IBSMumbai

A Research on Consumer Preference Study on Noodles

Submitted To:
Prof. Varsha Varde

Submitted By:
NAME

ENROLLMENT NO.

Husain Rupawala Tasneem Symfa Praver Kachroo

11BSP0385 11BSP2094 11BSP0723

FidahusenThakrawala 11BSP1985 Rashida Kanchwala

Business Research Methods

11BSP0432

TABLES OF CONTENTS

             

Acknowledgement Introduction Problem Background Objectives of Study Methodology Factor Analysis Alpha Model Split Half Model Guttman Model Parallel Model Strict Parallel Model Results Conclusion Appendix-Questionnaire

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank our supervisor, Prof. Varsha Varde for her guidance and constant support throughout the entire research. Special thanks to all respondents who had helped us with their valuable feedback. Finally, we group members encouragement and understanding. Thank You Group Members: Husain Rupawala Rashida Kanchwala Praver Kachroo Fidahusen Thakrawala Tasneem Symfa thank each other for our

INTRODUCTION
Many products compete on the shelves of stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, etc. due to their variants. One of the products is Noodles. This project tries to compare the Noodles as product with different variants, one is preference of the local market in Mumbai and the other is of satisfaction level of consumers. Ready-to-cook Product market is very wide and large. You find few number of company produced Noodles in the Indian Market. Among them Maggi is the largest player in the market. Noodles available in the market differ from its competencies like taste, availability, cooking time and nutrition content. We had taken 5 major brands of Noodles producing company for the analysis. They are y Maggi y Sunfeast y Top Ramen y Smith & Jones y Ching Because of the rising market for Ready-to-cook products like noodles it is very important for the company to quantitative and qualitative analysis of their product range. So in this project we had tried our level best to analyze Preference of consumer in Noodles market.

PROBLEM BACKGROUND
To collect data from respondents, have personal talk regarding their preferences, provide a standard mean for writing down answers and help in processing collected data to convert them into Information.

y To compute the collected data from respondents, and convert them into useful information. y To do quantitative analysis of the data collected. y To find out important statistical solutions this helps in forecasting preference of consumers towards Noodles. y To know about  Brand Awareness  Brand Acceptability  Brand Loyalty  Brand Preference

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

No company can work in isolation with its brand preference in the minds of consumers. So it is really important to classify our customers and provide them what actual product they need. The main aim and objective of this research is on Indian Noodle market to know the trends and preferences of the consumer in the market, through factor analysis and questionnaire analysis and generate understandable data about the market. Also to understand the use of various factor analysis methods for performing any research. This research will help us generate data which will enable us to understand major trends in the market, the preferences of Noodles brands by the people.

METHODOLOGY
For this study, firstly we had made Alpha test of 20 sample respondents based on the age and taste basis. We had taken major 15 variables on which our preference study is based. They are: y Advertisement y Recommended by friends y Packaging y Price y Colour y Availability/convenience y Quality y Brand name y Discount/scheme y Taste y Smell y Cooking time y Nutrition content y Variety of flavours Then further, we had taken total of 75 respondents. We had designed a questionnaire for collecting data from respondents. Questionnaire is attached to this research project. The data is collected from population based on Age, Gender and Status. To analyze the data we had used IBM SPSS Statistics 20 version of software. Factor Analysis and other reliability study are derived with this software.

FACTOR ANALYSIS
Factor analysis: It is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved, uncorrelated variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables mainly reflect the variations in fewer such unobserved variables. Factor analysis searches for such joint variations in response to unobserved latent variables. The observed variables are modeled as linear combinations of the potential factors, plus "error" terms. The information gained about the interdependencies between observed variables can be used later to reduce the set of variables in a dataset. Computationally this technique is equivalent to low rank approximation of the matrix of observed variables. Factor analysis originated in psychometrics, and is used in behavioral sciences, social sciences, marketing, product management, operations research, and other applied sciences that deal with large quantities of data. Factor analysis is related to principal component analysis (PCA), but the two are not identical. Latent variable models, including factor analysis, use regression modeling techniques to test hypotheses producing error terms, while PCA is a descriptive statistical technique.

Factor Analysis
Communalities Initial

Advertisement Recommended by 1.000 .543 Friends Packaging 1.000 .574 Price 1.000 .464 Colour 1.000 .425 Availability/Convenien 1.000 .568 ce Quality 1.000 .568 Brand Name 1.000 .608 Discount/Scheme 1.000 .812 Taste 1.000 .740 Smell 1.000 .597 Cooking Time 1.000 .689 Nutrition Content 1.000 .634 Variety of Flavours 1.000 .616 Ease in Cooking 1.000 .542 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Extractio n 1.000 .542

Total Variance Explained Componen Initial Eigen values Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings t Total % of Cumulative Total % of Cumulative Variance % Variance % 1 2.009 13.396 13.396 2.009 13.396 13.396 2 1.638 10.922 24.318 1.638 10.922 24.318 3 1.503 10.017 34.335 1.503 10.017 34.335 4 1.337 8.917 43.251 1.337 8.917 43.251 5 1.233 8.223 51.474 1.233 8.223 51.474 6 1.201 8.009 59.484 1.201 8.009 59.484 7 .992 6.614 66.098 8 .940 6.265 72.363 9 .856 5.708 78.071 10 .848 5.655 83.725 11 .703 4.689 88.414 12 .574 3.826 92.240 13 .454 3.030 95.270 14 .395 2.633 97.903 15 .315 2.097 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

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Advertisement Recommended by Friends Packaging Price Colour Availability/Convenien ce Quality Brand Name Discount/Scheme Taste Smell Cooking Time Nutrition Content Variety of Flavours Ease in Cooking

Component Matrix Component 1 2 3 4 -.016 .334 -.251 -.418 -.127 .496 -.284 .377 -.306 .157 -.651 .269 -.371 .727 -.078 .422 .097 .224 .456 .204 .454 .105 -.375 .663 .169 .072 .494 .134 .333 .079 .239 -.099 .505 .386 .328 -.102 .310 .065 -.153 -.386 -.267 -.215 .181 .305 -.520 .363 .168 .180 .245 .230 .129 -.195 .347 .331 -.103 .051 -.042 -.329 .523 .556

5 .430 .127 .190 -.027 -.183 .451 -.248 -.107 .299 .499 -.037 -.431 .338 .073 .203

6 -.090 -.141 -.263 .098 -.419 .131 .018 -.009 .622 -.168 -.022 .593 .366 .010 .024

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ALPHA MODEL
Cronbach's alpha It is a measure of internal consistency, that is, how closely related a set of items are as a group. A "high" value of alpha is often used (along with substantive arguments and possibly other statistical measures) as evidence that the items measure an underlying (or latent) construct. However, a high alpha does not imply that the measure is one-dimensional. If, in addition to measuring internal consistency, you wish to provide evidence that the scale in question is one-dimensional, additional analyses can be performed. Exploratory factor analysis is one method of checking dimensionality. Technically speaking, Cronbach's alpha is not a statistical test - it is a coefficient of reliability (or consistency). Scale: Alpha Table For initial 20 respondents
RELIABILTY Case Processing Summary N % Valid 20 100.0 Cases Excluded 0 .0 Total 20 100.0 a. List wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics Cronbach's No. of Alpha Items .249 15

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For Total 75 respondents

Case Processing Summary N % Valid 75 100.0 Cases Excluded 0 .0 Total 75 100.0 a. List wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics Cronbach's N of Alpha Items .264 15

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SPLIT-HALF MODEL
Scale: Split-Half Table
RELIABILTY Case Processing Summary N % Valid 75 100.0 Cases Excluded 0 .0 Total 75 100.0 a. List wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics Value .171 Part 1 N of 8a Items Cronbach's Alpha Value .220 Part 2 N of 7b Items Total N of Items 15 Correlation Between Forms .104 Spearman-Brown Equal Length .188 Coefficient Unequal Length .189 Guttmann Split-Half Coefficient .188 a. The items are: Advertisement, Recommended by Friends, Packaging, Price, Colour, Availability/Convenience, Quality, Brand Name. b. The items are: Brand Name, Discount/Scheme, Taste, Smell, Cooking Time, Nutrition Content and Variety of Flavours, Ease in Cooking.

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GUTMANN MODEL
Guttman Scale: In statistical surveys conducted by means of structured interviews or questionnaires, a subset of the survey items having binary (e.g., YES or NO) answers forms a Guttman scale (named after Louis Guttman) if they can be ranked in some order so that, for a rational respondent, the response pattern can be captured by a single index on that ordered scale. In other words, on a Guttman scale, items are arranged in an order so that an individual who agrees with a particular item also agrees with items of lower rank-order. For example, a series of items could be (1) "I am willing to be near ice cream" (2) "I am willing to smell ice cream" (3) "I am willing to eat ice cream" (4) "I love to eat ice cream". Agreement with any one item implies agreement with the lowerorder items. This contrasts with topics studied using a Likert scale or a Thurston scale. The concept of Guttman scale likewise applies to series of items in other kinds of tests, such as achievement tests, that have binary outcomes. For example, a test of math achievement might order questions based on their difficulty and instruct the examinee to begin in the middle. The assumption is if the examinee can successfully answer items of that difficulty (e.g., summing two 3-digit numbers), s/he would be able to answer the earlier questions (e.g., summing two 2-digit numbers). Some achievement tests are organized in a Guttman scale to reduce the duration of the test.

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By designing surveys and tests such that they contain Guttman scales, researchers can simplify the analysis of the outcome of surveys, and increase the robustness. Guttman scales also make it possible to detect and discard randomized answer patterns, as may be given by uncooperative respondents. A hypothetical, perfect Guttman scale consists of a onedimensional set of items that are ranked in order of difficulty from least extreme to most extreme position. For example, a person scoring a "7" on a ten item Guttman scale will agree with items 1-7 and disagree with items 8,9,10. An important property of Guttman's model is that a person's entire set of responses to all items can be predicted from their cumulative score because the model is deterministic. A well known example of a Guttman scale is the Bogardus Social Distance Scale. Another example is the original Beaufort wind force scale, assigning a single number to observed conditions of the sea surface ("Flat", "Small waves", "Sea heaps up and foam begins to streak,), which was in fact a Guttman scale. The observation "Flat = YES" implies "Small waves = NO".

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Scale: Guttmann Table

RELIABILITY Case Processing Summary N % Valid 75 100.0 Cases Excluded 0 .0 Total 75 100.0 a. List wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics 1 .247 2 .341 3 .264 Lambda 4 .188 5 .313 6 .420 N of Items 15

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PARALLEL MODEL
Scale: Parallel Table
RELIABILITY Case Processing Summary N % Valid 75 100.0 Cases Excluded 0 .0 Total 75 100.0 a. List wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Test for Model Goodness of Fit Value 130.976 Chi-Square Df 118 Sig .195 Unconstrained 8.642 Log of Determinant Matrix of Constrained Matrix 10.546 Under the parallel model assumption

Reliability Statistics Common Variance True Variance Error Variance Common Inter-Item Correlation Reliability of Scale Reliability of Scale (Unbiased)

2.026 .047 1.979 .023 .264 .284

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STRICT PARALLEL MODEL

Scale: Strict Parallel Table
RELIABILTY Case Processing Summary N % Valid 75 100.0 Cases Excluded 0 .0 Total 75 100.0 a. List wise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Test for Model Goodness of Fit Value 145.721 Chi-Square Df 132 Sig .196 Unconstrained 8.642 Log of Determinant Matrix of Constrained Matrix 10.744 Under the strictly parallel model assumption

Reliability Statistics Common Mean Common Variance True Variance Error Variance Common Inter-Item Correlation Reliability of Scale Reliability of Scale (Unbiased)

3.353 2.053 .072 1.981 .022 .254 .284

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RESULTS
The important results found with the help of SPSS analysis are as follows: Cronbachs Alpha Split Half Alpha 0.171 Parallel Table Strict Parallel 20 Respondents 0.249 75 Respondents 0.246 0.220 130.976 145.121

75 Respondents

In the factor Analysis the range lies between Discount/Scheme and Colour: Factor Analysis Discount/Scheme 0.812 Colour 0.425

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CONCLUSION
Basically, the overall Noodles market is less volatile. The most important element that has changed is taste and preference of the Indian consumers. There are many elements that Noodles companies want to change and keep the same, which are taste, price, and the position of brand and product name, shape and size. These elements are crucial for consumers to acknowledge the product immediately. The quantitative analysis shows that some variables play a key role. For ex: - Noodles market is highly price sensitive. So it is important to take care of cost of production and profit. The findings based on the data collected give a fairly good idea about the various aspects of some important popular brands such as Maggi, Sunfeast and Top Ramen.

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