MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES OF SMALL MANUFACTURERS OF INDIA: PUNJAB EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to study the product planning and positioning, factors influencing their price decision, selection of distribution and media channels by the Small-Scale manufactures in the leading industrial state of Punjab. In the era of globalization Small manufacturers are facing lot of problems in areas of marketing mix such as product planning and positioning, pricing and distribution issues. The entrepreneur’s perception relating to these various issues have been highlighted in this paper. Total 173 units manufacturing textiles, bicycle and bicycle parts, food products and beverages and leather and leather products have been surveyed. A number of statements indicating the marketing mix issues have been developed and the respondents were asked to express their level of agreement/disagreement with these statements on five-point Likert scale. Kruskal-Wallis test has been applied to know the significant differences among the respondents relating to different industries, age and turnover groups with respect to these statements. The test has been applied at assumed p-value =0.05. The statements with less than 0.05 p-value are considered significant and those with p-value more than the assumed value are considered to be insignificant. The major finding reveals that small manufacturers are not using well versed with the marketing mix techniques and do not use latest marketing tool such as e-marketing or web marketing. The promotion of the products by advertising is not prevalent among these units.

Keywords

• Small manufacturers
• product planning
• pricing
• distribution channels
• promotional strategies