FACTORS AFFECTING BRAND PREFERENCE OF

MOTORCYCLE AMONG MEN CONSUMERS IN

KATHMANDU VALLEY

A GRP Proposal

Submitted to:

Rajdhani Model College

Old Baneshwor, Kathmandu

Submitted By:

Umesh Adhikari

Roll No : 17570097

Batch : Spring 2017

A GRP Proposal

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Business Administration

Old Baneshwor, Kathmandu

September, 2020
Introduction

In today’s technologically integrated world there are so many sources through which the
customers can get information on a product, its uses, features, benefits, offers, schemes
etc. Modern day customers are very keen to collect information from all the available
sources before making their final purchase decision and they are also showing a tendency
to share this information with others. In the case Two-wheelers also there are so many
sources of information to the customers.

It is for the most part acknowledged actuality that as of late advertisers have turned out to
be commanding and purchaser has control over the strategic choice made by the
organizations. Consumer buying behaviour implies conduct of purchaser at the season of
acquiring of items and administrations. Comprehension of this behaviour causes the
organizations to expand their client for their item increment picture and gainfulness of the
organization. Thus, this investigation is directed to perceive shopper purchasing
behaviour and factors effect on customer behaviour. Buyer behaviour takes continually of
gigantic thoughtfulness regarding merchants. A buyer obtaining conduct is inclined by
conventional, societal, individual and expressive angles.

Information refers to the bundle of knowledge or facts on a person, product, process,

event or anything. Information is conveyed either as the content of a message or through
direct or indirect observation of something. Information Search is a stage in the
Consumer Decision Process during which a consumer searches for internal or external
information. According to Philip Kotler, the buying process starts when the buyer
recognizes a problem or need. This need can be triggered by internal stimuli (such as
feeling hunger or thirst) or external stimuli (such as seeing an ad) that then becomes a
drive. He also says that an aroused consumer who recognizes a problem will be inclined
to search for more information. If the consumer's drive is strong and a satisfying product
is near at hand, the consumer is likely to buy it then. If not, the consumer may simply
store the need in memory or undertake an information search related to the need.

Kotler distinguishes between two levels of arousal. At the milder search state of
heightened attention, a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a
product. For example, a person who intends to buy a two-wheeler will become more

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receptive to information about two-wheelers in this stage. He pays attention to two-
wheeler ads, two-wheelers used by friends and two-wheeler related conversations. At the
active information search level, he may go into active information search, in which he
looks for reading materials on two-wheelers, discuss with friends, surf the internet, visit
two-wheeler dealers, collect the feedbacks from existing two-wheeler users and seeks
expert opinion from two-wheeler salesmen, two-wheeler mechanics etc. The amount of
searching he does will depend upon the strength of his drive for a two-wheeler, the
amount of information he starts with, the ease of obtaining more information, the value
he places on additional information and the satisfaction he gets from searching. Normally
the amount of consumer search activity increases as the consumer moves from decisions
that involve limited problem solving to those that involve extensive problem solving.

It is believed that the outstanding findings of the study help stakeholder to know the
extent to which the customers are involved in brand searching, analyzing its attributes,
brand choice, etc. In addition to this, it is helpful to develop the profile of specific
consumer for specific brand. The most favorable brand is known from a buyer’s
perception and responses to various features and attributes of product which help the
marketers to trace out the important factors that affect the brand preference of bikes.

Statement of Problems (SOP)

Nowadays it is essential for a manufacturer to know about the psychology of the male
consumers. Same applies in case of brand preference of motorcycle as the competition is
intense. This study is conducted in order to identify the factors that a man considers while
choosing a brand. Hence, this research basically answers what are the most important
factors that men consider while purchasing a motorcycle? It is committed to being a
highly profitable, socially responsible, and leading distributor of high value for money,
environmentally friendly, lifetime products under the brand, for customer predominantly
in Nepali markets. As there are many brands available for two wheelers in the market the
competition becomes acute. Every company wants to attract the customers in many ways.
But the customers think differently. An attempt has been made is to analyze the brand
preference and attitude of the customers towards the two wheelers.

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Research Questions

Following are the research questions for the study:

 What is the consumers most preferred brand of motorcycles?

 What is the factor influencing to the consumer purchasing decision of motorcycle
towards brand?
 What is the feature of the brand that is most prominent?

Objective of Study

The most favorable brand is known from a buyer’s perception and responses to various
features and attributes of product which help the marketers to trace out the important
factors that affect the brand preference of motorcycle. The specific objectives are:

 To identify the most preferred brand of motorcycles.

 To examine the relationship between buying decision factor and preference of
brand.
 To analyze the features of the brand that is most prominent.

Hypotheses

This research seeks to explore which brands of motorcycle are preferred by most of the
people and the most influential factor. Based on the above objectives following
hypothesis have been proposed for the study:

H01: There is significance relationship between the price of the motorcycle and brand
preference.

H02: There is significance relationship between the comfort of the motorcycle and
brand preference.

H03: There is significance relationship between the design and mileage of the
motorcycle and brand preference.

Significance of the study

It is believed that the outstanding findings of the study help stakeholder to know the
extent to which the customers are involved in brand searching, analyzing its attributes,

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brand choice, etc. In addition to this, it is helpful to develop the profile of specific
consumer for specific brand. The most favorable brand is known from a buyer’s
perception and responses to various features and attributes of product which help the
marketers to trace out the important factors that affect the brand preference of
motorcycle.

Literature Review

Akila and et al. (2015) have conducted a study on “Brand Preference and Purchase
Behavior of B- Segment Passanger Cars in Vellore City”. Findings of the study reveal
that Most of the respondents belong to age group of above 30. The male population
dominates this study, only few respondents are female. Majority of the customers
(81.2%) agrees branded products have a better quality but few (15.7%) customers say
they agree but it is not always true. Most of the customers (51%) prefer hatch back
model, followed by sedan model cars. When the nationality of the car manufacture
comes, it is clear they prefer Japanese cars. From the chisquare analysis it is identified
that there is a significant relationship between income factor and the variables-brand you
own, nature of a car, budget and finance. The chi-square analysis also identifies that there
is a significant relationship between occupation as factor and the variables like brand
purchased, offers and finance.

Sharma and Mehrotra (2016) have conducted a study on “Customer Perception towards
Major Brands of Two Wheelers in Jaipur city and its impact on buying decision”. The
study focuses on major two wheeler brands Hero, Honda, TVS and Bajaj. Keeping in
consideration that people have criteria of preference in the mind before they go to
purchase a motorbike, the researcher has tried to summate some o the factors which
people evaluate before the actual purchase. The study aims to show case factors like
product attributes, price, resale value, credit facility, mileage and advertisement plays
role in buying decision.

Malla (2016) have conducted a study on" Factors Affecting Brand Preference of Scooters
among Women Consumers in Kathmandu Valley". The findings of the study are based on
the primary survey of 200 users of different brands, conducted within Kathmandu Valley.

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Correlation test is applied to test the relationship between the factors and the customer
satisfaction. It is found that majority of the respondents considered comfort, mileage and
design as the top three important factors that influence brand preference of scooters. The
bottom three factors are color variety, resale value and size of fuel tank. Factors such as
price, mileage, comfort level, color variety, design, size of fuel tank and spare parts
supply have significant role in the brand preference of scooters, which means a favorable
change in these factor can lead to brand preference of the customers. Whereas, resale
value and durability are factors which have no significant relationship with brand
preference of scooters among women consumers. From the result obtained, it is
recommended that scooter brands should focus in developing more comfortable scooters
because research shows that comfort level is the major factor that affects brand
preference of scooter. In a city like Kathmandu valley, customers prefer scooter which
has higher mileage potential. Although resale value and durability are the least
influencing factors still the scooter brands should not neglect these factors because
though not so significant but still few customers would prefer such factors while
purchasing a scooter. The scooter brands should also focus of providing excellent reach
of spare parts supply as majority of the customers agree that they will not purchase a
brand of scooter if its spare parts are not easily available.

Theoretical Framework

The basic model describes the relationship among the variables where brand preference
as the dependent variable for the study. The independent variables could be price, design,
comfort and mileage. In a research conducted by Padmasani (2014), the data is collected
in Coimbatore city of Tamilnadu in India among 235 respondents. The result of
Exploratory Factor Analysis has revealed five factors namely Comfort, Efficiency,
Affordability, Familiarity and Quality of Service as the determinants of preference. The
major findings of the study are that the women respondents prefer to choose the brand of
scooters, which is affordable for their budget, comfort, and efficient to drive, which
provides the best quality of services and which is familiar among their groups. In theories
there are correlation between brand preference and each of the variables. There are many
factors affecting on preferences of scooters like demographic, psychographic behavioral
factors.
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Research Methodology

Research methodology is a way to solve the research problem systematically. It may be

understood as a science of studying how research is done systematically. In it we study
the various steps that are generally adopted by researcher in studying his/her research
problem along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to know the
research method and methodology. When a particular research area has been identified,
research problems defined, and the related literature in the area have been reviewed; the
next step is to construct the research design.

Research Design and Plan

A research design serves as a framework for the study, guiding the collection and
analysis of data, the research instruments to be utilized, and the sampling plans to be
followed. The basic objectives of this study are to analyze the consumer’s preference for
motorcycle. A set of questionnaire is prepared to carry out the survey. This survey is
carried out through the distribution of questionnaire to male motorcycle users. The data
and information collected from this survey are arranged, tabulated, analyzed and
interpreted according to the need of the study for attaining the stated objectives.

Population and Sample Size

All the male consumers having motorcycle in Kathmandu Valley are considered as the
population of this study. Samples of 200 male motorcycle users are taken for this study
through non probability sampling technique. Under this technique convenience sampling

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is used to minimize the complexity. Therefore this study has used convenience sampling
technique covering different locations inside Kathmandu valley.

The respondents include people from different homogeneous groups: Students, Private
and Government Employees, Business Person and Unemployed. The people selected for
this study are above 16 years, living in Kathmandu valley. Even though the sample size is
very small in comparison to the population, sufficient efforts are made in order to make
the sample represent the whole population. The sample populations included are
therefore, from different age group, income group and occupation.

Data Collection Procedure

In order to collect information for this survey, both the primary and secondary data have
been utilized. For the collection of primary data, a set of structured questionnaires has
been prepared which is distributed among the scooter users of different homogeneous
group. Likewise, secondary sources of data have also been utilized such as newspaper,
book, journals and internet sites for deeper understanding of similar studies conducted in
past and identify the pool of factors to be considered in the questionnaire.

Instrumentation

The research questions help to collect information on the research topic. All questions of
the questionnaire for consumer are based on close-ended format. The questionnaire
includes demographic, single choice, multiple choice, ranking and likert scale questions
with 5 scales. The questionnaire measures impact of price, design, comfort, mileage, age
group, occupation, etc on brand preference of motorcycle among men consumers.

Data Analysis

The data accumulated from the primary sources is subject to various statistical tools for
verification and interpretation. In order to analyze the collected data, SPSS and Microsoft
Excel are used. These tools are used for tabulation and calculation of the data collected
from the field. Data analysis is categorized as: Descriptive and Inferential analysis. To
present the understanding of data analysis, the result from SPSS is copied to Excel
Worksheet, where it is refined and made interpretable. Necessary charts, graphs and
tables have also been derived using Microsoft Excel. Tests such as cross tabulation, mean

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analysis, ANOVA, Cronbach test have been carried out for the analysis of collected
responses.

Limitation of Study

There could be the few numbers of limitations in this study. Such as:

 The research will be conducted among limited number of the respondent.

 This research will be carried out inside Kathmandu valley which may fail to
represent the scenario of whole country.
 Data will be collected through self-administered questionnaire. The data
collection is based on individual understanding of the respondents.

Organization of the Study

This study has been categorized into five chapters. Prior to the body of the thesis, several
pages of preliminary materials such as title page, Viva-voce sheet, Recommendation,
Declaration of the researcher, Acknowledgements, Table of contents, List of tables, List
of figures and Abbreviations used have been included.

Chapter I: Introduction

The first chapter is introduction which includes background of the study, Introduction of
Value Added Tax, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, needs and
Significance of the study, and limitations of the study.

Chapter II: Review of Literature

The second chapter is Review of literature which refers reviewing the research or other
related published or unpublished literature, articles published in different economic
journal, bulletin, dissertation papers, magazines, newspapers and websites in the related
area's study, so that all possible relevant past studies, their conclusion findings and
recommendation can be known through review of literature. The purpose of literature
review is to find out what research studies have been conducted in one's chosen field of
study, and what remains to be done. In other words review of literature is basically a
stock taking of available literature in the field of research. It supports the research to
explore the relevant and time facts for the reporting purpose in the field of study. In the

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course of research view of the existing literature would help top check the chances of
duplication in the present study. This one can find what studies have been conducted and
what remains to go with. In brief this chapter includes conceptual framework and review
of related studies

Chapter III: Research Methodology

The third chapter is Research Methodology. In order to achieve the objective of the study,
appropriate research methodology has been adopted. It is purely explorative cum
descriptive study. It includes the introduction, research design, nature and sources of data,
data analysis tools, sampling procedure and definition of some key terms.

Chapter IV: Data Presentation and Analysis

The fourth chapter comprises data presentation and analysis. This is the main and key
chapter of research study. In this chapter sources of data are primary and secondary,
which are presented in appropriate form. Analysis and interpretation of data have been
performed thereafter. From this analysis and interpretation major findings have been
deduced.

Chapter V: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

The fifth and the last chapter are concerned with the output of the study in the form of
summary, conclusion and recommendation. This chapter consists of summary of the
major findings of the study, concluding it with major recommendations and suggestions.

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 Reference

Akila, R., Pamavathy, N., Balaji, S., & Senthilkumar, A.B., (2015). Brand preference and
purchase behavior of B-segment passenger car in Vellore city. International Journal of
Applied Business and Economic Research, Vol. 13(1), 1-17.

Chadha, O. (2011). Study of consumer buying behavior towards bike. International

Journal in Finance and Marketing, Vol. 1(2), 86-101.

Cherry, C. (2007). Electric bike in China and their impacts on environment safety
mobility and accessibility. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California,
Berkeley, Working Paper No. (2001-3).

Chhabra, J. (2003). Factors affecting the purchase behavior of motor cycles.Journal of

Marketing, Vol. 60(1), 15-32.

Padmasani, M. Remya, & V. Ishwarya, M. (2014). Brand preference towards scooters

among women consumers in Coimbatore city. International Journal in Management and
Social Science, Vol. 2(1), 247-256.

Sharma, N., & Mehrotra, R. (2016). Customer perception towards major brands of two
wheelers in Jaipur city and its impact on buying decision. Journal of Research in
Management & Technology, Vol. 5(2), 9-15.

Siahaan, M. C., Pangemanan, S. S., & Pandow, M. (2014). Price, brand equity and
perceived quality on purchase intention of Honda scooter motorcycle in Manado. Journal
EMBA, Vol. 2(1), 441-449.

Yeong, N. C. (2007). Purchase preference of selected Malaysian motorcycle buyers: The

discriminating role of perception of country of origin of brand and ethnocentrism. Asian
Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 12(1), 1-22.

Yuvaraju, D., & Rao, S. D. (2014). Customer satisfaction towards Honda two wheelers:
A case study in Tirupati. Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 16(5), 65-74.

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