‘Integrated Marketing Communication Related Practices Adopted By Selected Telecom

Companies - An Empirical Study Of Southern Rajasthan’

Synopsis of the proposed research plan

Submitted for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in

Management

Of

Faculty of Management Studies

Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur

By

Tanuja Singh

Junior Research Fellow

Under the Supervision of

Dr. Karunesh Saxena

Profesor Faculty of Management Studies,

Director CDC,

Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur (Raj.)

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FORMAT FOR OUTLINE OF PROPOSED RESEARCH WORK

1. Name of Scholar (In English) : Tanuja Singh

(In Hindi) :

2. Title of Research (In English) : “Integrated Marketing Communication

Related Practices adopted by Selected

Telecom Companies- An Empirical

Study of Southern Rajasthan”

(In Hindi) :

3. Location

a. Institution/Department : Faculty of Management Studies,

where the work is to be done Mohan Lal Sukhadia University,

Udaipur (Raj.)

b. Geographical area of Investigation: Southern Rajasthan

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4. Importance of proposed investigation

Due to globalization, competition intense and company’s become vying with each

other for increasing market share, customer become more educated and more informed.

Therefore company’s need to develop suitable marketing communication strategies to

establish their brand positioning and keeping the consumers well informed.

Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it

attractively, and making it accessible. Companies must also communicate with present and

potential stakeholders and the general public. For most therefore, the question is not whether

to communicate but rather what to say, how and when to say it, to whom, & how often. But

communications get harder and harder as more & more companies clamor to grab an

increasingly empowered consumer’s divided attention. Consumers themselves are taking a

more active role in the communication process and deciding what communications they want

to receive and how they wants to communicate to other about the products and services they

use. Today marketing communications increasingly occur as a kind of personal dialogue

between the company and its customers. Companies must ask not only. “How should we

reach our customers?” but also “How should our customers reach us?” & even “How can

our customers reach each other?”

As marketing communicators adopt richer but more fragmented media and promotion

mixes to reach their diverse markets, they risk creating a communications hodgepodge for

consumers. To prevent this, companies are adopting the concept of integrated marketing

communications, which calls for carefully integrating all sources of company communication

to deliver a clear and consistent message to target markets. To integrate its external

communications effectively, the company must first integrate its internal communications

activities. The Growing interest in IMC may be traced to a number of interrelated factors.

Schultz (1999) argued that IMC is the result of natural evolution from the use of mass market

advertising to more targeted message strategies.

Due to fast changing of technology mobile has become extension of body part.

Advertising is one of the biggest tool to development of Integrated Marketing

Communication. So the telecom sector uses IMC tools to promote the product and build the

strong image of the brand in the consumers mind. Integrated Marketing Communication

(IMC) is the practice of unifying all marketing communication tools so the send consist,

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persuasive massage promoting company goals. IMC is a major strategic concept that is as

evolutionary and discursive in its concept as other marketing and management tools. There is

a strong need to explore the concept and phenomena of IMC directly in the real world of

communication. Communication is the basis of all marketing activities. The purpose of

integrated marketing communications strategy is to work toward the common goal of

customer focused marketing. Therefore, “IMC is a return to building brand loyalty by

building brands that deserve loyalty”.

5. Review of work already done on the subject:

Dessy & Kania (2012).The author discuss that the Integrated Marketing Communication

(IMC) today has become a very important pro-motional communication strategy. It

explain how the role IMC can cut through message clutter by coordinating all marketing

communication vehicles, and select relevant brand messages and use less-wasteful of

media. By using IMC as the new marketing communication philosophy, companies and

organizations can benefit brand trust from consumers and greater brand differentiation

among competitors.

Pillai (2012) India continues table the one of the fastest growing major telecom markets in

the world. The Indian telecom has undergone a significant change during the past few

years to become one of the leading telecom markets in the world. Easy availability of low

priced devices aggressive network coverage & effort able services are some of the major

factors that have boosted the growth of this sector. The deployed of 3G network in India

also facilitated the development of broadband market. There has been continuous

improvement in the overall teledensity of the country. Wireless telephone connections

have significantly contributed towards the growth of this service sector in India.ndia

continues to be the one of the fastest growing major telecom markets in the world. The

Indian telecom has undergone a significant change during the past few years to become

one of the leading telecom markets in the world.

Chitty, Barker, Valos & Shimp (2011) introduces the fundamentals of IMC. It presents

an overview of MC & explains the key features of IMC. It also outlines the conceptual

basis of brand equity by examining brand recognition & brand recall, & explains how IMC

can build brand equity. It examines the marketing communication process & explains how

meaning can be created.

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Shimp (2010) describe that the IMC is a communication process that entails the

planning, creation, integration, & implementation of diverse forms of marketing

communication (Advertising, sales promotion, publicity releases, events etc.) that are

delivered over time to a brand’s targeted customers & prospects.

Murthy & Bhojanna (2010) explain that the Marketing of any product or services,

promotion is required promotion plan gives the necessary direction that helps in the

implementation of promotion effort. It includes information pertaining to opportunity

analysis & also competition analysis with respect to the firm. The company decides the

total to be used among the promotional mix during situation analysis stage IMC

considers communicating to target markets by identifying & selecting the market.

Perner (2010) explains that Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) involves the

idea that a firm’s promotional efforts should be coordinated to achieve the best

combined effects of the firm’s efforts.

Rowley & Ahmed (2010) exploratory investigation into the brand strategy of the

telecommunications service providers in Jordan, and thereby contributes to the limited

research into brand strategy in both the telecommunications sector, and in the Middle-

Eastern countries. The study demonstrates the extent to which the evolution of

competitive strategy and brand strategy are interwoven, as well as generates a range of

insights into successful brand strategies in this marketplace.

Grunig & Grunig (2010) explains that organizations are best served by the inherent

diversity of perspectives provided by separate public relations and marketing functions.

Paul (2006) IMC is a strategic marketing model for using some or all aspects of

Marketing Communications to build a strong brand through consistent, interactive

communication between audio logy practices and their target markets. IMC is neutral

insofar as MC functions are employed, but this article has used advertising, PR and

MPR examples to illustrate use of different MC functions to in meeting IMC strategic

goals for targeted markets.

Agarwal & Agarwal (2006) aims at presenting a bird’s eye view on the needs,

approaches & issues related to IMC with a research perspective. This can helps the

researchers to carry out the literature survey. This account traces the history of IMC

and the difference needs & models evolved, leading to the use of IMC as a prevalent

MC form. Some problems of integration are also discussed in the article.

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IMC was more likely to be perceived as meaning integrated media communications.

Many of their findings support those who cited structures as a significant barrier to

Integration.

Prameswari (2006) describes that the Integrated Marketing is a comprehensive

approach to internal and external organizational communication. In the IMC approach the

different communication are in the form of arcs making up a 360- degree circle, at the

center of which lies the customer. , "Integrated Marketing Communication" are like a

band. The corporate focus of integrated marketing must be on relationship marketing must

be on relationships and on more audiences than just customers. For companies that

currently embrace IMC, the new economy mega trends translate into opportunities.

Placing the customer and other key stakeholders at the center of your business strategy has

never been more important. The highly competitive market place has made relationship

building paramount in the quest for success.

Clow & Baack (2005) evaluated that IMC is the coordination & integration of all

marketing communication tools, avenues, & sources within a company into a seamless

Programme that maximizes the impact of consumers and other end users at a minimal

cost.

Not PRODUCT But CONSUMER

Not PRICE But COST

Not PLACE But CONVENIENCE Not PROMOTION But COMMUNICATION

I M C i s c o n c e r n e d w i t h

4 c ' s a n d 4 p ' s

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Belch & Belch (2003) find the reasons for the Integrated Marketing Communications

perspective include a rapidly changing environment with respect to consumers,

technology, and media. The IMC movements is also being driven by changes in the

ways company’s market their product & services.

Harris (1998) details that, today's world-leading companies and brands are using

public relations to add power and persuasion to all of their marketing messages.

Information, rather than salesmanship, builds credibility with sophisticated and

skeptical consumers, and public relations, long viewed as the most trustworthy source

of information about products and services and the companies that provide them, can

effectively reach targets where other marketing communication tools fall short. He

examines how and why public relations plays a critical role in integrated marketing and

explains the many ways PR can add value to an integrated marketing communications

(IMC) program.

Results of the study

Perceived

Problem

Related to Possible Solution

Importance of

integration not

recognized by

clients.

Education, commitment

of clients being

inconsistent to the

corporate culture.

Emphasis on

integration by

communication

practitioners and

adherence of clients to

corporate values.

Ad hoc

approach to

marketing

communication

Outsourcing creative

people not seen as

strategists.

Marcom managers and

emphasizing corporate

identity as a core

message.

Inappropriate

training of

marketing

managers

Emphasis on short-term

goals such as sales,

need to ‘make their

mark’

Rise of marcom

managers is a solution.

Large

companies,

fragmented

Organizational

structures, turf wars,

poorly defined

More horizontal

structures, chief

executive officer

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departments,

also franchises.

corporate culture. commitment and

internal corporate

identity programs.

Poor

management of

communication.

None interested has

authority, vested

interests of

departments, and too

many day-to-day

responsibilities.

Manage

communication by

aligning all

communication

strategies to long-term

corporation mission.

Poor

management of

the core

message

(corporate

identity)

Need for marketing

manager to be aware of

corporate identity

issues.

Clearer understanding

of the role of the

corporate identity in

communication.

6. Research gaps identified in the proposed field of investigation

Review of previous literature leads to the following research gaps:

1. No study is found by the researcher which attempts to investigate the IMC related

practices adopted by Telecom Company’s particularly in Southern Rajasthan.

7. Objectives of the Study:

The main objectives of the proposed study are:

• To access the awareness levels of selected team managers of Telecom Companies.

• To study the Impact of Various organizational factor on the implementation IMC model.

• To corroborate the effectiveness of IMC model from the customers end.

• To see the impact of various demographic factor on their perception about IMC.

• To develop an understating about the ideal IMC model which can be applied universally.

8. Major Hypotheses

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IMC related practices adopted by selected Telecom Company’s.

Integrated Marketing Communication Related Practices adopted by Selected

Telecom Companies in Southern Rajasthan.

9. Research Methodology

9.1 Research Design

The Proposed Research carries Descriptive Research Design. Proposed Research is

characterized by the prior formulation of specific research questions and hypotheses. Thus,

the information needed is clearly defined. As a result, this research is pre-planned and

structured. It is typically based on predetermined representative samples and specifies the

methods for selecting the sources of information and for collecting data from those sources.

9.2Sample Design

Sampling Unit - Marketing Managers from selected telecom companies.

Selected customers of Southern Rajasthan

Sampling Techniques - 2 sets of semi structured questionnaire.

Sample Size -

9.3Research Instrument

9.4 Sources of Data and Information

Primary as well as Secondary data sources will be used to generate evidence to

supplement the research design. The Primary source of data will include the 2 sets of

questionnaire one for managers and other emails and personal visit. It will be semi

structured questionnaire. The researcher will make it possible through the primary

source data collection technique viz. observation, and structured questionnaires from

the respondents. The primary survey will be done from the selected regions of South

Rajasthan in India. Secondary sources will comprise Annual Reports of Telecom

Companies, and publications of Telecom Companies, various related journals and

magazines.

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9.5Analysis Tools

The data will be analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics tools and advanced

research techniques. To seek useful inputs as feedback T-Test, Multivariate Test,

Factor Analysis, and Chi-Square Test may also be used.

10. Tentative Chapter wise details of proposed research

(1) Chapter-1: Overview of IMC with special emphasis on telecom sector

(2) Chapter-2: Application of IMC practices in effective management of

Telecom Company’s

(3) Chapter-3: Literature review

(4) Chapter-4: Research Methodology

(5) Chapter -5: Analysis of result

(6) Chapter -6: Conclusion & Suggestion

11. References

Kania., Dessy. (2012). The new Advertising “The Rise of Integrated Marketing

Communications (IMC)”. UPH e Journal, 7th May, 2012.

Pillai, S. P. (2012). Indian Telecom – An overview. Southern Economist, May, p-

57.

Chitty,W., Barker, N., Valos, M., & Shimp, T. A. (2011). IMC: 3 rd Asia Pacific

Edition.

Shimp, A. T. (2010). Advertising, promotion & other aspects of IMC.

Murthy, S.N., & Bhojanna, U., (2010). Advertising: an IMC perspective. New Delhi,

Excel books, pg.36-48.

Perner, L. (2010). Integrated Marketing Communication and Promotion.

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Rowley, J., & Alamro, A. (2010). Brand Strategies of Jordanian telecommunications

service providers. Journal of brand Management, online published, 26th November.

Grunig, J, E., & Grunig, L, A. (2010). The relationship between public relations and

marketing in excellent organizations: evidence from the IABC study. Vol. 4 Issue 3,

1988, pg 141-162.

Agarwal, A., Agarwal, P. (2006). IMC: Needs approaches and Issues- A research

perspective. The ICFAI journal of Marketing Management, p-57.

Prameswari, C.V. (2006). The Role of Integrated Marketing Communication In

Furniture and Electronic Retail Industry. Online thesis.

Clow, E. K., & Baack, D. (2005). Integrated Advertising, promotion & Marketing

Communication. New Delhi, Practical hall India, pg. 8.

Belch. E. G., & Belch. A. M. (2003). Advertising & promotion: an integrated MC

perspective. New Delhi Tata Mc Graw- Hill Publication Co. Ltd, pg 6-28.

Harris, T, L. (1998). The Secret Weapon of Integrated Marketing. Value Added

Public Relations, McGraw- Hill, pg-314.

Signature of the candidate with date

OUTLINE APPROVED

Supervisor…………………………

Faculty of Management

Mohan Lal Sukhadia University

Udaipur

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