1

CHAPTER -1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2

CHAPTER: 1

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1.1 INTRODUCTION

There are many changes which marketers have to notice in the market place,

especially increased competition and customers’ new preferences. Marketers are more

and more concerned about the severe competition resulting from product similarity

and large numbers of competitive brands in the same market. The growing intensity of

competition pushes companies to study their competitors, and most important, to

understand their customers including both existing and potential ones.

Probably, during recent years, one of the most concerned behavioral changes among

consumers is the increasing willingness to try new products (Bates, 1998)1. In order to

prevent customers switching to other brands, companies consider that the

improvement of customers’ satisfaction is an important solution. Companies tend to

maintain their existing customers when they are creating more new customers, and

they try to increase their customer loyalty through various loyalty programs.

Mean while, marketers are trying to understand why consumers switch from one

brand to another, how marketing tools such as promotional tools and different kinds

of advertisements will affect consumers’ brand choice behaviors, and how consumers

will respond to these marketing tools.

Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world.2

Particularly, the cellular services industry in India has grown at a scorching pace in

the last ten years, to become one of the fastest growing mobile services market in the

world3. In recent years, the Indian telecom industry has witnessed phenomenal

growth. A conducive business environment, favourable demographic outlook and the

political stability enjoyed by the country have contributed to the growth of the

industry. India achieved the distinction of having the world's lowest call rates (2–3 US

cents), the fastest sale of million mobile phones (1 week), the world's cheapest mobile

handset (USD 19) and the world's most affordable colour phone (USD 31).4

The Indian telecom sector particularly, witnessed aggressive growth during the last

two years, emerging as a global benchmark for other developed countries as well. All

3

major international operators are exploring opportunities to make inroads into the

Indian telecommunication sector, both for the vast customer base as well as to

leverage on the low cost outsourcing model which India has been successful in

pioneering. The regulatory environment in India has been extremely supportive to the

telecos companies due to which they have achieved such phenomenal growth in the

past years. The industry has recently introduced MNP, 3G and BWA which is

expected to have a significant impact on the sector and its growth in the next few

years. The Indian telecommunication industry is at the brink of entering a fresh round

of growth, to be stimulated by the launch of wireless data services. The policy makers

and the private players have successfully come together with various initiatives to

ensure that the industry continues to remain a shining star for India.

Mobile service is one of the fastest growing industries in India. With the economy

opening up, competition in this sector is increasing. The entry of private companies

promoted the use of cellular phones in the country. Today, it is buyers market in the

case of mobile services providers must understand the customers’ perception about

the company & its various offers. Increase in demand and the poor quality of existing

telecommunication services led mobile service providers to find out ways to improve

the quality of service and to support more users in their systems. Many private service

providers have entered in this line, which has brought heavy competition in the

market. GSM service providers announce new rates and incentives on weekly basis,

hoping to entice new subscribers and to lure subscribers away from the competition.

The extent of rivalry is reflected in the deluge of advertisements for wireless service

in the daily newspaper and other mass media.

For providers, increased customer churn out has resulted in rising customer

acquisition costs and lower average monthly billings. It also has translated into a

renewed interest in customer satisfaction and retention, since it costs more for a

Telecom company to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. While the

fundamentals of pricing, customer service, service quality, and marketing play an

ongoing role in keeping customers happy. GSM service providers need to proactively

identify high-value customers who are thinking of switching and find a way to retain

them. To stay competitive, Service providers have to understand their customers in

order to not only anticipate, but also to influence switching behaviour (Beckett et al.,

4

2000). Furthermore, a detailed understanding of customers’ switching behaviour can

effectively avoid the harmful consequences of defection, and enhance long-term

relationships with customers (Lees, Garland & Wright, 2007)5.

1.2 WHY DO SUBSCRIBERS SWITCH BRAND OF GSM MOBILE SERVICES?

Brands are successful because people prefer them to ordinary products. In addition to

the psychological factors, brands give consumers the means whereby they can make

choices and judgments. The secret to successful branding is to influence the decisions

the way consumers perceive the company or product, and brands can affect the minds

of customers by appealing to the information acquired and analyzed.

The belief that individual difference in brand preference or choice behavior are caused by

personality differences has not always been supported by empirical research. In an

intensely competitive environment, customers receive numerous reasons to switch the

brand of GSM mobile services.

Figure 1.1 – Brand Switching of GSM cellular services

Commonly observed reasons of switching services includes –

1. Price: - Wireless service providers often offer pricing promotions, such as

relatively low monthly fees, extra talk-time and low call rates. These price incentives

can provide customers with powerful incentives to change mobile service providers.

2. Service quality: - Poor connection, call drops; less network coverage or quality in

places where the customer requires service can cause customers to abandon their

current service provider in favor of one with broader reach or a more robust network.

Poor service quality leads to customers’ dissatisfaction and it become the main cause

to look for another brand GSM mobile services provider.

5

3. Lack of carrier (service provider) responsiveness: - Slow or no response to

customer complaints is a sure path to a customer relations disaster. Broken promises,

long hold times when the customer reports problems, and multiple complaints related

to the same issue are sure to lead to customer churn.

4. Lack of features: - Customers may switch carriers for features not provided by

their current service provider. This might include the inability of a particular carrier to

be the “one-stop shop” for all the customer’s communications needs.

5. Privacy concerns: - Breaking of customer’s privacy, telemarketing, frequent

unsolicited calls and SMS, etc is contributing to the switching decision of subscribers.

6. New technology or product introduced by competitors: - New technologies

such as high-speed data or bundled high-value service offerings create significant

opportunities for carriers to entice competitors’ customers to switch.

7. New competitors enter the market: - The mere existence of viable competitors to

the incumbent carrier may cause certain disloyal customers to churn. Further, as

competitors enter new markets, they often offer short- or long-term incentives to new

subscribers to build market share.

8. Billing or service disputes: - Billing errors, incorrectly applied payments, and

disputes about service disruptions can cause customers to switch carriers.

9. Termination of services: - Frequent and high amount of billing dues, pending

charges or repeated nonpayment of invoices may lead to termination of service by the

provider itself. Such customers switch to other service providers.

10. Variety seeking behavior: - Few subscribers switch the brand without a potential

reason but just to satisfy their need for variety.

11. Changing personal needs:- Change in location, official decision,

recommendations from family and friends, need of fancy number etc, stands as causes

for switching of GSM cellular services.

1.3 CONSUMER BRAND SWITCHING BEHAVIOUR

The buyer decision process consists of five stages: need recognition, information

search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior.

Consumers pass through all five stages with every purchase. But in more routine

purchases, consumers often skip or reverse some of these stages. However, five-step

buying process shows all the considerations that arise when a consumer faces a new

and complex purchase situation.

6

The larger the gap between expectations and performance, the greater the consumer's

dissatisfaction. Satisfied customers buy a product again, talk favourably to others

about the product, pay less attention to competing brands and advertising, and buy

other products from the company. A dissatisfied consumer shares his reason of

dissatisfaction with many others. Clearly, bad word of mouth travels farther and faster

than good word of mouth and can quickly damage other’s attitudes about a company

and its products. Another major disadvantage to the company is that of losing their

customer. Such dissatisfied customers switch to other competing brands. This

highlights the significance of study of brand switching behavior in case of

telecommunication subscribers.

Brand switching is the process of choosing to switch from routine use of one

product or brand to steady usage of a different but similar product. Brand

switching behaviour is that deviated part of consumer buying decision process

wherein customer is already experienced the purchase task for a particular category of

product/service and wish to re-buy it from another make.

Figure 1.2 – Brand switching behaviour and Consumer buying behaviour

Consumer Buying Behaviour Brand Switching Behaviour

Need recognition

Information search

Evaluation of motives for / barriers to switching

Switching action

Post-switching evaluation

Need recognition

Information search

Evaluation of alternatives

Purchase action

Post-purchase evaluation

7

Brand switching is the behavioral action of the customers with reference to their

choice of brand. Brand switching results if consumer decision to purchase a product

brand differs from that previously or usually purchased. The processes of switching

behaviour include need recognition, information search, evaluation of motives

for/barriers to switching, the switching action and post-switching evaluation are

mainly the genuine responsibility of the brand switcher.

1.4 CHURN RATE

Churn rate is the number of subscribers switching in and out from given period of

time for a brand of particular company. One of the greatest concerns of wireless

telecommunication industry is customer churn6. It is very rare that a service provider

would voluntarily cut off a customer. But voluntary churn is giving

telecommunication managers sleepless nights. Customer churn is a common way of

referring to lost customers. The telecommunications industry started using the term

customer churn a few years ago and the term has now become a standard

measurement yardstick for the entire service industry. Measuring churn rate and the

factors that lead to customer churn can be critical to the health of a company. Most

companies, probably know their churn rate, but don’t know which key factors are

affecting customer churn and to what degree?

Specifically, churn is the gross rate of customer loss during a given period. Churn rate

is defined as the number of customers who discontinue a service during a specified

time period divided by the average total number of customers over that same time

period. Churn rate has been an ongoing concern of telephone and cell phone7 services

in areas where several companies compete and make it easy to transfer from one

service to another8. An increase in churn rate can indicate a decline in

competitiveness. In order for a company to expand its clientele base, its growth rate

must exceed its churn rate.

[ (C0 + A1) - C1 ] Monthly Churn = -----------------------

C0

Where: - C0 = Number of customers at the start of the month

C1 = Number of customers at the end of the month

A1 = Gross new customers added during the month

8

1.5 CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS, DEFECTION AND ITS RELEVANCE

WITH BRAND SWITCHING

It is a fact of business life that not all customers will be happy, even in the finest run

businesses, problems, mistakes, or even bad luck can cause people to be dissatisfied

with your products or service: hence ‘customer complaints. When people are

unhappy, they will often complain. Many businesses tend to try and ignore

complaints, or pass them off as irrelevant, however, if dealt with well, they can

actually provide business with a strong advantage.

Within any industry, those companies with a positive philosophy and a reputation for

fair complaint-management have a competitive edge. A good recovery can turn angry,

frustrated and switching customers into loyal ones. Companies need to constantly

increase the level of customer satisfaction and customer expectation, through proper

service recovery system. Service recovery refers to the action taken by a service

provider to address a customer complaint regarding a perceived service failure

(Gro¨nroos, 1988)9. According to Ah-Keng Kau and Elizabeth Wan-Yiun Loh

(2006)10 Consumers may experience different service encounters and would be

expected to display different levels of satisfaction with the service provider. This

satisfaction or dissatisfaction would lead to different behavioral outcomes.

Specifically, they would exhibit different levels of trust, WOM intentions and loyalty

to the service provider.

According to National Consumer Helpline (NCH) complaint data for the month of

April 2011, the telecom sector contributed a lion-share of 19% of the total 10,170

calls; followed by ‘Products’, ‘LPG’, ‘Banking’ and ‘Insurance’ registering between

16%-5% calls.11

Indian telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been

receiving complaints against all the leading private Mobile Service Providers alleging

various problems which include billing, metering & tariff related issues and activation

of chargeable value added services without explicit consent of the customer. India’s

leading mobile service operator Bharti airtel, Reliance Communications (Rcom)

and Vodafone Essar are on top when it comes to their Mobile Service users

9

complaints related to Billing & Tariff related issues and Activation of chargeable

Value Added Services (VAS) without explicit consent of the customer. In last 3 years

TRAI received the maximum 3571 complaints against Airtel followed by 2,151

from Reliance customers and 1,896 from Vodafone Essar customers, 1239 from

Tata Docomo customers and 925 from Idea Cellular customers lodged against them

for Overcharging by their mobile service operators.12 These alarming complaint

figures indicates subscribers of telecommunication services who are more prone to

switch the brand of their service providers

Data on customer complaints and switching behavior provides us with important

information about customer relationship dynamics. Studying customer complaints and

switching behavior, i.e. crossroads in a relationship, will help us better understand the

consequences of customer dissatisfaction and what erodes loyalty and has a negative

impact on profitability. This understanding will help manage complaints proactively

rather than reactively and help prevent switching. It will also improve quality and

support service development.

Customers generally complain through Letters, Spoken Word to Employees, Phone

Calls and Email. Unaddressed complaints, unresolved complaints and for that matter

even resolved complaints with unsatisfactory solution disappoints customers and

cause customer defection. These complaints if not handled properly will make

customers to not only think about switching to another brand of product or service

but also spread negative feedback and adverse publicity of the brand. This may result

in to potential threat for the marketers.

1.6 NEED OF THE STUDY

Communication plays an indispensable role in promoting effective, social, economic,

political and personal developments. Cellular telephone services have achieved great

commercial success, because the users recognize that mobile telephone access can

improve productivity and enhance safety.

The Indian telecom industry has grown rapidly during the last few years. India has

second largest mobile network in the world with over 811 million subscribers at the

end of March 201113. Mobile service is the fastest growing industry in India. With

10

economy opening up, competition in this sector is increasing. The entry of private

companies promoted the use of cellular phones in the country. Today it is buyers

market; henceforth there is a need to count customers’ experience in brand switching

related with cellular services.

Although the wireless telecommunication services market is growing drastically,

Mobile service churn rate is at alarming stage in India. Compared to international

markets, India has one of the highest annual churn rates. Not only is churn in India

high by international standards, it has generally trended upwards in recent years with

an average increase of 5 %.

With mobile operators offering little differentiation including almost similar (equally

good or bad) quality of service and customer care, there is little incentive for

subscribers to switch operators even when they are dissatisfied with their current

operator. So what difference MNP makes for customers? Will it spur more innovation

and a real customer centric approach by operators? Regarding churn, first, MNP will

affect those mobile users who care about their phone number. Second, only mobile

users who are dissatisfied with their current provider will switch. MNP will not

suddenly make a satisfied customer decide to switch.

The introduction of Mobile Number Portability is considered good news for

consumers, but presents a looming threat to mobile operators since it presents

consumers with the choice of retaining their current mobile phone numbers even if

they change their operator. Even if MNP adds 1 percentage to the average monthly

churn that would mean 8.1 million additional churns in a month and around 96

million in a year. However, operators can capitalize on this only if they are able to

create true differentiations in their service, offer better quality of service and customer

care.

As the saying goes, ‘prevention is better than cure.” Predicting customer churn

propensity (Switching probability) and acting on it is extremely important for mobile

operators. Growing customer dissatisfaction in GSM cellular services are attributed to

many reasons: insufficient network coverage, poor connectivity, call drops, billing

disputes, high monthly rental plans, etc. It has been always seen that, a dissatisfied

11

customer look for different option available and switch to other brands in search of

fulfilment of his requirements. Moreover switching subscribers not disclose in

advance their switching plans to their existing cellular service providers.

With the emphasis shifting from acquisition to subscriber value generation, operators

are focusing on retention programs. Proactive retention programs require the early

detection of ‘potential churners’. This can be done only by analysing real-time

subscriber behaviour to track any indicative variations. Proactive tracking requires

fully automated, real-time technology for churn prediction and management.

Subscribers’ demography and usage behaviour conveys a lot of information about

their mindset, preference and spending patterns. Any variation is an indication of

churn tendency. Subscribers’ (switching) behaviour analysis will surely enable the

GSM service operators to identify a standard pattern of each subscriber’s service

usage and will help them to detect subscriber signal for switching through its varied

usage of the service in terms of calling frequency, recharge pattern, average bill,

download pattern etc. This all justify the need of study on brand switching behaviour

of subscribers of GSM cellular services.

In spite of having innumerable valid reasons there are very few published studies

which have considered brand switching behavior & switching patterns of subscribers

of GSM cellular services. However in the developed countries, researchers have

primarily paid attention to customers’ satisfaction, loyalty & brand selection criteria.

Today many Indian journals carry articles on these topics on regular basis. However,

very few studies have been found on investigation of factors influencing brand

switching behaviour & their contribution in identifying any specific brand switching

pattern.

Therefore by joining the stream of knowledge body, this study aims to bridge the gap

in the literature.

12

Researcher would also like to justify the selection of the target area for this study-

1.7 REASON TO SELECT THE AREA OF RESEARCH

• India- base country for this research

India is one of the world's fastest growing and biggest mobile phone markets.14 The

Indian telecom industry has grown rapidly during the last few years. India has the

third largest (based on the total number of fixed/mobile subscriber lines) telecom

network in the world and the second largest mobile network with 811.59 Million

subscribers at the end of March 201113.

According to research firm Gartner, Indian mobile operators’ churn rate is between

3.5 percent and 6 percent per month which account for almost an average of 57 % -

one of the highest in the Asia-Pacific region.15 Moreover, a latest announcement of

MNP is expected to contribute positively in switching of GSM cellular services in

India. This all background make India as the right choice for the research on study of

brand switching behaviour of subscribers of GSM cellular services.

Map 1.1: Country Map –India

Source: www.mapsofindia.com

13

• Reason to select State of Maharashtra in India for this research study

Among all states of India, Maharashtra has one of the largest subscribers’ base of

wireless cellular services. Combined figure of wireless subscribers in Maharashtra

and Mumbai is higher by at least 20 million compared with any other circle in India.

Moreover, Maharashtra posted healthy wireless subscriber growth rate of 3.22% in

January 2011 which is higher than overall Indian market growth rate of 2.52%. As a

result, one can expect that going forward Maharashtra could continue to dominate

India’s mobile telephony market while other states have to do lot of catching work.

The National average active subscriber base proportion is of 71.14%. However,

Maharashtra with active subscriber base proportion of 77.58% emerge as the top

wireless telecom market.16

Map 1.2 – Map of Maharashtra

Source: www.mapsofindia.com

• Reason to select Pune City in Maharashtra for this research study

Pune is one of India's largest cities with a metro area population of over 5 Million

people. After Mumbai, Pune is the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra. It is

located about 100 miles inland from Mumbai, a coastal city.

14

Pune has a very strong educational focus with 9 universities and over 200 educational

institutions. Pune also has a growing industrial base, including IT businesses,

manufacturing, glass, and sugar production. The automotive industry is well

established in Pune. Software and business process outsourcing companies are also

expanding in the region.

Also presence of all major telecom service providers and their subscribers ensure

right mix of respondents as needed for this study.

Map 1.3 - Map of Pune city

Source: http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/maharashtra/pune.htm

Reason to select GSM (Global System for Mobile) for this study

The largest customer base of GSM justifies its popularity over the other services like

CDMA & WLL. No study has been found particularly on brand switching behaviour

of subscribers of Only GSM cellular services, which in turn, highlight the real need of

this study.

15

1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Although switching is a common scenario in most service industries (Griffin & Lowenstein,

2001)17, it is more prevalent in telecommunication services (Lee & Murphy 2005)18. In

addition, the main problem with brand switching is that customers don’t announce

their intentions of switch in advance. It’s up to the service providers to uncover

evidence of potential switch, ideally even before the customer solidifies feelings or

intentions. Depending on the situations, such brand switching may be avoidable.

Effective marketing strategy could be developed based on detail study of switching

behavior of subscribers of GSM mobile services.

This study of subscribers switching behavior may reveal different patterns/ trends of

switching among different categories of subscribers and provides better understanding

of their motives behind switching and will help to identify individual customers and

customer segments with a high churn risk.

This study will make several contributions to the marketing literature from both a

theoretical and a managerial perspective by satisfying the four research objectives.

Firstly, this study will contribute to the marketing literature by providing an empirical

examination of several service marketing constructs. The results of the study will also

provide an improved understanding of how demographic factors, dissatisfaction with

the service, Advertising of sales promotion schemes and Mobile number portability

influence subscribers’ switching behaviour in the Indian GSM cellular service

industry.

Secondly, this study will benefit marketers and practitioners in Wireless

Telecommunication industry. This research will identify the most important factors

that cause customers to switch or stay with a GSM cellular service provider. This

knowledge can make a contribution to enhancing long-term customer relationships

with GSM service subscriber. In addition, managers can utilise this knowledge to

prevent perspective customers from switching service providers. From the perspective

of the GSM cellular service providers that are attempting to attract new customers,

this information will enable them to develop strategies to overcome switching barriers

and gain market share.

16

Significance of this research study can be felt stronger with following sighted benefits

to the GSM cellular service providers-

• Brand Attrition Management

Major benefit of a brand switching study which can be sighted is better band attrition

management. This study will not only help to identify prominent reasons of switching

but will also equip GSM cellular service providers with information needed for

formulating effective retention techniques.

• Price Optimization & Yield Management

Study of subscribers’ switching behavior will effectively help in identifying the most

price sensitive segments of switching subscribers and designing optimal pricing

strategies to retain and attract these switching subscribers.

• Sales Forecasting

Study of subscribers brand switching behavior will enable GSM cellular service

providers to predict sales numbers after analyzing switching in and switching out

subscribers and this will help them in developing enhanced marketing plans which

could yield the increased sales and higher ROIs.

• Effective Advertising & Campaign

This study will enables GSM mobile service provider to formulate advertising and

campaign that will be effective in communicating the message and schemes to

subscribers planning to switch to competitors brand.

• Marketing Mix Management

This study will help mobile service providers to effectively match their marketing mix

with the changing needs and requirements of the subscribers. With this, control on

switching subscribers can be exercised who are dissatisfied because of mismatch in

perceived benefits and actual benefits.

17

1.9 MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY– THE CATALYST IN SWITCHING

PROCESS

The relevance and significance of this study is highlighted because of the

implementation of the MNP in India from 20th January, 2011. Mobile number

portability allows consumers to take service to the provider they mostly want. This has

increased the chances that of subscribers switching their GSM cellular services.

In the mobile telecommunication sector which has oligopoly characteristics,

mobile number portability increases the competition, protects the consumer, allows

them switch the provider easier than before and decreases the costs of changing

provider. The introduction of MNP is expected to eat away at profit margins and

increase competition on one hand. And on other, it will provide the operators with an

opportunity to increase subscribers and gain market share. Moreover, for new

operators, MNP can be a golden opportunity to lure away dissatisfied consumers from

established players thus gaining a foothold in the Indian telecom market. Though

MNP is at a nascent stage in India, it is expected to impact the Indian telecom

industry in a major way. Globally, MNP has been a catalyst in improving the service

quality of the operators. In India too, it is expected to improve the operator service

quality apart from intensifying the competition and giving customers a wider choice

by switching through MNP.

It is an exercise in futility to invest in acquiring a new customer only to lose him

before even a part of the investment can be recovered. Though retaining a customer

might require seven times more effort than acquiring one it definitely makes more

economic sense. Even from a long term perspective maintaining a good relationship

with not just profitable customers but all prospective customers will pay huge

dividends to GSM cellular service providers.

To make this easily possible it is necessary to understand the subscribers and their

brand switching behaviour. This study on brand switching behaviour surely

provides us a better understanding of motives of switching customers. Brand

switching behaviour study can help to devise more attractive incentives, tariff

bundles, loyalty schemes and proactive customer service along with acquisition and

retention strategies. Such a study may also manifest the opportunities and threats that and

puts forward possible corrective and control measures to be taken in the future.

18

1.10 CHAPTER SCHEME:

The chapter scheme is so designed as to provide a cogent presentation of the topics

included in this study. Care has also been taken to maintain clarity, lucidity and flow

of the presentation without sacrificing the depth and core of the study. The study is

represented with seven chapters excluding Appendix & References.

The chapter scheme for this thesis is as follows-

• Chapter -1: Introduction and Background of the study

The first chapter is of Introduction where researcher has given brief background about

the study. This chapter introduces the brand switching behaviour concept along with

various reasons of switching of GSM cellular services. Further the chapter discusses

about need and significance of the study. This chapter also highlights the role of

customer’s complaints and Mobile number portability on switching of cellular services by

the subscribers. At the end, researcher has given the chapter scheme for this thesis.

• Chapter-2 : Overview of Telecommunication sector in India

This chapter gives detail information about evolution of mobile phone, technology in

use, current status of Indian telecomm (wire-line and wireless) sector. It introduces

with the Telecom regulatory bodies in India like TRAI, DoT,etc. Different mobile

handset manufacturers in India and their revenue market share have been discussed

here. This chapter also highlights the position of Indian Telecommunication sector on

the Global Map. It takes us to the interesting figures of porting request generated in

the initial period of MNP implementation. At the end, profile of key players providing

GSM cellular services in Indian Market is given which includes BSNL, Airtel,

Vodafone, Idea, Aircel, Uninor, Reliance, Tata DoCoMo, Etisalat, Videocon etc.

• Chapter-3: Review of Literature

It describes the review of the available literature relevant to the area of research. This

chapter provides the literature review related to customers’ switching behaviour of

services and various factors affecting it such as brand, price, demographic factors,

service quality, customers dissatisfaction with service, customer loyalty advertising

and promotion, Mobile number portability and customers retention.

• Chapter-4: Research Design and Methodology

The complete research methodology related to this research study is covered in this

chapter. This chapter put forward the objectives and Hypotheses of the study. Here

19

the sources of primary & secondary data, sampling design and data gathering

techniques are specified. Questionnaires along with different scaling techniques, which

are used to gather the data, are explained in this chapter. It also includes statistical

techniques used for data analysis & hypothesis testing.

• Chapter-5: Data analysis and Hypothesis Testing

This chapter presents analysis of the data in four parts -

a. Part-I : Analysis of Subscribers’ (Customers) responses

b. Part –II : Factor analysis

c. Part- III : Analysis of GSM cellular service provider’s responses

d. Part-IV : Analysis of Patterns of Switching

e. Part- V : Testing of Hypotheses

The gathered data is processed and is analyzed according to the defined outline. The

editing, coding, validating the data, categorization of data & tabulation of collected

data are the key steps involved in data processing. The detailed analysis of collected

data covering all steps is mentioned in this chapter. Hypothesis testing is done using

the Chi Square test through SPSS. Descriptive analysis, frequency analysis and factor

analysis was used to analyse the data.

• Chapter- 6: Findings and Observations

This chapter enlists the research findings of the study. It provides a clear idea about

the output of the study in relevance with its objectives. In this chapter, Researcher put

forward important findings such as influence of various factors such as Subscriber’s

demography, dissatisfaction, Mobile number portability and advertising of sales

promotion schemes on brand switching behavior of GSM subscribers.

• Chapter- 7: Conclusion, Suggestions and Directions for Future Research

This chapter provides a summary of complete study in the form of conclusion. Further

relevant guidelines are conveyed in form of suggestions, which will be useful to GSM

cellular service providers and subscribers. Researcher has also mentioned additional

certain areas and variables which may be considered while studying brand switching

behavior of GSM cellular subscribers under the heading directions for future research.

• Bibliography and Appendix are given at the end of the thesis.

20

REFERENCES-

1. Bates, C. (1998), The many China markets. The China Business Review, 26−32.

2. ‘Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world’.

http://www.ibef.org/industry/telecommunications.aspx. Retrieved 25th Feb.2010

3. Wireless Federation news, 2006, "India now the world's fastest growing mobile

market".http://wirelessfederation.com/news/527-india-now-the-worlds-fastest-

growing-mobile-market/. Retrieved 23rd September 2007,

4. Telecommunications.http://www.ibef.co.in/Archives/ViewArticles.aspx?art_id=1606

3&cat_id = 466. Retrieved 17th August 2010.

5. Lees, G., Garland, R. & Wright, M., (2007), ‘Switching banks: Old bank gone but not

forgotten’. Journal of Financial Services Marketing. Nov.2007,12(2),146-157.

6. The big CRM challenge: Understanding churn, Financial Express Jan.05, 2006

7. http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/cellular-telephone.

8. ‘The Churn Rate’. http://www.investorglossary.com/churn-rate.htm.

9. Grönroos, Christian (1988), "Service Quality: The Six Criteria of Good Perceived

Service Quality," Review of Business, Vol.9 (Winter), pp.10-13.

10. Ah-Keng Kau and Elizabeth Wan-Yiun (2006), ‘The effects of service recovery on

consumer satisfaction. Journal of Services Marketing,Vol.20,No.2, pp.101-111

11. National Consumer Helpline, available at-

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=72371. Retrieved 11 July 2011

12. Sanjay Bafna (2011). TRAI Gets Maximum Complaints Against Airtel, Reliance and

Vodafone. http://telecomtalk.info/58992/ . Retrieved 9th March 2011

13. TRAI Press Release No. 35 /2011 (dated 29/4/2011). ‘Highlights of Telecom

Subscription Data as on 31st March 2011’. New Delhi.

14. "India is one of the world's fastest growing and biggest mobile phone markets" . BBC

News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8607866.stm. Retrieved 7th May 2010

15. Sony Shetty (2009), Press Release-‘Indian Mobile Services Market to Reach US$30

Billion by 2013’. http://www.gartner.com/. Retrieved 2nd September 2011.

16. http://bonelessresearch.com/2011/03/maharashtra-remains-top-wireless.html.

Retrieved 15th March 2011

17. Griffin, Jill & Lowenstein, M. W. (2001), ‘Customer Winback: How to Recapture

Customers—and Keep Them Loyal. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

18. Lee, R., & Murphy, J. (2005). From Loyalty to Switching: Exploring the

Determinants in the Transition, AZMAC Conference.