Comparison of GSM Promotion Subscribers’ Application Services
Chapter One
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this project is to create a system to compare and estimate promotion subscriptions. The system developed should be able to:
- Compare GSM promotion subscribers’
- Compare selected GSM promotion subscriptions using multivariate analysis and Scheffe’s Method of Pair Wise Multiple Comparison technique.
CHAPTER TWO
THEORITICAL BACKGROUND/LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
When identifying and designing the proposed system, the theoretical background and review of related literatures have been carried out. The first section describes the theoretical background concerning GSM promotion (section 2.1). In section 2.2, overview about statistical model or computer science model used by the researcher in the related area has been reviewed. The application of multivariate analysis and Scheffe’s Method of Pair Wise Multiple Comparison techniques as related to comparing GSM promotion subscriptions have been reviewed. In the same section, complexity of comparison of GSM promotion subscribers’ application services methods was also reviewed. The choice of multivariate analysis and Scheffe’s Method of Pair Wise Multiple Comparison techniques was also stated.
Theoretical Background
Observing that subscribers are facing rising competition and that losses have been on the rise, comparison and selection of promotion subscribers has become a dominant factor on the faces of both subscribers and operators. Comparison of Promotion Subscribers is considered as attractive from the subscriber’s point of view, since no special equipment is needed, and the subscribers’ data set in question is easily seen as a driving force for the selection and subscription.
The world of GSM progresses with a long history of competition but the creative methods engaged by operators in designing promotion products call for continuous improvements on the solutions deployed to compare the associated promotion subscribers. In spite of the fact that global GSM Operators have extorted significant amounts of money due to promotion activity in their networks, large numbers of subscribers are still not addressing this critical issue. In many cases, they even feel that such extortion does not exist. Despite the fact that one wishes that such extortion does not exist; it has eaten deep into domestic financial disposition. Domestic income losses due to GSM promotion activity are often swept under the carpet.
GSM Promotion
According to Kotler et al. (2010) promotion is the activities that communicate about the products or services and its potential merits to the target customers and
eventually persuades them to buy. Rowley (1994) considers promotion as one of the media which is used by organizations to communicate with consumers with respect to their product offerings. Kotler and Armstrong (2010) stated that promotion is when companies inform, persuade, or remind customers and the general public of its products. GSM promotion is a tool that can help Mobile Network Operators in the achievement of their objectives as outlined by Kotler et al and Rowley. GSM Promotion is concerned with ensuring that subscribers are aware about the network service providers and its products that are available to them. Promotions impact consumers’ purchasing behavior and decisions towards that particular brand, especially during sales promotion period. Only a few have investigated the lag effect of sales promotions on brand preference and the resultant buying behavior once the promotion campaign is rescinded. GSM Promotion goes beyond mere communication of product awareness but involves inducing the subscriber to remain in the business royalty.
The rapid forces of globalization, change and competition have compelled network service providers in Nigeria to formulate marketing strategy and mix that operate beyond the present market challenges by satisfying current subscribers and entice a sizeable proportion of the target market in the long run through a continuous modification of its promotional tools. GSM Promotion is an important mix because the subscribers are informed about the new products and their attributes before they develop positive attitudes toward them. It is a way to persuade and informing the target market about the product existence and hence like the product.
Totten & Block (1994) stated that the term sales promotion refers to many kinds of selling incentives and techniques intended to produce immediate or short-term sales effects. Typical sales promotion includes coupons, samples, in-pack premiums, price- offs, displays, etc.
According to Ndubisi & Chew (2006), In term of coupon promotions, those consumers obtained coupon are entitled to get discount of the products at its original price while Gilbert and Jackaria (2002) concurring to the popularity of coupon reported that coupon is ranked last as the promotional least widely used by consumers and least influence on product trial. Peter and Olson (1996) view trial ability as the degree to which a product can be tried on a limited basis or divided into small quantities for an inexpensive trial.
According to Schindler (1998), a price promotion that is designed to evoke attributions of responsibility could be expected to appeal to consumers more than one that does not evoke such attributions, and thus have a greater ability to create product trial among consumers.
According to Shimp (2000) “Sales promotions are marketing communications activities used to encourage the trade and/or end customer to purchase or take other relevant action by affecting the perceived value of the product being promoted or to otherwise motivate action to be taken.” Shimp (2003) viewed sales promotion as any incentive used by a manufacturer to induce the trade or consumers to buy a brand and to encourage the sales force to aggressively sell it. Sales promotion refers to “short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service (Kotler et al. (2005)). Sales promotions could be in form of monetary and non-monetary ones. These types provide both utilitarian and hedonic benefits to the subscribers. Utilitarian benefits refer to such benefits such as quality, convenience in shopping, saving in time efforts and cost (Luk and Yip (2008)). Hedonic benefits on the other hand refer to value expression, exploration, entertainment, intrinsic stimulation and self esteem (Chandon, Wansink and Laurent (2000)). According to Luk and Yip (2008) monetary promotions are incentive- based and transactional in nature and provide immediate rewards and utilitarian benefits to the customers. However, non-monetary promotions provide hedonic benefits but weaker utilitarian benefits (Kwok and Uncles (2005)).
Monetary promotion have been reported to be preferred over non-monetary promotion across all consumer goods in terms of their ability to elicit purchase intentions (Luk and Yip (2008); Kwok and Uncles (2005)). Several other studies had reported different impact of sales promotion on subscriber behavior. For example, Blatterger and Wisniewski (1989) reported that consumer gain more from price cut when buying an established up-market brand than a mass market brand. Pauwels, Hanssens and Siddarth (2002) argued that price promotion elicits temporary changes in brand and product choices and purchased quantity for established brand in mature market. These changes are because up-market brands are associated with prestigious brand with high level of reliability, low level of risks, greater concerns for customer’s needs and stronger hedonic benefits (Luk and Yip (2008)). It is not settled in literature whether sales promotion can enhance or undermine brand preference beyond the time they are offered (Luk and Yip (2008); DelVecchio, Henard, Freling (2006)). In the light of all these arguments, an intelligent system that is capable of comparing the promotion subscriptions as a measure of the subscribers’ behavior towards the promotion products will serve better.
Monetary sales promotions could lead to negative impact on brand preference and trust. This is because monetary promotion can divert attention to financial incentives which may encourage brand switching behavior, increase price sensitivity and make quality criterion less important (Aaker (1996); Manaled et al (2007)). Gedenk and Neslin (1999) argued further that sales promotion can lead to a significant decrease in brand loyalty. From the above discussions sales promotion seem to have double-edge impact on subscribers’ behavior depending on the subscribers’ level of commitment. A committed subscriber is less receptive of sales promotional efforts. However, a less committed subscriber is highly influenced by sales promotional efforts (Mariole and Elina (2005)). This means the GSM subscriber’s behavior is the direct measure of GSM promotion. Therefore, these findings suggest a need for more research on comparison of GSM promotion subscribers’ application services in Nigeria.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Introduction
Here all activities, tools and deliverables involved in the system analysis and design are discussed.
Data Gathering
In this study, the list of GSM promotion subscribers’ datasets about five major GSM network operators in Nigeria was acquired from twenty states across the six geo- political zones through Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The datasets consists of six attributes. These attributes are state, Glo promotion subscribers, MTN promotion subscribers, Etisalat promotion subscribers, Airtel promotion subscribers, and Visafone promotion subscribers. The dataset has 20 subscribers’ dataset for each of the GSM Operator mentioned above. Table 3.1 shows the sample datasets described above.
Table 3.1: Five major GSM Operators Promotion Subscribers’ Datasets Collected Quarterly in Nigeria.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
Introduction
This chapter contains description of the general implementation architecture of the comparison of GSM promotion subscribers’ application system in GSM network environment, the system specifications, the development environment, system integration & testing and documentations.
The Implementation Architecture
Figure 4.1 is the implementation architecture of the proposed system. It described the transformation/implementation process of the state of data from GSM promotion subscribers’ data to the output data.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Introduction
In this chapter, a brief summary of achievements on the research project was presented. The recommendations that will serve as guidelines to assist researchers in further studies were made. Finally, conclusion on the research project was presented.
Summary of Achievements
The purpose of this research was to create a system to compare and estimate promotion subscriptions. The empirical investigation has been triggered by the degree of mystification/fantasy and inventiveness of GSM network providers and domestic income diminution by GSM subscribers due to GSM promotion products. Consequently, the focus was on the description of the problem under investigation, the choice of multivariate analysis and Scheffe’s Method of Pair Wise Multiple Comparison techniques, the system analysis and design, system implementation, the interpretation of results that subsequently led to the findings and the performance evaluation of the system.
Recommendations
This system application was developed for comparing promotion subscription data in telecommunications using multivariate analysis of variance and Scheffe’s method of pair wise multiple comparisons. This will help comparing promotion subscription data on telecommunication’s future data. The researcher recommends that this application should be put to its intended use to complement the existing manual promotion comparison system in place or to help human experts in filtering promotion subscription data but not to entirely replace human experts as it will increase effectiveness of comparing and selecting the best promotion in telecommunication world.
Suggested Areas for Further Studies
The following areas are suggested for further research:
- Further research has to be made on comparison of GSM promotion products nationwide to confirm the significance of each promotion product.
- More so, further research has to be made on extension and modification to this method of comparing subscription data using Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Scheffe’s Method to achieve better performance and a better degree of automation, like increased speed of comparison with a large amount of
Conclusion
This study has demonstrated that Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Scheffe’s Method can be employed to improve the comparison of GSM promotion subscribers’ data and give the best recommendation to the user on suitable and widely used GSM network in a state or region or Nigeria as a whole. The objectives of this research study as outlined in chapter one, have been met. The aims of this research have been identified and related to the need for the creation of a sophisticated system to compare and estimate GSM promotion subscribers’ data in Nigeria.
The GSM promotion subscribers’ comparison system using Multivariate Analysis of Variance and Scheffe’s Method is developed to minimize the degree of illusion and domestic revenue wastages by GSM subscribers due to GSM promotion products. Besides that, this system can serve as an advisor to GSM network provides in order to conquer the ordeal of the competitive market in GSM world. The development of this system is very important and contributes to the nation’s economic performance.
References
- Aaker, D. A. (1996). Measuring brand equity across products and markets. California Management Review, 38 (1), 100-120.
- Abrams, M. D. and J. W. Cotton, The Service Concept Applied to Computer Networks, National Bureau of Standards, Technical Note 880, August 1975.
- Abrams, M. D. and S. Treu, “A Methodology for Interactive Computer Service Measurement,” Communications of the ACM, to be published.
- Alvin C. Rencher (2002): Methods of Multivariate Analysis, Second Edition, a Publication of John Wiley & Sons INC.
- Bechhofer, R. E., “A Single-Sample Multiple Decision Procedure for Ranking Means of Normal Populations with Known Variances,” Annals of Mathetnatical Statistics, Vol. 25,1954, pp. 16-39.
- Bechhofer, R. E., C. W. Dunnett, and M. Sobel, “A Two-Sample Multiple Decision Procedure for Ranking Means of Normal Populations with a Common Unknown Variance,” Biometrika, Vol. 41,1954, pp. 170-176.
