GUIDELINES FOR MARKETING PROJECT & REPORT WRITING (STEPS INVOLVED)

Prof. B.Dutta Gupta

Why do I need to do Marketing Project?

Timeline 1.Synopsis submission : April 5,2012 2.Draft report submission : May 1,2012 3.Final report submission : May 12,2012
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Why this Kolavari Di?

To become an efficient and effective

manager. To demonstrate your ability and potential to do independent thinking and understand a real life managerial issue in your chosen functional area of management, viz, Finance, HRM, Marketing, Operations, etc. To suggest solution to this kind of problem or at least report the existing solution.

TYPES OF PROJECT
Comprehensive

case study: It covers single organization/ multifunctional area problem formulation, analysis, and recommendation. Inter organisational study: It aims at inter firm/ comparison/ validation of theory/survey of management practices. Field study: Empirical study pertaining to functional areas.

PROJECT MENTOR & EVALUATOR

You will be assigned by the college.
He will also evaluate your written report. In addition you will be evaluated through an oral

examination conducted by a second evaluator.

What do I need to do?

You are required to prepare 1 page synopsis and

provide a title. Submit it to your guide and seek his written approval to go ahead. Without such approval being granted in advance your final project report will not be accepted.
Synopsis submission date : April 5,2012

What is Synopsis?
THESIS SYNOPSIS should be submitted by
April 5,2012 1. Details of the student. 2. Title of the thesis 3. Objectives of the study 4.Methodology ( Tools of Data collection)

What is Synopsis?
THESIS SYNOPSIS
1.DETAILS OF THE STUDENT Name (as per IIPM records) Sana Ahmed, Batch PGP/SS/09-11/IIPM KOL Specialization Marketing Phone No 9804450519 Email Id sanaahmed61@gmail.com

TITLE OF THE THESIS

2. Title of the Thesis Re-Branding of Indian banks

TITLE OF THE THESIS Re-Branding of Indian banks

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Options for thesis title

Brand awareness and purchase behaviour for branded biscuits Marketing strategy of fast food chains : study of McDonald's Aftershave lotion: The scope for a new entrant Hero Motocorp: Competition ahead Buying process of a prospective buyer of Car in A segment Study of adoption of fashion among college going youth in Delhi Advertising on internet by booksellers: Issues and future Media planning and advertising effectiveness India's foreign trade in textile and clothing: segments and potential,

2012 Vendor selection factors: case study of Escorts

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3.OBJECTIVES of THIS STUDY

To understand on what basis the company creates its

strategies. To understand how the company is competitively positioned in Indian Market. To evaluate how much market share has the company been able to achieve by adopting different strategies. To understand how the company is adopting different strategies for different segment in Indian market. This thesis aims to analyse companies' structural changes after corporate rebrand process.
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4. Methodology
TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION

(METHODOLOGY) The objective of this research is to find out the changing customer behavior for such a service which is widely used everywhere. And also to find out which factor most drives the customer into believing in such services (from the above mentioned points).

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Methodology : Example

Primary Data Interviewing the customer And consumers Questionnaires Surveys Approaching the outlets directly.

Secondary data

Books, Magazines, Newspaper, Blogs

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Methodology _ example
Sampling

Sampling size: 75 customers/consumers

Sample unit : Age group 15 50 years

Scope and uses

1.It will extend to the actual field study of these outlets

in Bangalore 2.It will give information to prospective customers 3.It facilitates evolution of brand names and consumer satisfactions.
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Example : methodology
Primary Data Would be collected from consumers

who advertises on net. Various data would be collected from the people visiting the malls and markets of Kolkata. Secondary Data Would be hugely generated from the net and past records of companies in the history of advertising would be provided: Tools used
Questionnaires and past records.

Sampling Method Convenience sampling.

Sample Size Indefinite. Target Audience People using various products who are influenced by the advertisements of various brands.
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REPORT WRITING & SUBMISSION

You will submit a rough draft to your guide.

Once he approves the draft you will write the final report.
Then you will submit 2 final copies of the typed report (on

A4 sheets in double space, and in a bound form) to your guide. Keep one copy of the report for your own personal reference, since the above 2 copies shall not be returned to you. You have to mail your report as also to provide a C.D. of the complete report, in addition to the hard copies

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LENGTH OF THE REPORT

Normally your report should contain 10,000 words, i.e.

roughly 30-35 typewritten sheets. You will have to justify a shorter or a lengthier submission which in any case cannot go beyond a 5% variation.

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SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
1. Think of a topic you want to prepare a project report on 2. Write a synopsis and give it a title 3. Type the titled synopsis and submit it online/offline to your guide for approval 4. Do your own research. The research will essentially involve collection, collation, and analysis of primary info. A report based purely on secondary data will not be accepted 5. If need be, consult your guide as required 6. Write a rough draft of the report and discuss it with your guide 7. Submit the final report if the guide has approved the draft. Else, bring about the changes suggested, resubmit the rough draft, and then subsequent to approval submit the final report 8. Appear for the oral examination on the appointed day 9. Strictly adhere to all the deadlines intimated to you in advance.
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STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

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1. Title Page:
It will have the following information: Title of the report (On top) Submitted by: Name of the student, class, roll number, batch (In the middle) Submitted to: Name of the professor, name of the institution, month and year of submission (At the bottom)

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2. Executive Summary/Abstract
This is a summary of the completed paper, from introduction to conclusion, in about 300

words. Broadly, it defines the concepts studied, states the purpose of the study, describes its scope and analytical tools used to arrive at the conclusions, and then states key findings. This section is written AFTER you have written your complete report. One example of the executive summary:
CRM is a philosophy that directs the organization to build its processes around its customers

needs. The call centre (CC) is a CRM-embedded automation that builds long term, strategic relationship with its customers. It assures high volume performance for organizations, and fast, consistent service for their customers. Banks and other financial service providers can benefit most because they deal in information and funds that are electronically transacted. The CC is a technology cum attitude driven alternative to existing channels of the providers. American providers have put up a sterling performance in cc for their Indian counterparts. Indian organization have just made an entry, but awareness and interest in the gains in its business applications are steadily increasing. The cc is a strategic investment, and therefore must be driven by top management. However, process changes, technology integration and absorption, and regular cultural training are vital for success of the investment.
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3. Table of Contents
Here titles of chapters along with their corresponding

page numbers are mentioned. For example:

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4. Preface
Here you will talk about your report (in not more than

100-150 words) and acknowledge the contribution of various sources (teachers, professionals from the organization, friends, libraries, etc.) who helped you in completing the report.

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5. Introduction
You will introduce the subject matter of your project here in 4-5 pages. This must

describe the topic and the problem in about 4-5 pages. The first thing is your problem statement. Emphasize the problem area and its related effects. State the main objective of your exercise here. One example of the way Introduction is written is given below:
Depreciation is a method of spreading the cost of a fixed asset over its economic

life. The economic life of a fixed asset is greater than the accountancy periods across which financial statements are made and presented to stakeholders. Depreciation therefore allocates the cost of the asset to the accounting periods benefitting its use. Companies adopt different methods of depreciation, and may change these methods from time to time. Consequently, readers arrive at different conclusions, when they read the financial statements.. (Note: This is an abridged from only of Introduction and is in regular font size of 12 Times New Roman)

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6. Methodology
You have to begin with by doing desk based (secondary sources centered)

research. Then you have to administer questionnaire / conduct interviews to collect primary data/ responses. If you had chosen either of them, give your justification for doing so, this section is written in past tense. You have to describe new process used, if any. This section should be written in about 600 words. To illustrate
The sample was drawn from Business Todays list of 500 largest companies

(Sep 22 October 6,2011). Out of these, only the largest 200 in terms of size of assets were covered, provided they were at least 20 years old, as on 31 March 2009. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire sent to the CEO/CFO/ Director (Finance) in these companies. The data was analysed using factor analysis
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7. Text of the Project

Here you will write the main body of your report (20-25 pages). In this

section you provide all the details including your findings with particular reference to the problem areas. Undertake and report statistical analysis here. Emphasize areas of conformance /divergence from concepts, assumptions and practices.

For example, the following form part of the main text of 2 different reports:
81% of the respondents listed five factors to be of crucial importance

(see Table 3 below)

This identified 11 key areas which organizations must build for competing

successfully in the global market. These are indicated in Table 6 below.

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8. Conclusion
In this section you will highlight the main points of your project report and

draw your own conclusion. You may even make suggestions. Consolidate your findings. Do make recommendations towards a better system. Critically analyse your report. Also report limitations like size and quality sample, etc. The length should be about 600 words.

One report, for example, concluded:

Although Deming emphasized the need to adopt an employee centric

approach to implement TQM, the study showed that the companies in our study implemented TQM successfully without undue dependence on their people. This contradicted the popular view that TQM is effective only if all the people in the organization participated in the exercise. The study was limited to one large metropolis, and respondents were wihin a narrow age group of 35-45. A broader sample is recommended for better results.
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9. Tables and figures

Any detailed facts and figures which do not form the

part of the main text can be included here. (These pages are in addition to 30-35 page report)

Remember, these statistics are the ones which have NOT been already incorporated at different places in the main body of the Essay

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10. Bibliography
You will quote here all the books, articles and web based sources. Without this listing your

report will be rejected immediately. It is of utmost importance that you document all your primary sources and the secondary references while you are researching for your report. DO NOT wait till the stage of writing since you would not be able to retrieve these sources at that stage. A minimum of 10 references must be provided, the use of which in your report will be cross checked by the evaluator. Any fraudulent mention (meaning, no actual use of the quoted reference for writing the report) will summarily invite an instant rejection of the report. You have to follow the following style: Books: Bowersox, Donald J. (2008): Logistics Management. Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi Journals and other articles: Schemenner, R. W (1999): Company information and Share Prices Movement Journal of Finance & Economics, Vol. 21, No. 1, PP 83-104 Online Resources: Measuring Marketing at Retail in Chain Drugsstores. http://www.popai.com (accessed on September 10, 2011) Reporting of references any other way will invite penalty
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You have to compulsorily follow the following format:

SYNOPTIC VIEW OF WHAT TO INCLUDE WHERE
ABSTRACT Definitions of concepts to be studied Purpose of study Scope of study Analytical tools used within Key Findings
INTRODUCTION Description of topic, problem, and objective of study MEHODOLOGY Use of secondary and primary data: Their description Analytical tools employed, in detail MAIN TEXT Details of your project Findings Areas of conformance/divergence CONCLUSION Consolidated findings Recommendations towards a better system/ process REFERENCES Separate listing of books / journals/sounds/web based sources (Follow alphabetical order) 31

REPORT WRITING: DETAILED GUIDELINES REPORT WRITING: TITLE PAGE

The Title Page
Allows the reader to easily identify the context /coverage of

the report Has details of: - Title of the report - Your name and identity (registration number, batch, etc.) - To whom it is addressed, including the course it is submitted for - Date of submission Is visible even before opening the report
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REPORT WRITING: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Allows reader to get an overview of the report before focusing on

the details Gives a summary of the whole report and not the introduction or recommendations alone Focuses on FINDINGS and NOT on STRUCTURE of the report Includes a brief statement of the original problem and the main argument or evidence that have led you to your conclusions Is only one page long Is best written after you have finished writing the main body of the report Is placed even before the contents page
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REPORT WRITING: CONTENTS LIST

Shows major and minor section headings
Gives the page on which each section starts Also gives titles of any attached appendices

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REPORT WRITING: INTRODUCTION

Is written to orient the reader to the subject of the report
Is not merely paraphrasing of the title; goes beyond Addresses the following questions:

- Why is the topic important? - What is the purpose of the report? - What is the main argument contained? - On what evidence is the main argument based? - How is the argument structured? - What are the implications of the argument?
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REPORT WRITING: MAIN BODY

Usually contains a number of major and minor sections
Aims to develop arguments, based on evidence that build up to your eventual conclusions Incorporates diagrams/tables/figures to support and clarify the text Refers to more detailed analysis which is in the appendices at the appropriate point in the main body
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REPORT WRITING: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Should follow on naturally from the arguments raised in the main body Should contain no surprises or new material Recommendations deal with the implementation of the conclusions Recommendations are action oriented Recommendations are given in order of priority Recommendations have to be in consistency with the prevailing conditions of the environment and the organization.
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REPORT WRITING: APPENDICES

Contain detailed evidence for those readers who want

further details, or for those wanting more information before they are convinced of your arguments. Are referred through letter (A,B,C.) and not numbers (1,2,3..)

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REPORT WRITING: REFERENCES

List of all secondary data used, but NOT primary

sources It also includes nowadays the web based sources

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ILLUSTRATIVE LIST OF TOPICS

(IMP: You are entirely free to select any other topic, of course with the prior approval of your mentor)
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Finance rate fluctuations and Indian textile exports Foreign exchange

Leasing finance and its influence on automobile sector Industrial sickness in engineering industry: causes and remedies Electronic fund transfer: opportunities, applications, and

challenges Credit rating agencies in India: case study of CRISIL Funding options of corporate sector-a comparative analysis Merchant banking in India: A case study Financial risk reduction in international trade Venture capital and its scope in India. The GAAP and its application in India.

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HRM

Computerisation and its effect on employees morale: Case study of SBI Compensation trends for middle management during 2011 Job satisfaction in an organization: case study of Infosys Stress and its causes in workplace Organisational restructuring strategies and actions: case study of Marico Role of TQM in HRD Performance appraisal and management in entertainment industry Indian managers and their skill development in new business environment Motivating sales executives: Experience of HUL Reward system and its impact on productivity improvement: A case study of TCS
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