A PROJECT REPORT

ON

“IMPACT OF BRAND IMAGE AND PRODUCT

DESIGN ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF
YAMAHA MOTOR COMPANY.”

Submitted by:
NEERAJ LALWANI
HT. No. 128917684077

Under the guidance of:

MS.AISHWARYA S RAY

Project submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

“BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION”

By

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

ETHAMES DEGREE COLLEGE

(AFFILIATED TO OSMANIA UNIVERSITY – HYDERABAD)

(2017 – 2020)
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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this project Report titled “IMPACT OF BRAND

IMAGE AND PRODUCT DESIGN ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

OF YAMAHA MOTOR COMPANY” submitted by me to the Department of

Business Management, ETHAMES DEGREE COLLEGE, is a bonafide work

undertaken by me and it is not submitted to any other University or institution for the

award of any degree/diploma/ certificate or published any time before.

PLACE: HYDERABAD
DATE: 12TH MARCH 2020

NEERAJ LALWANI
128917684077

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 Impact of Brand Image and Product
Design on Consumer Buying Behaviour of
Yamaha Motor Company.

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 ABSTRACT:-
In this competitive era of digital and data driven businesses, satisfying customers is becoming
extremely difficult and important. Customers now a days are highly disloyal and are tempted by
new innovations in market. In such situation research and development plays a vital role. Brand
Image and Product Design again creates a positive customer experience. This research is carried in
order to understand the impact of brand image and product design on consumer behaviour of
Yamaha Motor Company Limited.

Why it is important and sample size:-

The objective of this project is to identify and analyse the brand image of Automobile Industry in
the 2 wheeler segment. Through this study, I am able to find out the present status of the
Automobile Industry (2 wheeler) in India and also study the branding and Product design strategies
adopted by Yamaha Motors Company.

Various customers were met to find out their perception towards the product preference and the
product design they prefer. Around 90 customers (sample size) were questioned and surveyed to
come to a conclusion along with the research conducted, an in-depth analysis was carried out
regarding how well the consumer buying behaviour helps in establishing the image of the Company.

This project helps me to know about the most influencing media to create awareness regarding 2
wheelers. It mainly confines itself in the analysis of the consumer’s preference towards motorbikes
of Yamaha.

The purpose of the project was to study the positioning of brand image in the minds of the
customers and also to study the Product design preferences of the motorcycle customers.
Consumers should have favourable awareness of brand. Brand awareness and the ensuing
positioning in the minds of consumers differentiate successful organisation from failed organisation.
Harley Davidson has a sort of cult following among its customers. It is only because the company
has successfully ingrained its brand awareness in the psyche of people. To succeed, in today’s
rapidly evolving market place organisations should strive continuously to increase awareness of
their brands for the good.

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 Acknowledgement

The project work has given me wonderful opportunity to learn and to my connect theoretical
knowledge to practical one. I would like to express my foremost gratitude to my parents Mr Sunil
kumar Lalwani and Misses Amritha Lalwani who made my education their top most priority and
have always motivated to do the best in my life.

Then I would like to express my gratitude to Yamaha motors and all it’s staff for supporting me
throughout my project. I am extremely thankful to Dr. Anupama Gadiraju, Principal of EThames
Degree college for giving me the opportunity to be a part of EThames family.

I also express my sincere gratitude to all the faculty members of EThames degree college for
constantly supporting me and motivating me throughout the project

Before I conclude I would like to show my gratefulness to Ms.Aishwarya S Ray for her kindness
and generosity towards us and sparing her time to guide us in making this project as perfect as
possible.

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CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION

Page 6
 Introduction:-
Yamaha Motor Company Limited is a Japanese manufacturer of Motorcycles, commuter vehicles
& scooters, recreational vehicles, boats, marine engines, as well as snowmobiles which was
established in 1955 but had to go throw some tough few years to gain its name in the market and be
recognised as a quality oriented company, by 1960 the company started to grow and begin its
journey to become a successful company in the Japanese market. Yamaha got its first break through
from its 250cc class bikes which were hugely accepted by the customers resulting in its success and
kept its threshold/value or depth in the market through its diversification and innovation. In 1990
Yamaha Altered its vision to Performance Bikes and spin-off brand and later started implementing
its strategic plans to undergo Expansion and Consolidation.1

As of December 2019 Yamaha Motors Ltd has launched BS-VI Yamaha R15 Version 3.0 in India
with three colour options Racing Blue, Thunder Grey and Dark Knight which is redesigned and
classically engineered to target the youth and attract its customers who are influenced by Product
design and Cosmetics of the Bike. The Bike is ranged at around 14500-15000 price range with
specs such as 155cc engine, with power output of 18 hp at 10000 rpm and 14.1 Nm Torque
influencing the human emotions and making an impulse buy. 2

The company has also partnered with Hero Cycles to launch e-Cycle in Bengaluru and has also
checked for feasibility of e-Bikes in Indian Market. Yamaha aims to gain 10% market share in
Indian 2 wheeler segment in 5yrs for which it is trying to expand its production capacity from 1.7
million units to 2.5 million units by 2023.3

The automotive industry is one of the most important economic sectors by revenue. India is most
probably the most competitive country in the world for the automotive industry. The Government of
India encourages foreign investment in the automobile sector and allows 100 per cent FDI under the
automatic route. To motivate and boost manufacturing, the government had lowered excise duty on
small cars, motorcycles, scooters and commercial vehicles to 8 per cent from 12 per cent, on sports
utility vehicles to 24 per cent from 30 per cent, on mid-segment cars to 20 per cent from 24 per cent
and on large-segment cars to 24 per cent from 27 per cent, in order to promote the production and
sales of automobile vehicles.

Factors affecting demand of passenger vehicles made by automobile companies:-

1) Interest rate – It is one of the factors that affect demand made by consumers. Although drop in it
helps very few people to shift from base to deluxe model, a large shift can be made only if
customers want to take long term loans rather than short term loans so as to avail interest benefits.
There is negative relationship between interest rate and demand of commodity.

2) Price- It is one of the major factor that affects demand of bikes in market. As the law of demand
states that with an increase in price demand of commodity decreases and vice versa.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Motor_Company
2 https://www.financialexpress.com/auto/car-news/bsvi-yamaha-yzf-r15-v3-bs6-r15-v3-launched-
rs-145300-new-features-r15-blue-wheel-bs6-r15-price/1788384/
3 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/taglist.cms?query=Yamaha
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3) Advertising & marketing- Due to advertising & marketing many companies have been
successful in increasing their sales. In general both have positive relation with sales.

4) Income level of consumers- Income level of consumers is also very important factor.
Increase in per capita income increases the consumption tendency of the customer. Growth in per
capita income and rising aspirations and changing lifestyle is leading to increased preference for
bikes. 4

The entity of brand is one of the most important point in this global competition era whereas it is
hard to differ the quality of product among all products in the competition market. The customers
are too demanding in regard to the quality of product based on their own perception. The key
perspective is how to influence the customers perception through the quality of product. It is need to
be created the positive image to customers mind especially the quality of product and the product
design based on customers expectations in order to motivate the customers in increasing to purchase
the product. 5

Some of the major players that dominate the global Motorcycle market are Honda, TVS, Yamaha,
Suzuki, Royal Enfield, Kawasaki, and Kinetic. Whereas the Indian market shows dominance of
players like Honda, Bajaj Auto Ltd, TVS motors and Yamaha. The focus of the study is INDIA
YAMAHA MOTORS which holds approximately 3.5 % market share in the Indian Motorcycle
industry whereas it is the second biggest player in the International Motorcycle Industry as it enjoys
a market share of 12% in its deluxe segment of bikes and 10% of share in the premium segment.6

In Order to be successful against these highly competitive brands such as Honda and Royal field we
have to determine how these brands are distinguished from one another and what better way to
differentiate them than to determine their brand image in the mind of the customer through the use
of Celebrity Endorsement in order to have a huge influence and impact/sway on the customer’s
buying behaviour. As Yamaha focuses both on Sports bikes and Normal scooters its tries to promote
its vehicles by using more than one ambassador rather using the same ambassador for all the
designed models of Yamaha. In 2012 Yamaha Roped in Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone as
brand ambassador for its scooter Ray targeting young women of age 16-24 and turns out this
marketing campaign was a huge success for the company as sales increased to around 21% in the
later half of the year.7 In 2014 the same kind of tactics were used when they signed John Abraham
by extending his contract for 2 more years. John made the promotion of Yamaha’s Sports bikes so
astonishing by using the newly launched Yamaha FZ FI version 2.0 and other bikes as well in the
coming years in the action movies he played as a Bollywood hero actor to ensure it catches the eye

4https://www.google.co.in/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjA0O6NrermAhX2zTg
GHTFqC14QFjADegQIBhAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Faarf.asia%2Fdownload.php%3Ffilename%3D
Nw7eIYaDMwpC9bU.pdf%26new%3D&usg=AOvVaw1EKaEHT2cchp6C-8uNaYye
5 https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icmemm-18/55914168
6https://bestmediainfo.com/2019/08/how-yamaha-raced-past-slowdown-to-become-a-jazzy-
brand-in-india/
7https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/yamaha-ropes-in-deepika-padukone-as-brand-
ambassador/articleshow/15106990.cms
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of the public and his admirers and fans get persuaded in buying these classy looking, speedy and
authentic bikes to get some sort of social acceptance from the society.8

Apart from the Brand’s Image, the product Specs, its Design, its Elegant style and Speed has also
made a huge impact and role on vehicles made by the Yamaha Motor Company Ltd. While other
companies such as Honda Motors solely focus on the idea of comfortable driving experience and
performance features where as Companies such as Royal Enfield have their USP as cruising
experience and vintage bikes, Yamaha went one step ahead and out of its way to innovate 2 wheeler
vehicles which not only provide the latter but also are very stylish look wise, Yamaha’s R1 model is
in fact one of the fastest bikes in the country with speeds ranging from 180-200 mph, have some
kind of a premium luxury base and classification while also focusing on upper & lower middle class
by designing scooties and being Genuine among other companies when it comes to its design and
authenticity.

Statistics of sales Of Yamaha Company in India:-

In the financial year ending on March 2017 Yamaha had the most successful sales rally by growing
over 21 percent in domestic sales according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
(SIAM). The most was contributed by the Yamaha Fascino which rallied 27 percent year-on-year
growth in the month of March 2017. To be Precise 2,13,312 Fascino scooters were sold and Yamaha
Ray models sold upto 1,82,028 units making Yamaha gain huge number of profit. And also gaining
more than 10% of market share with total sales of 7,89,105 two wheelers, major part owing to
scooters i.e 56% hence proving the fact that Yamahas products were liked and purchased by
customer considering the dimensions of style and comfort both which were articulated along side its
Technology and its Innovation. The company’s Goal is to achieve 1 million sales in the upcoming
year with the exciting products it has been planning to launch and by expanding its trade networks.

In the same year the leading Company in terms of sales was Honda with total number of sales
adding up to 31,89,102 crushing its competition with a very huge margin and gaining upto 56.9
percentage in market share, it was the number company when it came to sales during the financial
year 2017. Following Honda Motor the next Company that was placed second is TVS Motors with
a market share of 14.74 percent just going ahead of Hero Motocorp with the market share of 14.1
percent and sales of 8,26,291 and 7,89,974 respectively. Succeeding these top 3 companies Indian
Yamaha Motor was placed 4th preceding Suzuki Motorcycle India that earned the 5th place. 9

8https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/yamaha-extends-brand-ambassador-john-abrahams-
contract-for-2-years/1223974/
9 https://auto.ndtv.com/news/india-yamaha-posts-21-per-cent-growth-in-fy-2017-1685626
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CHAPTER II – REVIEW OF
LITERATURE

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 Literature Review:-
Motorcycles in India started to come into recognition and began to seem necessary for a lot of
reason in the year 1955, when the Indian Government needed really powerful,
Stony, and durable Bikes for the Indian Army and the Cops in the places where the land/roads were
craggy and stony grounds as it became really difficult for the 4 wheelers to travel in those areas
comfortably.

The first Bike manufactured in India was the Bullet a motorcycle which is produced by the Royal
Enfield & co with its headquarters in UK, a motorcycle with 350 cubic centimetres(cc). Chennai’s
Motorcycle Factory was picked by the Government to assemble these motorcycles. With this the era
of Indian Two wheeler Industry began and went over and beyond. Motorcycles then apart from
being useful to the Official authorities also began to provide various resourceful mean of transport
with lesser occupied space to various customers in the market with various needs and now being
used by the day-to-day commuters rather than for special purposes.Numerous Innovations were
made by the Two-wheeler manufacturing companies and the public was provided tremendous
number of variety since the early days of 1990’s.

The fuel efficient 4 stroke engine leading to lesser consumption of Natural gas causing huge reasons
for the increase in Global warming was seen as the most important reason for the shift to two
wheeler segment. As of December 2019, Motorcycles contribute around 81.5% of the total two-
wheelers in the Country India resulting as the Dominating sector in the overall user market.
The companies that are dominating to ensure their place in the two-wheeler segment in India are
hugely focusing on areas of opportunity such as safety, easy to drive and less complicated, comfy
and functional design motorcycles.

The factors for the growth of Indian motorcycles :-

• The GDP of the country has increased to 8%

• The Purchasing power of an average family has increased
• As a matter of fact Money and Credit have become accessible very easily
• Government cutting some slack to the public on taxes and also on duties
• International standards leading to more expectations in India
• The economic and fuel-efficient engines
• The millennials preferring more and more motorcycles for usage.1011

10Business.mapsofindia.com. (2020). Motorcycles in India - history, growth, major manufacturers

and more.. [online] Available at: https://business.mapsofindia.com/automobile/two-wheelers-
manufacturers/motorcycles.html [Accessed 25 Jan. 2020].
11Sethi, R. (2015). Buying Motorbikes: Analysis of changing dynamics of The Decision Making
Process. [online] Linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/buying-motorbikes-
changing-dynamics-decision-making-process-sethi [Accessed 5 Dec. 2015].
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Major manufacturers of Motorcycles in India and their product lines:-

1.Hero Honda
• Hero Honda Achiever
• Hero Honda CD Dawn
• Hero Honda CD Deluxe
• Hero Honda Glamour
• Hero Honda Karizma
• Hero Honda Passion Plus
• Hero Honda Splendor
• Hero Honda Splendor NXG
• Hero Honda CBZ X-Treme
2.Bajaj Auto
• Bajaj Avenger
• Bajaj CT 100
• Bajaj Discover
• Bajaj Platina
• Bajaj Pulsar DTSi
3.TVS
• TVS Apache
• TVS Centra
• TVS Fiero
• TVS Star City
• TVS Victor
4.Royal Enfield
• Bullet 350
• Bullet 500
• Bullet Electra
• Bullet Machismo
• Thunderbird
5.Yamaha
• Yamaha Crux
• Yamaha Enticer
• Yamaha Gladiator
• Yamaha Libero G5
• Yamaha Gladiator
• Yamaha Alba 106
Two wheeler sales pick-up; scooter segment growth outpacing the industry growth

2017’s Fiscal year had an average growth of just 6.9% during the period where sales were expected
to be very high in the two wheeler segment of the Indian market but the rate of growth had a huge
rise and increased upto 9.2% more than the previous year during the 4th Month of the early 2018’s.
The percentage growth during the year 2016 was more than 16% which then declined in huge
numbers due to the external factors affecting the market of India as there was Liquidity crisis after
the demonetisation was implemented by the Government officials and as a result Inventory
rectification steps were undertaken by the OEM’s also known as overall manufactures as there was
a conversion to BS IV from BS III norms/rules which resulted in a huge drawback in the overall
rate of growth in following year os 2016 I.e 2017 to domestic volumes of 6.9%.
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However, the expansion rate revived throughout the present fiscal year, supported by channel-filling
measures of most OEM’s post huge discounting done simply before the transition to BS-IV
emission norms. The only minor hiccup was in June 2017, because the dealers were de-stocking
within the Pre-GST stage. Over the primary four months of 2018, the scooter market segment
announced healthy growth of 18.2% while the motorcycles section detailed moderate growth of
6.6%. However, the expansion within the motorcycle section improved in July 2017, growing at
16.9% and outpacing the scooter section growth in several months, supported by stocking up post
GST implementation. The mopeds segment according to the de-growth of 13.0% in 4th month
2018, while having a dream run in Fiscal year 2017.

Scooter sales report double digit growth in 4M FY2018 after two quarters of de-growth

After having 6 months of consecutive de-growth, the scooter market finally announced its change of
direction to healthy growth to as huge as 18.2% in the year 2018 and on or before the month of
April. The plan of OEM’s to shift to BS IV from BS III worked pretty extraordinary in favour of the
market and digged them out of the whole they had put themselves in. This resulted in a reversed
results and hence resulting in literally double digit growth for the scooter industry with the lowest
conversion rate being as huge as 10.6% in the month of June 2017which was a very good news for
the Industries that were involved in the two-wheeler segment of the country this was possible
because the dealers had cleared their excessive stock before GST was implemented. The major
impact/contribution was like always the 90-125cc bikes in the domestic scooter segment as they
were inclined by the variety and innovation that was provided to the general public.

Nevertheless, the less than 90cc sub-segment announced vigorous growth since Quarter 2nd of the
year 2017, inclined by release of the updated TVS Scooty Pep+ and as well as healthy growth was
reported in the higher deportation categories during the same year as the previous, inclined by the
Vespa 150 and Aprilia SR 150 models that come under the 150-cc segment.

Motorcycles revive gradually on the back of entry-level sub-segment

In the times of normal monsoon there has been an increase in rural demand for motorcycles with
lower displacement such as the 75-110cc sub-segment vehicles used by lower middle class and less
income generating individuals which has indeed led to volume growth for the two wheeler segment.
This has been expected to continue in the upcoming months due to development in backward cast as
well as emerging festive seasons along with the Kharif crop that do support the sentiment of the
rural people and hence has a overall impact on the sales in the upcoming term. These sub-segments
had reported mixed performance in the present year even after so many factors were in favour of the
sub-segments mentioned above. But even today the higher displacement subsegments still are
expected their healthy streak of growth in regard of the premiumization trend that has occurred in
the country, also with the increasing disposable incomes along with the favourable demographic
split12

12 Coursehero.com. (2020). demonetisation and inventory correction measures undertaken by

original. [online] Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/file/p523baaa/demonetisation-and-
inventory-correction-measures-undertaken-by-original/.
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o Yamaha Gladiator
o Yamaha Libero G5
o Yamaha Gladiator
o Yamaha Alba 106

Two wheeler sales pick-up; scooter segment growth outpacing the industry growth
After ending FY2017 with a moderate growth of 6.9%, the growth rate in the two-wheeler
industry improved in 4M FY2018 to 9.2% over the corresponding previous. The industry growth
rate of 16.0% during Apr-Oct’16 moderated from November 2016 following liquidity crisis
post demonetisation and inventory correction measures undertaken by original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) for the transition from BS III to BS IV norms thereby limiting the overall
growth for domestic volumes at 6.9% during FY2017.
However, the growth rate revived during the current fiscal, supported by channel-filling measures
of most OEMs post massive discounting done just prior to the transition to BS-IV emission norms.
The only minor hiccup was in June 2017, as the dealers were de-stocking in the pre-GST period.
Over the first four months of FY2018, the scooter segment reported healthy growth of 18.2%
while the motorcycles segment reported moderate growth of 6.6%, However, the growth in the
motorcycle segment improved in July 2017, growing at 16.9% and outpacing the scooter segment
growth after many months, supported by stocking up post GST implementation. The mopeds
segment reported de-growth of 13.0% in 4M FY2018, after a dream run in FY2017.
Scooter sales report double digit growth in 4MFY2018 after two quarters of de-growth
After two quarters of consecutive de-growth, the scooter segment reported healthy growth of
18.2% in 4MFY2018. Both Q3 and Q4FY2017 were marred by negative effects of demonetisation
and channel correction activities taken up by the OEMs as the industry shifted from BS III to BS
IV emission norms. However, during 4M FY2018 this has reversed, and the scooter segment
reported double digit growth for all the months with lowest growth rate being 10.6% in June 2017
as dealers cleared their inventory prior to GST implementation. The 90-125cc subsegment
continues to account for the major proportion of domestic scooter volumes, supported by the
wider variety of product offerings.

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 Brand Image and Its Impact on a customer:-

In general the three main components of brand image are brand personality, attributes and
consequences. It would be even more precise to believe that brand image includes not only these
factors but is a topic that encompasses all the associates and emotions that a customer usually has
for a particular brand they could be anything related to: feelings, all the thoughts a person has, the
smell, the sound and even the colours that have a mental power or mental perception in the mind of
the customer through experience or with passage of time.

First comes the attributes, attributes means qualities or functions or advantages of a particular
brand. A brand is known by its attributes i.e. the qualities it offers. Attributes effect the brand image
i.e. a product or brand with lot of advantages in comparison to its nearest substitute is considered
more suitable. Thus it enhances the brand image. Then come the consequences, consequences
means the effect of the product. The product or brand which gives ultimate good result is considered
good brand. Thus, consequences also effect brand image. Last component of brand image is brand
personality. Brand personality includes associations with particular characters, symbols, endorsers,
life styles and types of users. Together, such brand personality associations create a composite
image of a brand. It gives the brand a sense of human, it makes you feel a brand as a person. Thus it
characterised it as adventurous, head strong, undependable, excitable etc. Brand personality also
aconite feelings with brand. Like fun, excitement with Pepsi, taste, health with honey. Brand
personality also creates an avocation of that brand with certain important life values, such as
exciting life, the search for self respect, the need to be intellectual, the desire for self-expression etc.
Finally what often matters more than the specific personality attributed to brand is the question of
whether a brand has any clear personality at all. Thus, it could be said that the brand personality of a
"brand as a person", is used by various advertising agencies and marketing client companies.
Thus, these are the 3 components of brand image. Brand image is an important tool for making
effective sales. Brand image builds the confidence in customers. A product which owns high brand
image is always at an advantage in comparison to products with low brand image. Thus, brand
image can be described as impression of brand in eyes of customers.

According to David Ogilvy :

"We hold that every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol
which is the brand image as part of the long term investment in the reputation of the brand.”

Brand Name research

The choice of Brand name is an inherent part of marketing strategy designed to result in a
successful new product launch is well recognised. Research is often conducted to determine the
image that a number of alternative brand names may convey to the end user. The objective of this
research is to identify which brand name conveys the desired image before the new product is
launched.
Techniques used for brand name research are :

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1. Rank order :
Rank Order technique, a sample of present users of potential users would be asked to rank the
alternative brand names for a specified new product in their order of preference. The brand name
that receives the highest preference ranking would be adopted as the brand name. This technique is
simple to employ and can be completed quickly without great expense.

2. Scaling :
Scaling techniques are often employed to determine end-user reactions to characteristics conveyed
by the brand name. If the firm wanted to convey an image of strength, aggressiveness etc. it would
select the brand name that consumer identify with these attributes.

3. Motivational research techniques :

The objective of motivational research should not be to select the final brand name but to indicate
which one or two words appeal most to the target market colour, packing, printing and other factors
used to display the brand name will all affect its performance.
These are the ways to determine brand name. Brand name is the first impression that customer gets.
Thus, it help in a great way to build a strong, positive brand image.
Brand image is the perception of brand among present customers, potential customers and in
market. A brand owning a strong image always rules the market and makes effective sales. Thus it's
very important for companies to acquire a high brand image.

Importance of Brand Name :

Consumer brand preference means to which brand consumers gives importance and priority.
A brand is a name, term, symbol or design or a combination of these that gives identification to the
maker and seller of a product or service. Brand is an important part of a product, it gives a name, an
identification of product, moreover branding can add value to a product. Mostly people choice the
product by its brand. e.g. A bottle of white linen perfume will be perceived as a high quality
expensive product but if the same perfume is in unmarked bottle it would be viewed as lower
quality product even if the frequency, quality etc. i.e. are other incidents are identical. This clarifies
that a branded product is always preferred in comparison with non-branded product.
Brands also tell the buyer something about product quality, a regular buyer knows that they will get
same feature, quality and advantages each time they buy the product. A good name can add greatly
to a product success.
Attitudes are expressions of inner feelings that reflect whether a person is favourably or
unfavourably pre-disposed to some object or brand. Attitudes are not directly observable but are
inferred from what people say or what they do.

Example : If a researcher carries out a survey and finds that a consumer consistently uses a product
and also recommend it to friend, it will too concluded that consumer have a positive attitude
towards that product.
To survive in such a competitive environment it is quite necessary to understand liking and disliking
of the customer. Consumer attitude help to know about what is their view about product.
Customer is the central point of all marketing activities. Thus, it becomes very necessary to know
about his attitude because customer attitude decides the position of product in market.
Importance of study of consumer attitudes & brand preference :
In present context, it is very important to study consumer attitudes, as its a competitive world if a
manufacturer doesn't know about consumer attitudes he become outdated and couldn't stay in
market for long.
Page 16
The study of consumer nature helps in following :
1. Price Policy.
2. Decision regarding channel distribution.
3. Production policy.
4. Consumer Satisfaction.

Ching and Ying (2008) dealt the topic Airline brand equity, brand preference and purchase
intentions. They concluded their research it has a positive relationship between brand equity,
brand preference and purchase intentions with moderation effect of switching cost affecting the
relationship between brand equity and purchase intentions.

Whan and Bernard (1986), made research on strategic brand concept, image management. They
say that conveying a brand image to a target market is a fundamental marketing activity. The
method for maintaining this concept image linkage depends on whether the brand concept is
functional symbolic or experiential. Maintaining this linkage should significantly enhance
brands market performance.

Benedict and Rajeev (2002) did a study on how perceived brand globalness creates branch
value. In today’s multinational market place it is increasingly important to understand why
some consumers prefer global brands to local brands. It is based in the quality. And the
purchase is based on the perceived brand globalness.

Ulrich and Keven (2008) made a research on holistic package design and consumer brand
impression. Sincere brand should have natural package design, exciting brands – contrasting
design, competent should have delicate design and sophisticated brand have natural or delicate
design. And they discussed the potential trade off among the impressions created by holistic
design types and illustrate their findings with numerous real package.

Katherine and Darren (2008), on the influence of dissociate reference group on consumer
preference. This study explores males have more negative evaluation of and were less inclined
to choose, a product associated with dissociative that is female, reference group than a neutral
product. We suggest the mechanism underlying our effects is a desire to present to positive
self-image to others.

Frank and Joseph (2006), direct and indirect effects of self-image congruence on brand loyalty.
The study integrated the emerging construct of brand relationship quality into self-congruity
theory. The model posits that self-image congruence positively affects brand loyalty directly
and indirectly through functional congruity, product involvement and brand relationship
quality.

Dongdae and Ganesh (1999), on effects on partitioned country image in the context of brand
image and familiarity. The study found out overall image and product specific image and three
different types of familiarity product familiarity, brand familiarity and country familiarity. The
study states that product specific image plays a mediating role between overall country image
and consumer evaluation with product and brand familiarity moderate familiarity consumers
utilise country of origin information less than low or high familiarity consumers.
Page 17
Myers Chris (2003) managing brand equity, based on its attributes. Brand equity continues to
be one of the critical areas for marketing management. And this study explores some of the
consequences attributes may have on brand equity such as the basis on consumer preferences.
Attributes are examined from a tangible and intangible perspective and both are found to be
important contributors to brand equity and brand choice.

Rvi, Pascale and Ray (2005), consumer based brand equity. The study found that brand
awareness and brand associations were found to be two distinct dimensions of brand equity ass
conceptualised in the market literature

Pamela and Robert (1999), strategies for building consumer brand preference. The study found
that, the principles of market is typically to build a relationship with buyer. The relationship
should be based on strong bond between the buyer and the brand. The choice of an individual
strategy or combination depends mainly on the nature of the branded product or service. The
success of the strategy depends heavily on the marketers understanding of the preference
building and bonding process.

Aaker Janniefer (2006), brands personality traits, personality psychology. He found that an
understanding of the symbolic use of brands have been limited in the consumer behaviour
literature. He identified five big dimensions of personality. And to measure it, a reliable, valid
and generalisable measurement scale is created.

Cheng and Zhen (2004), consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy domestic products in
developing country setting. The results support the hypothesis that the impact of ethnocentrism
on consumer willingness to buy domestic products trends to be weaker when consumers judge
them as being of lower quality or when consumers hold higher values.

Atilgan, Satak and Serkan (2001), determinants of the brand equity. The study concludes that
brand loyalty is the most influential dimension of brand equity. Weak support is found for the
brand awareness and perceived quality dimensions.

Xuemei and Luiz (2011), role of brand image, product involvement and knowledge in
explaining consumer purchase behavior. This research is the first literature on counterfeits to
establish that perceived brand personality plays a more dominant role in explaining consumer
purchase intention based on profit and product attribute. Involvement and knowledge has no
significant influence.

Ravi, Pascale and Ray (2007), country image and consumer brand equity and relationship. The
relationship between these two sets of constructs was found to be positive as well as product
category. While the contribution of both country image dimensions was also product category
specific.

Neelam (2006), effect of country origin on foreign brand names in the Indian market. It was
found that the quality of foreign brands was perceived to be generally higher and superior to
local brands. Most consumers also associated greater accessibility of foreign brands in the
Indian market with better quality at lower prices. Indian market evaluated them higher on
technology, quality, status and self-esteem than Indian brands and attributed higher credibility.
Page 18
 A Tri-partite Conceptualisation of Design:-

Sales and market share are aggregate-level outcomes that are indicative of value captured
by a product. Consumer perceptions of value creation through the product, i.e., how well does a
product’s utility align with a consumer’s own needs and expectations (Priem 2007), drives this
value capture. Because product design encompasses translating technical solutions into products
with features that enhance value for consumers (Veryzer 1995), it is one such firm capability that
can impact firm-level outcomes. From a firm’s perspective, design is about integrating inputs
from engineers, product developers, and industrial designers (Hagtvedt and Patrick 2014) and
leveraging their specific design capabilities in order to generate appropriate value-creating
products.

While conventional wisdom may point to design being applicable only for high-priced
premium products, Landwehr, Labroo, and Herrmann (2011) show that design impacts sales
across all segments in the auto industry. More importantly, their work shows that design aspects
are independent of retail price and advertising, and explain up to 19 percent more variance in
sales. So what do these design capabilities specifically entail? A survey of the design literature
across disciplines identifies three different dimensions (for example, Bloch 2011; de
Albuquerque Campos et al. 2012; Tosi 2012). Design pertains to visual attributes related to form
(Bloch 1995), performance attributes related to functionality (Veryzer 1995), and user
experience and comfort attributes related to ergonomics (Moon, Park, and Kim 2015). Although
the multi-dimensionality of design has been acknowledged in marketing (Srinivasan et al. 2012),
roles played by form and function have attracted the most attention (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and
Mahajan 2007); ergonomics has received relatively limited attention.

In their three-dimensional specification that included function, form, and meaning,

Srinivasan et al. (2012) subsumed ergonomics under both form (for example, ability to rest arms
comfortably while driving), and function (for example, seat belt comfort). Their meaning
dimension refers to significance and memorial associations about the product that are shared by
the consumers. In a similar vein, Homburg, Schwemmle, and Kuehnl (2015) conceptualised a
three-dimensional view of design that comprised of functionality, form, and symbolic
dimensions wherein they subsumed ergonomics explicitly under the functionality dimension.
Their symbolic dimension refers to the self-image communicated to the consumers (p. 44). Both
meaning and symbolism relate to non-product-related needs of personal expression and occur as
a consequence of the consumption of a product (Keller 1993). Given that product-related design
attributes possess the potential to change the meaning or symbolism of the product (Rubera
2015), we refrain from using meaning or symbolism as dimensions of product-related design.

We contend that form and performance alone are not useful if crucial aspects of the
product related to user experience, i.e. ergonomics are not met. Because ergonomics has been
demonstrated to be a distinct construct, completely different from either form or function (Moon,
Park, and Kim 2015), we conceptualize product design as comprised of form, function, and
ergonomics; furthermore, we examine how these constituent dimensions interact with each other
and impact market share. This provides a broad overview of notable work done on design and
places the current paper in context. Aligning these design dimensions into appropriate product
configurations that match consumer needs and expectations impacts consumer-level evaluations
and thereby market-level outcomes.
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 Functional, Form, and Ergonomic Design:-

Functional design refers to performance specifications that embody the utilitarian aspects
of a product (Townsend, Montoya, and Calantone 2011). It delivers utilitarian value to customers
by bundling together various attributes in order to provide adequate technical performance
(Bloch 1995). In particular, functional design strives to accomplish prevention goals
characterised by desires such as “being responsible” (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and Mahajan 2007,
p. 703), and positively impacts customer satisfaction (Srinivasan et al. 2012). Examples of
functional design include the performance of a vehicle in terms of ride smoothness, handling and
stability, and braking performance (Norman 2005).

Form design blends chosen aesthetic characteristics of a product into a visual whole to
appeal to, and please, human senses (Bloch 1995). For example, the form design of a Harley-
Davidson Sportster encompasses the prominent V-configuration of its engine, the raked angle of
its front shocks, the teardrop shape of its gas tank, and the way in which these elements work
together as a visual whole (Bloch 1995). Form design typically strives to accomplish promotion
goals usually characterised by desires such as “looking cool” (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and
Mahajan 2007, p. 704). Form design creates hedonic value which, in turn, arouses consumer
emotions, and hence is capable of developing deeper relational outcomes (Noble and Kumar
2010). Indeed prior research has established the positive influence of form on consumers via
various routes such as intrinsic experiential value (Hirschmann 1983), visceral emotional
reactions to the product (Rindova and Petkova 2007), and customer delight (Chitturi,
Raghunathan, and Mahajan 2007). Hence, form is regarded as a significant driver of product
differentiation (Cho, Hasija, and Sosa 2015) and competitive advantage (Veryzer and
Hutchinson 1998).

Although function and form are critical and valid dimensions of design, the picture is
incomplete without incorporating ergonomics. Ergonomic design involves incorporating user-
centric factors in product design, including experiential aspects of the product-user interface
(Montini 2014), in order to maximize comfort for users during consumption (Bloch 1995). As
such, ergonomic design emphasizes complementing the abilities of users while minimising their
limitations, rather than forcing them to adapt. Ergonomic design is about enhancing comfort and
improving product usability – it “makes products fun and engaging and emphasizes beauty in
interaction rather than appearance alone” (Bloch 2011, p. 379). For example, Herman Miller’s
Aeron office chair is designed on the principles of ergonomics; it lowers spinal compression,
promotes safety by reducing stress injuries, and consequently enhances seating comfort
(Srinivasan et al. 2012).

The theory of internal processing algorithms suggests that consumer responses to design
are determined by cognitive algorithms, i.e. non-conscious, internalised pre-existing rules, such
that individuals prefer designs that conform to those cognitive algorithms (Rubera 2015). By
delivering positive user experiences and communicating operational effectiveness, ergonomic
design ensures consistency with pre-existing rules and generates positive evaluations. Thus
ergonomic design serves both utilitarian and hedonic aspects (Noble and Kumar 2010).
Examples of ergonomic design in an automobile include quality of seats and various other
comfort and convenience features.

Page 20
In summary, product design has three distinct dimensions – function, form, and
ergonomics – each of which can positively influence product evaluations. Our theoretical
development is based on the premise that form, function and ergonomics are utilised by
consumers as cues to evaluate products, form their preferences, and then make choices in
accordance with those preferences that ultimately drive market share. We next examine the inter-
relationships among these dimensions to understand their substitutable and complementary
effects on market share.

Interdependencies among the Design Dimensions:-

Form and functional designs. Given that consumers expect a certain congruity between
functional and form designs – they expect beautiful products to work better (Hagtvedt and
Patrick 2014) – ostensibly firms would be well-served by maximising both. However, it is not a
judicious strategy. The principle of “hedonic dominance” suggests that consumers attach
relatively greater importance to form design after a baseline level of functionality has been met;
in such cases, consumers tend to focus on products with superior form design as they tend to
enhance hedonic appeal and generate more excitement thereby driving consumer choices
(Chitturi, Raghunathan, and Mahajan 2007). Products with high levels of both form and function
may not appeal to the mainstream market as they tend to overshoot customers’ willingness to
pay. As a result, they may end up catering only to a niche high-end market thereby making it
difficult for manufacturers to maximize market share.

Considering that enhancing both functional and form dimensions to higher levels is sub-
optimal for share, firms would do well to strategically balance the two dimensions when
designing a product. In mature competitive markets, products have to meet minimal regulated
levels of functionality in order to compete in the marketplace. Once a product meets the levels
required by the marketplace, research on limited attribute compensation has shown that higher
levels of form design tends to compensate for lower levels of functionality (Hagtvedt and Patrick
2014). Superior form design does so by acting as a quality signal for the product making up for
the inferior functional attributes and thereby communicating value (Hoegg and Alba 2011). More
importantly, owing to its conspicuous nature, superior form design is more observable making
the product more socially desirable thereby enabling consumers to fulfill social objectives such
as social status (Noble and Kumar 2008). Social desirability has also been shown to drive
consumer choice by increasing product likability (Rindfleisch and Inman 1998). Hence, in a
choice between two products with similar functionality, consumers prefer products with superior
form design that generates higher-order emotions such as exhilaration and excitement (Chitturi,
Raghunathan, and Mahajan 2008).

Along similar lines, Hoegg, Alba and Dahl (2010) suggest pairing products that possess
lower levels of form design with higher perceived functionality; the apparent incongruity
between form and function enables consumers to elaborate on, and compensate for lower form
design, through superior functional attributes. Such a product promotes positive prevention goals
such as confidence and security and satisfies utilitarian expectations (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and
Mahajan 2008) thereby leading to better product evaluations. Accordingly, we propose that
H1: The positive relationship between form design and market share will be weakened at
increasing levels of functional design.
Page 21
Functional and ergonomic designs. While functional design is about creating a product
that can perform tasks required to satisfy the utilitarian needs of consumers, ergonomic design is
focused on enhancing user-experiences during consumption and promoting comfort and ease-of-
use. Both functionality and ergonomics lead to positive prevention goals such as confidence and
security (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and Mahajan 2008) and improved outcomes such as product
choice and satisfaction (Noble and Kumar 2008).

Higher levels of functionality can result in greater complexity due to intricate

dependencies among the various elements (Lu and Suh 2009). Given that the complex product
may be inconsistent with consumers’ existing values and experiences (Gourville 2005), a highly
functional product may be more difficult to evaluate thereby requiring extensive mental efforts
and cognitive processing (Bloch 1995).The challenge for designers then is to achieve the delicate
balance of offering highly functional products without cognitively overwhelming the consumers
(Berlyne 1970) but at the same time helping consumers evaluate the product objectively. Product
developers tend to utilize subtle design cues to effectively influence the performance
expectations of consumers (Noble and Kumar 2010); ergonomic design is one such cue.
Research shows that consumers often utilize their usage experiences as signals to not only
understand the operational effectiveness (Creusen and Schoormans 2005) but also understand
and evaluate the functional attributes of a product (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2010).
Therefore, higher levels of ergonomic design can not only better articulate a product’s comfort,
ease-of-use, and usability through positive user experiences but also signal a product’s utility by
accentuating the strengths of functionality.

Introducing an excellent functional product without correspondingly high levels of

ergonomics negates the impact of superior functional design as consumers find it difficult to use
the product and hence appreciate the superiority of its functional design. Industry is replete with
such examples; for example, in 2007, VW Beetle failed to get full benefits of its superior
functionality due to its relatively inferior ergonomics. Coupling poor functional design with
higher levels of ergonomics is unwise too. Higher levels of ergonomics raises consumers’
expectations about the performance of the product (Noble and Kumar 2010) which are not
fulfilled by a product with inferior functional design thereby leading to dissatisfaction.
The preceding arguments suggest a positive synergy between functionality and
ergonomics such that high levels of experiential user satisfaction through superior ergonomics
amplifies positive consumer evaluations due to superior functionality. This synergy results in
higher consumer evaluations and better market share. Accordingly, we propose that:
H2: The positive relationship between functional design and market share will be
strengthened at increasing levels of ergonomic design.

Form and ergonomic designs. Both form and ergonomic designs communicate value and
can influence customer preferences. Form design is visual and observable. At a broad level,
superior form design is about mere exposure of novel stimuli (Hoegg and Alba 2011) and hence
is much easier and more straightforward to perceive. Ergonomic design, on the other hand, is
experience-centric and intensely personal. Consumers must interact with the product to evaluate
the usability and ease-of-use.

Page 22
We extend the limited attribute compensation argument suggested by Hagtvedt and
Patrick (2014) to the interplay between form and ergonomics. Akin to the rationale outlined with
lower levels of functional attributes, superior form design will compensate for lower levels of
ergonomic design by signaling social desirability (Rindfleisch and Inman 1998) and social status
(Noble and Kumar 2010). As such, form design communicates product value (Hoegg and Alba
2011) and evokes emotional excitement (Chitturi, Raghunathan, and Mahajan 2008).

In a similar vein, superior ergonomics can compensate for lower levels of form design.
From a technical perspective, enhancing ergonomics may sometimes lead to sub-optimal
aesthetic characteristics such as shape, size, texture, and colour (Lawson 2005). Given the lack of
visual and hedonic appeal, consumers tend to weigh self-experiences heavily in their final
evaluations (Hagtvedt and Patrick 2014) and accept that products designed to deliver the most
comfort may not be aesthetically the most appealing (Bloch 1995). In such cases, the ideal
product is not necessarily that which possesses the best form design but rather the product that is
most comprehensible and usable (Bloch 1995, p. 18). By promoting usability and positive
prevention goals such as safety and security, ergonomic design takes a different route compared
to superior form design in affecting consumer preferences for the product. Hence, we propose the
following:
H3: The relationship between ergonomic design and market share will be weakened at
increasing levels of form design.

The Impact of Design on Older versus Newer Generation Vehicles

Empirical studies have shown decline in sales as a product ages in the marketplace
(Bayus 1998). Market demands and consumer preferences for design attributes evolve over time
requiring reconfiguration of design attributes. Competitors gradually catch up, or even overtake,
with better designed products. So firms strive to be dynamic and launch newer generations of
their products with superior designs to create better value for their customers and capture share.

In this context, relevant questions arise: can design help slow down the decline in market share
as a product gets older? Are some design dimensions more effective than others at doing so?
Form design is conspicuous and becomes a part of the sensory environment for both users
and non-users alike (Bloch 1995). A novel form design generates high initial awareness and
interest among consumers leading to potential adoption (Rubera 2015). The positive word of
mouth accompanying the increased adoption may lead to bandwagon effects which imply that
consumers enjoy psychological benefits by using popular products (Hellofs and Jacobson 1999)
thereby leading to more consumers buying the product. As such, the popularity for superior form
design in the marketplace creates opportunities for repeated exposure leading to higher levels of
familiarity with the product. Given that higher levels of familiarity is associated with higher
levels of preference among consumers (Rindflebisch and Inman 1998), a product with superior
form design is likely to engender high levels of consumer support. Superior form design is also
hard to imitate. This difficulty for others to imitate arises in part because form design (legally
known as trade dress) is protected and firms can successfully sue imitators for design
infringement (Gelb and Krishnamurthy 2008). Thus, a product with superior form design is
likely to be perceived as unique for a longer time (Bloch 1995). Hence consumers are likely to
prefer products with superior form design even when they are not new anymore.
Both functional and ergonomic designs, by and large, are not conspicuous. They have to
be either experienced by consumers or evaluated technically. The inconspicuous aspect of these
two design dimensions makes it difficult for them to articulate their potential benefits (Noble and
Page 23
Kumar 2010). For example, a new generation sedan with higher horsepower rating or greater
comfort is unlikely to get noticed as much compared to a new generation sedan with breathtaking
new styling, which is highly visible and hence creates bandwagon effects. Also, both functional
and ergonomic designs in older generation vehicles are imitated relatively easily by other firms
in a competitive marketplace making sustained differentiation relatively difficult. Positive
feedback from consumers and vicarious learning from suppliers and competitors hasten this
imitation. So the uniqueness of functional and ergonomic design is likely to be limited to a
shorter time frame compared to form design. As a result, consumers are less likely to prefer older
generation vehicles with superior functionality or ergonomics – newer vehicles may offer similar
or better functional and ergonomic attributes.

Page 24
CHAPTER III – COMPANY PROFILE

Page 25
 Industry and Company Profile
Industry Profile:-
SOCIETY OF INDIAN AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS:-

The ISO certified 9001-2008 Organisation called the Society of Indian Automobile
Manufacturers(SIAM) is the indigenous Organisation that represents more than 40 huge companies
that manufacture vehicles along with high end engine manufacturing firms. It has become the Brand
ambassador of The Indian Automobile Industry of India.

SIAM ensures that it keeps in touch with the International bodies and other Organisation related to
Automobile industry and asks for necessary suggestions required for upgrading or development of
Capabilities in relation to the technical aspects of the Indian Automobile industry in order to beat
the worldwide best practices followed by the best companies around the world.

In the recent times the automobile industry is showing very good signs of growth across all of the
available segments in India. The total sales of all the categories of segments in this sector given by
SIAM was reported at 12,08,851 units when compared to 9,29,917 units in the previous year for the
same corresponding period. The growth rate was defined at 30% to be precise. Henceforth the
director general of the SIAM has informed/warned that the sales could be reduced or declined if the
monsoon becomes weak which was expected to be good this year, this could show signs of things
going south. Increase in Inflation rate could also be one another reason.

There has been a sales increase of 28.66% of two-wheelers in the month of May 2018 along with
the motorcycle sales supporting this growth rate with the increase rate of 25.80% from 5,76,537 in
the year before to 7,25,311 units in the current year. The most promising company as well as the
Largest company in the sector of motorcycle manufacturing Honda has reported a growth of
11.74% in regard with the sales that combined to around 4,01,320 antis in the month of May,2019.
As far as their Rival is concern Bajaj Auto also shot up by 68.73% to 1,91,726 units, joining the
party- TVS Motor company which is a Chennai-based manufacturer also reported 21.2% in the
month of may at the units of 52,319. The last but not the least HMSI Honda Motorcycle and scooter
India saw a huge jump of 52.24% with units of 55,110.

In relation to all of these increase Scooter segment have been very enlightening said SIAM with the
stats of 45.45% to 1,57,509 units as against 1,98,291 units in the previous year. Scooter sales of
TVS was up by 40.19%, Honda by 28.03% and Yamaha’s Sales by 61.21% with 23,738 units from
last year.

The Two Wheeler Market Globally:-

Both the Countries India and China which are developing countries are the main producers and
consumers of two wheeler vehicles and together amount to more than half of the worldwide
manufacture and sales of these vehicles. The Japan Companies namely Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki and
Kawasaki have given neck to neck competition and dominated this segment globally. In todays date
all the huge companies except the Indian market are usually dominated by the vehicles
manufactured by Japanese companies or their related ventures.
Page 26
An Indian Motorcycle Company named Honda Motor Cycles Limited leads the whole market with
its extraordinary sales. Motor cycles are being used for various of reasons around the world and
some use it specially for day-to-day purpose while some for hobby pursuits. Companies like
Yamaha, Harley Davidson, Royal Enfield ,BMW etc satisfy the hobby pursuit of the people we
talked about all over the world.

Company Profile:-
Yamaha Motor

Yamaha Motor Company Limited is a Japanese manufacturer of Motorcycles, commuter vehicles

& scooters, recreational vehicles, boats, marine engines, as well as snowmobiles which was
established in 1955. This Company was separated from the Industry Yamaha Corporation even
though Yamaha corporation still seems to be the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company
limited as of June 30, 2014 having percentage shares of more than 12.21%. The companies HQ is in
Japan in a city called Shizuoka which is known for its authenticity. As of 2012 Yamaha actually
facilitates its marketing strategies as well as its production and development operations through its
109 registered subsidiaries.

Yamaha Motor India is a 100% subsidiary of the Japan’s YMC also known as the Yamaha motor
corporation and its main Manufacturing base is in Surajpur and Faridabad, which as a matter of fact
helps in the production of the domestic bikes as well as the Overseas demanded vehicles in the most
effective and efficient way possible. Currently standing at 2nd with 10 models rolling out only with
these 2 manufacturing bases.

The first President of Yamaha Motors was Genichi kawakami a business tycoon who led the
company in the production of the first and foremost Vehicle of Yamaha also known as the YA-1, in
the year 1955. It was a 125cc bike which also won the Mount Fuji Ascent Race in its class and
which was the 3rd Race of its type.

The number of products that are included in this company are Scooters, water craft, bicycles, utility
boats, 4 wheel ATV’s, Motorcycles, go-kart engines, Sports bikes, Multi-purpose vehicles,
automobile engines, small snow throwers, surface mounters, industrial-use unmanned helicopters
etc. The company is also interested in the imports as well as the sales of variety of products
including the growth of related services such as the tourist business and recreational prerequisite
along with management of the companies manufacturing processes. Keeping in Mind that
Motorcycle business is the second largest in the world of businesses, water vehicle as well as the
Outboard motor are the contributors of such as huge market leader as of 2015.

Year of Establishment-July 1, 1955 (Yamaha Japan)

Industry-Motorcycle manufacturing
International Headquarter-2500 Shingai, Iwata-shi Shizuoka-ken, Japan

Page 27
Yamaha’s first product was a 125cc single cylinder motorcycle with 2 torque power also named as
the YA-1 was actually a replica of the German bike named DKW RT125 which was one of the most
successful bikes built by the advanced technology used by Germans. Hence YA-1 was in itself a
success from the very beginning in the factors of racing and was termed as the most competitive
bike of the year by winning the 125cc class Mt.Fuji Ascent in addition to the being placed as first,
second and third place and sweeping the podium off in the All Japan Auto bike Endurance Road
Race in the same year it was introduced. Since Yamaha got a very good start in the racing section it
did set the tone for the Brand name for Yamaha and it started to be visualised or portrayed as brand
with huge potential and delivers what it is asked by its customers. Since Racing has played as very
important endeavour for the company throughout its times, filled with rivalry against Japanese bikes
and also with the Leading market dominator Honda Motors, the company showed signs of not being
let down by its products and kept its reputation intact.

Yamaha became an International Brand in 1956 where they had to go through the Catalina Grand
Prix Race with its same product the YA-1, in which they came 6th place, keeping in mind that they
were competing with the best brands across the whole world they earned significantly a very good
place in the race. After the Maturity of YA-1 the YA-2 was introduced by Yamaha in 1957, 2 years
after its first launch a similar 125cc bike but having marvellously upgraded suspension and frame.
With the YA-2 one more variety of bike was launched that was named YD-1 in the same exact year
just few months apart which was in fact a 250cc twin cylinder bike also with a two stroke engine,
looking a lot like YA-2 but was more powerful and heavier motor bike. With in few years of time
the company developed its first marine engine with the most advanced and expensive technology
with one more new version of racing bike that was later named as YDS-1 which had the first five-
speed transmission in the world with the one and only double doom-tube cradle frame in the whole
Global market.

Patny Motors
Patny Group fully Owns the Patny Motors which is One of the Largest retail chains of Automobile
vehicles in India which quotes that the focus on providing a world-class customer support and
experience across all of the whole wide world.

Patny Motors- One of the Fastest Growing dealers of the Yamaha company which indeed has
30,000 square feet showroom in the state Hyderabad have implied on becoming the best dealers of
the Indian market by understanding perfectly the needs of the customer in order to get a competitive
edge in a market which has been very dynamic and uncertain. In Modern era after buying a a
luxurious house to live in the next biggest investment would in fact be acquiring the most classic
looking, comfortable and socially praised High end motorcycles. Such success comes with huge
expectation in the areas of faster response rate by the customers be in the form of sales or returns or
services provided by the company. Hence the best companies never forget what their customers
have asked for and deliver the very same features they have promised so that owning these
luxurious bikes would not be less than a pleasure and in fact be a dream experience in itself.

Page 28
Vision
Yamaha’s Visions was very simple and very precise in its way of establishing the Company as the
“Exclusive and Trusted Brand of all time” by ensuring to the customers that they would make
products in order to “creating Kando” i.e touching their hearts in the very first time itself and not
give any excuses for their mistakes and own up to their responsibilities in order to ensure that in the
long run they’ll become a world class brand and deliver a product and service to their people with a
“Passion for their customers”

Mission

The mission is to be the most trusted brand and exclusive brand with its marketing and
manufacturing techniques and by also focusing on proving the best of the best services to its
customers in order to ensure long term relationships with the goal of increasing the performance
excellence and authentic design and Innovative and advanced technology and hence in-turn
improving their standard of living to a more billionaire lifestyle and providing innovative means of
solutions to problems that are inevitable will always result in customer delight and ensure value
added vehicles to a world filled with passion and drive for perfection.

The mission was also to Build an excellent team with huge potential in order to thrive towards
delivering results and filled with capability of showing success in the field which has been
handpicked by the experts of this world. Our most valuable assets are our employees and in order to
achieve international level of mastery we intend on developing them with an effective strategy
known as the progressive career development. We also promise to conduct our operations ethically
and in the most righteous way possible avoiding any harm to general public in the most responsible
way keeping in mind the concerns of the environment and not causing any dangerous situations for
the green life.

Creating a source for Value and Knowledge among our customers will be our top priority and
earning the loyalty of our well known business partners and ensuring the rise of the stakeholder
value of the company.

The Dealership:-

Mr.Mahavir Patny, Director, CEO.

Manufacturing process:-

Indian Yamaha Motor’s Manufacturing process includes 2 of the most developed state-of-the-art
HQ at Faridabad that is located in Haryana and the other one located at Surajpur that is in Uttar
Pradesh. The ambiance and facilities at both of the bases supports motorcycle production and spare
parts production for both domestic and international market. In this process the core activities are
TPM and the 5-S that ensure fuel agile process of manufacturing. These plants have in-house
machines for Producing, Welding processes and even machines for finishing processes of Painting
and Electroplating till it reaches the end of the assembly line.

In order to meet the International standards of excellence norms were created by the company that
were named as the Stringent Quality assurance norms for our motorcycle production and usage in
every sphere possible. Also one more important and sensitive matter being the safety of the
Page 29
environment we as an organisation will take a pledge to safe guard our society with the concept of
“Environment-friendly technology” ingrained in our overall Corporate Philosophy. To keep this
promise we have various practices such as Rain water harvesting programme with an effluent
treatment plant and a motivated forestation drive. We as a Company are IS0-14001 certified and our
endeavours provide a reason to hope that their will be a day where technology will only result in the
betterment of the environment and there will be a sustainable development for IYM will not just be
an on the paper or an idea in pipeline we will bring it to action every single day of our lives.

MAIN COMPETITORS OF YAMAHA.

Honda:-

Honda is indeed the country largest two-wheeler market holder by a long margin and has in fact
announced 17.35% increase in sales with the units 414,638 in the month of march, the best figure
ever reported in the history of mankind. The company said in a statement that there is nothing
stopping it as it also witnessed a sales range of 353,342 units in the year before.

Honda in todays date has been noted as one of the most successful joint ventures in the whole wide
world. Since the establishment of factory in January 2001 in India, the motorcycle market has
witnessed a rise in sales upto 63.25% from 27% with units of 65,888 and 40,360 units respectively
in one single year. Enormous growth was seen in the next year with 88.89% along with sales units
os 78,400 in the said month breaking previous records of 41,505 units.

Bajaj:-
The Bajaj Group is ranked as one of the Top 10 Businesses in the County India. Under this group
comes the flagship company named Bajaj Auto, which is amongst the top 4 largest two-wheeler and
three-wheeler manufacturer in the World. While it stands in the 4th position in the world it stands in
the second place in terms of the largest companies in India in relation to the two-wheeler
manufacturer which has reported a huge increase of 85.12% in the sales of its motorcycle with
244,828 units in the month of March,2010. In the previous year it sold around 132,253 units and in
the entire financial year 2016-17 the company had actually made sales of 2,506,749 units alone.
Bajaj Auto Limited showed robust results in its products Pulsar and Discover ranged bikes which
were most popularly used by the general public as a means of reaching their destinations and not as
luxurious racing vehicles.

TVS:-
Well the next in line is the TVS Motor Company ranking as the 3rd largest of its type i.e in the two-
wheeler manufacturing business in India and one among the top 10 companies in the world, with
the annual turnover in the year 2008-2009 of more than USD 1 Billion Dollars, which is the same
company that comes under the TVS Group that has a turn over of more than USD 4 Billion Dollars.
Since the introduction of TVS motorcycles the motorcycle market has seen a rapid growth of 7% in
the year of 2010, March with sales volume increasing upto units 64,120 when compared to 49,796
units in the same exact month in the registered year, 2009.

Page 30
SUZUKI:-

Suzuki motorcycle private limited India showed very good run with more than 76.13% in its total
sales in the month of March 2009 at units of 21,752 due to a very good counter created by its new
products. The company in fact sold huge number of units in the month of March 2010 of almost
12,350 continuing its good run in the motorcycle business.

Product Range of Yamaha

• Yamaha Ray
• Yamaha Fascino
• Yamaha FZ
• Yamaha FZ-S
• Yamaha R15
• Yamaha V-MAX
• Yamaha R1

Page 31
 Objective of Study

1. To study the growth and complexity of markets

2. To view satisfaction level of customers

3. To study interest of customers towards Yamaha bikes

4. To study growth in recent years

5. To understand the Brand Image of Yamaha vs. its competitors so as to help the company to focus
on its marketing plan and strengthen its future positioning.
6. To check the quality of awareness of Yamaha and its competitors among the Indian customers.

Page 32
 Research Methodology:-

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood
as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps, the
research process that is generally adopted to study the research problem and basic logic behind
them.

The methodology used to analyse the required information is Regression analysis keeping in mind
the Research limitations. This study employs the self-administered questionnaire as a research tool.
The questionnaire was developed and the responses were collected manually from an audience of
aged between 18-30 years.

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
It is a fact finding investigation with adequate inference, it has focus on particular aspects or
dimensions of the problem studied. Data are collected by observation, interviewing, questionnaire,
etc.

In the following study, descriptive research has been used to conduct the research.

SAMPLING
It’s the process of selecting a small number of elements from a larger defined target group of
elements.

SAMPLING FRAME
The list of sampling unit from which a sample is drawn is SAMPLING FRAME.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Non Random Sampling technique (judgmental) was used for this research. The Respondents were
chosen on a random basis on judgment as to who will be suitable to answer the questions

SAMPLE SIZE
In the following study, the sample size of 90 respondents is taken. These 90 respondents were made
to fill the Questionnaire.

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DATA COLLECTION
Data collection took place with the help of filling of questionnaires. The questionnaire method is
used widely and is also an economical means of data collection. Questionnaires are more reliant
with verbal responses to questions, written or oral.

It is essential to make sure that the questionnaire is easy to read and could be understood by all
spectrums of people in the sample. It is also important for the researcher to respect the time and
energy spent by the respondents. Hence, the questionnaire was designed in such a way, that its
administration would not exceed 4-5 minutes. These questionnaires were personally administered.

STATISTICAL TOOLS USED FOR THE RESEARCH:-

1. Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the
purpose of gathering information from respondents. The advantages of questionnaires are that, they
are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and
often have standardised answers that make it simple to compile data.

2. Tabulation

The process of placing classified data into tabular form is known as tabulation. A table is a
symmetric arrangement of statistical data in rows and columns. Tabulation is the process of creating
a contingency table from the multivariate frequency distribution of statistical variables.

3. Pie charts

A pie chart (or a circle graph) is a circular chart divided into sectors, illustrating proportion. In a
pie chart, the arc length of each sector (and consequently its central angle and area), is
proportional to the quantity it represents. The pie chart is perhaps the most ubiquitous statistical
chart in the business world and the mass media.

4. Percentage

A percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100. Percentages are used to express
how large/small one quantity is, relative to another quantity. The first quantity usually represents a
part of, or a change in, the second quantity, which should be greater than zero.

Page 34
Primary Data
Primary data consists of original first-hand information collected specially for the purpose of study.
It is statistical material which the investigator originates for him for the purpose of enquiry in hand.

SOURCES OF PRIMARY DATA:

1. Data observation
2. Survey(Mail Questionnaire)

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for
another purpose. It refers to the data which have already been collected and analyzed by someone
else.

These data are not fresh, and reliability of these data has to be tested before it can be used in the
research.

SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA

Source of Published data:

❖ Books, magazine, and newspaper.

❖ Technical and trade journals.

❖ Reports prepared by research scholars, universities, etc.

❖ Public records, historial documents etc.

Source of unpublished data:

❖ Diaries, letters

❖ Unpublished biographies and autobiographies.

❖ Trade associations, labor bureaus etc.

❖ Random Survey was used for the primary data collection. The period of survey was from
19-02-2020 to 05-03-2020.

The questionnaire consisted of 41 questions in all.

Sample size was limited to 90.

Page 35
MOTORCYCLE BRANDS CONSIDERED
Only the brands actively present in the Indian motorcycle were considered namely-

1. Honda Motorcycles Limited.

2. Bajaj Auto Limited.

3. India Yamaha Motor Private Limited.

4. T.V.S. Motor Limited.

5. ‘Others’ was used as a generic category for all other brands.

Extent (Area covered)

Hyderabad, Begumpet, Banjara Hills, Panjagutta.

Scope of the Study

The project is concerned with the motorcycle customers of Hyderabad. It is aimed to analyse the
brand image and product design of six major players of Indian motorcycle industry. The project
includes a detailed study of various parameters that people associate with a certain brand and
attributes which are liked and considered by people. It also aims to check the quality of awareness
of Yamaha and its competitors.

Page 36
CHAPTER IV – DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION

Page 37
 DATA ANALYSIS

Exploratory Factor Analysis:-

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, Commonly known as KMO test, value of 0.698 supports the
appropriateness of factor analysis in this research study and Bartlett’s test of Sphericity the null
hypothesis that “the variables are uncorrelated, correlation matrix an identity matrix”, was rejected
and it was concluded that there are correlations among variables that were extracted from various
research papers are appropriate for factor analysis.

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. 0.698
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi- 1251.703
Square
df 465
Sig. 0.000

The KMO measure of Sampling adequacy and Significant Bartlett’s test of Sphericity suggest that it
is very necessary to make use of the factor analysis in order to ensure that all the determinants and
variables of Customer behaviour in Yamaha Motors are known and understood. Subsequently, an
exploratory principle component factor analysis was employed using SPSS 20.0. Varimax rotation
was used to identify the underlying factors of Consumer Behavior and factor loading 0.4 or above
on the items was taken into consideration. All the 30 variables related with Consumer Behavior
were considered for principle component factor analysis.

Page 38
 Factor Analysis
Communalities
Initial Extraction
Budget_friendly_pricing 1.000 0.607
Mileage 1.000 0.648
Pickup 1.000 0.380
Comfortableness 1.000 0.388
High_speed 1.000 0.602
Safety 1.000 0.624
Fast_documentation 1.000 0.564
Fast_delivery 1.000 0.567
Aesthetic_and_design 1.000 0.370
Free_servicing 1.000 0.553
Product_quality 1.000 0.511
Simple_user_manual 1.000 0.579
Electric_strart 1.000 0.480
Availabilty_of_service_stattions 1.000 0.416
Cash_discounts 1.000 0.464
Avaialabilty_of_EMI 1.000 0.644
Low_interest_rate 1.000 0.602
Attributes_of_showroom 1.000 0.266
Variety 1.000 0.395
Post_purchase_services 1.000 0.388
Durabilty 1.000 0.528
Easy_driving_capability 1.000 0.465
Reputation_of_the_brand 1.000 0.392
Less_maintaince 1.000 0.631
Knowledge_of_the_salesman 1.000 0.437
Quality_of_technology 1.000 0.594
Availability_of_spare_parts 1.000 0.368
Availability_of_ABS 1.000 0.526
Innovation 1.000 0.719
Authenticity 1.000 0.674
Highly_advanced_technology 1.000 0.642

Page 39
The above table is the table of communalities shows how much of the variance in the variables has
been accounted for the extracted factors. The communalities value should be more than 0.40 to be
considered for further analysis, else variables having value of below 0.4 are considered to be
insignificant for further analysis. The output of above table shows that all the variables (30
variables) have extracted more than 0.40 of value which means all variables are correlated and
highly significant. Innovation results in a highly significant data with highest extracted value of
0.719 where as Attributes of Showroom extracted lowest value of 0.266.

Factor 1:- Comfortableness, Aesthetic and Design, Product Quality, Post Purchase services,
Durability, Easy Driving capability, Quality of Technology, Availability of Spare parts

Factor 2:- Availability of ABS, Innovation, Authenticity, Highly Advanced Technology

Factor 3:- Mileage, Pickup, Free servicing, Electric start, Availability of Service Stations, Less
Maintenance

Factor 4:- Budget Friendly Pricing, High Speed, Safety, Fast Documentation, Fast Delivery,
Attributes of Showroom, Reputation of the brand

Factor 5:- Simple user manual, Cash discounts, Availability of EMI, Low interest rates, Variety,
Knowledge of the salesman.

The exploratory factor analysis employed for the present research study yielded 5 factors that were
deemed to explain customer behaviour in Automobile industry. Together all five factors explained
51.691% of variance. All the five factors were named on the basis of correlation among items and
described for further multi-variate analysis.

Page 40
 1. Factor 1 – Performance Based

Comfortableness 0.176

Aesthetic and Design 0.136

Product Quality 0.278

Post Purchase services 0.187

Durability 0.180

Easy Driving Capability 0.176

Quality Of Technology 0.116

Availability of Spare parts 0.087

Out of 30 Variables considered for the factor analysis, 8 variables were found to be loaded on factor
1, and hence this factor has been emerged as the most important factors as it has the most number of
variables in one single factor table. Most of the variables loaded in this factor are observed to be
related with performance hence it is named as Performance based and it can also be noted that
Performance plays a very important role in determining customer behaviour especially in case of
Indian Automobile Industry. At the same time this factor is also considered as the most reliable data
when compared to all other factors.

Factor 1 is explaining 12.234% of Variance in this respective study.

2. Factor 2 – Genuineness

Availability of ABS 0.121

Innovation 0.228

Authenticity 0.188

Highly Advanced Technology 0.299

Page 41
The other factor after performance based one is named as Genuineness of the brand in the market
because most of the variables loaded on this factor are observed to be related with authenticity of
the brand and its uniqueness. Genuineness or Originality turns out to have a huge impact on how
customer perceive a brand to be and will they like the companies uniqueness enough to purchase the
product in the end or not. In total 4 variables were loaded on factor 2, which seems to be more than
average when it comes to the variables accompanied. If the company cannot provide products that
are pretty much unique and differentiated it cannot stand out from its competitors and hence one or
the other day get to the decline stage, hence every company needs to keep innovating and not stay
stagnant and get replaced.

Factor 2 is explaining 10.928% of variance.

3. Factor 3 – Specifications

Mileage 0.278

0.053
Pickup
Free Servicing 0.219

0.168
Electric Start
Availability of service stations 0.121

0.240
Less Maintenance

Out of 30 variables, 6 variables were found to be loaded on factor 3 and this factor is considered as
the third most important factor in determining the customer behaviour distinguished over its product
specifications. All the 6 variables that were found to be loaded on factor 3 can be related to product
specifications for sure and hence it was named as specifications due to its relevance to all 6
variables. Product specification forms the backbone of all the services offered as they ensure that
the customer takes the time out for the product and try to know about the product even more, If
enough product specs are not provided the customer wouldn’t even want to hear the salesman out as
he doesn’t or won’t see value in a product.

Factor 3 is explaining 10.370% of variance.

Page 42
 4. Factor 4 – Basic customer requirements

Budget Friendly Pricing 0.085

0.282
High Speed
Safety 0.258

0.242
Fast Documentation
Fast Delivery 0.251

0.135
Attributes of Showroom
Reputation of the brand 0.162

Another Important Factor to be considered is the Factor 4 which is named as Basic Customer
requirements and is the second most factor in having an impact in this study which we have done.
The 7 variables in this factor were considered to be very much related to the concept of basic
customer requirements. Basic requirements in the modern era seem to have been more important
because with the fast changing product innovations companies have forgotten their root cause and
are ignoring the simple and easy concept of providing what the customers want and hence its
ignorance could cost a firm huge amounts of loses in their market share. The data provided in this
factor is very reliable and can be depended upon by the companies in the Automobile market.

Factor 4 is explaining 10.195% of variance.

5. Factor 5 – Marketing Strategies

Simple user manual 0.296

Cash discounts 0.220

Availability of EMI 0.372

Low interest rates 0.306

Variety 0.106

Knowledge of the 0.226

salesman

Page 43
The last but not the least factor of this study is the fifth factor which is named as Marketing
Strategy, this factor consists of 6 variables same as factor 3. In most cases if the company doesn’t
have the right promotional activities and marketing strategies, no matter how good the product and
its features are the customer won’t even be aware about its existence and there for there won’t be
sales which would then lead to the product becoming unsuccessful in the market place. Hence
Marketing strategies and reaching the right kind of customers with the right information at the right
time is also as important as producing and launching a new product in the market. Without a proper
Marketing Strategy a company is on its way to a pretty huge survival crisis and tends to become
unnoticed no matter how big the companies’ name is. All marketing strategies are huge impacters of
customer behaviour towards a particular product.

Factor 5 is explaining 7.964% of variance.

And in total the percentage of variance explained is determined at 51.691% for the overall variables
in this particular study.

Page 44
 Mul$ple Regression Analysis:-

The statistical technique called Multiple Regression Analysis, commonly known as MRA is used
for studying the relationship between one dependent variable and one or more than one independent
variables. Multiple Regression Analysis is very helpful in quantifying the impact of various
influences upon a single dependent variable.
In the present study, multiple regression analysis was employed with the purpose of examining the
impact of Brand Image and Product Design on Customer Behaviour. Before employing multiple
regression analysis, factor analysis was performed, that revealed five underlying constructs of
Brand Image and Product Design . Subsequently, Customer Behaviour was taken as dependent
variable and different determinants of customer behaviour such as Performance Based,
Genuineness, Specifications, Basic customer Requirements and Marketing strategies were taken as
independent variables. Arithmetic mean of various items of customer Behaviour was computed to
estimate the customer Behaviour score. The research relies on customer Behaviour score as
dependent variable and factor score for various determinants of Brand image and product design as
independent variables.
The below mentioned multiple regression equation was developed to examine the impact of brand
image and product design on customer behaviour.
Y = αi + β1 Xi1 + β2 Xi2 + β3 Xi3 + β4 Xi4 + β5 Xi5 + Ui
Where,
Y represents Customer Behaviour (dependent variable);
i represents the sample unit from i to n;
αi represents the constant;
Xi1, Xi2, Xi3, Xi4 and Xi5 represent different constructs of Brand Image and Product design viz. ;
Performance Based, Genuineness, Specifications, Basic customer Requirements and Marketing
strategies.
β1, β2, β3, β4, and β5 represent the strength different constructs of Brand Image and Product design
viz. ; Performance Based, Genuineness, Specifications, Basic customer Requirements and
Marketing strategies.
Ui represents the error terms

Model Summaryb
Model R R Square Adjuste Std. Error Change Statistics
dR of the
Square Estimate R F df1 df2 Sig. F Change Durbin-
Square Change Watson
Change

1 .861a .742 .726 .28165 .742 47.707 5 83 .000 2.248

a. Predictors: (Constant), Fast delivery, High speed, Pickup, Mileage

b. Dependent Variable: Customer behaviour

Page 45
The output of first table shows the model summary and overall fit statistics. The first measure in the
model summary is R, which is commonly known as multiple correlation coefficient. It depicts how
the well the independent variables predict the dependent variable. The adequate value of R
represents the strength of the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable
and the positive or negative sign of R indicates the direction of relationship i.e., wether it is direct or
inverse relationship. In this MRA, R value of .861 indicates stronger relationship between the
constructs of brand image and product design on customer behaviour .
The second measure in the model summary is R2, R2 stands for Coefficient of determination
signifies the amount of variation in the dependent variable explained by the regression model. R2 is
a statistic that gives vital details about the goodness of fit with reference to a multiple regression
model. If R value is 1, it indicates that the regression line perfectly fits the data. R2 value ranges
from 0 to 1, R2 value of 0.3 and above considered as good model in case of multiple regression
analysis. From the output of the model, it can be concluded that the adjusted R Square of this model
is .726 with R Square = .742, which means that the multiple regression analysis explains 47.707%
of the variance in the data. The Durbin- Watson d= 2.248, which is between the two critical values
of 1.5 < d < 2.5 and therefore it can be concluded that there is no first order linear auto correlation
in the data.
The third important measure in the model is Durbin Watson test, it is used to detect the presence of
autocorrelation in the residuals from a regression analysis. The value which is less than 1.0 of
Durbin Watson test indicates that, there may be cause for alarm. In this multiple regression analysis,
value of Durbin Watson is 2.248 that depicts that there is no problem of serial autocorrelation in the
data

ANOVAa
Model Sum of df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares

1 Regression 18.923 5 3.785 47.707 .000b

Residual 6.584 83 .079

Total 25.507 88

a. Dependent Variable: Consumer Behaviour

b. Predictors: (Constant), Fast delivery, High speed, Pickup, Mileage

Page 46
The above table is the F- test, the linear regression‟s F-test has the null hypothesis which implies
that there is no linear relationship between the two variables. With F = 47.707 and 50 degrees of
freedom the test is highly significant. Hence, we can assume that there is a linear relationship
between the variables in this model.

Coefficientsa
Model Unstanda Coefficien Standardized 95.0% Confidence
rdized ts Coefficients Interval for B
B Std. Error
Beta
t Sig. Lower Upper
Bound Bound

1 (Constant) 4.115 .030 137.837 .000 4.056 4.175

Performance .002 .030 .004 .078 .000 -.057 .062

based

Genuineness .120 .030 .223 4.005 .000 .061 .180

Specifications .179 .030 .332 5.950 .000 .119 .238
Marketing .101 .030 .187 3.362 .001 .041 .161
strategies
Basic .398 .030 .739 13.258 .000 .338 .458
customer
Requirements

a. Dependent Variable: Fast delivery ,High speed, Pickup, Mileage

The above table shows the regression coefficients, the intercept and the significance of all
coefficients and the intercept in the model. In this multiple regression analysis, three constructs of
brand image and product design viz. Marketing Strategies was found to be significant at 5% level
of significance whereas Performance Based, Genuineness, Specifications, and Basic Customer
Requirements were found to be significant at 10% level of significance in explaining customer
Behaviour. The contribution of the independent variable in predicting and explaining dependent
variable can be determined through beta coefficient, as it suggests that higher the value of beta
coefficient more is the contribution of the independent variable. Beta coefficient is measured in
standard deviation units and is a measure of how the independent variable influences dependent
variable.
As the results of the multiple regression analysis, multiple regression model can be written as given
below;
Customer Behaviour=4.115 + .002 (Performance Based) + .120 (Genuineness) +
.179(Specifications) + .101 (Marketing Strategies) + .398 (Basic Customer Requirements)

Page 47
In the present study, unstandardised β coefficients are considered to derive the equation of multiple
regression analysis. From this multiple regression analysis, it can be concluded that the relationship
between the independent variables (Performance Based, Genuineness, Specifications and Basic
customer Requirements) and dependent variable i.e. Customer Behaviour is significant. From the
positive signs of all five estimates of beta coefficients, it can be concluded that the higher will be
the extent of these Brand Image and product design constructs, higher will be the level of customer
behaviour. Basic customer requirements has turn out to be the most important construct among all
five constructs in determining and predicting customer Behaviour with beta coefficient value of
.739 whereas performance based with beta coefficient value of .004 is found to be having least
impact on customer Behaviour.

Hence, on the basis of multiple regression analysis performed, it can be said that the Automobile
customers in India tend to be very loyal if the Automobile Industries undertakes effective marketing
strategies, keeps Performance high while dealing with customers, maintains Basic customer
requirements and improves Genuineness with time.

Page 48
 Total Variance Explained
Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
% of % of
Compo Varianc Cumulat Varianc Cumulat % of Cumulat
nent Total e ive % Total e ive % Total variance ive %

1 7.629 24.610 24.610 7.629 24.610 24.610 3.793 12.234 12.234

2 2.606 8.406 33.016 2.606 8.406 33.016 3.388 10.928 23.162

3 2.244 7.239 40.255 2.244 7.239 40.255 3.215 10.370 33.532

4 1.824 5.883 46.138 1.824 5.883 46.138 3.161 10.195 43.727

5 1.721 5.553 51.691 1.721 5.553 51.691 2.469 7.964 51.691

6 1.393 4.495 56.186

7 1.338 4.315 60.501

8 1.257 4.054 64.555

9 1.144 3.691 68.246

10 0.976 3.148 71.394

11 0.851 2.744 74.139

12 0.814 2.627 76.765

13 0.788 2.543 79.308

14 0.738 2.381 81.689

15 0.642 2.069 83.758

16 0.608 1.961 85.719

17 0.553 1.782 87.502

18 0.503 1.623 89.125

19 0.478 1.542 90.667

20 0.429 1.385 92.053

21 0.382 1.233 93.286

22 0.353 1.139 94.425

23 0.326 1.053 95.478

24 0.264 0.851 96.328

25 0.259 0.835 97.164

26 0.186 0.601 97.765

27 0.182 0.586 98.351

Page 49
28 0.150 0.485 98.836

29 0.148 0.478 99.314

30 0.112 0.363 99.676

31 0.100 0.324 100.000

Total Variance Explained

Component Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings

Total % of Variance Cumulative %

1 12.234 12.234 12.234

2 10.928 23.162 10.928

3 10.370 33.532 10.370

4 10.195 43.727 10.195

5 7.964 51.691 7.964

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

Page 50
24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Page 51
 CHAPTER V – FINDINGS,
SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Page 52
 Findings and Conclusion :-
The objectives of the present study were actually narrowed down to two main folds that include:- to
explore the variables of customer behaviour in Indian Automobile Industry; and to examine the
impact of brand image and product design of Automobile industry.

Set of five independent factors determining customer behaviour viz. performance based,
Genuineness, Specifications, Basic customer requirements and Marketing strategies
were extracted through explanatory factor analysis. These factors were found to be Highly
significant in determining the strength of customer behaviour in Indian Automobile Industry

After analysing data and performing exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression analysis was
done which clearly revealed that all the five factors of customer behaviour contribute significantly
on which brand the customer would prefer and why he would stick to one single brand and be loyal
to it.

The findings of the present research study was found to be consistent and supports the findings of
some previous research studies as well along with the fact that more and more youngsters are
preferring brands that are portrayed as Classy and Sportive automobiles which hence provides the
data to ensure that the targeted audience are Youngsters itself and not waste the available resources
on marketing such products to other inconsistent areas of the market.

After having done a detailed study of this project we are bound to understand that Yamaha is the
most Favourite brand amongst youth in the Indian market and is also regarded as the Original
makers of racing bikes by the respondents and also the fact that Youth (Students) are the major
market for motorcycles in India. We also observed that not only the high-end technologies and
Aesthetics of the vehicle mattered but also the safety and security of the driver was one of the main
requirements and hence companies who want to compete neck to neck have to focus on providing a
precise and well secure vehicle that the customer would rather prefer than any simple and basic
featured vehicle. Not only this but being a brand that promotes originality in regard with
innovations of their own and not just copying different features just because a competitor is
providing it, is usually appreciated by the people in the market. In the upcoming future more
advanced and more user friendly kind of transports are expected to ensure that life of the upcoming
generations becomes even more easier and better.

Page 53
 Limitations of the Study

1. The study is limited to 90 respondents that are selected from in and around Hyderabad, whereas
the company operates in other place of Telangana and also in other states

2. Inadequate time to follow the customer response.

3. Since the questionnaires have been filled by the clients on their personal thoughts, wrong
information can also be provided.
4. Most of the respondents were having inadequate time for filling in the questionnaire.

5. Unwillingness of respondent to provide information and were afraid of giving the true answers.

6. At the same time, possibility of respondent bias and researcher bias can’t be ruled out.

Future Directions:

As the present study is cross sectional in nature. The future researchers may undertake a
longitudinal study in order to track the changes that may influence customer behaviour towards
Automobile industry. The same study can also be replicated in different geographical location
across the industry in order to validate the present research study. Future researchers may also
consider the impact of other factors such as standard of living, purchasing power and how a
company has positioned itself in the mind of the customer which could cause change in the research
study and its results.

Page 54
 References:-
• Desk, E., 2020. BS-VI Yamaha YZF-R15 V3 Launched At Rs 1,45,300: New Features And
Coloured Wheels. [online] The Financial Express. Available at: <https://
www.financialexpress.com/auto/car-news/bsvi-yamaha-yzf-r15-v3-bs6-r15-v3-launched-
rs-145300-new-features-r15-blue-wheel-bs6-r15-price/1788384/> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• Team, C., 2020. India Yamaha Posts 21 Per Cent Growth In FY 2017 - Carandbike. [online]
CarandBike. Available at: <https://auto.ndtv.com/news/india-yamaha-posts-21-per-cent-growth-
in-fy-2017-1685626> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Yamaha Motor Company. [online] Available at: <https://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Motor_Company> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• ET Auto. 2020. Yamaha- Automobile News, Information And Updates : ET Auto. [online]
Available at: <https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/taglist.cms?query=Yamaha> [Accessed 11
March 2020].

• Google.co.in. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.co.in/url?

sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjA0O6NrermAh
X2zTgGHTFqC14QFjADegQIBhAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Faarf.asia%2Fdownload.php%3Ffile
name%3DNw7eIYaDMwpC9bU.pdf%26new%3D&usg=AOvVaw1EKaEHT2cchp6C-8uNaYye
> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• www.bestmediaifo.com. 2020. How Yamaha Raced Past Slowdown To Become A Jazzy Brand In
India. [online] Available at: <https://bestmediainfo.com/2019/08/how-yamaha-raced-past-
slowdown-to-become-a-jazzy-brand-in-india/> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• The Economic Times. 2020. Yamaha Ropes In Deepika Padukone As Brand Ambassador.
[online] Available at: <https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/yamaha-ropes-in-deepika-
padukone-as-brand-ambassador/articleshow/15106990.cms> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• The Financial Express. 2020. Yamaha Extends Brand Ambassador John Abraham's Contract For
2 Years. [online] Available at: <https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/yamaha-extends-
brand-ambassador-john-abrahams-contract-for-2-years/1223974/> [Accessed 11 March 2020].

• Business.mapsofindia.com. (2020). Motorcycles in India - history, growth, major manufacturers

and more.. [online] Available at: https://business.mapsofindia.com/automobile/two-wheelers-
manufacturers/motorcycles.html [Accessed 25 Jan. 2020].

• Sethi, R. (2015). Buying Motorbikes: Analysis of changing dynamics of The Decision Making
Process. [online] Linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/buying-
motorbikes-changing-dynamics-decision-making-process-sethi [Accessed 5 Dec. 2015]

• Coursehero.com. (2020). demonetisation and inventory correction measures undertaken by

original. [online] Available at: https://www.coursehero.com/file/p523baaa/demonetisation-and-
inventory-correction-measures-undertaken-by-original/.

Page 55
• (Brand Image, Project on Brand Image, MBA / BBA Project Report, Project on Meaning of
Brand Image, Importance of Brand Image in Business, 2020)

• Gul, Muhammad & Jan, Ali & Qadar, Dr & Baloch, Baksh & Faheem, Muhammad & Jan,
Muhammad. (2010). BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND LOYALTY.

• Joseph, Jibu P & Narayanapura, Bangalore & Bangalore, Kothanur. (2017). A Study on the Effect
of Brand Image on Consumer Preference with Reference to Youth in Bengaluru City

Page 56
 QUESTIONAIRE:-

Questionnaire no.: ………

SECTION - I

Ph. No.: ……………………….

1. Name: ………………………….

2. Gender: i. Male ii. Female iii. Prefer not to say

3. What is your Annual Income?

i. Below 3 Lakhs ii. 3 Lakhs to 6 Lakhs

iii. 6 Lakhs to 9 Lakhs iv. Above 9 Lakhs

4. What is your occupation?

i. Government sector employee

ii. Private sector employee

iii. Self-employed/Entrepreneur

iv. Homemakers

v. Student

vi. Others

Please specify ………………………

5. Name of the Company ………………………………...

6. Designation ……………………………….

7. Years of Experience

i. Less than 1 year ii. 1 to 3 years

iii. 3 to 5 years iv. More than 5 years

8. What is your qualification?

Page 57
 i. Undergraduate ii. Postgraduate

iii. Doctorate iv. Others

Please specify ………………………

9. What is your Age?

i. Below 20 years ii. 20 – 30 years

iii. 30 – 40 years iv. 40 – 50 years

v. Above 50 years

10. Which Brand do you prefer the most?

i. Yamaha Motors ii. KTM

iii. Honda Motors iv. TVS

SECTION – II

Please tell us your opinion towards the different elements that play an important role in determining the
buying behaviour towards automobile industries and the impact of these different variables on a customer.
(Please tick “✓” the desired answer)

SL ELEMENTS Highly Unimportant Neutral Important Highly

No. Unimportant Important
1 2 3 4 5

1 Budget friendly pricing?

2 Mileage of the Vehicle/Fuel
efficiency?
3 Pickup/Acceleration?
4 Comfortableness?
5 High Speed?
6 Are security measures your
primary preference?
7 Fast & Smooth
Documentation process?
8 Fast delivery of the vehicle?
9 Aesthetic and Design of the
vehicle?

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10 Free servicing ?
11 Product Quality?
12 Easy and simple user
manual?
13 Is Electric start mandatory?
14 Availability of service
stations near by?
15 Are Cash discounts
motivating?
16 Availability of easy EMI
options?
17 Low interest rates on EMIs?
18 Attributes of the
showroom?
19 Number of Options/
Models?
20 Post purchase services?
21 Durability of the vehicle?
22 Easy Driving capability?
23 Reputation of the Brand in
the market?
24 Less Maintenance?
25 Knowledge of the salesman
to answer all the questions?
26 Quality of technology used
on the vehicle?
27 Availability of spare parts?
28 Is ABS (non-skidding
breaking system) a
compulsion?
29 Is Highly advanced sensor
system a necessary factor
for avoiding vehicle
explosions?
30 Authenticity and Product
Innovation?

Page 59
 Statistics

Brand_
preferre
Gender Annual_incomeOccupationInstitute Years_of_experience
Qualification Age d
N Valid 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90
Missing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Statistics
Which Brand do you prefer the
What is your age? most?

N Valid 90 90

Missing 0 0

Frequency Table

Gender

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Female 39 43.3 43.3 43.3

Gender 1 1.1 1.1 44.4

Male 48 53.3 53.3 97.8
Prefer 2 2.2 2.2 100.0
not to
say

Total 90 100.0 100.0 90

Page 60
 What is your annual income?
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid 3-6 lakhs 7 7.8 7.8 7.8

6-9 lakhs 6 6.7 6.7 14.4
Above 9 lakhs 7 7.8 7.8 22.2
Below 3 lakhs 66 73.3 73.3 95.6
None 1 1.1 1.1 96.7
Not defined 1 1.1 1.1 97.8
Not working 1 1.1 1.1 98.9
Total 1 1.1 1.1 100.0

What is your occupation?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Government sector 1 1.1 1.1 1.1

employee

Home-maker 1 1.1 1.1 2.2

Private sector employee 12 13.3 13.3 15.6
Self-employed/ 5 5.6 5.6 21.1
Entrepreneur

Student 70 77.8 77.8 98.9

Total 1 1.1 1.1 100.0

Years of experience
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid 1-3 years 18 20.0 20.0 20.0

3-5 years 3 3.3 3.3 23.3
Less than 1 year 51 56.7 56.7 80.0
More than 5 years 10 11.1 11.1 91.1
No experience 4 4.4 4.4 95.6
None 1 1.1 1.1 96.7
Not working 1 1.1 1.1 97.8
Not yet 1 1.1 1.1 98.9
Years of 1 1.1 1.1 100.0
experience
Total 4 4.4 4.4 95.6

Page 61
 What is your qualification?
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid None 1 1.1 1.1 1.1

Not 1 1.1 1.1 2.2
Graduated
yet
Post 16 17.8 17.8 20.0
graduate
Undergradu 71 78.9 78.9 98.9
ate
What is your 1 1.1 1.1 100.0
qualification
?
Total 90 100.0 100.0

What is your age?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid 20-30 years 43 47.8 47.8 47.8

30-40 years 4 4.4 4.4 52.2
Below 20 years 42 46.7 46.7 98.9
What is your 1 1.1 1.1 100.0
age?

Total 90 100.0 100.0

Page 62
 Which brand Do you prefer the most
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Bajaj 1 1.1 1.1 1.1

BMW 1 1.1 1.1 2.2
Honda 22 24.4 24.4 26.7
Motors
KTM 18 20.0 20.0 46.7
Royal 1 1.1 1.1 47.8
Enfield
TVS 5 5.6 5.6 53.3
Which 1 1.1 1.1 54.4
brand do
you
prefer the
most?
Yamaha 41 45.6 45.6 100.0
Motors
Total 90 100.0 100.0

Bar Chart

Page 63
Interpretation:-

From the above graph, it can be observed that 43.3% Females and 53.3 Males have been taken in
the survey, with 2.2% who preferred not to say.

Interpretation:-

From the above graph, it can be observed that Annual Income of 7.8% people lies between 3-6
lakhs 6.7% people’s income lies between 6-9 lakhs, 7.8% people’s income is above 9 lakhs and 73.3
people’s income is below 3 lakhs and the rest 1.1% for both not defined and not working.

Page 64
Interpretation:- From the above graph, it can be observed that the occupation of the
respondents are:- Government Sector Employee (1.1%), Home-maker (1.1%), Private Sector
Employee (13.3%), Self-Employed/Entrepreneur (5.6%) and College Students (77.8%).

Page 65
Interpretation:-

From the above graph, it can be observed that the Years of Experience of respondents are as
follows: - 1-3 years (20%), 3-5 years (3.3%), Less than 1 year (56.7%), More than 5 years (11.1%)
No experience(7.7%)

Interpretation:-

From the above graph, it can be observed that the Qualification of the respondents are:-
Undergraduate (78.9%), Postgraduate (17.8%), Doctorate (0%) and others (3.3%).

Page 66
Interpretation:-

From the above graph, it can be observed that the Age of respondents is 20-30 years (47.8%), 30-40
(4.4%) and Below 20 years (46.7%).

Page 67
Interpretation:-

From the above graph, it is observed that respondents prefer Automobile vehicles based on their
brands as follows:-

Bajaj(1.1%) BMW(1.1%) Honda Motors (24.4%) KTM(20%) Royal Enfield(1.1%) TVS(5.6%) and
Yamaha Motors with the most highest being (45.6%)

Page 68
 Component Score Coefficient Matrix

Component Score
Coefficient Matrix
Component
1 2 3 4 5
Budget_friendly_pricing 0.085
Mileage 0.278
Pickup 0.053
Comfortableness 0.176
High_speed 0.282
Safety 0.258
Fast_documentation 0.242
Fast_delivery 0.251
Aesthetic_and_design 0.136
Free_servicing 0.219
Product_quality 0.278
Simple_user_manual 0.296
Electric_strart 0.168
Availabilty_of_service_st 0.121
attions
Cash_discounts 0.220
Avaialabilty_of_EMI 0.372
Low_interest_rate 0.306
Attributes_of_showroom 0.135
Variety 0.106
Post_purchase_services 0.187
Durabilty 0.180
Easy_driving_capability 0.176
Reputation_of_the_brand 0.162
Less_maintenance 0.240
Knowledge_of_the_sales 0.226
man
Quality_of_technology 0.116
Availability_of_spare_par 0.087
ts
Page 69
Availability_of_ABS 0.121
Innovation 0.228
Authenticity 0.188
Highly_advanced_technol 0.299
ogy
Extraction Method:
Principal Component
Analysis.
Rotation Method:
Varimax with Kaiser
Normalization.
Component Scores.

Page 70