RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The descriptive nature of the research necessitated collection of primary data from retailers of
cement through market survey. Both the methods, personal interview technique and
telephonic interview technique were used with the measure emphasis on personal interview
Sampling Technique
Random Sampling technique was used to select the retailers. Out of nearly 400 retailers of
cement, randomly 50% of population was considered as a sample size. 189 retailers were
visited to collect the information about the cement market. The project was carried out for a
period of 60 days. After collecting the detailed information from the market, analysis of the
data was made. The market research has reveled many facts and figures about cement market.
CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
• Sustained growth that creates value for our shareholders and doubles our
mutual trust and respect, teamwork, customer orientation and sharing of best
In 1833, Léon Pavin, launched an industrial lime production operation, having taken over a
business acquired by his family in 1749 with the purchase of the Lafarge domain in south-
eastern France, an area known for generations for the quality of its limestone deposits. The
company signed its first major international contract in 1864, delivering 110,000 tonnes of lime
for the construction of the Suez Canal. Lafarge opened its first central research laboratory in
1887, the Le Teil Laboratory, with which highly reputed scientists collaborated. In 1908, the
Central Laboratory filed a patent for Cement Fondue calcium aluminates, obtained by fusing a
mixture of bauxite and limestone. This new high alumina binder gradually established a
the years until 1914, favoring a strategy of horizontal integration, the company – now the
"Société des Chauxet des Ciments de Lafarge du Teil" – set about acquiring lime and cement
which had operated in Algeria ever since 1866, now became the leading Portland cement
producer in Algeria, and set up operations in Morocco and Tunisia. Lafarge continued to
acquire companies in mainland France. With a quarter of the domestic market, the
company became established as France's number one cement producer. In 1926, Lafarge
opened its first aluminous cement® plant in the United Kingdom. It diversified into gypsum
in 1931, and developed Superblanc, new cement, in 1932. By 1939, Lafarge was the leading
cement producer in France. After 1945, Lafarge gained a new lease of life with the arrival
of Alfred François at the helm, the Marshall Plan and the post-war rebuilding boom:
In 1956, Lafarge constructed its first North American cement plant, creating Lafarge Cement
of North America with the start-up of the Richmond plant in Canada. In 1959, Lafarge began
operations in Brazil. By the end of the 1960s, Lafarge Canada had become the third largest
cement producer in the country, with annual production capacity of 900,000 tonnes. In
1980, a merger agreement was signed between Lafarge and Coppée, the newly formed
group becoming Lafarge Coppée. Acquisitions in the United States and Canada established
Lafarge Coppée as the number one cement producer in North America. The size of the
During the 1980s, with the construction of a single market representing more than 300
million inhabitants, the Group chose to expand its business in Europe. Lafarge first turned to
Germany, raising its stake in Portland Zementwerk at Wössingen to 83%. Through the
purchase of the Swiss company, Cementia in 1989, the Group acquired interests in Asland
(Spain), Aslan (Turkey) and Perlmooser (Austria). Then followed the investments in Eastern
Europe: East Germany, the Czech Republic (1991), then Poland, Romania, Russia and
Ukraine. The agreement with the East German cement producer, Karsdorf, came even
1994 saw Lafarge take a foothold in China. Today, all four of the Group's Divisions operate
there, and there have been developments throughout Asia (1998: Indonesia and the
Philippines; 1999: India and South Korea). The Group's expansion in Poland began in 1995
with the acquisition of a 75% stake in Kujawy. Within six years (2001), 4 entities
representing all four Divisions were active in the country.Lafarge acquired Redland in 1997,
positioning itself more strongly in Aggregates and Concrete and gaining entry onto the
Roofing market. Thanks to the acquisition of Warren in Canada in 2000, Lafarge became one
of the leading aggregates producers in North America. Lafarge focused on its main four
Divisions, and divested its Specialty Products businesses, which became Materis. Lafarge
was the first industrial group to conclude a partnership agreement with WWF (World
Wildlife Fund for Nature). In 2001, following the acquisition of Blue Circle, Lafarge became
the world's leading cement producer. Numerous acquisitions and joint ventures in all four
Divisions, and on every continent, particularly Asia, have continued to consolidate its world
leadership position. In July, 2001, Lafarge was introduced onto the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE).
2001-2004: A global growth
In 2002, the Gypsum Division acquired the plasterboard businesses of Gyproc (a subsidiary
The Cement Division inaugurated in China the new Dujiangyan cement plant, the first
greenfield cement plant for the Group in China, and acquires a 70% interest in the
Chongqing cement plant. The Cement Division acquired two new cement plants in Slovenia
and in Serbia. In 2003, the Cement Division enters Australia and had constructed a new
aggregates activities.
expansion in all of its businesses. Lafarge Group has established its presence or
consolidated its position, alone or with local partners, in countries as diverse as Egypt,
Uganda, Mexico, South Korea, Venezuela, Brazil, Jordan, Poland, Germany, Argentina,
Turkey, Canada, United States, Australia and Ukraine. With operations on every continent,
Lafarge is committed to a strategy of international development. It aims to simultaneously,
increase its business in countries with high market growth potential, and further develop
products enjoying growth in mature markets, capitalizing on every opportunity and offering
CHAPTER 3
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
LAFARGE ORGANIZATION
Lafarge India provides a professional and exciting environment to its employees and is
consistently able to attract the best talent in the industry. Lafarge has always put its
employees at the heart of its strategy. Its management style has for many years been
termed "participative management", open to the cultures of the companies it has acquired
on all five continents. The keywords are Participation, Efficiency and Example. As part of
operations in Europe, North America and other parts of Asia with India to ensure that the
Indian operations reach operating efficiencies comparable with the best in the world.
CHAPTER 4
OUR PRODUCT
PRODUCTS DETAIL
1. Lafarge Concreto
concrete matrix
• Reduction of structural cracks due to lower heat of hydration than ordinary cements.
Lafarge Cement
variants. Lafarge PPC and PSC are very high performance blended
cements far exceeding the requirement of IS: 455-1989 & IS: 1489.
Lafarge PSC is the only PSC in its markets produced by blending high
quality pulverised clinker with the most consistent slag of over 95% glass content. This
therefore provides very high compressive strength exceeding 60 MPa at 28 days. Lafarge
PSC has a very low heat of hydration and is hence suitable for mass concreting and concrete
Lafarge cement has very high soundness as reflected through the extremely low values of
expansion through the Le-Chatelier test and Autoclave tests.Its C3A content is low, thus
Its other chemical properties contribute to a very low co-efficient of permeability of the
concrete prepared, thus making it an ideal choice for construction of dams, foundations,
tunnels, or other sub-soil constructions and structures that shall be in contact with water.
Being a blended cement with a highly reactive slag obtained from the best source in the
country so far, it improves the density of the concrete mix thus increasing the durability
factor.
CHAPTER 5
PLANT LOCATION
Plants and Operations
Lafarge India's current cement operation comprises a modern split location cement facility
Chhattisgarh).
Rated Capacities
Location Facilities
(as of 2006)
Sonadih
0.5 MTPA of Ordinary Portland
Cement Grinding unit with separate 3.4 MTPA of Portland Slag Cement
Jojobera (PSC) & Portland Pozzolana Cement
(PPC)
Arasmeta
1.6 MTPA of Portland Pozzolana
Cement (PPC)
The plants at Sonadih, Jojobera and Arasmeta are based on the dry process technology and
use energy efficient processes. The thermal energy of the kiln is optimized by the use of a
Lafarge worldwide places a very high emphasis on protection of the environment. In all its
Indian plants, bag filters and electrostatic precipitators are used to reduce pollution and
ensure environment friendly plant operations. Lafarge India has adopted stringent quality
control measures to ensure the highest quality cement .The plants have the benefit of the
strong technical and R&D set-up of Lafarge group called DPC which is supported by CTI &
CTEO - at Lyon in France, CTS - at Montreal in Canada, ATC - at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia
and CTEC - in Austria. Lafarge Group employs more than 500 scientists and spends more
than 100 million euros annually in developing leading technologies in the area of building
technological improvements between the technical centreand the Indian operations has
CHAPTER 6
MARKET SHARE
CHAPTER 7
MARKETING STRATEGIES
MARKETING STRATEGIES
1 DENITION OF MARKETING:
Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they
need want through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others. Marketing
MARKETING MIX:
The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketing professionals. The
marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand's offering, and is often
synonymous with the four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place; in service marketing,
however, the four Ps have been expanded to the Seven Ps to address the different nature of
services.
The primary goal of marketing is to optimize the marketing mix, offering the best possible
combination of the four P's to maximize the effectiveness of marketing efforts. The variables
known as the four P's of the marketing mix are: 1) Product, 2) Price, 3) Place and 4) Promotion.
PRODUCT:
Products are the goods and services that your business provides for sale to your target market.
When developing a product you should consider quality, design, features, packaging, customer
Price concerns the amount of money that customers must pay in order to purchase your
products. There are a number of considerations in relation to price including price setting,
PLACE:
Place is in regards to distribution, location and methods of getting the product to the customer.
This includes the location of your business, shop front, distributors, logistics and the potential
PROMOTION:
Promotion refers to the act of communicating the benefits and value of your product to
business using methods such as advertising, direct marketing, personal selling and sales
promotion.
IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING:
Ensures we get our goods and services to our customers effectively and efficiently
Companies that focus on customer’s needs and deliver great customer experience are more
Marketing is typically seen as the task of creating, promoting, and delivering goods and
services to consumers and businesses. Marketers are skilled in stimulating demand for a
company’s products, but this is too limited a view of the tasks marketers performs. Just as
production and logistics professionals are responsible for supply management, marketers
are responsible for demand management. Marketing managers seek to influence the level,
GOODS- Physical goods constitute the bulk of most countries’ production and marketing
effort. Each year U.S. companies alone market billions of canned and frozen food
products, millions of tons of steel, millions of hair dryers, cars, television sets , machines,
and various other mainstays of a modern economy. Not only do companies market their
goods, but thanks to the Internet, even individuals can market goods.
the production of services. The U.S. economy ,Today consists of a 70-30 services-to-
goods mix. Services include the work of airlines, hotels, car rental firms, barbers and
beauticians, maintenance and repair people, dog kennels and dog therapists, as well as
professionals working within or for companies, such as accountants, lawyers, engineers,
EXPERIENCES- By orchestrating several services and goods, a firm can create, stage, and
spending a week on baseball camp playing with some retired baseball greats, playing to
conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for five minutes, or climbing Mount Everest.
EVENTS- Marketers promote time based events, such as the Olympics, company
anniversaries, major trade shows, sports events, and artistic performances. There is a
whole profession of meeting planners who work out the details of an event and make
PERSONS- Celebrity marketing is a major business. Years ago, someone seeking fame
would hire a press agent to plant stories in newspapers and magazines. Today every
major film star has an agent, a personal manager, and ties to a public relations agency.
Artists, musicians, CEO’s, physicians, high-profile lawyers and financiers, and other
tourists, factories, company headquarters, and new residents. Place marketers include
economic development specialists, real estate agents, commercial banks, local business
estate) or financial property (stocks and bonds). Properties are bought and sold, and this
minds of their publics. Companies spend money on corporate identity ads. Philips, the
Dutch electronics company, puts out ads with the tag line” Let’s Make Things Better”.
essentially what schools and universities produce and distribute at a price to parents,
information. The production, packaging, and distribution of information are one of our
6.3 BRAND-
Definition:
Brand is a unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating
an image that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors. Over time, this
and complex marketplace, by standing for certain benefits and value. Legal name for a brand
is trademark and, when it identifies or represents a firm, it is called a brand name. See
Source of product
Lower risk
Quality symbol
Symbolic device
Brand name is one of the brand elements which helps the customers to identify and
differentiate one product from another. It should be chosen very carefully as it captures
the key theme of a product in an efficient and economical manner. It can easily be
noticed and its meaning can be stored and triggered in the memory instantly. Choice of
a brand name requires a lot of research. Brand names are not necessarily associated
with the product. For instance, brand names can be based on places (Air India, British
Airways), animals or birds (Dove soap, Puma), people (Louise Phillips, Allen Solly). In
some instances, the company name is used for all products (General Electric, LG).
It should be extendable.
It should give an idea about product’s qualities and benefits (For instance- Swift,
NOVA is a poor name for a car to be sold in Spanish country, because in Spanish
Brand Image:
The impression in the consumer’s mind of a brand’s total personality (real and imaginary
campaigns with a consistent theme, and is authenticated through the consumers direct
Brand Awareness:
Brand awareness plays a major role in a consumer’s buying decision process. The
knowledge of an acquaintance or friend having used the product in the past or a high
recognition of the product through constant advertisements and associations coaxes the
intend to increase their consumer pool and encourage repeat purchases. Apple is a
brilliant example of how there is a very high recognition of the brand logo and high
anticipation of a new product being released by the company. An iPod is the first thing
that pops into our minds when we think of purchasing an mp3 player. iPod is used as a
replaceable noun to describe an mp3 player. Finally, high brand awareness about a
product suggests that the brand is easily recognizable and accepted by the market in a
way that the brand is differentiated from similar products and other competitors. Brand
Brand Preference:
Measure of brand loyalty in which a consumer will choose a particular brand in presence
of competing brands, but will accept substitutes if that brand is not available.
CHAPTER 8
DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 9
FINDINGS
FINDING
Better quality
Timely available
ULTRATECH
Customer choice.
57
High market awareness.
Sells more
CENTURY
Quality is good.
ACC
People ask for ACC.
Service is good.
Selling form the very first day the shop came in to being & sells easily (shree
They have same price prevailing for wholesale at dealers/stockiest retailers end.
AMBUJA
Customers preference
DUNCAN
58
Service is good.
PROBLEM FACED BY
STOCKIEST
None of the stockiest had any complains about any brands, in regards to
Dispatch being closed at the start of the month is a ”trump card “for them to
The stockiest occasionally inform about the price change in the market.
Price stability in regard to the price set by the company as well as wholesalers (i.e.
all the wholesalers should have the same price offered in the market).
Dispatch being closed every start of the month is a problem is a problem for them
Pressurize them for taking more quantity for more quantity for transportation
facility.
CHAPTER 10
LIMITATIONS
CHAPTER 11
RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGGESTIONS
SUGGESTIONS
A very exhaustive study has been made, keeping in the essence of the objective of the project.
With the efforts put on the project a detailed analysis was conducted and result were derived,
based on the results and market response few suggestions are discussed below
A Price fluctuation creates problems for retailers as the cannot keep the commitments of price
to customers……
because of this.
At time it has been seen that the delivery commitments an the side of the company is not
On interviewing Dealers/Retailers the most important thing they said was about the price
flexibility, they want that the company should give them the price flexibility to play in the
market. (As the company has outlined that the price offered by the company should only be
offered to the customer, it should not increased to the customer, it should not be increased or
decreased).
The Brand Name Lafarge is quite difficult to be pronounced and remember, so it should be
made short and easy for the rural masses to remember like (L&T).
CHAPTER 12
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
To attain the objective of the project detailed information was collected from the market of
Bhubaneshwar. The market research has revealed many facts and figures about the cement
In the market, Lafarge cement is well known brand of cement. This is the result of the good
quality of the Lafarge cement along with their effective marketing efforts, which covers the
whole market customers of Lafarge cement are highly satisfied with the use of it, as they do
There are seven major players in the market but the major completion is between the two
brands of cement. But because of good marketing efforts, Lafarge cement is able to grasp
The market survey undertaken shows that effective marketing efforts play a vital role in
creating the goodwill for the brand. The distribution channel of cement industry must be
well designed and made effective this ensures timely availability of cement to customers.
BIBLOIGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITE
1. www.lafarge-cement.co.in
2. www.google.com
3. www.ibef.org
4. www.msn.com
5. www.indianexpress.com