

Consumer profiling and need analysis of buying behavior 33--34

Competitive analysis of Porters Five Forces Model 35--36

Most popular financial dailies for the corporate 37

Findings/ Sample survey 38--39

Interpretation 39--46Economic Times 41Business Line 42Business Standard 43Financial Express 44Mint 45

Composite Result 46

Data Analysis 47--50Price wise classification 47Looks wise classification 47Availability wise 48Content wise 48Brand value wise 49Awareness wise 49Percentage of composite score 50



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Contents Page No

Presentation and data analysis 51--54Current market scenario 51

Sector wise analysis 52Use of financial dailies 52Mostly preferred newspaper 52Readership voting 53Voting for progress of Business Line 53

Need for dailies for post-graduate students 54

Recommendation 55--56

Conclusion 56--57

Annexture 58--61Questionnaire survey 58--59Questionnaire design 60--61

List of organizations visited during the project 62

Bibliography 63



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ININTRODUCTION

Newspaper cannot be defined by the second word-paper. They have got to bedefined by the first word paper.

Arthur sulberg, Jr

New York time publication

The newspaper-almost every household around the world is familiar with its name. Itis one of the most powerful parts of print media which is considering as a major ofinformation.

Stocks market spreading their wins speedily. It is growing at a very high speed. Mostof the cities people are involved in stock market. Need of financial newspaper is alsoincreasing day by day. As we know that all banks must have to take at least onefinancial newspaper at all branches. So there is huge scope of financial newspaper.

Financial newspaper is very different from the general paper. It only consists of veryspecific news and very helpful for investors, businessman and professional students.

Now a days beside the general newspaper (like the statement, The telegraph, Thetimes of India,etc) the financial newspaper such as the Economic Times, The businessstandard, Mint, The financial express etc. are also gaining popularity among the

people due to their extra thirst of knowledge regarding the business world.

Business Line, the financial paper is the publication of The Hindu. It had launched 14years ago in south India but the company starts selling it in Kolkata only 2 and halfyears ago. So it is facing competition with mainly Economics Times which is herefrom 38 years and huge readership support. The Business Line is the 2 nd largestselling financial paper in India after the Economics Times.

Through Business Line I was given a topic for my summer training, i.e. Designingthe marketing strategy to influence the readers of business line in the market.



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PREFACENewspaper is the ambassador of truth

Newspaper has become the stable diet of every individual residing on this oval. It isonly mode of communication which collect information from one end and spread it tothe entire world .The world will come to stand still if the newspaper does not knockthe door of the individuals hive. The proverb pen is mightier than the sword is onlyappropriate for the newspaper industry.

NETAJI SUBHAS INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT has provided methe golden opportunity to work with the one of the competing financial daily of ourcountry.

The project DESIGNING THE MARKETING STRATEGY TO INFLUENCE THEREADERS OF BUSINESS LINE IN THE MARKET makes an attempt to study

and analyze the market penetration of the financial daily BUSINESS LINE among thetarget readers which include people such as business associates, corporate houses, B-SCHOOL students, investors, career professionals etc. It also tries to create awarenessamong the target segment about business line with the help of sales promotion whichin turn helps the company to increase the subscriber base.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYIn order to frame the project some objectives were set up in contrast with the main

purpose of the project. The objectives are classified as: To study and analyze the market penetration of business Line among the target

segments. To analyze the acceptance of Business Line as a financial daily in the corporate

houses and B-schools. To analyze how Business Line as a financial daily fulfill the needs of the

corporate houses. To increase the corporate base of the Business Line among the corporate

houses and B- school. To increase the sales of Business Line among corporate and educational sector.

Last but not the least to gain knowledge to market so as how Business Linecould raise its market share.This project helped in various fields, such as in understanding the market scenario ofKolkata, in understanding the customers perception regarding financial daily.



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SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The project will help us to understand deeply about the financial newspaper segmentat Kolkata. It will also help us to understand the consumer behavior and perceptiontowards the financial dailies, especially business line among the target segment. The

project also deals with promoting business line among the corporate houses and B-schools.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

1. Most of the big corporate houses were not interested in devoting time in such kindof study.2. Time Constraints, completing a project with in two month of time duration was

really a challenge.3. The target segment for the financial dailies is generally not high .It is very tough tomake general newspaper readers interested towards financial dailies.4. Since the market segment for financial dailies is already saturated by the economictimes and business standard, it is very difficult to convince people to subscribe for

business line as they want to stick to ET or BS only.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In a comprehensive manner the Research Methodology can be further simplified intothe following points Setting up the research objectives. Identify the target group from the data. Identification of an appropriate data collection tool (in this case it was to

conduct a survey.) Planning the work to be done. Designing a survey Questionnaire. Making calls and Conducting the survey. To convince the readers regarding the benefits they can drive from the daily

Business Line. Analyzing the data collected from the survey forms. Interpretation of the data and to come up with some providing suggestions and

recommendation.



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DATA COLLECTION TOOLS

Relevant data collection is a primary function to carry out a survey. For the purposeof the project, to collect data on various topics related to the newspaper .industry aswell as readers attitude and buying behavior towards the business newspaper wasmost important.

Primary data

The relevant data was collected mainly by interviewing various corporate executivesand taking their responses for especially designed questionnaire.

Secondary data

Data relating to business information industry has been collected from different websources. Other information regarding newspaper circulation has been collected fromthe reports of AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION AND NATIONALREADERSHIP SURVEY and the statistics available from Business Line Ltd.

TRAINING ACTIVITIES:

The prime objective of my one month internship was to analyses the consumer buyingbehavior for Business Line newspaper among its target segments and also to increasethe subscription base for the newspaper. For this purpose, it is utmost necessary to geta basic idea about the newspaper industry. The knowledge about printing anddistribution channel would immensely help to conduct such kind of survey.Regarding the subscription purpose, one should clearly aware of the differentsubscription offers for different target segments.

On the first two days of my internship, I had a knowledge transfer session with mysupervisor where I was mentioned all the relevant information which turned out asworth for me throughout the internship.



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ABOUT THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY

The news paper industry is one of the most growing industry in every country and itsstands out as a powerful part to the development of modern society by acting as oneof the most potential stage for implements of thoughts and opinion. Now newspaperis still the most iconic outlet for news and other type of journalism.

A newspaper is a written publication mixing of news, information, advertising,printed at low cost and easily carried paper called newspaper. Basically generalnewspaper contains of political news, crime, business art/entertainment, society andsports.

Every newspaper also has some different type of feature an editorial part containingcolumns which express the personal opinion of writer. Supplementary parts contain

advertising, comic, coupons, and other printed media. It also provides commentary onthe news, advice to readers question and answer and sometimes includes feature suchas comic trips, cartoon. Now in all cases publications of commercial advertising

became a part of income.

Now there are core competitions of instant news report on radio and television,newspaper has become more complicate and analytical. They now provides large

background information of news, it is going on science the enlargement of televisionnews in the 1960.

Paper industry in India is the 15 th largest in the world. It provides employment tonearly 1.5 million people and contributes Rs 25 billion to the governments kitty. Thegovernment regards the paper industry as one of the 35 high priority industries of thecountry.

The newspaper industry spreads knowledge and awareness among the people throughits various topics such as politics, sports, social issues, entertainment, advertisementand marketing and so on.

Some Facts about Indian print Media:

Current size: US$ 3.6 billion

Projected size by 2011: US $ 5.8 billion

Compound annual growth rate 13%



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It reaches to 222 million people throughout the country.

There is a vast potential to grow market, about 369 million literate people in India arestill not tapped by any publication.

More than 130,000 printing presses in active operation all over the country.

Drive Factors

1. Booming Indian Economy.

2. Government initiatives opening the sector to Foreign Direct Investment.

3. Higher number of newspaper/magazine readers both in rural and urban areas.

Some Facts about Indian Newspaper Industry:

1. The Indian Newspaper Industry is the fastest growing newspaper economy in theAsia Pacific region.

2. More than 150 million people read a newspaper everyday.

3. Newspaper circulation has increased by 33% from 2001 to 2005 (59.1 million to

78.6 million)

Opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment:

1. 100 percent FDI is now allowed in print media segment for non-news publications.

2. 26 percent FDI is allowed for news publications.

Threats from New age media:

Recent development in electronic media surely threatens the old newspaper industry.The internet and television are definitely catching hold a distinctive portion of theviewers. The Breaking News concept by the electronic media is causing thetoughest challenge for the traditional newspaper industry.



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Despite of these, in Indian scenario, the newspaper is still holding majority of marketshare. This is primarily because of less awareness about new age media amonggeneral public. Even in the major metro cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennaionly a small portion of the population can afford to have high speed internet access intheir homes. Now-a-days countless news channels are promoting Breaking News in

every minute with exciting visuals. But they are engaged more in competitionregarding who does it first with each other which is gradually decreasing theircreditability.The challenges from internet, mobile news alert, direct to home television (DTH).FMradio channels are forcing innovations to the conventional newspaper industry.Competition is always good for any industry. The print media is also trying to findnew models and new markets. Thus the new electronic media is not only challengingthe industry but also making them more valuable.

NEWSPAPER DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

Five major functional areas consist in newspaper industry. These include editorial,advertising, production administration and circulation. The main area of sales of the

product is dealt by circulation, hence the important of distribution channel in thenewspaper industry.The distribution channel of a typical can be represented through the following flowdiagram:-



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Raw material for the newspaper industry, news is supplied by the editorial, which is afunctional area in the newspaper office itself. The editorial is fed with news fromvarious places by reporter, correspondents and news agencies. The final news is sentto the printing facility where newspaper is printed.

The printed newspaper is delivering to various distributors across the country throughtransportation.

The newspaper distribution has sole right to distribute the newspaper in his area. Hisrevenue is based on a commission on the sale of every newspaper. He achievescirculation through salesman appointed and salaries by him, who in turn pass it on toHawkers.

Hawkers, vendor and book stall owners are the last link of the supply chain beforereach to readers. In newspaper there are two type of edition:-

1. Early edition and2. Late edition.

1. Early edition- supply outstation-upcountry such as Durgapur, Asansol, bokaro etcreceivessuch type of edition.2. Late edition supply outstanding areas which fall under Kolkata city (include

North

Kolkata. South Kolkata and central Kolkata etc)

DIFFERENT TYPE OF NEWSPAPER SELLING TACTIS

There are some processes which Business Line always follows different types ofselling process. The processes are given below

1. Trade copy selling

2. Subscription

3. Institutional selling

4. Sponsorship activity.



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Trade copy selling

Trade copy selling is the most traditional process of selling but as the competitionincreases in the news paper industry they had to change their selling strategies to havea satisfying circulation.

Subscription

Subscription is the marketing strategy taken by the company to increase thecirculation of the product and to compete with other competitors. In this selling

process company used to select a selection from society and give them special offerand sometimes gifts. This type of selling is called as subscription.

Special subscription offer

Period- regular price- subscription price - % discount6 months Rs712 (178 issues) Rs300 (178 issues) more than 50%12 months Rs1424 (356 issues) Rs 600(356 issues) more than 50%

Institutional selling

It is the process to target the readers from different airlines, clubs, hospitals, hotelsetc. This is a special type of selling where the papers are to be delivered in one point.The top level managers usually deal with this type of selling. Generally corporate tieup makes the deal easier for the companies.The supply chain of institutional selling

Newspaper from press centreCarried through company vehicleTo the respective corporate house

Institutional selling includes different type ofsponsorship activity such as1. Media printer and2. Joint promotional activity.



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SOME FACTS ABOUT INDIAN NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY

1. The India newspaper industry is one of the first growing newspaper industries inAsia Pacific Region.2. It combined the circulation of 150 million in 21 languages containing 5600 dallies,15000 weeklies and 20000 periodicals.3. Newspaper circulation has increased by 38% from 2001-2008 (59.1 million to 83.9million)4. More than 160 million people read newspaper everyday5. The annual growth is 13%The Indian newspaper industry has achieved different stages of evolution to reach thestatus and todays position.

FINANCIAL NEWSPAPER IN WEST BENGAL

The financial newspaper achieved a good proportion of the market comparativelywith general newspaper. In almost every corporate, stock exchange and also in B-school the financial dailies have a large demand. Financial newspaper is differentfrom the general newspaper. The general newspaper mainly deals with theinformation happening day by day on the analysis of causes of happenings not theireffect of on the economy where as the financial paper analyze that events effect onthe economy as a whole. The main aims of financial newspaper are to give theinformation of the corporate and their financial activities such as merger and

acquisition. The financial newspaper deals with the money and banking. It also coversstock market information and its depth analysis. These are very helpful to the investorin stocks, mutual fund, derivatives, commodity etc.

These are the main feature should be of a financial newspaper:

Tips on market Banking news Corporate up-to-date News on

o Stock marketo Derivativeso Commoditieso Mutual fund



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Agricultural business news

Logistics

A business daily is preferred for some facts which are :-

Availability

Analysis on stock market

Articles on financial term

Brand awareness

Corporate news

Editorial

International business news

Supplementary news

In west Bengal the market of main four financial dailies are:-

1. Business Line

2. The Economic Times

3. Business Standard

4. The Financial Express

5. Mint



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The Hindu is the Indias most admired newspaper company. THE HINDUpublication is an English language Indian newspaper company. It is the 2 nd largestselling newspaper company in India after THE TIMES OF INDIA. THE HINDU isthe third most widely read English newspaper in India. It has its largest base ofcirculation in south India, especially TAMIL NADU. Its headquartered is inCHENNAI. It is 130 years old Newspaper Company of our country. It is operating its

business since 1878.it become national newspaper in 1999.it is first NewspaperCompany which goes on internet. THE HINDU is published from 13 locations.

THE followings are the publication of the HINDU group & company.

THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE FRONTLINE SPORTS STAR

Apart from these publications they have some annual books and journalpublications.

http://1878.it/http://1999.it/http://1878.it/http://1999.it/


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BUSINESS LINE

TAG LINE Even in Business, white has the advantage.

Business Line or the Hindu Business Line has emerged its name among the mostReputed financial dailies of the country. Business Line started publishing in 1994 andis published by kasturi and sons, the publishers of the newspaper The Hindu.Currently it has a circulation of around 130,000 copies daily.

Business Line is published from 14 locations Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore,Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai,Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruchirapalli, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

The Business Line is the 2 nd largest selling financial newspaper in India of The

Hindu group publication. The current readership of the Hindu edition Business Line is124000. It covers all corporate news specially banking news, stocks, logistics,commodities, derivatives, IT, HR, Finance, marketing, economy and more. It has thefollowings supplement- eWorld which publish every Monday, Smart buy it comes onWednesday, Brand line on Thursday and Life which comes on every Friday.ItsEditor-in-chief is Mr.N.Ram. It is only paper having a research bureau.

Sections:-

From Tuesday to Saturday, Business Lines main sections has 20 to 24 pages whichinclude Corporate, Information Technology, Marketing, Editorial & Opinion (2pages), commodities & Agribusiness, Economy, International Business, Stock Marketnews, stock and Mutual fund quotes (5 pages), states Variety, Logistics and MarketWatch.On Sundays Business Lines main section has 18 pages. Apart from regular contentson Sundays. It also provides key information about stocks, mutual funds and depositswhich makes the circulation of Business Line on Sunday higher than the rest of thedays.On Mondays Business Lines main sections has 18 pages and along with regular

contents it also provides two special sections.1. The New Manager to introduce the leaders from the world of business.2. Mentor-A comprehensive resource on taxation, financial systems and books,Money &Banking, Editorial & opinion, States and variety.



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Contents - Frequency Contents Frequency

Corporate daily - commodities daily

Money & banking daily stocks & derivatives daily

Economy daily mutual funds daily

Market watch daily logistics daily

Marketing daily accountancy daily

International news daily Tourism daily

Agri-Business daily Taxation daily

Information Technology daily Editorial & opinion daily.

Supplements:-

1. THE NEW MANAGER: Insights from business leaders, career guidance, HR tipsand more is published every Monday.

2. MENTOR: Comprehensive inputs on taxation, accounting, law and management ispublished every Monday.

3. eWorld: News and articles on latest in technology, networking, computers andgadgets is published every Monday.

4. SMARTBUY: A lifestyle magazine, featuring automobiles, gadgets, premiumbrands and more is published every Wednesday.

5. BRANDLINE: Latest trends and options from the world of marketing andadvertising is published every Thursday.

6. LIFE: Tips on health, fitness, leisure and much more to lead a good life ispublished every Friday.

7. INVESTMENT WORLD: Sharp advice on stocks, mutual funds and a special pagefor young investors is published Every Sunday.



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MARKETING MIX FOR BUSINESS LINE

Product. Price. Place. Promotion.

Product- Our product is newspaper, we have different kind of newspaper, one isfinancial daily and other is general newspaper.

Price - The price of the newspaper is fixed for everyday. No price discrimination isentertained in this marketing strategy. The price is set low compared to other regularfinancial dailies. But it varies when the discount is offered. Regular price is givenhere.

Day Sun Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat

Price Rs. 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00

Place our place will be something different for our kind of paper. Places will be:

1. Corporate office2.company

3.stock exchange

4.Institution (B-school) Publication and circulation Business Line has a circulationof over 5400 copies. It is published from 13 locations.

Promotion Business line follows process of stall promotion activity. Here theowner of stallhas a direct link with company agent. The newspapers which are unsoldare again returnedto the agent with some return tax. In this activity we have to knowthe sale and promotionof business line, business standard, economic times, financial

express and mint in a stall.Then we have to put the idea in the survey form. It wasalso told that from where thevendors buy and where stall is located. Stall promotionof business line given below -



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Strategic Business Planning Form for Business Line

1. SWOTS - Briefly list major existing strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities(O) & threats (T). S & Ws are internal to the business and O & Ts are external. AllSWOTs should be 'one-handed; for example, something is either a S or a W butcannot be both!

2. Vision - Guide: What will the business look like in 3-4 year's time?

3. Mission statement - What is/will the business really, really be doing? What

activity is/will it performs, where, how etc.? What is/will the business offer and howis/will it be special/competitive?

4. Corporate values - Describe the values and standards governing the operationof the business and its relationships with society, customers, suppliers, employees,local community and other stakeholders.

5.Bus

s

obj



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ves - Highlight the achievements and broad progress to be realized over the next 3-4years. These can relate to shareholders, management (if not shareholders) and

business itself.

6. Key strategies -List major strategies covering the business as a whole (includingdiversification, organic growth, or acquisition plans) or primary matters within key

functional areas (finance, management, marketing, sales, operations, R and D etc.).

7. Future SWOTS - Review your plan so far and add any new or emergingSWOTs which may not have been adequately addressed within the proposed vision,mission, objectives and strategies.

8. Review of plan - Refine and revise/restate key strategies to deal with theperceivedFUTURE SWOTs and to make sure that all elements of the plan are realistic, specific,

practical, internally consistent and mutually supportive.

9. Major goals - Based on the foregoing, quantify key high-level targets which are(very) achievable over next 3-4 years in terms of sales.

10. Strategic action programs - Based on the proposed strategies and set goals,outline up to six major action programs in order of importance.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS LINE

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the strength,weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a business venture or in any other situationrequiring a decision. In SWOT, strength and weaknesses are internal factors where asopportunities and threats are external to the organization.

Now we will do the SWOT analysis of Business Line which will help marketers tofocus on key issue. These are as follows.

Strengths: The Business Line is a power full Brand because it is link with theHindu which is the oldest newspaper company of India and most trusted brand ofIndia. The editorial as well as marketing personals are very strong and efficient of theHindu the Business Line.



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Business Line is the third leading financial newspaper in India. Other than English, the newspaper is published in other regional languages too. Growing rapidly in last few years. Excellent performance of the consumer need. Subscription offers, at regular intervals are a lucrative offer to the reader. Affordable in price. Good quality paper. Easily carried and its getting much consumer demand and publicity. Different kind of news is published. Business Line has good distribution channel.

Weaknesses: The weaknesses of the Business Line are as follows:

Print outsourcing which increase the cost. They are very new in Kolkata as compared to their competitors The stock analysis part is inferior as compared to its competitors. Lack of advertisement and promotional activity. The newspaper I read by few selected readers. Low brand awareness. The market of Business Line is totally city based. Selective and few readers Different type of readers requirement.

Opportunities: As the people of India are bending towards the stock marketoperation. This may cause increase the market size. So there are huge opportunities tocapture the readers.

B-school students are a big opportunity to increase the circulation of BusinessLine, because reading a financial daily for a management student is veryessential in order to know the latest updates of the Business world.

The present growth of population at large, is in itself a big opportunity for thenewspaper to spread itself across the length and breadth of the country.

Market is growing.

Population is large so scope is greater.

Perception of customer is changing.



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There is also huge market opens to be taped. Product development will offer BusinessLine Many opportunities.

Threats: The threats for the Business Line are as follows:

Electronic media is the main threats for it. Electronic media is now challengingthe existence every newspaper, so it is also posing threat to Business Line also.

Competitors have superior base of readership.

The brand image of Economic Times and Business standard is over shadowingBusiness Line.

Business Line is facing off competition from financial dailies in the market aswell.

Some new upcoming company has emerged.

There are very close substitutes in the market.

Buyers today have the last word. So close substitute of Business Line like,financial express and Mint are a big threat to the newspaper.



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COMPETITOR AND ITS CONTENT ANALYSIS

The Economic Times: The economic times has emerged as the most widelycirculatedeconomic and business daily in the country. Enjoying its position amongthe top threebusiness dailies in the world. The economic times serves as a knowledge

platform ofbusiness and economy in India, providing economic information onIndian Business andEconomy across the globe.The Economic times was launched on5thMarch 1961 and is published by Indias largestmedia group, Bennett, Coleman& Co Ltd, which along with its other group companies ismore popularly known asThe Times Group. Currently it has daily readership of over 650,000 copies. It hasseven regional editions- Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmadabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennaiand Hyderabad. The current Executive Editor of The Economic Times is RahulJoshi.The Economic Times is also available on Internet at Economic Times.com &epaperdaily.timesofindia.com.

Supplements:

1. Brand Equity This is a weekly color supplement that appears every Wednesday,which covers marketing, advertising, media and market research.

2. Corporate Dossier It is a supplement that appears every Friday, aimed at theCEOs of corporate India, with a special focus on management and strategy.

3. ET Travel It is a weekly all color supplement which covers travel and tourism

aimed at the burgeoning band of Indians who want to see and know about theircountry and the rest of the world-through Indian eyes.

4. ET Auto Mania It is a weekly all-color supplement covering all aspects from theauto industry.

Business Standard :

Business standard has emerged as the most credible financial daily of the countrywhich provides information that creates wealth and enriches lives. Enjoying its

position as the second largest circulated financial daily of the country, it hastraditionally been as essential reference document on Indian business, economy andfinance. Its distinctive focus on the every aspects of the countrys economicenvironmentmakes it the favorites among the intellectuals, students and researchers.

http://epaperdaily.timesofindia.com/http://epaperdaily.timesofindia.com/


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Business standard is published by Business standard Ltd (BSL).The paper wasfounded in 1975 by Ananda Bazaar Group in Kolkata but in 1996, it got seperaratedas a separate entity.

Business standard has a circulation of over 200000 copies daily and is published from12 locations reaching more than 800 locations in the country. From Monday to

Saturday, the paper is published from the following locations- Mumbai, New Delhi,Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Chandigarh,Kochi and Bhubaneswar.

On Sundays, the paper is published from Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

Supplements

1. Smart Investor smart investors appears on every Monday which serves as a

comprehensive investment guide. It is a 12 page supplement.2. The strategies The strategies appears on every Tuesday which covers issues onmanagement and marketing. It also provides the solutions of critical issues throughanalysis of case studies.

3. Weekend weekend appears on every Saturday with weighted contents coveringart, leisure and lifestyle.

4. Monthly Magazines - Open Sky, Business standard motoring and business standard

spend.

5. Annual Magazines Business standard 1000, The Billionaire, Banking Annual andFund.

The Financial Express

The Financial Express is one of the most trusted financial daily circulated primarily insouth-east Asia. It was launched on November 10, 1993 in Bangladesh as the first

English financial daily of the country. It was an ambitious venture on the part of theInternational Publication Limited to launch a financial daily in Bangladesh.



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Primarily its focus has been on news concerning economic activities at national,regional and international levels. Being distinctive as a financial or economic daily italso covers the general news topics concerning socio-political and cultural activities.It also includes the major developments, nationally and globally which have direct orindirect impact on the economic life of the people.

The financial Express offers the following matter

On Monday Economy, Focus east, Insight business tomorrow, corporate watch,sectionsfrom economist.

On Sunday Wellness/Health, Real estate/Techlife, Corporate citizen, Economy,Arts andEntertainment, books and Lifestyle/Luxury.

On Thursday to Saturday Economy, Infrastructure ,Selection from

economist,FF360,Focus east, Editorial & Chat room, FE Motobahn, Developmentdossier, Corporate & market, Investor, Money & Funds, Commodities, FE insight,stocks, Money & Funds.

Mint:

Mint is Indias first business daily newspaper in a convenient compact size. Mintdelivers financial business and economic news each morning daily Monday-Saturday.

MINT enjoys an initial circulation of 80,000 with distribution to Delhi the economiccapital ofNorthern India and Mumbai a rapidly forming financial centre.

Riverside Media will provide U.S advertising sales and marketing support forMINT in conjunction with HT Medias flagship publications. The Hindustan Timesand the Hindustan.

The paper carries a weekly supplement campaign on marketing, strategy andmanagement with Saturday supplements Mint Lounge and Mint B in magazineformat.

In west Bengal mint has launched on 25 th May in 2009.



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COMPETITIVE OVERVIEWIn todays scenario, the business newspaper segment of India is totally covered byfour newspapers- The Economic Times, Business Standard, The Hindu Business Lineand The Financial Express.

The Economic times leads this segment with more than 55% market share. It was

launched 45 years back for today since a long span of time. It has been the onlyplayer in this segment. Gaining the advantage of first mover, it has already deeplypenetrated the market. It is also immensely benefitted by the brand name in its back.Since it is published by Bennett Coleman 50 % Co (Times group) which has broughta revolution in the Indian newspaper industry through the publications of times ofIndia. Times group has already created a respect for themselves for their contributiontowards the improvement of newspaper industry to compete globally. The clear

pricing strategy of the Economic Times also contributes towards holding its positionin its class. It enjoys an edge in price over other financial dailies. It is priced Just Rs7from Monday to Friday & Rs 10 on Saturday & Sunday. It comes with a lot ofadvertisement which obviously cut down the space for actual content. Moreadvertisement reflects the marketing features rather than providing necessaryinformation.

Business standard is the second player of this field with the daily circulation of morethan 4 lakhs copies though it was launched in 1975.Its growth rate was almost steady.In 1996 It was taken by Mumbai based financial investors after which it has been

possessing distinctive growth rate .With almost 30% growth rate during the past threeyears it is following up the economic time very quickly. Its association with the

economic times of London also adds weight age to it to compete with other businessdailies. Business standard is priced from Monday to Friday Rs 6 for Saturday andSunday.

Business line is a daily financial newspaper. It is very new in the Kolkata market butit is growing very fast. It will capture the Kolkata market very soon because of themarketing personnel are very strong and efficient. It has 124000 readership supportsas per Indian readership survey march 2010.



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SECRETS OF SUCCESS OF FINANCIAL NEWSPAPER IN INDIA

Believe it or not, buying English financial newspaper is still considering a statussymbol in India. Many people feels proud themselves if they have an Englishfinancial newspaper on their table. If you will carefully analyze you will find the

paper on the evening as same folded as it was in the morning in the case of many

people. They take it for show not for need because it shows their status and standardof living according to them. Apart from this the financial paper is very strict on usingodd picture for selling that attracts the corporate reader most.

The people of India are binding towards the stock market operation which is creatinghuge opportunities to the financial newspaper and it demand is increasing day by day.

CONSUMER PROFILING AND NEED ANALYSIS OF BUYING

BEHAVIOUR WHICH CAN INFLUENCE CUSTOMERS

To determine the circulation and readership trends of a business newspaper, the mostvital step is to identify the demographies of the readers. The business newspaper isvery much related to the need and requirement of the targeted readers. Theidentification of the demographies of the readers helps in better understanding thereaders perception.

From our research and data collected, we have identified some of the basicdemographic factors that affects the circulation of business newspaper especiallyBusiness Line which includes

Educational Level

Income level

Job Function

Organizational Status



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EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

Education is closely related to readership. According to survey data from Pewresearch centre 64%of the college graduate reported reading a newspaper. But surveyshows that the readership figures for business newspaper are more concentratedamong the B-school students only. Therefore it can be concluded that readers for

business standard and other business newspaper readers are concentrated amonghigher education levels only that too among people who either are or will be related to

business anyhow.

INCOME LEVEL

It has been noticed that the circulation of weekend editors of business newspapers arealmost the same although its price is double or triple than the weekly rates. Thus for a

person who can afford a weekend edition of a business newspaper is not supposed to

bother to pay one rupee more if the newspaper provides the relevant stuff.

JOB FUNCTION

A business newspaper targets its targeted readers from diversified work areas. Itincludes readers related to banking, stock-broking, consultancy, mutual funds, ITsector, engineering services and B-school students. The readership of a businessnewspaper generally depends on it news contents. Most of the contents in a businessnewspaper focus on analysis of business issues which immensely help the decision

makers. Data collected from the survey shows that most of the people related tomanagerial and financial sector read business newspapers. But the readership of business newspaper, in IT sector, is comparatively less due to the hectic work-schedule of the people associated to this sector.

ORGANISATIONAL STATUS

The readership of business newspaper also depends upon the hierarchy of the readerin the organization. The decision makers, chief executors, financial directors get the

rime importance within an organization and have the most influential power. Dataindicates that an individual who is influential and makes significant decisions withinan organization read at least one business newspaper.



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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS ON PORTERS FIVE FORCES

MODEL:A number of reasons can be responsible for low marker penetration of a businessnewspaper in a particular city or country. It is highly necessary to analyses thecompetitive forces that governs the newspaper industry has to understand the reasonsfor low circulation. According to Business strategy experts, they are five basic forces

that define the competition within an industry. MICHEALE PORTERs forces modelis the best way to analyses these forces.

According to this model, firms strive for a competitive advantage over the rivals.Degree of rivalry is defined by the following factors-

Exit Barriers Industry Concentration Industry Growth Product Differences Brand Identity Diversity of Rivals Corporate Stake

Switching Cost



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Industry Growth:

Indian Newspaper Industry is the fastest growing newspaper economy in the AsiaPacific Region. Newspaper circulation has increased by over 40% within the last fiveyears. This growth is forcing to increase the number copies to be published for everynewspaper. Thus the industry provides a stable platform for every business

newspaper.

Concentration:

The Indian business newspaper industry is concentrated in four major players only.The Economic Times is capturing the largest market share in this segment followed

by Business Standard, Business Line and financial Express respectively.

Corporate Stake:

The print media industry in India is enjoying an exciting time ahead. Today 100%FDI is allowed in the Indian print media which is making the industry more valuable.Business Standard site up with Financial Times of London has initiated the processof foreign newspapers to keep step in Indian newspaper industry. These tie ups withforeign players of the same industry will help the Indian industry to compete globally.It will also make the competition more intense with the addition of some new playersin the industry.

Competitive threats (Availability of Substituent):

In the present market scenario, The Economic Times, Business Standard, BusinessLine and Financial Express are covering the total business newspaper segment of thecountry. The Economic Times is leading the segment with more than 55% marketshare. In southern market Business Line is the major business daily. In order tosurvive in the market Business Standard has to be ahead of other business dailies andit should prepare itself to compete nationally through better content.



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Most popular Financial Dailies for the corporate

From the data collected during the survey reveal that Economic Times is the mostpopular financial dailies in the corporate of Kolkata 37 corporate houses readEconomic Times.

From the above survey made we can draw a conclusion that Economic Times is themost popular amongst the Financial Dailies, but in the market Business line holds a

fair position.



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SMAPLE SURVEY TOOL USED (WMS model)

ECONOMIC TIMES

Attributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 2 0.2

Looks 0.1 3 0.3

Availability 0.25 5 1.25Contents 0.25 5 1.25

Brand Image 0.1 6 0.6

Awareness 0.2 6 1.2

TOTAL = 4.80

BUSINESS LINEAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 6 0.6Looks 0.1 4 0.4

Availability 0.25 3 0.75Contents 0.25 4 1Brand Image 0.1 5 0.5Awareness 0.2 3 0.6

TOTAL= 3.85

MINTAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 4 0.4

Looks 0.1 4 0.4Availability 0.25 2 0.5

Contents 0.25 5 1.25Brand Image 0.1 4 0.4Awareness 0.2 3 0.6

TOTAL = 3.55

FINANCIAL EXPRESSAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 4 0.4

Looks 0.1 3 0.3Availability 0.25 5 1.25


TOTAL = 3.55



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BUSINESS STANDARD


Price 0.1 4 0.4

Looks 0.1 3 0.3

Availability 0.25 4 1

Contents 0.25 4 1

Brand Image 0.1 4 0.4Awareness 0.2 3 0.6

TOTAL = 3.70

INTERPRETATION

From the collected data of sample survey irrespective of Newspaper Company ormedia we have taken the weightage of 5 attributes out of 1 on an average basis thatsis shown like the following way, we have asked our respondents to mark eachnewspaper attributes (price, contents, availability, brand image & awareness) out of 1and from the result data we have taken the final score on weightage on a average

basis. We are presenting those data in table and wheel chart format.



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WEIGHTAGE(W)

10%

10%

25%

25%

10%

20%

P

L

A

C

B

A

)

Price 0.1

Looks 0.1

Availability 0.25

Contents 0.25

Brand Image 0.1

Awareness 0.2

After getting the weightage of each attributes we have tried to get the score of 5financial newspaper Economic times, Business Line, Business Standard, FinancialExpress and Mint. On the basis of previously selected attributes namely (price,contents, availability, brand image & awareness) then according to WSM model wehave multiply the score of a financial newspaper company on collected on the basis of5 point scale i.e.(1 as very poor and 5 as excellent). After that we have calculatedweighted sum score of each media company namely Economic Times, Business Line,

business standard, Mint & financial express in the following manner.

EC

OM

TIM



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ECONOMIC TIMES WEIGHTAGE(W)

Price

10%

Looks

10%

Availability

25%

Contents

25%

Brand Image

10%

Awareness

20%

TOTAL = 4.80

0%

Pri

Lo

Av

Co

Br

A

T

)

In the following table we can see how WSM model works, first weightage (w) ofattributes determined out of 1 point. Then score collected on the media company hereon Economic Times through 5 point scale (i.e. 1 as very poor and 5 as excellent) thenfrom the total sample taken a average of that in this case the scores are (price = 2,looks= 3, availability=5, contents=5, brand image=6, awareness=6) after that scores is

multiplied with weight and determined weighted score (W*S).

ECONOMIC TIMES


Price 0.1 2 0.2

Looks 0.1 3 0.3

Availability 0.25 5 1.25

Contents 0.25 5 1.25


Awareness 0.2 6 1.2

TOTAL = 4.80

From the above table and pie chart we have tried to show the result acquired from thesample survey of 600 respondents in the area of whole Kolkata.



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BUSINESS LINE

Business line with having the data on weightage of attributes determined out of 1point scale we have calculated weighted score on business line by the following tableand charts we have represented the data, which are as follows:-

BUSINESS LINEAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 6 0.6Looks 0.1 4 0.4Availability 0.25 3 0.75Contents 0.25 4 1Brand Image 0.1 5 0.5Awareness 0.2 3 0.6

TOTAL= 3.85

B U S INE S S L IN E W E IG H T

P ric

1 0 %

L o o k

1 0 %

A vaila bil i

2 5 %

C o n t e n

2 5 %

B ran d Im a1 0 %

A w arene

2 0 %

TO TA L= 3.

0 %

P

L

A

C

B

A

T




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BUSINESS STANDARD

Business Standard with having the data on weightage of attributes determined out of 1point scale we have calculated weighted score on business standard by the followingtable and charts we have represented the data, which are as follows:-

BUSINESS STANDARDAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 4 0.4

Looks 0.1 3 0.3

Availability 0.25 4 1

Contents 0.25 4 1


Awareness 0.2 3 0.6

TOTAL = 3.70

BUSINESS STANDARD WEIGHTAGE(W)

Price

10%

Looks

10%

Availability

25%

Contents

25%

Brand Image

10%

Awareness

20%

TOTAL = 3.70

0%

Pri

Loo

Ava

Co

Bra

Aw

TO




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FINANCIAL EXPRESS WEIGHTAGE(

Price

10%

Looks

10%

Availability

25%

Contents

25%

Brand Imag10%

Awareness

20%

TOTAL = 3.5

0%

Pr

Lo

Av

C

Br

A

T

)

FINANCIAL EXPRESS

Financial Express with having the data on weightage of attributes determined out of 1point scale we have calculated weighted score on financial express by the followingtable and charts we have represented the data, which are as follows:-

FINANCIAL EXPRESSAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 4 0.4

Looks 0.1 3 0.3

Availability 0.25 5 1.25


TOTAL = 3.55

From the above table and pie chart we have tried to show the result acquired from the

sample survey of 600 respondents in the area of whole Kolkata.



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M INT W E IGH TAG E

Pric

10%

Look

10%

Availabilit

25%

Content

25%

Brand Im a10%

Awarenes

20%

TOTAL = 3.

0%

P

L

A

C

B

A

T

)

MINT

MINT with having the data on weightage of attributes determined out of 1 point scalewe have calculated weighted score on mint by the following table and charts we haverepresented the data, which are as follows:-

MINTAttributes WEIGHTAGE(W) SCORE (S) W*S

Price 0.1 4 0.4Looks 0.1 4 0.4Availability 0.25 2 0.5


TOTAL = 3.55

From the above table and pie chart we have tried to show the result acquired from the

sample survey of 600 respondents in the area of whole Kolkata.



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INTERPRETATION 0F COMPOSITE RESULT

Now we will try to show the interpretation of data by taking another set of factorsthose are attributes wise break up of data from the below drawn composite table.

Now from the above table & chart we will separately analyze and show the result of

each attributes on the basis of media press which are as follows:-



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PRICE WISE BREAK UP1st we will try to analyze the price wise break up on the basis of 5 different financialnews paper company those are Economic Times, Business Line, Business standard,Mint & financial Express and tried to show the result in pie chart format which isgiven below:-This will help us to know the customer perception on price factor and which press

they prefer to get financial paper at minimum cost in the Kolkata market and howthey can be taped to sell the respective product by the database.

LOOKS WISE BREAK UPNow I will try to analyze the Looks wise break up on the basis of 5different press those are Economic Times, Business Line, Businessstandard , Mint & financial Express and tried to show the result in pie chartformat which is as follows:



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AVAILABLITY WISE BREAK UP

Availability wise break up will help us to know the customer perception on theproduct available in the market and which brand they prefer more if all brands areavailable at a time.

CONTENTS WISE BREAK UP

Contents wise break up will help us to know the customer perception oncontents factor and which financial newspaper they prefer and how theycan be taped to sell the respective product by the database.

BR

D

VA

E

W

BR

K The

branwise

bre



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of 5 different financial newspaper company will help us to know the customerperception on brand image and which company they prefer to get newspaper in themarket and how they can be taped to sell the respective product by the database.

AWARENESS WISE BREAK UPAwareness wise break up will help us to know the customer perception on the

product awareness and its impacts on the customer buying process and how they canbe taped to sell the respective product by the database.

Th

Per



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tage of Composite Score of The Following Table After

Calculating The All Scores Individually.

The above pie chart represents the consumer perception on the basis of a selectedsample survey. After calculating above all data on the basis of WSM model this willbe helpful for the sales personals to design such offering that suite the readers desire.The product should be design such a manner which is supposed to be the blend of theabove shown attributes having the prescribed proportion.



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PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

CURRENT MARKET SCENARIO

SECTOR- WISE CLASSIFICATION

During the survey I find that which sector mostly respond towards the queerer readingwhich financial daily.

SE

O

W

U

O

FI

NCL

DA

E



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WHICH FINANCIAL DAILY IS MOSTLY PREFERRED

Name of the newspaper No. of people preferred

Business Standard 20

The Economic Times 25

Business Line 15

The Financial Express 10

Both ET and BS 20

Other newspaper 10



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READERSHIP VOTING ON EDUCATION AND CAREER

No. of people preferred

Business Standard

20%

The Economic Times

25%

Business Line

15%

The Financial

Express

10%

Both ET and BS

20%

Other newspaper

10%

Business S

The Econo

Business L

The Financ

Both ET an

Other news

HOW BUSINESS LINE IS PREFERRED TO OTHER

FINANCIAL DAILIES



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THE NEED OF FINANCIAL DAILIES FOR POST-

GRADUATE STUDENTSIn the survey all 30 post graduate students are pursuing MBA but we also need toanalyze that wether other Post graduate students do also read Financial Newspaper ornot.To find out the above I made a survey of the following colleges:1) Two MBA colleges.2) Calcutta University(MSC,M.COM)3) MCA colleges like B.B Poddar and George.I made a survey of 40 MBA students, 40 MBA students pursuing either MSc orM.com and 30 students pursuing MCA.After the survey the result obtained from the survey:

SLNO.

STUDENTPROFILE

NO. OF STUDENTSURVEYED

NO. OF STUDENT READING FINANCIALNEWSPAPER

1 MBA 40 34

2 MSC/M.COM 40 16

3 MCA 40 8

From the above survey it is very clear that the students of B schools are the potentialreaders of the Financial Newspaper. Therefore to increase the circulation BusinessStandard should concentrate on the B schools and MBA students. The students doingM.Com do also have a tendency to read Financial Newspaper but not many studentsof MCA do have an urge towards reading Financial Newspaper.A statistical representation of the above survey :

In abovsurvPostgradstudwe clea

findthatofManmenstudread

http://m.com/http://m.com/http://m.com/http://m.com/


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financial newspaper whereas students pursuing MSC or M.COM comprises of only27% and students from MCA background comprises the least.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Its time for Business Line to do something new.

The marketing team of Business Line should look for promotional activities.Advertising is the most effective and quickest way to reach the masses. Theinnovative way could be through hoardings, TV channels, and corporateconferences and in B-school fest.

Business Line should go for price regulation. It is the vital part of marketing.Price sensitiveness influences the consumer buying behavior.

The brand image is pretty low which leads to low circulation.Reseach revealsthat it has been confined to certain areas only. So, it should concentrate on

brand image as brand image adds huge advantage in the marketing of any product. It is related with the sensitivity that customers expects from aparticular product.

Business Line should focus on the visuality of the newspaper. Although itoffers excellent contents, there is certainly a scope for the improvement of thevisibility. To get par with the competitors, the presentation style should be

mesmerizing and eye catching. It should also easily communicatable to thereaders.

Business Line should concentrate more on B-schools as it constitutes a hugeportion of the target readers. It would be helpful for the students as well as forthe newspaper if it devotes at least one page to the B-school containing casestudies and other relevant managerial analysis.

Business Line should do some promotional activities in the B-schools becauseB- schools are like a pool of readers of financial newspaper and they are thusthe potential readers of business Line.

http://m.com/http://m.com/


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Business Line to look forward to tie up and deliver newspaper in the coffeeshops. Because many a times we have witnessed people coming and sitting in acoffee shop to spend some time and relax. Many corporate people do visitcoffee shop and while having a sip over a cup of coffee they prefer to have aglance at the newspaper and often financial newspaper. Business Line shouldlook to deliver newspaper in the coffee shops so that these people get a chance

of reading Business Line free of cost. If they like then surely they will startreading Business Line. This is a tricky strategy adopted by a newspaper, Mintto get familiar in Kolkata city.

It should look to tie up with some stock broking company so as to deliver afixed number of copy every day.

Business Line should take the initiative to distribute newspaper at a discountedrate in the railway platform. Large number of local people does buy newspaperfrom the platform. Once they become accustomed to Business Line and theyread the newspaper then only they will understand the difference of businessline from others. As readers do not change their reading habits too often so itwould be helpful for business line to form a large market share by this strategy.

Business Line should come up with some weekly magazines. This will attractmore readers. And it should also offer in the corporate houses at a discountedrate.

CONCLUSION:

This project is on Designing the market strategy to influence the readers of BusinessLine in the market. We have attempted to study some popular Brands of financialnewspaper company and reader perception about them and trying to measure the

blend of selected attributes which should be there in the product that will attract thereaders in the selected market segment.

The project recommends some guidelines to analyze the factors that influence thechoice of the readers in choosing newspaper and its various ranges of attributes.



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The study involves a sample survey of 600 respondents in Kolkata usingquestionnaire on the basis of weighted sum model as the research instrumentaugmented with formal as well as informal interviews with the customers and alsomake through use of information available on the internet and the database of some

brokerage & chartered firms.

Further the project includes the comparative study of the current market trend and thepossible reasoning of that on this basis of the global economic condition slowdown.

A part of the project also dealt with understanding the behavioral aspect of readers offinancial newspaper.

As we found in the market that the awareness of the Business Line, the financialnewspaper is not at par what it should be. So it needs awareness campaigns to achievethe aims of the Hindu Business Line.

I am overwhelmed with the generosity and cooperation that I have got from BusinessLine. If given a chance I will like to see myself as an employee in Business Line andit will be dreams come true for me.

In a nutshell, it was a learning experience for me which will help me in immensely inshaping up my career graph.



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ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE SURVEY1. Which Newspaper do you read?

O The Times Of India

O The Economic TimesO Business LineO Others

2. Do you read any financial newspaper?O YesO No

3. (If yes) What Business Newspaper do you usually read?O Economic TimesO Business StandardO Business LineO Financial ExpressO Mint

4. (If not reading Business Line) Are you aware of the newspaper Business Line?O YesO NoO May be

5. Do you read Business Line?O YesO No

O Often6. (If reading Business Line) How many times you read BL in a week?O DailyO On weekdaysO On weekend

7. Are you satisfied with Business Line?O AgreeO Moderately AgreeO Disagree

8. How do you rate it to other financial daily?O BetterO At parO Needs Improvement

9. Do you deal with stock market, mutual fund & derivatives?O YesO No



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10. Which is the section you like the most in Business Line?

11. Is there anything else you would like to read in business Line?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-12. (If not reading Business Line) Would you like to read Business Line at a specialdiscounted rate?

O YesO No

13. Where would you like to read?O At Residence.O At Office

14. Any comment on Business Line?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NAME OF THE EXECUTIVE:

NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION:

DESIGNATION:

ADDRESS:

PHONE: OFFICE: MOBILE:

SIGNATURE OF THE INTERVIWEE:EXECUTIVE:



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Questionnaire Design

Rank and give a tick () on the suitable option of the following Brand on a 5 pointscale: (1 as very poor and 5 as excellent)

NSIBM, JAMSHEDPUR

Name

Address

Education

Occupation

Gender

Economic Time

Attributes Excellent Fair Good Poor Very Poor

Price

Looks

Availability

Contents

Brand Image

Awareness

Business Line


Price

Looks

Availability

Contents Brand Image

Awareness

Financial Express


Price

Looks

Availability

Contents

Brand Image

Awareness

Page 61


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NSIBM, JAMSHEDPUR

Business Standard


Price

Looks

Availability

Contents

Brand Image

Awareness

Mint


Price

Looks

Availability

Contents

Brand Image Awareness

Page 62


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LIST OF THE ORGANIZATIONS VISITED DURING THE PROJECT

BANKS:

ABN-AMRO Bank, camac street

Syndicate Bank, Shakespeare sarani Regional Office of Syndicate Bank, Shakespeare sarani Yes Bank, Camac street Bank of Baroda, HA block, Sector-3, Salt Lake Regional Office of Bank of Baroda, Sector-5, Salt Lake Standard Chartered, Shakespeare sarani Federal Bank, Camac street HSBC Bank, Salt Lake, Sector-3

CORPORATE OFFICES:

Sahara Pariwar Barclays Finance Bajaj Capital Sahara Life Insurance Wipro India Forms Centre Tanishq Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance

STOCK BROKING FARMS:

Gateway Financial Services Ltd. , Shakespeare sarani Indovision security Pvt Ltd. , Canning street Suraj stock Broking Ltd. , 3A Pollock street Sri Ram Insight Share Broking Ltd. , Salt Lake Arch Finance Ltd. , Salt Lake Techno share and stock Ltd. , Salt Lake Dynamic securities Pvt Ltd. , Salt Lake East India security Ltd. , Salt Lake Ashika Stock broking Ltd. , A J C Bose Road



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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Information has been collected from the product training, market survey and studymaterial available at the various press media web sites, discussing with the company

personals, faculty guide and respondents surveyed access to management forguidelines for the project.

The following books and internet sites will also be referred:

Books:

O Marketing : Philip Kotlar, Marketing Management

O Marketing Research: Malhotra Naresh Kumar, Marketing Research&Applied Orientation.

O Business Research: Cooper Donald R. and Schindler Ramila S., BusinessResearch Method.

Internet: information available at the website of the Hindu and others sites asfollows.

O www.the Hindu.comO http://www.businessline.com/O http://www.economictimes.com/O http://www.businessstandard.com/O http://www.mint.com/O http://www.financialexpress.com/O www.ibef.org/industry/media.aspxO www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/mba/content/project
http://www.businessline.com/http://www.economictimes.com/http://www.businessstandard.com/http://www.mint.com/http://www.financialexpress.com/http://www.ibef.org/industry/media.aspxhttp://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/mba/content/projecthttp://www.businessline.com/http://www.economictimes.com/http://www.businessstandard.com/http://www.mint.com/http://www.financialexpress.com/http://www.ibef.org/industry/media.aspxhttp://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/postgraduate/mba/content/project

Documents

SARABJEET SINGH22