INTRODUCTION.DOC

INTRODUCTION

The research topic is improving the promotion of Q Student, a product of MobiFone Company through offering various benefits to different groups of customers.

The reason for the interest in this topic is from the researcher’s situation Like almost students in Vietnam, the researcher is very happy when three mobile operators (Viettel, MobiFone, and Vinaphone) launch a new product which is designed for only students with a lot of benefits MobiFone is the provider which offers more benefits than the two others However, I feel dissatisfied when I can not take full advantage of all benefits which this provider offers For example, I use a normal mobile phone which only has the basic functions like calling and answering, sending and receiving messages; so I can not spend 35 free megabytes monthly using GPRS I had a question: why I can not receive other benefits such as some free calling minutes? That is the original idea for my research.

To start the research, there are two research questions that help the researcher broaden the content of the topic They include: 1) how many groups are there among students according to their personal factors relating to using mobile? , 2) which kinds of promotion should we apply to different groups?

One of the methodologies of this research is analyzing Through observing the packages of some mobile operators, the researcher draws some strengths, weaknesses, and challenges that Q Student has and faces with As a result, the researcher can suggest some recommendations to make the product better.

Questionnaire is the second methodology 200 students at National Economics University and Hanoi University of Technology were asked to fill out the form The result of the survey provides findings on consumer behavior and characteristics on using mobiles.

The researcher also interviewed 30 students among 200 students above From their answers, there was information about their feelings on Q Student and their recommendations to improve the product.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION OF MOBIFONE COMPANYWITH THE ISSUES RELATED TO THE

RESEARCH TOPIC

1 Introduction of the company

Official name Vietnam Mobile Telecom Service Company

Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company – VMS, a state-owned company under Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, was founded in April 16th 1993, VMS has become the first GMS 900/1800 mobile telephony services provider in the brand name MobiFone, marking the beginning momentum of the mobile telephony industry in Vietnam MobiFone specializes in building, developing network and providing mobile telephony.

Currently, Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company has five Mobile Telecom Services Centers and one Design Factory Head office is located in Hanoi City Mobile Telecom Services Centre I located in Hanoi City, in charge of operating and doing business in the North (North areas to Ha Tinh province) Address: 811A Giai Phong Road, Hoang Mai District, Hanoi City Mobile Telecom Services Center II, located in HoChiMinh City, in charge of operating and doing business in the South (Ninh Thuan province to the Eastern areas and Ho Chi Minh City).Address: MM18 Truong Son Road, Ward 14, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City Mobile Telecom Services Center III, located in DaNang City, in charge of operating and doing business in the Central and Highlands (Quang Binh province to Khanh Hoa and Dac Lak province).Address: 263 Nguyen Van Linh Road, Da Nang City Mobile Telecom Services Center IV, located in CanTho City, in charge of operating and doing business in ten provinces in the Mekong Delta Address: No.6, Hoa Binh Avenue, An Cu Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City Mobile Telecom Services Center V, located in Hai Phong City, in charge of operating and doing business in

14 Northern provinces and cities Address: No.8, Lot 28, Le Hong Phong Str, Hai Phong City Value Added Services Center was established in October 6th 2008, its headquarter is located in Hanoi City specialized in developing, managing and doing business of value added services on GSM (including short message, short message based services, GPRS based services, 3G services and national and international roaming services).

Chart-1: Structural organization of Vietnam MobileTelecom Services Company

The company has six main kinds of products (these products can be called packages) They are mobigold, mobicard, mobi4U, mobiQ, mobi365, mobizone Each product is designed for one group of target customers which are suitable for customers’ needs, wants and demands Mobigold service offers perfect voice quality, wide coverage, and more value-added services Customers will enjoy more in daily life This product is after-paid package Customers just present the ID, pay activation fee (99.000 VND/ subscription) and pay the subscription fee (49.000 VND per month) Then they can get a lot of benefits such as easy to pay bill, national customer care 24 hours/ day, and enjoy some of utilities services free With Mobicard, customers can connect in the quickest way because it offers customers such a high quality of MobiFone network at a very short time Mobi4U connects U with friends, family and places at any time No limit to whom and what you can connect to It also offers a wide range of attractie services for you MoiQ is for two kinds of customers: student and teenager with two packages Q Student and Q Teen This is new type of call package with a lot of benefits for customers With Mobi365, customers can have chances of calling with economical charges They only pay 200 VND for the the ten seconds MobiZone is the newest package designed for customers who want to call mainly within a zone.

The company has received a lot of awards since 2005:

- “The most favourite operator 2006” and “The best customer care operator 2006” voted by E-Chip Mobile Magazine under the Vietnam Mobile Awards chain

- “The famous brand 2006” voted by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry

- “Ranked 1st among TOP 10 strong and potential brand of Vietnamese economy” voted by Le Courierr du Vietnam newspaper on the occasion of APEC Summit 2006

Awards in 2007

- “The most favorite mobile telephony operator 2007” voted by E-Chip Mobile Magazine - Vietnam Mobile Awards

- Ranked TOP 20 among 200 biggest businesses in Vietnam by UNDP - TOP 10 “Strong Brand” in 2006 - 2007 voted by Vietnam Economic Newspaper

Awards in 2008

- “The excellent ICT business in 2008” voted by PC World’s readers - “The best quality service provider in 2008” voted by Saigon Tiep Thi Newspaper

- “The most favorite mobile operator in 2008”; “The best customer care operator in 2008” voted by Vietnamnet cyber newspaper and E-Chip Mobile Magazine

- “The excellent mobile operator” granted by Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications at Vietnam ICT Awards 2008

- “The best customer care operator in 2008” granted by Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications at Vietnam ICT Awards 2008

Awards in 2009

- “The most favorite mobile telephony operator 2009” voted by Vietnam Mobile Awards

- “The best customer care operator in 2009” granted by Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications at Vietnam ICT Awards 2009

The company has developed its market share through the growing number of subscribers during years The chart-1 below shows the number of subscriber from 1993 to 2010 (planing) According to the chart, there is a great increase in the subscribers Starting with only below 2.000.000 customers at 2002, the number was 11.000.000 in 2007.

Chart-2: Subscription Growth from 1993 to 2010

Chart-3: Market share – Quarter I 2009

From the chart-3, MobiFone is the provider who gets the largest market share with 41% That can be explained for some reasons The contingent of 3000 MobiFone staff in ready to effectively meet every demand of customers MobiFone is the first and exclusive mobile telephony services provider in Vietnam which is selected as of the best mobile operator in three consecutive years (from 2005-2008) in the Vietnam Mobile Awards Ceremony organized by E-chip Mobile Magazine, Especially in 2009, MobiFone was honored to receive the Excellent Operator 2008 granted by Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications.

2 Introduction of the research topic

2.1 General information about the product Q student

Q Student is a call package designed for only students at all universities, colleges, and training schools in Vietnam with a lot of special features This new package was introduced on 25th August 2009 after Viettel Telecom (1st June 2009) and before Vinaphone (1st September 2009) Q Student was developed from package MobiQ which was for all young customers This package is only valuable for student time After that, customers’ packages would be changed to MobiQ

 Benefits and regulations * Benefits

Charges:

Customers will receive VND 25000 monthly during the effective time of the subscription If customers do not use all, they can keep extra money until the next month.

Mobile Internet service

Customer will receive 35 MB using internet free during the effective time of the subscription If customers do not use all, they can keep free megabyte until the next month.

Multimedia message service

Customers will receive 25 free MMS during the effective time of the subscription including messages with texts or with pictures or sounds If customers do not use all, they can not keep free messages until the next month.

* Regulations

Validity days will be 92 for Q Student.

It remains 92 days since customer makes an outgoing call If customer makes an outgoing call while a validity day is more than 92, it will be remained Time out, customer will get 10 days additional for incoming calls and top-ups Out of date, customers' calls will be barred.

Disconnection validity day is 92 Out of date without any top-ups, the subscription number will be discharged.

Validity days will be added in every top-up Tariffs

Table-1 Tariffs of Q Student

2.2 Introduction of the research topic

Q Student is really a good package for students It is the first time Vietnamese students have such many benefits Mobifone and two other big operators in Vietnam, Viettel and Vinaphone have this special package designed for students They are “I am student” of Viettel and “Talk student” of Vinaphone Without mentioning other features, we just focus on benefits students receive from these operators and then analyze them.

Table-2 Benefits offered by three operators

Group call registered intra

network numbers 5 registered intra network numbers.

From the figures, we can see that there is no much difference among benefits which three operators offer to students To contact with a fixed number, customers only choose one package from one mobile operator There is still case when customers have more than one mobile phone Whenever it is, they still need one fixed package to use That is the chance for MobiFone to make their product different and keep students as regular customers through particular products However, MobiFone has not attracted the whole group of students MobiFone’s promotion has not effective in order to satisfy the whole group of customers’ needs wants and demands MobiFone has not understood clearly different characteristics of different groups of students Thefore, this research is carried out in order to improve the promotion of Q Student through offering various benefits to different groups of students.

The starting point for this research is the two research questions: the first one is how many groups are there among students according to their personal factors relating to using mobile? , and which kinds of promotion should we apply to different groups? To answer these questions, there was a survey among 200 students at National Economics University and Hanoi University of Technology They were asked about their behavior and demands on using mobile The scope of this survey is 200 first year and second year students at two universities These two universities are near together, so it is easy for the researcher to implement the survey In addition, they are students major in two fields: economics and techonoly, so they can help the sesearcher a lot in having more ideas for the research Along with delivering the questionnaire for students to fill out, the researcher also interviewed 30 students among 200 students above From their answers, there was information about their feelings on Q Student and their recommendations to improve the product The other methodology of this research is analyzing Through observing the packages of some mobile operators, the researcher draws some strengths, weaknesses, and challenges that Q Student has and faces with As a result, the researcher can suggest some recommendations to make the product better.

CHAPTER TWO

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

To understand different factors that affect consumer behavior, we first identify consumer needs, wants, and demands The reason for studying different factors is to satisfy customers better through understanding their needs, wants and demands Needs, wants, and demands are all the core concept of marketing.

According to Philip Kotler in the book named “Principles of Marketing” (1996)1, “Human needs are states of felt deprivation” When you are hungry, you need to eat However, when you are sad, you need to someone to share your sadness, for example Different people have different kinds of needs When you can not obtain your need, you will try your best to have it People in different situations have their own needs Also in this book, Philip Kotler wrote that “Wants are the form taken by human needs as they are shaped by culture and individual personality” In this concept, there is the appearance of culture and individual personality When we talk about culture, we think of the differences between countries or even areas in the country For example, Vietnamese people living in the south like to eat fried chicken with sweat favor while people in the north want salty favor That is the difference in culture between two areas in a country Another concept that Philip Kotler introduced in this book is “demands” He presented that “When backed by buying power, wants become demands” Although you want to have a luxurious car or a modern laptop, but if you do not afford them, you can not obtain your demands.When studying marketing subject, the researcher found intertesting information about the customer needs, wants, and demands at the website http://www.estateofflux.com The writer of this article showed the types of needs and demand which are listed by Kotler, Keller and Burton

“1) Stated needs

A customer wants an inexpensive car2) Real needs

The customer wants a car whose operating cost, not initial price is low.

1 The main references of this part are from the book “Principles of Marketing” by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, seventh editiion, published by Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632 Therefore, when the researcher mentions the writer Philip Kotler, it means the information is from this book in the part “what is marketing” (page 7), and characteristics affecting consumer behavior ( page 144-154).

The customer wants friends to see her as a savvy consumer.”

And then the eight types of demands

More consumers would like to buy the product than can be satisfied.”

This list helps producers a lot in developing the suitable products for different needs, wants and demands of customers Therefore, the task of marketers is very important They have to spend a lot of time learning about and understanding customers’ needs, wants and demands They must do some methods like conducting consumer research, focus groups, and customer clinics They analyze customer complaint, inquiry, warranty, and service data They observe customers using their own and competing products, and interview them in depth about their likes and dislikes In short, understanding customer needs, wants, and demands in detail provides important input for designing marketing strategies.

“A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging2.”

2 Henderson, Naomi R (2009) Managing Moderator Stress: Take a Deep Breath You Can Do This! Marketing Research, Vol 21 Issue 1, p28-29.

Among methods to tunderstand customers’ needs, wants, and demands, we can tell the “focus group” One of the benefits of group discussion is:

“Group discussion produces data and insights that would be less accessible without interaction found in a group setting—listening to others’ verbalized experiences stimulatesmemories, ideas, and experiences in participants This is also known as the group effect where group members engage in “a kind of ‘chaining’ or ‘cascading’ effect; talk links to, or tumbles out of, the topics and expressions preceding it” (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002, p 182).”

After understanding customers’ needs, wants, and demands, this part will give

characteristics influencing consumer behavior “Consumer behaviour is the study of

when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy product”, footnote number

one Consumer behaivor relates to buying behavior That is the decision process for consumers to buy a product Decision process includes problem recognition,

information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, purchase, and post-purchase evaluation.

It is also useful to know customers’ demands According to Philip Kotler, there are four main factors They are cultural factors, social factors, personal factors, and psychological factors Philip Kotler summerised these factors in the following

People buy products from different brands to satisfy their needs The way customers decide to purchase depends on these factors above Each factor plays an important role in creating different styles among groups of customers, or even individuals Therefore, marketers not only know about these factors, but also take them into account

According to Philip Kotler in the book “Principles of Marketing” (1996), “cultural

factors exert the broadest influence and deepest influence on consumer behavior The marketer needs to understand the role played by the buyers’s culture,

subculture, and social class” This factor seems to not affect in this research

because the scope of this research is students in the same country as well as they are one kind of tarket customers which the company have their ideas of clasifying The personal factors are relating to the research topic because of the similiarity in analyzing and styding According to this figure, there are six small groups in personal factors: age and lifecycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality and self-concept

Starting with age and life cycle stage, Philip Kotler wrote that: “people change the

goods and services they buy over their lifetimes” “Taste in food Clothes, furniture,and recreation are often age related” Buying is also shaped by the stage of family

life cycle Traditional family life cycle stages include young singles and married couples with children Sony recently overhauled its marketing approach in order to target products services to consumers based on their life stages From the writer’s idea, we can summerise these sub-factors to understand more how they affect consumers in buying decision Occupation: a consumer’s occupation affects the goods and services bought Blue collar workers tend to buy more rugged work clothes, whereas executives buy more business suits Economic situation: A consumer’s economic situation will affect product choice If economic indicator point to recession, marketers can take steps to redesign, reposition, and reprice their products closely Lifestyle: people coming from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may have quite different lifestyles Lifestyle is a consumer’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics It involves consumer’s

activities, interest and opinions When used carefully, the lifestyle concept can help the marketer changing consumer values and how they affect buying behavior Personality and self concept: each consumer’s distinct personality influences his or her buying behavior Personality refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting response to one’s own environment For example, coffee marketer have discovered that heavy coffee drinker tend to be high on sociability Thus Starbucks and other coffee houses create environments in which people can relax and socialize over a cup of steaming coffee.

We can now appreciate the many forces acting on consumer behavior The

consumer’s choice results from the complex interplay of cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors Although many of these factors cannot be influenced by

the marketers, they can be useful in identifying interested buyers and in shaping products and appeals to serve consume needs better.

CHAPTER THREE

FINDINGS ON CHARACTERISTICS ANDDEMANDS OF THE STUDENTS ABOUT Q

1 General analysis

1.1 Some features that Q Student are good at understanding students’characteristics

MobiFone offered the largest number of Student Sims (375000 cards) at 300 universities, colleges, and training schools in the school year 2009-2010 This large number of Sims enables more students to have chance to use mobile phones easily and cheaply.