A PROJECT REPORT ON

“Consumer Preferences Towards

LAPTOPS”

Submitted by: Submitted to:JAGRATI SINGH MS. RITIKA B.COM. (HONS.) II YEAR KCMT

DECLARATION

I JAGRATI SINGH, student of KCMT, hereby declare that the dissertation “CONSUMER PREFERENCES TOWARDS COMPAQ LAPTOPS” Submitted for the B.COM. (HONS.) Degree at KHANDELWAL COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT SCINCE & TECHNOLOGY Department of Business Management is my original work and the dissertation has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, associate ship, fellowship or any other similar titles.

Place: BAREILLY

JAGRATI SINGH

B.COM. (HONS.) II YEAR

KCMT

1

“Acknowledgement is an art, one can write glib stanzas without meaning a word, on the other hand

one can make a simple expression of gratitude.”

I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them who in some or other way helped me to accomplish this challenging project in COMPAQ. No amount of written expression is sufficient to show my deepest sense of gratitude to them.

I am very thankful to Internal Guide, Mr. Prabodh Gour, Miss Ritika, Faculty Department of Business Management, Khandelwal College of Management Science & Technology, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly for their everlasting support and guidance on the ground of which I have acquired a new field of knowledge. The course structure created for this curriculum has benefited with the inclusion of recent development in the organizational and managerial aspects.

JAGRATI SINGHB.COM. (H) II YEAR

TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Pg. No.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

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COMPANY PRIFILE 7

SCOPE OF THE STUDY 9

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 10

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 11

DATA ANALYSIS & GRAPHICAL INTERPRETATION 14

MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE MARKET 36

COMPETITORS OF COMPAQ 37

MARKETING STRATEGIES 41

FUTURE SCOPE 45

MARKET SHARE 47

MARKETING & SELLING STRATEGIES 48

CHANGING TRENDS 51

DECISION MAKING PROCESS 57

SWOT ANALYSIS 59

SUGGESTION & RECOMMENDATIONS 65

CONCLUSION 67

QUESTIONNAIRE 69

BIBLIOGRAPHY 73

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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COMPAQ, India’s premier information enabling and integration company

has received the ISO 9001:2000 certification specifies requirements for a

quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its

ability to consistently provide product and services that meets customer and

applicable regulatory requirements. ISO 9001:2000 also aims to enhance

customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system,

including processes for continual improvement of the system and the

assurance of conformity to customer and applicable regulatory requirements.

The menu of COMPAQ global services broadly covers IT consulting and

professional services in the area of vertical applications, technology

integration, ERP implementation and software development. This also

includes a complete portfolio of systems and network services for

development. This also includes a complete portfolio of systems and

network services for Facilities Management, Helpdesks, Sysytems Supports

and network and Internet Implementation.

COMPAQ Insys’ global customers include Samsung, Government of

Singapore, and AMAL insurance Jurong Port in Singapore and Malaysian’s

BSN commercial bank, SIA, DBS bank, New bank life assurance charted

semiconductors.

COMPAQ Insys’ chosen platform of total technology integration lends itself

to some very significant alliances with the global leaders. Among its partner

are HP for high end AISCE/UNIX services and workstation and HP Open

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view network management solution; Intel for PC and PC server building

blocks; Microsoft,novell and SCO AG solutions; Red hat ;Linux; Samsung;

Pivota for CRM solution and ORACLE Sybase and Informix for RDBMS

platform.

Today the company has aligned its operations into five entities that offer

seamless linkages for the customers seeking entry into the wired world

through total the. ‘Integration solution ands services’.

COMPAQ focuses on the ever-growing segment in Imaging, Telecom and

Communication products solutions and services. Now it has an exclusive

sale and support partnership with Toshiba Corporation, Japan, for sales and

servicing of its imaging and photocopier products. COMPAQ product

portfolio covers a range of other office automation and communication

products through alliances with world leaders.

The Managed Network Service offerings for corporates include VPNs, ASP

offerings, Co Location/ hosting, CDNs, security, corporate internet

telephony solutions, technical and consumer help desks, 24/7 Network

Operations Centre monitoring and a host of value added networking

services. Consumer services include dialup PSTN/ISDN Internet access,

Valufon calling cards and VoIP telephony devices.

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Born in 1976, COMPAQ has a 3 decade rich history of inventions and

innovations. In 1978, COMPAQ developed the first indigenous micro-

computer at the same time as Apple and 3 years before IBM's PC. During

this period, India was a black box to the world and the world was a black box

to India. This micro-computer virtually gave birth to the Indian computer

industry. The 80's saw COMPAQ developing know-how in many other

technologies. COMPAQ's in-depth knowledge of Unix led to the

development of a fine grained multi-processor Unix in 1988, three years

ahead of Sun and HP.

COMPAQ's R&D was spun off as COMPAQ Technologies in 1997 to

mark their advent into the software services arena. During the last eight

years, COMPAQ has strengthened its processes and applied its know-how,

developed over 28 years into multiple practices - semi-conductor, operating

systems, automobile, avionics, bio-medical engineering, wireless, telecom

technologies, and many more.

Today, COMPAQ sells more laptops in India than any other brand, runs

Northern Ireland's largest BPO operation, and manages the network for

Asia's largest stock exchange network apart from designing zero visibility

landing systems to land the world's most popular airplane.

COMPAQ is one of the pioneers in the Indian IT market, with its

origins in 1976. For over quarter of a century, we have developed and

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implemented solutions for multiple market segments, across a range of

technologies in India. We have been in the forefront in introducing new

technologies and solutions.

In the early 70’s a group of young and enthusiastic and ambitious

technocrats embarked upon a venture that would make their vision of IT

revolution in India a reality. Shiv nadir and five of his colleagues got

together and 1975 set up a new company MICROCOMP to start with; they

started to capitalize on their marketing skills. Micro comp marketed

calculators and with in a few month of starting operation, the company was

out selling its major competitors.

On 11th August, 1976 HINDUSTAN COMPUTERS LIMITED was

incorporated as joint venture between the entrepreneurs and UPSCE, wit an

initial equity of Rs.1.83 Lacs.

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SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Vision Statement

“It is the most preferred employer and principal taking leading edge IT

products and services to the masses through sustained excellence.”

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Mission Statement

“We shall increase the shareholders value by improving the PAT through

free cash flow, reducing the BR cycle, inventory levels, wastage.”

Quality Policy Statement

“We will deliver defect-free products, services and solutions to meet the

requirements of our external and internal customers the first time, every

time.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYOBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Management Objective

To fuel initiative and foster activity by allowing individuals freedom of

action and innovation in attaining defined objectives.

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People Objective

To help COMPAQ people share in the company’s success, which they

make possible; to provide job security based on their performance; to

recognize their individual achievements and to help them gain of

satisfaction and accomplishment from their work.

Core ValuesCore Values

It is uphold the dignity of individual

It is honour all commitments

It is committed to quality, Innovation and growth in every endeavor

It is responsible Corporate Citizens.

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RESEARCH PROBLEM

COMPAQ Corporate selling and feedback and market share of

COMPAQ laptops and compared to other IT companies.

The business of COMPAQ and the company through its

researchers wants to know the potential in order to expand and

retain its market share.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Determined the Information Sources: The researcher gathered data

through secondary sources.

PRIMARY DATA is collected through questionnaire, surveys

through place where laptops have been mostly used.

SECONDARY DATA is being searched from various sources

like magazines, newspapers, journals, websites and the data has

been collected through other approaches.

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DATA COLLECTION

The researcher collected information through the official websites,

magazines and journals.

DEVELOPED THE RESEARCH FRAME:

This included deciding upon various aspects for the project on which the

entire research is based. The research frame included:

NATURE OF STUDY

The project on which the researcher worked is descriptive and

exploratory in nature.

DATA SOURCE:

The researcher took the help of both primary as well as

secondary sources. Secondary sources include surveys and

sample and which has been chosen by the researcher herself

on the basis of judgement & convenience sampling.

Secondary sources is being collected from the internet as the

medium of information about the companies.

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INSTRUMENT USED

The researcher for the research used a Questionnaire cum Schedule for

market research for both the segments horizontal and vertical. The

Questionnaire was prepared by the researcher and Schedule was provided

by the company in which the researcher did its research report.

SAMPLE SIZE

Sample size for the research is fixed. It counts to 55.

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DATA ANALYSIS

& GRAPHICAL DATA INTERPRETATIOIN

SAMPLE SIZE : 55

1. What type of computers do you use?

a.)Branded

b.)Assembled

Branded 37

Assembled 18

hospitals using brandedcomputers

hospitals usingassembled computers

It was observed that almost 67% of the people use branded computers or

other gadgets for their business purpose. Hence can be concluded that more

people want branded products as they are not ready to compromise with the

quality and services being provided.

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Using branded computers

Using assembled computers

2. What brand of computers do you use?

a.) HP

b.) COMPAQ

c.) HCL

d.)Others

Brand used Total Nos.

HP 7

COMPAQ 14

HCL 13

Others 21

HP

HCL

acer

others

15

This observation showed that COMPAQ is among the top used brands.

Major part under the pie-chart goes to COMPAQ. So COMPAQ should

continue making efforts to attract new market and sustain the existing

market.

3. What is the number of installed desktops?

a.) <15

b.) 15-50

c.) 50-75

d.) 75-200

e.) 200-500

Installed desktops Total Nos.

< 15 19

15-50 21

50-75 11

75-200 3

200-500 1

16

<15 15-5050-7575-200200-500

Most of the surveyed and found the use of computers within the 15-55

range. So it can be inferred that the main target market is which lies in the

middle range. Thus we targeted mainly on SME (small and medium

enterprise).

4. What is the number of used servers?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3-5

d. 5

Servers used Total Nos.

1 10

2 11

3-5 21

>5 13

1

2

3 to 5

>5

17

From this observation, it was concluded that number of servers were directly

proportional to the number of desktops used.

5. What is the number of installed laptops?

a.) 1-5

b.) 5-15

c.) 15-30

d.) >30

Number of laptops Total Nos.

1-5 20

5-15 22

15-30 8

>30 5

1 to 55 to 1515 to 30>30

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It was observed that maximum computers and laptop users ranging between

5-25. This area can be focused.

6. What is the brand used for laptops?

a.) COMPAQ

b.) Toshiba

c.) Lenovo

d.) Others

Laptops brand Total Nos.

COMPAQ 11

Toshiba 19

Lenovo 13

Others 12

HCL

Toshiba

lenovo

others

19

Observation showed that Toshiba was the major brand used in laptops.

Various other brands like HP and Samsung etc. are also used. COMPAQ has

also a good market share.

9. What type of company is having the AMC?

a.)Regional office of the company

b.) Any other local player

Type of AMC company Total Nos.

Authorized regional office 24

Local players 6

20

regional office of thecompany

any local player

That the above graph shows that the use of AMCs in regional office and

local players prefers authorized regional offices to select for the service

rather than going for a local player.

10.Are you facing any problem with current used product line?

a.)Yes

b.)No

c.)Not yet

Total Nos.

ffacing problem 15

nnot facing problem 18

nnot faced problems yet 22

21

That the above graph shows that the above observation showed that major

number of users are either not facing any problem or they have not being

encountered with any.

11. Are you planning to make any new purchase?

a.) Yes

b.) No

c.) Not yet planned

Planning about new purchase Total Nos.

Planning to purchase 9

hospitals facing problem

hospitals not facingproblemnot yet encountered

22

Facing problems

Not facing problems

Not yet encountered

No planning 17

Not yet planned 29

That the above graph show that the most of the users have not planned about

making a purchase and a very few are planning to make a buy.

planning to purchase

no planning

not yet planned

12. How do you find the COMPAQ products?

a.) OK

b.) Good

c.) Satisfactory

d.) Outstanding

e.) Not tried yet

23

OK

good

satisfactory

outstanding

not tried yet

Reaction about COMPAQ products Total Nos.

OK 3

Good 12

Satisfactory 19

Outstanding 7

Not tried yet 10

According to above graph shows that the maximum of COMPAQ user are

satisfied with the products and services provided. Very few have not tried

yet COMPAQ on a business scale, but most of them have an experience

about COMPAQ.

13.Do you want to know more about COMPAQ products?

a.)Yes

b.)No

24

Wanted knowledge about COMPAQ Total Nos.

Yes 42

No 13

That the above graph shows that the observation and the most of the people

are interested in knowing more about the brand and have the urge to buy.

14. Do you require demo for any product?

a.)Yes

b.)No

want info about HCL

no info wanted

25

Total Nos.

IInterested in demo 24

NotNot interested in demo 31

hospitals interested indemo

hospitals not interestedin demo

This observation showed that almost 45% of the sample was interested in

demo.

15.Do you want to buy any product? (Commercial proposal)

a.)Yes

b.)No

c.)Not yet decided

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interested in demo

interested in demo

Commercial proposal Total Nos.

Yes 8

No 19

Not yet decided 28

hospitals interested incommercial proposal

hospitals not interestedin commercial proposal

not yet planned

That the above graph shows that the above observation showed that almost a

huge chunk of hospitals surveyed either doesn’t want or they have not

planned for any commercial proposal.

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Interested in commercial proposal

Not interested in commercial proposal

Not yet planned

COMPAQ DELL IBM LENOVO APPLE HP ACER INTEX ZENITH SONY HCL SAHARA

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SAHARA COMPUTEREstablished in 1997 Sahara Computers assembles and markets

computers & peripherals through a global distribution network that covers

established and emerging markets. The company is owned by Sahara

Holdings, a fully Broad-Based Black Economic Empowered entity, and is

based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the official distributor and

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for a variety of top international

vendors.

An accredited member of the Proudly South African campaign, the

Sahara business network stretches across South Africa to include Cape

Town, Durban & Port Elizabeth. The company has established a strong

presence globally, with offices across EMEA, including Nairobi &

Mombassa in Kenya and Botswana, Dubai, the U.K and China.

Sahara Computers is currently the largest operation of its kind in

Southern Africa. Owned by Sahara Holdings group, company boast an

annual turnover over 1.4 billion Rand. Sahara Holdings strictly adheres to

the principles of Broad-Based Economic Empowerment and established

itself among the frontrunners of empowered organizations within the ICT

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sector when it confirmed its participation in an empowerment deal valued at

R640 million in 2006.

For the deal Sahara Holdings sold 27% of their shares to a newly

established consortium represented by mining and mineral resource Group

Mvelaphanda Holdings (Pty) Ltd. chaired by Tokyo Sexwale, and Afripalm

Consortium, a local investment company chaired by Lazarus Zim.

The deal incorporates subsidiaries and associates of Sahara Holdings

including Sahara Computers Pty Ltd., Sahara Systems Pty Ltd., Sahara

Consumables Pty Ltd., Sahara Distribution Pty Ltd. and Annex Distribution

Pty Ltd.

This venture signals a new era in the transference of the benefit and

value associated with technology, through to communities and individuals. It

also reinforces Sahara’s pledge to provide access to high quality, affordable

communication technology and infrastructure. It is the competency and

dynamic attribute of Sahara Computers that has won it the confidence of

many major IT suppliers, representing key product and component ranges.

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Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and

services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model,

Dell sells more systems globally than any computer company, placing it No.

25 on the Fortune 500. Dell's climb to market leadership is the result of a

persistent focus on delivering the best possible customer experience by

directly selling standards-based computing products and services. Revenue

for the last four quarters totaled $57.9 billion and the company employs

approximately 78,700 team members around the globe.

Dell was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell, the longest-tenured

executive to lead a company in the computer industry. The company is based

on a simple concept: by selling computer systems directly to customers, Dell

could best understand their needs and efficiently provide the most effective

computing solutions to meet those needs. This direct business model

eliminates retailers that add unnecessary time and cost, or can diminish

Dell's understanding of customer expectations.

The direct model allows the company to build every system to order

and offer customers powerful, richly-configured systems at competitive

prices. Dell also introduces the latest relevant technology much more

quickly than companies with slow-moving, indirect distribution channels,

turning over inventory in just five days on average.

The Dell Effect

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For more than 20 years, Dell has revolutionized the industry to make

computing accessible to customers around the globe, including businesses,

institutional organizations and individual consumers. Because of Dell's

direct model—and the industry's response to it—information technology is

more powerful, easier to use and more affordable, giving customers the

opportunity to take advantage of powerful new tools to improve their

businesses and personal lives.

Dell has demonstrated this effect time and again as it enters new,

standardized product categories, such as network servers, workstations,

mobility products, printers and other electronic accessories. Nearly one out

of every five standards-based computer system sold in the world today is a

Dell. This global reach indicates our direct approach is relevant across

product lines, regions and customer segments.

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Marketing Strategies of Each company to attract Customers

Now a days every companies playing strategies so as to attract

customers and increase revenues and also customer base.Pent-up demand,

attractive price points and economic stability propelled PC growth. PCs are

acting as entertainment centres with TV functionality, supported by the

digital sound experience and large screen displays

Some Of The Strategies They Are Playing

Vista and Office 2007 hit the market

Microsoft has opened the doors for consumers to

purchase its latest Operating System, Windows

Vista, and Office 2007 with a grand launch

across 70 countries.

Microsoft released the latest version of its

operating system Windows Vista and Office 2007 for corporate customers in

November 2006. Now it has launched the software for the masses, i.e. non

corporate consumers. The consumer launch took place on 30th January

across 70 countries. Windows Vista is the first major Windows launch by

Microsoft since the launch of Windows XP in 2001.

These products are launched to ‘wow’ customers with features like

enhanced security, better search, improved parental control and an all new

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interface. According to Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India, “This

is the launch of the decade for Microsoft and the biggest for us in India, with

the design of this product we have dealt with the security issues.” In India,

OEMs including COMPAQ, HP, Lenovo, Sahara, Wipro and Zenith are

launching Vista compatible PCs.

Windows Vista and Office 2007 will be made available to the public

in several editions. The consumer editions are Windows Vista Ultimate,

Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows

Vista Starter. Vista is being shipped in 18 languages including Hindi.

Extending the Indian language support, Microsoft will have 13 more Indian

languages including Telugu and Marathi and support for these is expected by

early 2008. Office 2007 comes in two consumer editions—Office Home &

Student 2007 and Office Basic 2007.

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On the commercial front, Munglani feels that decision cycles are still slow,

but there is a definite increase in queries and tenders. He feels that

government funded projects need to increase, and points to the recent

Andhra Pradesh schools project, which pulled in more than 5,000 units, as a

good example of what government enthusiasm for IT can do.In conclusion,

going by what the industry feels and what the numbers reveal, recovery is

definitely taking place in the industry, though caution is still the prevailing

sentiment.

However, the bottom line is that the days of super growth seem to be

over. While IDC has predicted 22.3 percent growth in 2003, not everyone in

the industry seems to be ready to join in the chorus. HP’s Sai Chandrasekhar

says that their assessment is an expectation of 10-15 percent growth, which

he feels is very realistic. “It is unlikely that the market will return to the

heady days of 30 percent growth,” he explains. Kochhar of Skoch seconds

that when he says, “We can no longer look at heady growth rates like 40

percent or 60 percent...the market has been growing more in single digit to

low two digit growth rates.”

And that seems to be the future that India’s PC brigade faces-but well, surely even

low two digit growth rates are better than negative growth, and that’s the reason for the

cautious smiles on the faces of PC vendors. Hopefully, the next quarter will bring even

broader smiles.

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57.5%

8.4%

7.9%

7.0%

4.2%

3.7%

1.0% 3.5%

3.3%1.6%1.9%

HCL

Compaq

Zenith

IBM

Acer

Hewlett-Packard

Wipro

Vintron

Siemens Nixdorf

Dell

Others*

From the above graph it is clear that in Indian Hardware Industry the

COMPAQ share is highest in all branded companies. But still very high

portion about 57.5% is in favour of unbranded local companies, which is

still a challenge towards all.

The share of the unorganised sector has been falling steadily with the

fall in price of branded PCs. A recent phenomenon has been the increasing

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share of Tier 2 towns and cities in the PC sales thereby indicating increased

PC penetration into the hinterland.

Sales of notebooks have averaged around 50,000 in the past two

years. Printers have been traditionally the fastest growing segment of the PC

peripherals market. Even when PC sales were increasing by 39%, printer

sales increased by 41%. The slowdown affected printer sales too and in

2001-02, the increase was just 1%. In that year, 836,122 printers were sold

and that included inkjet, laser and dot matrix. The momentum is expected to

pick up in 2002-03 and the printer market would grow at 8% to reach

900,000 printers. Due to falling prices, Laser printer sales are growing

fastest.

In future, COMPAQ’s hardware sales to the institutional segment are

likely to remain stable, with sustained hardware spending by all the

verticals, especially the banking and financial services sector. Besides, in

retail hardware sales, a continued reduction of price points, facilitated in part

by the recent reduction in excise duties on PCs, is likely to reduce the price

advantage of the small assemblers, and augur well for branded PC

manufacturers like COMPAQ. In the medium term, COMPAQ’s margins,

despite its sales tax advantages, may be affected by the likely removal of

duty protection on manufactured PCs from the year 2005. With imported

PCs becoming cheaper, it may be critical for COMPAQ to establish an

alternate supply chain based on imports of finished PCs. Nonetheless, its

financial risks are mitigated by its low gearing, substantial liquid

investments and unutilised working capital limits.

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IDC declared its numbers for the Indian PC market for financial year

2005-06 today. The year recorded an impressive growth in terms of unit

shipments - the market grew 30% over financial year 2004-05 to exceed the

4.6 million-mark, according to IDC's India Quarterly PC Market Tracker,

1Q 2006, May 2006 preliminary release.

39

40

REVISITING THE LOW-COST LAPTOP MARKET

A computer at nearly one-third of current prices is a dream for most

Indians. And yet, buyers are not holding their breath for these devices. For

experience has proved that expectations are seldom met. However, this time

around, those propagating low-cost computing solutions have taken a

different route. Chris Ann Fichardo elaborates on the difference .

The buzz is in the air again. PC manufacturers are excited. Users are

expectant. Even institutions like the IITs are enthusiastic. The reason:

India’s dream of an affordable PC (priced below Rs 10,000) is ready to hit

the market. For nearly a decade this dream has struggled to become a reality.

India Inc. has made many noteworthy attempts in the past to introduce low-

cost computing solutions, but in vain. Be it Wipro’s Janata PC, iNabling

Technologies’ e-mail device, iStation, or the much-talked about handheld

device, the Simputer—all brilliant concepts that have not quite made it

commercially yet.

The company netcore is doing groundbreaking work to make possible

the Rs 5,000 PC (5KPC), says that if the price point of a PC comes down

between Rs 5,000 to 10,000 per user, India has the ability to absorb 10-20

million PCs a year for the next several years. This potential gains further

41

significance when one realises that the present market size is just two

million PCs a year! In the last 20 years the installed base has barely crossed

six million PCs in India.

According to Richard Brown, director for International Marketing at

VIA attributes this sudden interest by vendors to the "real growth potential"

of the low-cost PC market. "I remember five to seven years ago when the

first $1,000 PC appeared (introduced by Compaq), people wondered if the

price point was for real. And since then there has been a continuous push

down in the price points for PCs, which is a sign of commoditisation of the

industry. For a long time the industry has resisted moving to lower price

points, and now they are actually seeing that there is demand in that space

and they are buying into it," he says.

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CHANGING TRENDS IN LAPTOP MARKET

With prices of laptops being slashed, the education sector is expected

to see a high demand for laptops.

Consumers are shifting their focus of laptop computing from an

average system to one that is closer to a high-end system and

upwards.

The need for the most powerful multimedia laptops is increasing.

Linux might gain ground in the government and defence sectors.

Customers, both in the consumer as well as in the commercial space

will demand better service levels from vendors.

Service and support is going to be a critical aspect of vendor strategy.

Depreciation period of IT products should be reduced to further boost

growth.

The laptop space will see more and more entertainment-oriented

features getting integrated into the normal PC.

The enterprise space will witness more stress on security, TCO,

manageability and multiple levels of redundancy, among others

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Companies, which will offer affordable innovation will gain market

share.

Unicode will drive laptop penetration into rural markets

SME will continue to be a major segment.

The industry has standardised on 80 GB HDDs.

Trends Expected In 2009

In the future, with more duty cuts expected, analysts believe branded

laptop players will gain further against assembled players. Retail may

get a renewed thrust. Observes Raj Saraf, Chairman and Managing

Director, Zenith Computers, “We have1300 retail outlets today, which

we hope to grow to 15000 by the end of 2009.”

While vendors are bundling in Linux to bring down costs, analysts see

desktop Linux confined to the government and education sector.

Linux on the desktop is unlikely to make inroads in the enterprise.

Prices of computers have been falling rapidly, but vendors do not

think prices of laptops will fall significantly in 2009.

While 2007 saw strong demand emerging from select sectors such as

the government and BPO outfits, 2008 could be relatively flat as most

BPO firms are in the process of consolidation and not growth.

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LAPTOP MARKET: TOP TRENDS

Laptop market revival may happen in second half of this year. Post-Budget

laptop prices will remain constant or rise marginally. Indian brands will

survive, but they need to decide on an unambiguous competitive pitch.

Thrust into the B & C class towns will be aggressive, by Indian and MNC

players alike. The notebook market will show significant gains in 2002-03.

If you want to know what the future holds for the Indian PC industry, the

one fact you cannot afford to ignore is the current slowdown not just falling

growth, or a gentle trough, but the horrible spectre of negative growth.

The near panic the industry witnessed in the wake of this terrible time was

reflected in the price slashes and bundling offers anything to kick start

stagnating sales graphs was acceptable. And that took the laptop to almost

commodity status in India.

But then, that’s history. And in business, history is not what sells;

promises of a rosier future do. According to industry association MAIT’s

president Vinnie Mehta, sales have picked up in the JFM quarter, which is

traditionally a high sales quarter, and as of now, they’re hoping that this will

be a sustained phenomenon in spite of a lacklustre Budget that did almost

nothing to push up demand for laptops.

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PRICES DO AN ABOUT-TURN

Immediately after this year’s Budget, most laptop vendors said laptop prices

would remain constant, and some even pointed out that prices would rise,

thanks to increasing memory prices. That should be one of the key

differentiators between last year and the financial year ahead laptop prices

are not likely to come down, and in all probability, will actually see

marginal rises.

Says Vasu Srinivas of IDC India, “While the initial response to the

slowdown was to slash prices, when it began to hurt, laptop vendors began

to take a profitability approach. They are now seeking out the more

profitable deals and aiming for better prices with lower volumes.”

Another factor that will contribute to stable prices is the move by the big

distributors to cut credit periods down the line from 30 to 15 days. This

move, coming in the wake of big defaults among IT channels, will

discourage speculative and rash pricing and margin policies that result in

price wars the industry can ill afford.

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TRIUMPH OF THE MNC BRIGADE

In recent times, one of the most important trends in the Indian laptop

business is the sight of MNC vendors turning leaders. Yes, COMPAQ

Infosystems, the leader in the desktop segment, is as Indian as they come,

and the company’s leadership position seems in no immediate danger, but

it’s not insurmountable either.

All it will take is the HP-Compaq deal going through in the United

States, and COMPAQ will become No 2 to an MNC behemoth that will then

control almost double of COMPAQ’s market share, which currently stands

at 8.6 percent, according to George Paul, head-marketing, COMPAQ

Infosystems. While everyone admits that the market share of MNC brands

has gone up, and mostly at the expense of Indian brands, this issue generates

a lot of heat and passionate arguments.

BIG BUYERS MATTER

While the move to B & C class cities attracted attention, the biggest buyers

of PCs pretty much remained constant, and they’re expected to continue to

be the saviours of the beleaguered PC industry this year too. The honours go

to the government both at the Centre and the states, and the banking and

financial sector mainly PSU banks. Another segment expected to contribute

significantly to laptop buying this year is the telecom sector.

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OUTLOOK

When will the good times start rolling again? The pundits have

differing opinions. IDC India says the laptop industry is expected to grow by

5.1 percent in 2002, and adds that laptop buying is expected to revive in

2003, when a growth rate of 20 percent is forecasted. Kochhar of Skoch says

this year will see some revival, though he warns that heady growth rates will

not return without policy measures like 100 percent depreciation from the

government. MAIT is hoping that the slight upturn in the JFM quarter is a

portend of things to come, even though it revised industry sales projections

for 2001-02 downwards from 2.45 million units to 1.65 million units.

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THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Decision makers, who are used to depending on their past

experiences, must make decisions and take actions in the rapidly changing

world we face today. In this turbulent environment, the ability to

successfully view the current situation through the traditional "good

judgment" viewpoint is weakened through increasing external noise (a

multitude of information sources on multiple topics) and changing.

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STRENGTHS:

a) Global Presence: Its collaborations and joint ventures with international companies such as Perot System, and partnership with world leaders like Ericsson, Toshiba, Nokia, Oracle and Microsoft, enable it to bring the best technology available world wide to its consumers. 24 locations in 16 countries.

b) Fast paced and flexible work culture which provides its employees autonomy to accomplish the task without much pressure from the higher authorities. Thus, employees are motivated to give their best to the organization.

c) The core strength of COMPAQ is the talent and innovativeness of its people which enables it to provide the “right solution at the right time.”

d) The mass markets handled through a chain of dealers, resellers and retailers which helps bring technology usage closer to the individual. It has very strong distribution network.

e) Its pool of competencies : Hardware, Software, Training, Networking, Telecom and System Integration.

f) Ability to understand customer's business and offer right technology.

g) Long standing relationship with customers.

h) Pan India support & service infrastructure.

i) Best-value-for-money offerings.

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WEAKNESSES:

a) After sales service.b) Less promotional campaigns.

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OPPORTUNITIES:

a) IT industry booming at a rate of 45% every year.

b) Increasing consumer awareness about IT and its use.

c) Tremendous untapped potential of IT products in India.

d) Increasing competition.

e) Tie ups with various MNCs enable to extract their core

competencies.

THREATS:

a) Local assemblers are biggest menace for the company.

b) Entry of MNCs i.e. IBM, Compaq giving direct competition.

c) Govt. instability has a long term repercussions affecting

company’s policies & its growth.

d) Technological shift as a result of research & development.

Daily new technologies are emerging.

Concluding the S.W.O.T. analysis in words that prosperity lies ahead

for COMPAQ. In order to retain its position as India’s No. 1 IT

conglomerate, it has to come out with the state of art as well as futuristic

technologies to its consumers well before time.

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FINDINGS & LIMITATIONS

Every project has some limitations even the researcher came across some

limitations while working on the project which made the analysis a little

inappropriate at times. Some of the basic limitations faced during the

research are listed below:

Only limited number of authorized, companies and other areas where

it has been found 55 players was covered in the study.

Most of the research was based on cold calls, so then visited many

places i.e. authorized and local areas and where it had not responded

much.

There was a bias on the part of the respondents.

Companies that were contacted through telephone at times did not

give correct information to the researcher.

The IT manager or the person heading the IT Department did not have

the rights to give the authorized official information to people other

then the members of the official itself and the high officials.

At times there was a problem of non response from the hospitals,

companies and other authorized and unauthorized areas which

affected the result of the project being done by the researcher.

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COMPAQ is having large number of channel partners but it is not

supporting & taking care all of them equally which results in increasing

discontentment among new channel partners because its not possible for

company to support all of them equally. Company should take some

positive action against it.

Company executive should visit dealers on regular basis.

They Should pay proper attention towards checking of various

components of PC before end user delivery. Otherwise it tends towards

defame of brand name in comparison to rivals.

Need to expend customer care center as the consumer base of

COMPAQ is increasing with tremendously fast pace.

Proper attention should be paid for advertisement planning otherwise it

may lead to problem for dealer as well as for company.

Company should make policy for fixed end user price for all dealers

so that fair game will be played & dealer would not to compromise on

their margin.

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CONCLUSION

Marketing is a very crucial activity in every business organization. Every

product produced within an industry has to be marketed other wise it will

remain as unsold stock, which will be of no value. I have realized this fact

after completion of my summer training project. Despite of various

difficulties and limitations faced during my summer training project on the

topic “MARKET SHARE OF COMPAQ LAPTOPS”. I have tried my

level best to find out the most relevant information for the organization to

complete the assignment that was given to me. After completion of my

summer training project I have gained several experiences in the field or

sales marketing. I have got the opportunity to meet various people, which

fluctuate in different situation and time. This summer training project has

given me the opportunity to have first experience in the corporate world.

Theoretical knowledge of a person remains dormant until it is used and

tested in the practical life. This market survey has given to me the chance to

apply my theoretical knowledge that I have acquired in my classroom to the

real business world. I have completed my market survey project in which are

involved in its successful completion. In spite of few limitations and

hindrance in the market survey project I found that the work was a

challenge and fruitful. It gives enough knowledge about the laptop market

and the distribution process undertaken by an organization.

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QUESTIONNAIRE

Name ____________________________________

Designation ____________________________________

Address ____________________________________

Contact No. ____________________________________

1. Do you use laptop for your business purpose?a.) Yes b.) No

2. What type of laptop do you use?a.) Brandedb.) Assembled

3. What brand of laptops do you use?a.) HPb.) COMPAQc.) ACERd.) Others

4. What is the number of installed desktops?a.) <15b.) 15-50c.) 50-75d.) 75-200e.) 200-500

5. What is the number of used servers?a.) 1b.) 2c.) 3-5d.) >5

6. What is the number of installed laptops?

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a.) 1-5b.) 5-15c.) 15-30d.) >30

7. What is the brand used for laptops?a.) COMPAQb.) Toshibac.) Lenovod.) Others

8. Are you facing any problem with current used product line?a.) Yesb.) Noc.) Not yet

11. How do you find the COMPAQ products?

a.) OK b.) Good c.) Satisfactory d.) Outstanding e.) Not tried yet

12. Do you want to know more about COMPAQ products?a.) Yesb.) No

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BIBLIOGRAPHYBIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOK:

AUTHOR: PHILIP-KOTLER

TITLE: Marketing Management

PLACE OF PUBLICATION: Delhi

PUBLISHER: Tata McGraw, Hills Publishing co. ltd.

MAGAZINES / JOURNALS / NEWSPAPERS:

Business World

Business Today

The Times of India

WEBSITES :

www.Compaq.com

www.google.com

www.hp.com

www.saharacomputer.com

www.dell.com

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