the performance management system of advanced chemical industries limited

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Executive SummaryThis report expresses our analysis and findings of the research project that

was conducted on The performance management system of

Advanced Chemical Industries Limited. It is an overview of how ACI

manages a huge number of employees and continuously develop their

performance. The various requirements for conducting the research as

concise in the lecture were exclusively followed while performing the

research on various performances measuring techniques and writing the

report.

We went to ACI to talk with the HR executives and some employees of ACI to

know how their performance is measured, training methods and bonus

systems.

ACI is a place to learn, grow and contribute for improving the quality of life of

people. They believe that Human Resources are the most important asset of the

organization. We identify the training needs and provide trainings accordingly to

develop the knowledge and skills of our human resources. They provide an

enabling working environment to unleash the full potential of the employees and a

performance based career progression. They practice modern HR Policies and

procedures for Recruitment & Selection, Manpower Planning and succession

planning.

We analyzed the information that we gathered and tried to understand how

effective their performance management system is. After all the analysis on

their performance management system and employee satisfaction level we

have come with some recommendations for ACI.

In effect we recommended ACI Limited to incessantly use the

techniques to develop the performance of their employees and

introduce new appraisal and training techniques to have more

satisfied and better employees.

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Introduction

This report is an elaboration of the research work that we conducted on the young urban

consumers of Bangladesh value product feature, price, brand

loyalty/image, etc more than patriotism when they make a buying

decision. In our lifetime, we use different types of products to fill different needs of us.

The main fact is that some of them are made in Bangladesh and some are foreign.

Nowadays urban people of our country are more biased towards foreign products rather

than local ones. Behind this buying behavior they just consider the products not the

patriotism. According to them if the product is good, then it does not matter that it is local

or foreign.

The face of business and market structure in Bangladesh has changed immeasurably in the past

two decades, due to the establishment of different foreign companies in different industries like

consumer products, telecommunication etc. Foreign companies are now trying to leave behind

the trademarks of local companies in providing high quality products and advanced services in

attempt to delight customers. The business sector is like any othercompanies compete with

each other for higher revenue or larger market share by attracting new customers or capturing

them form their competitors. In Bangladesh, at the same time, lots of exciting new players have

appeared in recent times.

Bangladesh is now trying to establish itself as the next rising star in South Asia for foreign

investment. The government has implemented a number of policy reforms designed to create a

more open and competitive climate for private investment. Thats why foreign companies areentering the Bangladeshi market to do business and grabbing away the customers from the local

companies. In this competitive world of business, our local companies are not that much eligible

to compete with the foreign companies. Due to products feature, attributes and brand recognition

young people are switching from local to foreign products.

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This phenomenon persuaded us to conduct a research on the buying behavior of young

generation in our country. According to our research it is found that local companies have to

develop their products and brand because the young people dont give priority to patriotism, they

just think about the product itself. We believe the way to overcome this problem is to offer a

greater variety of quality products and services. Along with this, local companies can use our

cultures and trends in case of promoting the products but the main point is they have to come up

with quality and excellent products.

This report will elaborate the methods and outcomes of the various forms of research that we

have conducted. In-depth analysis of our research findings, as well as recommendations for local

companies to increasing market share and attract young customers through enhancing the values

of the customers.

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Research Problem &

Hypothesis

Background of the Problem

Since last two decades noteworthy numbers of foreign investors or companies are entering

Bangladesh in different industries. Gradually they occupied a strong position over our local

companies in all the sectors. For example, Grameenphone (Telecommunication), Unilever

(Consumer Products) etc. The underlying reasons behind these foreign companies aggression in

our country over local companies are the inability of our local companies to come up with better

products and lack of significant marketing strategy to grab more customers.

It is clear form the local companies position against foreign companies is poor because local

companies always failed to come up quality products. They hardly looked at more innovative

products and marketing strategies. In effect the young educated people of our country prefer

foreign products.

A significant portion of the customers in our country are the young people who always justify the

product before making a buying decision, and they always seek those product which offer a

diverse array of features and attributes. In this case foreign companies gain position over our

local companies because they have been able to attract customers through their vast array of

product offerings.

The rationales why young people choose foreign products are

Product features

Product attributes

Price

Quality services

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Brand recognition etc.

Hence form the above facts it is clear that the young people are concerned about the product

itself while making a buying decision, in this case they dont take patriotism under consideration.

Exploratory Research

Before formally starting any research project it is often useful to conduct some initial research

simply to identify the problem. Exploratory research is the initial research conducted to clarify or

define a problem. It is not very systematic or scientific. Exploratory research is mainly conducted

during the problem discovery stage where we can sense a problem but are unaware of its

identification. Tools used for conducting exploratory research are experience surveys, pilotstudies (includes focus group and depth interviews), secondary data analysis, and case studies.

Our research topic did not allow us to conduct much exploratory research with secondary data or

with case studies since due to lack of availability of information concerning Bangladeshi

products in libraries and in the internet. We did not have any relevant ready-made case studies

that we could solve to be aware of the problem. So our exploratory research was basically

experience surveys.

Our research data was obtained from both primary and secondary sources. We collected some

secondary data to what extent it was availablesince relevant secondary data was difficult to

find. This included some newspaper articles written by investment experts, article from business

magazines. Most of the primary data was however collected through survey. For conducting the

primary research we have designed a survey questionnaire and selected a sample size of 100

respondents to accomplish the survey.

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Problem Definition

Considering the above problem, we have formulated a formal problem definition:

Young people are making their buying decisions based on product quality, price, brand

image; not based on patriotism.

Research Hypothesis

It is important that the problem definition is converted into specific research hypothesis. The

hypothesis of our research is:

Emphasizing on producing quality products will help the local companies to attract young

customers and as well as it will increase patriotism in their minds while making a buying

decisions

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Research Design

A master plan that specifies the methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing needed

information is called research design. Typically research design is the second stage of the

marketing research process. Research design stage is the stage in which we the researchers

determined the overall framework for the research plan of action by basically selecting the

research method.

We actually have done our project with quantitative research design and most of the

measurement of the questions was likert method. To test our hypothesis we have to develop all

of the research method and those are: exploratory, descriptive and causal. Our research data was

obtained from both primary and secondary sources. We have collected some secondary data to

what extent it is available.

Data Collection Method

All four members in our group have involved in data collection. We, the four group members

went to different places like university campuses, shopping malls etc. We therefore collected

response from 100 respondents who are young, educated and people between 16-30 years of age.

Since we collected 100 responses, we achieved our target ratio. We have given the

questionnaires to them and explained them what to do. Thus we have done data collection.

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Data Processing and Analysis

The collected data was processed by applying standard editing and coding procedures. Foranalyzing the data we will utilize simple tabulation and cross tabulation formats. Statistical

methods and procedures such as simple and multiple regression analysis, hypothesis testing and

ANOVA have been applied for conducting data processing and analysis.

For this purpose we used more than one software packages including SPSS (Statistical Packages

for Social Sciences), Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Excel. In-depth analysis of the relevant part

of the research has been given in the latter part of the report.

The Sampling Frame

We had selected different university campuses and shopping malls as our locations from where

we chose the sampling frame. We had 100 respondents, of who all are young people and between

16-30 years.

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Survey and Research

Methodology

The methodology for our survey research has been described briefly in this section.

Survey Project Goals

Our primary research objective is to determine whether product features, quality, price, brand

name affect more than patriotism while young people make a buying decision. Specifically, this

research objective can be sub-categorized into the following:

Investigate whether the existing product line is adequate for capturing the target

audience. If not, then identify the underlying reasons for the product line to be

inadequate.

Find out what additional product offerings are demanded by existing and potential

customers of local products.

Develop and propose some new product items that could be offered by the local

companies to attract customers. Care would be taken to ensure that it is feasible for the

company under its existing capacity to offer these new products.

Determine whether the introduction of such new products would positively contribute

towards attracting new customers.

Conceptual and Operational Definitions

Marketing Research and Analysis

In order to make fact-based decisions regarding marketing strategy and design effective, cost-

efficient implementation programs, and firms must possess a detailed, objective understanding of

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their own business and the market in which they operate. In analyzing these issues, the discipline

of marketing management often overlaps with the related discipline of strategic planning.

Traditionally, marketing analysis was structured into three areas: Customer analysis, Company

analysis, and Competitor analysis (so-called "3Cs" analysis). More recently, it has become

fashionable in some marketing circles to divide these further into five "Cs": Customer analysis,

Company analysis, Collaborator analysis, Competitor analysis, and analysis of the industry

Context.

The focus of customer analysis is to develop a scheme for market segmentation, breaking down

the market into various constituent groups of customers, which are called customer segments or

market segments. Marketing managers work to develop detailed profiles of each segment,

focusing on any number of variables that may differ among the segments: demographic,

psychographic, geographic, behavioral, needs-benefit, and other factors may all be examined.

Marketers also attempt to track these segments' perceptions of the various products in the market

using tools such as perceptual mapping.

Company Analysis

In company analysis, marketers focus on understanding the company's cost structure and cost

position relative to competitors, as well as working to identify a firm's core competencies and

other competitively distinct company resources. Marketing managers may also work with the

accounting department to analyze the profits the firm is generating from various product lines

and customer accounts. The company may also conduct periodic brand audits to assess the

strength of its brands and sources of brand equity.

The firm's collaborators may also be profiled, which may include various suppliers, distributors

and other channel partners, joint venture partners, and others. An analysis of complementary

products may also be performed if such products exist.

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Marketing management employs various tools from economics and competitive strategy to

analyze the industry context in which the firm operates. These include Porter's five forces,

analysis of strategic groups of competitors, value chain analysis and others. Depending on the

industry, the regulatory context may also be important to examine in detail.

Product Lining

Product lining is the marketing strategy of offering for sale several related products. Unlike

product bundling, where several products are combined into one, lining involves offering several

related products individually. A line can comprise related products of various sizes, types,

colours, qualities, or prices.

Line depth refers to the number of product variants in a line. Line consistency refers to how

closely relate the products that make up the line are. Line vulnerability refers to the percentage of

sales or profits that are derived from only a few products in the line.

The number of different product lines sold by a company is referred to as width of product mix.

The total number of products sold in all lines is referred to as length of product mix. If a line of

products is sold with the same brand name, this is referred to as family branding. When you add

a new product to a line, it is referred to as a line extension.

When you add a line extension that is of better quality than the other products in the line, this is

referred to as trading up or brand leveraging. When you add a line extension that is of lower

quality than the other products of the line, this is referred to as trading down. When you trade

down, you will likely reduce your brand equity. You are gaining short-term sales at the expense

of long term sales.

Image anchors are highly promoted products within a line that define the image of the whole

line. Image anchors are usually from the higher end of the line's range. When you add a new

product within the current range of an incomplete line, this is referred to as line filling.

Price lining is the use of a limited number of prices for all your product offerings. This is a

tradition started in the old five and dime stores in which everything cost either 5 or 10 cents. Its

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underlying rationale is that these amounts are seen as suitable price points for a whole range of

products by prospective customers. It has the advantage of ease of administering, but the

disadvantage of inflexibility, particularly in times of inflation or unstable prices.

There are many important decisions about product and service development and marketing. In

the process of product development and marketing we should focus on strategic decisions about

product attributes product branding product packaging product labelling product support services

but product strategy also calls for building a product line.

Marketing Mix Model

The marketing mix model is often expanded to include sub-mixes. For example, the promotion

variable can be further decomposed into a promotional mix consisting of advertising, sales

promotion, personal selling, publicity, direct marketing, undercover marketing, viral marketing,

and e-marketing. Within the promotional mix, advertising can be further broken down into an

"advertising media mix" that specifies how much emphasis is placed on television ads, radio ads,

newspaper ads, internet ads, magazine ads, etc.

Mix coherency refers to how well the components of the mix blend together. A strategy of

selling expensive luxury products in discount stores has poor coherency between distribution and

product offering.

Editing and Cleaning Data

After collecting the data form the survey, it had to edit. Editing is the process of checking the

data for necessary corrections. We found that all of the respondents filled the questionnaires and

we did not need to make any corrections.

Survey Pretest

After preparing our questionnaire (which was checked and rechecked with the course instructor

for accuracy, consistency, and legitimacy of the questions), we decided to pretest the

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questionnaire with some respondents, to see if the questionnaire is easily comprehensible and

whether the respondents are comfortable with the questions. Some questions had to be altered.

Ethical Consideration

In our marketing research project, we have tried to protect the information of our respondents. In

addition, we havent gather the questionnaire of every respondents serially rather haphazardly.

Moreover, we havent take or influence the respondents to write down their names or contact

number. So that the information of every respondents was highly confidential.

In addition, we let them know for what purpose the survey is conducting and ensure them that

the information will not reveal to anyone. Furthermore, as we have done the marketing research

course with our honorable course instructor, we were well prepared for how to conduct an in-

depth survey. So we have applied the procedures what we have learnt from this course.

Coding

Coding is the process of assigning numbers to alternatives when we are doing data entry into the

statistical software SPSS. We prepared a code book as follows:

No. Variables Codes Variable Type

q1 Buying behaviour Nominal

q2 Preferable soft drinks Nominal

q3 CSR activity Nominal

q4 VOIP scandal Nominal

q5 Daily commodities Nominal

q6 National theme in packaging Nominal

q7.1 Cloths Nominal

q7.2 Perfume Nominal

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q7.3 Electronics Nominal

q7.4 Cosmetics Nominal

q8 National icon vs. International icon Nominal

q9 Symbol over company name and product Nominal

q10 GP's logo and impacts on sales Nominal

q11 Foreign soft drinks' preference over local soft drinks' Nominal

q12 New local products Nominal

q13 Adherence to specific brands Nominal

q14 Buying a product for the first time Nominal

q15 Similar local and foreign product Nominal

q16 Faith on local pharmaceuticals Nominal

q17.1 Cloths Nominal

q17.2 Perfume Nominal

q17.3 Electronics Nominal

q17.4 Cosmetics Nominal

q18 Multinational companys contribution Nominal

q19 Foreign mineral water over local mineral water Nominal

q20 Decision making affected by patriotism Nominal

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Data Analysis

In this section of the report we will analyze our data of the questionnaire survey. Our

questionnaire consisted of twenty (20) questions which are related to our research topic.

We have entered the data in SPSS and run various statistical processes. Here we discuss them.

We begin with simple frequency distribution of some of our most important questions in the

questionnaire, including the relevance for the question in the report as well as relating the

marketing logic that would help us to prove or disprove our hypothesis.

After analyzing the simple frequency distributions, we will analyze various cross-tabulations that

we have prepared to analyze our findings. Finally the statistical processes, the various statistical

(ANOVA, T-test, F-test, reliability analysis, etc) tests that we have performed have been

explained in simple language for the convenience of the reader.

Buying Behavior

Valid Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative

Percent

Product Feature 36 36.0 36.0 36.0

Brand Loyalty 42 42.0 42.0 78.0

Product 9 9.0 9.0 87.0

Local 13 13.0 13.0 100.0

Foreign 0 0.0 0.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

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Buying Behavior

Our question was when you decide to buy something what factor first comes to your mind?

From the frequency table we can see most of the people around 42% people prefer brand loyalty

when they decide to buy something. The second majority part of 36% said they prefer product

features. Only 9% of the respondents said they focus only on product itself and 13% said they

prefer local products. This question was relevant because we wanted to know the factors that

drive young people to make a buying decision.

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Preferable Soft Drink


Percent

Coca-Cola 19 19.0 19.0 19.0

Pepsi 20 20.0 20.0 39.0

Mojo 19 19.0 19.0 58.0

RC Cola 25 25.0 25.0 83.0

Others 17 17.0 17.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Preferable Soft Drink

Our question was when you go for a soft drink you first search for.

From the table we can see there were 25% of the respondents said the search for RC Cola when

to go buy a soft drink. And there were 20% of the respondents said they search for Pepsi. Coca-

Cola said 19% respondents; Mojo 19% and 17% respondents prefer other drinks.

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CSR Activity


Percent

Strongly Agree 40 40.0 40.0 40.0

Agree 30 30.0 30.0 70.0

Neutral 11 11.0 11.0 81.0

Disagree 10 10.0 10.0 91.0

Strongly Disagree 9 9.0 9.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

CSR Activity

Our question was in Bangladesh, multinational companies are maintaining proper CSR(Corporate social responsibility) activities.

From the table we can see there were 40% of the respondents said they strongly agree with the

question. And there were 40% of the respondents said they only agree. 11% were neutral;

comparatively 10% and 9% people disagreed and strongly disagreed with the term.

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VOIP Scandal


Percent

Yes 12 12.0 12.0 12.0

No 43 43.0 43.0 55.0

Thought about it 45 45.0 45.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

VOIP Scandal

Our question was does the foreign telecoms VOIP scandal induced you to switch to Teletalk

(The only government owned mobile operator)?

From the chart we can see that most of the respondent 45% said that they about it while only

12% said yes to switch to teletalk and 43% respondents disagreed to switch from GP.

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Daily Commodities


Percent

Local 30 30.0 30.0 30.0

Foreign 70 70.0 70.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

Daily Commodities

Our question was in case of choosing your daily commodities what do you prefer?

From the chart we can see that only 30% of the respondents said that they will go for local

products while choosing their daily commodities. On the other hand, rest of the 70% respondents

said that they will go for foreign products.

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National theme in packaging


Percent


Agree 10 10.0 10.0 20.0

Neutral 5 5.0 5.0 5.0

Disagree 45 45.0 45.0 70.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

National theme in packaging

Our question was products that use national theme in packaging attract you more than the

products that have good packaging.

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10% of the respondents said they strongly agree with the question. 10% said they just agree, 5%

were neutral. 45% of the respondents said they disagree with the question. And rest of the 30%

strongly disagreed with the term.

Price is the most influencing factor Clothes


Percent


Agree 30 30.0 30.0 69.0

Neutral 11 11.0 11.0 80.0

Disagree 10 10.0 10.0 90.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

Clothes

Among our 100 respondents, 39% strongly agreed with the fact that price is the factor that drives

them toward a buying decision in case of purchasing clothes. 30% said they just only agree. 11%

respondents were neutral to this question and both disagree and strongly disagree answered by

10% of respondents each.

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Price is the most influencing factor Perfume


Percent


Agree 35 35.0 35.0 65.0

Neutral 10 10.0 10.0 75.0

Disagree 15 15.0 15.0 90.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

Perfume

Among our 100 respondents, 30% strongly agreed with the fact that price is the factor that drives

them toward a buying decision in case of purchasing perfume. 35% said they just only agree.

10% respondents were neutral to this question and 15 % respondents disagreed and 10%

respondents strongly disagreed with the question.

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Price is the most influencing factor Electronics


Percent


Agree 28 28.0 28.0 61.0

Neutral 21 21.0 21.0 82.0

Disagree 9 9.0 9.0 91.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

Electronics

Out of our 100 respondents, 33% strongly agreed with the term that price is the factor that drives

them toward making a buying decision in case of purchasing electronics. 28% said they just

agree with the question. 21% respondents remained neutral, 9% respondents disagreed and 9%

respondents strongly disagreed with the question.

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Price is the most influencing factor Cosmetics


Percent


Agree 35 35.0 35.0 65.0

Neutral 10 10.0 10.0 75.0

Disagree 15 15.0 15.0 90.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

Cosmetics

Amongst our 100 respondents, 30% strongly agreed with the term that price is the factor that

drives them toward making a buying decision in case of purchasing cosmetics. 35% said they

just agree with the question. 10% respondents remained neutral, 15% respondents disagreed and

10% respondents strongly disagreed with the question.

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National icon vs. International icon


Percent


Agree 2 2.0 2.0 4.0

Neutral 24 24.0 24.0 28.0

Disagree 37 37.0 37.0 65.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

National VS International Icon

Our question was a product endorsed by a national icon makes you more attractive than a

product marketed by international icon.

From the chart we can see that out of our 100 respondents 37% disagreed with this question.

35% strongly disagreed and 24% remained neutral in this fact. On the other hand 2% strongly

and 2% just only agreed that a product endorsed by a national icon is more attractive.

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Symbol over company name and product


Percent


Agree 2 2.0 2.0 3.0

Neutral 17 17.0 17.0 20.0

Disagree 40 40.0 40.0 60.0


Total 100 100.0 100.0

Symbol over company name and product

Our question was symbol attracts you more than company name and product.

From the chart we can see that out of our 100 respondents 40% disagreed and 40% strongly

disagreed with the fact that symbol attracts them more than the company and product.17% of the

respondents remained neutral. On the other hand 1% strongly and 2% just only agreed with this

question.

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GP's logo and impacts on sales


Percent

Yes 20 20.0 20.0 20.0

No 80 80.0 80.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

GP's logo and impacts on sales

Our question was do you think that when Grameen Phone changed logo it created a positive

impact on its volume of sale?

From the chart we can see that out of our 100 respondents 20% said that changing its logo

created an impact on Grameen Phones sales. By contrast, rests of the 80% respondents think

that changing their logo did not create any positive impact on its sales.

the performance management system of advanced chemical industries limited

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