A Presentation On Consumer Perception Of Global vs. Local Brands: “The Indian Car Industry” “The Audi” Guided By: Prof. Dr. Bijal Zaveri Prepared By: Montu Vank ( ) Mahesh Dabhi ( )

Introduction “Brands are at the heart of marketing and business strategy” “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well” -Jeff Bezos “Branding is the art and cornerstone of marketing “ -Kotler Brand is a complex symbol and presents six levels of meaning that convey it: Attributes, Benefits, Values, Culture, Personality, User

 As the world is shrinking in to a global marketplace, it is increasingly significant to understand the consumers’ perception of global brands to local brands.  During the recent years, there has been a great shift from local brands to global brands due to the display of similar needs and preferences by the consumers.  Studying consumer perceptions towards global vs. local brands have substantial implications in marketing and will also serve as a citation for future research.  The car industry in India is undertaken for the study for the simple reason being the strong growth of the automobile sector in India.  The car segment is specifically chosen as it is highly competitive with well established and successful global and local brands.

Statement of the problem  The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ perception of global brands vs. local brands in the Indian car industry. The secondary objectives of the study are to highlight the factors that effect consumer preference for car brand Audi.  The other objective of this study is focused on the famous car brand Audi, in today’s market of car in India is going global in rapid pace and all the big brands coming into India so the main focus will be on global brand Audi.

Objectives of the study  The key objective of the study was to understand consumer perception of global brands vs. local brands in the Indian car industry. The research explores and comprehends consumers’ perceptions of global brand vs. local brands.  The Perception of car brand “Audi” in the mind of customer.  The Brand Awareness of Audi in Indian market.

Research Methodology  Research Design The research Design for the project which is carried out is based on the type research to be carried out. Here the “Descriptive” type of research design is used. It is the most suitable and preferable type of design and the exact information is crafted out in such a way to make understand and clear the whole concept or problem on which the research has been carried out.  Source Of Information i.Primary Data: Data is collected from the samples from Vadodara City. ii.Secondary Data: Data is collected from Audi showroom, their sites, company’s sales record and Audi website.

 Research Instrument  The research instrument which we have used for the research is “Structured and Non-disguised Questionnaire”. The different types of rating scales are also utilized as the research had proceeded on.  Sampling Decisions i.Sampling method: - Non-probability sampling method has been used. ii.Sampling media: - A hard copy of structured and non- disguised questionnaire is used by offering it to the respondents. iii.Sample size: respondents was taken as samples.

Data analysis & interpretation Gender

Age Group

Annual income

Do you own a car?

Which type of branded car would you like to buy?

What do you expect from any branded car?

Which segment of car are you using or would prefer?

Overall how much are you satisfied with your present car?

Do you know about the brand Audi?

If yes, from where you came across about Audi?

Do you think Audi cars are perfect for Indians roads?

Do you think that the prices of the Audi cars are too higher than other brands?

Please rate the following features from 1 to 5 for Audi.

Hypothesis  Chi-Square Test  Test between car segment and income.  H 0 : Car segment selection is independent of income.  H a : Car segment selection is dependent of income

Count Car segment selectionTotal > to 12 lakh< Income > < Total Chi-Square Tests ValuedfAsymp. Sig. (2-sided) Pearson Chi-Square a Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear Association N of Valid Cases200 a. 7 cells (46.7%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is.35.

 Statistical Implication: 1. As observed value is less than 0.05 so Null hypothesis is rejected between car segment and income dependent variables.  Business Implication: 1.By getting conclusion from data we can say that the income of a person influence the buying behavior of a buyer. So the segment is selecting as per the income of individual we cannot change the income of any person but we can we can set the segment of car according to income of people.

The Audi  Audi is a German automobile manufacturer, from super mini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group.  Audi's sales grew strongly in the 2006s, with deliveries to customers increasing from 653,000 in 2006 to 1,003,000 in The largest sales increases came from Eastern Europe (+19.3%), Africa (+17.2%) and the Middle East (+58.5%). China and India in particular has become a key market, representing 108,000 out of 705,000 cars delivered in the first three quarters of  The Audi emblem is four overlapping rings that represent the four marques of Auto Union. The Audi emblem symbolizes the amalgamation of Audi with DKW, Horch and Wanderer: the first ring from the left represents Audi, the second represents DKW, third is Horch, and the fourth and last ring Wanderer.  Audi's corporate tagline is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning "Progress through Technology"

Research Methodology for Audi  Research purpose:  The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ perception of global brands Audi.  Qualitative Research:  Qualitative research methodologies are oriented towards developing understanding of the meaning and experience dimensions of human lives and their social worlds.  Interviews:  In-depth interviews were carried out as a qualitative research tool for pursuing the study.  Sampling:  For this study about Audi brand we take the sample from out descriptive research the person who is having Audi car in our research is further taken in this interview so in this sample we have the people who have Audi car.

Findings of the study  The survey carried out about the customers mainly lied in the age group of 30 to 45 years and above them.  Status Symbol of car is the main feature that reflects the customer’s buying decision rather than mileage, interiors and others.  During the survey carried out, the current customers are above averagely satisfied with the performance of their car.  The annual income of people is going up so the buying budgets of car will going to also up.  The hatchback segment and the luxury segment are the most preferred in cars.  In the competitive scenario, still the customers are satisfied with the current performance of their car but not to the extreme level.

 A respondent who had a Audi A6 could immediately think of; “Its reputation as a brand that has a worldwide presence and its quality….I said reputation because; many people all over the world fancy the brand….As a worldwide brand, Audi stands for its quality.” And he bought the brand as he asserted that; “I would first tell its word wide presence….ya its globalness as you said…then comes status and quality…Audi brand is really good. All these factors add value to the car and eventually made me to buy this brand.”- Sathish.  Likewise in the words of another respondent, “Quality and globalness of the brand has a major influence for my purchase. Good reputation also has its part, as it has a large presence all over the world….people around the world can recognize the brand name…due to the German make and the quality in it…” and also “comfortness would be the first thing that comes to my mind….I just can imagine the comfortness of the car while I drive and also the pleasure by driving it…the brand conveys quality and comfortness…” – Ashok.

Recommendation & suggestions  The company must try to promote the luxurious segment where models like A6, R8, R6 in India because the demand of those type of car is going up.  The price range of higher segments should be lowered as they are able to compete Mercedes and BMW which results in brand switching by customers.  Audi can improve their engine capacity and technology along with mileage as their interiors and body looks are liked very much.  Audi should try to introduce more petrol efficient mileage engine models to boost up their petrol variant models sales.  Audi should invest more in their R&D department that works on designing the models, so that the annual maintenance of the car can be brought down and this can attract the customers and boost up their sales.

Conclusion  It was significant to note from the study that most of the respondents perceive local brands to be good in India, but not as good as the global ones in quality, technical expertise and designs of the cars.  Global car brands were consumed by the respondents in order to gain extra benefits such as quality, worthiness and attractiveness.  Global car brands were often associated by the respondents to ‘luxury’, ‘comfortness’ and as a ‘foreign make’.

Bibliography  Books & Journals  Marketing Intelligence & Planning.  Journal of International Consumer Marketing.  Journal of International Business Studies.  Marketing research, Mc Graw-hill.  Web sites     