Majorprojectreportcomparativeanalysisoflenovoandacerlaptops 150526073216 Lva1 App6892

A

MAJOR PROJECT REPORT

ON

Customer Buying Preference towards Laptops

A Comparative Analysis of Lenovo and Acer Laptops

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

Master of Business Administration

Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekananda Technical University, Bhilai

.

Submitted by,

RAHUL PRAKASH SINGH

MBA 4th Semester

Session 2013-15

Approved By, Guided By,

DR.SOUREN SARKAR PRATHEMESH TELANG

Head of the Department Asst.Professor (FMS)

Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions

Faculty of Management Studies Approved By AICTE

(Managed by ShriGangajali Education Society, Bhilai)

Major Project Report And Viva Voce 5377613082 2013-15

2 Rahul Prakash 08982419919

DECLARATION

I, the undersigned solemnly declare that the report of the project work entitled

Customer Buying Preference Towards Laptop A Comparative Analysis of

Lenovo and Acer Laptops is based on my own work carried out during the course

of my study under the supervision of Mr. PRATHEMESH TELANG.

I assert that the statements made and conclusions drawn are an outcome of my

research work. I further declare that to the best of my knowledge and belief the

report does not contain any part of any work which has been submitted for the award

of MBA degree or any other degree/diploma/certificate in this University or any other

University of India or abroad.

Place : Bhilai

Date :

_________________ Rahul Prakash Singh

MBA 4th Semester

Enrollment No: AM5671



CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project titled Customer Buying Preference towards

Laptops A Comparative Analysis of Lenovo and Acer Laptops has been

conducted by RAHUL PRAKASH SINGH, a student of MBA 4th semester at Shri

Shankaracharya Group Of Institution, Bhilai. He has conducted this project under my

guidance and supervision.

_______________________________

Place: Bhilai MR. PRATHEMESH TELANG

Date: Asst. Professor

FMS, SSGI



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A written word often has the unfortunate tendency to degenerate genuine gratitude

into stilled formality. But this is the only way I can express my heartfelt thanks.

My special thanks to Mr PRATHEMESH TELANG , who has given me continuous

guidance and support during this project.

I would thank my friends, family and the residents of Bhilai/Durg city who has helped

a lot for successful completion of this report.

I shall be failing in my duty if I dont express my deep sense of gratitude to my

Faculties and classmates, who have shared their valuable time and helped me

directly or indirectly in the preparation of this report.

Place: Bhilai Rahul Prakash Singh

Date : MBA Semester IV



TABLE OF CONTENTS

i. DECLARATION 2

ii. CERTIFICATE 3

iii. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4

iv. TABLE OF CONTENTS 5

1. INTRODUCTION 6-10

2. COMPANY PROFILE 11-16

3. LITERATURE REVIEW 17-20

4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21-23

5. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 24-26

6. FINDINGS 27-28

7. RECOMMENDATIONS 29-30

8. LIMITATIONS 31-32

9. CONCLUSION 33-34

vi. REFERENCES 35

vii. QUESTIONNAIRE 36



CHAPTER - 1

INTRODUCTION



INTRODUCTION OF STUDY

To sell a product it is must to make healthy relationship customers and

for this it is important to know the behavior of consumers. How they

satisfy? What are the expectations of consumers?

This project is undertaken to know the customer behavior & factor

influencing purchase intension for Lenovo and Acer laptops.

The present is the era of customers. Customers are more

knowledgeable than ever before and because the customer is more

knowledgeable, companies must be faster, more agile and more

creative than few years ago. So companies should strive to enhance

customer satisfaction through knowing their expectations regarding

products.

Laptops are an integral part of todays students study kit. And with a

number of brands available the market, each trying to differentiate itself

from the other in terms of features, style, etc and trying to entice the buyer

with attractive offers, the decision of purchasing the laptop has become a

gruesome exercise for the customers. The very nature of the product



encourages the prospective buyer to go through all the stages of a typical

buying process. That is the reason that I have taken up to study the

consumer buying preference for laptop buying, A Comparative Analysis of

Lenovo and Acer Laptops.

HISTORY OF LAPTOP

It is very difficult to say when the first portable computer was created.

This is because the first laptop did not look the same as we know it

today. It could not be folded. The first laptop was probably invented in

1979 by William Moggridge. He developed his portable computer for

Grid Systems Corporation. His computer was five times lighter than any

other computer used at that time. Historians, however consider that the

first laptop was created in 1981 and its name was Osborne 1. Its

inventor was Adam Osborne who was also a former cool publisher. He

was the founder of Osborne Computer. His portable computer weighed

24 pounds. The company spent 1795 US dollars on creating the

computer. It had a five inch screen a special place for a modem and two

devices for using a floppy disk. There were also several programs

designed for computer and a battery pack for providing energy. The

computer however, was not successful. The same year saw the birth of

another computer called Epson HX-20. It was portable computer with a



liquid crystal display LCD monitor. The computer included a built in

printer. The whole was battery powered. One year later, in 1982, two

computer designers from Microsoft Kazuhiko Nishi and Bill Gates,

started their discussion concerning a new portable computer. The main

thing about the computer was a new LCD technology. The prototype of

the new laptop was presented to Radio Shack. The latter agreed to start

the production of the computer. A year later company launched its TRS-

80 model 100, which was a computer that looked pretty much like a

laptop we know it today.

Laptops usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC

adapter that charges the battery while also supplying power to the

computer itself. Many computers also have a 3 volt cell to run the clock

and other processes in the event of a power failure. Laptops contain

components that are similar to their desktop counterparts perform the

same functions, but are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use and

efficient power consumption.

Although typically less powerful for the same price. Laptops usually have

liquid crystal displays and most of them use different memory modules

for their random access memory (RAM), for instance, SO-DIMM in lieu of

the larger DIMMs. In addition to a built-in keyboard, they may utilize a



touchpad (also known as a track pad) or a pointing stick for input, though

an external keyboard or mouse can usually be attached.

It is a little hard to determine what was the first portable or laptop

computer, the first portable computers did not look like the book-sized

and folding laptops that we are familiar with today, however, they were

both portable and lap able, and lead to the development of notebook

style laptops. I have outlined several potential first below and how each

qualifies; many of the off-site links provide good photos of the computers

that will let you see the progression in design.

In this day and age, computer technology develops so rapidly that it

seems there is no end to the possibilities of the miracle

machine. Computers, once monstrous behemoths that could dominate

whole rooms, can now be compacted into Lightweight, portable

notebook systems. The laptop computer was likely unimaginable when

computers were first created more than 60 years ago, but today it

features incredible technology in a very small package.



CHAPTER - 2

COMPANY PROFILE



Company Profile of Lenovo

Lenovo markets its products directly to consumers, small to medium size

businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, company-

owned stores (in China only), chain retailers, and major technology distributors

and vendors.

Lenovo Group Ltd. is a Chinese multinational technology company with

headquarters in Beijing, China, and Morrisville, North Carolina, United States. It

designs, develops, manufactures and sells personal computers, tablet

computers, smartphones, workstations, servers, electronic storage devices, IT

management software and smart televisions. In the second quarter of 2013

Lenovo was the world's largest personal computer vendor by unit sales. It

markets the ThinkPad line of notebook computers and the ThinkCentre line of

desktops.

Lenovo has operations in more than 60 countries and sells its products in

around 160 countries. Lenovo's principal facilities are in Beijing, Morrisville and

Singapore, with research centers in those locations, as well as Shanghai,

Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Chengdu in China, and Yamato in Kanagawa

Prefecture, Japan. It operates a joint venture with EMC, LenovoEMC, which

sells network-attached storage solutions. It also has a joint venture with NEC,

Lenovo NEC Holdings, which produces personal computers for the Japanese

market.

Lenovo was founded in Beijing in 1984 as Legend and was incorporated in

Hong Kong in 1988. Lenovo acquired IBM's personal computer business in

2005 and agreed to acquire its Intel-based server business in 2014. Lenovo



entered the smartphone market in 2012 and as of 2014 is the largest vendor of

smartphones in Mainland China. In January 2014, Lenovo agreed to acquire the

mobile phone handset maker Motorola Mobility from Google.

Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the

Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corporations Index, often referred to as "Red

Chips".

In 2009, Lenovo was the fourth largest vendor of personal computers in the

world The Company is the largest seller of PCs in China, with a 28.6% share of

the China market, according to research firm IDC in July, 2009. It reported

annual sales of $14.9 billion for the fiscal year ending 2008/2009.

In India :

Lenovo has gained significant market share in India through bulk orders to

large companies and government agencies. For example, the government of

Tamil Nadu ordered a million laptops from Lenovo in 2012 and single-handedly

made the firm a market leader. Lenovo distributes most of the personal

computers it sells in India through five national distributors such as Ingram

Micro and Redington

Given that most smartphones and tablets are sold to individuals Lenovo is

pursuing a different strategy making use of many small state-centric

distributors. Amar Babu, Lenovo's managing director for India, said, "To reach

out to small towns and the hinterland, we have tied up with 40 regional

distributors. We want our regional distributors to be exclusive to us. We will, in

turn, ensure they have exclusive rights to distribute Lenovo products in their

catchment area." As of 2013, Lenovo had about 6,000 retailers selling

smartphones and tablets in India. In February 2013, Lenovo established a

relationship with Reliance Communications to sell smartphones. The

smartphones carried by Reliance have dual-SIM capability and support both

GSM and CDMA. Babu claims that the relative under-penetration of

smartphones in India represents an opportunity for Lenovo.



Lenovo has assembled a team of senior managers familiar with the Indian

market, launched mobile phones at all price points there, and worked on

branding and marketing in order to build market share. As of February 2014,

Lenovo claims that its sales of smartphones in India have been increasing 100%

per quarter while the market is only growing 15-20% over the same period.

Lenovo did marketing tests of its smartphones in November 2012 in Gujarat

and some southern cities, where Lenovo already had a strong presence.

Lenovo's strategy has been create awareness, maintain a broad selection of

phones at all price points, and developing distribution networks. Lenovo

partnered with two national distributors and over 100 local distributors. As of

February 2014, more than 7,000 retail outlets in India sold Lenovo

smartphones. Lenovo has also partnered with HCL in order to setup 250

service centers in 110 cities

In India, where Lenovo is relatively unknown, Lenovo grants distributors

exclusive territories, but allows them to sell computers from other companies.

Lenovo uses its close relationships with distributors to gain market intelligence

and speed up product development.



Company Profile of Acer

Acer Inc. is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation

specializing in advanced electronics technology and is headquartered in Xizhi,

New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs,

tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, LED, LCD and plasma

televisions, smartphones and peripherals. It also provides e-business services

to businesses, governments and consumers. In 2014 Acer was the fourth-

largest personal computer vendor in the world. In the early 2000s, Acer

implemented a new business model, shifting from a manufacturer to a

designer, marketer and distributor of products, while performing production

processes via contract manufacturers. In addition to its core business, Acer

owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan.

Acer was founded by Stan Shih, his wife Carolyn Yeh, and a group of five others

as Multitech in 1976, headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.

It began with eleven employees and US$25,000 in capital. Initially, it was

primarily a distributor of electronic parts and a consultant in the use of

microprocessor technologies. It produced the Micro-Professor MPF-I training

kit, then two Apple II clones; the Microprofessor II and III before joining the

emerging IBM PC compatible market, and becoming a significant PC

manufacturer. The company was renamed Acer in 1987.

Acer increased worldwide sales while simultaneously reducing its labor force

by identifying and using marketing strategies that best utilized their existing

distribution channels. By 2005, Acer employed a scant 7,800 people

worldwide. Revenues rose from US$4.9 billion in 2003 to US$11.31 billion in

2006.



In the mid-2000s years, consumer notebooks have been almost the sole

growth drivers for the PC industry, and Acer's exceptionally low overheads and

dedication to the channel had made it one of the main beneficiaries of this

trend. Acer grew quickly in Europe in part by embracing the use of more

traditional distribution channels targeting retail consumers when some rivals

were pursuing online sales and business customers. In 2007 Acer bought

Gateway in the USA and Packard Bell in Europe and became the Number 3

world provider of computers and number 2 for notebooks, and achieved

significant improvement in profitability. Acer has been striving to become the

world`s largest PC vendor, in the belief that the goal can help it achieve

economy of scale and garner higher margin. But such a reliance on the high-

volume, low-value PC market made Acer exposed when buying habits changed.

2013 re-organization

On November 2013 Chairman and CEO J.T. Wang, and President Jim Wong,

both resigned due to the company's bad financial performance. Wang had

already been reportedly due to leave Acer at year's end to be replaced by

Wong. Acer founder Stan Shih has taken over as board chairman and interim

president as the company searches for a new candidate to assume the role of

presidency. The position of CEO will be eliminated and its responsibilities

transferred to the chairman or president, according to Acer in order to

improve decision-making efficiency. On December 23 Acer named Jason Chen,

vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing, as its new president and CEO, effective Jan. 1. Entertainment

industry executive and former actress Nancy Hu was named CFO and

Spokesperson as of May 1, 2014.

In India :

Acer's subsidiary in India is Acer India (Pvt) Limited, and was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International, Ltd. in 1999. It is a notable vendor in key segments such as education, desktop computers and low profile notebooks for education. The headquarters are in Bangalore, India



CHAPTER-3

LITERATURE REVIEW



Definition of Buyer Behavior:-

Buyer behavior is all psychological, Social and physical behaviors of

potential customers as they become aware of evaluate, purchase,

consume and tell others about product & service.

Customer buying Decision Process:-

1. Problem identification:-

Problem recognition occurs when a buyer becomes aware of a difference

between a desired state and an actual condition.

Problem deification called need recognition by some is the point where

a potential buyer determines that they have an unfulfilled need want or

desire.

The recognition may result from internal stimuli (e.g. hunger, tired,

the need for additional help, etc.).

The recognition may result from external stimuli (e.g. an

external requirement, an ad, a suggestion from a someone, the creation of

a new position, the retirement of a key individual).

2. Information Search:-

The consumer tries to collect information regarding various

products/service. Through gathering information, the consumer learns

about completing brands and their features. Information may be

collected form magazines, catalogues, retailers, friends, family

members, business association, commercial, chamber of commerce,



telephone directory, trade air etc. Marketers should find out the source

of information and their relative degree of importance to the

consumers.

Personal Sources:- Family, friends, neighbor, as quittances.

Commercial Source:- Advertising, sales persons, dealers, packaging,

displays.

Public sources:- mass media, consumer, rating organizations.

Experimental sources:- Handling. Examine, using the product.

3. Evaluation of alternative:-

There is no single process used by all consumers by one consumer in all

buying situations. There is several First, the consumer processes, some

basic concepts are:

1. The consumer is trying to satisfy need.

2. The consumer is looking for certain benefits from the product solutions.

The marketer must know which criteria the consumer will use in the

purchase decision.

4 . Purchasing decision:-

From among the purchase of alternatives the consumer makes the

solution. It may be to buy or not to buy. If the decision is to buy, the other

additional decisions are:

Which types of laptop he must buy?

From whom do you buy a laptop.

How the payment to be made. And so on.



The marketer up to this stage has tried every means to influence the

purchase behavior, but the choice is properly consumers. In the evaluation

stage the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set.

The consumer may also form an intention to but the most preferred brand.

5. Post Purchase Behavior:-

After purchase the product, the consumer will experience the same level of

product. The Marketers job not end when the product is buying must

monitor post-purchase satisfaction, post-purchase action, post-purchase

use and disposal

Post Purchase Satisfaction:-

The customer, satisfaction is a function of closeness between the buyer,

expectation and the products Perceiver performance. The larger the gap

between expectation and performance, the greater is the consumer

dissatisfaction.

Factors which influence the consumer buying intention for laptops:

FACTORS

Price

Brand Name

Looks and Stylishness

Offers and Discounts

Advertisement & Promotions

After sales service

Processing speed

Battery Life

Availability

Warranty and Guarantees



CHAPTER - 4

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY



RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It deals with the objective of a research study, the method of defining the research problem, the type of hypothesis formulated, the type of data collected, method used for data collecting and analyzing the data etc. The methodology includes collection of primary and secondary data. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To identify various factor which affect customer buying preference

To determine those factor which influence the buying preference

of customer towards Laptop the most.

To compare the buying preference level of the customer toward Lenovo and Acer Laptops

RESEARCH PLAN A research design is a basis of framework, which provides guidelines for the rest of research process. It is the map of blueprint according to which, the research is to be conducted. The research design specifies the method of study. Research design is prepared after formulating the research problem.

RESEARCH PLAN

Research Design: Descriptive

Research Method Used Survey

Research Technique Used Questionnaire

Data Collection (location) Users

Sampling Size 50



INFERENCE

The research design used in report is Exploratory and the research

method used is survey method. The technique used for survey is the

Questionnaire Technique.

DATA COLLECTION

Data are the raw materials in which marketing research works. The task of data collection begins after research problem has been defined and research design chalked out. Data collected are classified into primary data and secondary data PRIMARY DATA Questionnaires were used for collecting primary data. DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH The study follows descriptive research method. Descriptive studies aims at portraying accurately the characteristics of a particular group or situation. Descriptive research is concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular individual or a group. Here the researcher attempts to present the existing facts by collecting data.



CHAPTER - 5

DATA TABULATION,

ANALYSIS AND

RESULTS



Data Tabulation, Analysis and Results

1. There were 50 Respondent out of which 32 have shown interest

towards Lenovo laptops whereas 18 have shown interest towards

Acer Laptops.

2. Ratio of the factors influencing purchase intensions for Acer laptops.

64%

36%

Respondent Ratio

Lenovo Acer

12%

3%

11%

10%

12% 9%

11%

10%

12%

10%

Acer Laptops

Price

Brand

Looks

Offers

Ad

AfterSales

Speed

Battery

Availability



3. Ratio of the factors influencing purchase intensions for Lenovo

laptops.

4. Comparison of the different factors influencing purchase intensions

for Lenovo and Acer Laptops.

12%

12%

10%

9%

11% 8%

10%

9%

11%

8%

Lenevo Laptops

Price

Brand

Looks

Offers

Ad

AfterSales

Speed

Battery

Availability

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Comparison of Factors

Acer

Lenovo



CHAPTER 6

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY



This study is based on 10 Factors of Laptop which are considered

by a customer while purchasing.

64% of respondent have shown their interest towards purchasing

Lenovo Laptops.

36% of respondent have shown their interest towards purchasing

Acer Laptops.

Brand Name is the most influencing factor for customers while

purchasing laptops.

Price, looks and availably are the other factors which influence

customers more than other factors.

Comparatively Brand Name is the factor which influences the

customers towards purchasing Lenovo Laptops whereas

Availability is the Factor which influences the customers towards

purchasing Acer Laptops.



CHAPTER - 7

RECOMMENDATION



RECOMMANDATION

Lenovo should work on its Price Mix.

Lenovo should work on increasing the Performance of the

Laptops.

Lenovo should provide better availability..

Lenovo should concentrate on providing after sales services.

Acer should work on to improve its Brand name.

Acer should provide more offers and discounts to the customers.

Acer should improve its advertisement and promotion activities.

Acer should work on the speed of its laptops.



CHAPTER-8

LIMITATION



Limitation

Samples are collected from Bhilai city only considering that are the

representatives of entire market that may not be universally true. The

mental status of the respondent has not been considered that might

have influenced the accuracy of the data.

The study is having some limitation as follow:

The sample size is 50 which is very small.

The time given for the survey is too less for the study.

The study is done in Bhilai region because survey in all the area is

very time consuming, which is not possible during academic

session.

Time complexity is yet another limitation.

Mental status of the users might affect the survey.



CHAPTER-9

CONCLUSIONS



CONCLUSION

In India Bothe Lenovo and Acer laptops have a very bright future. There

are many different models with both these companies. This research

state that Price, processing speed, battery-life, performance and other

features are important factors, which affect the purchase intension of

customers. So both the company should focus on these dimensions as

well as on other dimensions which influence to purchase intension of

customers.

Both the Companies are performing equally on some factors like

Advertisement and after sales service, but still in some areas there is a

significant difference in the performance of both the companies.



REFERENCES

BOOKS:

1. Marketing Research by G C Beri- third edition 2000, Tata

McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd.

2. Marketing Research by Rajendra Nargundkar- 2nd edition 2006,

Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd

3. Kotler Philip, (2003) Marketing Management 11thEd.

4. Batra k Satish, shahKazmi consumer behavior 1st ed. 2004.

INTERNET:

www.lenovo.com/in

www.acer.co.in/ac/en/IN/content/group/laptops

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Inc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo



QUESTIONNAIRE

I am a student of Shri Shankaracharya technical campus, Bhilai. As a part of my

curriculum, I am conducting A Study on Customer Buying Preference towards

Laptops A Comparative Analysis of Lenovo and Acer Laptops

The data will be used exclusively for academic purpose only, without disclosing

your identity. I would be grateful to you for your candid responses. Please

mark a tick () in your preferred box.

PART-A

I Prefer Lenovo Acer

Strongly disagree

Neu

tral

Strongly agree

1 Price is an important factor while purchasing Laptop. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2 I consider Brand Name while purchasing a Laptop 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3 I consider Looks while purchasing a Laptop. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4 I Prefer discounts while purchasing a laptop. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5 I consider Advertisement while purchasing a Laptop. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6 After sales service is an important factor. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7 I prefer processing speed while purchasing a Laptop 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 I consider Battery Life while purchasing a Laptop 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9 Availability is an important factor while purchasing. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10 Warranty is an important factor while purchasing. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

PART-B

Personal Details

1 Name

2 Age o < 20 o 20 - 40 o 41 - 60 o > 60

3 Gender o Male o Female

4 Annual Income

o 0 - 1.49 o 1.5 - 2.99 o 3 - 4.50 o > 4.5

5 Occupation o Student o Business

Person o Service

Person o Profession-

al o House

hold

o Other (Specify)

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