Business Analysis Of Tata Docomo About

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015 Last Modified: 02 May 2017

TATA DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limited's telecom service on the GSM platform - arising out of the Tata Group's strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. NTT DOCOMO has 26% of stake in the company. TATA DOCOMO has license to operate its GSM services in 19 telecom circles. It started its operation in India from Tamilnadu. NTT DOCOMO is one of the leading mobile operators in world and in Japanese Market it's having more than 50% of market share in telecom market. NTT DOCOMO is supposed to help TATA Telecom Services in growing its business as well as provide the know-how to help the company develop its GSM business. Tata DOCOMO was the second company in India who introduced second pulse tariff. It marks a significant milestone in Indian Telecom landscape.

Vision Statement

We will refine our brand and strengthen ties with our customers.

We will solicit and incorporate feedback from customers so that we continue to exceed their expectations.

We will continue to innovate so that we can earn the respect of people worldwide.

We will become an organization whose energetic staffs are capable of overcoming all challenges in pursuit of our corporate vision.

Objectives

Corporate Objectives

Following are the corporate objectives of TATA DOCOMO Services -

As a partnership of two pioneering brands, TATA DOCOMO promises to deliver relevant new applications and services that will make life simpler and more enjoyable for the customer.

To offer simplicity to customers in its services amidst cluttered telecom operators and confusing options.

To offer their service by being country's most transparent, innovative and liberating telecom brand.

To create a new communication culture and to fully utilize the individual potential.

Marketing Objectives

Volumes and Profits - The Company has earmarked an investment of $2 billion on its pan-India GSM network rollout. The company has positioned the tariff for its services under the "Pay-for-what-you-use" model which includes per second pulse tariff structure. It offers its GSM based mobile services in 16 circles out of 22 circles defined in India. Tata DOCOMO actually falls under the superset group of Tata Teleservices. Tata Teleservices runs its CDMA based services under Tata Indicom and its GSM based services under Tata DOCOMO. Tata Teleservices added 34.4 million new mobile subscribers in August 2009, beating bigger rivals like India's biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel (2.8 million), Reliance Communications (2.3 million) and Vodafone (2.2 million). Currently Tata Teleservices is India's sixth largest mobile operator with 42.8 million subscribers.

Technology Upgradation - NTT DOCOMO has played a major role in the evolution of mobile telecommunications through its development of cutting-edge technologies and services. TATA DOCOMO has already made the bid for 3-G technology auction in India. The advantage that TATA DOCOMO has in terms of advanced technology is the collaboration with NTT DOCOMO as today, while most of the global players are only beginning to talk of 4G technology and its possible applications, NTT DOCOMO has already recorded a downlink transmission rate of 250 Mbps over a high-speed wireless network in an outdoor test of an experimental system for Super 3G, also known as LTE. This kind of advance technological edge can help Tata DOCOMO a lot in long run against its competitors.

Customer Retention and Customer Delight - By introducing various new schemes like per-second calling plan, per character SMS charge plan, full talk time recharges, night packs for various cities, etc, TATA DOCOMO is trying its best to enhance its customer retention policy and bring up customer delight via different innovative models. Company believes in identifying its customer base which will be loyal to its services and by offering them cheapest of services, it can retain its customer base and capitalise on that in future.

Situation Analysis

Product Definition

Tata Docomo is a mobile/wireless service provider and is collaboration between the Japanese company Docomo and the Indian giant Tata for its launch in India. The announcement of the launch was made as recently as June 10, 2009. Hence the product is a new one in the market with a lot of existing players which include giants like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance etc . Hence it is important to analyse the competition in the market and see if there is enough scope in the market.

Competitor Analysis - The wireless telecom industry is a huge and still growing market and has immense scope for new entrants as well as existing players.

The following chart shows the division of the market share in terms of number of subscribers as per the TRAI report for the year 2009.

The biggest players in the industry are the ones that are the oldest and well established ones with major market shares.

The major players are Bharti Airtel ,Reliance and Vodafone. Reliance is relatively new and yet has grabbed a major share in the market compared to the other two which are older.

Tata has also gained good amount of market share even though it has only just entered the industry in the second half of the year 2009, which shows that the market has enough place for many players as long as they can attract customers to their brand.

Tata being a well established and trusted name in India could prove to be a major boost for Tata Docomo to establish itself in India in a big way.

The rate of growth of these networks from September 2009 to December 2009 as per the TRAI report for 2009 is given below:

As is apparent from the above data that the new players namely Tata and Aircel have the highest growth percentage as they are in the initial period of establishing themselves in the market.

The growth trends are a positive indicator of the fact that there is scope of expanding in the market even though there are a large number of existing players in the market.

Bharti Airtel, the largest market share-holder has the least growth rate which shows that new players are the ones that are growing faster possibly because of more attractive schemes and other incentives while the existing subscribers tend to stick to their service provider for reasons like inertia and brand loyalty.

Tata Docomo can increase its share of the pie by providing more attractive tariffs and good network coverage over areas that are otherwise not well-covered.

Analysis of the Category

Market SIZE

At 110.01 million connections ' Indian Telecom Industry' is the fifth largest and fastest growing in the world. The subscriber base has grown by 40% in 2005 and is expected to reach 250 million in 2007.

Indian Telecom Industry ' is currently expected to contribute nearly 1% to India's GDP which is heartening and estimated to grow further and brighten the ' Scenario of Indian Telecom Industry.

Tata Teleservices Ltd, the telecom arm of the $66 billion Tata Group and it plans to stay ahead in the race by rolling out GSM-based network services in more cities across India.

The company, with 42.8 million subscribers, is India's sixth largest mobile operator after Bharti Airtel (108 million), Reliance Communications (84.1 million), Vodafone Essar (80.9 million), state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) (57.3 million) and Idea Cellular (50 million).

The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Photon and Walky brands, and uses both the CDMA and GSM technology platform(s) for its wireless networks.

Tata Teleservices, which provides both CDMA-based and GSM-based mobile service network under the name of Tata Indicom and Tata DoCoMo respectively, added 34.4 million new mobile subscribers in August 2009, beating bigger rivals like India's biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel (2.8 million), Reliance Communications (2.3 million) and Vodafone (2.2 million).

Market Share

SWOT Analysis

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Strengths:

Tata Docomo was the first in the business to introduce the much acclaimed pulse plan in which users are required to pay on seconds' basis. This attracted a major portion of the mobile users especially the rural sector as it resulted in much cheaper costs.

Tata is a renowned name in India. Established around 150 years back Tata services are known to provide the best-in-quality services at minimal rates. The ardent followers of the Tata brand are sure to use its services. Also the goodwill Tata has generated via its philanthropic activities gives it a clean image and attracts a lot of people towards it.

Tata Docomo gives its users a chance to try out a large number of services which are first of their kind. For example, the introductions of Buddynet which allows the ones who have joined it to stay connected at a price of 1p/6 sec and also enjoy social networking sites. The GPRS on demand service allows users to use internet for a convenient number of days. For the post-paid customers Tata Docomo came up with the [email protected] doorstep service which allows users to get the representatives at their respective homes to solve their queries. These and a large number of other services have given Tata Docomo an edge over the other Telecom services.

Tata Docomo services are for the common people. Like always the target audience comprises of Aspirers and Seekers which represents the majority percentage of the mobile users in the country and has resulted in Tata Docomo reaping rich dividends.

Weaknesses:

The most common complaint of Tata Docomo users has been the weak signal strength they have been getting in some of the regions it has been launched in. This has resulted in frequent disconnections and has agitated the users.

The focus has mostly been on the prepaid connections. The post-paid connection was launched quite late and wasn't able to generate as much buzz as the prepaid connection.

There is a large variation in the efficiency of the customer services across the regions Tata Docomo has been launched in.

The Tata's have been concentrating on the rural market so much that the urban focus has been left neglected. There is an urgent need to maintain a balance between these two regions to boost further growth.

Opportunities:

It has a chance to expand its services across the whole country as there are still unexplored regions. It can also bring out some schemes exclusively for urban users to increase its urban market penetration.

It can also try focussing on coming out with some innovative ideas as far as its internet services are concerned since at present there in not much in the 'internet services' area which provides it with a competitive edge. It must try to exploit this factor.

Since the introduction of 3G services in India, Tata Docomo has a chance to bring about services which are compatible with 3G to ensure that people using it don't face incompatibility issues.

Right now Tata Docomo has focussed on exclusive schemes for internet, SMS, incoming and outgoing calling etc. Now it is time for bringing out combined and integrated services.

Threats :

If the error of disconnections arising out of weak signal strengths continues to occur it may result in people leaving it for other networks.

There is uneasiness among users regarding the fact that the 1p/sec services will continue till the life cycle lasts. This uneasiness should be removed by proper clarification.

The obvious and the biggest threats are from the already existing mobile services providers like Airtel, Idea etc who have consolidated their positions. It would be an arduous task to topple them from their positions.

Category Factors

Porter's 5 forces analysis model deals with those external factors which impact the nature of competition within in industry among the firms and the internal factors inside the industry that influence the competition among firms. A firm needs to comprehend the dynamics of its own industry base and the market involved so as to compete effectively. Following are the five forces explained for Tata DOCOMO -

The Degree of Rivalry:

In Telecom space in India, there are a number of big companies like Reliance, Idea, Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, etc which are giving cutting edge competition to each other. Rivalry among the competitors can be explained in terms of introduction of various schemes and offers frequently that compels each other to come up with innovative strategies more than often. This rivalry can be controlled by Tata Docomo services by focusing on hiring performing sales persons having customer gaining skills and it should also try to break apart good sales person from its competitors.

The Threat of New Entrant:

Telecom industry is an attractive avenue for any new firm due to its advantages and profitability involved. Hence, the threat of new entrants is pretty high and the good recent example can be Aircel, Virgin Mobile, etc. The GSM version of Tata Indicom i.e. Tata DOCOMO also entered as a threat in market for other existing competitors. The rule is to capture the market share of existing competitors where they lose some of them.

The Threat of Substitutes:

The major substitute possibility in Telecom space can be - Online Chat, Emails, Voice over IP, Satellite Phones, etc. These potential substitutes have high capability of replacing Telecom space, but in current scenario it's not highly probable.

But keeping in mind the futuristic possibilities of such substitutes' ability, the company should keep a close watch on them and strategize accordingly.

Buyer Power:

Since the competition is very intensive in Telecom space, the bargaining power of customer is very high. In the span of hardly 5-6 years, the prices have come down in a sharp manner and still the process is on. The only reason is 'Buyer Power' in this space. So in order to overcome this power, DOCOMO should come up with strategies of differentiating its product from its competitors so as to stand out among the crowd and gain the maximum from its customer base.

Supplier Power

More is the competition; more is the buyer and supplier power in any industry. So is true for Telecom sector too. Supplier puts pressure on firms, when they have more options in the industry.

These five forces help the company to tackle the competition

Environmental Factors

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Technological:

The major attraction of Tata Docomo has been the 1p/sec scheme. This innovation has drastically reduced customers costs and have made them shift base from competitors.

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It gives users a chance to try out blackberry services at minimal cost for one week.

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Its buddynet plan allows users access to social networking sites without data charges or GPRS packs. Also, the buddynet plan also connects a person to his closest friends by this scheme as charges are lower than normal costs.

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The "do the new" policy of the brand lays more stress on research so that there are more technological innovations which can further the delight the customers and enlarge its market share.

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Tata Docomo's "Diet postpay plan" allows user to make their own plans as per their convenience. As a result users can now cut up to 18% of their bill's flab across Local, STD and Roaming.

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Political:

No political resistance due to the philanthropic image of TATA.

Tata Docomo has to comply with TRAI regulations just like the other telecom service providers.

No tax incentives or such provision is there for Tata Docomo because there is already a very stiff competition in this field with every service provider trying to revitalise itself.

In areas where tata has been actively present before, the usage is much more and the services have been much better.

Economic:

Tata Docomo is still in its transition from introductory stage to growth stage as still there are lots of questions regarding sustainability of its schemes.

Tata Docomo is growing by leaps and bounds in a large number of states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka etc. It has manages to carve out a niche for itself in such a competitive market which gives us an idea of the shape of things to come. Hence from the present market scene Tata Docomo will continue to grow in the future.

Since Tata is known for its acquisitions and mergers abroad, if it can manage to strike out such kind of a deal in near future it can lead to a huge boost to its customer base and strengthen its market position.

Social:

The schemes like buddynet allows Tata Docomo users to stay more connected at very cheap prices which has resulted in more interaction in its users.

The services have had a huge impact on the Indian middle class society as the low prices have been the major factor that have made the aspirers and strikers leave the likes of airtel, Vodafone etc and shift to Tata Docomo.

The public opinion regarding Tata Docomo is very positive in most of the regions at present. The major reasons have been the trust people have in Tata and its products. Also the present schemes are considered to be too good to be true and have managed to delight the customers.

Though the experts in this field are apprehensive regarding the sustainability of Tata Docomo's schemes, they still have been very impressed by the publicity and marketing that has been given to its services.

Legal:

The different strategies and policies that Tata docomo has implemented or followed are in compliance with the Indian laws and legal structure. Everything has been implemented smoothly and in a structured fashion. There have been no legal issues till now.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS FOR TATA DOCOMO

Competitors for Tata Docomo can be classified into 2 broad categories in the wireless telephony domain. These are -

GSM Service Providers - Airtel,Vodafone,Idea,BSNL,Uninor,Reliance GSM,Aircel

CDMA Service Providers - Reliance, Tata Indicom, Virgin Mobile

The existing market share of GSM and CDMA as given by the TRAI Report,March 2010 is GSM vs CDMA.PNG

In this context, we need to analyse the existing marketing objectives of Tata Docomo as well as specify the objectives of the Project.

Marketing Objectives

Market Penetration

Market penetration is a growth strategy adopted by a company for increasing the sales of its current product to current market segment without any change in the product. Here TATA DoCoMo has launched its GSM product in the market and is competing with the existing competitors like Airtel, Vodafone, etc for capturing the market.

New Product Development

It is a strategy adopted by a company for growth by offering modified products to current markets segment. For eg. TATA DoCoMo bringing in new plans in the market, daily basis plan, pay per second, etc.

Objectives (as a project):

To know the awareness about the brand.

To check quality of brand (i.e., connectivity etc).

To study the unique product feature of brand.

To know the impact of promotional activities on the purchasing behavior of the buyer.

Various features offered by TATA DocoMo are as follows:

1p/sec - Anywhere In India

Savings Alert After every Outgoing call

ISD calls on 1 second charging

Best SMS rates from Tata DOCOMO

Pre activated STD, ISD and National Roaming without rental

Anywhere in India Recharge with Tata DOCOMO

Total Information control

Buddy Net

Daily Plans

Note: This is an indicative and non-exhaustive list of schemes.

MARKETING MIX

What is Marketing Mix?

The 'marketing mix' is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools that work together to achieve company's objective.

The 4P analysis is what is referred to as Marketing Mix . The 4 Ps include :

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

PRODUCT:

Tata Docomo provides a good range of products as a mobile service provider. It provides both pre-paid and post-paid services.

It also provides a good network coverage and the voice quality and other essential basic features are all well in place.

PRICE:

The pricing of the services was of utmost importance in case of Tata Docomo as it was to compete with already established giants like Vodafone , Airtel , Reliance etc.

Tata Docomo was the first to introduce a per second pulse and the rates of 1 paisa/second for both prepaid and post-paid services.

PLACE:

Tata Docomo could make its presence felt in the market relatively easily because the Tata conglomerate was already into the communications field with Tata Indicom.

Because of the above reason, the distribution channels were already established.

PROMOTION:

Advertising was a major contributor to the promotion of the brand. A musical youth oriented ad-campaign gave it a head-start in the marketing and promotion of the product. The idea of bringing together people and the youth is central to its ad-campaign.

Sales promotion were also helped by the unique offers and services provided by Tata Docomo. They used many innovative plans and schemes to attract new customers.

PROFITS

Profits for Service providers are mainly reflected in 3 parameters - ARPU( average Revenue Per User), MoU(Minutes of Usage) and Net additions to the subscriber base.

ARPU and MoU figures for wireless providers(GSM vs CDMA)

Service Providers' share in net additions during the month of June-2010

The above bar graph represents the percentage share of each of the major wireless service providers in the net addition to the subscriber base during the month of June-2010.

The above statistics are indicative of the growth of each service provider in the industry and their changing market shares due to it.

It shows that Tata has a good share in the net additions closely behind the three major established brands and is above the other players.

Now let us try to compare and contrast the various brands on some indicative parameters -

All the above ratings are based on comparative performance indicators relating to consumer loyalty and perception of the brand and are on a scale of 5 with excellent being the highest and very poor being the lowest

Expected Future Strategies of Tata Docomo

The following trends have been observed, as per the TRAI Report of March 2010:F:\Acads\Mktg\Project_DoCoMo\Rural vs urban.JPGF:\Acads\Mktg\Project_DoCoMo\Rural vs urban 2.JPG

This clearly shows that there is a huge potential in the rural market where more than 60% of India's population lives. This should be the ideal direction where Tata Docomo should focus its strategies on.

Customer Analysis

Segmentation

The market segment chosen by Tata DOCOMO can be categorised based on different types of segments as following -

Geographic: - It started its services from southern zone of India i.e. Tamilnadu. Slowly they started spreading their services towards other states of countries via Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc followed by movement towards northern zone of country.

Demographic: - On the basis of demographics, the people in their youth i.e. an age based targeting has been done by Tata Docomo. Since the very launch of the product, the target has been the youth clearly evident in their ad campaigns and initial offers like the "buddynet" etc that were unique features introduced by Tata Docomo for the first time in Indian wireless communication industry.

Psychographic -This segmentation was done based on lifestyle of customers and was concentrated on middle and higher end segments. Moreover, with price optimizations strategies like 1p/sec and lower billing plans, it emphasized its focus on reaching out customers through mass marketing.

Behavioural -The benefit-seeker segments based on quality, service and convenience was targeted. Quality of network and service was emphasized more based on customer needs.

Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is the sum total of the buying behaviour of final customers - individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal consumption. It is the response of customers to environmental factors

Factors affecting buyer behaviour for the customers of Tata Docomo:

Social status : This affects the average duration of calls made by the customer. Customers of tata Docomo are varied across all social statuses

Location: Urban users and rural users - Penetration is higher in urban areas. Mobile phone usage is very less in rural areas and hence, users of Docomo are also very less

Age: youth are comparatively more inclined to experiment with the new brand and new schemes.

Perception: Perception of the brand as one that focuses on innovation to satisfy customer needs and that provides value for money. This image has been built by various promotional campaigns and schemes introduced by the company.

Personality: The highest value producing customers are people who build strong human relationships and people who stay away from their families

TARGETTING:

Tata DoCoMo has based its marketing campaign on targeting certain segments of the market, some openly and some in a subtle manner. Yet the major approach in the market targeting has been mass marketing or undifferentiated marketing.

The major focus although seems to be on youth but there is a general focus on trying to reach out to the masses by reducing prices and venturing into both the GSM and CDMA markets. According to Mr. Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices: "We have chosen Tata DoCoMo as our GSM brand. We like the appeal of the DoCoMo brand. It basically means "Do Communication More", and it reaches out to a large audience. With our CDMA offering, we are already catering to the mass market consumers. With GSM services, we are eyeing the mid and higher end of the spectrum".

POSITIONING

Tata Docomo has highly emphasised on the value proposition it has offered to its customer. It is positioned on economy, which can be seen by the revolutionary "per second billing" it offered to its customers when it entered the market. It caught its competitors off guard which led to a lot of vulnerability in the market with their shares dropping by a significant margin. However due to the high regard for the brand Tata which already exists in the Indian society due to its philanthropic initiations and the fact that a lot of Tata's products focus on giving the best of products to its customers at the lowest possible price, there was not much difficulty in ensuring that the customers perceived Tata docomo services the way they wanted them to. The recent "per second billing on roaming" scheme has further strengthened its positioning as the cheapest possible alternative in the minds of the customers.The positioning map of tata docomo with respect to its strongest competitors has been shown below,

X AXIS Æ’  Orientation (luxury-performance)

Y AXISÆ’  Prices

Bharti Airtel (24%) Vodafone (17.5%)

Reliance (18%) Tata Docomo (9%)

Bsnl (13%)

Tata has also tried to position its services as being youth oriented. Its buddynet scheme which gives users a chance to stay connected with friends at a meagre price of 1p/6 sec and the low prices (which have been a major source of attraction for the teenage and college going crows) are an example of it.

Hence to position it in the above mentioned ways, the differences which have been promoted can be categorised in the following way:

Importance: The cheap rates represent the most valued benefit to the users. In India, a great deal of emphasis is laid on the price of a product. The growing proportion of seekers in the population has resulted in price being considered the most important factor in any product.

Distinctive: The buddynet scheme is probably the most innovative feature which can be offered by a telecom services provider to its users. It is highly beneficial for its users who want to stay connected at low prices and also enjoy the social networking sites services.

Superior: The fact that Tata Docomo was the first one in the telecom field to charge at pulse rate ensured that the customers perceived it as a superior service provider in this context than its competitors.

Communicable: The above mentioned differences have been communicated to the customers by strong advertising.

Pre-emptive: Though the competitors can copy the above mentioned features but the fact that Tata DOCOMO was the first one to bring about these features ensures that they will always have an edge.

Profitability: The buddynet plan requires only DOCOMO users to avail of the 1p/6sec price. Hence not only is this plan beneficial to users but also increases its customer base which would ensure profitability in the long run.

Tata docomo's value proposition position:

Price

MORE

THE SAME

LESS

MORE

TATA DOCOMO

THE SAME

LESS

Benefits

The fact that besides the pulse rate, the cost has also been reduced has placed Tata DOCOMO in the more for fewer categories.

Assumptions

Customers will buy our product as we are providing lot flexibility in terms of plans.

Customers will buy our product as we are offering higher value plans.

We can leverage on the brand name of "TATA", thus the perception of product is going to be "great" and reliable.

Competitors will behave in a rational way.

Gaining profit and growth in the meantime will not lead to increasing price unless inevitable.

Customers won't be facing any risk in terms of buying and consuming our offerings and services.

Strategy - Product

Customer Targets -

Remote places is one area that need to be explored extensively by Tata Docomo as the number of people living in rural India is very high and the way wireless Teleservice are reaching these places, these customers will be an attractive avenue. For such planning, Docomo should strategise the tariff plans and services with cheapest cost which will fulfil all the basic requirements of rural customers.

Existing Customer Set -Retaining the existing customer is one of the most important things for a firm. This should be done by consistently improving the quality of services and more innovative product offerings based on different customer segment needs.

Competitor Targets

BSNL - To become the largest telecom service provider in South Asia.

Aircel - Aircel has announced that it aims to increase its subscriber base to 100 mn by year 2012. It has ambitious plans of pan-India presence with its GSM network covering entire nation, by the end of 2010.

Reliance - Reliance values being an international leader in the distribution of wireless devices and communication in providing customized logistic. To aspire to the highest global standards of quality, efficiency, operational performance and customer care.

Airtel - By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India and the reason being -

- Loved by more customers

- Targeted by top talent

- Benchmarked by more businesses

Vodafone - Its vision is to lead the industry in responding to public concerns regarding mobile phones, masts and health by demonstrating leading edge practices and encouraging others to follow.

Product/Service Features

Tata docomo is second in CDMA services with a subscriber base of 35.12 million.

It was the first one to charge on seconds' basis with a price of 1p/sec.

Recently launched Blackberry curve smartphone 8520 at a price of just under Rs. 15000.

It has the feature of savings alert after every outgoing call or an SMS.

It has the provision of pre-activated ISD at a low price of 11p/sec.

It provides its customers who use post-paid services to customise plans according to their needs.

STD charges are as low as 1p/sec.

Option to pay via various sources.

The innovative buddynet feature allows users to connect with other buddynet users at local rates of 1p/6sec and STD at 1p/2sec. It also allows customers to go through social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc.

It has features of daily as well as weekly rental plans. The night talk plan gives 60 minutes of free talk time.

Core Strategy

Value Proposition

The foremost value that was added by Tata Docomo was introduction of 1p/sec billing plans. This put a huge pressure on the prices and all its competitors had to come up with plans of slashing their prices. Tata Docomo with its pricing strategy and marketing has definitely emerged as a natural competitor.

In addition, the advertising campaign of company is very innovative especially with the 'Docomo' tune that has been appreciated by a large consumer base. The launch of Docomo was very much known by its theme - 'O e aa oo...'. City wide banners in different states and freshness in terms of market player are few advantages on which Docomo capitalises in terms of its value propositions. Quality of Service and various offerings are providing some unique proposition to customers, and attempting to cater various needs of them and create a bright and vivid image of the product in minds of the consumers.

Product Positioning

Following is the target of Docomo to create the perception in consumer's mind about the product -

High quality of service

Cheapest rates availability especially in Rural segment

3 G compatibility services

Best Roaming deals offerings

Strategy - Marketing Communication Programmes

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME

Sales Promotion

Continue with the youth oriented packages and value adds because youth is the largest market.

Promote it more as a post-paid connection as well apart from the regular pre-paid which is the more favoured type for the youth.

Differentiate packages like BuddyNet from other similar packages by adding new innovations.

Advertisement Campaigning

Target typically youth oriented telecasts like commonwealth games telecast, sports channels, information media etc.

Shift focus to feature-oriented campaigning from a general target audience oriented marketing.

Use youth icons of India as brand ambassadors to represent the brand as a trendy and youthful network as well as reliable service provider.

PRICING STRATEGY

Continue with the low price products and add slight modifications and innovations like 1 paise/sec for the first 10 mins and lower call rates for 10-15 mins and so on.

Differentiate the pricing from other competitors as most networks follow the prices to stay competitive.

Use the "Lead" strategy in pricing decisions taking care of decent profit margins to retain consumer's confidence as an economic brand.

CHANNEL STRATEGY

Continue to use the distribution channels established by Tata Indicom, Tata Sky and other Tata telecommunication products

Provide incentives to retailers to promote their brand more than other networks that they sell.

Promote the brand in the small-store market where the store-keepers sell connections and SIM cards of various networks by incentivising them with offers and shares of profit.

CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Maintain good levels of grievance control mechanism in the form of efficient call centre executives.

Identify profitable customers and provide special schemes and offers to suit their specific needs.

Provide customised discounts to subscribers that are a major profitability prospect to the company for specific needs.

Try and find more customers in both rural and urban areas by tapping potential customers who have the need by making them realize the benefits and economy of the brand.

Framework

The framework that we shall be using to categorize Tata Docomo and other rivals has been developed by us and is not a standard framework. Although it follows similar principles used in standard matrices like BCG etc.

The business cycle can be divided into 4 broad categories:

INFANCY

This is the stage when the business is born and it has been started or introduced into a market.This period is essentially characterized by following features:

Dependence on parent firm or conglomerate for recognition and identification in the market.

Trying to establish itself in the market with existing players, finding its own feet in the market.

Adolescence

This stage can be characterized by the following features:

In this stage a business typically ventures into new fields and are aggressive in their strategies in both marketing and product development.

Learning from mistakes and take-back of potential faulty decisions and avoiding of pitfalls.

Adulthood/Maturing Stage

This stage can be characterized by the following features:

The growth of the product is gradual and it has established itself in the market as one of the major players in the market.

Considered as a revenue generating stable business with relatively less amounts of changes and new innovations but continuous monitoring of existing profits.

Planning for protection against other threats or new entrants.

Ageing

This stage sees the decline of the product in the market not in absolute terms but in relative share due to new aggressive entrants.

Gradual loss of market share due to lack of innovation and flexibility in adaptation to newer market opportunities.

Decline due to neglect of brand/product due to favouring of newer products and promotions of the parent company.

According to this framework, Tata Docomo is an adolescence stage where as other major players like Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance lie somewhere between adulthood and ageing stage. Due to this Tata Docomo has a distinct strategic edge over the competitors to achieve rapid growth and soon become the largest player in the market.

The following representation of the framework shows the stages and their implications.

Adulthood/ Maturing stage

(Stability and gradual growth)

Infancy

Adolescence

(High Growth/

Aggressive)

AGEING........

(Product fading away

To pave way for new ones) (Decline)

(Creating roots)

Market Survey

On conducting the market survey, we found some information relevant to our market analysis on Tata Docomo. These surveys are tabulated in following diagrams -

Which Service Will you Prefer

Who influences your decision most in choice of your network

Most Important Parameter while choosing a network

Which product will u prefer among CDMA/GSM

What network will u prefer

Contingency Plans

The strategy devised by us has taken certain things for granted in terms of the goals that the company can achieve and the demand of the product.

There might be some problems in the implementation of the strategies suggested. The possible problems and their backup plans are as follows:

Obstacle 1

Network coverage might not be an easy expansion as it may need permissions and grants and a lot of investment.

Solution: An alternative to network enhancement could be the use of the network width of the tata Indicom services and integrating it with the Tata Docomo network by sharing a certain amount of bandwidth that can be kept as buffer.

This way there can be a short term solution in case the expansion of the network takes too long or is to capital intensive to be taken up in the immediate plans of the company.

Obstacle 2

Pricing may not be easy to control as the competitors can also slash their prices to match the low prices of Tata Docomo.

Solution: Not only pricing its services low but also another suggestion has been made of being a Lead mover instead of playing the catch up by adopting wait and see approach. Being the first mover in any kind of competition adds to the competitive edge of the company. Choosing innovative and minimal prices not only gives the company a good amount of market share but also gives them goodwill of the customers.