A Project Report on

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Of INDIAN EXPRESS

A Report submitted in partial fulfilment of the Requirement of the Degree of Master of Business Administration To Gujarat Technological University

Prepared By Patel Chirag v. M.B.A.

Under the Guidance of kaushal sir Submitted To: Shri Sunshine Group of institution Gujarat Technological University July 2011

DECLARATION

I am the second semester student of M.B.A. patel chirag, shri sunshine group of institution, I have under gone for industrial training for 6 weeks, starting from 1 st June 2011 to 15th July 2011 in Indian express Ltd. Situated at Rajkot. I have prepared my training report independently. This is my original work and I assure you that I shall be fully responsible and abide with the decisions of college or university in this regard.

Date:Place: - Rajkot (PATEL CHIRAG V.)

PREFACE

In this era of globalization where every minute India is moving a step ahead and expanding it horizontally, management in India is heading towards a profession. The demand for management professionals is increasing day by day. In such competitive surroundings it becomes a requirement to have an edge over others and M.B.A is such a course, which helps and assists students in doing that.

The practical studies are treated as a different subject in M.B.A which helps the students in practically applying their theoretical knowledge. It helps us to face competition, builds up our confidence and also add something to our personality. Over and above in this fast moving economy, here practical studies play an important role in moulding our careers.

In this regard, I have prepared a project on print media I have got a chance to acquire practical knowledge at the time of collecting information. I have tried to cover all the relevant point. I have tried to give it in a most precise yet systematic manner.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Industrial training report is an outcome of the efforts of many people who helped me throughout in preparations of report. I am very much indebted to them and it is my since duty to thank all those who helped me directly and indirectly. First, I would like to acknowledge my thanks to Mr. Rajiv Mankodi and all the employees of Indian express Ltd. who have been very co-operative, supportive and willingness to provide necessary information. I must convey my special thanks to Prof.kaushal sir who I give thanks to all staff of our M.B.A. department who gave her guidance, valuable ideas and wider horizon or knowledge. Lastly, I am thankful to my parents and my friends who always encouraged and give cooperation with me for the completion of project work.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Sound becomes music if a trained man makes it. Training is essential for everyone. It needs from Prime Minister to a Peon. According to rules of G.T.U. in MBA programme, summer training must be conducted for all the students. The aim and purpose behind this is for practical knowledge and experience of management affairs. So, as a part of syllabus I conducted a training for six weeks at Indian express Ltd. It was established in the year of 1932 and it was the effort of Mr. Ramnath Goenka. The company is situated at Chennai Indian express is well known player in news paper industry, publish daily news paper. Publication department of the Indian express is the eye catching. The publication is done by Indian express with a great care. The whole department believes in quality news paper and maintaining good relation with the customers. Publication is done under the guidance of experts. Company has very co-operative staff in operation department. Indian express knows that employees are the most important and valuable assets of the company. Its just like a family because all members have equal regards for their workers. The most of the workers are satisfied with companys behavior. In Indian express most of the needs of staff are satisfied and gives many protections to them. Its managed effectively by personnel manager. Marketing is the soul of the business activity. Today in this highly competitive age world marketing is an essential part of the business activity. In Indian express marketing activity done very well by its experts. Company always gives preference to its customers, sales promoters, dealers...Etc. Company gives satisfactory services to its customers and others In short, Indian express is well managed, highly disciplined and aware about competitive domestic and global markets. It always strives for continuous improvement in the quality of products and services. So its in a good position.

MAIN INDEX

SR.NO
1

PARTICULARS
GENERAL INFORMATION

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT MARKETING DEPARTMENT S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS RESEARCH METHDOLOGY DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRITATION FUTURE PLAN SUGGESTION CONCLUSION REFERENCES

ANNEXURE

GENERAL INFORMATION

INDEX

SR.NO
1

PARTICULARS
INDUSTORY OVERVIEW

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10. 11.

ABOUT INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP BRIEF HISTORY COMPANY OVERVIEW DIFFERENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE GROUP SIZE OF THE UNIT FORM OF ORGANISATION ORGANISATION STRUCTURE LOCATION JUSTIFICATION VISION

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
A newspaper is a regularly scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day. The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives, caused a serious decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched operations.[1] General-interest newspapers typically publish stories on local and national political events and personalities, crime, business, entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing editorials written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers. The newspaper is typically funded by paid subscriptions and advertising. A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and op-ends; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, Sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts; advice, food and other columns; reviews of radio, movies, television, plays and restaurants; classified ads; display ads, radio and television listings, inserts from local merchants, editorial cartoons, gag cartoons and comic strips.

 About Indian Newspaper Industry

India is one of the few countries in the world to have many business newspapers, which not only reflects the vitality and vibrancy of the media, but also the new vitality of our economy. The large readership for these business newspapers transcends from the rapidly growing corporate sector, it also illustrates the growing interest that the general public now evinces in economic matters which reflect the growing importance of business and economy in our national discourse. There was a huge growth in the sales of the business newspapers for the past few years. According to the recent study by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), this growth would outperform the general economy each year till 2011. The Indian print media industry netted $90.80 million in foreign investment in the last three years, few papers like Business standard have tied up with Financial Times of London. Business newspapers have the ability to carry the message in greater detail and clarity, more in-depth information and analysis, which helps companies and their business. Business newspapers are re-inventing themselves to protect their turf in a fiercely competitive multi-media environment. They are using different strategies to attract the customers of different sectors. Business newspapers focused mainly on business news, insightful views on significant issues and comprehensive coverage of the stock market.

THE INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP

The Indian Express is one of the reputed newspaper companies this company Was 1established in 1932.the founder of the Indian express is late SHRI RAMNATH GONEKA.This company was started with the amount of RS.10000 And after a lots of struggle, from a single edition to 35 national editions, 14 Publication centers and 7 language dailies and that reach over 19 million People across the country. The Indian express is the journalism based newspaper. For the millions of readers, the name INDIAN EXPRESS creates A filling of FAITH AND TRUST. A small but powerful group, which owns powerful brands, likes Indian Express, Financial Express Gujarati, Screen, Loksatta, Jansatta and Lokjagaran etc.

We can put sight on history of the Indian Express than some of the most shocking stories in the history of Indian Express newspaper. For instance, it showed how slavery existed in 20th century Indian when an express report actually bought a woman from the market and wrote the famous story of kamla. The express was one of the few papers to stand up and speak out against the anti-democracy moves of the government:; it was loudest voice and the strictest critic to bring the guilty to account, at the highest levels of power wielding authority, and enable the return of freedom to the people of India. Indian Express group is really working in reality. It has an extensive newsgathering and marketing infrastructure as well as effective communication network that are one of the best in the Indian publishing industry.

Ramnath Goenka is the founder of the Indian Express Group. Started Newspaper Company in 1932 in Chennai with at Rs.10000 Ramnath Goenka did not believe in profit or loss but a vehicle of national empowerment. Thought of Shri Ramnath Goneka Honoring the blood, sweat and ink Of the finest in Indian journalism

BRIEF HISTORY

The Indian express is one of the reputed newspaper companies. This company was established in 1932. The founder of the Indian express is Lt. Shri Ramnath Goenka. This company was started with the amount of Rs. 10000 and after a lots of struggle, from a single edition to 35 national edition, 14 publication centers and 7 language dailies and that reach over 19 million people across the country. The Indian express is the journalism-based newspaper.

A small but powerful group, which owns powerful brands like Indian express, Financial express, Loksatta, Jansatta, Lokjagaran, etc.

Indian express group is really working in reality. It has an extensive news gatheringand marketing infrastructure as well as an effective communication network that is one of the best in the Indian publishing industry.

COMPANYS PROFILE

UNIT

: THE INDIAN EXPRESS NEWSPAPER LTD

ADRESS

: THE INDIAN EXPRESS LIMITED 2nd floor, Dhanrajni complex, Yagnik Road, Rajkot-360001

PHONE NO

; +91 -281-2481156, 2481157

FAX

: +91 -281-2481158

E-MAIL

: circulation.raj@express_India.com

WEB

: www.expressindia.com

LOGO

NAME OF FOUNDER

: Late Shri Ramnath Goneka

EDITOR IN CHIEF

: Mr. Shekhar Gupta

THE COMPANY HAS:  21 centers across the country  34 seprate office across the country  1.9 million readers

DIFFERENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE GROUP

 THE INDIAN EXPRESS India Express newspaper is the first publication of the company. The Indian Express newspaper is the journalism base newspaper. This is te daily publication .Mr.Shekhar Gupta is the chief editor and CEO of the group. It is the newspaper that makes National impact everyday.

This newspaper published from Ahemdabad, Chanigadh, Delhi, Jammu, Kolkatta, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, and Pune& Baroda.Indian express contains 20 to 22 pages. It covers news related reason, political, business, sports, entertainment, analysis & editorial.  EXPRESS MONEY (every Monday with Indian Express) Express Money is the supplement of Indian Express this supplement puts on Monday newspaper. This is four pages supplement.

 SUNDAY EXPRESS Sunday Express is a newspaper, which is published on Sunday. The price of the newspaper is Rs.5 per issue.  EXPRESS EYE Express eye is the main supplement in Sunday express. It covers major story on life style & travelogue, books, art & culture.

 FINANCIAL EXPRESS This is a newspaper related to finance. Financial express is Business newspaper & it covers information like share market, finance related articles, issues of the company etc.

SIZE OF UNIT

In over country Government adopts a different policy for measuring of size Of unit. In new policy of industrial development measuring policy in the basis of Capital investment the industry can be divided into the following part  Large scale industry  Ting industry  Small scale industry This industry whose investment is more than 3 cores comes under the Large scale industry Indian express Ltd. has investment more than 3 cores. So it comes under a large scale industry.

FORM OF ORGANIZATION

In industry unit divided info for wage on the basis of nature of business which are as follow,  Sole proprietorship  Partnership  Privet limited company  Public limited company For the name of the company Indian express Ltd. it is a private limited company.

BRANCH ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

BRANCH MANAGER

SPACE MKTG. MANAGER

CIRCULATION MANAGER

PRODUCTION MANAGER

ACCOUNTS MANAGER

DEPUTY MANAGER

DEPUTY MANAGER

ASST. TO PRODUCTION MANAGER

DEP. MANAGER ACCOUNTS

ASSISTANT MANAGER

ASSISTANT MANAGER

PRODUCTION HELPERS

ASSISTANT MANAGER

SENIOR EXECUTIVE

SENIOR EXECUTIVE CASHIER ASSISTANT MANAGER

EXECUTIVE

EXECUTIVE

TRAINEE CIR. ACCOUNTANT ADVT. ACCOUNTANT GENERAL ACCOUNTAN

LOCATION JUSTIFICATION

Location means the place where raw material, labor power; transportation, capital etc. are easily available. The publication unit is located near Ahmadabad. Industry is an activity, which converts raw material, semi-finished goods into finished goods for sale. The success of business depends in the process of organization and planning, Any entrepreneur has to consider this entire factor, requires careful analysis because the location once chosen, can't be changed often. Frequently changes in locationleads to losses.

 ECONOMIC FACTOR

LABOUR: Cheap and skill supply of labor is necessary for every industry. The company is free to take labor in other area but the labors are available in near by areas. This plant is semi automatic so they require workers. there are many workers working in the industry.

TRANSPORTATION: The industry must be located at the place where cost of transportation becomes less. Transportation facility is easily available for INDIAN EXPRESS.

AVAILABILITY OF MARKET: Availability of market is the most important factor which is always considered by an industrialist. Market is the place where consumers and seller are purchase or sell the goods. INDIAN EXPRESS newspaper is easily available in Ahmedabad and saurastra.

VISION

JOURNALISM OF THE COURAGE THE EDITORIAL VISION

Our philosophy is to cover all the news that other news Papers would not be able to access, or would not be able to publish, for whatever Reason. However, our philosophy also is to publish all such news in a balanced & fair manner. We always have sharp opinion and we always take a stand on issues. The Indian Express had a missionary position on anything. Its either one Way or the other. This is by and large our philosophy.

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

INDEX

SR.NO
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 INTRODUCTION

PARTICULARS

PRODUCTION PLANNING RAW-MATERIAL & ITS RESOURCES PRE-PRESS DEPARTMENT PRODUCTION DETAIL PRODUCTION CAPACITY PLANT WORKING HOURS QUALITY CONTROL WASTE MANAGEMENT INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION
Production is the basic activity of all industrial units. The end product of the production activity is the creation of the goods and services for the satisfaction of human wants the production activity is nothing but the step by step conversion of one form of material into another. In the chain of manufacturing activity the finished product of the processor sometimes becomes the raw material for other manufacturing firm.  MEANING: According to E.S.Butta,"Production is the process by which goods and services are created."

According to H.A.Harding,"production management is concerned with those processes which convert the inputs into outputs. The inputs are various resources like raw material, men, machine, method, etc. and the outputs are goods and services."

PRODUCTION PLANNING

Production planning is an essential prerequisite to production control. It involves management decision and the resources that the firm will required for its manufacturing operation and the selection of these resources to produce the desired goods at the appropriate time and at the least possible cost.

According to Afford and Beatty, production planning is defined as "The technique of forecasting to picturing ahead, every step in a ling series of separate operation each step to be taken in the right place of the right degree and at the right time and each operation to be done at maximum efficiency."

It includes raw Materials without that production cannot be done and after the process as storage has to be done.  RAW MATERIAL: Raw materials required for the production of newspaper are newsprint, butter paper, computer, printer, ink, litho plates, etc. these are some basis requirement of production, to maintain steady flow of raw materials, warehousing, preservation, costs control, etc. for managing all these functions various department are created so that work becomes easy and everyone could perform it accurately with fully concentration,  STORAGE: Storage of raw material is to be done by production department. They have to maintain all stocks and have to plan in advance regarding it so that steady flow of raw material can be maintained. After newspaper printed daily at early morning vendor and agents of agencies come to take their it's so storage regarding printed newspaper is not done as papers are printed they are packed and vendors and agents take their delivery.

 RAW MATERIAL & ITS RESOURCES Raw-material is supplied constantly to the production department to have Continuity in production. Some of basic raw materials are required for making the newspaper. The basics are print paper and ink. More detail is as under.

PRINT PAPER

Paper is also very essential part of newspaper. For making newspaper they are using imported papers from Coria, USA, Germany, Russia etc. In INDIA they bought the papers from ATBT, UPM etc. These companies are the main suppliers of the papers.

INK

To make newspaper colorful, role of ink is very important. I.e. cyan, magenta, Yellow & black. By mixing these colors they can get more colors. They bought the ink from DIC coats of India and Huber in Mumbai.  PRE-PRESS DEPARTMENT This department consists of systems and process department. These are the key Departments which plays the major role of transforming inputs from Editorial & Response into newspaper page Master (paste up pages) which are used for mass production of the Newspaper.

Sources of inputs to the systems & process department are as follows.  Editorial department  Agency news (UNI, PTI, Reporters etc.)  Info graphic  Photographers hard copies  Digital pictures (PTI, Associated press, Digital camera

PROUCTION DETAIL
Indian express, for printing newspaper, uses widely for machines. They arecoroset-1, Coroset-2, manugraph-1 & manugraph-2 and monograms.

Now this is engaged in the final output of the product. I.e. actual printing of the Newspaper. It consists of following sections.

 SYSTEMS Under this section, text setting, formatting of the information to be up is done.  PROCESS Beneath this section the putting of pictures, graphics images etc is done. printed & page make-

 PLATE MAKING Here the exposing of plates for printing is done. Plate making is very necessary as well as Basic aspect to print news in a newspaper Indin express Making of the plates, day to day as per The requirements are done.Plate making is Very useful to arrange the news in proper manner. They are making plates as the news which is gathered by the journalists & as per the type of news & its Requirement.  PRINTING UNIT Under this section, web printing through printing units with folders is done. Consists of mainly two: Heat Set (for GNP- Glazed Newspaper) Cold set (for SNP- Standard Newspaper)

Printing unit is as important as printing base. In printing base there are many Pipelines to continue the flow of color as per the requirements & it also regulates the supply of colors.  PRINTING BASE Printing base is also necessary for the printing of newspaer.In this, there are many Switches for maintaining the darkness or lightness as per the reqirements.Thus,it Helps in maintaining the quality of pictures.

 MAIL ROOM EQUIPMENT This section is fully automatic & computerized & information from different cities Reporters is exchanged through gadgets.

 LAST STEP After the process of cutting is done, the next step is folding & packaging of the newspaper. For doing so, they use wamac machine which pack almost 100 newspapers together.

The whole printing process is undertaken during night time & at early Morning. They send all these printed newspapers to the distributors

INSTALLED PRODUCTION CAPACITY

INDIAN EXPRESS is manufacturing 301,601 copies a day, which is a must because they are having millions of subscribers all over India. Along with INDIAN EXPRESS they are even producing 35 national editions, 14 publication centers, and 7 languages daily that reach over 19 million people across the country which include some very well-known publications like Loksatta, Jansatta, The financial express, etc.

PRESS WORKING HOURS

Generally printing of newspaper is started in night. So in INDIAN EXPERSS newspaper printing starts from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and generally a one-hour break for refreshment is given. But plant works 24 hours because when newspaper is not being printed at that time printing of magazines is going on. So in that way plant works 24 hours.

QUALITY CONTROL

Quality control is a statical method of measuring deviation from standard quality to produced quality. In this firm, quality of raw material is tightly maintained. Quality control is usually done through continuous inspection & supervision by the engineers.

To measure the quality of paper & ink, the firm has special laboratory &thus the measurement of paper & thickness of ink can be done easily. For them, the standard size of paper consists have 69.8 widths, 45.0 substance & 350 to 420gm weight of rill.

In INDIAN EXPRESS raw material, which is purchased, is inspected that it is not damaged. The final newspaper, which is produced, is inspected to see that they meet with standard set. And due to this quality control INDIAN EXPRESS newspaper is having the best quality and reasonable rate therefore it is the most popular paper in Saurashtra.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste management has several dimensions: engineering, economic, geographic, and social and management. Its basic purpose is to minimize the overall waste in a given system. Waste here refers to waste of all kinds of resources but especially the material resource, which constitute of significant portion. Some waste is inevitable in any conversion process of inputs into outputs. To reduce waste we have therefore to minimize the use of resources. Resource management and waste management are thus supportive to each other. The INDIAN EXPRESS can easily manage the wastage of papers and also they use it in an efficient manner. It may happen least time.

PRODUCTION PLANNING Production planning is an essential prerequisite to production control. It involves management decision and the resources that the firm will required for its manufacturing operation and the selection of these resources to produce the desired goods at the appropriate time and at the least possible cost. According to Afford and Beatty, production planning is defined as "The technique of forecasting to picturing ahead, every step in a ling series of separate operation each step to be taken in the right place of the right degree and at the right time and each operation to be done at maximum efficiency." It includes raw. materials without that production cannot be done and after the process as storage has to be done.  RAW MATERIAL:

Raw materials required for the production of newspaper are newsprint, butter paper, computer, printer, ink, litho plates, etc. these are some basis requirement of production, to maintain steady flow of raw materials, warehousing, preservation, costs control, etc. for managing all these functions various department are created so that work becomes easy and everyone could perform it accurately with fully concentration,  STORAGE:

Storage of raw material is to be done by production department. They have to maintain all stocks and have to plan in advance regarding it so that steady flow of raw material can be maintained. After newspaper printed daily at early morning vendor and agents of agencies come to take their it's so storage regarding printed newspaper is not done as papers are printed they are packed and vendors and agents take their delivery.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Inventory means stock of raw material, work in progress and finished goods. Inventory management is the planning and controlling of inventory in order to maintain a reasonable level of inventory in order to ensure smooth flow of production and minimum inve stment in inventor. There are various techniques of inventory management.

In the INDIAN EXPRESS paper are procured daily and that daily paper is converted into finished goods i.e. newspaper. Thus the INDIAN EXPRESS does not use specific technique for inventory management but daily inventory is maintained.

MARKETING DEPARTMENT

INDEX

SR.NO

PARTICULARS

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9

INTRODUCTION PRICING POLICY DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS ADVERTISING MARKETING SEGMENTATION COMPETITIORS CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOCIETY CIRCULATION BRANDING & LOGO

INTRODUCTION

From the ancient time human has been working to satisfy their need and wants. The six basic needs of human are food, clothes, shelter, physical needs, entertainment need and educational needs. In ancient time, people used to exchange different goods to satisfy their needs, as the monetary aspect was not prevailing at that time. But as years go by, people realized the importance of other than basic needs like status, social needs etc. today is the era of globalization people have become more concerned regarding their all kinds of needs. In previous era, there were very limited options to satisfy their needs but today to satisfy a single need more than 25 options are available in the market. "The marketing concept is a customer oriented backed by integrated marketing aimed at generating customer satisfaction as. The key to satisfy organization goals." "Marketing is the process of planning and executing the pricing, promotion, distribution of good ideas to create exchange with target groups that satisfy customer and organizational objective."

PRICING POLICY
Pricing is very critical decision in marketing management. The term price can be defined as "Monetary value of anything at purchase or selling point." The pricing decisions are handled in variety of ways in different companies. According to Philip Kotler, " Pricing is the only element in the marketing mix that creates revenue the other elements like product, place are the part of cost." Various factors affect a decision of price. Pricing is one of the important elements for getting success in today's business world. Decision concerning price to be followed to period of time may be called a Pricing Decision. INDAIN EXPRESS considers all the following factors while deciding the price Objective of the business Market position Analyzing competitors cost price and offers. Distribution policy Estimating demand Social and ethical consideration Selecting a pricing method Selecting the final price The top management decides pricing. They are using scheming pricing. The price of the INDIAN EXPRESS is just Rs. 3.00

For the seller, pricing is a combination of three following points:

y y

A specific goods/services that gives the object of transaction Several supplementary services such as warranty, guarantee Delivery charges etc.

In a very real sense, the want satisfaction benefits provided by the product sold.

CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION

The marketers use distribution channel to display or deliver the physical products or services to the buyers or users. These are physical distribution channel and services distribution channel. They include warehouses, transportation vehicle and various trade channels such as distributors, whole sellers and retailers.

Distribution channel should be set up properly otherwise its result would be in the failure of the product. Channels should be chosen according to which one or moreof marketing flows move. It may be defined, as "A pathway composed of intermediateries, also called middle man who perform such functions as needed to ensure smooth and sequential flow of g oods and services from the manufacturing ends to the consuming ends in order to achieve marketing objectives of a company.Broadly distribution channels may be classified as non integrated and integrated"

 CHANNEL CHOICE: Manufacturer-Consumers Manufacturer- Retailer-Consumers Manufacturer- Whole seller- Retailer-Consumers Manufacturer- Whole seller-Semi whole seller- Retailer

INDIAN EXPRESS has good distribution channel that they have their own office in Ahmadabad. So from there newspaper agencies can collect the newspapers and distribute to the final consumers.

Service distribution deals with the means that services firm use to provide services to customer. The distributors of services need to play a critical role before & after the sales of services. This is because the distribution becomes competitive weapon for services firm. Generally firms are using following points

y y y

Franchising Agent & Broking Electronic channels

The INDIAN EXPRESS distributes its supplement to Saurashtra, Baroda, Surat & Ahmdabad itself. For this transportation contract is fixed on yearly basis. Usually van is used to transport the newspapers from the printing press to the concerned city.

ADVERTISING

One of the most representatives & widely accepted definition has been given by the American Marketing Association i.e. AMA. According to it, Advertising is Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation & promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor" It is a form of mass communication. Sellers who want to communicate about his product to his customers pay it. Word of mouth communication is considers the most powerful communication channels in service market. It is paid communication because the advertiser has to pay for the space or time in which his advertisement appears. Advertisement aims at creating, maintaining & increasing sales of the products of the enterprise. It informs the customer existing & prospective about the products of the company to draw their attention to the product and encourage them to buy the products of the enterprise by creating the will and desire in their minds to purchase the goods.

INDIAN EXPRESS has always kept a low profit and is a firm believer of 'QUALITY SPEAKS FOR ITSELF'. Further in many other cities mouth publicity had been done so it doesn't need advertisement as there is a special campaign going on.

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Market segmentation is a method of achieving maximum market response from limited marketing resources by recognizing difference in the response characteristics of various parts of the market. In a sense market segmentation is the strategy of 'divide and conquer' i.e. dividing markets in order to conquer them. "To whom should we sell our products and what should we sell them?" It is a strategic choice concerned with Doing the right things" as opposed to tactical choice, "doing thing right".

Market segmentation enables the marketer to give better attention to the selection of customer and offer an appropriate marketing mix for each chosen segment or a group of buyers having homogenous demand. Each sub -division or segment can be selected as market target to be reached with a distinct marketing mix. Now a day, Newspaper has become a necessity. Men's primary needs are food, water and shelter is necessity to satisfy. But my personal belief that in today's era except food, water and shelter one more thing is there i.e. newspaper is also a primary needs. Sun does not rise without newspaper that's what I believe.

Market segmentation of INDIAN EXPRESS through geographical it is spread in all over Gujarat in urban and rural area. Age: 10+ Gender: both male and female Geographical: rural and mostly in urban Class: doctors, lawyers, officers, students, and teachers.

Through Market information you can know the prices of the different commodities in the market, the supply and the demand situation. Information about the markets can be obtained from different sources& Varieties have to be obtained to make the business work.

Market segmentation is the division of the market or population into Subgroups with similar motivation. It is a widely used for segmenting On geographic differences, personality differences, demographic differences, use of product differences, psycho graphic differences &Also gender differences.

In nutshell, the main or primary aim of THE INDIAN EXPRESS is to cover all type of people. It doesnt focus on particular & thus tries to develop more and more readers.

COMPETITORS OF THE UNIT

In today's world there are competitors in each and every field whether it is the field of food items, industrial goods or newspapers. Competition has its own demerits and merits. Competition is indirectly beneficial to customers as customer achieve quality goods at a reasonable price. Hence the first priority for any firms is not to attain maximum profit but to survive in the market.

INDIAN EXPRESS faces tough competition from its rival firms. Their main rivals are

The Times of INDIA

Business standard

The hindu

Gujarat samachar

Sandesh

CIRCULATION

Circulation is a very important part of publishing industry. Circulation not only ensures that the product reaches to the end customer i.e. the readers are getting the newspaper on time but also ensures increase in circulation sales volume by consistent and innovative circulations marketing efforts through scheme- based promotions. Circulation system of the INDIAN EXPRESS is very good. Fast moving consumer goods companies take immense pride in their distribution set-ups. But when it conies to distributing a newspaper the network is very complex, more intriguing and more rigorous than any Fast moving consumer goods product. Newspapers reach millions of homes, day in day out at 6:30 or7:00 in the morning.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE SOCIETY

INDIAN EXPRESS contributes to the society by following ways  PROVIDES EMPLOYMENT: INDIAN EXPRESS provides employment to a large number of people as it works continuously the whole day and also raises standard of living of people by paying them satisfactory returns .  PROVIDES DONATION: INDIAN EXPRESS is giving donations frequently in various funds. There is no specific time or occasion or purpose. Some income of advertisement is. Charitable to various NGO or welfare organizations.

BRANDING AND LOGO

Brands should be seen as more than the difference between the actual cost of a product & its selling price-they represent the sum of all valuable qualities of a product to the consumer. There are many intangibles involved in business, intangibles left wholly from the income statement & balance sheet that determine how a business is perceived. The learned skill of a knowledge worker, the type of metalworking, the type of stitch: all may be without an accounting cost but for those who truly know the product, for these people the company should wish to find & keep the difference is incomparable.

A brand, which is widely known in the marketplace, acquires brand recognition. When brand recognition builds up to a point where a brand enjoys a critical mass of positive sentiment in the marketplace, it is said to have achieved brand franchise. One goal in brand recognition is the identification of a brand without the name of the company present.

THE LOGO OF THE INDIAN EXPRESS

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

SWOT ANALYSIS
It is important for every company to analyze their SWOT. This gives a complete picture of the performance of the company. The company comes to know where it has scope for improvement in and in which area it has its mastery, what are the opportunities, which it has to grab, and what are the threats that it has to face in near future. SWOT ANALYSIS is universally accepted as an effective method of identifying your strengths and weaknesses and examines the opportunities and threats you face. It is a process in which you can gather and assess information in an orderly manner that will become the basis of your development plans.

 STRENGTH:
 Best quality at low price: The major or the biggest strength of the INDIAN EXPRESS is that it provides the newspaper at the best quality than any other newspaper in Gujarat. And in scheme the price of this newspaper is just Rs.599 for whole year along whit latest magazines and regular supplements, which no other newspaper is providing.  Popularity: Strength of the INDIAN EXPRESS is that it has got popularity all over Gujarat and the subscribers of the INDIAN EXPRESS newspaper feel proud when they read this newspaper. In short, everyone knows about the INDIAN EXPRESS all over Gujarat.

 Good working environment: The INDIAN EXPRESS is having good working environment from the bottom level, middle level to the top level. So it may affect the morale of the employees.

 WEAKNESS

Its language English language is a barrier especially in sauarashtra and Kutch region.

 No Advertising:

Major weakness of the INDIAN EXPRESS is that they are not doing advertising. And because of that many of the people of Gujarat do not know about this newspaper.  Less staff: In the INDIAN EXPRESS'S Finance department there are a few numbers of employees working over there. They are not having sufficient staff for Finance &Account department.

 OPPORTUNITIES:
The INDIAN EXPRESS is having opportunities to enlarge its selling in the whole Gujarat, the quality of the INDIAN EXPRESS newspaper is the best at very nominal value so if it enlarges its selling towards region where Indian express is not offered , defini ely the selling t of the INDIAN EXPRESS will rise. They are also having the opportunities to start any magazine or news channel in Gujarat. Because Gujarat people fully trust the INDIAN EXPRESS and if it starts a news channel then it may get good response.

 THREATS:
 More and more channels on television are showing news so they are satisfying needs of the people for the same  Generally for any of the industries, its competitors are the biggest threat. So for the INDIAN EXPRESS, a time of India is the major threats. Along with that its less awareness in Saurashtra region may become a threat for it.

RESEARCH METHDOLOGY
INDEX
SR.NO PARTICULARS

1
2 3 4

Introduction Objective of research Relevance of study Market research methodology

INTRODUCTION
According to American Marketing Association Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services. Management in any organization needs information and in large quantities about potential markets and environmental forces in order to develop successful strategic marketing plans and to respond to changes in the market place. A mass of data is available both from external sources and within the firm. This forms a solid platform for a research to take place. Marketing Research includes all the activities that enable an organization, to obtain the information it needs to make decisions about its environment, its marketing mix and its present or potential customers and consumers. More specifically, Market Research is the development, interpretation and communication of decision oriented information to be used in the strategic marketing process.

Marketing Research is the systematic design, collection, interpretation and reporting of information to help marketers solve specific marketing problem or to take advantage of marketing opportunities. It includes all forms of marketing and social research such as consumer and industrials surveys psychological investigations, observational and panel studies.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

TOPIC:- customer satisfaction of Indian express

As my topic is given above. I have to collect information, which is useful for completion of my objective of this research. Our objectives of this research are as follow.

To know satisfaction Of customers of Indian express

To know the needs and wants of the customers of Indian express

To know consumers views for various publications of Indian express group

RELEVANCE OF STUDY

The analysis of customer satisfaction helps the firm in taking some major polices decisions. On the basis of this analysis, company would be able to know the customers needs and wants and make improvement according to it. Through this, the firm can compa the re actual performance with its competitors accordingly changes can be done. This study will show the satisfaction of customers and accordingly the improvements are to be done. Analysis of customer satisfaction shows the current customers views about newspaper So for the study purpose, I have selected the topic CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. The main motive behind selecting this title is to provide the required data to INDIAN EXPRESS LTD. based on which the company can take some important decisions.

MARKET RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Consumer research formally studies of specific problem and opportunities. They may request a market survey, a product preference test, a sales forecast by region or research on advertising effectiveness. Consumer research is the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation.

Define the Problem

Research design

Determination of source of data

Collect Information

Analysis the Information

Present the Findings

 STEP- 1 DEFINE THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

There are so many industries contributing to economic development of the nation and modern manufacturing industries touch almost every sphere of economic activity. They have far reaching consequences on economic development of country. News paper industry is one of the leading industries in service sector. Although news paper industry runs successfully, it does have to face many problems. One of the major problems faced by the industries is customer satisfaction. While taking major decisions, the firm needs to take into consideration the satisfaction of the customers. Thus, it becomes necessary for every firm to know whether their customers are fully satisfied with the product or not.

STEP- 2 RESEARCH DESIGN

There are three major kinds of researches designs who provide the frameworks to use as a guide in collecting and analyzing date. However, it is not necessary that a particular research design is always best. Experience with different research design will generally provide the research with the capability to match a research problem with an appropriate design. We can classify research designs into following three kinds:
y y y

Exploratory research Descriptive research Cluster research

My research based on the Descriptive research. This research and in that learn about peoples knowledge, belief, preference and satisfaction, and to measure these magnitudes in the general population.

STEP- 3 DATA COLLECTION

Data collection is one of most important factor of the research report. Data can collect through various methods. Two basic methods are primary data and secondary data. Primary data is the information obtains from the origin sources of research. It is first time collected by the researcher through face-to-face interview, survey, focus group research, observation etc. Secondary data includes data collection from publish literature, printed material,govt. publication, all advertising media like news paper, magazines, trade journals etc. In my research, report has based on Primary data.

 STEP 4 COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The marketing researchers have a choice of three main research instruments in collecting primary data
y y y

Questionnaires Qualitative measure Mechanical device

My data collection of research is base on the Questionnaires.

y SAMPLE SIZE
Large sample give more reliable result than small samples. However, it is not necessary to sample the entire target population or even a substantial portion to achieve reliable result. In my research, I take 100 samples from the population.

y CONTACT METHOD
The marketing research must decide hoe the subject should be contact. There are four way to contact to respondents i.e. mail, Telephone, Personal and online interview. I choose personal, telephone to meet respondent for the research.

Probability Sampling  Simple random sample  Stratified random sample  Cluster sample

Non-probability Sampling  Convenient sample  Judgement sample  Quota sample My survey falls under the category of the convenient sample under Non-probability sampling. In this method the researcher is free to select.

 STEP 5 ANALYSIS THE INFORMATION

The next to last step in the Consumer Research process is to extract pertinent findings from the collected data. Here the tabulation of data is done and frequency distribution is developed.

 STEP-6 PRESENT THE FINDINGS

The last step in Consumer Research process is to present research report. It is either in written form, because generally written form of finding is more convenient.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & INTERPRITATION

1. Do you read news paper daily?

Particulars

Yes No

78% 22%

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%

30% 20%
10% 0%

Yes

No

 Interpretation
Above chart shows that there are 78% people who read news paper daily and only 22% people are there which are not interested in reading newspaper daily.

2. If yes, then which news paper you read?

Particulars
Times of India Indian Express Hindu vernacular newspaper

%
43% 40% 04% 13%

50%
40%

30% 20%
10% 0%
Times of India Indian Express Hindu vernacular newspaper

 Interpretation
Above chart shows that there are 43% people who prefer times of India as a daily news paper and there are 40% people likes Indian express and people who dont know English very well will prefer Vernacular newspaper.

3. Have you read Indian express?

Yes No

89% 11%

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

yes

no

 Interpretation
From the above chart we can say that 89% readers have a experience for reading Indian express, so we can say that most no. of people are aware about Indian express.

4. Other then Indian express which news paper you read?

Times of India Hindu

92% 08%

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Times of India

Hindu

 Interpretation
There are 92% peoples who prefer times of India rather than Indian express so we can say that times of India is a big competitor of Indian express.

5. How do you rate the quality of Indian Express?

Excellent Good Need Improvement

66% 18% 16%

70%

60% 50% 40% 30% 20%

10% 0%

Excellent

Good

Need Improvement

 Interpretation
From the above chart we can say that most of people find the quality of news paper is best one and they are fully satisfied but there are some people who believes that some improvement is necessary in quality.

6. Are you satisfied with content of news covered in Indian express?

Yes No

92% 08%

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Yes

No

 Interpretation
From the above chart we can say that most of people satisfied with the news which is publish in the news paper.

7. Are you satisfied with the discount and subscription scheme offered by Indian express?

Yes No

89% 11%

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

 Interpretation
As per above chart we can say that the scheme and discount schemes offer by the Indian express are quite good and beneficial to the people but some people believes that the schemes are not gives benefits to them. They believes that company has to offer more benefits in news papers like Sunday express.

Yes No

8. Are you getting news paper on time?

Yes No

96% 04%

120% 100%

80% 60%
40% 20% 0% Yes No

 Interpretation
As per above chart we can say that almost all the customers gets the news paper on time sometimes they cant get news paper on time because of the rain.

9. Do you agree that Indian express is better news paper in market?

yes No

55% 45%

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

0%

 Interpretation
As per above chart 55% believes that Indian express is the better news paper as compare to any other news paper but 45% people believe that some improvement is necessary to stay in the market.

yes

10. Would you recommend this news paper to others?

yes No

81% 19%

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% yes No

 Interpretation
From the above chart we can say that there are 81% people who believes that Indian express is a good news paper and they recommend this to other people and 19% people are not satisfied with the news paper so, they dont give advice to others for this news paper.

11. Renewal ratio of the subscribers

RENEWAL
YES NO

TOTAL
83% 17%

80 70 60 50 40 30 20
10

 Interpretation
Above chart and graph shows that 83% customers of current year subscribers want to renew the subscription in the next year. This is a very positive finding for magazine industry and it shows the satisfaction and trust on company.

90

YES

NO

12. Age group of readers

AGE GROUP
UP TO 20 21 TO 35 ABOVE 35

TOTAL
10% 71% 19%

70 60 50 40 30 20

10
0

 Interpretation
Above chart and table shows the age group of readers for Indian express. 71% are the between the age group of 21 to 35, and the 19% are above 35 age & the remaining 10% are below 20 age.

So we can conclude that readers between age group 21 to 35 are more used to read the Indian express than any other group.

80

UP TO 20

21 TO 35

ABOVE 35

13. Occupation of readers

OCCUPATION
STUDENT SALARIED HOUSEWIFE BUSINESS

TOTAL
23% 23% 09% 45%

 Interpretation
Above table & chart show mainly four occupational groups which I have seen in our research study. Among them highest is 45%, and the lowest is 09%, which are housewifes, because they are generally preferring vernacular newspapers.

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

STUDENT

SALARIED

HOUSEWIFE

BUSINESS

FUTURE PLANS
TODAYS readers dont just expect news about politics or society or business issues anymore. They also expect an editorial line on contemporary issues like fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle. So instead of sticking on the traditional age-old methods of reporting on these categories, why not get the advertiser to give the news to you and pay for it as well. Its a win-win the readers benefits and so does the advertiser. So Indian express planning to publish contemporary issues once in a week.

SUGGESTION
In Our Training, the work given to us was to get the subscription of Indian express; we have observed and analyzed certain reasons as to why people do not subscribe Indian express. In many cases we found that people prefer times of India rather than Indian express so company has to find reasons for that and company has to increase its outdoor and media advertisement so most of people will aware about the Indian express. 1. As the other English newspaper like Times of India is very well known newspaper and cover a large market so Indian Express has to go for promotion of its newspaper. 2. As the Times of Indian is very much famous and popular newspaper in English so Indian Express is having less market share then it so they have to make aware the general public about Indian Express by giving free samples. 3. Those who are the readers of the Indian express are satisfied with its quality and price so they only need to promote its newspaper. 4. In Indian Express, supplements are not that much effective so they should provide good supplements. 5. Subscription schemes and discounts are the best way to promote the product so Indian Express should provide attractive offers of subscription of newspaper. 6. They are also not provide any supplements related to children so they should provide supplements related to kids. 7. Even lucky draws are also provided by other English newspapers but Indian Express is not providing any kind of lucky draws so they should consider it.

CONCLUSION
As those who are the readers of the Indian express are satisfied with it but they need to advertise its newspaper because there is very keen competition in the market of newspapers and times of india is the main competitor. Ultimately I got a wonderful experience at Indian express and it is very much useful for me in present and in future.

REFERENCES
Rubin Luck. Market Research. Published by Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi. Sixth Edition.(2005)  Philip Kotler & Kevin Lane keller.Marketing Management. Published by Pearson education. Thirteenth edition  WWW.EXPRESSINDIA.COM

Annexure
Q.1. Do you read news paper daily? Yes No

Q.2. If yes, then which news paper you read?

Times of India Hindu Indian Express vernacular newspaper

Q.3. Have you read Indian express?

Yes

No

Q.4. Other then Indian express which news paper you read?

Times of India

Hindu

Q.5. How do you rate the quality of Indian Express? Excellent Good Need Improvement

Q.6. Are you satisfied with content of news covered in Indian express?

Yes

No

Q.7. Are you satisfied with the discount and subscription scheme offered by Indian express?

Yes

No

Q.8. Are you getting news paper on time?

Yes

No

Q.9. Do you agree that Indian express is better news paper in market?

Yes

No

Q.10. Would you recommend this news paper to others?

Yes

No

Q.11. Renewal ratio of the subscribers

Yes

No

Q.12. Age group of readers

UP TO 20 21 TO 35 ABOVE 35

Q.13. Occupation of readers

STUDENT HOUSEWIFE SALARIED BUSINESS

Q.14 Give your suggestion, if any