CHAPTER – 1

INTRODUCTION AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The introduction of computer technology to the consumer market brought with it

an evolution of change within the household that is comparable to the likes of radios and

televisions in the 20th century. It served as a catalyst in jumpstarting not only how

consumers obtain information but also the rapidity, quality and density with which they

retrieve it. Computers serve as a source of entertainment in addition to its role as resource

and productivity tool.

Over the years as the benefits of household computers exponentially increased

while simultaneously being realized, the technology had equally improved at the same

rate. What was once a massive box and monitor taking up an entire desktop was now a

sleek, stylish addition to one’s décor, the size of a coffee table book. What had

piggybacked on this technology boom was the paradigm shift in the computer industry

from highly proprietary, differentiated and premium-priced hardware to industry-

standard, commoditized components that were priced accordingly. Despite the loss of

high margin goods, manufacturers continued to push the boundaries of the technology to

deliver one more choice point to the consumer – mobile computing. The explosion of

laptop/mobile notebooks on to the market further improved user productivity and

introduced a sense of freedom otherwise unknown. Similar to any market where a hot

product enters, manufacturers were quick to replicate and develop their own under their

brand.

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Fast forward from the introduction of the computer to the laptop today, where the

market has become saturated with well-known brands, each offering nearly

indistinguishable products to a population of consumers that are now more educated,

have easier access to more information to compare and contrast competitive products and

ultimately make a much more fact-based, informed decision. While consumers enjoy the

benefit of being more educated with public access to free information regarding laptops,

manufacturers continue to conduct studies on consumer behaviors behind closed doors.

Little to no market segmentation exists publicly that states who the laptop buyer really is.

A computer is a programmable machine designed to automatically carry out a

sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be

changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem. An

important class of computer operations on some computing platforms is the accepting of

input from human operators and the output of results formatted for human consumption.

The interface between the computer and the human operator is known as the user

interface.

Conventionally a computer consists of some form of memory, at least one

element that carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit

that can change the order of operations based on the information that is stored. Peripheral

devices allow information to be entered from an external source, and allow the results of

operations to be sent out.

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A computer's processing unit executes series of instructions that make it read,

manipulate and then store data. Conditional instructions change the sequence of

instructions as a function of the current state of the machine or its environment.

The first electronic digital computers were developed in the mid-20th century

(1940–1945). Originally, they were the size of a large room, consuming as much power

as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs). In this era mechanical analog

computers were used for military applications.

Modern computers based on integrated circuits are millions to billions of times

more capable than the early machines, and occupy a fraction of the space. Simple

computers are small enough to fit into mobile devices, and small batteries can power

mobile computers. Personal computers in their various forms are icons of the Information

Age and are what most people think of as "computers". However, the embedded

computers found in many devices from mp3 players to fighter aircraft and from toys to

industrial robots are the most numerous.

The first use of the word "computer" was recorded in 1613, referring to a person

who carried out calculations, or computations, and the word continued with the same

meaning until the middle of the 20th century. From the end of the 19th century the word

began to take on its more familiar meaning, a machine that carries out computations.

Personal Computer

A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size,

capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended

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to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator. In contrast,

the batch processing or time-sharing models allowed larger, more expensive

minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same

time. Large data processing systems require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

Consoles can also be considered personal computers.

Software applications for personal computers include, but are not limited to, word

processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers and e-mail clients, digital media

playback, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software

applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing

access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. Personal computers

may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless

connection. A personal computer may be a desktop computer or a laptop, tablet, or a

handheld PC.

Types of Personal Computers

Workstation

A workstation is a high-end personal computer designed for technical or scientific

applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly

connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. Workstations are

used for tasks such as computer-aided design, drafting and modeling, computation-

intensive scientific and engineering calculations, image processing, architectural

modeling, and computer graphics for animation and motion picture visual effects.

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Desktop computer

Prior to the wide spread usage of PCs, a computer that could fit on a desk was

remarkably small. Today the phrase usually indicates a particular style of computer case.

Desktop computers come in a variety of styles ranging from large vertical tower cases to

small form factor models that can be tucked behind an LCD monitor. In this sense, the

term 'desktop' refers specifically to a horizontally oriented case, usually intended to have

the display screen placed on top to save space on the desktop. Most modern desktop

computers have separate screens and keyboards.

Gaming Computer

Games have been on computers since 1962 when Spacewar! was released. Today

Personal Computer Gaming or PC gaming is a very popular pass-time. Gaming

computers tend to also be about the looks of the case rather than just the specifications of

the hardware. A gaming computer needs to be much more powerful than a PC that

someone is using to do office work and to surf the Internet.

Single unit

Single unit PCs, also known as all-in-one PCs, are a subtype of desktop

computers, which combine the monitor and case of the computer within a single unit. The

monitor often utilizes a touch screen as an optional method of user input, however

detached keyboards and mice are normally still included. The inner components of the

PC are often located directly behind the monitor, and many are built similarly to laptops.

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Nettop

Intel introduced a subtype of desktops, nettops in February 2008 to describe low-

cost, lean-function, desktop computers. A similar subtype of laptops or notebooks is the

netbooks. The product line features the new Intel Atom processor, which specially

enables them to consume less power and to be built into small enclosures.

Home Theatre PC

A home theatre PC (HTPC) is a convergence device that combines the functions

of a personal computer and a digital video recorder. It is connected to a television or a

television-sized computer display and is often used as a digital photo, music, video

player, TV receiver and digital video recorder. Home theatre PCs are also referred to as

media center systems or media servers.

Mobile Computers

Laptop

A laptop computer or simply laptop, also called a notebook computer, is a small

personal computer designed for portability. Usually all of the interface hardware needed

to operate the laptop, such as USB ports, previously parallel and serial ports, graphics

card, sound channel, etc., is built in to a single unit. Laptops contain high capacity

batteries that can power the device for extensive periods of time, enhancing portability.

Once the battery charge is depleted, it will have to be recharged through a power outlet.

In the interest of saving power, weight and space, they usually share RAM with the video

channel, slowing their performance compared to an equivalent desktop machine. For this

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reason, Desktop or Gaming computers are generally preferred to laptop PCs for gaming

purposes.

One main drawback of the laptop is sometimes, due to the size and configuration

of components, relatively little can be done to upgrade the overall computer from its

original design. Internal upgrades are either not manufacturer recommended, can damage

the laptop if done with poor care or knowledge, or in some cases impossible, making the

desktop PC more modular. Some internal upgrades, such as memory and hard disks

upgrades are often easy; a display or keyboard upgrade is usually impossible. The laptop

has the same access as the desktop to the wide variety of devices, such as external

displays, mice, cameras, storage devices and keyboards, which may be attached

externally through USB ports and other less common ports such as external video.

A subtype of notebooks, called subnotebooks, are computers with most of the

features of a standard laptop computer but smaller. They are larger than hand-held

computers, and usually run full versions of desktop/laptop operating systems. Ultra-

Mobile PCs (UMPC) are usually considered subnotebooks, or more specifically,

subnotebook Tablet PCs. Netbooks are sometimes considered in this category, though

they are sometimes separated in a category of their own.

Desktop Replacement

A desktop replacement computer (DTR) is a personal computer that provides the

full capabilities of a desktop computer while remaining mobile. They are often larger,

bulkier laptops. Because of their increased size, this class of computer usually includes

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more powerful components and a larger display than generally used in smaller portable

computers and can have a relatively limited battery capacity or none at all. Some use a

limited range of desktop components to provide better performance at the expense of

battery life. These are sometimes called desk notes, a portmanteau of the words "desktop"

and "notebook," though the term is also applied to desktop replacement computers in

general.

Netbook

Netbooks, also called mini notebooks or sub notebooks, are a rapidly evolving

category of small, light and inexpensive laptop computers suited for general computing

and accessing web-based applications; they are often marketed as "companion devices,"

that is, to augment a user's other computer access. Walt called them a "relatively new

category of small, light, minimalist and cheap laptops. “By August 2009, CNET called

netbooks "nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks.”

Tablet PC

A tablet PC is a notebook or slate-shaped mobile computer. Its touch screen or

graphics tablet/screen hybrid technology allows the user to operate the computer with a

stylus or digital pen, or a fingertip, instead of a keyboard or mouse. The form factor

offers a more mobile way to interact with a computer. Tablet PCs are often used where

normal notebooks are impractical or unwieldy, or do not provide the needed

functionality. Recently, tablet PCs have been given operating systems normally used on

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phones, like Android or iOS. This gives them many of the same uses as a phone, but with

more power and functionality.

Ultra-mobile PC

The ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) is a specification for a small form factor of tablet

PCs. It was developed as a joint development exercise by Microsoft, Intel, and Samsung.

Current UMPCs typically feature the Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or

Linux operating system and low-voltage Intel Atom or VIA C7-M processors.

Pocket PC

A pocket PC is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer (personal

digital assistant) that runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system. It may have

the capability to run an alternative operating system like NetBSD or Linux. It has many

of the capabilities of modern desktop PCs.

Laptop

A laptop computer is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates

most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a

pointing device and speakers into a single unit. A laptop is powered by mains electricity

via an AC adapter, and can be used away from an outlet using a rechargeable battery.

Portable computers, originally monochrome CRT-based and developed into the

modern laptops, were originally considered to be a small niche market, mostly for

specialized field applications such as the military, accountants and sales representatives.

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As portable computers became smaller, lighter, cheaper, more powerful and as screens

became larger and of better quality, laptops became very widely used for all sorts of

purposes, by all sorts of people.

As the personal computer became feasible in the early 1970s, the idea of a

portable personal computer followed. A "personal, portable information manipulator"

was imagined by Alan Kay at Xerox PARC in 1968, and described in his 1972 paper as

the "Dynabook".

The IBM SCAMP project (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) was

demonstrated in 1973. This prototype was based on the PALM processor (Put All Logic

In Microcode).

The IBM 5100, the first commercially available portable computer, appeared in

September 1975, and was based on the SCAMP prototype.

The term "laptop" can refer to a number of classes of small portable computers:

▪ Full-size Laptop: A laptop large enough to accommodate a "full-size" keyboard

(a keyboard with the minimum QWERTY key layout, which is at least 13.5 keys

across that are on ¾ (0.750) inch centers, plus some room on both ends for the

case). The measurement of at least 11 inches across has been suggested as the

threshold for this class. The first laptops were the size of a standard U.S. "A size"

notebook sheet of paper (8.5 × 11 inches), but later "A4-size" laptops were

introduced, which were the width of a standard ISO 216 A4 sheet of paper

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(297 mm, or about 11.7 inches), and added a vertical column of keys to the right

and wider screens. It can also be laid sideways when not in use.

▪ Netbook: A smaller, lighter, more portable laptop. It is also usually cheaper than

a full-size laptop, but has fewer features and less computing power. Smaller

keyboards can be more difficult to operate. There is no sharp line of demarcation

between netbooks and inexpensive small laptops; some 11.6" models are

marketed as netbooks. Since netbook laptops are quite small in size, netbooks

typically do not come with an internal optical drive.

▪ Tablet PC : These have touch screens. There are "convertible tablets" with a full

keyboard where the screen rotates to be used atop the keyboard, and "slate" form-

factor machines, which are usually, touch-screen only.

▪ Rugged : Engineered to operate in tough conditions like mechanical shocks,

extreme temperatures, wet and dusty environments, etc.

Features of Laptop

The laptop computers are meant for improving the convenience of users. It is

portable due to lightweight. They have many features when compared to desktop

computers. They can be used while traveling also.

The laptop computers are smaller in size and are energy efficient. The parts used

to make them are expensive. The facilities provided in a laptop are similar to that of a

desktop computer. Different versions of laptops are available in the market with large

screens, high capacity graphic cards etc. the specialty of laptops include lightweight and

lower energy consumption. They are less noisy and easy to handle. Similar to desktop

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computers the laptop computers include motherboard, processor, hard disk, memory,

graphic card, keyboard, mouse and display device. The disadvantage is that it does not

support for expansion or upgrade. The laptops are equipped with built in wireless

network cards. It facilitates users to connect to the Internet without a cable.

Laptop Touchpad

Laptops don't generally come with a mouse. Instead, laptops have a smooth,

rectangular, touch-sensitive area in front of the keyboard. Moving the finger across the

touchpad moves the cursor across the screen. Typically, one or two clickable buttons

beneath or beside the touchpad act like mouse buttons. Some laptops have a tiny joystick

built into the keyboard instead of a touchpad. A touchpad is more fiddly to use than a

mouse, but it’s possible to attach a mouse instead if preferred.

Keyboard on a laptop

Unsurprisingly, a laptop’s keyboard is smaller than the ones that come with a

desktop computer. The keys are closer together, and may also be smaller as the keyboard

is built into the body of the laptop. Laptops usually have several USB ports. Like

desktops, laptops come with USB ports, and often FireWire ports, for adding peripheral

devices.

Laptop Battery Life

While all laptops come with a power supply for connection to the mains, they also

have an internal battery for use on the move.

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Built-in webcams

Many laptops come with a webcam built into the lid, just above the screen.

Memory (RAM)

A type of short-term memory, the processor uses the laptop’s random access

memory (RAM) when it wants to perform tasks. Consequently, the speed at which the

processor can operate is determined by the amount of Ram. It’s usually possible to add

more Ram to the laptop, but with the assistance of an expert.

Laptop Processors

Made by either Intel or AMD, the CPU is the main brain of the computer. It

performs all the calculations the laptop makes every second. The speed of a processor is

expressed in cycles per second, the unit for which is hertz (typically megahertz and

gigahertz).

Most laptop CPUs are now dual core, which means they are actually two

processors on one chip that share the workload between them. Some current desktops

come equipped with quad-core CPUs – it’s only a matter of time before these reach the

laptop market.

Hard Drive

The HDD (hard disk drive) provides long-term memory for data storage –

measured in gigabytes (GB).

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Solid-state storage

Some laptops – such as netbooks – use solid-state storage rather than a

conventional hard drive to store data. This uses less power and, since it has no moving

parts, is more rugged.

Screen

All laptops come with their own built-in LCD screens. Screen size has a direct

impact on the size of the laptop itself. A 15-inch display makes for a pretty standard-sized

laptop. A desktop replacement-type laptop might come with a 17-inch display – possibly

even a widescreen one – and ultra-portables might go as low as the 12-inch mark, while

netbooks can be a squint-inducing 7 inches. More recent models have 10-inch or even 12-

inch displays.

Graphics

Laptops come with either integrated or dedicated graphics. Integrated graphics,

which operate using a chunk of the laptop’s memory (RAM), are fine to do basic,

everyday tasks.

Operating system

This is the software that runs the computer. Macs come with OS X and laptop PCs

usually come with Windows Vista or, more recently, Windows 7. 

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Optical Drive

Most laptops come with a CD/DVD drive of some kind for playing CDs and

DVDs, and most will allow burning own discs, too. Many laptops come with a multi-

format burner, which can record to a variety of blank DVDs as well as CDs.

All but the cheapest models include DVD burners. A DVD burner is useful for

making own videos, as well as for backing up large amounts of data, since DVDs can

hold much more data than CDs.

Wireless Connectivity

Most current laptops include built-in wireless connectivity. This means that it can

be connected to the existing home wireless network or go online at a wireless hotspot.

The latest wireless protocol is 802.11n, though many models still use the older 802.11g

protocol.

Connectivity

The majority of new laptops include an array of ports and slots--USB 2.0,

FireWire (IEEE1394), PCMCIA PC card slot, S-Video and VGA-out (monitor). With

few ways to expand beyond their factory configuration, a laptop should have at least two

USB ports plus a FireWire connection. As many laptops are now manufactured without a

floppy drive, the USB ports are very useful for utilizing a jump drive for doing quick

back-ups. A PCMCIA slot is also useful for adding wireless capability if it doesn't come

as standard.

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Warranty and Service Contract

After-sales support usually runs from one to three years. The minimum warranty

should cover for twelve months with a return service that includes parts and labor costs.

Some manufacturers offer up to three years of coverage as standard, with the first twelve

months including parts and labor, and the remaining period labor only.

Other Features

Laptops have improved; they are available in hundreds of GB data capacity. GB

or RAM available for programming and running heavy and advance software, higher

screen resolutions for graphical work or picture quality conscious users, higher graphical

cards and crystal quality sound and so much more have changed the way the notebooks

machines are used now. It will be interesting to know what features are yet discovered

and yet to be experienced by the world.

The First Laptop

A 340K-byte bubble memory laptop computer with die-cast magnesium case and

folding electroluminescent graphics display screen Gavilan Computer is considered as the

First Laptop. Manny Fernandez had the idea for a well-designed laptop for executives

who were starting to use computer. Fernandez, who started Gavilan Computer, promoted

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his machines as the first "laptop" computers in May 1983. Many historians consider the

Gavilan as the first fully functional laptop computer. The First Laptop Computer -

Osborne 1, the computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable

computer. Adam Osborne, an ex-book publisher founded Osborne Computer and

produced the Osborne 1 in 1981, a portable computer that weighed 24 pounds. The

Osborne 1 came with a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, a large

collection of bundled software programs, and a battery pack. The short-lived computer

company was never successful.

History of Laptop

Although more are using the laptop, there are still a few who knows the history, of

Laptop Computer. Now the laptop comes with a variety of sizes, thin and that measures

8" with a weight of less than 1kilogram.

Computer Idea

Before the laptop was introduced, Alan Kay raised the idea of portable computers.

This could be observed as the Dynabook concept, developed by Xerox PARC (Palo Alto

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Research Centre) in the early 1970's. The development of the concept prototype Alto was

also done by Xerox PARC.

The first portable computer marketed commercially was Osborne 1, developed in

1981. This computer was the first portable one but was required to connect to the power

source while using. With a slim CRT screen size of 5" and weighed 23.5 pounds (12 kg),

the computer had CP / M Operating System and was introduced with a 4 MHz Z80 CPU,

65 kilobytes main memory, and floppy disk drives.

Compaq

In 1983 Compaq released its first product, Compaq Portable, which was quite

successful. This product was an IBM clone computer, as IBM was the standard program

for all computers at that time. This was much more lighter than Osborne 1and had the

same operating system like Osborne 1, the CP / M OS. This model was compatible for

MS-DOS programs also.

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Epson

The next Portable computer to be launched was Epson HX-20. The development

process of this computer started in the year 1981, but it was launched in the market in the

year 1983. Computers that fall into this category of portable computers had the full

keyboard with 68 keys, nickel cadmium (NiCD) rechargeable batteries and dot matrix

LCD screen with a resolution of 120 x 32 pixels. This screen was capable of displaying

four lines with each line containing 20 characters. In addition, this was enabled with 16

kibibyte RAM that could be expanded to 32 kibibyte and was compatible with MS-

BASIC.

Top sellers IBM

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On 3 April 1986, IBM launched the first laptop with a commercial purpose,

named the IBM PC Convertible. This laptop was equipped with a 3.5 "floppy disk drive,

which is a standard device. The processor used was Intel 80c88, which is a CMOS

version of Intel 8088, which operates at 4.77 MHz. In this there was also 256 KiB of

RAM that could be enlarged to 512 KiB. With LCD display and weighing 13 pounds, the

computer was equipped with a handle that made it easier to carry. This laptop used a

battery as its power source.

In 1987, Toshiba launched two products at once, the T1000 and T1200. Although

limited to just using the DOS operating system stored in ROM, both the models from

Toshiba was very small in size and lightweight. It used lead-acid batteries.

NEC

In 1989 two different companies, NEC and Apple Computer, launched one laptop

each, namely NEC and Apple Macintosh Ultralit Portable. Nec Ultralit launched in mid

1989. This laptop is probably the first notebook manufactured by NEC. This laptop had a

weight of not less than 2 kg.

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Apple Computer

Portable Macintosh launched by Apple Computer had a clear active matrix

display and a battery that could last for a long time. Series of laptops of Apple Computer

and Apple Power Books were launched in 1991. This is the de facto standard laptop that

continues to survive until now.

Spring of 1995 was a significant turning point in the history of notebook

computers. In August 1995, Microsoft introduced Windows 95. This is the first time

Microsoft had full control on the management operating system (operating system).

Windows 95 is suitable for application on an Intel Pentium processor and in accordance

with the existing ROM on notebooks.

Desktop Vs Laptop

Desktop LaptopMore bang for the buck. Everything is smaller and highly advanced.Cost less. Expensive compared to desktop.Easier to use. Highly updated for any purpose, any locations use.Easy to upgrade. Fastest Up gradation.Easy to keep track of. Easy for someone else to pick up and carry off.More memory and hard drive space. Easily Upgradable Memory.Stuck in one place. MobileNo mobility. Mobile.Easy Maintenance Maintenance is difficult.Less Repair Cost Few Repairs compared to Desktops.

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Major Laptop Brands

From humble beginnings in the 1980s, the India laptop market has expanded in

leaps and bounds in recent years, and now includes all the major brands. Dell and HP

dominate the market, but Sony Vaio is the fastest growing laptop brand in India.

Here’s an overview of the main laptop brands in India and how they compare to

each other.

Apple

Acer

Asus

Dell

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HCL

HP

Lenovo

Samsung

Sony

Toshiba

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Fujitsu

Compaq

LG

Zenith

Wipro

iBall

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Panasonic

Benq

Brief of Laptop Brands and Manufacturers

Apple

Apple Inc. is an US-based multinational corporation that develops, designs, and

manufactures consumer electronics, computer software and commercial servers. The

company is globally appreciated for its innovation and unmatched technology that

reflects in its wide-ranging consumer electronics products. Apple laptops outclass in

performance, quality and design to any other laptops in this line. Its MacBook, a

consumer notebook; MacBook Air, an ultrathin, ultraportable and stylish notebook; and

MacBook Pro, a professional notebook have been efficiently designed to deliver

outstanding performance.

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Acer

Acer is a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer. The company entered the Indian

market in 1999. Acer’s laptops are popular because they’re cheaper than many other

laptop brands but still offer a lot of features and impressive configurations. In fact, Acer

laptops can be seen as offering the same features as HP laptops, but at a lower price. As a

result, Acer represents good value for money particularly as far as budget laptops are

concerned. Of course, build quality is lacking compared to the more costly brands. It’s

desirable to take a long warranty.

ASUS

Another popular “value for money” Taiwanese brand in India, ASUS laptops are

amongst the cheapest in the market. They’re also amongst the most innovative. ASUS

has been established in India slightly longer than Acer, but only started aggressively

expanding in the laptop sector around 2006. Earlier, the company was known in for its

motherboards. ASUS laptops are regarded as being much better designed than Acer’s.

ASUS uses cutting edge technology, which is most apparent in its netbook and

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ultraportable ranges. Gaming laptops are another of the company’s strong points. And

ASUS laptops are surprisingly reliable, definitely a brand worth checking out.

Dell

Dell arrived in India in 2007, and in just under four years rose to become the top

laptop brand in India, with the largest market share. Dell offers great quality, innovative

and highly customizable products that have a lot of visual appeal. You can choose the

color and configuration that you want, and do it all online. This online ordering process is

convenient and enables Dell to keep prices low, as overhead costs are reduced. On the

down side: reliability can be an issue.

HCL

HCL is an Indian laptop brand that’s been established in the IT market for over

three decades. The company focuses on producing portable laptops that are amongst the

slimmest in the market. Designs are colorful and attractive, readily customizable, and

pricing is aimed at budget conscious crowd. After-sales service can be a concern though.

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HP Hewlett Packard

Well-known American computer company, HP, has been in India for a long time.

It arrived in 1989, when the only competition was IBM (later acquired by Lenovo). HP

quickly established itself as the market leader by focusing on price and after-sales

service. Then, in 2002, it merged with Compaq. This move added to its product range,

which individually addresses the needs of home and business users. HP laptops are

packed with full of features and are also well regarded for their quality, although

sometimes reliability can be an issue. However, they lose out to Dell in regards to

customization. And their design is variable — some HP laptops are more innovative than

others.

Lenovo

Chinese-based computer giant, Lenovo, purchased IBM’s PC business in late

2004. As IBM was the first computer company in India, this gave Lenovo an excellent

entry point into the growing Indian market in which it’s now placed fourth. The company

quickly went about leveraging IBM’s ThinkPad brand before adding its own products.

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These products largely focus on functionality and reliability. Expect powerful

configurations and very durable construction.

Samsung

Samsung, although a well-known electrical appliance manufacturer, is a relatively

small and new entrant into the laptop market in India. Samsung started selling laptops in

late 2008. Recently, the brand has been gaining recognition and growing in popularity.

The design of Samsung laptops isn’t the most inspiring, but these laptops tend to perform

well and are reasonably priced.

Sony

Sony is a premium laptop brand that established its presence in India in 1994. The

company has many loyal followers who appreciate its unique quality and technology. It’s

hot selling and stylish VAIO range is a favorite for the fashion conscious. The screens of

Sony laptops are particularly well designed.

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Toshiba

Japanese laptop brand Toshiba, one of the oldest players in the global IT market,

set up its Indian subsidiary in 2002. The company is known for making laptops that

combine maximum functionality and quality. Its products are extensively tested and

notably reliable. Toshiba excels in netbooks, ultraportable and gaming laptops. Yet, its

mainstream laptops are also of high quality and well designed.

Fujitsu

Fujitsu India Private Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Technology

Solutions Holding B.V. It offers a broad range of products and services in India. It is, in

fact, the fourth largest IT services vendor in the world. Fujitsu India Private Limited

offers Fujitsu’s state-of-art solutions to the Indian market ranging from Storage Systems,

Servers, Laptops/Notebooks, Workstations, Desktops, and Biometrics Products &

Scanners.

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Compaq

Compaq, a U.S. based company and once the world’s leading supplier of personal

computing systems, was took over by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2002. The name Compaq

stands for “Compatibility and Quality”. Compaq laptops offer a unique combination of

technology, design and affordability in its various brands, like Compaq Presario, Compaq

NC, Compaq Evo and Compaq Armada, etc. Compaq laptops, with flexible price range

and a broad selection, has become one of the favored choice not only for home and small

business users, but also for college students.

LG

LG Corporation is the third largest conglomerate of South Korea that deals with

electronics, chemicals and telecommunications products, and includes subsidiary

companies like LG Electronics, LG Chem, LG Telecom, LG Display, etc. LG

Electronics, Inc. is one of the leading technology providers in consumer electronics,

mobile communications and home appliances. LG also features a wide range of

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laptops/notebooks with inspiring design, cutting-edge technology and reasonable price.

LG Notebooks make a suitable choice for both business people and home users.

Zenith

Zenith is one amongst the leading PC companies in India. The company houses

Zenith NPD (New Product Development) Center in Mumbai that researches, ideates,

develops and manufactures PCs and Laptops for computing, communication and

entertainment. Zenith Notebooks, packed with advanced technology and state of the art

designs, are known for their efficiency, compatibility and affordable price range. Zenith

presents a series of laptops under the following categories: Zenith Home, Zenith

Business, Zenith Consumer and Zenith Corporate to befit the tastes of different users.

Wipro

Wipro Technologies Limited is an Indian information technology services

company that is involved across various industries including consumer care & lighting,

eco-energy, infrastructure & engineering and healthcare. Wipro (Western India Palm

Refined Oils), headquartered in Bangalore, India, develops notebooks with international

standards, design and technology. Wipro laptops are very handy for both home users and

32

corporate users, and are recognized for their technological supremacy and outstanding

performance. One can chose from a large collection of Wipro Notebooks according to

their specific needs.

iBall

Best IT World (India) Pvt. Ltd., headquartered in Mumbai, India, offers a large

number of computing and digital lifestyle products and accessories under the ‘iBall’

brand. Owing to its cutting-edge technology and affordability, iBall laptops are greatly

liked in India. iBall features very exciting range of notebooks in the categories of Entry

Level Laptops, Mainstream Laptops and Ultra Portable Laptops.

Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation, a multinational corporation of Japan, deals in a broad

range of electronics products, from audiovisual and information/communication

equipment to home appliances and components. Panasonic laptops come with a great

blend of latest technology and innovative designs and are known for their high-level

performance. Panasonic offers an exciting spectrum of notebooks under the categories of

fully rugged, Semi-rugged and Business-rugged to cater the specific needs of the diverse

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users. All these laptops are featured with the incomparable qualities to deliver

multitasking work experience and excellent mobility.

Benq

Benq Corporation, a Taiwan-based multinational company, is one of the leading

providers of networked digital lifestyle devices in the world. Benq Group, encompassing

12 companies, specializes in product design, visual display, mobile communication and

network convergence technologies. Benq Notebooks are a good choice as they provide

the latest technology with attractive look at affordable prices. Benq offers a great

selection of laptops in various series,

1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY

The market for laptop in India is growing rapidly and the popularity was driven

by the product attributes. Though the product was introduced in the Indian market in mid-

1990s, the acceptance was rather limited as it was costly and quite heavy, and it therefore

took time for the market to develop. However, by 2008, it had be- come a very high-

selling product with reasonably wide- spread acceptance among the executives and

students. The most appealing attributes for the consumers were portability, Internet

connectivity at lower costs, many inbuilt features that were not available in standard

desk- tops, and most importantly, a substantial reduction in the price difference between

desktops and laptops. The laptop average prices fell from 55,000 INR in 2007 to

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40,000 INR in 2008, while the desktop prices only came down from INR 22,000 to

20,000. Also, the PC required some additional costs like a computer table, uninterrupted

power supply units, etc., which cost additional INR 6,000, which made laptops a better

value proposition compared to desktops to a large majority of Indian population. This

trend of at least an annual drop of 10 per cent in laptop market was expected to last till

2012, which was likely to fuel the laptop sales.

In this scenario, a study on the factors leading to the taste and preferences of the

customers, and the factors, which satisfy them, stands highly relevant.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In this epoch of exceedingly sophisticated technology, life has become

unthinkable without the application of it. As an outcome of this Desktop computers have

given the way to comfortable, handy and mobile Laptops. Laptop in its any advanced

form is gaining recognition and is preferred much in the Market now a days. In this

context, the specific purpose of this study is to find out the level of customer awareness

about different brands of Laptops available in the Market and the level of satisfaction of

various users.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To analyze the awareness of the Respondents towards Branded Laptop.

2. To analyze the increase in the tendency of using Laptops among various age

groups.

3. To know the purpose for which the Laptop is used.

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4. To identify the factors which influences the purchase of Laptop.

5. To measure the level of satisfaction attained as the respondents consider several

factors.

1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Methodology

Methodology is generally a guideline system for solving a problem, with specific

components such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools. It can be defined also

as follows:

▪ "The analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a

discipline".

▪ "The systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been applied within a

discipline".

▪ "The study or description of methods".

A methodology can be considered to include multiple methods, each as applied to

various facets of the whole scope of the methodology.

The Methodology adopted for this Research is Empirical study using

Questionnaire as a tool.

Population of the Study

A population can be defined as including all people or items with the

characteristic one wish to understand. Because there is very rarely enough time or money

36

to gather information from everyone or everything in a population, the goal becomes

finding a representative sample or subset of that population.

The Population drawn for this study is strictly from Guntur Town.

Sampling Technique

Sampling may be defined as the selection of some part of an aggregate or totality

on the basis of which a judgement or inference about the aggregate or totality is made. In

other words, it is the process of obtaining information about an entire population by

examining only a part of it.

Simple Random Sampling

In this method of sampling, each unit of the population has the equal probability

of being selected as a unit of the sample given by the following formula

The Probability of selection of each unit = 1/N

This means that the first unit of the sample will be selected from the population

with a probability of 1/N. Each of the remaining units required for the sample is selected

in the same way using the same probability of selection.

Sample Size

The Sample Size of this study is 400.

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Sample Design

Convenience Sampling: This is a non-probability sampling method in which the

interviewers will decide the choice of sample units based on their convenience. The

sampling units for this type of sampling are selected from a telephone directory,

newspaper subscription list, departmental stores etc.

The Sample Design adopted for this study is Convenience Sampling.

Data Source:

The reliability of managerial decisions depends on the quality of data. The quality

of data can be expressed in terms of its representative feature of the reality, which can be

ensured by the usage of a fitting data collection method.

Data can be classified into two.

Primary Data and

Secondary Data

Primary Data: The data, which is collected from the field under the control and

supervision of an investigator, is known as Primary Data. This type of data is generally

afresh and collected for the first time.

Secondary Data: If data is collected from journals, magazines, government publications,

annual reports of companies etc, then such data is called Secondary Data. In each of these

sources of data, the process of data collection has already been done by the respective

organization/agency.

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For this study, Primary Data is collected by means of a Structured Questionnaire.

Secondary Data is collected from Internet, Journals, Magazines, and News Paper.

Statistical Tools Employed

Statistical Tools employed for the Analysis are

Simple Percentage Analysis

Percentage analysis is the method to represent raw streams of data as a percentage

for better understanding of collected data.

ANOVA

In statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models,

and their associated procedures, in which the observed variance in a particular variable is

partitioned into components attributable to different sources of variation. In its simplest

form, ANOVA provides a statistical test of whether or not the means of several groups

are all equal, and therefore generalizes t -test to more than two groups. Doing multiple

two-sample t-tests would result in an increased chance of committing a type I error. For

this reason, ANOVAs are useful in comparing two, three, or more means.

Chi – square Test

A chi-squared test, also referred to as chi-square test or 2 test, is a statistical

hypothesis test in which the sampling distribution of the test statistic is a chi-squared

distribution when the null hypothesis is true, or any in which this is asymptotically true,

39

meaning that the sampling distribution if the null hypothesis is true can be made to

approximate a chi-squared distribution as closely as desired by making the sample size

large enough.

Friedman Ranking Test

The Friedman test is a non-parametric statistical test developed by the U.S.

economist Milton Friedman. Similar to the parametric repeated measures ANOVA; it is

used to detect differences in treatments across multiple test attempts. The procedure

involves ranking each row or block together, then considering the values of ranks by

columns. Applicable to complete block designs, it is thus a special case of the Durbin

test.

All Statistical tests were carried out with SPSS software.

1.6 TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis is often considered as a principal instrument in Research. Its main

function is to suggest new experiments and observations. In a Layman’s point of view,

Hypothesis simply means a mere assumption or some supposition to be proved or

disproved. But for a Researcher, Hypothesis is a formal Question that he intends to

resolve. Thus a Hypothesis may be defined as a proposition or a set of proposition set

forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena either

asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide some investigation or accepted as

highly probable in the light of established facts. Quite often Research Hypothesis is a

40

predictive statement, capable of being tested by scientific methods, that relates an

independent variable to some dependent variable.

Null Hypothesis: The null hypothesis is the hypothesis that states that there is no

relation between the phenomena whose relation is under investigation, or at least

not of the form given by the alternative hypothesis.

Alternative Hypothesis: The alternative hypothesis, as the name suggests, is the

alternative to the null hypothesis: it states that there is some kind of relation. The

alternative hypothesis may take several forms, depending on the nature of the

hypothesized relation; in particular, it can be two-sided (for example: there is

some effect, in a yet unknown direction) or one-sided (the direction of the

hypothesized relation, positive or negative, is fixed in advance).

Conventional significance levels for testing the hypotheses are .10, .05, and .01.

Whether the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted, all

must be determined in advance, before the observations are collected or inspected. If

these criteria are determined later, when the data to be tested is already known, the test is

invalid.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

IT sector is growing at a highest rate ever. This sector is striving to tap almost

each potential customer to buy and use its products. Having laptop has become the need

of every person. Now a days everybody wants to enjoy these technically advanced

gadgets. With liberalization, privatization and globalization after 1991, many IT

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companies operate in India and thus the market is quite competent with multi brands

offering available in the market so as to work on it and capture the market. The main

objective of the study is to find out the competitive edge of one company over other,

which company is having the highest market share, what are the different services offered

by them, the level of customer satisfaction and attitude towards the brands and what are

the expectations of the customers from these brands in the days to come.

1.8 PERIOD OF THE STUDY

The study extended over a period of one year from August 2011 to August 2012.

1.9 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

o The Sample Units are confined to Guntur City only and hence the results cannot

be generalized.

o The number of Brands selected for study is restricted to Five due to time

constraints.

o Results of the study may vary from time to time.

o Preferences of the consumers are subject to change with the utility of the Product.

o The number of respondents of this study is restricted to 400 only.

o The same results cannot be expected in other cities as the taste and preferences of

the respondents may change.

o The factors ranked which influences the Laptop may vary from time to time.

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1.8.1 CHAPTER SCHEME

Chapter 1: Deals with the introduction and Design of the Study.

Chapter 2: Gives the Review of Literature.

Chapter 3: Provides the profile of the Branded Laptop and its features.

Chapter 4: Provides the profile of the Geographical Area selected for the study.

Chapter 5: Deals with the Analysis and Interpretation of the data.

Chapter 6: Deals with the Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A literature review is a specific type of research paper that focuses on published

literature on a given topic. It is often the first step in doing original research, either

scientific or otherwise. It is more than a mere summary of the literature, however, as it

presents analysis, patterns, and critiques of individual sources, groups of sources, and the

body of literature as a whole. Not to be confused with a book review, a literature review

surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference

proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a

description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. The purpose is to offer an

overview of significant literature published on a topic that critically analyzes a segment

of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of

prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles. Someone reading a

literature review should gain an understanding of trends, issues, unresolved questions,

controversies, and the importance of the scholarly knowledge related to a specific

question (topic).

The era of highly differentiated laptops in the consumer industry is over. No

longer does one vendor dominate the market, enjoying their product being seen as

exceedingly superior to its competition. What once served to distinguish a laptop

provider has now been equalized across the field; every vendor offers the same

microprocessors, the same RAM capacity, the same graphics cards, the same networking

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and wireless functionality. The commoditization of the market has diminished a vendor's

ability to strongly differentiate themselves among consumers.

Consumers in the United States viewed the Personal Computer as a valuable tool

to enhance productivity and improve the entertainment experience. While the form factor

of choice in households today remains the desktop, maintaining more than 50% of the

ownership, laptop/mobile notebooks are improving their position, up to 17%.

James E. Stafford (1966)1 in his study “group influences on Consumer Brand

Preferences” utilized a systematic random sample of ten-house wife’s from one census

tract in Austin, Texas. Each housewife was asked to nominate four people with whom she

would like to do shopping. The respondents were asked to choose from four unknown

brands, which were identical expect for the label. It was found that the respondents were

not particular about the brand, which they selected.

Rincy V Mather (2005)2 in a study on “Customer Satisfaction to the Products

and Services” mentioned Customer Satisfaction as a function of perceived performance

and expectation. Feeling of satisfaction arises when customers compare their perceptions

of the performance of a product or service to their desires and expectations. People often

do not have well-defined preferences; instead, they may construct them on the spot when

needed, such as when they must make a choice.

1 1 James E. Stafford (1966), Study on Consumer Brand Preferences and learning Brand Loyalty.

2 Rincy V. Mather (2005), “A study on customer satisfaction to the Products and the Services”, Indian Journal on Marketing, October 2005.

45

Kenneth E Runyon (1950)3 hold the view that in terms of individuals conscious

feelings and attitude about themselves, as persons self concept gradually emerges through

interaction with other people and self concept is subject to change. Self concept again

depends upon clarity of experience provided by new perception the way the revised

concept fit into the existing self organization and the relation of revised concepts to

individual needs. The basic purpose of all human activity is protection, maintenance and

enhancement not of the self but of the self-concept or symbolic self and here lies the

importance of self-concept for marketing.

Parasuraman (1997)4 In his study, “Reflections on Gaining Competitive

Advantage through Customer Value,” claims that in a highly competitive market, the

shortest route to differentiation is through the development of brands and active

promotion to both intermediaries and final consumers. Today’s customers do not just buy

core quality products or services; they also buy a variety of added value or benefits. This

forces the service providers to adopt a market orientation approach that identifies

consumer needs and designs new products and redesigns current ones.

Storbacka et al., (1994)5 states that satisfied customers might look for other

providers because they believe they might receive better service elsewhere. However,

keeping customers is also dependent on a number of other factors. These include a wider

range of product choices, greater convenience, better prices, and enhanced income.

3 Kenneth and Runyon David W Steward (1950), “ Consumer Behavior and the practice of Marketing”, London Merrill Publishing Co, 1987.

4 Parasuraman, A. (1997). Reflections on Gaining Competitive Advantage through Customer Value. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(2), pp. 154-161.

5 Storbacka, K., Strandvik, R and Gronroos, C. (1994). Managing Customer Relationship for Profit: The Dynamics of Relationship Quality. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 5(5), pp. 21-38.

46

Although customer satisfaction and quality appear to be important for all firms,

satisfaction is more important for loyalty in industries such as banks, insurance, mail

order, and automobiles.

Curasi and Kennedy (2002)6 have shown that customer satisfaction does not

predict the continuation of the relationship. High switching costs are an important factor

binding the customer to the service organisation. Even with relatively low levels of

satisfaction, the customer continues to patronize the service provider because

repurchasing is easier and more cost effective than searching for a new provider or

sampling the services of an unknown provider

Jones and Farquhar (2003)7 stated that one aspect of loyalty is the impact of

cross- selling, which forms a critical element in increasing revenue. Profitability could, as

a consequence, be threatened not only by loss of market share but also by diminished

opportunities for cross selling.

Kotler (2000)8 defined the traditional definition of a brand as: “the name,

associated with one or more items in the product line, that is used to identify the source of

character of the item(s)” The American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of a

brand is “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to

identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them

6 Curasi, C. F and Kennedy, K. N. (2002). From Prisoners to Apostles: A Typology of Repeat Buyers and Loyal Customers in Service Businesses. The Journal of Service Marketing, 16(4), pp. 322-342.

7 Jones, H., and Farquhar, J. D. (2003). Contact Management and Customer Loyalty. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 8(1), August, p. 71.

8 Kotler, Philip (2003), Marketing Management. The Millennium Edition, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, p. 396, 404)

47

from those of competitors”. “Technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a

new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand”

Kapferer (1997)9 mentions that before the 1980’s there was a different approach

towards brands. “Companies wished to buy a producer of chocolate or pasta: after 1980,

they wanted to buy KitKat or Buitoni. This distinction is very important; in the first case

firms wish to buy production capacity and in the second they want to buy a place in the

mind of the consumer”. In other words, the shift in focus towards brands began when it

was understood that they were something more than mere identifiers.

Keller (2003)10 defines Brand awareness as “ the customers’ ability to recall and

recognize the brand as reflected by their ability to identify the brand under different

conditions and to link the brand name, logo, symbol, and so forth to certain associations

in memory”.

Engel, Kollat & Blackwell, (1968)11 states, "A given response is reinforced either

positively or negatively to the extent that it is followed by a reward. Reward, in turn,

leads to an evaluation that the purchase was satisfactory and hence it can exert an effect

on brand beliefs and attitudes. The probability of engaging in a similar buying act will be

increased if there are positive consequences in the act of purchase and use and vice

versa". “Attitude” is .a learned predisposition to behave in a consistently favorable or

unfavorable manner with respect to a given object”.

9 Kapferer, Jean Noel (1997), Strategic Brand Management, Great Britain, Kogan Page, (p. 23).

10 Keller, K.L. (2003) Strategic Brand Management. 2nd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, p.76.

11 Engel, J., D. Kollat & R. Blackwell (1968). Consumer behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, p. 532.

48

Schiffman and Kanuk, (1997)12 states that Consumer background characteristics

are innately stable characteristics of a consumer’s life based on the consumer’s cultural

background, values and demographic, psychological and social attitudes. There are no

gender differences when comparing attitudes of computer owners. The decision to own a

computer was viewed as self-socialization. The relationships between the amount of

computer use and attitudes about the computer were not especially strong.

Sacks, Bellisimo, & Mergendoller (Winter, 1993-94)13 concluded that male

attitudes about computers were stable across their experiment and that change would not

be expected because the males have been socialized by a society that encourages males to

be proficient in all technological issues. Females, on the other hand, have not been so

encouraged; but when they are provided with computer instruction and experience, their

attitudes and behaviors are not different from males.

According to Zhou and Wong (2008)14, some consumers focus heavily on

brands, making those brands become more important than product quality per se in

purchasing situations. Customer involvement is the personal relevance of a specific

object, so it includes personal thoughts, feelings, and behavioral responses to a brand’s

product. Thus, the more deeply customers are involved with a specific product, the more

they show an interest in that product. Therefore, customer involvement should help

explain consumer behavior.

12 Schiffman, L.G. and Kanuk, L.L. (1997), Consumer Behavior, 8th ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, p. 167.

13 Sacks, C., Bellisimo, Y., & Mergendoller, J. (Winter 1993-94). Attitudes toward computers and computer use: The issue of gender. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 26(2), 256- 269.

14 Zhou, L., & Wong, A. (2008). Exploring the influence of product conspicuousness and social compliance on purchasing motives of young Chinese consumers for foreign brands. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 7(6), 470-483.

49

According to Silvernail and Lane (2004)15, educators use portable computers in a

variety of ways, and most frequently in developing instructional materials; conducting

study, which are related to instruction; and communicating with colleagues. They found

that the teachers use the laptop in a variety of ways to support their instruction and thus,

the laptop use among the teachers has increased due to the implementation of the laptop

initiative.

According to Brown, Manogue and Rohlin (2002)16, current description of

attitude is a combination of beliefs, thoughts and feelings that influence an individual to

respond in a positive or negative way to objects, people, processes or institutions.

Attitude in this study refers to the mixture of belief, thoughts and feeling of teachers to

use laptop in a favorable or unfavorable way.

According to Dexter, Anderson and Ronnkvist (2002)17, technology support is

the access to personnel guidance and help, and resources to the extent educators have

more opportunities (face fewer obstacles) to practice using instructional technology.

Technology competence comprises not only technology knowledge but also the skills and

experience essential to put them into use. Educators have to be competent in using laptop

technology in order to play an effective role as facilitators.

15 Silvernail, D. L., & Lane, D. M. M. (2004). The impact of Maine’s one-to-one laptop program on middle school teachers and student: Phase one summary evidence, Research report 1. Maine Education Policy Research Institute University of Southern Maine Office.

16 Brown, G., Manogue, M., & Rohlin, M. (2002). Assessing attitudes in dental education: Is it worthwhile? British Dental Journal, 193:703-707.

17 Dexter, S. L., Anderson, R. E., & Ronnkvist, A. M. (2002). Quality technology support: What is it? Who is it? And what differences does it make?. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 26(3), 265-285.

50

Liaw (2002)18 in his survey involving 260 respondents indicated that the males

have more positive perceptions toward computer and Web technologies than do females.

Attitude is an individual's degree to respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner with

respect to a psychological object.

Urwin (2007)19 in a recent study indicated that educators do not have enough time

to learn from experience and have difficulty keeping up to date. This results in educators

feeling reluctant to invest time and effort with the latest technologies. This results in

educators lacking in updated technologies and find them incompetent certain times.

Flowers and Algozzine (2000)20 defined computer competence to include basic

computer operation to understanding of social, legal and ethical issues. Laptop

competence, therefore, can be observed in terms of the user’s beliefs concerning their

knowledge, basic skill, and capability of performing essential functions using the laptop.

According to Noraini Idris et al. (2007)21, individuals with positive attitudes will

have positive feelings about people and situations; have a sense of purpose, excitement,

and passion; approach problems in a creative manner; have a resourceful, positive, and

enthusiastic air about them; make the best out of every situation; realize that attitude is a

18 Liaw, S. (2002). An Internet survey for perceptions of computers and the World Wide Web: Relationship, prediction, and difference. Computers in Human Behavior, 18 (1), 17-35.

19 Urwin, A. (2007). The Professionalism of the Higher Education Teacher: What’s ICT got to do with it? Teaching in Higher Education, 12(3), 295-308.

20 Flowers, C. P., & Algozzine, R. F. (2000). Development and validation of scores on the basic technology competencies for educators inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, Vol. 60 No. 3, 411-418.

21 Noraini Idris, Loh, S. C., Norjoharuddeen Mohd. Nor, Ahmad Zabidi Abdul Razak, & Rahimi Md. Saad. (2007). The professional preparation of Malaysian teachers in the implementation of teaching and learning of Mathematics and Science in English. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 3(2), 101-110.

51

choice; feel that they have control of their thoughts; and feel that they are making a

contribution through their work.

Geisler and Hoang (1992)22 identify five steps in the decision process to

purchase IT: 1. Establish or articulate the need for IT. 2. Establish or determine which

unit(s) will receive the new or modified IT. 3. Select the technology. 4. Select the

suppliers. 5. Authorize the purchase and sign the authorization to commit the necessary

funds. The authors conclude that services companies follow a relatively logical and

analyzable decision process.

According to CRN (2006)23 in June 2005, notebook sales accounted for $216.1

million, or $1,442.66 per notebook whereas desktops accounted for $113.9 million, or

$762.98 per unit. The average notebook price fell 11.8 percent from $1,635.07 in the

year-ago month and in the same period, desktop prices fell 5 percent from $803.38 (CRN,

2006). In addition, new product launches to the market, acquisitions and mergers in the

sector, rapid developments in the nano-technology, integrated wireless networking, and

decreased prices make it extremely vital for the companies to understand the factors

underlying consumers’ laptop purchase decisions.

According to Hong and Lerch (2002)24, people evaluate various objective

features when buying an IT product, and because of imperfect information and

simplifications according to the decision rules people often abstract these various features

22 Geisler, E. and Hoang, W. (1992). “Purchasing Information Technologies: Behavior Patterns in Service Companies”. International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management. 28 (3), 38-42.

23 CRN (2006). “Survey: Notebooks Surpass Desktop Sales For First Time”. Available at: http://www.crn.com/showArticle.jhtml?ArticleID=169400139

24 Hong, Se-Joon, Lerch, F.Javier (2002). “A Laboratory Study of Consumers’ Preferences and Purchasing Behavior with Regards to Software Components”. ACM SIGMIS, 33 (3), 23-37.

52

into few perceptual dimensions such as ‘usefulness’ and ‘price’. The other factors that

affect a consumer’s electronic shopping purchase decision: product understanding,

shopping experience, customer service, and consumer risk.

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CHAPTER 3

PROFILE OF THE LAPTOPS SELECTED FOR THE STUDY

1. Dell

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

History of Dell

Dell traces its origins to 1984, when Michael Dell created PCs Limited while a

student at the University of Texas at Austin. The dorm-room head quartered company

sold IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components. Dell dropped out of

school in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting about $300,000

in expansion-capital from his family.

In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design, the "Turbo

PC", which sold for US$795. PCs Limited vertised its systems in national computer

magazines for sale directly to consumers and custom assembled each ordered unit

according to a selection of options. The company grossed more than $73 million in its

first year of operation.

The company changed its name to "Dell Computer Corporation" in 1988 and

began expanding globally. In June 1988, Dell's market capitalization grew by $30 million

to $80 million from its June 22 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $8.50 a

54

share. In 1992, Fortune magazine included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of the

world's 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500

company ever

Dell, Inc. is an American multinational computer technology corporation based in

1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports

computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael

Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world,

employing more than 103,300 people worldwide. Dell is listed at number 41 in the

Fortune 500 list. It is the third largest PC maker in the world after HP and Lenovo.

Dell has grown by both increasing its customer base and through acquisitions

since its inception, notable mergers and acquisitions including Alienware (2006) and

Perot Systems (2009). As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data

storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells

HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other

manufacturers. The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain

management and electronic commerce.

Fortune Magazine listed Dell as the sixth largest company in Texas by total

revenue. It is the second largest non-oil company in Texas – behind AT&T – and the

largest company in the Austin, Texas area.

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Dell in India

Incorporated as Dell Computer India Private Ltd. in Bangalore in

1996, Dell has been among the fastest growing technology companies in India and

continues to be among the top three today. Dell established an R&D centre in Bangalore

in 2004. This centre is the software and solutions core competency centre for Dell. The

centre plays a critical role in innovating for the customers globally across a wide range of

IT solutions, with dedicated labs for state-of-the-art hardware, software and enterprise

solutions. The centre houses subject matter experts for various enterprise solutions

offered by Dell, such as virtualization, high-performance computing (HPC), database and

system management solutions. Customers also benefit from the proof-of-concept work

that the India team does to ensure that the solutions deliver what customers need in their

real world IT environments.

Quick Facts

▪ Customers throughout India in large enterprises, small and medium businesses, at

home and in government organizations’ choose Dell to be their trusted technology

solutions partner.

▪ Dell supports customers through sales and marketing, customer contact centers’,

research and development (R&D), IT, manufacturing and services offices in

Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, Pune, Coimbatore, Noida and

Chennai. 

▪ Dell’s first India-based contact centers’ opened in Bangalore and Hyderabad in

2003; Chandigarh was developed in 2005 and Gurgaon contact centre was opened

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in 2006.

▪ The Dell manufacturing (ICC) facility was inaugurated in Sriperumputhur, near

Chennai, in Tamil Nadu in 2007.

▪ Dell India accounts for the company's largest employee base outside the United

States.

▪ In 2010, Dell India becomes the #1 PC brand in India with a market share of more

than 15 percent, according to the IDC Q2CY10 Pulse Tracker.

Manufacturing in India

Continuing the commitment to India, Dell invested USD $30 million in December

2006 to build the manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai in Tamil Nadu

— the third such facility in the Asia-Pacific/Japan region. This facility provides

customers with better product delivery times and overall value due to an enhanced value

chain that includes desktops, laptops and servers.

First Color Notebook by Dell

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Dell launched its range of Dell laptops in 1989 with the 316LT. In 1991, the first

Dell laptop with a color screen was announced and the 325NC ran at 25MHZ and cost

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just under $4,500. Since then, Dell have been refining and redesigning their Dell laptops.

Having received over 400 product awards in 2007, Dell laptops are some of the best in

the market and there are four major ranges of Dell laptops available. The current range of

Dell laptop, the Dell Inspiron, is one of the most popular Dell laptops available in the

market. The Inspiron Mini 9 Dell laptop is one of the world’s smallest notebooks and the

most advanced mini Dell laptop on offer today.

Features of Dell Laptop

Light Weight

Polished brushed finishes

Full HD display

Optimized Touch Pad

Backlit chicklet-style spill-resistant keyboard.

Upgradable Memory

Fine hard disk storage space.

Inbuilt webcam.

Dual-array digital microphones

Stereo speakers.

Wi-Fi Enabled.

Bluetooth.

Media Card Reader.

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Acer

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History of Acer

In 1976, Stan Shih, his wife Carolyn Yeh, and a group of five others founded

Acer Inc. A multinational information technology and electronics corporation

headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan.

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

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

technologies. It produced the Micro-Professor MPF-I training kit, then two Apple II

clones, the Microprocessor II and III before joining the emerging IBM PC compatible

market, and becoming a significant PC manufacturer. The company was renamed Acer in

1987.

Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage

devices, displays, smart phones and peripherals. It also provides e-business services to

businesses, governments and consumers. Acer is the fourth largest PC maker in the

world.

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Acer has a portable product line extension, the TravelMate series, the Aspire

series and the cutting edge Ferrari series in line. Acer Ferrari laptops have the high

persistent quality because of which they have managed to carve out a niche for them in

the market. It is already popular in Asian and European markets, now it hopes to garner

attention in the profitable U.S market. Acer is ranked as first in 13 countries - Italy,

Spain, Austria, Holland, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Russia, Portugal, Belgium,

Denmark, Poland, Hungary and The Slovakian Republic. Acer provides a wide range of

portables with advanced features like flexibility, power, speed, full coverage, vision, and

style to name a few.

The products include Travel Mate notebook computers, convertible Tablet PCs

with Intel Pentium processors, wide-screen Aspire multimedia notebooks and Ferrari

notebooks notable for a bright red chassis. Acer also markets a full range of Veriton

business desktops, AcerPower and Aspire value desktops, Altos servers for the enterprise,

and both LCD and CRT displays.

Acer Inc. Logo History

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Operations In India

Acer's subsidiary in India Acer India (Pvt) Limited, was incorporated as a

wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Computer International, Ltd. in 1999. It is a notable

vendor in key segments such as education, desktop computers and low profile notebooks

for education. The headquarters is in Bangalore, India. It has however been extensively

criticized for poor after sales service and multiple other issues that have plagued its

customers.

Products

Chromebook

Consumer Desktops

Business Desktop

Consumer Notebooks

Business Notebooks

Tablet

Netbook

Nettop

Milestones

1976-1986: Commercialize microprocessor technology

Acer's founder, Stan Shih, has always been passionate about sharing knowledge

as a way of contributing to society. Acer actively engaged in teaching others about

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microprocessor technology, and promoting computer usage in everyday life. At this time,

the company established its manufacturing operations, and played a significant role to

popularizing the use of computers in Taiwan.

1987-2000: Create a brand name and globalize

In 1987, Multitech formally became known as Acer, marking the start of Acer's

efforts toward creating a strong brand name. During this second ten-year stage of

development, Acer grew extensively and expanded its strategic and geographic footprint

to become one of the world's top ten PC vendors. Priority was placed on delivering the

freshest, most affordable technology to benefit consumers worldwide.

2001-2007: Transform from manufacturing to services

Acer evolved from a manufacturing powerhouse to a globally recognized

computer brand, providing world-class IT products and services. Acer's unique Channel

Business Model enabled the company to achieve sustainable worldwide growth. The

model offers flexibility to adapt to changing global IT market trends, involves

collaborating with the industry's top-tier partners and suppliers, while minimizing

operating expense and enhancing profitability. In 2007, Acer was ranked as the world's

No. 3 PC vendors.

2008-beyond: Enhance worldwide presence with a new multi-brand strategy

With the successful completion of the mergers of Gateway and Packard Bell, Acer

seeks to further strengthen its global footprint with a new multi-brand strategy and solid

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partnerships. As the world’s No. 2 PC manufacturing company, Acer now sets its sight

on becoming the No. 1 notebook maker as well as leader in the mobile device market.

Furthermore, Acer is taking bold strides to expand its presence in China to enhance

competitiveness on a worldwide scale.

Features of Acer Laptops

Quality and Stylish Laptops

Advantageous Features

Affordable Price

Powerful laptop

Bright LED Display

Minimum Booting Time

Slim Laptops

Less Weight

Upgradable Memory

Advanced Battery Back Up

Hewlett Packard [HP]

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Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information

technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States that

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provides products, technologies, software, solutions and services to consumers, small and

medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the

government, health and education sectors.

William (Bill) Redington Hewlett and Dave Packard set up the company in a one-

car garage in Palo Alto. HP is the world's leading PC manufacturer. It specializes in

developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, and networking hardware,

designing software and delivering services. Major product lines include personal

computing devices, enterprise, and industry standard servers, related storage devices,

networking products, software and a diverse range of printers, and other imaging

products. HP markets its products to households, small- to medium-sized businesses and

enterprises directly as well as via online distribution, consumer-electronics and office-

supply retailers, software partners and major technology vendors. HP also has strong

services and consulting business around its products and partner products.

Founding

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard graduated with degrees in electrical engineering

from Stanford University in 1935. The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo

Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford

during the Great Depression. Terman was considered a mentor to them in forming

Hewlett-Packard. In 1939, Packard and Hewlett established Hewlett-Packard (HP) in

Packard's garage with an initial capital investment of US$538. Hewlett and Packard

tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-

Packard or Packard-Hewlett. Packard won the coin toss but named their manufacturing

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enterprise the "Hewlett-Packard Company". HP was incorporated on August 18, 1947,

and went public on November 6, 1957.

Early years

The company was originally rather unfocused, working on a wide range of

electronic products for industry and even agriculture. Eventually they elected to focus on

high-quality electronic test and measurement equipment.

From the 1940s until well into the 1990s the company concentrated on making

electronic test equipment: signal generators, voltmeters, oscilloscopes, frequency

counters, thermometers, time standards, wave analyzers, and many other instruments. A

distinguishing feature was pushing the limits of measurement range and accuracy; many

HP instruments were more sensitive, accurate, and precise than other comparable

equipment.

Following the pattern set by the company's first product, the 200A, test

instruments were labeled with three to five digits followed by the letter "A". Improved

versions went to suffixes "B" through "E".

HP Fast Facts

Hewlett-Packard Company.

Headquarters: Palo Alto, California.

HP serves more than 1 billion customers in more than 170 countries on six

continents.

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HP has approximately 324,600 employees worldwide.

HP's 2011 Fortune 500 ranking: No. 11

HP's revenue for the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2011: $127.2 billion.

HP is a technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the

world. HP explores how technology and services can help people and companies address

their problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations and dreams. It

applies new thinking and ideas to create more simple, valuable and trusted experiences

with technology, continuously improving the way customers live and work.

No other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. HP

provides infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of

the world's most powerful supercomputer installations. HP offers consumers a wide range

of products and services from digital photography to digital entertainment and from

computing to home printing. This comprehensive portfolio helps HP match the right

products, services and solutions to customers' specific needs.

Technology leadership

HP's three business groups drive industry leadership in core technology areas:

▪ The Personal Systems Group: business and consumer PCs, mobile computing

devices and workstations.

▪ The Imaging and Printing Group: inkjet, LaserJet and commercial printing,

printing supplies.

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▪ Enterprise Business: business products including storage and servers, enterprise

services, software and networking.

Growth

HP is focused on three technology shifts that have the power to transform

customers' lives and businesses.

▪ Information explosion

▪ Digital transformation

▪ Environmental sustainability

Manufacturing in India

HP, of Palo Alto, has had a facility in Bangalore in south India since 1999, from

which it produces about 1 million computers each year.

HP is setting up a second computer manufacturing facility in India to help it meet

surging demand in the country.

The facility, in Pantnagar in the northeastern state of Uttaranchal, will be able to

churn out 300,000 computers per month when it starts operations.

Features of HP Laptops

Choice of 15.6-inch or 14.0-inch Widescreen Laptops.

Stylish and Affordable

Essential security and Business Features

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High-definition Displays and Audio

HP offers a broad selection of solutions and accessories.

Enhanced business features

Extended battery life options

Ability to dock

Bright LED Display

Expandable Memory

Lenovo

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History of Lenovo

On November 1, 1984, Lenovo was established with 200,000 RMB by eleven

people, named the "Chinese Academy of the Sciences Institute of Computing

Technology," new technology development company. In 1985, the company launched the

first Chinese-made motherboard with Lenovo Technology. The brand name, Lenovo, was

born from this. On 23 June 1988, Lenovo was incorporated in Hong Kong. New

Technology Development Company and Chinese technology Transfer Company co-

founded Lenovo of Hong Kong. Lenovo Group used Legend as its English name. The

"Lenovo" name was used for the first time.

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When Legend launched its own branded personal computer in 1990, it already

had a strong distribution network in place. With that distribution network and prices 30%

below those of foreign companies such as Hewlett Packard, Legend took the lead in

China's computer market late 1996 and has held it ever since. Legend has been able to

accomplish this by under pricing foreign competitors while providing quality and support

unavailable from local competitors.

Lenovo Group Limited is a Chinese multinational personal technology company

that develops, manufactures and markets desktop and notebook computers, workstations,

servers, storage drives, IT management software, and other related products and services.

Lenovo was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1988 under its previous name, Legend.

Lenovo's principal operations are located in Morrisville, North Carolina, Beijing, China

and Singapore.

Lenovo is the world's second largest PC maker and markets the ThinkPad line of

notebook PCs and ThinkCentre line of desktops. These brands became part of Lenovo's

offerings after its 2005 acquisition of IBM's personal computer business. Lenovo also

sells the IdeaPad line of notebook computers. Lenovo markets its products directly to

consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through

online sales, company-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technology distributors

and vendors.

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Leadership

Liu Chuanzhi

Liu Chuanzhi is the founder of Lenovo and remains the paramount leader of the

firm. Liu founded Lenovo in 1984, with a group of ten other engineers in Beijing with

200,000 yuan. The listed holding company was incorporated in 1988 in Hong Kong

Yang Yuanqing

Yang Yuanqing is the chief executive officer of Lenovo. Yang was the chairman

of Lenovo's board from 2004 to 2008. Before the acquisition of IBM's PC division by

Lenovo in 2004, he was the President and CEO of the company. One of his major

achievements was making Lenovo the best-selling PC brand in China since 1997. In

2001, Business Week named him as one of the rising stars in Asia. In February 2009 the

CEO Bill Amelio was replaced by Yang.

Gianfranco Lanci

In April 2012 Lenovo hired former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci as head of its

European unit. Lenovo said the hiring of Lanci was designed to help achieve its goal of

becoming a top three PC maker in Europe within the year.

Headquarters and facilities

Lenovo's principal facilities are in Beijing, Morrisville, North Carolina and

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

Xiamen, and Chengdu in China, and Yamato in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

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Manufacturing

Lenovo operates factories in Chengdu and Hefei in China, Japan, and in

December 2011 started production in Argentina. Lenovo focuses on vertical integration

in order to avoid excessive reliance on original equipment manufacturers and keep costs

down.

Lenovo in India

Lenovo creates and builds exceptionally engineered personal technology, but it is

much more than a tech company. Lenovo is defining a new way of doing things as a next

generation global company.  That means it is years ahead of the game in terms of

understanding what it will take to win 5, 10 years from now. 

Achieving optimal balance in all that is done is Lenovo’s operating philosophy. 

This mindset encompasses every aspect of Lenovo’s business, from balancing leadership

with consensus building, to valuing both short- and long-term thinking.  As a result, it has

created a balanced business model and strategy that take maximum advantage of profit

and investment across both core and new businesses.  The result is balanced performance

and market share growth across all regions, customer segments, products and business

models.

The mission of Lenovo is to become one of the world’s great personal technology

companies.  They aspire to achieve this objective by leading in three key areas:

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▪ Personal Computers: Lead in PCs and be respected for their product innovation

and quality.

▪ Convergence:  Lead the industry with an ecosystem of devices, services,

applications and content for people to seamlessly connect to people and web content.

▪ Culture: Become recognized as one of the best, most trusted and most well

respected companies to work for and do business with.

The Heritage

Lenovo came about as the result of the merger of two of the most storied

companies in technology and business: Legend Holdings in China and IBM’s Personal

Computing Division in the United States. The merger was heralded as a watershed event

in global business with the potential for integrating two disparate cultures, languages,

processes and markets.

Two Roads to Creating a PC Powerhouse

In 1981, IBM launched its Personal Computing Division, which literally invented

personal computing with such innovations as the first laptop computer, the precursor to

the ThinkPad notebook, synonymous with innovation and quality.

In 1984, Legend Holdings was founded in China with just 11 computer scientists

and $25,000 in cash, with the idea of delivering information technology more rapidly to

consumers and businesses in China.

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In 2003, Legend began marketing its products under the Lenovo brand, melding

the "Le" from Legend with "novo," the Latin word for "new." It officially changed its

company name from Legend to Lenovo a year later.

In 2005, Lenovo Group’s acquisition of IBM’s PC division essentially combined

the market strength of Lenovo in China and elsewhere in Asia among consumers with

IBM’s leadership position in Europe and North America among business PC users.

In 2007, Lenovo launched the IdeaPad line of consumer-branded PC products and

dropped the use of the IBM logo on all its products two years ahead of schedule.

In 2008, Lenovo completed its entry into the server market with the launch of the

ThinkServer™ portfolio, designed to deliver a better server experience for small and

medium business customers.

Products

Think Pad

Idea Pad

Essential

Features of Lenovo

AMD Processors

Microsoft Office Starter 2010

Discrete Graphics

Solid Stage Storage Drives

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Integrated Color Calibration

Hard/storage drive impact protection

Super High Resolution Display

LED Backlit Display

Optional SuperBright Outdoor panel

Optimal Multitouch Panel

Palm-rest digitizer and pen

Password Management Software

Integrated fingerprint reader

Sony Vaio

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History of Sony

In late 1945, after the end of World War II, Masaru Ibuka started a radio repair

shop in a bomb-damaged department store Shirokiya building in Nihonbashi of Tokyo.

The next year, his colleague, Akio Morita, joined him and they founded a company called

Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). The

company built Japan's first tape recorder, called the Type-G. In the early 1950s, Ibuka

traveled in the United States and heard about Bell Labs' invention of the transistor. He

convinced Bell to license the transistor technology to his Japanese company. While most

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American companies were researching the transistor for its military applications, Ibuka

and Morita looked to apply it to communications. Although the American companies

Regency Electronics and Texas Instruments built the first transistor radio as joint venture,

it was Ibuka's company that made them commercially successful for the first time.

Sony's headquarters moved to Minato, Tokyo from Shinagawa, Tokyo around the

end of 2006.

Sony Corporation commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational

conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It ranked 73 on

the 2011 list of Fortune Global 500. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of

electronics products for the consumer and professional markets.

Its founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka derived the name from sonus, the

Latin word for sound, and also from the English slang word "sonny", since they

considered themselves to be "sonny boys", a loan word into Japanese which in the early

1950s connoted smart and presentable young men.

VAIO is a sub-brand used for many of Sony's computer products. Originally an

acronym of Video Audio Integrated Operation, this was amended to Visual Audio

Intelligent Organizer in 2008 to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary. The branding was

created by Timothy Healy to distinguish items that integrate consumer audio and video

with conventional computing products, such as the Sony VAIO W Series personal

computer, which functioned as a regular computer and a miniature entertainment center.

Although Sony made computers in the 1980's exclusively for the local (Japan) market,

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the company withdrew from the computer business around the turn of the decade. Sony's

re-entry to the global computer market under the new VAIO brand began in 1996 with

the PCV series of desktops. The VAIO logo also represents the integration of analog and

digital technology with the 'VA' representing an analog wave and the 'IO' representing a

digital binary code.

Sony in India

One of the most recognized brand names in the world today, Sony Corporation,

Japan, established its Indian operations in November 1994, focusing on the sales and

marketing of Sony products in the country. In a span of 15 years, Sony India has

exemplified the quest for excellence in the world of digital lifestyle becoming the

country’s foremost consumer electronics brand. With relentless commitment to quality,

consistent dedication to customer satisfaction and unparalleled standards of service, Sony

India is recognized as a benchmark for new age technology, superior quality, digital

concepts and personalized service that has ensured loyal customers and nationwide

acclaim in the industry. With brands names such as BRAVIA, BRAVIA Theatre, Cyber-

shot‚ Handycam®, VAIO, Tablet, Walkman®, Xplod, Memory Stick™‚ PlayStation®.

Sony has established itself as a value leader across its various product categories of

Audio/Visual Entertainment products, Information and Communications‚ Recording

Media, Business and Professional products. In India, Sony has its footprint across all

major towns and cities through a distribution network comprising of over 5000 dealers

and distributors, 240 exclusive Sony outlets and 19 direct branch locations. Manned by

customer friendly and informed sales persons, Sony’s exclusive stores ‘Sony Center’ are

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fast becoming the most visible face of the company in India. Sony India also has a strong

service presence across the country with 20 company owned and 190 authorized service

centers and 16 exclusive demonstration centers. A distinctive feature of Sony’s service is

its highly motivated and well-trained staff that provides the kind of attentive and sensitive

service that is rare today. Sony is committed to ensuring that both the products and the

marketing activities employed truly make a difference to people’s lifestyles and offer

them new dimensions of enjoyment.

Products

VAIO S Series

VAIO C Series

VAIO E Series

VAIO Y Series

VAIO L Series

VAIO F Series

Features of Sony VAIO Laptops

TFT color display

VAIO Display Plus,

LED backlight

Blu-ray

Blue Tooth

The large 16.4(41.6 cms) display delivers crisp images with high contrast.

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The top panel features a black matte finish for a classic definitive look.

Advanced Connectivity

Touch operation

Easily Portable.

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CHAPTER 4

PROFILE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA SELECTED FOR

THE STUDY

GUNTUR

Guntur is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Andhra Pradesh,

India, located 64 km to the north and west of the Bay of Bengal. It is approximately

1,600 km to the south of the national capital, New Delhi and 266 kilometers south east of

state capital, Hyderabad. The city has a population of 651,382 as per 2011 census, with

an Urban Agglomeration nearing to one million and it is the fourth largest city in the state

by population.

Guntur is a centre of learning and the administrative capital of Guntur district,

which is home of historically significant Amaravati, Undavalli caves, Kondavid Fort,

Nagarjunakonda and Sitanagaram monuments. The city is also a centre for business,

industry, and agriculture. The region is identified as a major transportation and textile

hub in India. Additionally, the Guntur area economy has an agricultural component that

is internationally known for its exports of chillies, cotton, and tobacco.

Modern Guntur

With the advent of the Europeans the city has attained national and international

significance. The French shifted their headquarters from Kondavid Fort to here in 1752,

probably because of the ample availability of water due to the two large tanks. This

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settlement formed the nucleus of the modern city.

The Nizam and Haidar Ali too ruled the town till it came under the British in

1788. It was made the headquarters of a district after it that was abolished in 1859, only

to be reconstituted in 1904. The city rapidly became a major market for agricultural

produce from the hinterland due to the opening of the railway link in 1890. The

expansion continued post independence as well and was concentrated in what is now

called "New Guntur". The current size of the city has an inner radius of about 9.7 km.

The City-region comprises the surrounding suburban and rural areas spanning in all the

directions. New townships are mushrooming in these areas and it is considered as the

fourth largest city in the state. On 7/13/2012 a new Government Order was issued adding

10 adjacent villages to be part of the city with 'Greater' status.

Demographics

As of the 2011 India census, Guntur has a population of 651,382 and with the

addition of 10 villages (as of 7/13/2012) into the city, the population has exceeded to

more than 800,000. The city is the 4th largest in the state by population and area. Female

population is exceeding the male population. Guntur has an average literacy rate of 74%,

higher than the national average of 70%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is

70%. 11% of the population in the city is under 6 years of age.

Culture and Diversity

With the culture and traditions of ageless Sanatana Dharma/Ancient Vedic

Civilization (known as Hinduism) and its principles Sarvē Janā Sukhinō Bhavantu, the

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Guntur Region had a place for all religions, castes, sects and creeds. Guntur is known for

its diverse culture. One of the purportedly lost tribes of Israel called Bene Ephraim has a

presence in Guntur, with even a Jewish synagogue. Religious faiths such as Islam and

Christianity lead a harmonious, peaceful existence.

Language and Festivals

Telugu is the main language of communication in the city while Urdu is the other

widely spoken language. One of the earliest/purest forms of Telugu language can be

noticed in this region. The famous Mahakavi Tikkana (1205–1288) was born in this

region. Most of the Muslims in the city speak Urdu as their mother tongue, though they

are fluent in Telugu. The culture is vibrant with many festivals that have been celebrated

over thousands of years. Those festivals observed in Guntur with great pomp and

splendor are: Deepavali, Krishna-Ashtami, Rama Navami, Sankranti, Sivaratri, Ugadi,

Vijaya Dasami, Vinayaka-Chaviti, Ekadasi, Karthika Purnima. Also, noticeable are

festivals introduced before a few centuries, including Christmas, Eid ul-Fitr, Muharram,

Ramadan. The 30th International Kalachakra festival was held at Amaravati near Guntur.

City Lifestyle

The city's lifestyle has a mixture of both urban and rural with some cosmopolitan

element. Like any typical Indian city, the majority of the population is from middle class

and lower middle-class families. With a reasonable cost of living and most basic

amenities readily available, the city attracts people from other regions. Guntur is known

for its fusion of traditional Indian and Western cultures. Guntur's residents wear both

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Indian style and Western style clothing. The common traditional clothing for women is a

Saree, Salwar and for men formally, a Dhovathi or Pancha.

Economy

Cotton-Tobacco-Chilly City

Guntur city and its region is a major commercial centre in India. Cotton, tobacco

and chilli are some of the major commodities that are exported from here to different

parts of the world. The city hosts the largest Asian market for red chillies. The Tobacco

Board, India, a part of the Government of India, is headquartered in Guntur. The chillies

that are grown in this region are some of the spiciest in the world, and are in constant

competition with chillies from Mexico for first place. One of the first of its kind, a global

'Spice Park' is currently being setup in the area. The cotton that grows in the region is

used in making some of the finest sarees in India.

Academics/Education and Research

Guntur is one of the first cities to provide higher education and graduate programs

in India. The Acharya Nagarjuna University is one of the largest universities in the

country, and covers various institutions from 3 districts. There are a number of graduate

schools, colleges, and high schools providing basic and higher education in agricultural,

arts, bio-med, engineering, management, medical, nursing, pharmaceutical, sciences, and

technology in the region. The Guntur Institute of Medical Sciences is one of many

premier institutes in the city region. The Vedic University near Guntur specializes in the

teaching of Vedic Sciences, other related philosophies, and the Vedanta.

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Climate

The climate in Guntur City is very tropical in nature, but there are dry spells

especially during the winter season. The average temperature is warm to hot throughout

the year, with temperatures ranging from approximately 16C to 48C. The summer season,

especially during May/June has the highest temperatures, but monsoon rains usually

follow these season. The winter season from October to February is the most enjoyable

with a pleasant climate. Summer clothing suffices throughout the year.

Local Cuisine

Guntur City is famous for the food items such as mirchi bajji (mirapakaya bajji),

aavakaaya pickle, gongura pickle, with traditional Andhra style meals and common

breakfast items such as Idli, dosa and puri. There are many top quality Hotels that offer

varieties of food items from several regions of India. The common masala stands, jilebi

pushcarts, sugar cane juice sellers can be noticed in every corner of the city. There are

also International Fast Food and pizza outlets. The city has many star class lodgings, inns

and hotels.

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CHAPTER 5

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling

data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions, and

supporting decision making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches,

encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, in different business, science,

and social science domains. In statistical applications, some people divide data analysis

into descriptive statistics, exploratory data analysis (EDA), and confirmatory data

analysis (CDA). EDA focuses on discovering new features in the data and CDA on

confirming or falsifying existing hypotheses. Predictive analytics focuses on application

of statistical or structural models for predictive forecasting or classification, while text

analytics applies statistical, linguistic, and structural techniques to extract and classify

information from textual sources, a species of unstructured data. All are varieties of data

analysis.

The data collected from the respondents is systematically analyzed and presented

in the form of Tables under various headings in the following pages. They are done in

such a way that a detailed analysis can be made so as to present suitable interpretations

for the same.

Accordingly this chapter is divided into two sections,

Section A and

84

Section B

Section A: Deals with simple percentage analysis of collected data.

Section B: Deals with the application of Statistical tools such as

ANOVA

Chi – Square Analysis

Friedman Ranking Test

Simple Percentage Analysis

Simple Percentage analysis is one of the simplest forms of the quantitative

(statistical) analysis. It involves the analysis of two variables often denoted as X, Y), for

the purpose of determining the empirical relationship between them. In order to see if the

variables are related to one another, it is common to measure how those two variables

simultaneously change together. The tool is used for all the questions.

TABLE NO: 5.1

TABLE SHOWS THE GENDER WISE DISTRIBUTION OF THE

RESPONDENTS

Gender No of Respondents Percentage

Male 212 53

Female 188 47

Total 400 100

Inference

85

Table 4.1 reveals that 53% of the Respondents are Male and 47% of the

Respondents are Female. Majority of the Respondents are Male.

EXHIBIT 4.1

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE GENDER WISE DISTRIBUTION OF THE

RESPONDENTS

86

TABLE NO: 5.2

TABLE EXHIBITS THE AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESPONDENTS

Age No: of Respondents Percentage

Less than 20 Years 20 5

20 – 30 Years 320 80

31 – 40 Years 52 13

Above 40 Years 8 2

Total 400 100

Inference

Table 4.2 reveals that 80% of the respondents, which is the majority fall under the

age group 20 – 30 years, 13% of the respondents fall under the category 31 – 40 years,

5% of the respondents fall under the category of les than 20 years and 2% of the

respondents fall under the category of above 40 years.

Majority of the respondents fall under the Age group 20 – 30 years.

87

EXHIBIT 4.2

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESPONDENTS

88

TABLE NO: 5.3

TABLE SHOWING THE MARITAL STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

Marital Status No of Respondents Percentage

Married 100 25

Unmarried 300 75

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table 4.3 reveals that 25% of the respondents are married and 75% of the

respondents are never married. Majority of the respondents are never married.

89

EXHIBIT 4.3

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE MARITAL STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

90

TABLE NO: 5.4

TABLE SHOWING THE EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION OF THE

RESPONDENTS

Educational Qualification

No: of Respondents Percentage

School Level 4 1

Under Graduate 128 32

Post Graduate 260 65

Others 8 2

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 5.4 reveals that 65% of the respondents, which is the majority are Post

Graduates, 32% of the respondents are Under Graduates, 2% of the respondents fall

under the category of others who doesn’t have preliminary education and 1% of the

respondents have completed their school level studies.

Majority of the respondents are Post Graduates.

91

EXHIBIT 4.4

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION OF THE

RESPONDENTS

92

TABLE NO: 5.5

TABLE SHOWING THE EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

Employment Status No: of Respondents Percentage

Business 12 3

Professional 80 20

Salaried 188 47

Student 120 30

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 5.5 reveals that 47% of the respondents are Salaried Employees, 30%

of the respondents are Students, 20% of the respondents are Professionals and 3% of the

respondents are into Business.

Majority of the respondents are Salaried Employees.

93

EXHIBIT 4.5

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE OCCUPATION STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS

94

TABLE NO: 5.6

TABLE SHOWING THE MONTHLY INCOME OF THE RESPONDENT’S

FAMILY.

Income No: of Respondents Percentage

Less than 10,000 28 7

10,001 – 20,000 80 20

20,001 – 30,000 52 13

Above 30,000 240 60

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 5.6 reveals that the monthly income of 60% of the respondents is above

30,000, and that of 20% is between 10,0001nd 20,000 and that of 13% is between 20,001

and 30,000 and that of 7% is less than 10,000.

95

EXHIBIT 4.6

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE FAMILY’S MONTHLY INCOME OF THE

RESPONDENTS

96

TABLE NO: 5.7

TABLE SHOWING THE LAPTOP BRAND POSSESSED BY THE

RESPONDENTS.

Laptop Brand No: of Respondents Percentage

Dell 188 47

Acer 84 21

Lenovo 36 9

HP 60 15

Sony 32 8

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.7 reveals that out of 100% respondents, 47% possess Dell Laptops,

21% possess Acer Laptops, 15% possess HP Brand, 9% possess Lenovo and 8% possess

Sony Laptops.

Majority of the respondents possess Dell Laptops.

97

EXHIBIT 4.7

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE BRAND OF THE LAPTOP POSSESSED BY THE

RESPONDENTS

98

TABLE NO: 4.8

TABLE SHOWING THE SOURCE OF AWARENESS OF THE RESPONDENTS.

Source No: of Respondents Percentage

Advertisements 140 35

Friends & Relatives 224 56

Dealers/Representatives 20 5

Others 16 4

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.8 reveals that the source of information of 56% of the respondents is

friends and relatives and that of 35% of the respondents is Advertisements and that of 5%

of the respondents is Dealers and Representatives and 4% of the respondents collected

information from several other medium.

Majority of repondents rely on the information provided by Friends and

Relatives.

99

EXHIBIT 4.8

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE SOURCE OF AWARENESS OF THE RESPONDENTS

100

TABLE NO: 4.9

TABLE SHOWING THE MEDIUM OF ADVERTISEMENT WHICH INCLINED

BRAND CHOICE

Medium of Advertisement

No: of Respondents Percentage

Newspapers & Magazines 48 12

Hoardings 4 1

TV 36 9

Internet 52 13

Total 140 100

Inference:

Table No 4.9 reveals that the medium of advertisement which influenced 13% of

the respondents is Internet, 12% of the respondents is Newspapers and Magazines, 9% of

the respondents is TV and 1% of the respondents is Hoardings.

The medium of Advertisement which influenced majority of the respondents

is Internet.

101

EXHIBIT 4.9

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE AWARENESS OF THE RESPONDENTS THROUGH

DIFFERENT MODES OF ADVERTISEMENT.

102

TABLE NO: 4.10

TABLE PRESENTS THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE RESPONDENTS USE

THE LAPTOP.

FactorsNo: of

Respondents/Percentage

Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Total

Education

No of Respondents 236 108 56 400

Percentage calculated

59 27 14 100

Business

No of Respondents 164 156 80 400

Percentage calculated

41 39 20 100

Entertainment

No of Respondents 60 128 212 400

Percentage calculated

15 32 53 100

Inference

It is understood from Table No: 4.10 that,

59% of the respondents rank first for Education, 41% rank first for Business and

15% rank first for Entertainment.

27% of the respondents rank second for Education, 39% rank second for Business

and 32% rank second for Entertainment.

14% of the respondents rank third for Education, 20% rank third for Business and

53% rank third for Entertainment.

Majority of the respondents use laptops for education purpose.

103

EXHIBIT 4.10

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE RESPONDENTS USE

THE LAPTOP

104

TABLE NO: 4.11

TABLE ILLUSTRATES THE FACTORS CONSIDERED WHILE SELECTING

THE LAPTOP

FactorsNo: of

Respondents/Percentage

Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5 Total

After Sales Service

No of Respondents

20 44 188 148 0 400

Percentage calculated

5 11 47 35 0 100

Brand Reputation

No of Respondents

244 124 16 16 0 400

Percentage calculated

61 31 4 4 0 100

Price Factors

No of Respondents

120 216 40 8 16 400

Percentage calculated

30 54 10 2 4 100

Easy Availability

No of Respondents

24 32 136 184 24 400

Percentage calculated

6 8 34 46 6 100

Offers

No of Respondents

8 8 16 24 344 400

Percentage calculated

2 2 4 6 86 100

105

Inference:

It is implicit from Table No: 4.11 that,

5% of the respondents rank first for After Sales Services, 61% of the respondents

rank first for Brand Reputation, 30% of the respondents rank first for Price

factors, 6% of the respondents rank first for Easy Availability and 2% of the

respondents rank first for Offers.

11% of the respondents rank second for After Sales Services, 31% of the

respondents rank second for Brand Reputation, 54% of the respondents rank

second for Price factors, 8% of the respondents rank second for Easy Availability

and 2% of the respondents rank second for Offers.

47% of the respondents rank third for After Sales Services, 4% of the respondents

rank third for Brand Reputation, 10% of the respondents rank third for Price

factors, 34% of the respondents rank third for Easy Availability and 4% of the

respondents rank third for Offers.

35% of the respondents rank fourth for After Sales Services, 4% of the

respondents rank fourth for Brand Reputation, 2% of the respondents rank fourth

for Price factors, 46% of the respondents rank fourth for Easy Availability and 6%

of the respondents rank fourth for Offers.

None of the respondents rank fifth for second After Sales Service and Brand

Reputation, 4% of the respondents rank fifth for Price factors, 6% of the

respondents rank fifth for Easy Availability and 86% of the respondents rank fifth

for Offers.

Majority of the respondents rank first for Brand Reputation.

106

EXHIBIT 4.11

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE VARIOUS FACTORS CONSIDERED BY THE

RESPONDENTS WHILE SELECTING THE LAPTOP

107

TABLE NO: 4.12

TABLE PROVES THE COMPONENTS CONSIDERED WHILE PURCHASING

THE LAPTOP.

Component

No: of Respondents/Per

centageRank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5 Total

RAM

No of Respondents

96 136 104 40 24 400

Percentage calculated

24 34 26 10 6 100

Hard Disk

No of Respondents

88 48 136 112 16 400

Percentage calculated

22 12 34 28 4 100

Mother Board

No of Respondents

48 120 88 120 24 400

Percentage calculated

12 30 22 30 6 100

Processor

No of Respondents

216 64 56 48 16 400

Percentage calculated

54 16 14 12 4 100

Touch Pad

No of Respondents

16 24 40 56 264 400

Percentage calculated

4 6 10 14 66 100

108

Inference:

It is implied from Table No: 4.12 that,

24% of the respondents rank first for RAM, 22% of the respondents rank first for

Hard Disk, 12% of the respondents rank first for Mother Board, 54% of the

respondents rank first for Processor and 4% of the respondents rank first for

Touch Pad.

34% of the respondents rank second for RAM, 12% of the respondents rank

second for Hard Disk, 30% of the respondents rank second for Mother Board,

16% of the respondents rank second for Processor and 6% of the respondents rank

second for Touch Pad.

26% of the respondents rank third for RAM, 34% of the respondents rank third

for Hard Disk, 22% of the respondents rank third for Mother Board, 14% of the

respondents rank third for Processor and 10% of the respondents rank third for

Touch Pad.

10% of the respondents rank fourth for RAM, 28% of the respondents rank fourth

for Hard Disk, 30% of the respondents rank fourth for Mother Board, 12% of the

respondents rank fourth for Processor and 14% of the respondents rank fourth for

Touch Pad.

6% of the respondents rank fifth for RAM, 4% of the respondents rank fifth for

Hard Disk, 6% of the respondents rank fifth for Mother Board, 4% of the

respondents rank fifth for Processor and 66% of the respondents rank fifth for

Touch Pad.

Majority of the respondents rank first for Processor.

109

EXHIBIT 4.12

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE COMPONENTS, WHICH INFLUENCES THE

RESPONDENTS WHILE SELECTING A LAPTOP

110

TABLE NO: 4.13

TABLE PRESENTING THE FEATURES CONSIDERED BEFORE

PURCHASING A LAPTOP

FeaturesNo: of

Respondents/Percentage

Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5

Total

Utility

No of Respondents

96 80 40 112 72 400

Percentage calculated

24 20 10 28 18 100

Model

No of Respondents

128 88 72 48 64 400

Percentage calculated

32 22 18 12 16 100

Comfort

No of Respondents

144 72 64 72 48 400

Percentage calculated

36 18 16 18 12 100

Economy

No of Respondents

104 112 72 56 56 400

Percentage calculated

26 28 18 14 14 100

Durability

No of Respondents

72 40 96 40 152 400

Percentage calculated

18 10 24 10 38 100

111

Inference:

It is implied from Table No: 4.13 that,

24% of the respondents rank first for Utility, 32% of the respondents rank first for

Model, 36% of the respondents rank first for Comfort, 72% of the respondents

rank first for Economy and 18% of the respondents rank first for Durability.

20% of the respondents rank second for Utility, 22% of the respondents rank

second for Model, 18% of the respondents rank second for Comfort, 28% of the

respondents rank second for Economy and 10% of the respondents rank second

for Durability.

10% of the respondents rank third for Utility, 18% of the respondents rank third

for Model, 16% of the respondents rank third for Comfort, 18% of the

respondents rank third for Economy and 24% of the respondents rank third for

Durability.

28% of the respondents rank fourth for Utility, 12% of the respondents rank

fourth for Model, 18% of the respondents rank fourth for Comfort, 14% of the

respondents rank fourth for Economy and 10% of the respondents rank fourth for

Durability.

18% of the respondents rank fifth for Utility, 16% of the respondents rank fifth

for Model, 12% of the respondents rank fifth for Comfort, 14% of the respondents

rank fifth for Economy and 38% of the respondents rank fifth for Durability.

112

EXHIBIT 4.13

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE VARIOUS FACTORS CONSIDERED BY THE

RESPONDENTS WHILE PURCHASING THE LAPTOP

113

TABLE NO: 4.14

TABLE SHOWS THE MONEY SPEND ON LAPTOP PURCHASE.

Amount Paid No: of Respondents Percentage

25,000 – 30,000 144 36

30,001 – 35,000 108 27

35,001 – 40,000 68 17

Above 40,000 80 20

Total 400 100

Inference:

It is clear from the Table No: 4.14 that 36% of the Respondents spent between

25,000 to 30,000 to purchase the Laptop, 27% spent between 30,001 – 35,000, 17% spent

between 35,001 – 40, 000 and 20% spent above 40,000 to buy the Laptop.

Majority of the respondents spent between 25,000 and 30,000 for Laptop

purchase.

114

EXHIBIT 4.14

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE AMOUNT SPENT BY THE RESPONDENTS TO

PURCHASE A LAPTOP

115

TABLE NO: 4.15

TABLE EXHIBITS THE SOURCE OF LAPTOP PURCHASE.

Source No: of Respondents Percentage

Dealers 168 42

Company’s Direct Outlet 112 28

Shopping Malls 96 24

Others 24 6

Total 400 100

Inference

It is evident from Table No: 4.15 that 42% of the Respondents purchased the

Laptop from Dealers, 28% from Company’s Direct outlet, 24% from Shopping Malls and

6% from other Sources.

116

EXHIBIT 4.15

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE SOURCE OF PURCHASE OF THE LAPTOP

117

TABLE NO:4.16

TABLE SHOWS THE OPINION OF THE RESPONDENTS ON PRICE OF

LAPTOP

Opinion on Price No: of Respondents Percentage

Very High 16 4

High 88 22

Reasonable 296 74

Low 0 0

Very Low 0 0

Total 400 100

Inference:

It is clear from the Table No: 4.16 that 74% of the Respondents feel that the Price

of the laptop is Reasonable, 88% feel that the Price is High and 4% of the Respondents

feel that the Price of the Laptop is very High.None of the Respondents feel that the Price

is Low.

Majority of the respondents feel that the price of the Laptop is high.

118

EXHIBIT 4.16

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE OPINION REGARDING THE PRICE OF THE LAPTOP

119

TABLE NO:4.17

TABLE SHOWS THE TYPE OF PURCHASE MADE BY THE RESPONDENTS.

Type of Purchase No of Respondents Percentage

Cash 332 83

Credit 68 17

Total 400 100

Inference:

It is evident from the Table that 83% of the Respondents made Cash Purchase and

17% made Credit Purchase.

Majority of the respondents made Cash purchase.

120

EXHIBIT 4.17

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE MODE OF PURCHASE OF THE LAPTOP

121

TABLE NO:4.17.1

TABLE PRESENTING THE SOURCE OF PAYMENT IN CREDIT PURCHASE.

Source of Payment No of Respondents Percentage

Bank Loan 36 53

Private Finance 32 47

Total 68 100

Inference:

It is evident from Table No: 4.17.1 that 53% of the respondents arranged payment

through Bank Loans and 47% arranged from Private Finance.

Majority of the respondents arranged payment through Bank Loan.

122

EXHIBIT 4.17.1

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE SOURCE OF CREDIT FOR PURCHASING THE

LAPTOP

123

TABLE NO: 4.18

TABLE SHOWING THE DETAILS OF WARRANTY PROVIDED FOR THE

LAPTOP

Warranty Details No of Respondents Percentage

Less than 1 Year 24 6

1 - 2 Years 296 74

2 – 3 Years 40 10

3 – 4 Years 20 5

Above 4 Years 20 5

Total 400 100

Inference:

It is clear from the Table No: 4.18 that 74% of the Rsponents received 1 – 2 Years

warranty from the Service provider, 10% of the Respondents received 2 – 3 Years

warranty, 6% of the Respondents received Less than 1 year warranty, 5% of the

Respondents received 3 – 4 Years warranty and 5% of the Received Above 4 years

warranty.

Majority of the respondents received 1 – 2 years warranty from the service

provider.

124

EXHIBIT 4.18

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE WARRANTY PERIOD PROVIDED FOR THE LAPTOP

125

TABLE NO: 4.19

TABLE PRESENTS THE TIME OF PURCHASE OF THE LAPTOP.

Time of Purchase No of Respondents Percentage

Before 4 Years 24 6

Before 3 Years 76 19

Before 2 Years 144 36

Before 1 Year 68 17

Recently 88 22

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.19 shows that 36% of the Respondents Purchased the Laptop before 2

years, 22% purchased before recenthly, 19% purchased before 3 years, 17% purchased

before 1 year and 6% of the Respondendents purchased the Laptop before 4 years.

Majority of the respondents purchased Laptop before 2 years.

126

EXHIBIT 4.19

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE YEAR OF PURCHASE OF THE LAPTOP

127

TABLE NO: 4.20

TABLE EXHIBITS WHETHER THE RESPONENTS FACED ANY PROBLEM

WITH LAPTOP

Problem History No of Respondents Percentage

Yes 84 21

No 316 79

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.20 shows that 79% of the Respondents never faced any problems

with the Laptop whereas 21% of the Respondents faced Problems with the Laptop.

Majority of the respondents never faced any problems with the Laptop.

128

EXHIBIT 4.20

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE RESPONDENTS WITH

THE LAPTOP

129

TABLE NO: 4.20.1

TABLE SHOWS THE COMPONENTS ON WHICH RESPONDENTS FACED

PROBLEMS.

Components No of Respondents Percentage

Processor 6 7

RAM 7 8

Mother Board 11 13

Hard Disk 18 22

Display 42 50

Total 84 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.20.1 shows that 50% of the Respondents faced problems with the

Display of the Laptop, 22% with Hard Disk, 13% with Mother Board, 8% with RAM and

7% faced problem with the Processor.

Majority of the respondents faced problems with the Display of the Laptop.

130

EXHIBIT 4.20.1

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE COMPONENTS OF THE LAPTOP ON WHICH THE

PROBLEM EXISTS

131

TABLE NO: 4.21

TABLE EXHIBITS RECEIPT OF PROMPT SERVICE FROM THE SERVICE

PROVIDER.

Received Prompt Service No of Respondents Percentage

Yes 292 73

No 108 27

Total 400 100

Inference:

It is known from the Table No: 4.21 that, 73% of the Respondents received

prompt service from the Service Provider and 27% of the Respondents have not received

prompt service.

Majority of the respondents received prompt service from the service

provider.

132

EXHIBIT 4.21

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE PROMPTNESS OF THE SERVICE RECEIVED BY THE

RESPONDENT FROM THE SELLER

133

TABLE NO: 4.22

TABLE SHOWS THE TIME TAKEN TO PROVIDE THE SERVICE TO THE

RESPONDENTS

Time Taken No of Respondents Percentage

Immediately 80 20

Less than a Day 104 26

Less than a Week 204 51

Others 12 3

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table 4.23 shows that 51% of the Respondents received service in less than a

week, 26% received in less than a day, 20% received immediately and for 3% it took

more time.

Majority of the respondents received service in less than a week.

134

EXHIBIT 4.22

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE TIME TAKEN BY THE SUPPLIER IN PROVIDING

THE SERVICE

135

TABLE NO: 4.23

TABLE SHOWS THE SATISFACTION LEVEL OF RESPONDENTS ON

VARIOUS FACTORS.

FactorsNo: of

Respondents/Percentage

VHS HS MS LS VLS Total

Price

No of Respondents

48 164 168 16 4 400

Percentage calculated

12 41 42 4 1 100

Quality

No of Respondents

116 188 88 8 0 400

Percentage calculated

29 47 22 2 0 100

Repairs

No of Respondents

92 148 108 44 8 400

Percentage calculated

23 37 27 11 2 100

Availability

No of Respondents

100 152 128 16 4 400

Percentage calculated

25 38 32 4 1 100

Durability

No of Respondents

112 160 112 8 8 400

Percentage calculated

28 40 28 2 2 100

After Sales Service

No of Respondents

64 160 128 32 16 400

Percentage calculated

16 40 32 8 4 100

136

Inference:

1. Price: 12% of the Respondents have Very high levels of Satisfaction, 41% of the

Respondents are Highly Satisfied, 42% of the Respondents are Moderately Satisfied,

4% of the Respondents have Low levels of Satisfaction and 1% of the Respondents

have Very Low Levels of Satisfaction.

2. Quality: 29% of the Respondents have Very High Levels of Satisfaction, 47% of

the Respondents are Highly Satisfied, 22% of the Respondents are Moderately

Satisfied, 2% of the Respondents have Low Levels of Satisfaction and No

Respondent falls in the category of Very Low satisfaction.

3. Repairs: 23% of the Respondents have Very High Levels of Satisfaction, 37% of

the Respondents are Highly Satisfied, 27% of the Respondents are Moderately

Satisfied, 11% of the Respondents have Low Levels of Satisfaction and 2% of the

Respondents have Very Low Levels of Satisfaction.

4. Availability: 25% of the Respondents have Very High Levels of Satisfaction,

38% of the Respondents are Highly Satisfied, 32% of the Respondents are

Moderately Satisfied, 4% of the Respondents have Low Levels of Satisfaction and

1% of the Respondents have Very Low Levels of Satisfaction.

5. Durability: 28% of the Respondents have Very High Levels of Satisfaction, 40%

of the Respondents are Highly Satisfied, 28% of the Respondents are Moderately

Satisfied, 2% of the Respondents have Low Levels of Satisfaction and 2% of the

Respondents have Very Low Levels of Satisfaction.

6. After Sales Service: 16% of the Respondents have Very High Levels of

Satisfaction, 40% of the Respondents are Highly Satisfied, 32% of the Respondents

137

are Moderately Satisfied, 8% of the Respondents have Low Levels of Satisfaction and

4% of the Respondents have Very Low Levels of Satisfaction.

Majority of the respondents are highly satisfied with the Price, Quality,

Repairs, Availability, Durability and after sales service of the Laptop.

TABLE NO: 4.24

TABLE SHOWS WHETHER THE RESPONDENTS USE SINGLE OPERATING

SYSTEM OR NOT.

Single Operating System or Not

No of Respondents Percentage

Yes 364 91

No 36 9

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.24 shows that 91% of the Respondents use Single Operating System

for their Laptops and 9% of the Respondents use more than One Operating System.

Majority of the respondents use Single Operating System

138

EXHIBIT 4.23

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS USING SINGLE

OPERATING SYSTEM

139

TABLE NO: 4.25

TABLE SHOWS THE OPERATING SYSTEM USED BY THE RESPONDENTS.

Operating System No of Respondents Percentage

Windows 7 124 31

Windows XP 212 53

Windows 2000 4 1

Linux 16 4

Vista 40 10

Others 36 9

Total 400 100

Inference:

Table No: 4.25 shows that 53% of the Respondents use Windows XP as

Operating System for their Laptops, 31% of the Respondents use Windows 7, 10% of the

Respondents use Vista, 4% of the Respondents use Linux, 1% of the Respondents use

Windows 2000 and 9% of the Respondents use other Operating Systems for their

Laptops.

Majority of the respondents use Windows XP as the operating system.

140

EXHIBIT NO: 4.25

EXHIBIT SHOWS THE OPERATING SYSTEM USED BY THE RESPONDENTS

141

ANOVA

In statistics, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models,

and their associated procedures, in which the observed variance in a particular variable is

partitioned into components attributable to different sources of variation. In its simplest

form, ANOVA provides a statistical test of whether or not the means of several groups

are all equal, and therefore generalizes t -test to more than two groups. Doing multiple

two-sample t-tests would result in an increased chance of committing a type I error. For

this reason, ANOVAs are useful in comparing two, three, or more means.

Age Group

The following table gives the Mean and Standard Deviation value of the

Respondents who belong to different age group regarding the Level of Satisfaction.

TABLE NO: 4.26

TABLE SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS

AND LEVEL OF SATISFACTION

Age Group Sum Average Variance

< 20 Years 20 4 2.5

20-30 Years 320 64 1241

31-40 Years 52 10.4 1.3

> 40 Years 8 1.6 0.8

The above table gives the Mean Values of the different age groups, which vary

between to 1.6 to 64. The Highest Mean score of 64 is found among the Respondents

142

who are between the Age Group 20 - 30. Hence their level of Satisfaction towards the

Laptop is higher when compared to others.

Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant relationship between the Age Group of the Respondents

and their Level of Satisfaction.

The following Table gives the result of ANOVA Test.

TABLE NO: 4.26(A)

ANOVA TABLE

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

Degree of Freedom

Mean Square

F Ratio P - Value F crit

Between Groups

13113.6 3 4371.2 14.03725 9.58E-05 3.238872

Within Groups

4982.4 16 311.4

Total 18096 19

Inference:

The ANOVA results show that at 5% significance, with the significant value of

0.001, there is significant relationship between the Age Group of the Respondents and

their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop. Hence Hypothesis is Rejected.

143

Educational Qualification

The following table gives the Mean and Standard Deviation value of the

Respondents who possess different Qualification regarding the Level of Satisfaction.

TABLE NO: 4.27

TABLE SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EDUCATIONAL

QUALIFICATION OF THE RESPONDENTS AND LEVEL OF SATISFACTION

Educational Qualification

Sum Average Variance

School Level 4 0.8 0.7

Under Graduate 128 25.6 86.8

Post Graduate 260 52 2336.5

Others 8 1.6 0.8

The above table gives the Mean Values of the Respondents who possess different

Educational Qualification, which vary from 0.8 to 52. The Highest Mean score of 52 is

found among the Respondents who are Post Graduates. Hence their level of Satisfaction

towards the Laptop is higher when compared to others.

144

Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant relationship between the Educational Qualification of the

Respondents and their Level of Satisfaction.

The following Table gives the result of ANOVA Test.

TABLE NO: 4.27(A)

ANOVA TABLE

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

Degree of Freedom

Mean Square

F Ratio P - Value F crit

Between Groups

8812.8 3 2937.6 4.845925 0.013842 3.238872

Within Groups

9699.2 16 606.2

Total 18512 19

Inference:

The ANOVA results show that at 5% significance, with the significant value of

0.001, there is significant relationship between the Educational Qualification of the

Respondents and their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop. Hence Hypothesis is

Rejected.

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Occupation Status

The following table gives the Mean and Standard Deviation value of the

Respondents who’s Occupation Statuses differ and the Level of Satisfaction.

TABLE NO: 4.28

TABLE SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OCCUPATION

STATUS OF THE RESPONDENTS AND LEVEL OF SATISFACTION

Occupation Status

Sum Average Variance

Business 12 2.4 28

Professional 80 16 74

Salaried 188 37.6 2442.8

Students 120 24 434

The above table gives the Mean Values of the Respondents who differ in their

Occupation Status, which vary between 2.4 to 37.6. The Highest Mean score of 37.6 is

found among the Respondents who are Salaried. Hence their level of Satisfaction towards

the Laptop is higher when compared to others.

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Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant relationship between the Occupation Status of the

Respondents and their Level of Satisfaction.

The following Table gives the result of ANOVA Test.

TABLE NO: 4.28(A)

ANOVA TABLE

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

Degree of Freedom

Mean Square

F Ratio P Value F crit

Between Groups

13113.6 3 4371.2 14.03725 9.58E-05 3.238872

Within Groups

4982.4 16 311.4

Total 18096 19

Inference:

The ANOVA results show that at 5% significance, with the significant value of

0.001, there is significant relationship between the Occupation Status of the Respondents

and their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop. Hence Hypothesis is Rejected.

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Family’s Monthly Income

The following table gives the Mean and Standard Deviation value of the

Respondents who’s Monthly Income differ and the Level of Satisfaction.

TABLE NO: 4.29

TABLE SHOWS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MONTHLY

INCOME OF THE RESPONDENTS AND LEVEL OF SATISFACTION

Family’s Monthly Income

No: of Respondents Mean Standard Deviation

< 10,000 28 5.6 17.8

10,001-20,000 80 16 186.5

20,001-30,000 52 10.4 30.8

>30,000 240 48 2844

Inference

The above table gives the Mean Values of the Respondents who differ in their

Monthly Income, which vary from 5.6 to 48. The Highest Mean score of 48 is found

among the Respondents whose monthly income is above 30,000. Hence their level of

Satisfaction towards the Laptop is higher when compared to others.

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Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant relationship between the Monthly Income of the

Respondents and their Level of Satisfaction.

The following Table gives the result of ANOVA Test.

TABLE NO: 4.29(A)

ANOVA TABLE

Source of Variation

Sum of Squares

Degree of Freedom

Mean Square

F Ratio P Value F crit

Between Groups

5497.6 3 1832.533 2.380609 0.107826 3.238872

Within Groups

12316.4 16 769.775

Total 17814 19

Inference:

The ANOVA results show that at 5% significance, with the significant value of

0.001, there is no significant relationship between the Occupation Status of the

Respondents and their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop. Hence Hypothesis is

Accepted.

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Chi-square Analysis

A chi-squared test, also referred to as chi-square test or 2 test, is any statistical

hypothesis test in which the sampling distribution of the test statistic is a chi-squared

distribution when the null hypothesis is true, or any in which this is asymptotically true,

meaning that the sampling distribution (if the null hypothesis is true) can be made to

approximate a chi-squared distribution as closely as desired by making the sample size

large enough.

Degrees of Freedom

In statistics, the number of degrees of freedom is the number of values in the

final calculation of a statistic that are free to vary.

Estimates of statistical parameters can be based upon different amounts of

information or data. The number of independent pieces of information that go into the

estimate of a parameter is called the degrees of freedom (df). In general, the degrees of

freedom of an estimate of a parameter is equal to the number of independent scores that

go into the estimate minus the number of parameters used as intermediate steps in the

estimation of the parameter itself.

First Group consists of Personal Factors like Occupation Status, Family’s

Monthly Income and Laptop Possessed.

Second Group contains the study factors namely Source of Awareness like

Advertisements, Friends and Relatives, Dealers and representatives etc.

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Factors in First Group are compared with Factors in Second Group and Chi-Square Test

is applied and the Result is given in the following Table with suitable interpretation. The

Chi-Square Test is carried out with 5% level of Significance. In this Research Study, the

Chi-Square Analysis is used to test the inter-dependence of one factor over the other.

Laptop Possessed and Source of Awareness

Chi-Square Test is applied in order to check the association between the Laptop

possessed by the Respondents and the Source of Awareness.

TABLE NO: 4.30

TABLE SHOWS THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN LAPTOP POSSESSED AND

SOURCE OF AWARENESS.

Laptop Possessed

Respondents

Source of Awareness

TotalAdvertisements

Friends & Relatives

Dealers/Representat

ivesOthers

Dell In No 72 110 4 2 188

Acer In No 14 61 6 3 84

Lenovo In No 15 11 5 5 36

HP In No 18 36 2 4 60

Sony In No 21 6 3 2 32

Total In No 140 224 20 16 400

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Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant association between the Laptop possessed and the Source

of Awareness.

TABLE NO: 4. 30(A)

CHI-SQUARE TEST

FactorsDegrees of Freedom

Chi-Square Value

Table value

Accept/RejectSignificant/Not

Significant

Laptop Possessed

12 1101.69 21.026 Reject Significant

Inference:

To find out the association between the Laptop possessed and the source of

awareness of the Respondents, Chi-Square Test is applied. The calculated value of Chi-

Square (1101.69) is greater than the Table value (21.026) at 5% level of Significance

with 12 as Degree of Freedom. The Hypothesis is Rejected.

Hence there is significant association between the Laptop possessed and the

Source of Awareness.

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Association between Laptop Possessed and Respondents Occupation Status.

Chi-Square Test is applied in order to check the association between the Laptop

possessed by the Respondents and the Occupation Status.

TABLE NO: 4.31

TABLE SHOWS THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN LAPTOP POSSESSED AND

RESPONDENTS OCCUPATION STATUS

Occupation Status

Respondents

Laptop Possessed

Dell Acer Lenovo HP Sony Total

Business In No 3 1 2 1 5 12

Professional In No 31 15 10 13 11 80

Salaried In No 124 10 12 34 8 188

Students In No 30 58 12 12 8 120

Total 188 84 36 160 32 400

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Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant association between the Laptop possessed and the

Occupation Status of the Respondents.

TABLE NO: 4.31(A)

CHI-SQUARE TEST

FactorsDegrees of Freedom

Chi-Square Value

Table value

Accept/RejectSignificant/Not

Significant

Laptop Possessed

12 1532.3 21.0261 Reject Significant

Inference:

To find out the association between the Laptop possessed and the Occupation

Status of the Respondents, Chi-Square Test is applied. The calculated value of Chi-

Square (1532.3) is greater than the Table value (21.0261) at 5% level of Significance

with 12 as Degree of Freedom. The Null Hypothesis is Rejected

Hence there is significant association between the Laptop possessed and the

Occupation Status of the Respondents.

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Association between Laptop Possessed and Respondents Monthly Income

Chi-Square Test is applied in order to check the association between the Laptop

possessed by the Respondents and their Monthly Income.

Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant association between the Laptop possessed and the Monthly

Income of the Respondents.

TABLE NO: 4.32

TABLE SHOWS THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN LAPTOP POSSESSED AND

RESPONDENTS MONTHLY INCOME

Monthly Income

RespondentsLaptop possessed

Dell Acer Lenovo HP Sony Total

Less than 10,000

In No 3 15 3 5 2 28

10,001 - 20,000

In No 17 33 9 7 4 70

20,001 - 30,000

In No 27 7 4 11 3 52

Above 30,000

In No 141 29 20 37 23 250

Total 188 84 36 60 32 400

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TABLE NO: 4. 32(A)

CHI-SQUARE TEST

FactorsDegrees of Freedom

Chi-Square Value

Table value

Accept/RejectSignificant/Not

Significant

Laptop Possessed

12 5075.5 21.0261 Reject Significant

Inference:

To find out the association between the Laptop possessed and the Occupation

Status of the Respondents, Chi-Square Test is applied. The calculated value of Chi-

Square 5075.5 is less than the Table value 21.0261 at 5% level of Significance with 10 as

Degree of Freedom. The Hypothesis is Rejected.

Hence there is significant association between the Laptop possessed and the

Occupation Status of the Respondents.

Friedman Ranking Test

The Friedman test is a non-parametric statistical test developed by the U.S.

economist Milton Friedman. Similar to the parametric repeated measures ANOVA; it is

used to detect differences in treatments across multiple test attempts. The procedure

involves ranking each row (or block) together, then considering the values of ranks by

columns. Applicable to complete block designs, it is thus a special case of the Durbin

test.

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Friedman Rank Analysis regarding the Purpose of using the Laptop

Hypothesis:

Ho: The Rankings of the respondents regarding the purpose for which the Laptop

possessed differ from user to user.

TABLE NO: 4.33

FRIEDMAN RANK ANALYSIS REGARDING THE PURPOSE OF USING THE

LAPTOP

PurposeRank I II III

TotalValue 1 2 3

EducationNo 236 108 56

620Score 236 216 168

BusinessNo 164 156 80

716Score 164 312 240

EntertainmentNo 60 128 212

952Score 60 256 636

Inference:

From the above Table it is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents

preferred Laptop for Education purpose which is Ranked First followed by Business and

Entertainment which is ranked Second and Third.

It is clear that the Customers were influenced to purchase laptops for Education

purpose.

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TABLE NO: 4.33(A)

TEST STATISTICS

No 400

Chi-Square -291.6

Degrees of Freedom 2

Asymp. Significance 0.001

With the significant value of 0.001, it is clear that the ranking of the Respondents

regarding the purpose for which the laptop is possessed differs at 1% level of

significance. Hence Hypothesis is Accepted.

Friedman Rank Analysis regarding the Factors influencing the Respondents while

selecting a Laptop

Hypothesis:

Ho: The Rankings of the respondents regarding the factors which influence the

purchase of a Laptop does not differ.

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TABLE NO: 4.34

FRIEDMAN RANK ANALYSIS REGARDING THE FACTORS INFLUENCING

THE RESPONDENTS WHILE SELECTING A LAPTOP

FactorsRank I II III IV V

TotalValue 1 2 3 4 5

After Sales Service

No 20 44 188 148 01264

Score 20 88 564 592 0

Brand reputation

No 244 124 16 16 0604

Score 244 248 48 64 0

Price Factors

No 120 216 40 8 16784

Score 120 432 120 32 80

Easy Availability

No 24 32 136 184 241352

Score 24 64 408 736 120

OffersNo 8 8 16 24 344

1888Score 8 16 48 96 1720

Inference:

From the above Table it is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents

considered Brand Reputation as the main factor, which they ranked First, while

purchasing the laptop. It is clear that the Customers were influenced to purchase laptops

because of the Brand reputation.

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TABLE NO: 4.34(A)

TEST STATISTICS

No 400

Chi-Square 769.61

Degrees of Freedom 4

Asymp. Significance 0.005

With the significant value of 0.005, it is clear that the ranking of the Respondents

regarding the factors considered while purchasing the Laptop differs. Hence hypothesis is

Rejected.

Hypothesis:

Ho: The Rankings of the respondents regarding the devices, which influence the

purchase of a Laptop does not differ.

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TABLE NO: 4.35

FRIEDMAN RANK ANALYSIS REGARDING THE DEVICES INFLUENCING

THE RESPONDENTS WHILE SELECTING A LAPTOP

DevicesRank I II III IV V

TotalValue 1 2 3 4 5

RAMNo 96 136 104 40 24

960Score 96 272 312 160 120

Hard DiskNo 88 48 136 112 16

1120Score 88 96 408 448 80

Mother Board

No 48 120 88 120 241152

Score 48 240 264 480 120

ProcessorNo 216 64 56 48 16

784Score 216 128 168 192 80

Touch PadNo 16 24 40 56 264

1728Score 16 48 120 224 1320

Inference:

From the above Table it is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents

considered Processor as the main device, which they ranked First, while purchasing the

laptop, followed by RAM and Hard Disk which the Respondents ranked Second and

Third

It is clear that the Customers were influenced to purchase laptops because of the

Processor.

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TABLE NO: 4.35(A)

TEST STATISTICS

No 400

Chi-Square -96.256

Degrees of Freedom 4

Asymp. Significance 0.005

With the significant value of 0.005, it is clear that the ranking of the Respondents

regarding the factors considered while purchasing the Laptop differs. Hence hypothesis is

Accepted.

Hypothesis:

Ho: The Rankings of the respondents regarding the factors considered before the

purchase of a Laptop differs.

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TABLE NO: 4.36

FRIEDMAN RANK ANALYSIS REGARDING THE FACTORS CONSIDERED

BY THE RESPONDENTS BEFORE PURCHASING A LAPTOP

FactorsRank I II III IV V

TotalValue 1 2 3 4 5

UtilityNo 96 80 40 112 72

1184Score 96 160 120 448 360

ModelNo 128 88 72 48 64

1032Score 128 176 216 192 320

ComfortNo 144 72 64 72 48

1008Score 144 144 192 288 240

EconomyNo 104 112 72 56 56

1048Score 104 224 216 224 280

DurabilityNo 72 40 96 40 152

1360Score 72 80 288 160 760

Inference:

From the above Table it is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents

considered Comfort as the main factor, which they ranked First, while purchasing the

laptop, followed by Model and Economy which the Respondents ranked Second and

Third.

It is clear that the Customers consider Comfort, Model and Economy while

purchasing the Laptop.

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TABLE NO: 4.36(A)

TEST STATISTICS

No 400

Chi-Square -769.15

Degrees of Freedom 4

Asymp. Significance 0.005

With the significant value of 0.005, it is clear that the ranking of the Respondents

regarding the factors considered while purchasing the Laptop differs. Hence hypothesis is

Accepted.

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CHAPTER – 6

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

6.1 FINDINGS

From the study conducted on the Customers Attitude and Satisfaction towards

branded Laptops in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, below mentioned are the

Researcher’s Findings.

1. Majority of the Respondents [53%] who responded to the survey are Male.

2. From the study conducted among various levels of people, majority [80%] falls

under the age group 20 – 30 years.

3. Majority of the respondents [75%] are not married.

4. From the research it is quite evident that majority [65%] of the respondents are

highly qualified with a Post Graduate degree. Many of them were professionals as

well.

5. From the study, it was observed that majority [47%] of the respondents are

Salaried Employees.

6. While the income of the respondents are considered, it was found that majority

[60%] of the respondents are earning a minimum monthly income of 30,000 and

above.

7. As per the survey, maximum customers preferred [47%] the brand Dell, as Dell is

more customer specific.

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8. Majority [56%] of the respondents rely on their friends and relatives in matters of

pre purchase information gathering. The majority gave preference to the Brand

which their friends and relatives recommended.

9. In the changing scenario of advanced Science and Technology, majority [59%] of

the respondents was found possessing Laptop primarily for the purpose of

Education.

10. With the increasing number of players in the mobile computer market, it was

observed that, majority [61%] of the respondents give first preference to Brand

reputation while purchasing a Laptop. Majority is not ready to take risk opting

non-branded Laptops.

11. With the market flooding with technically competent customers, it was observed

that people are very choosy while making investments. Majority [54%] of the

respondents gave first preference to the Processor while purchasing a Laptop.

12. Majority [72%] of the respondents gave first preference to Economic viability

while purchasing a Laptop. Customers prefer good quality products, which are

feasible to their pockets while purchasing electronic gadgets.

13. It was observed that majority [36%] of the Respondents spent in-between 25,000

to 30,000 to purchase the Laptop, which falls in a medium range category in the

aspect of quality also.

14. To minimise the risk of fake or duplicate components and future complications,

majority [42%] of the Respondents purchased the Laptop from authorised

Dealers, availing maximum benefits in matters of quality and guarantee.

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15. Inpite of many number of players in the market and freedom to choose the brand

as per unique requirements, majority [88%] of the respondents feel that the price

of the Laptop is high. 83% of the Respondents made Cash Purchase and 17%

made Credit Purchase.

16. In the light of high price of the Laptops and the difficulty to pay from own pocket.

majority [53%] of the respondents arranged payment through Bank loansof the

respondents arranged payment through Bank Loans.

17. As the majority preferred to buy the Laptop from authorised dealers, majority

[74%] of the Rsponents received 1 – 2 Years warranty from the Service provider.

18. As a result of a sudden awareness in the market regarding the benefits of

possessing of Laptop, majority [36%] of the respondents purchased the Laptop

before 2 years,

19. Majority of the respondents [79%] never faced any problems with the Laptop as

maximum preference was given to best brands and was bought from authorised

dealers.

20. Among the respondents who faced problems, majority [50%] of the Respondents

faced problems with the Display of the Laptop.

21. Among the respondents who faced problems with the Laptop, 73%, which is the

majority, received prompt service from the Service Provider.

22. Among the respondents who didn’t get prompt service, majority [51%], received

service in less than a week.

23. Majority of the Respondents are satisfied with various factors related to the

Laptop like Price, Quality, Repairs, Availibilty, Durability and After Sales

Service.

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24. 91% of the Respondents, which is the majority, use Single Operating System for

their Laptops as they feel it very convenient without confusions and

complications.

25. The Respondents who use Sony Laptop feel that the prices are quite high, beyond

the affordable limits of the Common Man.

26. Many Respondents are not satisfied with the Battery Back up of Sony Laptops.

27. Many Respondents feel that the Touch Pad doesn’t respond properly.

28. Few Respondents commented that the Sound Effect of the Laptop is not good.

29. Many Respondents are not satisfied with the After Sales Service provided.

30. Many of the Respondents feel the Price of the Laptop, for the features offered is

high.

31. Many Respondents expect some offers when they buy the Laptop.

32. Many Respondents feel unsatisfied with the Display of the Laptop, as they faced

many problems with the same.

33. Few Respondents requested addition of some games in the Laptop.

Findings from ANOVA Test

34. There is significant relationship between the Age Group of the Respondents and

their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop.

35. There is significant relationship between the Educational Qualification of the

Respondents and their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop.

36. There is significant relationship between the Occupation Status of the

Respondents and their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop.

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37. There is no significant relationship between the Occupation Status of the

Respondents and their level of Satisfaction towards the Laptop.

Findings from Chi-square Test

38. There is significant association between the Laptop possessed and the Source of

Awareness.

39. There is significant association between the Laptop possessed and the Occupation

Status of the Respondents.

40. There is significant association between the Laptop possessed and the Occupation

Status of the Respondents.

Findings from Friedman test

41. it is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents preferred Laptop for

Education purpose which is Ranked First followed by Business and Entertainment

which is ranked Second and Third.

42. It is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents considered Brand Reputation

as the main factor, which they ranked First, while purchasing the laptop. It is clear

that the Customers were influenced to purchase laptops because of the Brand

reputation.

43. It is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents considered Processor as the

main device, which they ranked First, while purchasing the laptop, followed by

RAM and Hard Disk which the Respondents ranked Second and Third.

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44. It is clear that majority of the surveyed respondents considered Comfort as the

main factor, which they ranked First, while purchasing the laptop, followed by

Model and Economy which the Respondents ranked Second and Third.

6.2 SUGGESTIONS

1. If the Prices of Sony Laptops are reduced or if the Company manufactures

Laptops which common man can afford, there will be huge requirement for the

Laptop.

2. The Battery backup of the Sony Laptops should be given more consideration and

it should be improved.

3. More concentration should be given on the sensitiveness of Touch Pad, as it’s one

of the most vital parts of the Laptop.

4. Sound System and Clarity of the Laptop should be enhanced for higher levels of

satisfaction.

5. After Sales Service should be prompt to make the customers feel satisfied.

6. The Price of all Brands of Laptops should be reasonable and affordable.

7. Some seasonal offers can be given to enhance the sales of the Laptop.

8. The Durability and Quality of the Display should be improved.

9. Some games can be added to the laptops, which are customer specific.

10. All major Brands can concentrate more on sales promotion through

advertisements, as ads related to laptops are very rare except in the case of Sony.

11. The respondents who fall in the category of students expect their Laptops to be

more attractive.

12. Majority of the customers expect their Laptops to be user specific.

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6.3 CONCLUSION

The number of people who are using and owning Personal Computers

substantially increases all over the world. Contrary to the introduction years of

computers, today they have been used by almost all age groups, and by both males and

females, and the gap between age groups and the gap between males and females with

respect to computer usage decreases. Furthermore, consumers’ desire for portable and

attractively designed PCs forces the companies to produce laptops/notebooks. In addition,

extended battery life, price cuts, prevalence of home-offices, and integrated wireless

networking also cause to the increased sales of laptops. On the supply side of the market,

the companies try to make profit and even survive in a highly competitive environment.

Furthermore, the rapid development in technology, particularly in nano-technology, leads

companies to make huge amounts of investments in Research and Development.

Moreover, the acquisitions and mergers in the sector and new players in the market also

influence the companies operating in IT industry. In such a volatile industry, it becomes

extremely important to learn the factors that are influencing consumers’ purchase

decisions, customer attitudes towards Laptops and the factors, which leads to their

satisfaction.

In this study, it has been found that there are seven factors, which influence

consumers’ laptop purchase decisions. These factors can be stated as follows: core

technical features, post purchase services, price and payment conditions, peripheral

specifications, physical appearance, value added features, and connectivity and mobility.

Consumers prefer to stay connected to Internet or mobile phone, sending pictures and

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documents to printer, and etc. However, since all consumer groups find core technical

features and post purchase services extremely important, these features should be

emphasized in advertisements. It has to be also noted that post purchase services factor is

tremendously important since it is directly related with customers’ brand loyalty.

This study recommends companies to invest in technology through Research and

Development and create differentiation at utmost level. This research has been limited to

laptop/notebook sector and the factors influencing consumers’ purchase decisions,

attitude and satisfaction in this market, since sectoral differences play a vital role, it is

beneficial if similar kind of study is taken up in different sectors.

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