Internship Report on A Comparison Between the Apartments of Tropical Homes Ltd. and Habitat Ltd. from the Perspective of Consumer Perceived Quality

Posted on 24th Oct 2024 12:28:21 AM Marketing


1.1 Introduction

“A little own house, but it’s a giant dream of our hearts”. Now a day this slogan is chanting in the heart of every city dweller. Because, “the demand of housing in urban areas in developing countries like Bangladesh is dramatically increasing due to natural increase and influx of rural population. Bangladesh is over burden with its huge population and its fast growth rate. As per the observation of the World Bank the total population of Bangladesh was 12.20 cores in 1996 out of which 2.40 cores living urban areas. The urban population will be 5.20 cores by the year 2001 and by the year of 2020 it will be 8 cores.

This situation of excessive urban population has resulted in a very serious housing crisis all over the country especially in the capital city, Dhaka.

To meet up this housing crisis many real estate companies have been established in major divisional cities, mainly in Dhaka.

Basically, the term real estate as commonly used has two meanings- i) it is a name given to a commodity “reality” which includes not only land but also all human improvements placed on the land. ii) it is the name given to a business engaged in by those persons who conduct commercial transactions in real estate. The basic component of reality as a commodity is land. It means not only the surface of the earth but also the property rights and interests that attach to ownership of reality. Including subsurface minerals.

Real estate correctly refers to collection of rights associated with real actions. Because real property refers to these same rights, the two terms – real estate and real property are commonly used interchangeably in practice and occasionally in this text.

For the fulfillment of the choice and demand of today’s customer, the private real estate marketers are planning, designing, constructing, and selling multi-story buildings that are generally called apartment. The developers company grouped themselves under a common platform – REHAB (Real Estate Housing Association of Bangladesh). The association started its sail from January 1992 with only 9 members and continued such till 2005.  At present 161 companies are the members of this association.      

In this paper, the researcher will be engaged to measure perceived quality of the apartments of Tropical Homes Ltd. and Habitat Ltd. from the view point of consumer’s perceptions.

Table 1.1 Now comparative positions of these two companies are shown in the following table:

Title Name of the company
Tropical Homes Ltd. Habitat Ltd.
Year of establishment 1996 1994
Legal status Private limited company Private limited company
Management structure Structured  Structured
Number of completed projects 12 25
Number of ongoing projects 16 4
Areas where the companies projects are Dhanmondi, Tegaon, Mogbazar, Firmgate, Baridhara, Uttara, Segunbagicha, Mirpur, Greenroad, & Elephant road etc. Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Mogbazar, Bonani, Baridhara, Uttara, Eskaton, & Mirpur etc.
Promotional tools / advertising media News paper, magazine, hoarding, neon sign, internet brochure, & personal selling News paper,  internet brochure, reference group & personal selling

Source: Survey data

Product attributes are major stimuli that influence consumer affect, cognition and behaviors. Consumers in terms of their own values, beliefs, and past experiences may evaluate the attributes. As quality is one kind of abstract attribute, which represents intangible, so the beliefs about the apartments may be suitable location, reasonable price, standard security facilities, credit facilities, minimum delivery time, attractive design, parking facilities, interior decoration, availability of power supply, transportation and communication facilities, Commitment. Lift facilities. Gardening. Medical facilities etc. Because people’s cognitive capacity is limited, only a few of these beliefs can be activated and consciously considered at once. The activated beliefs of apartment may be the suitable location, reasonable price, standard security facilities, credit facilities, minimum delivery time, attractive design, parking facilities, interior decoration, availability of power supply, transportation and communication facilities etc. And, only the salient beliefs about an object cause or create a person’s attitude toward the product. So, for measuring the perceived quality of the apartments of Tropical Homes Ltd. and Habitat Ltd. the dimensions of quality are compared. 

The researcher thinks with his intuition that both companies Tropical Homes Ltd. and Habitat Ltd. should consider the quality of their apartment and try to know the consumers perception regarding the perceived quality of products of the companies for performing better in future. 

1.2 Background of the Study

Quality can be defined as “freedoms from defects”. But most customer- centered go beyond this narrow definition of quality. Instead, they defined quality in terms of customer satisfaction.  

Preferences differ depending on a wide variety of factors, such as, suitable location, reasonable price, standard security facilities, credit facilities, minimum delivery time, attractive design, parking facilities, interior decoration, availability of power supply, transportation and communication facilities etc. These factors must be measured. Although essentially a relative term (it may be expressed as high, low, first-class, poor, etc.) quality most commonly refers to a degree of excellence or finesse-often in conformance to a reestablished standard. Consumers can have knowledge about the attributes or characteristics of products, the consequences of using products, and the values that products may help consumers to achieve. Product attributes included both the concrete and abstract attributes. Knowledge about abstract attributes represents intangible, subjective characteristics of a product. And consumer’s knowledge about concrete attributes represents tangible, physical characteristics of a product. Product attributes are major stimuli that influence consumer affect, cognitions and behaviors. Much study has operated on perceived quality of the product. Garvin (1984) proposed five approaches in defining quality such as, transcendent approach, product-based approach and value-based approach (see Table1.2). Among these five approaches, user-based definitions are generally equated with “perceived quality” (Zeithaml 1988). The major focus of perceived quality is the customer’s satisfaction and related subjective perceptions of the product attributes (Garvin 1984).

Zeithaml – (1988), mentioned, “What constitutes value, even in a single product category, appears to be highly personal and idiosyncratic”. Based on the responses from an exploratory study she grouped into four-consumer definition of value. These are: (a) value is low price, (b) value is whatever I want in a product, (c) value is the quality I get for the price I pay, and (d) value is what I get for what I give. In doing so, Zeithaml noted that the first group of respondents indicated that what they had to give up was most salient in their in their perceptions of value. The second group of respondents emphasized the benefits they received from the product as the most important components of value. The third group of respondents perceived value as a tradeoff between one “give” component, price, and one “get” component, quality. The final group of respondents conceptualized all relevant “get” components as well as relevant “give” components when describing value. Thus, the same way, this study utilizes Zeithaml’s (1988) definition for the development of perceived value measures.

Table 1.2 Approaches in Defining Quality (by Garvin, 1984 b)

Definitions Specific Examples
Transcendent Approach Quality, like beauty, can only be understood after one is successively exposed to the characteristics of an object.
Product-based Approach This approach views quality as a measurable variable. It assumes that if a product possesses more desired attributes than other products, the product is considered as a higher quality.
User-based Approach Product that better satisfy consumers is high quality product. If a product doe’s boot satisfies consumer, the product cannot be a higher quality product even though it has objectively better characteristics.
Manufacturing-based Approach The essence of this approach concerned with engineering and manufacturing practice. The primary emphasis is production control to reduce overall costs of producing a product.
Value-based Approach This approach suggests that the quality product is one, which performs satisfactorily at a reasonable cost.

 

Steenkamp (1990), defined perceived quality as, an idiosyncratic value judgment with respect to fitness for consumption, which is best up on the conscious and / or unconscious processing of quality cues in relation to relevant quality attributes within the context of significant personal situational variables. 

Dodds, monroe, and grewal proposed a model in which they afford that (a) perceived quality and perceived sacrifice are the antecedents of perceived value, i.e., consumer’s perceptions of value. Are based on a tradeoff between product quality and monetary sacrifice; and, (b) brand name, sacrifice, i.e., consumer’s perceptions of product quality and monetary sacrifice can be based on extrinsic cues, such as price, brand, and store name. Dodds et al. tested direct and indirect relationships between three extrinsic product cues and two evaluative variables suggesting the price, brand name, and store name are associated with quality and value perceptions. As consumer attitudes significantly affect their behavioral responses to marketing activities, knowledge of consumer’s attitudes toward marketing has been used in economic forecast and found to be linked to several key macroeconomic variables (Chopin and Darrat 2000). Such information can also help devising effective strategies for companies as well as developing regulations by government agencies to protect consumers’ interests. In general, researchers have focused on a central issue- what causes the differences in consumer’s attitudes toward marketing activities?  Webster (1991), for instance, found significant differences in consumer attitudes toward various marketing practices including product quality, pricing, advertising, and retailing or selling; however, many of the differences remained even after social class and income effects were removed. Therefore, what factors cause the differences in the marketplace demand clarification? Recent theories in social psychology assume that people may have different attitudes toward an object at the same time, one that is explicit and one that is implicit (Wilson, Lindsey and Schooler, 2000). Although implicit attitudes are not necessarily subject to introspection they may nevertheless influence information processing and behavior. 

1.3 Importance of the Study

As the consumer is the king, so it is necessary to know about the beliefs, tastes and preferences of the consumers. The business success depends on the ability to grow the positive perception of the consumers about the product quality. By performing this study the quality dimensions of apartment projects of Tropical Homes Ltd. and Habitat Ltd will be measured. And the impact of specific attributes on quality will be identified. However, both companies will be compared from the consumer perceive quality perspective. So this study will contribute to take the right decisions to develop the product on the basis of quality. And by adopting proper marketing strategy the company will be able to strongly positioning the product in the market place for gaining the competitive advantage. In this way, the company can easily cope with the desire market. And this study will also help to develop my practical knowledge in the marketing field.

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Importance of the Study

REVIEW OF THE RELEVENT LITERATURE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Literature Review of the Study

Research Questions / Problems

OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS

Objectives of the Study

Hypothesis of the Study

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Pretests

Sample and Sampling Procedure

Data collection Method and Procedure

Design of the Study

RESULTS

Overall attitude measurement

Tests of Hypothesis

DISCUSSION

Limitations and Future Research

Recommendations of the study

Conclusion

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

 

REFERENCES

The Daily Star, December 25, 2004, Vol. xiv, No. 331, P. 6

Roy Shib Shankar, (2001), A Research Report Entitled “Marketing of Real Estate Housing in Bangladesh: A Study in Dhaka and Chittagong city”, ADP, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, (P.) 1. 

Alam M.S. “For Better Living”, The Daily Star, September 2, 1996, p.14

Roy Shib Shankar, (2002) “Real Estate marketing of Bangladesh: problems and prospects” Journal of the Institute of Bangladesh Studies. vol. XXV. (P.) 108

Corgel, Ling & Smith, (2001), “An Introduction of Real Estate” 4th edition, published by McGraw – Hill / Irwin, an imprint of the McGraw – Hill Companies, (p.) 11-12

Zeithaml, Valarie A. (1988), “Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a Means - End Model and Synthesis of Evidence” Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52 (July), 2-22

Steenkamp. Jan – Benedict E. M. (1990), “Conceptual model of the quality perception process”, Journal of business research, 21 (December), 309-333.

Dodds, William B., Kent B. Monroe, and Dhruv Grewal (1991), “Effects of price, Brand and Store Information on Buyers Product Evaluation”, Journal of Marketing Research, 28 (August), 307-319

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Malhotra Naresh K, Hall John, Shaw Mike and Crisp Mike (2003), “Marketing Research”, Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited. (P.) 52.

Kothery C. R. (2001) “Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques” 2nd edition, (New Delhi, India: Wishwa Prakashan). P.2.

Crisp, Richard D. (1957), Marketing Research, New York: McGraw Hill Book Co.

Malhotra Naresh K, Hall John, Shaw Mike and Crisp Mike (2003), “Marketing Research”, Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited. (P.) 53. 

Kothery C. R. “Research Methodology: Methods & Techniques 2nd edition, (New Delhi, India: Wishwa Prakashan, 2001). (P.) 10

Roy Shib Shankar, A Research Report Entitled “Marketing of Real Estate Housing in Bangladesh: A Study in Dhaka and Chittagong city”, ADP, Rajshahi University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, (P.) 10. 

Malhotra Naresh K, Hall John, Shaw Mike and Crisp Mike; Marketing Research, Published by Asoke K. Ghosh, Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited (2003). (P.) 328.

Oldson, Peter (1993), “Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy,” 3rd edition Irwin, P. 189



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