INDEX

SR. NO.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
SIGNIFICANCE
OBJECTIVES
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
FINDINGS
QUESTIONNAIRE
CONCLUSION
BIBILIOGRAPHY

PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broad term that covers

concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with customers,
including the capture, storage and analysis of customer information.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is growing in importance
due to the challenging business environment faced by organizations
throughout the world today. It is particularly critical in industries
undergoing changes in traditional channel configuration. CRM is a
means of addressing increasing competition, changing economic
conditions and promotional dependence through the use of intimate
customer

knowledge;

knowledge

gained

through

relationship

development and past marketing pro- grams. CRM is increasing in

prominence because it focuses on current users who are the source of
the majority of business revenue and the best option for improving
business in uncertain times.

There are a number of working definitions for CRM. In fact the letters
CRM have been used to iden- tify Continuous Relationship Marketing,
Customer

Relationship

Marketing

and

Customer

Relationship

Management. Each term represents the same process. CRM can be

defined as a process that maxi- mizes customer value through on-going
marketing

activity

founded

on

intimate

customer

knowledge

established through collection, management and leverage of customer

information and contact history. CRM is about perfecting relationships

to maximize a customers value over time.

CRM is part of an evolution in corporate thinking that began with the

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) initiative of the 1990s. ERP
forces all resources within a corporation to work within one busi- ness
system. In the 1990s, over $300 billion was spent on centralizing,
standardizing and organizing information and resources throughout
U.S. corporations. The results, however, have been mixed in terms of
payout. What is indisputable is that the information system processing
skills acquired in im- plementing ERP programs enabled many
organizations to support CRM and E-commerce program- ming;
initiatives not in existence when ERP began. CRM was developed, in
large part, as a result of data mining, or segmentation and targeting
research, made possible from the centralization of cus- tomer records.
Organizations began to realize that they could better serve customers
since they better understood customers.

CRM has benefited from advances in data management and

middleware new software that allows disparate data resources to work
as a single integrated database. CRM has also been supported by a new
generation of promotional tools; for example, selective binding,
variable valuation and new prob- abilistic targeting tools such as
Spectra. In the U.S., CRM is now practiced by approximately 45% of

the companies in retailing, aircraft and utilities; 50-55% of the

companies in financial services, phar- maceuticals and transportation;
and 70% of the companies in telecommunications and credit.

Nokias way towards CRM Nokia, owing to its vast portfolio of products and
services and multiple channels has corresponding ways of answering to a
successful CRM. Its strategies include:
Product development through Customer-Centricity (in product designing).
Distribution- Company owned and third party.
Ease of Servicing.
Ease of Product Knowledge.

Nokias Success Strategy

Throughout its existence, Nokia has established itself as a key competitor in a
diverse range of industries, whilst still maintaining its founding values.
Nokias success was based upon developing strategic capabilities gained from
competitive advantages in its previous business endeavors and applying them
to new fields: adaptability, strategic flexibility and customer focus.
1865-1920 The Forestry Era
During the 1860s Finland experienced a tremendous boom in the lumber
industry. In 1865, Fredrik Idestram, an engineer, and Leo Mechelin, a leading
parliamentarian, seeking to exploit its commercial potential, established a
small forestry company. Funded by private investors, the company took its
name from the local Nokia River, close to where the first lumber mill was
built. Over the next 30 years, Nokia expanded to include a large lumber mill,
a pulp factory, a large paper factory, an electrical power generator as well as
multiple other facilities. Nokias diversification strategy dates back to the
very origins of the company.
1920s-1960s Global Focus
Nokia evolved from a family-owned business into a public company after the
end of World War One. This development allowed Nokia to focus both on
opening new markets and the expansion of old ones. One of these expansions
was in its electrical power generation line.

Nokia merged with two

independent companies, The Finnish Rubber Works and The Finnish Cable
Works in 1967 to form the Nokia Corporation, Oy Nokia Ab. This merger

was both practical and strategic and allowed for the new corporation to focus
on four major business divisions: forestry, rubber, cable and electronics
1980s to today Mobile Information
The rapid expansion of Nokia led to a 65% debt-to-equity ratio and an
internally sprawling organisation. By the mid-1980s the company consisted
of eleven industrial groups, each with its own vision for the future. By 1986,
Nokia owed $2.6 billion of debt, and was in need of a major restructuring. A
new CEO was appointed - Simo Vuorilehto. Vuorilehto deemed it imperative
to maintain Nokias core focus; his primary step was to divest all of Nokias
non-strategic businesses. Despite its earlier growth, the later 1980s were a
challenging period for Nokia. It witnessed sharp falls in its revenues and
share price after a national recession and the collapse of the Soviet Union,
which had been an important market.
Nokias Restructuring
As early as 1997, Nokia realized that the future of mobile telephony would
lie in its integration with the Internet. Ollilas vision for Nokia was that of
becoming a pioneer in Internet- enabled telephony, whilst maintaining
Nokias current position as the growing global giant of mobile handsets.
Ollilas move was seen as bold, and one that could jeopardize Nokias stance
as a global leader in cellular communications. Nonetheless, Ollila believed
the companys goal of expanding global market share was dependent on
manufacturing what he felt consumers would increasingly demand: a mobile
phone combined with Internet capability. This made the move into an

unpredictable

and

increasingly

competitive

technological

market

unavoidable. It would also make Nokia the early dominant player in a market
segment that would come to be called Smartphones. Pre 1997, Nokias
business strategy was one that focused upon globalisation, which proved
successful in the creation of a strong brand name, recognizable in both
international and domestic markets. Nokia had become a household name
from the US and Germany to China and Brazil. Nonetheless, a growth model
based upon establishing a brand name rather than the development of new
technology was unsustainable. Nokia recognised this and restructured its
growth plan accordingly, centering its future strategy around two
fundamental features of the information revolution: the internet, and
consumer demand for greater levels of mobility

2. BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Clearly stated strategic objectives, the third step of strategy management,
outline the position in the marketplace that the firm seeks. Performance
targets state the measurable milestones that the firm needs to reach or obtain
to achieve its strategic objectives.
Some strategic objectives relate to the positioning of goods and services in
the competitive marketplace while others concern the structure of the
company itself and how it plans to produce goods or manage its operations.
Typical strategic objectives involve profitability, market share, return on
investment, technological achievement, customer service level, revenue size,
and diversification.
In order to make strategic planning work, the goals, missions, objectives,
performance targets, or other hopes of top management must somehow be
made real by others in more distant locations down the organizational chart.
Merely communicating to each member of the business the vision that top
management has for the firm is not sufficient. Strategic objectives and
performance targets should penetrate every corner of the organizational chart.
There should be a hierarchy of strategic management starting with the highest
levels of the firm, from which it is consistently translated from level to level
so that each department knows what its contribution to the overall mission of
the firm is to be. This process should end with each individual in the firm
having strategic objectives and performance targets tailored to their specific
role in the firm.

3. SIGNIFICANCE
This research studies the marketing strategies of Nokia, a high technology
company in a developing country India. The study attempts to check the role
of CRM success of Nokia in India. After studying the past of the company
and the history of Indian mobile industry, Nokias CRM are examined
through secondary resources.
Then to check the effect on the consumers, semi-structured interviews of a
few mobile phone dealers in India are taken. Here, interviews as a tool of
qualitative research is adopted to create a deep understanding of the
customers perceptions. To get a generalized view, mobile phone dealers are
interviewed as they deal with many consumers and can give the opinion of
the market as a whole.
The findings advised that consumers preferred Nokia over all other brands
due to features of the phone. Features such as user friendliness, rough and
tough body, long life etc. were believed to be the reasons of success.
Customer Relationship management is the strongest and the most efficient
approach in maintaining and creating relationships with customers. Customer
relationship management is not only pure business but also ideate strong
personal bonding within people. Development of this type of bonding drives
the business to new levels of success.
Once this personal and emotional linkage is built, it is very easy for any
organization to identify the actual needs of customer and help them to serve
them in a better way. It is a belief that more the sophisticated strategies

involved in implementing the customer relationship management, the more

strong and fruitful is the business. Most of the organizations have dedicated
world class tools for maintaining CRM systems into their workplace. Some
of the efficient tools used in most of the renowned organization are
BatchBook, Salesforce, Buzzstream, Sugar CRM etc.
Looking at some broader perspectives given as below we can easily
determine why a CRM System is always important for an organization.
1. A CRM system consists of a historical view and analysis of all the
acquired or to be acquired customers. This helps in reduced searching
and correlating customers and to foresee customer needs effectively
and increase business.
2. CRM contains each and every bit of details of a customer, hence it is
very easy for track a customer accordingly and can be used to
determine which customer can be profitable and which not.
3. In CRM system, customers are grouped according to different aspects
according to the type of business they do or according to physical
location and are allocated to different customer managers often called
as account managers. This helps in focusing and concentrating on each
and every customer separately.
4. A CRM system is not only used to deal with the existing customers but
is also useful in acquiring new customers. The process first starts with
identifying a customer and maintaining all the corresponding details

into the CRM system which is also called an Opportunity of Business.

The Sales and Field representatives then try getting business out of
these customers by sophistically following up with them and converting
them into a winning deal. All this is very easily and efficiently done by
an integrated CRM system.
5. The strongest aspect of Customer Relationship Management is that it is
very cost-effective. The advantage of decently implemented CRM
system is that there is very less need of paper and manual work which
requires lesser staff to manage and lesser resources to deal with. The
technologies used in implementing a CRM system are also very cheap
and smooth as compared to the traditional way of business.
6. All the details in CRM system is kept centralized which is available
anytime on fingertips. This reduces the process time and increases
productivity.
7. Efficiently dealing with all the customers and providing them what they
actually need increases the customer satisfaction. This increases the
chance of getting more business which ultimately enhances turnover
and profit.
8. If the customer is satisfied they will always be loyal to you and will
remain in business forever resulting in increasing customer base and
ultimately enhancing net growth of business.

In todays commercial world, practice of dealing with existing customers and

thriving business by getting more customers into loop is predominant and is
mere a dilemma. Installing a CRM system can definitely improve the
situation and help in challenging the new ways of marketing and business in
an efficient manner. Hence in the era of business every organization should
be recommended to have a full-fledged CRM system to cope up with all the
business needs.

4. OBJECTIVES
The strategic mission of an organization embodies a long-term view of what
sort of organization it wishes to become. The value to management is of
having a lucid mission statement. The second step in strategy formulation can
be in rendering tangible the firm's long-term course and in guiding decisions
toward a rational design. Among the elements that are key to a good mission
statement are a statement of corporate values and philosophy, a statement of
the scope and purpose of the business, an acknowledgement of special
competencies, and an articulation of the corporate vision for its future.
The main objectives for undertaking this project are:
The main objective is to study about the future strategic choice of
Nokia.
To know sustainable and reliable strategy that evaluates the current
strategic position, and the recent past strategy development history of the
company
This project will help me to get in-depth knowledge about the academic
theories and concepts used to evaluate the strategic position of a
company and to formulate a future strategy for a company.
It also helps me to identify the gap between literatures and practice.
Reasons for setting marketing objectives
The reasons for setting any objectives are the same, regardless of the
functional area being considered. These reasons are:
To act as a focus for decision making and effort

 To provide a yardstick against which success or failure can be

measured
To improve coordination, by giving teams and departments a common
purpose
To improve efficiency, by examining the reasons for success and failure
in different areas
Corporate objectives:
The overall aims of the organisation are a key influence on functional
objectives. The marketing department must therefore ensure that its
objectives are consistent with the corporate objectives of the business. For
example, Harrods has always tried to maintain a reputation for quality as a
corporate objective. Consequently, the marketing department must make sure
that its marketing objectives are based on quality.
Finance:
A business with a healthy financial background can afford to put more
resources into its marketing, and therefore can set more challenging
objectives.
Human resources (HR):
Marketing objectives must take into account the size and capabilities of the
workforce. A motivated, efficient and productive workforce will affect
marketing. Marketing objectives such as higher market share and improved
reputation depend on the quality of the human resources within the business.
Operational issues:

The operations management of the business is critical if it is seeking to

provide products at low cost or of high quality.
Resources available:
In the long term, resource availability is closely related to the financial
circumstances of the business. A business in a strong financial situation can
purchase whatever resources are required to achieve ambitious marketing
objectives.

5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

5.1 Research Design

For the purpose of this market study, a questionnaire has been prepared. We
identified potential customers who can be approached and our sample size
was 153. The answers to these questionnaires from the respondents are the
primary inputs to this market research. We collected all the data from the
field directly. The sample for the survey was primarily students and working
professionals in the age group of 15 to 40. 2.2 Data Collection Methods
Survey research was used to collect data from the respondents. The primary
mode of obtaining the responses was through direct interview and email. For
this project both primary and secondary data were the sources of information.
Primary data was collected from the questionnaire. Secondary sources were
collected from the various journals, websites and research papers.
5.2 Sampling
Sampling Technique: The initial draft of the questionnaire was prepared
after discussions between the team members. A pilot study was done
for this questionnaire and subsequently changes were made to the
questionnaire based on the feedback from the pilot study. Changes were
done in the rating scales to make it easier for respondents to answer.
The sampling technique followed was convenient sampling.
Sampling Unit: The respondents who were asked to fill out
questionnaire are the sampling units. The sampling units for this
exercise were students and working professionals.

 Sampling Area: The area of the research for sample companies was in
India.
Sample Size: The sample size was around all of them were users of
mobile phones.
5.3 Field Work
The survey was done in public places like restaurants, outside offices and
near colleges.

6. FINDINGS

During the course of research on this project (Preference of Nokia mobiles

over other cell-phones) we have come to know a lot of interesting facts and
Information regarding Nokia. Nokia is undoubtedly the market leader in the
cell-phone market. Nokia still dominates the world cell-phone market share.
However, Nokia is facing certain challenges that have affected its sales at
present. Nokia has predicted low sales for 2009 and that is due to the global
economic slowdown which has resulted in sharp pull back in global
consumer spending. The sales of Nokia have also been affected quite badly
by the recent launch of some duty-free cheap cell phones. Moreover, there are
some areas where its competitors are giving a run for their money like
product designing, modifications etc. Through our collaborative research, we
have found out some areas where Nokia should emphasize more so that it
continues to be the market leader and have an edge over its competitors.

These include further focus on

1. Product competitiveness: The products of Nokia should be superior or at
least at par with the competitors regarding technology, designing and
features etc.
2. Customer satisfaction: Nokia should come up with more value added
products and effective after-sales services i.e., service centers should be wellequipped to handle customer concerns and there should be proper coordination between them. It should focus on customization to gain greater
customer satisfaction.
3. Research and Development: In order to retain the position of a market
leader Nokia should incorporate the latest technological innovations into their
handsets and should put stress on further development.
4. End to End capability: Stress should be given on end to end capability by
integrating mobile devices applications and infrastructure.
5. Efficient, manufacturing, logistics and high quality products and services
should be maintained
6. Nokia should focus on bringing out new features and should not fall
behind on fast-paced innovation.
7. Nokia should launch more variety of models targeting the price-sensitive
customers as customers want more value for money.

Limitations:
1. During interview I found out that the customers have a blind faith
regarding Nokia India which we could not explain in quantitative terms.
2. The respondents were biased to some extent with the respective brands.
3. The research was limited to only 153 respondents whereas in reality the
universe is too big. Hence statistical data might change if we further increase
the sample size.
4. The accuracy of the some data is indeterminate as few respondents were
ignorant and hesitant towards their response.
5. Time and money was another constraint in my project completion.

7. QUESTIONNAIRE
Q.1 Do you think Nokia handsets are equipped with the latest features?
a)Always b) many times

c) sometimes

d) Never

Q2. Are Nokia mobiles readily available in the markets?

a) YES

b) NO

Q3. Do you think Nokia mobiles are user friendly? Rate it on a scale from 1
to 5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest).
a)1

b) 2 c)3

d) 4 e) 5

Q.4 How do you rate Nokias after sales service compared to other
companies?
(Rate it on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest).
a)1

b) 2 c)3

d) 4 e) 5

Q5. Why did you prefer Nokia over other phones?

a) Nokia brand name
b) Better features
c) User friendly
d) All the above
e) Any other reason

Q6. Are Nokia phone available with a reasonable price?

a) YES

b) NO

Q7.Except Nokia what are your other preferred mobile phone brands?
a)Sony
b) LG
c) Motorola
d) Micromax
e) BlackBerry
f) Others
Q8. What was the primary reason behind changing/not owning a Nokia
handset?
a) Availability of other mobile phones with better features
b) Nokia handsets were too costly
c) Brand loyalist to some other brand
d) Bad service Encounter (only for those who had owned a Nokia handset in
the past)
e) Any other reason

8. CONCLUSION
This chapter concludes the study by highlighting the key findings of the study
and then some recommendations for Nokia for future. Then the chapter
discusses to the limitations of the study and endows the suggestions for future
research.
The aim of the study is to critically analyze Nokias marketing strategy in
India and to examine the effect on its sales. For this purpose secondary
sources were used to collect the information of marketing strategies and
semi-structured interviews of mobile phone dealers in India were conducted
to check the market response of Nokia.
The conclusions that could be drawn were, the main drivers of sales of Nokia
are the product features. The marketing strategy though aggressive and very
customer specific was not the prime force towards the sales. The prices of
Nokia phones are competitive but they are not the price leaders. However,
much information on the distribution network could not be gathered.
There is need for Nokia to differentiate itself from the past. This should be
done by becoming more customer-friendly to the Asian markets. Nokia
should project itself more aggressively to the low end, mass market with its
low range (but hi-quality) products. There is also a need to develop a PDA
phone for its high range customers. Over the time, quality has been Nokias
success factor. They have developed a brand name, and the consumers have a
high brand preference. There is need to in-cash on this by continuing to
launch the good quality products. The major drawback was not up to the
mark after sales customer services.

a. Responses from the sample indicate Nokia lacks far behind its competitors
in terms of innovation and new features.
b. Respondents found the Nokia phones are readily available. Hence
distribution is one the strengths of Nokia India
c. Majority of the responses indicate that Nokia has done pretty well in the
facet of user friendliness in its mobiles.
d. More than half of the respondents felt Nokia provides an excellent after
sales service.
e. User-friendly interfaces of mobiles and brand name were the top most
factors for buying a Nokia Mobile.
f. Surprisingly, close to 2/3rd of the respondents felt that Nokia Mobiles were
overpriced.
g. Sony and LG were the preferred alternatives when Nokia mobile is
unavailable.
h. High price and brand loyalty to competitors brands were the main reasons
of respondents for not owning Nokia Mobiles.

9. BIBILIOGRAPHY
http://www.about-nokia.com/history/
http://r2.nokia.com/nokiahistory/index.html
http://www.messiah.edu/academics/irb/forms/Federal%20Definition
%20of%20Research.pdf
http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com