Final Assessment Test - November 2016

Course: MGT1018 - Consumer Behaviour

Class NBR(s):3496 Slot: D1+TD1
Time: Three Hours Max. Marks: 100
PART – A (5 X 15 = 75 Marks)
Answer any FIVE Questions
1. You are the brand manager of a new line of light weight autofocus, economically priced digital cameras.
Describe how an understanding of consumer behavior will help you in your segmentation strategy and
promotion strategy. What are the consumer behavior variables that are crucial to your understanding of
this market.
2. Explain the motivation theory and elaborate on how consumer reduces the tension created before
buying a product.
3. Describe the type of promotional messages that would be most suitable for each of the following
personality market segments and give an example of each:
a) Highly dogmatic personality.
b) Inner directed consumer.
c) Consumers with high optimum stimulation levels.
d) Consumers who are visualizers versus who are verbalizers.
e) Consumers with high level of need for recognition.
4. Define and explain the meaning of ‘Attitude'. Explain in brief the factors affecting the relationship
between Attitude, Belief, and Behaviour. Explain the two theories of attitude.
5. Define Consumer Learning. Explain the various components of learning process.

6. Discuss the difference between absolute threshold and the differential threshold. Which one is more
important to marketers? Also explain the perceptual distortion and the factors that distort the
perception of a consumer.
7. 'Decision making is selection of an alternative to solve a problem, the time and effort required to
complete the process varies across buying situations'. Compare and contrast the various levels of
Consumer Decision Making.

PART – B (25 Marks)

Compulsory Question
8. Case Study:-
M/s. Tufleather Ltd. – “ Tufcom Shoes”
For the last fifty years, M/s. Tufleather has been in the business of manufacturing and selling leather to
companies, which make leather shoes and other, related products. In the post liberalization period, i.e.,
from 1991 onwards, the company was contemplating entering the shoe manufacturing industry,
primarily because the Government was giving substantial support to this industry, particularly to firms
that were export oriented. With the intention of selling shoes, the company set up its own factory with
R & D facilities in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. In 1993, the company’s R & D department developed a material
“Tufcom”, which it claimed had properties of shoe material permeability, strength, flexibility and
durability. The company also set up a sub unit to produce shoes with this new material and conducted
test marketing to gauge the initial response. The pilot study indicated positive consumer response.
Based on the test marketing results, the company set up a large plant with a huge investment and
entered into tie-ups with reputed shoe manufacturers to buy the new material and make attractive shoe
models. They also planned to have an in-house trained team of sales people who would visit the shoe
retail outlets and train their sales person son how to sell shoes. Tufleather also helped the shoe
manufacturing companies by providing point of purchase and advertising materials for a nationwide
advertising campaign. The company developed a premium pricing strategy for the Tufcom material,
based on the consumer perceptual process - the belief that high price is an indicator of high quality.
They felt that Tufcom offered quality that was superior to leather in terms of durability and ease of care.
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After adopting a skimming pricing strategy, the company would later consider penetrating the lower
priced shoe market segment. While the first year after the launch of Tufcom shoes showed positive
results, sales began to fall drastically after that. Feedback from their sales team indicated that high price
buyers did not get motivated by the factors emphasized by Tufleather, namely durability and ease of
care. In addition, some complaints were received from buyers of Tufcom shoes that they found the
shoes unusually warm.
Questions:-
a) Where do you think the company went wrong in analyzing consumer shoe buying behavior? [12½]

b) Do you think the company should identify a new buyer market, namely the lower priced shoe [12½]
market segment?

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