FORMAT OF APPEAL FOR RESAERCH PROPOSAL

PART-A

1. Broad Subject : Management Studies

2. Area of Specialization : Financial Management
3. Duration : Three years
4. Principal Investigator
i. Name : Dr.V.R.PALANIVELU
ii. Sex : Male
iii. Date of Birth : 15.06.1965
iv. Community : BC
v. Qualification : MBA, M.COM., M.Phil., Ph.D.,
vi. Designation : Professor cum Director
vii. Address
Office : Periyar Institute of Management Studies,
Periyar University, Salem-11
Residence : Vadivelampalayam, Ramadavam(po),
Kandampalayam(via)
Namakkal(Dt)-637203
Ph:9865461065
Email : drvrpalanivelu@gmail.com
5. Name of the Institution where: Periyar Institute of Management Studies,
the project will be undertaken Periyar University, Salem-11.
6. Teaching and Research Experience of principal investigator
i. Teaching Experience : 26 years
ii. Research Experience : 17 years
iii. Year of award of
Doctoral Degree : May 2008
iv. Title of thesis for
 Doctoral degree : Customers opinion of the cooperative banking
services with special reference to primary agricultural cooperative banks ltd in
Namakkal District

PART-B
PROPOSED RESEARCH WORK
Project Title : A STUDY ON PRODUCTION PROBLEM AND SALES PROMOTION
OF AAVIN MILK & MILK PRODUCTS
TAMILNADU AAVIN

Introduction : The Dairy Development Department was established in Tamil Nadu in the
year 1958 to oversee and regulate milk production and commercial distribution in the state. The
Dairy Development Department took over control of the milk cooperatives. It was replaced by
the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited in the year 1981. On February
1, 1981, the commercial activities of the cooperative were handed over to Tamil Nadu Co-
operative Milk Producers' Federation Limited which sold milk and milk products under the
trademark "Aavin". Forty two registered private dairy firms are operating in Tamil Nadu state.
Tamil Nadu is one of the leading states in India in milk production with about 23.22 million
liters per day. 11503 co-operative societies and 4,29,080 registered milk producers are there in
Tamilnadu Aavin. Tamilnadu Aavin comprises of 17 dairy units namely Coimbatore,
Dharmapuri, Dindigul, Erode, Kancheepuram, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Nilgiris, Pudukottai,
Salem, Sivagangai, Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Villupuram,
Virudhunagar and one regional centre in Chennai.
AAVIN SALEM
The prestigious Salem Aavin Dairy complex situated in about 46 acres of land bound by
Sithanur and Dhalavaipatty village is one among the leading producers and suppliers of milk in
Tamilnadu. Salem is the leading milk producer of milk in Tamil Nadu region. It produces 4,
50,000 liters of milk per day on an average. The Salem dairy plant was started in the year 10th
July 1978. There are 14 taluks and 1208 Co-operative societies function under Salem Aavin.
59,536 milk producers are registered under salem aavin. In Salem Aavin Milk is procured both
during morning and evening through Co-operative societies and sent to chilling centers through
container vehicles. Payment is made to the milk producers through co-operative societies once in
a week or once in ten days by Aavin. Cow milk is procured at the maximum price of Rs 28 and 5
Buffalo milk is procured for Rs 35 and the prices are fixed based on the quality standards. Co-
operative societies function as linking bridges for both Milk producers and the Dairy firm.
Dedicated milk producers and the Cooperative societies are the major reasons for success of
Aavin in Salem district.

Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is an important component of a small business's overall marketing strategy,
along with advertising, public relations, and personal selling. The American Marketing
Association (AMA) defines sales promotion as "media and non media marketing pressure
applied for a predetermined, limited period of time in order to stimulate trial, increase consumer
demand, or improve product quality.”

A direct inducement that offers extra value or incentive for the product to the Sales force,
distributors, or the ultimate consumer with the primary objective of creating "immediate" sales.
Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organization to promote an increase in sales,
usage or trial of a product or service (i.e. initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of
the marketing communications or promotions mix). Businesses can target sales promotions at
three different audiences: consumers, resellers, and the company's own sales force. Sales
promotion acts as a competitive weapon by providing an extra incentive for the target audience
to purchase or support one brand over another. It is particularly effective in spurring product trial
and unplanned purchases. Most marketer’s believe that a given product or service has an
established perceived price or value, and they use sales promotion to change this price-value
relationship by increasing the value and/or lowering the price. Compared to the other
components of the marketing mix (advertising, publicity, and personal selling), sales promotion
usually operates on a shorter time line, uses a more rational appeal, returns a tangible or real
value, fosters an immediate sale, and contributes highly to profitability.
Sales promotion is a tool used to achieve most of the five major promotional objectives :
Building Product Awareness:
Several sales promotion techniques are highly effective in exposing customers to products for the
first time and can serve as key promotional components in the early stages of new product
introduction. Additionally, as part of to build product awareness, several sales promotion
techniques possess the added advantage of capturing customer information at the time of
exposure to the promotion. In this way sales promotion can act as an effective customer
information gathering tool(i.e., sales lead generation), which can then be used as part of follow-
up marketing efforts.
Creating Interest:
Marketers find that sales promotions are very effective in creating interest in a product. In fact,
creating interest is often considered the most important use of sales promotion. In the retail
industry an appealing sales promotions can significantly increase customer traffic to retail
outlets. Internet marketers can use similar approaches to bolster the number of website visitors.
Another important way to create interest is to move customers to experience a product
Providing Information:
Generally sales promotion techniques are designed to move customers to some action and are
rarely simply informational in nature. However, some sales promotions do offer customers
access to product information. For instance, a promotion may allow customers to try a fee-based
online service for free for several days. This free access may include receiving product
information via email.
Stimulating Demand:
Next to building initial product awareness, the most important use of sales promotion is to build
demand by convincing customers to make a purchase. Special promotions, especially those that
lower the cost of ownership to the customer(e.g., price reduction), can be employed to stimulate
sales.
Reinforcing the Brand:
Once customers have made a purchase sales promotion can be used to both encourage additional
purchasing and also as a reward for purchase loyalty.

Popular sales promotions activities:

(a)Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF)
(b)Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
(c)New media
(d)Merchandising
(e)Free gifts
(f)Discounted prices
(g)Joint promotions
(h)Free samples
(i)Vouchers and coupons
(j)Competitions and prize draws
(k)Cause-related and fair-trade
(l)Finance deals

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Ketelaar, et al., (2001) As the flow of online sales increases and more companies begin to move
into the digital arena, advertisers and digital designers are forced to stay on the cutting edge in
terms of website design and content presentation. In a search to find website design techniques
that increase information flow and website stickiness, two possibilities were found, persuasive
navigation and "open", or visually rhetorical, online advertising. These two techniques focus on
presenting targeted information to consumers, in the form of website content advertisements,
while they browse a given website.
Huang (2003) in his online study of websites, found that level of attention in consumers is most
linked to utilitarian design while both control and interest are linked to hedonic performance
measures.
Liu, et al (2002) based on their online research, concluded that higher levels of active control
within consumers resulted in being geared towards more utilitarian, goal-based website designs.
As shown in these studies, motivation is an individual difference worth characterizing. Type of
consumer motivation is extremely important when analyzing online consumer behaviour as it
helps categorize amongst user groups, across sites.
Bright (2004) The concept of intra-site advertising was tested by him and was found to be
effective in terms of increasing information flow on a controlled website. Open advertising has
not yet been tested in the online environment, with current studies focusing on print media,
however it presents promises potential as an online persuasion technique.
AAVIN PRODUCTS
MILK- Aavin Diet, Aavin Premium, Aavin Nice, Aavin Green Magic.
BEVERAGES- Coffee, Flavored Milk, Milkshake, Tea.
FERMENTED PRODUCTS - Butter Milk, Curd, Lassi, Paneer, Yoghurt, Probiotic curd.
HOT MILK
ICE CREAM- Ball, Bar, Candy, Casatta, Cone, Cup, Delight, Duet, Ice-cream Brick, Kulfi,
Milkshake, Premium, Scoop, Tutty Fruity.
MILK PRODUCTS- Badam Powder, Cooking Butter, Table Butter, Dry fruit mix, Ghee, Gulab
jamun mix, Milk Powder.
SWEETS- Chocolates, Gulab Jamun, Khova, Milk Peda, Mysore Pak, Rasagulla.

PROBLEM OF THE STUDY

Advertisement plays a crucial role in promoting the products. A small ad can be given in the
front page of the local daily regarding the qualities of the Aavin milk products once in a week.
This will create some awareness about the Aavin milk products.
The sales can also be increased by some sales strategies. The amount spend on the advertisement
is very low, most of the people still don’t know what all the products available in the Aavin stall.
The sales of the Aavin products can only be increased only if people know about them and the
only way to achieve by advertisement. Various Aavin Products names can be made to display
along with the pneumonic symbol at the side of Aavin stalls. In this study the researcher
identifies various possible modalities in order to achieve the sales of aavin products.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study is to analyze the sales promotional strategies adopted by the company.
This study will help the organization to increase the sales of the Aavin milk and milk products
and to strengthen the sales promotion strategies.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

 To identify sales promotion strategies adopted by aavin milk company.
 To study the attitude and experience of consumer towards aavin products to suggest the
valuable measure based on the findings.
 To analyze the problem faced by aavin milk producers in Salem district.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Area of the study
This study has been conducted in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, India. The geographical area of
the district is 5203.30 Sq kms. It has four Revenue Divisions - Salem, Attur, Sankari, and Mettur
There are nine taluks namely Salem, Mettur, Omalur, Idappadi, Sankari, Yercaud, Valapady,
Attur, and Gangavalli. These places were chosen, in view of the fact that there is brisk milking
activity throughout the year.

SAMLING
Convenience sampling:
Convenience sampling is a type of non probability sampling which involves the sample being
drawn from that part of the population which is close to hand. That is, a sample population
selected because it is readily available and convenient. It may be through meeting the person or
including a person in the sample when one meets them or chosen by finding them through
technological means such as the internet or through phone.
Sample Size
The size of the sample to be selected for study is 700 units
RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design chosen is descriptive as the study reveals the state of facts existing.
Descriptive research design:
Descriptive research studies are those studies which are concerned with describing the
characteristics of a particular individual, or a group. The study is concerned whether certain
variables are associated with the study. And also the study is concerned with specific predictions,
with narration of facts and characteristics concerning an individual, group or situation.
Method of data collection:

The Questionnaire-cum -Interview schedule was prepared to know the consumer awareness
about the various milk products available in aavin.

Tools for data collection

Simple percentage, chi- square test, multiple regression analysis, Average score analysis.
Year wise plan of work and targets to be achieved:

YEAR COMPLETION OF WORK

a) Appointment of Staff
FIRST YEAR b) Literature Survey
c) Questionnaire preparation for pilot
study
a) Data Collection for Pilot study
SECOND YEAR b) Modification of questionnaire if
Necessary
c) Data Collection
a) Data collection Continuation
THIRD YEAR b) Data Analysis
c) Comparative Study
d) Report Preparation
Financial Assistance Required Item Amount (Rs) Estimated
Expenditure (Rs)
i)Research Personnel 2,04,000
Project Fellow @ Rs.8000 per month+}
HRA(Rs 500) for 1st and 2nd year

3rd year @ Rs 11000 p.m+ HRA Rs.500 1,14,000 3,18,000

ii) Field work and Travel

Data Collection 1,90,000
Travelling 2,60,000 4,50,000
iii) Contingency(Including Special Needs) 2,90,000 2,90,000

iv) Books & Journals 1,00,000 1,00,000

v) Equipment needed
a) IBM Laptop 90,000
b) HP Office jet All in one printer 45,000
c) Digital Camera 20,000
d) stationeries 40,000
e) Study materials 25,000
g) Furniture 20,000 2,40,000

vi) University Overhead Charges 69,900

5% on project cost(13,98,000)

TOTAL COST 14,67,900

Other information which the investigator may like to give in support of this proposal which may
be helpful in evaluating

To certify that:

a. The University/college/Institute is approved under Section 2(f) and 12(b) of the UGC Act
and is fit to receive grants from the funding agencies.
b. General physical facilities, such as furniture/space etc., are available in
The Department/College.
c. I shall abide by the rules governing the scheme in case assistance is provided to me from
the above project.
d. I shall complete the project within the stipulated period. If I fail to do so and if not
satisfied with the progress of research report, the commission may terminate the project
immediately and ask for the refund of the amount receives by me.
e. The above project is not funded by any other agency.

Signature of Principal Investigator

Signature of Head of the Institution