Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

PREFACE This report reviews the marketing of Ufone, the second largest telecom company in Pakistan. We give a brief history of the company and tell about the achievements and growths of Ufone. It put light on the whole organization specifically its marketing department and the activities ongoing in its marketing department. These activities include two of its major components i.e. Sales Promotion and Advertising. These two are the main topics of this report which we have discussed in the depths of the companys strategies and functioning. Further we review Ufones strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis). In the end we give the future plans of Ufone and conclude with our views and suggestions for Ufone.

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project has been undertaken in order to highlight the Human Resource Practices of Ufone.Its all about YOU its all about Ufone a company very highly spoken of these days. A company paying more attention to its customers delights rather then the customers satisfaction. Ufone is accompany starting from scratch and has shown utmost performance in the last four years. Ufone owes its success to its employees believing that providing employees with job satisfaction, motivates them to work hard and provide better results. Proper planning is Ufones strongest point; all the products that they have launched so far are backed by wise strategies with proper market research and massive advertisement campaigns. Decisions are taken at top level with some participation from the lower levels showing that they do comprehend the worth of Group decision-making. However goal setting is a procedure dedicated to only the top management. Working on newer technologies is a specialty of ufone.

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

INTRODUCTION
The company commenced its operations under the brand name of Ufone from Islamabad on January 29 2001. Ufone expanded its coverage and has added new cities and highways to its coverage network. After the privatization of PTCL, Ufone is now owned by Etisalat. During the year, as a consequence of PTCLs privatization, 26% of its shares were acquired by Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat). Being part of PTCL, the management of Ufone has also been handed over to Etisalat. During the years, Ufone continued on the path to success. The Company further expanded its coverage and has added new cities and highways. Ufone has network coverage in more than 5885 locations and across all major highways of the country. During the year Ufone adopted the policy of simplified tariffs with no hidden charges, which resulted in positive impacts on the usage trends of subscribers as well as total subscriber base, which has increased to 19.4 million. Ufone currently caters for International Roaming to more than 230 live operators in more than 130 countries and introduced International roaming facility for Prepaid subscribers in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Portugal, Thailand, Cyprus, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Belgium and Kuwait with lowest rates, featuring no security deposit and activation charges. GPRS Roaming facility is available with more than 115 Live Operators across 85 countries. The company has also been awarded a new License for providing cellular services in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Northern Areas.

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

BRIEF HISTORY
In 1990, Pakistan introduced its first mobile phone service called Paktel . After eleven years in January 2001, a new cellular company with GSM technology came into the market and they named it Ufone. The government of Pakistan granted them the license of Pak Telecom mobile limited to operate GSM 9000 all Around Pakistan. Ufone succeeded to establish itself in the market by providing quality service at low rates. After its opening, initially they started their service in major cities like Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore and on major highways. Later the service expanded to other major cities like Peshawar, Quetta and different towns. Ufone invested around $ 65 million to setup its modern technical infrastructure to provide high quality crystal clear voice and fast data transmission. Ufone targeted the middle class, by introducing low rates and different packages with Urdu names like Jazba etc to attracted lower and middle class people. Ufone has expanded its customer support in a very organized manner with a planned network of dealers, outlets for people convenient. Ufone not only focused on the technical capabilities, but to provide subscribers a convenient to get connections and services. Ufone recently started GPRS through which users can connect themselves to the global village via Internet, also introduced multimedia messaging services and worldwide SMS at flat rates. Not only SMS but also provides Ufone Info service through which user can get latest information about news, sports, religion, horoscope, stock exchange etc even live sports updates. The tariff packages have been designed keeping in mind the requirements of every segment of the society may that be a housewife, a taxi driver, a trader or a student. Ufone started its operation from Islamabad on 29th January 2001. Cellular industry performance in Pakistan before the launch of Ufone was quite dismal, with one of the lowest population penetration rates in the Whole region. Ufones strategy from the day one was to change this scenario and ensure that mobile phones are turned into an everyday business and personal communication tools for all. This approach brought about a revolution in the market; increasing its size five fold in a mere two years.Ufones own performance in these two years has been exemplary, as it surpassed all financial and marketing goals. Despite Ufones strategy to provide a high standard of service rather than increasing subscriber base without capacity, it has achieved a substantial market share in a market ten years older than itself.
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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

MISSION
"Ufone, it's all about U! We are where you want to be At Ufone we aim to provide you with wider coverage, superior connectivity, clear signals & voice quality. Wherever you are, Ufone keeps you connected.

VISION
To be the leading telecommunication service provider in Pakistan by offering innovate communication solutions for our customers while exceeding shareholder value & employee expectation.

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

Brands:
While keeping its tradition of being the trend setter in the industry, Ufone changed the image of mobile phones from a luxury only affordable by the elite, to a necessity affordable by the common man. Since its inception, Ufone has positioned its brand for masses. In keeping with the upcoming competition and market dynamics, Ufone increased its focus on the youth segment (which comprises 50% of the population), with the Prepay brand. By designing market focused products, Ufones brand team launched aggressive campaigns, which further increased the brand equity. The new brand image gained huge popularity amongst the targeted market. A recent marketing survey conducted by a prominent marketing research company showed that Ufone has considerably increased its brand visibility and image. Ufones Prepay brand is now considered to be one of the most favored brands by the youth market and is followed by other mobile operators launching their respective brands for the youth market.

UFONEs ACHIEVEMENTS
During 2006 Ufone successfully completed the network expansion of Phase 4 in existing as well as in new cities and towns which amounted to more than US Dollar 170 million. As a result the asset base of the Company has increased from Rs. 20 billion to Rs. 27 billion. Ufone adopted the policy of simplified tariffs with no hidden charges, which resulted in positive impacts on total subscriber base, which has increased from 2,579k in June 2005 to 7,487k in June 2006. Ufone currently caters for international roaming to more than 195 live operators across 119 countries and introduced International roaming facility for Prepaid subscribers in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Portugal and Kuwait with lowest rates, featuring no security deposit and activation charges. GPRS roaming facility is available with more than 75 Live Operators across 59 countries. The Company has also been awarded a new License for providing cellular services in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and the Northern Areas.

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication OPERATING PERFORMANCE Ufones operational performance has been very encouraging. Despite the stiff competition in Pakistan telecom market which has led to reduction of prices to bare minimum level, due to its aggressive policies and exercising strict control over expenses the Company managed to improve its revenue and after-tax profit by 87% and 54% respectively, as compared to last year. GROWTH RATE As mobile users in the country have reached over 28 million at a very rapid pace, Ufone has maintained itself as the 2nd largest cellular operator in Pakistan with a subscriber base of around 6.5 million and a market share of nearly 25%. Ufone has seen a subscriber growth rate of over 200% in the last year, and since the start of 2005 Ufone added nearly 5 million subscribers onto its network. A remarkable achievement indeed, especially considering the fact that two new international players also entered into the market in 2005. Subsequently the growth in subscriber base caused a healthy trend in revenues which have doubled. TECHNOLOGY After Mobilink, Ufone is the second cellular service provider company that is based on GSM technology. Basically they are using GSM 900 technology with version 2001. Apart from this they are very strong in technological developments especially they have a well-established research and development department that is working on new technological developments in their products. Like they are the first company in Pakistan that is offering GPRS facility to their subscribers

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANIZATION

In Ufone the hierarchy is very lean, in general the whole setup is centralized, all the matters are to be reported to the main company and all the policies and targets are approved at the higher level. But at the department level the structure is decentralized. UFONE has following functional departments: Technical Customer operations Finance Administration & Procurement Human Resource Co-ordination (Govt. relations)

Marketing
Current CEO (Chief Executive Officer) & President of UFONE is Mr.Mubashir Naqvi Ufones Head Offices is in Islamabad

SERVICES
Both Post-Paid and Pre-Paid Ufone subscribers can enjoy any/all Ufone services including GPRS based services (MMS, Ufone Internet, Pocket Stocks), Global SMS, etc Ufone is proving these all services to its consumers: Internal Excess, Online Billing Payment Power SIM

Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication WAP International Roaming Voice Mail Call Management Messaging

MOBILE PRODUCTS Ufone is offering the following Mobile Products: Utalk  Missed Call Notification  Phonebook Saver  Trivia Quiz  Ushare  Uloan  Voice Bucket  Utunes  Awaz SMS  Uchat  Ugames Call Block  Self Service Kiosk  U kisaan
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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

 U health  Ufone prize bond  Ubazar  Hajj Guide

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

BRAND EQUITY
Brand equity is the unique set of real and/or perceived distinctions attached to a brand by customers. Brand equity lives only in the hearts and minds of customers.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Brand equity, a measure of the overall value of a brand (Keller, 1998), is a key concept in brand management. Brand equity has been identified as a valuable source of competitive advantage for many organizations (Aaker, 1991; Bharadwaj, Varadarajan and Fahy, 1993; Keller ,1998). Keller (1993) conceptualizes brand equity as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand . Furthermore, Keller proposes brand knowledge as central to the definition of brand equity and contends that high levels of brand knowledge increase the probability of brand choice, and defines brand knowledge in terms of brand awareness and image. Keller conceptualizes brand awareness as the strength of the brand trace in memory that is reflected by the consumers ability to identify the brand under different conditions and defines brand image as perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumer memory . The customer-based brand equity is a set of brandrelated associations held by the consumer in memory (e.g., Keller, 1993). Under this perspective, brand equity is regarded as being largely attitudinal in nature, composed of beliefs, affect, and other subjective experiences related to the brand (i.e., brand attitude, brand image, etc.) In addition, existing research on brand equity is used to identify four cognitive components of customer-based brand equity. These are labeled as global brand attitude, strength of preference, brand knowledge, and brand heuristic (Girish and Clayton, 2004). Others have tried to further extend brand equity by including constructs, such as brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, in addition to brand associations (e.g., Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993) Brand equity is defined as a set of assets and liabilities linked to the brand, which add value to or subtract value from a product in its relationship with customers (Aaker, 1991). Aaker believed that the value of brand equity came from five brand equity assets(brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality, brand associations and other proprietary brand assets), in which perceived quality and brand associations were two most important assets. All these brand equity assets could bring value for the enterprise and customer. The brand loyalty based on client can defend the attack of competitors marketing, and the effect of competitive manufacturers marketing efforts to attract the loyal customer of other brand is always unsatisfactory. Brand awareness can provide the familiarity to a brand and the signal of substantiality and promise if the customer knows the brand; while it will influence the consideration of customer to brand and further
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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication influence the selection of customer on brand when the brand is memorized. The perceived quality can influence the purchase decision and brand loyalty directly, especially when the customer has not been stimulated by inducement or cant make detailed analysis. Brand association can assist customer to deal with or memorize information and become the base of product difference and product extension, which will provide a purchase reason for customer and arise positive feeling. From the viewpoint of Aaker, the study can find that brand equity can bring value for both client and manufacturer, and the client value from brand equity is the base to create manufacturer value. In five assets of brand equity, brand loyalty may be influenced by other key dimensions (brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations) of brand equity; therefore brand loyalty can be regarded as the primary base of brand equity and independent from other dimensions. In five assets, other proprietary brand assets (patent, trademark and distributors etc.) are harder to measure the perspective of customer. In this case, this make perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand associations as the measure variables of brand equity based on the achievements of above scholars (e.g., Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993).

Relationship between Advertising and Brand Equity Advertising expenditure, as the main marketing communications tool in the consumer market, should be considered when determining the effects of marketing communications on consumers, and the perceptions that the messages are provoking among different target individuals (Angel and Manuel, 2005). Keller (2003) notes that the firms marketing communications contribute to brand equity. That is, effective communication enables the formations of brand awareness and a positive brand image. When consumers perceive high spending on advertising, this contributes to their perception of the level of confidence that marketing managers have in the product (Kirmani and Wright, 1989). Perceived advertising spending has positive effects, not only on brand equity as a whole, but also on each of the elements it is made up of: loyalty, awareness, perceived quality and brand associations (Cobb-Walgren, Ruble and Donthu, 1995).

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication The relationship between perceived quality and spending on marketing communications was justified by different studies (Milgrom and Roberts, 1986; Kirmani and Wright, 1989; Aaker and Jacobson, 1994; Archibald, Haulman and Moody, 1983). The work shows the favorable relationship between marketing communications spending and the firms investment in the brand, which involves a higher perception of quality. The relationship between the investment in marketing communications and quality affects not only the perceived brand quality, but also supports the purchase decision by increasing the product value, as shown by Archibald et al. (1983) i.e. the recipient of the advertising considers the perceived advertising spending on the brand as reaffirming the purchase decision. From the study of former scholars, we can find that scale variables of brand equity such as brand awareness and brand attitude can use exposure effect to increase the evaluation of customer to the brand. Zajonc and Markus (1982) pointed out that exposure effect mean the effect when some marketing objective was exposed repeatedly. The masses will have more positive attitude to the marketing objective if it is exposed regularly. Anand, Holbrook and Stephens (1988) also proved that exposure effect was a key factor to alter the preference and attitude in the later study. Laroche, Kim and Zhou (1996) also validated the influence of exposure effect on brand knowledge , brand attitude , brand familiarity and purchase willing and confidence. Archibald et al. (1983) pointed out the relationship between the investment in marketing communications and quality affects not only the perceived brand quality, but also supports the purchase decision by increasing the product value. Hence advertising expenditures are likely to be positively related to brand equity. This research proposes the H1 hypothesis about advertising expenditures and brand equity as below. H1: Advertising expenditures affects brand equity H1a: Advertising expenditures is positively related to perceived quality. H1b: Advertising expenditures is positively related to brand loyalty. H1c: Advertising expenditures is positively related to brand awareness. H1d: Advertising expenditures is positively related to brand associations.
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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication Relationship between Price Promotion and Brand Equity Research has traditionally posited that sales promotions erode brand equity. Usually, price adapted by the manufacturer as a direct promotion method will increase the purchase willing of customer. Most of the effect of a price cut is seen in consumers' short-term brand choices. Promotions increase the price sensitivity of non-loyal customers (Mela, Gupta and Lehman, 1997). But it does not hold when long-term effects are considered. In this regard, using price promotions means deterioration in brand equity. The use of price promotions has a negative effect on brand equity, since it is considered that the consumer perceives a negative relationship between brand equity and the need to use incentives for sales that affects the established level of prices(Aaker, 1991; Yoo, Donthu and Lee, 2000). Sales promotions in general, and especially price promotions, have been considered to weaken brand equity in spite of the short-term benefit that they provide to the consumer (Yoo, Donthu and Lee, 2000). Overall, the long-term effects of price promotions on sales are negative.

Therefore, price promotion may have negative influence on customer perceptions making differential consciousness of customer on perceived quality, and then influences the brand equity of product and purchase willing of customer. Activities based on lowering prices can place brands in danger by provoking consumer confusion, instability and variability leads to an image of unstable quality (Winer, 1986). Hence, this research proposes the research hypothesis. H2: Price promotion affects brand equity H2a: Price promotion is negatively related to perceived quality. H2b: Price promotion is negatively related to brand loyalty. H2c: Price promotion is negatively related to brand awareness. H2d: Price promotion is negatively related to brand associations.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

POSITIONING
Positioning is basically to implement an image into the consumers minds, by using Positive traits of the product.

1.

Positioning concept of Ufone:

The slogan of Ufone is Its all about you . By this slogan, Ufone is positioning itself as a Company, which moulds itself according to their customers. Ufone is also implying that, it is a very flexible, adaptable and user friendly. So the image of Ufone in the minds of people is that, it is inexpensive, well performing & customer oriented.

2.

Characteristics of present Positioning:

How can we conclude the positioning status mentioned above? We can do it, by looking at the following facts: International roaming across 125 countries. Provides wide coverage, with clear signals & voice quality. User friendly Customer services & Sales Accurate Billing It is using latest technological facilities (e-g online phone-book,

Transferring balance, WAP etc) By taking a look at these features of Ufone, we can state that Ufones positioning is Mainly, It has made packages and Services, according to target markets needs.

3.

Positioning strategy:

The primary positioning strategy of Ufone is Positioning by Price, Quality & Competitors . The secondary positioning strategy is an extension of the primary strategy. And that is to Position according to Products class & attributes. (In this case, attributes mean Services).

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

PROMOTION
Ufone believes in Integrated Marketing Communication which is a carefully blended mix of promotion tools. Ufone employ different marketing activities and channels to communicate and deliver value to customer. These activities are coordinated to provide maximum communication output. These communication channels includes:Advertising, Sales promotion, Public relations, Direct marketing, Personal selling. Ufone strategize to carry out promotion in order to increase its market share.

Promotion Strategy:
v Advertising (discussed later) v Sales Promotion (discussed later) v Public Relations : Ufone is less conscious of developing its general public relations. But recently it has launched its Hajj Guide service on Ufone. It avoids getting in news stories and controversies but sometimes it proves inevitable. v Direct Marketing : Ufone employ on-road umbrella franchises where the directly market and sell their connections and Sims. v Personal Selling : Ufone administer personal selling facility to sell their PostPay connections targeting well to do people and businessmen It wont be an exaggeration to say that Ufone has placed itself where it is now through brilliant promotions.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

SALES PROMOTION
Sales promotions are short term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service

Ufone uses following sales promotion tools

Contests: Ufone carried out contest for cricket talent hunt in the year 200_______. Our renowned Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was used as patron for this contest. However this contest didnt do much good to Ufones image or sales. But Ufone holds future plans to carry out such activities in more effective and profitable ways. Games: Ufone is currently running its game show on ATV prime time. This game show rewards the winning participants. Ufone updates its customers every now and then to participate in this game show. The problem we see in this activity is that Ufone is not properly advertising it. Premiums: All the cellular services are now offering premiums for their customers. This premium is offered, when a customer dont use his/her sim for more than 3-6 months, in the form of extra credit balance delivered to their numbers for free

Free tickets:
Ufone recently offered free trip to Dubai. It was Ufones first Eid offer. Every time you make any international call of 5 minutes or longer than 5 minutes, you enter the lucky draw to win a return ticket to Dubai. The more calls you make, more is your chance to win.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

COMPETITORS
There is a hard core competition among the cellular service providers in Pakistan. Ufone is a market challenger in its competitive position, where MOBILINK is the market leader. Warid, Telenor and newly introduced ZONG are also strong contenders in market challenger category. Ufone has the following four direct competitors:Mobilink, Telenor, Warid. Ufone also considers the following as its competitors:ZONG (former PAKTEL), PTCL WIRELESS, Wateen, WorldCall

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

Competitive strategy:
Ufones competitive strategies are Customer intimacy and Differentiation. Ufone aims at fore passing Mobilink in its competitive race.

Competitors Analysis:
1. Mobilink Pioneer cellular 100% GSM company in Pakistan It is the first one to introduce the concept of FRANCHISE in cellular industry ISO 9002 quality management system certification for the billing, engineering department

and customer service contact center Big market share Loyal customer base Branded product Broad coverage area Mobilink benefits from broad coverage, with the widest network of easily accessible GSM

centers, and Connect Point of Sales Express Shops. Customer service too is friendly, with an automated phone mechanism that directs Customers to particular departments, providing a choice of Urdu- or English-speaking

operators. Easy load facility is another advantage. Greater number of postpaid corporate customers.

Following are problems with Mobilink Lack of quality service. Connectivity problems. High call charges to other networks and high SMS charges.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication 2. 3. Warid New and innovative post paid packages. Friends and family packages. Free minutes are given for post paid users depending upon connection. 30 seconds billing and 1 second billing in Zahi postpaid connection. Huge investment. Heavy advertisement. 4 million users in just one year after introduction. Coverage area is less and network is expanding slowly. Telenor Friends and Family packages e.g. (PERSONA). Call charges are different for first minute and

following minutes. 4. Heavy advertisement. Huge investment. Easy Load facility. Voice quality is very good. No connectivity problems. Coverage area is increasing rapidly. Zong Huge investment Rapid growth of market share Simple and clear marketing strategy Controlled by the worlds largest telecommunication company (subscriptions vise) Claiming to have the lowest call rates

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES
Its an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value than competitors offer. Ufone strategizes to gain more and more competitive advantages. It also uses these competitive advantages well enough for its promotion. Currently Ufone is enjoying the following competitive advantages:v Lowest overall call rates v Value added Services (VAS) v Call block service v Corporate color CHALLENGES Ufone face many challenges with the ever growing needs of telecommunication. It must remain profitable with the decreasing economical situation of Pakistan. It must grow as well in these dark times if it has to remain IN the market. Ufone face very strong competition from its competitors. It must offer lowest rates with better quality service. New features and services should be introduced to make its customers loyal, happy and satisfied. FUTURE PLANS Keeping in view the growth potential of the cellular industry there is no option but to be aggressive in order to remain a potent force in the cellular industry. A strong focus will be on maintaining high quality of service, which is always a benchmark of Ufone, increasing usage and exploring new revenue streams on value added services, market visibility through various market initiatives to fulfill subscribers satisfaction and demand and above all to increase the value of investment for the shareholders.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESEARCH METHOD

Figure 1 exhibits the research framework of this study. It demonstrates the effects of advertising expenditure and price promotion on brand equity and shift the spot light on the moderating role of product category.

Advertising Brand equity Price promotion

    Perceived quality Brand loyalty Brand awareness Brand associations

Product category
  Search product Experience product

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Definition and Measurement

This research contains three constructs including advertising, price promotion and brand equity. Advertising expenditure, as the main marketing communications tool in the consumer market, should be considered when determining the effects of marketing communications on consumers, and the perceptions that the messages are provoking among different target individuals. Therefore, advertising in this study is defined as the consumers subjective perception of advertising expenditures for the brand. The measurement scale is developed with reference to Yoo et al.(2000) and Martin (2000). Price promotions mean short-term price reduction such as special sales. It is measured as consumers subjective perception of frequency of the price promotions used for the brand. The measurement scale is developed with reference to Yoo et al.(2000) and Martin (2000). The scale of brand equity measures four core dimensions: perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand awareness and
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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication brand associations. Perceived quality is defined as a subjective judgment made by the consumer regarding the excellence or superiority of a product (Zeithaml, 1988). The measurement scale is developed with reference to Aaker and A lvarez del Blanco(1995), Lassar et al.(1995) and Yoo et al.(2000). Brand loyalty plays an outstanding role in generating brand equity, not only because of its capacity to keep customers loyal (Aaker, 1991; Grover and Srinivasan, 1992), but also because that customer loyalty extends to other brands in the companys portfolio (Cebollada, 1995). In this study, brand loyalty refers to the overall commitment of being loyal to a specific brand. The measurement scale is developed with reference to Aaker and A lvarez del Blanco(1995) and Yoo et al.(2000). Brand awareness measured as the consumers subjective perception-level of the brand. High levels of brand-name recognition are those that present the brand with a high degree of brand awareness. The measurement scale is developed with reference to Yoo et al.(2000). Brand associations are related to a series of tangible and intangible attributes associated with the brand, which conditions a favorable attitude to choosing the brand. The measurement scale is developed with reference to Aaker and A lvarez del Blanco (1995), Lassar et al.(1995) and Yoo et al.(2000). All the items of construct are measured with the Likert 5-point scale.

Research Methodology:
We adopt the following method to collect the data o Primary Data o Secondary Data o Internet o Broachers o Questionnaire o Interview

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

Research Design
I selected a topic for conducting the research on Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in telecommunication industry. I used the methodological approach of interviews from different Businessmen, Students and teachers, for it first I develop a questionnaire and I will try to find out the accurate results.

Accumulations and Sample

I took sample size of 25 people for this research about Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in telecommunication industry which includes businessman, students, bankers and I conduct research in Faisalabad.

Assumptions
We are taking sample size of 25 people for this research which includes businessman, students, bankers and govt. officials and I conduct research in Faisalabad.

Delimitation of the Study

While making this project I faced numerous of problems are load shedding which always break the continuity and concentration while making project. Secondly this research related to my topic were not easily available on internet.

Population sample

Population 1- Students 2- Job person 3- Businessman

Sample size 11 4 10

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

Samples and Sample Method

In this research, I took the sample size of 25 people and I have chosen almost all categories people which are related to telecommunication industry directly or indirectly.

Research Instruments
I prepared 3 close ended questions and 9 questions are four intervals and there are few three intervals questions in this researchs questionnaire.

Procedures and Data Collection

In this research project mostly all the data is primary data which I will conduct research myself like I will personally go to the students, job person, businessman and I gathered the information through questionnaire and secondary data is also used in literature review.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION
Telecom industry is most growing industry of Pakistan still huge investment required for coverage. The market also has strong competition after the entrance of China Mobile Company as player. Competitors are hiring professionals to entertain the consumer which is resulting technological implementation and value added services. People are worried about call rates they dont prefer any particular company. Consumer searches good service with lowest call rates, although companies are minimizing call rates this will result more growth in the market. Ufone bring amazing packages to attract the customers. Ufone promote their product through TV commercial, Newspaper, Radio, Internet etc. The choice of people is Ufone because Ufone price level is low and affordable that every one can say its all about U This research investigates advertising across search and experience product categories. Across both categories, the brand with the higher advertising budget yielded substantially higher levels of brand equity. This study notes that the firms advertising contributes to brand equity and increases loyalty. Perceived advertising spending showed a favorable causal relationship for three of the four dimensions of brand equity. The higher the spending on advertising for the brand, the better the quality of the product as perceived by the consumer, the higher the level of brand awareness and the more associations linked to the product, forming its brand loyalty. That is, effective advertising activities enable the formations of brand awareness and a positive perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand associations. To summarize, advertising has a positive effect on brand equity. Hence, hypothesis H1a, H1b, H1c and H1d are supported. The research question that concerns this study is whether price promotions can contribute to building brand equity. Price promotions have a negative effect on brand equity in the long term. Price promotions as incentives to increase sales have been shown to have a negative effect on brand equity. Although they can cause a short-term benefit to the consumer, from a strategic perspective they showed negative effects. These effects can affect the perceived quality of the product adversely, since benefits gained through price promotion are not enduring, and do not transmit the security or the confidence that a brand should inspire with regard to its expected utility. However, adopting a consumer-based brand knowledge perspective of brand equity, this
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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication study shows that price promotions of bank are useful to create brand equity because of their positive effect on perceived quality, brand loyalty and brand associations. Nevertheless, the statistics of the search product proves that price promotion has significant negative impact on brand awareness and brand association. Hence, H2 is partially supported. This paper seeks to systematically examine the possible drivers of differences across product categories and the implications of our preliminary findings. The result proves that the product category does have moderate effect in between price promotion and brand equity. The result shows that product categories moderated the relationship between advertising, price promotion and brand equity. The influence of advertising and price promotion on brand equity is different from search goods/services and non-search (experience and credence) goods/services. Compare to non-search goods/services, search goods/services is positively more effective in advertising on brand equity. The impact direction and dimension of price promotion on brand equity in various product categories are different. In search products (UFONE), it has significant negative impact on brand awareness and brand association. In non-search products (bank), it has significant positive impact on perceived quality and brand loyalty. The product category exerts a moderator effect on the relationship between brand equity and advertising or price promotion. Hypotheses H3 and H4 are supported.

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

APPENDIX
Research Questionnaires Dear Sir/Madam, I am the student of MBA at University of Agriculture Faisalabad The following questionnaires are about my research project Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in telecommunication industry Kindly provide impartial opinion about each statement. I request you please provide me information to complete my research. I also undertake that all the information provided by you is solely for academic purpose only. The information obtained from you will be kept confidential I shall be very oblige to you. Yours truly, Raees Ahmad Zafar. Questionnaire: Name: _____________________ Mob: ________________

Gender: (i) Male (ii) Female

Age Group (please tick the appropriate one): (i) 0-18 (ii) 19-24 (iii) 25-35 (iv) 36-50 (v) 50+

Which area do you belong to? (i) Urban (ii) Rural

As there are many Cellular Companies in the Telecom Industry, do you think because of the competition, the services are being improved? (Please tick appropriate one.) (i) Yes (ii) No

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

Are you currently using any of the following service connections? a) Mobilink a) Mobilink b) Telenor b) Telenor c) Ufone c) Ufone d) Zong d) Zong e) Warid e) Warid

Which one of the following service connections has the best voice clarity?

Which one of the following service connections has the best coverage? a) Mobilink b) Telenor c) Ufone d) Zong e) Warid

Which one of the following service connections gives you more better service? a) Mobilink b) Telenor c) Ufone d) Zong e) Warid

Which one of the following service connections has the best promotional strategies? a) Mobilink b) Telenor c) Ufone d) Zong e) Warid

Which one of the following is the main competitor of UFONE? a) Mobilink b) Telenor c) Ufone d) Zong e) Warid

Would you recommend Ufone to a friend? Yes No

What recommendations you offer for improving Ufone service? Better sales promotions Improved network coverage Include more features in SIM services (Power tools) Better Call Rates

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

Contact list

Names Ahmad Ali Ahsan Awan Ali Raza Aslam Athar Awais Ayesha Malik Azam butt Danish Awan Faisal Ikram Fareed Attah Hamid Mehmood Hamza Aataf Hina Arshad M. Bilal M.Rehman Rameez Ahmad Umer Raiz Usman Iqbal Waqas Javaid Wasim Yasir Latif Yousaf Zaib Zubair Sathie

Occupation Businessman Job person Job person Student Businessman Businessman Student Student Businessman Businessman Job person Businessman Student Job person Student Student Student Student Businessman Student Job person Businessman Student Businessman Job person

Contact numbers 03467747467 03219666649 03006627927 03218665737 03457730072 03237693163 03217820507 03457939493 03008664682 03218598888 03006601926 03006519500 03226224524 03426939277 ----------03216660306 03216660092 03338393537 03007651768 03437433388 03018210239 03009656716 03216687904 03236654255

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Impact of Competitor on Brand Equity in Telecommunication

REFERENCE
www.google.com www.ufone.com www.nation.com www.telecompk.net www.pta.geo.com Aaker, D. A. (1991) Managing Brand Equity. Capitalizing on the Value of Brand Name, The Free Press, New York, NY. Angel F. Villarejo-Ramos, Manuel J. Sanchez-Franco (2005, 8), The impact of marketing communication and price promotion on brand equity, Brand Management, vol.12, No.6, 431-444

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