Mahatma Gandhi Mission’s

Institute of Management Studies & Research

At Junction NH – 4, Sion – Panvel Expressway, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai – 410 209

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

PROJECT REPORT
ON

Consumer Preference for a Brand with special reference to

Classmate Brand of ITC
SUBMITTED TO
MGM’S INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES &
RESEARCH, NAVI MUMBAI
BY

(SNEHA NAGESH SALVI)

Roll No.18
Batch No.2016-18

UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF

Dr. D. HENRY
MASTER OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES (MMS), UNIVERSITY
OF MUMBAI

March 2018

1
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that project titled “CRM practices in retail sector” is successfully
completed by Mr. / Ms. Sneha Nagesh Salvi during the IV semester, in partial of fulfillment
of master degree in management studies recognized by the University of Mumbai for the
academic year 2016-18.

This project work is original and not submitted earlier for the award of any
degree/ diploma or associate ship of any other university / Institution.

Name:

Date:

(Signature of the guide)

2
 DECLARATION

I, Mr. /Ms. Sneha Nagesh Salvi, hereby declare that this project report submitted by me to the Is a
bonafide work undertaken by me and it is not submitted to any other university or institution for
the award of any degree diploma/ certificate or published any time before.

Name:
Roll No:

Signature of the student

3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide (Dr. Henry)
for his guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this project.
However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals
and my corporate mentors for sharing their inputs and information to make my project results
valuable. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am thankful to my parents for their valuable support throughout my life.
Last but not least, I am also thankful to all the people who helped me directly or indirectly in
making this project report successful.

Sneha Salvi

4
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter No. Title Page No.

Certificate 2
Declaration 3
Acknowledgement 4
Executive Summary 6
I Introduction 7
1.1 Retail Concept 8-9
1.2 History 10-15
1.3 Objectives of research 16
1.4 Limitation 16-17
1.5 CSR and Brand Trust 18-21
II Research Methodology
2.1 Research Design 22
2.2 Sample 22
2.3 Sample Size 22
2.4 Type of Sampling 22
III Data Processing and Interpretation 23-35
IV Findings 36-37
V Conclusions And Suggestions 38-40
VI Bibliography 41
VII Annexure 42-44

5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project is mainly focused on studying the consumer preference of Classmate stationery by
analyzing and studying the behavior of consumers towards the CSR initiatives undertaken by
companies. The other main purpose is to study the factors which are most important in

determination of a consumers‟ preference of Classmate stationery. In this project various factors

were determined to study the preference of consumers and various quantitative tools were used
to study the same thoroughly.
Since CSR has really become one of the most discussed and debated topic, the present research
is aimed to explain whether the CSR initiatives taken up by companies help them in securing
consumer preference keeping in view the interests of all stakeholders. Earlier researches
identified that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has had a positive impact on consumer
behavior, but even so little was known about these effects. The present research investigates the
relationship between CSR and consumer preference, as well as the variables that best represent
CSR. The research also looks into the matter of charging premium price for products and the

consumers‟ response towards the same.

The study was conducted by administering two questionnaires for consumers and retailers
separately. The questionnaire for consumers was circulated online and a paper questionnaire was
administered for retailers. The sampling method considered in this research is non-probabilistic
sampling viz. convenience sampling and the sample size is 100 and 30 of consumers and retailers
respectively. The respondents are from all walks of life including students and employees. The
data collected was first tabulated and presented in excel and then SPSS data viewer was used to
analyze it. The data was analyzed using regression analysis. As per the findings collected and
analyzed the CSR initiatives are taken quite seriously and positively by consumers and it does
influence in shaping their preference towards a particular brand. Overall this study explores the
linkages between CSR and consumer preference. This study provides a foundation for further
research and identifies several important implications for the leaders of organizations to consider
in terms of CSR investment and the effects on brands within their portfolio. This positive
reaction should create a positive effect towards brand feelings and trust, for consumers of
products and services of companies that engage in CSR activities.

6
 INTRODUCTION
This project is mainly focused on studying the consumer preference of Classmate stationery by
analyzing and studying the behavior of consumers towards the CSR initiatives undertaken by
companies. The other main purpose is to study the factors which are most important in

determination of a consumers‟ preference of Classmate stationery. In this project various factors

were determined to study the preference of consumers and various quantitative tools were used
to study the same thoroughly.
Since CSR has really become one of the most discussed and debated topic, the present research
is aimed to explain whether the CSR initiatives taken up by companies help them in securing
consumer preference keeping in view the interests of all stakeholders. Earlier researches
identified that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has had a positive impact on consumer
behavior, but even so little was known about these effects. The present research investigates the
relationship between CSR and consumer preference, as well as the variables that best represent
CSR. The research also looks into the matter of charging premium price for products and the

consumers‟ response towards the same.

The study was conducted by administering two questionnaires for consumers and retailers
separately. The questionnaire for consumers was circulated online and a paper questionnaire was
administered for retailers. The sampling method considered in this research is non-probabilistic
sampling viz. convenience sampling and the sample size is 100 and 30 of consumers and retailers
respectively. The respondents are from all walks of life including students and employees. The
data collected was first tabulated and presented in excel and then SPSS data viewer was used to
analyze it. The data was analyzed using regression analysis. As per the findings collected and
analyzed the CSR initiatives are taken quite seriously and positively by consumers and it does
influence in shaping their preference towards a particular brand. Overall this study explores the
linkages between CSR and consumer preference. This study provides a foundation for further
research and identifies several important implications for the leaders of organizations to consider
in terms of CSR investment and the effects on brands within their portfolio. This positive
reaction should create a positive effect towards brand feelings and trust, for consumers of

7
products and services of companies that engage in CSR activities.

1.1 COMPANY PROFILE

ITC is one of India's foremost private sector companies with a market capitalization of nearly US
$ 14 billion and a turnover of over US $ 5 billion. ITC is rated among the World's Best Big
Companies, Asia's 'Fab 50' and the World's Most Reputable Companies by Forbes magazine,
among India's Most Respected Companies by Business World and among India's Most Valuable
Companies by Business Today. ITC ranks among India's `10 Most Valuable (Company) Brands',
in a study conducted by Brand Finance and published by the Economic Times. ITC also ranks
among Asia's 50 best performing companies compiled by Business Week.
ITC has a diversified presence in Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging,
Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel,
Personal Care, Stationery, Safety Matches and other FMCG products. While ITC is an
outstanding market leader in its traditional businesses of Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards,
Packaging and Agri-Exports, it is rapidly gaining market share even in its nascent businesses of
Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Branded Apparel, Personal Care and Stationery.
As one of India's most valuable and respected corporations, ITC is widely perceived to be
dedicatedly nation-oriented. Chairman Y C Deveshwar calls this source of inspiration "a
commitment beyond the market". In his own words: "ITC believes that its aspiration to create
enduring value for the nation provides the motive force to sustain growing shareholder value.
ITC practices this philosophy by not only driving each of its businesses towards international
competitiveness but by also consciously contributing to enhancing the competitiveness of the
larger value chain of which it is a part."
ITC's diversified status originates from its corporate strategy aimed at creating multiple drivers
of growth anchored on its time-tested core competencies: unmatched distribution reach, superior
brand-building capabilities, effective supply chain management and acknowledged service skills
in hoteliering. Over time, the strategic forays into new businesses are expected to garner a
significant share of these emerging high-growth markets in India.

8
ITC's Agri-Business is one of India's largest exporters of agricultural products. ITC is one of the
country's biggest foreign exchange earners (US $ 3.2 billion in the last decade). The Company's
'e-Choupal' initiative is enabling Indian agriculture significantly enhance its competitiveness by
empowering Indian farmers through the power of the Internet. This transformational strategy,
which has already become the subject matter of a case study at Harvard Business School, is
expected to progressively create for ITC a huge rural distribution infrastructure, significantly
enhancing the Company's marketing reach. 13 ITC's wholly owned Information Technology
subsidiary, ITC InfoTech India Limited, is aggressively pursuing emerging opportunities in
providing end-to-end IT solutions, including e-enabled services and business process
outsourcing.
ITC's production facilities and hotels have won numerous national and international awards for
quality, productivity, safety and environment management systems. ITC was the first company
in India to voluntarily seek a corporate governance rating.
ITC employs over 25,000 people at more than 60 locations across India. The Company
continuously endeavors to enhance its wealth generating capabilities in a globalizing
environment to consistently reward more than 3, 60,000 shareholders, fulfill the aspirations of its
stakeholders and meet societal expectations. This over-arching vision of the company is
expressively captured in its corporate positioning statement: "Enduring Value. For the nation For
the Shareholder."

9
1.2 History
ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of 'Imperial Tobacco Company of
India Limited'. Its beginnings were humble. A leased office on Radha Bazar Lane, Kolkata, was
the centre of the Company's existence. The Company celebrated its 16th birthday on August 24,
1926, by purchasing the plot of land situated at 37, Chowringhee, (now renamed J.L. Nehru
Road) Kolkata, for the sum of Rs 310,000. This decision of the Company was historic in more
ways than one. It was to mark the beginning of a long and eventful journey into India's future.
The Company's headquarter building, 'Virginia House', which came up on that plot of land two
years later, would go on to become one of Kolkata's most venerated landmarks. The Company's
ownership progressively Indianised, and the name of the Company was changed to I.T.C.
Limited in 1974. In recognition of the Company's multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide
range of businesses - Cigarettes & Tobacco, Hotels, Information Technology, Packaging,
Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Agri-Exports, Foods, Lifestyle Retailing and Greeting Gifting
& Stationery - the full stops in the Company's name were removed effective September 18, 2001.
The Company now stands rechristened 'ITC Limited'.

Though the first six decades of the Company's existence were primarily devoted to the growth
and consolidation of the Cigarettes and Leaf Tobacco businesses, the Seventies witnessed the
beginnings of a corporate transformation that would usher in momentous changes in the life of
the Company. ITC's Packaging & Printing Business was set up in 1925 as a strategic backward
integration for ITC's Cigarettes business. It is today India's most sophisticated packaging house.
In 1975 the Company launched its Hotels business with the acquisition of a hotel in Chennai
which was rechristened 'ITC-Welcomgroup Hotel Chola'. The objective of ITC's entry into the
hotels business was rooted in the concept of creating value for the nation. ITC chose the hotels
business for its potential to earn high levels of foreign exchange, create tourism infrastructure
and generate large scale direct and indirect employment. Since then ITC's Hotels business has
grown to occupy a position of leadership, with over 100 owned and managed properties spread
across India.

In 1979, ITC entered the Paperboards business by promoting ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards
Limited, which today has become the market leader in India. Bhadrachalam Paperboards

10
amalgamated with the Company effective March 13, 2002 and became a Division of the
Company, Bhadrachalam Paperboards Division. In November 2002, this division merged with
the Company's Tribeni Tissues Division to form the Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division.
ITC's paperboards' technology, productivity, quality and manufacturing processes are
comparable to the best in the world. It has also made an immense contribution to the
development of Sarapaka, an economically backward area in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is
directly involved in education, environmental protection and community development. In 2004,
ITC acquired the paperboard manufacturing facility of BILT Industrial Packaging Co. Ltd
(BIPCO), near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The Kovai Unit allows ITC to improve Customer
service with reduced lead time and a wider product range. In 1985, ITC set up Surya Tobacco
Co. in Nepal as an Indo-Nepal and British joint venture. Since inception, its shares have been
held by ITC, British American Tobacco and various independent shareholders in Nepal. In
August 2002, Surya Tobacco became a subsidiary of ITC Limited and its name was changed to
Surya Nepal Private Limited (Surya Nepal).

In 1990, ITC acquired Tribeni Tissues Limited, a Specialty paper manufacturing company and a
major supplier of tissue paper to the cigarette industry. The merged entity was named the Tribeni
Tissues Division (TTD). To harness strategic and operational synergies, TTD was merged with
the Bhadrachalam Paperboards Division to form the Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division in
November 2002. Also in 1990, leveraging its agri-sourcing competency, ITC set up the Agri
Business Division for export of agri-commodities. The Division is today one of India's largest
exporters. ITC's unique and now widely acknowledged e-Choupal initiative began in 2000 with
soya farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Now it extends to 10 states covering over 4 million farmers.
ITC's first rural mall, christened 'Choupal Saagar' was inaugurated in August 2004 at Sehore. On
the rural retail front, 24 'Choupal Saagars' are now operatonal in the 3 states of Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

In 2000, ITC launched a line of high quality greeting cards under the brand name 'Expressions'.
In 2002, the product range was enlarged with the introduction of Gift wrappers, Autograph books
and Slam books. In the same year, ITC also launched 'Expressions Matrubhasha', a vernacular
range of greeting cards in eight languages and 'Expressions Paperkraft', a range of premium

11
stationery products. In 2003, the company rolled out 'Classmate', a range of notebooks in the
school stationery segment.
ITC also entered the Lifestyle Retailing business with the Wills Sport range of international
quality relaxed wear for men and women in 2000. The Wills Lifestyle chain of exclusive. stores
later expanded its range to include Wills Classic formal wear (2002) and Wills Clublife evening
wear (2003). ITC also initiated a foray into the popular segment with its men's wear brand, John
Players, in 2002. In 2006, Wills Lifestyle became title partner of the country's most premier
fashion event - Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week - that has gained recognition from buyers and
retailers as the single largest B-2-B platform for the Fashion Design industry. To mark the
occasion, ITC launched a special 'Celebration Series', taking the event forward to consumers. In
2007, the Company introduced 'Miss Players'- a fashion brand in the popular segment for the
young woman.

In 2000, ITC spun off its information technology business into a wholly owned subsidiary, ITC
Infotech India Limited, to more aggressively pursue emerging opportunities in this area. Today

ITC Infotech is one of India‟s fastest growing global IT and IT-enabled services companies and

has established itself as a key player in offshore outsourcing, providing outsourced IT solutions
and services to leading global customers across key focus verticals - Manufacturing, BFSI
(Banking, Financial Services & Insurance), CPG&R (Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail),
THT (Travel, Hospitality and Transportation) and Media & Entertainment.
ITC's foray into the Foods business is an outstanding example of successfully blending multiple
internal competencies to create a new driver of business growth. It began in August 2001 with
the introduction of 'Kitchens of India' ready-to-eat Indian gourmet dishes. In 2002, ITC entered
the confectionery and staples segments with the launch of the brands mint-o and Candyman
confectionery and Aashirvaad atta (wheat flour). 2003 witnessed the introduction of Sunfeast as
the Company entered the biscuits segment. ITC's entered the fast growing branded snacks
category with Bingo! in 2007. In just seven years, the Foods business has grown to a significant
size with over 200 differentiated products under six distinctive brands, with an enviable
distribution reach, a rapidly growing market share and a solid market standing.

12
In 2002, ITC's philosophy of contributing to enhancing the competitiveness of the entire value
chain found yet another expression in the Safety Matches initiative. ITC now markets popular
safety matches brands like iKno, Mangaldeep, Aim, Aim Mega and Aim Metro.
ITC's foray into the marketing of Agarbattis (incense sticks) in 2003 marked the manifestation of
its partnership with the cottage sector. ITC's popular agarbattis brands include Spriha and
Mangaldeep across a range of fragrances like Rose, Jasmine, Bouquet, Sandalwood, Madhur,
Sambrani and Nagchampa. ITC introduced Essenza Di Wills, an exclusive range of fine
fragrances and bath & body care products for men and women in July 2005. Inizio, the signature
range under Essenza Di Wills provides a comprehensive grooming regimen with distinct lines
for men (Inizio Homme) and women (Inizio Femme). Continuing with its tradition of bringing
world class products to Indian consumers the Company launched 'Fiama Di Wills', a premium
range of Shampoos, Shower Gels and Soaps in September, October and December 2007
respectively. The Company also launched the 'Superia' range of Soaps and Shampoos in the
mass-market segment at select markets in October 2007 and Vivel De Wills & Vivel range of
soaps in February and Vivel range of shampoos in June 2008.

Meaning of Name
ITC stands for “Imperial Tobacco Company” initially when it was incorporated for the 1st time
in 1924. Later on the name has been changed to “Indian Tobacco Limited” in 1974. After that, in
recognition of the Company's multi-business portfolio encompassing a wide range of businesses
- Cigarettes & Tobacco, Hotels, Information Technology, Packaging, Paperboards & Specialty
Papers, Agri-Exports, Foods, Lifestyle Retailing and Greeting Gifting & Stationery - the full
stops in the Company's name were removed effective September 18, 2001. The Company now
stands rechristened 'ITC Limited'. There is no specific meaning of ITC name is given on their
website. But what I think is that it is the name given to the company to signify the operation of
the company. Since ITC started its business in tobacco industry, they have chosen the name to
demonstrate their nature of business and what exactly what they want to perform.

13
Evolution of Name
ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of 'Imperial Tobacco Company of
India Limited'. ITC had a humble beginning and in the initial days it used to operate from a
leased office on Radha Bazar Lane, Kolkata. On its 16th birthday on August 24, 1926, ITC
purchased the plot of land situated at 37, Chowringhee, (now renamed J.L. Nehru Road) Kolkata.
Two years later company's headquarter building, 'Virginia House' came on that plot.
Progressively the ownership of the company Indianised, and the name of the Company was
changed to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. In recognition of the Company's multi-business portfolio
encompassing a wide range of businesses, the full stops in the Company's name were removed
effective September 18, 2001 and the Company was rechristened as 'ITC Limited'.
Since the present research is based on the educational and stationery offering the profile of the
same is given as below:
Education & Stationary products
• ITC made its entry into the stationery business in the year 2002 with its premium range of
notebooks, followed in the year 2003 with the more popular range to augment its offering.
• Today, ITC continues to blend its core capabilities to market a growing range of education and
stationery products. These capabilities include,

a. Manufacturer of India‟s first Ozone treated environment friendly Elemental Chlorine Free

(ECF) pulp, paper an

d paperboard. b. Knowledge of image processing, printing & conversion garnered from its
Packaging & Printing Business.
c. Brand Building & Trade Marketing & Distribution strengths resident in its FMCG Business.

• ITC‟s stationery Brands are marketed as “Classmate” and “Paperkraft”, with Classmate

addressing the needs of students and Paperkraft targeted towards college students and executives.

• Classmate - India‟s truly largest National brand, reaching 65,000 outlets across the country, has

over 300 variants in its range which comprises notebooks, long books, practical books, drawing
books, scrap books, reminder pads etc.
• The Classmate Fun N Learn range of children books targeting pre school learners, comprising
categories like Pre School Learner, Active Minds and Read Aloud Tales with features like Wipe
n Use again, Trace & Color and Puzzles ensure that a child's first lessons are truly enjoyable.

14
• Classmate Invento Geometry Boxes, launched for school students comprise a world-class
precision compass and high quality plastic instruments coupled with interesting trivia and useful
information, to make geometry more fascinating for students.
• Aesthetically designed, Classmate pens offer the consumer a smoother and more comfortable
writing experience through use of ergonomic design, reducing the effort required for writing.
The initial launch comprises ball pens - Classmate Safari and Classmate Ilet - and gel pens -
Classmate Glider and Classmate Octane.
• A new entry to the Classmate portfolio is its range of HB Jet Black pencils. Designed
attractively for school kids, the pencils offer a unique advantage of lesser lead wear out and thus,
“Stay Sharper for Longer”.
• The Classmate Notebook range builds in regional preferences and caters to the requirements of
All India & State Education Boards. Every Classmate notebook carries ITC's Corporate Social
Responsibility message on its back. For every four Classmate Notebooks, ITC contributes Re. 1
to its rural development initiative that supports, among other projects, primary education in
villages.
• Classmate has successfully run the “Classmate Young Author & Artist Contest” for 5 years.
The contest is a national level event going across 34 cities and getting participation from 5000
schools.
• The Paperkraft brand recently launched premium business paper – an environment friendly

multipurpose paper for office and home use. The paper has been crafted by ITC‟s Bhadrachalam

unit using a pioneering technology, called “Ozone Treated Elemental Chlorine

15
1.3 Objectives of research

To study the methods by which companies communicate their CSR to the public and how well

does that help in the consumers‟ recall of the brand at the time of purchase.

1.4 Limitations

Since the topic corporate social responsibility is one of the most discussed topics in the modern
day business, it has drawn attention from all the stakeholders including consumers. Consumers
are also building consciousness towards the same. Since the present research has been conducted
to study the topic impact of CSR on the consumer preference though the research has been
conducted quite rigorously but still like the rule says every research has some limitations to

which a researcher can’t attend to due to the inherent limitations in the research process. The

present research suffers from following limitations:

Small sample size: The sample size of the present research is 100 which is quite small keeping
in view the scope of Corporate Social Responsibility and its impact on the society, it would have
been prudential to involve the beneficiaries of the scheme but due to constraints of time and
finance it was subject to confinement.

Composition of sample: The sample is composed of good number of educated people who are
quite conscious of the positive or negative measures of the companies. In addition to that almost
none of the minor students has found a place in sample which also would have been quite useful
in understanding the behavior of children towards the scheme, because they are also the direct
customers of the Classmate products.

16
 Method of sampling: Convenience sampling though quite useful but suffers from many
limitations that limit the equal chance of every individual being selected in the sample. Since the
sampling frame is not known, and the sample is not chosen at random, the inherent bias in
convenience sampling arises that the sample is unlikely to be representative of the population
being studied. This undermines our ability to make generalizations from the sample to the
population we are studying.

CSR being a social initiative, it is supported by every individual on paper: The bias arises
from the human nature which is people tend to support causes on paper but when action is to be
taken only a few prove to be pragmatic.

online data collection: Though the online data collection is convenient and cost effective
method, it limits the interaction of respondents with the enumerator.

17
1.5 CSR and Brand Trust

Branding is used to differentiate one product or service from another using a symbol, name or
design (Pride et al., 2006, p.208). Branding can be used for customers to identify a product or
service, making the introduction of new products into the market easier, whilst building brand
equity, or the value a company can leverage off the brand. More importantly whilst branding
makes it easier for consumers to identify products, it also makes it easier to develop brand
loyalty (Pride et al., 2006, p.209). Although brand loyalty will vary depending on the item and
consumer, brand trust is a major component to loyalty; consumers have faith in the product or
service they are purchasing. Dunn and Davis (2004) state one of the greatest challenges CEOs
can address is managing consumer loyalty effectively. Whether trust can be affected by external
actions of the company rather than the performance of the product or service is what this study
aims to research.

CSR and branding have a number of linkages, specifically through trust, corporate reputation and
consumer attribution. Gurhan-Canli and Fries (2009) developed a corporate social responsibility
and brand-related outcomes model. Gurhan-Canli and Fries (2009) suggest that both consumer
characteristics, such as awareness of CSR programmes and personal judgement and company
characteristics such as reputation are factors influencing branding outcomes. The branding
outcome would include evaluation of the company, brand and product, in which brand trust
would be considered. Fit between the CSR activities and the company and brand itself also
impacts on the way consumers perceive the CSR activities (Ellen et al., 2000; Yoon et al., 2006).
Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-Aleman (2005) suggest that brand equity can be developed
through brand trust. Brand trust must be maintained not only to foster consumer loyalty and
brand equity, but to create a sustainable competitive advantage (Delgado-Ballester and Munuera-
Aleman, 2005).

18
Consumer Attributions and Corporate Reputations

The awareness of CSR in general provides influence on attitude, attribution and purchase
decisions (Pomering & Dolcinar, 2009; Ellen at al., 2006; Yoon et al., 2006). Similarly, Maignan
(2001) suggests further study to identify at which point consumers are aware of the CSR efforts a
company has undertaken. This is associated with leadership ability in the corporation and the
need to communicate CSR activities (cause marketing included) while developing an appropriate
direction or strategy (Morlin-Azorin et al., 2009; Murillo & Loranzo, 2006). Marin and Ruiz
(2007) suggest CSR has direct influence on a company„s identity attractiveness; this identity can
both attract new consumers and influence marketing power for that company. Attractiveness is
strongly affiliated with the awareness of a specific brand.

Peloza and Shang (2011) suggest that product-related CSR means higher levels of consumer
awareness. Du, Bhattacharya and Sen (2007) found evidence to suggest that a brand that
positions itself as a CSR brand can improve consumer awareness levels, in contrast to a brand
that just engages in CSR activities. This may due to the consumer being directly exposed to the
CSR information. Bhattacharya and Sen (2004) expressed that CSR activities had greater
influence on outcomes internal to a consumer, such as awareness and attributions, which are
easier to target than external outcomes such as purchase behaviour. Bhattacharya and Sen (2004)
suggest CSR awareness is a stumbling block for most companies, who can only get the benefits
from CSR once consumer awareness is increased. De Los Salmones et al. (2005) state the
possibility that the perception of CSR influences the valuation of individual services as well as
goods, as the concept of perceived quality can apply to both service and goods.

Affiliated with consumer awareness, corporate reputation is another area that could be influenced
by CSR activities (Yoon et al., 2006; Ellen et al., 2006). Yoon et al. (2006) identified suspicion
in consumers as a factor influencing positive or negative attribution to the company.
Bhattacharya and Sen (2004) also identified corporate reputation as moderating consumer
suspicion. If a company has a good reputation the consumer will act favourably to event
sponsorship even if there is not perceived fit between the event and the company. If the
consumer suspects the reason for the CSR activity is for an ulterior motive, other than

19
legitimately helping a cause then there will be a negative response. Bhattacharya and Sen„s
(2004) findings imply that consumers are aware of CSR activities and the legitimacy of these
activities in relation the company. Likewise, Ellen et al. (2006) states decisions made for CSR
activities that display self-centred motives or are for stakeholder benefit can receive negative
feelings from consumers, impacting on consumer trust.

Kitchin (2003) expresses that the responsibility in CSR is brand responsibility and that it is in
fact the brand that has the social responsibility. The brand relies on brand promises and
relationship to the stakeholders to convey the CSR efforts. Kitchin (2003) concludes CSR
activities are not considered a separate entity from a brand or company, but part of everything
the brand does. Brand learning gaps can only be decreased by further cultural understanding into
the needs of society on behalf of the companies participating in CSR (Kitchin, 2003).
Cultural perspectives in regards to branding and CSR have been explored to a small extent. Little
is known about public relations practices and culturally specific CSR to date (Kim & Kim,
2010). Other studies have not considered a cultural approach, this could impact on the brand trust
perspectives as different cultures may consider different practices as more trustworthy.
Other empirical studies support the relationship between CSR and brand performance. Lai, Chin,
Yang and Pai (2010) concluded that both CSR and corporate reputation had a positive effect on
brand equity in the industrial sector. The brand equity also included brand loyalty and brand
awareness. Brand equity can help adjudicate a relationship between brand performance and CSR.
Biloslavo and Trnavcevic (2009) suggest using websites to communicate ‗green„ corporate
identity. In each case of 20 Slovene companies, green reputation was used in an attempt to create
a lasting competitive advantage. All the companies presented information about social
responsibility through green messages and supporting the environment, but it did not translate to
a distinct advantage for each company such as consumers purchasing more products (Biloslavo
& Trnavcevic, 2009). Websites that communicate green messages and convey corporate social
responsibility need to be combined with activities that consumers can see, thus reducing the
amount of scepticism from the consumer.
Curras-Perez et al. (2009) state that CSR helps construct a brand with personality that can be
differentiated by consumers, while fulfilling their needs. However, effectiveness of CSR can
often be hard to measure (Pivato et al., 2008). CSR activities are mainly associated and

20
compared to financial gains. Godfrey and Hatch (2006) identified extensions beyond profit for
CSR activities, but there are has not been any empirical evidence to date. This study plans to add
exploratory empirical evidence to the CSR and branding relationship.

De Los Salmones et al. (2005) concluded although social responsibility has become popular in
recent years, there have been few studies conducted towards CSR in reference to consumer
behaviour and attitudes. Maignan, Ferrell and Hult (1999) suggest CSR has general positive
consequences for business, but there is limited research on the impact from a marketing
perspective. In terms of how, when and for which specific consumers CSR initiatives work best,
there are scarce studies (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). There is however a few studies exploring
the connections between CSR and corporate reputation and reputation can provide an influence
on brand trust. The relationship between reputation and brand trust is explored in the next
section.

21
 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research Design

The descriptive research design is followed in the current research because the study aims to
study the relationship of CSR and consumer behavior in preference of a particular brand.
Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about
the population or phenomenon being studied. However, it does not answer questions about e.g.:
how/when/why the characteristics occurred, which is done under analytic research. Although the
data description is factual, accurate and systematic, the research cannot describe what caused a
situation. Thus, Descriptive research cannot be used to create a causal relationship, where one
variable affects another. In other words, descriptive research can be said to have a low
requirement for internal validity.
The description is used for frequencies, averages and other statistical calculations. Often the best
approach, prior to writing descriptive research, is to conduct a survey investigation.

2.2 Sample: Consumers, Retailers

2.3 Sample size: 100 consumers, 30 retailers

2.4 Type of Sampling: convenience sampling

22
 3. Data Processing and Analysis
Questionnaire used for collection of responses from retailers.

1. How long have you been selling Classmate stationery?

10 Years

20
5-9 Years
15
10
1-4 Years 5
0

Less than 1 year

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Interpretation:
Time of association refers to the time a retailer has worked with ITC. Since the Classmate is not a
very old brand but a young one started in year 2003. The results were found as follows the time of
association of the retailers with classmate, 15% have been associated for 1-4 years, 5% have been
associated with ITC for more a decade or more, 5% are associated for 5-9 years and 5% are
associated for less than a year. This means recently more retailers have joined with them and only
16.66% have been associated with them since the brand was started.

23
Qno.2 Which of the following products are you familiar with and also deal in?

Familiarity with ITC products

12
10
8
6
4 Series
1
2
0
Classmate Classmate Classmate Paper Kraft Paper Kraft All of the
Notebooks Math writing Paper Highlighters above
Instrument instrument Stationary and
Markers

Interpretation:

The ITC has a rich range of stationery products, and all the products are related to stationery.
All the stationery products are not under the same brand name of Classmate rather there are
more brands in the portfolio. The familiarity refers to the awareness and stocking of the
products mentioned in the figure. The findings are as follows:

The 30%(9/30*100) are familiar with Paper Kraft highlighters and markers, 33.33% are
classmate notebooks, 13.33% say they are familiar and deal with all the products,1 3.33% say
they are familiar with Classmate Math instruments,6.66% say they are familiar with Classmate
writing instruments and 6.67% say they are familiar with Paper Kraft paper stationery. Refer to
figure number 23 on the following page.

24
3. Please rank the Classmate products on the following scale.

Quality:

Quality
18
16
14
12
10 Series
8 1
6
4
2
0
Very Good Good Neutral Poor Very Poor
Series
1 17 6 4 2 1

Interpretation:

The question was intended to know the perception of quality and the rating of it as compared to
competitors. The overall results show Classmate has a very good response on the dimension of
quality, the quality is perceived to be very good.

The figure 24 depicts the rating by retailers of Classmate products on quality parameter, 56.66%
of retailers rate it as very good, 20% rate it as good, 13.33% rate it as neutral, 6.66% rate it as
poor and 3.335 rate it as very poor.

25
4. Rank the following brands in terms of their monthly sales for school stationery.

Sales performance
10
9
8
7
6
5 Series1
4
3
2
1
0
Very Good Good Neutral Poor Very Poor
Series
1 1 8 9 3 9

Interpretation:

Sales performance was intended to measure the performance of Classmate in the market,
there is a very high number of retailers who have ranked the sales performance of Classmate
as very poor, a total of 9 has rated it as good and against which 12% are of the negative
view.

Figure depicts the rating of sales performance by retailers 30% rate it as neutral,26.66% rate
it as good, 3.33% rate it as very good and 30% rate it as very poor and 1% rate it as poor,

26
5. Interest expressed by consumers asking products from Classmate brand

Promotional schemes
10
9
8
7
6
5 Series1
4
3
2
1
0
Very Good Good Neutral Poor Very Poor
Series
1 5 5 9 6 5

Interpretation:

Promotional schemes are important for the retailers as it helps them sell off products easily, the
retailers are mostly very much conscious of promotional schemes as they want to ensure the
quick movement of products. The figure 26% presents interesting results with 33% satisfied with
the present promotional schemes and 36% showed the negative response and 30% were neutral
with the same.

27
6. How would you rate classmate as a supplier for school stationery?
Margins:

Margins
12

10

8 Series
1
6

0
Very Good Good Neutral Bad Very Bad
Series
1 6 11 5 2 6

The margins are available to retailers on the sale of the products.

The figure 28 depicts that 36.67% rate Classmate as good supplier on the basis of margins,
16.67% rate classmate as very good, 20% rate it as very poor on the dimension of margins.

Shelf arrangement

Shelf arrangement refers to the assistance in attaining the product visibility, the product
visibility is very important from manufacturers point of view. The findings are
summarized

28
 Shelf arrangement
8
6
4 Series
1
2
0
Very Good Neutral Bad Very Bad
Good
Series
1 8 6 5 6 5

The figure 29 depicts 26.66% rate classmate as very good on this parameter, 20% rate it as
good, 16.67% rate it as neutral, 20% rate it as bad and 16.67% rate them as very bad.

Service:

Service
10

6 Series
1
4

0
Very Good Neutral Bad Very Bad
Good
Series
1 3 10 5 6 6

Service is an important component, the figure 30 depicts that 33.33% rate classmate as good
in this respect, 20% rate them as very bad, 20% rate them as very bad, 16.67% rate them as
neutral and 1% rate them as very good on this parameter. The service of classmate has to be
improved because there is a almost 50-50 parity.

29
Promotion:

Promotion
10
8
6 Series
1
4
2
0
Very Good Neutral Bad Very Bad
Good
Series
1 3 5 9 7 6

On the basis of promotion the respondents have rated Classmate good, the question referred
to rate classmate on the scale of 5 for the same. The figure 31 depicts that rate them 16.67%
as good,10% very good, 30% neutral on this parameter and 23.33 % rate them as bad,20%
rate them as very bad in this regard.

30
7. how would you rate their campaign “Let’s put India first”?
Stake in the scheme:

25

20

15

Series1

10

0
Yes No

The stake in the scheme refers whether retailers are also directly or indirectly helping for the
cause. The question was intended to know in the form of Yes and No responses. Overall if we
see 83.34% said they don’t have a stake in the scheme and the rest are supposed to have some
stake in it.

31
8. Do you have a direct stake partnership in the scheme?
Interaction with consumers:

Awareness among consumers

14

12

10
Series
1
8

0
Well Aware Aware Neutral Unaware Totally
unaware
Series
1 2 5 6 3 14

The consumers usually have an interaction with the traditional stationery store keeper before
buying anything. As per the data collected the retailers believe only 6.66% of consumers are
well aware about the scheme as observed 16.66% are aware, 20% are neutral, 10% are
unaware and 46.66% are totally unaware. This figure depicts the observation of retailers
whether the consumers are aware of the scheme “let us put India first” at the time of buying
while they are interacting with the consumers.

As per the responses of retailers there is a low awareness among consumers of the social
initiatives.

32
THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CONSUMERS

1 Rank your preference for the following stationery brands?

Ranking of Brands
40

35

30

25
Series
20 1

15

10

0
Apsara Kores Camlin Navneet Classma Faber
te Castell
Series
1 18.987 8.86 15.189 4.43 35.443 17.088

The figure 1 depicts that consumers rank Classmate as number 1 stationery brand followed
by Apsara and Faber Castell. The ranking depicts the overall buyer behaviour towards the
Classmate. The question asked for this question was ranking the brands on a scale of five,
where 1 stood for the most preferred and 5 stood for least preferred and out of the brands
shown in the figure Classmate got most of the 1s and 2s and the overall percentage of getting
most preferred rank is 35.443% which is quite high comparing it to the other competitor
brands. Classmate is followed by Apsara and Faber Castell with 18.987% and 17.088%
respectively.

33
2. Can you recall any social initiatives of Classmate?
Recall Percentage:

As recall at the time plays a very important role from company’s point of view the recall
percentage of Classmate’s “let’s put India first” initiative is given in the Fig2

Recall Percentage
80
60 Series
1
40
20
0
Yes No
Series
1 75 25

The figure 2 depicts the responses in the form of Yes and No, 75% of the respondents were
aware of the scheme and 25% did not know about the scheme. The awareness is the basis for
preference, and as established by responses, the awareness of Classmate CSR is modest.
Since awareness is one of the most important factors in the buyer’s purchase process. Only
25% of the respondents were not aware of the CSR efforts of Classmate.

34
3 Do social initiatives of Classmate make you prefer it over others?

Preference for Classmate due to its CSR initiatives

Preferece for Classmate

80
60 Series
1
40
20
0
Yes No
Series
1 75 25

The figure 3 depicts the responses collected in the form of Yes and No, the question asked is
whether the CSR efforts of Classmate leads them to prefer it over the companies not doing
CSR. The figure depicts 75% of the total respondents showed a positive response which is
exactly equal to the percentage of respondents who are aware of the CSR efforts of
Classmate.

35
4. FINDINGS
The findings are as follows:

CONSUMERS QUESTIONNAIRE

 Since memo ability and awareness of companies CSR efforts is very important and
crucial, it was found that out of 100 consumers 75% of them were very aware of
the efforts of Classmate (ITC) and they could recall it which is a modest
percentage.

 The preference of classmate over other stationery brands is exhibited by 75% of
consumers which may be associated with the recall of the CSR effort of Classmate.

 The attention is paid by consumers towards the consumers, 43% agreed that they pay
close attention to these efforts.

 The readiness to pay higher price was quite seen as 43% of the respondents said they
are willing to pay premium price.

 Deliberate buy is exhibited by consumers, 53% agreed they deliberately buy
classmate because the company is helping the less privileged

 People recommend the brand to other consumers and 51% of the total respondents
agreed on this.

 The sense of fulfillment was found to be one of the most significant factors and 61%
agreed that it brings about a sense of fulfillment to them.

 54% of the sample population agreed that Classmate is helping India in pursuit
towards development.

36

 53% agreed that Classmate is giving back to the society through the initiative.

 43% of the sample population said that the company does it for advertising and
publicity purposes.

 58% respondents said they feel strongly about initiatives like the classmate’s effort,
the other initiatives refer to save environment initiatives, public health and hygiene,
women empowerment, rural development.

RETAILERS‟ QUESTIONNAIRE

 56.66 of retailers said the classmate stationery is of good quality


 30% of retailers rate sales promotion of classmate as good

 20% of retailers rate classmate as poor for margins

 40% of retailers rate classmate as bad on service factor

 Retailers quite contrary to awareness depicted in consumers responses, only 11% of
retailers said that the consumers are aware of CSR efforts of Classmate.

 A very low percentage of retailers have a stake in the scheme.

 The overall rating of the scheme of “let’s put India first” is 43.33% of the retailers
rated the scheme as good and very good, interestingly 30% were neutral to it. And
only 8% declined it be good.

37
5. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

The present research report supports previous research results reported in the literature,
suggesting that a substantial, viable, and identifiable market segment exists there that
considers a company’s level of social responsibility in the business.

The research presents an elaborate and explained study of consumer preference and corporate
social responsibility. It should be noted that the results are favoring the literature that CSR
has a direct relationship with the consumer preference. Additionally some important factors
that play more important role in the preference are attention and awareness. The awareness is
the very base for building preference as concluded by most of researchers and its implication
in the determination of preference has been proved to be true.

The awareness is not lone factor that leads to consumer preference rather a closely related
factor has been also found to be quite useful in this regard, the attention at the time of
purchase. The awareness though is very important but attention at the time of purchase
proves to be more influential as a consumer is quite emotionally touched in case he has never
come to know about the same.

Also paying high premium price has not been approved quite viable as per the present
research, the regression coefficients have been found negative for it which proves that
consumers don’t want to pay higher price rather they think it to be a duty on part of the
companies and prefer the one doing it because only a few companies have initiatives
supporting social causes.

Also the consumers don’t believe that it is helping our country a long way in pursuit of the
development.

Thus it can be concluded that CSR initiatives are being taken quite usefully from Company’s
point of view, so more and more CSR efforts should be encouraged. As it is not only the
consumers who look at the issue in this way, there are also more stakeholders mostly external

38
who take it quite positively. The following are the arguments in favor of CSR:

Changed public expectations: one of the most potent arguments for social responsibility is
that public expectations from business have changed. It is reasoned that the institution of
business exists only because it satisfies the valuable needs of society. Society gives business
its charter to exist, and the charter can be amended or revoked at any time that the business
fails to live up to society’s needs and give the society it wants.

Balanced responsibility with power: the business’s responsibility should be more related to
its power. It is reasoned that businesses has vast amounts of social power. They do affect the
economy, minorities and other social problems. In turn, an equal amount social responsibility
is required to match their social power.

Business has the resources: the business has a vast pool of resources in terms of men,
talents, functional expertise, and deep pockets. Probably, business is without peers in respect
of the resources it possesses.

Thus CSR initiatives have a bearing in the determination of consumer preference.

The present research findings are quite incredible which may be quite useful to the
companies in respect of their efforts to foster preference of their products over other
competitors. The ultimate goal should be the benefit to society and benefit to the organisation
as well because there are academicians who argue that the business of business is only
business, so there has to be a synthesis to bring about an emergent approach to the issue to
create an impact that is positive to the corporate citizenship of a company and also the image.

As per the findings of the present research I would like to make some recommendations
which are listed as below:

 The attention at the time of purchase has been found quite important so companies
should try to make their effort visible to consumers so that it flashes in the mind of a
consumer before purchasing.

39

 The awareness among consumers cannot be ignored at any cost, there has to be a
proper communication strategy to create awareness.

 There can be some methods through which a customer recommends other customers
to by a product as recommendation has been found quite important.

 Though sense of fulfillment has been found to have a weak relationship but it cannot
be ignored, thus advertisement should be done in a manner that tries to convey the
sense of fulfillment that one gets by contributing to the society.

 The notion that CSR efforts help a country towards development has not been found
true among the consumers rather an inverse relationship has been found for the same.

 The company involved in CSR is perceived as giving back to the society, which
strengthens the fact that companies are a individuals in a society and their efforts are
taken quite positively.














40
 6.Bibliography
BOOKS:

1. Philip Kotler, Keller,Koshy & M. Jha, 2010, Marketing Management, Pearson

Education
2. Araña, J., & León, C. (2005a). Consumers’ valuation of corporate social responsibility:
A stated preference approach. Unpublished manuscript,University of Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria, Canarias, Spain.
3. Bhattacharya, C., & Sen, S. (2003). Consumer-company identification: A frameworkfor
understanding consumers‟ relationships with companies. Journal of Marketing, 67(2),
76-88.
4. Philip Kotler, Nancy Lee, 2003, Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good
for Your Company and Your Cause, Prentice Hall.
5. Etile Fabrice, Teysssier Sabrina (2011), Corporate Social Responsibilityand the
Economics of Consumer Social Responsibility, research paper, University of Carolina.

WEBSITES:

1. “British Academy of Management CSRIG” February 2013

http://www.bam.ac.uk/groups/page.php?unid=DD4DF8090021DF177BBADE

58748070E3

2. “Corporate Social Responsibility” Wikipedia, November 2012,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility
3. “ Corporate Social Responsibility in sustainable business” Levit Core,
“SustainAbility” December 2012 http://www.sustainability.com/sustain_business



41
7. ANNEXURE
Questionnaire used for collection of responses from retailers.
Qno.1 How long have you been selling Classmate stationery?
a) 10 years
b) 5-9 years
c) 1-5 years
d) Less than 1 year

Qno.2 Which of the following products are you familiar with and also deal in?
a) Classmate Notebooks
b) Classmate Math instruments
c) Classmate Writing instruments
d) Paper Kraft Paper stationery
e) Paper Kraft Highlighters and markers
f) All of the above

Qno.3 Please rank the Classmate products on the following scale. (5 = very
good, 1= very bad)
Parameters 1(very good) 2 3 4 5(very poor)
Quality

Sales
performance
Promotional
schemes

42
Qno.4 Rank the following brands in terms of their monthly sales for school stationery.

Lo
w
High selli
selling ng

Apsara 1 2 3 4 5

Kores 1 2 3 4 5

Camlin 1 2 3 4 5

Navneet 1 2 3 4 5

Classmate 1 2 3 4 5

Faber-Castell 1 2 3 4 5

Qno.5 Interest expressed by consumers asking products from Classmate brand

(Very interested)1 2 3 4 5 (not at all
interested)
Qno.6 How would you rate classmate as a supplier for school stationery
Parameters (1)Very good (2)Good (3)Neutral (4)Bad (5)Very Bad
Margins
Shelf
Arrangement
Service
Promotional
support

Qno.7 how would you rate their campaign “Let’s put India first”?
a) Excellent
b) Good
c) Neutral
d) Bad
e) Very Bad

43
 Qno.8 Do you have a direct stake partnership in the scheme?
a) Yes
b) No

The questionnaire for consumers:

Qno.1 Rank your preference for the following stationery brands?

Least Most
preferre preferre
d d

Apsara 5 4 3 2 1

Kores 5 4 3 2 1

Camlin 5 4 3 2 1

Navneet 5 4 3 2 1

Classmate 5 4 3 2 1

Faber-Castell 5 4 3 2 1

Qno.2 Can you recall any social initiatives of Classmate? ( If yes proceed to Qno. 3, if no skip Qno. 3)

a) Yes
b) No

Qno.3 Do social initiatives of Classmate make you prefers it over others?

a) Yes
b) No

44