Internship report (final)

Overview of Grameenphone

1.0 Introduction GrameenPhone Limited is the largest telecom operator in Bangladesh. In fact, most of the development of the telecom market of this country can be attributed to this company. At the current moment, the company has 62.8% of the mobile market share.

Grameenphone (GP) has been established to provide high-quality GSM cellular service at affordable prices. The company has a dual purpose: 

To receive an economic return on its investment



To contribute to the economic development of Bangladesh Grameenphone was offered a cellular license in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Posts and

Telecommunications on November 28, 1996. The Company launched its service on March 26, 1997, the Independence Day of Bangladesh.

In 1996, Bangladesh was preparing to auction off private cell phone licenses to four companies. So at the behest of Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank’s founder) but completely independent of Grameen Bank, a not-for-profit private company called Grameen Telecom was created. Grameen Telecom, in turn, created a for-profit company called Grameenphone, found a foreign partner, and put in a bid; Grameenphone received one of the four licenses. Grameenphone total capitalization was US$120,000,000, including around US$50 million from IFC/CDC, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

It also received US$60 million in equity from the four Grameenphone private partners. These were the Norwegian elenor with a 51% share, Marubeni of Japan with a 9.5% share, and the American

Gonophone at 4.5%. Grameenphone’s fourth partner is Grameen Telecom (with 35%), and Grameen Telecom borrowed US$10.6 million from the Open Society Institute to set up Village Phone.

Grameenphone launched service in urban Dhaka on March 26, 1997. It makes its profits by serving wealthier urban customers. But from the point of view of the Grameen family and its strong antipoverty mission, the for-profit, urban-only Grameenphone exists for only one reason: to fund, with its profits, the extension of cell phones into rural Bangladesh in order to provide entrepreneurial opportunity to Grameen Bank members through Village Phone. As Dr. Yunus puts it, "Grameenphone is merely what we need to do Grameen Telecom’s Village Phone."

Grameenphone has 2 shareholders - Telenor & Grameen Telecom.

Telenor Grameen Telecom Grameen Telecom 38%

Telenor 62%

Figure 1: Shareholding structure of GrameenPhone The shareholders of Grameenphone contribute their unique, in-depth experience in both telecommunications and development.

The international shareholder brings technological and business management expertise while the local shareholder provides a presence throughout Bangladesh and a deep understanding of its economy.

Both are dedicated to Bangladesh and its struggle for economic progress and have a deep commitment to Grameenphone and its mission to provide affordable telephony to the entire population of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is an attractive market for mobile services due to its large and highly concentrated population, very low penetration of telecommunications services, and high growth in mobile subscribers. With approximately 140 million inhabitants, it ranks as the eighth most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated, of which only 5 million (approx.) people have cellular phones.

Along with the spectacular growth, since its inception on March 26, 1997, GrameenPhone has the widest coverage in Bangladesh. The company is planning to increase the network coverage to 94% of the population from the current 80% within this year.

The internationally acclaimed Village Phone Program of GrameenPhone is another initiative, which provides telephone services in remote rural areas where no such facilities existed before. There are now more than 110,000 Village Phones in operation in some 44,000 villages around the country.

1.1 Vision & Values of GrameenPhone 1.1.1 Vision of GrameenPhone: We’re here to help This means that we help our customers get the best out of communications services in their daily lives by making it easy to buy and use our services, delivering on our promises, being respectful of differences and inspiring people both inside and outside the company to reach higher goals.

1.1.2 Values of GrameenPhone GP’s Values help fulfill its Vision. These highly maintained values are described below: Make it easy This means – “We are all about making things easy. Easy to understand, easy to use and easy to get hold of products and services. Easy and helpful working relationships. We offer real value. We are about making things more simple and mutually-beneficial for everyone with whom we come in contact with on a day-to-day basis.”

Keep promises This means – “We are about delivery, not over-promising. For us, actions speak louder than words.

We try to clearly understand our audience’s needs and respond accordingly. We are clear, to-the-point and focused in our behaviours and actions. We deliver upon, and exceed expectations.”

Be inspiring This means – “We are innovative and quality-driven in what we do and how we do things. We are closely involved in our community and with our employees. We lead by example; we value our customer’s relationships and feedback with us and are constantly open to new ideas.

We drive the

mobile communications market in Bangladesh.”

Be respectful This means – “We are helpful, open and friendly. We are respectful and professional with all our interactions, internally, externally. We must always keep in mind that our success is based on having loyal, satisfied and supportive customers, employees and partners. We are confident, without being arrogant.”

1.2 The Strategy of GrameenPhone GrameenPhone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. In contrast to the “island” strategy followed by some companies, which involves connecting isolated islands of urban coverage through transmission links, GrameenPhone builds continuous coverage, cell after cell.

While the

intensity of coverage may vary from area to area depending on market conditions, the basic strategy of cell-to-cell coverage is applied throughout GrameenPhone’s network.

The People The people who are making it happen – the employees – are young, dedicated and energetic. All of them are well educated at home or abroad, with both sexes (genders) and minority groups in Bangladesh being well represented. They know in their hearts that GrameenPhone is more than just

about phones. This sense of purpose gives them the dedication and the drive, producing – in about three years – the biggest coverage and subscriber-base in the country. GrameenPhone knows that the talents and energy of its employees are critical to its operation and treats them accordingly.

The Technology GrameenPhone’s Global System for Mobile or GSM technology is the most widely accepted digital system in the world, currently used by over 300 million people in 150 countries. GSM brings the most advanced developments in cellular technology at a reasonable cost by spurring severe competition among manufacturers and driving down the cost of equipment.

The Service GrameenPhone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good development.

Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity.

This gain in productivity is

development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating a good business.

Thus development and business go together.

The Result By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, GrameenPhone is delivering the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the poor and unconnected. By being able to connect to urban areas or even to foreign countries, a whole new world of opportunity is opening up for the villagers in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank borrowers who provide the services are uplifting themselves economically through a new means of income generation while at the same time providing valuable phone service to their fellow villagers. According to the company the telephone is a weapon against poverty.

1.3 Overview of Telecommunication Industry in Bangladesh The telecom industry in Bangladesh is composed of a few players. The main reason for such a small numbers is the regularization of the industry by the government. For years, the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) had been the sole player in the market. Bangladesh Telecom Limited (BTL)

was the first entrant in the market back in 1989 when it was awarded a license to operate cellular, paging and other wireless communication networks in the country. Since then, it has been renamed to Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) and given the brand name CityCell Digital to its cellular services. Grameenphone Ltd., AKTEL and Banglalink have entered the industry with various changes in between. BTRC has formed Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd. on behalf of the government with an aim to bring price levels down and make cellular technology available to the mass public. The industry is also set to accept several more players, with licenses to operate PSTN or fixed phone lines being distributed to operators – ending the long fixed line monopoly enjoyed by BTTB. While the market for mobile phones, specifically, has been growing steadily since its introduction back in 1993, in the past few months the market has more than doubled, growing from 1.5 million subscribers in 2003 to over 20 million at present.

On the other hand, BTTB, the oldest telephone operator in the market is in the late maturity stage.

Their demands have leveled out and it is not increasing even though they cover the rural areas. The growth of the mobile industry is the main reason for the demise of BTTB. 1.4 Major players in the Market There are currently six telecom operators in the market. They are – 1. GrameenPhone Limited 2. AKTel 3. Banglalink GSM 4. CityCell Digital 5. Teletalk Bangladesh Limited 6. Warid Telecom International Limited AKTel

TM International is a joint venture between Telekom Malaysia Sdn. Bhd of Malayasia and A. K. Khan and Company Ltd. of Bangladesh with A. K. Khan and Company holding 30% of the share. AKTel came into operation on November 15, 1997. At the current moment, it has over 3.4 million subscribers.

Banglalink GSM Banglalink entered the market in September 2004 with a large hype. Unlike other operators, it entered the market with an already established network by acquiring Sheba Telecom – the worst performing telecom operator then.

Immediately recognizing the negative image of the previous

company, the Orascom owned subsidiary re-branded itself as Banglalink. The company immediately started making heavy investments in expanding and improving the network. Its heavy spending has created a strong brand presence in the market as well. Very recently it has crossed over 2.8 million subscribers.

City Cell Digital The oldest mobile operator in the country seems to be the most in trouble. It is the only operator with CDMA connection. Despite being the first company in the market, it had failed to reap any of the benefits of being the first entrant. With its initial exorbitant pricing, inability to use cheaply available sets from the market and a poor quality network created a really poor image for the company. Although it has recently started offering the lowest prices in the market, it failed completely to gain market share and is constantly falling behind.

Teletalk Bangladesh Limited Teletalk Bangladesh Limited (TBL) is formed as Public limited company under the Companies Act 1994 on 26th December 2004 of the country. Therefore it is a Govt. owned company. Teletalk is the operational entity of BTTB Mobile Project. Teletalk launched its Mobile Telecom service on commercial basis on 31st March 2005.

Although a new entrant, Teletalk is staffed by experienced Telecom Engineers Committed to accessibility, quality, coverage and price Teletalk launched it's much anticipated Mobile Telecom service on commercial basis on 31st March 2005.

Warid Telecom International Limited Owned by the Dhabi group from UK, it is the latest entrant in Bangladesh. However, Warid has very recently started its operation and is yet to create any significant impact on the market.

Competitive Scenario In the competitive scenario only five major players’ statistics are considered. Market information of Warid Telecom is not yet available, since the company is a new competitor in the market.

1.5 Services Offered By GrameenPhone 1.5.1 Company Service Grameenphone believes in service, a service that leads to good business and good development.

Telephony helps people work together, raising their productivity.

This gain in productivity is

development, which in turn enables them to afford a telephone service, generating a good business.

Thus development and business go together.

1.5.2 Service for the Rural Poor Establishing a nationwide network gives fair access to all geographical areas. From a business point of view, this strategy serves both the long distances as well as the rural markets. This emphasis on rural coverage brings a much-needed infrastructure in the underdeveloped rural areas. In collaboration with Grameen Bank, which provides micro-credit only to the rural poor, GrameenPhone utilizes the bank borrowers to retail telecom services in the rural areas. Leveraging on Grameen Bank borrowers reduces the distribution costs of Grameen Phone's rural services, contributing to the profitability of this segment.

By bringing electronic connectivity to rural Bangladesh, Grameenphone is bringing the digital revolution to the doorsteps of the rural poor and unconnected.

1.5.3 Village Phone Program The Village Phone program is Grameen Phone's unique method of bringing connectivity to the rural areas of Bangladesh. This program enables Grameen Bank's borrowers to retail telephone service in their respective villages, and has the potential to penetrate the rural areas rapidly and effectively.

A typical Grameen Bank borrower takes a loan of Tk 6000 without collateral from the Bank to purchase, say, a cow. The cow would then produce milk that the borrower could sell to her neighbours enabling her to make a living and pay off the loan. The process allows the poorest of the poor to stand up on their feet. In the case of Village Phone, a telephone also acts as an income generating mechanism for a borrower; a telephone serves as another "cow." A woman borrows about Tk 20,000 from the Bank and purchases a handset and sell telephone services to the villagers, making a living and thus paying off her loan. It creates a self-employment opportunity in each village and provides access to telephones to all.

Grameen Telecom, Grameen Bank's arm for administering the Village Phone operators, typically selects women by considering past borrowing records with the Bank. There are 2144 Village Phones in operation today and soon thousands of Village Phones around the country are expected across rural Bangladesh.

1.6 Products Of GrameenPhone Grameen phone offer their products under 3 different brand names – 

Grameenphone



djuice



Business Solutions

The products offered are –



xplore Package 1- Post paid with PSTN connectivity



xplore Package 2 -Post-Paid with PSTN connectivity with monthly package fee



SMILE M2M- Prepaid with mobile to mobile connectivity.



SMILE PSTN -Prepaid with PSTN connectivity



Djuice - Prepaid with mobile to mobile targeted for youth with life style benefits



Business Solutions Prepaid - Prepaid with PSTN connectivity



Business Solutions Postpaid - Postpaid with PSTN connectivity targeted for Business Segment



GP Public Phone



o

Post-Paid with PSTN connectivity

o

targeted for PCO segment

Village Phone o

Postpaid with PSTN connectivity

o

subsidized tariff

1.7 CSR Activities of GrameenPhone The most significant CSR activity of GP is the Grameenphone Community Information Centre (GPCIC) 

GPCIC is a place where people can access information & communicate with family/friends living home/abroad through internet.



It uses the simplest technology. The internet connection is provided by an edge modem and an edge enabled SIM.



CICs are designed to be run independently as small businesses by local entrepreneurs. GP provides training, 3 SIM cards and marketing materials to these entrepreneurs free of cost.



Currently 557 CICs are running in 434 Upazillas in 6 divisions.



GP is rolling out Community Information Centers across rural Bangladesh giving people in remote areas the chance to use internet based services e.g. E-mail, browsing, voice chatting, video conferencing and so on.

Among other CSR activities there are – 

Computers to schools and institutions



Long term funding of orphanage



Road beautification projects



Raising funds for tsunami victims



Earthquake Preparedness program



A number of socio-cultural activities



It has contributed hugely to the re development of the rural areas, after the entire country was attacked by the storm “CIDR” in November this year.

2.0 Problem Statement Competition has now emerged in a large scale in the cell phone industry of Bangladesh. As a result, the subscribers now have various alternatives to choose according to their convenience. Therefore, to maintain the leading position in the market the company has to identify the factors related to competitiveness of product and service. The relational study extends and investigates if there is any relationship between the consumer perception and competitiveness of product and services in the context of GrameenPhone Ltd. 2.1 Purpose of the study The aim of this research paper is to examine whether there is any relation between consumer perception and competitiveness of product and services in the context of GrameenPhone Ltd. 2.2 Significance of the study

This research would help GrameenPhone to maintain its competitiveness in the market, by giving importance to the consumer perception of it product and services. The present market scenario tells us about the story of the business rivalry between the telecom service providers in Bangladesh. By showing more importance to its consumers perception would help the company to take the edge over its competitors.

2.3 Research Timeline Date

Activities

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------22nd August, 2007 – 30th August, 2007

Problem Searching

1st September, 2007- 20th September, 2007

Proposal Writing

25th September, 2007 –25th October, 2007

Data Collection, Literature Review

27th October, 2007 –15th November, 2007

Research Methodology, Data Analysis

16th November, 2007 – 28th November, 2007

Completing & Submission of report

3.0 Review of the related literature The 2 important constructs has been highlighted in this paper, competitiveness and consumer perception, of product and services. These 2 refers to the co relational analysis between them and how they help a company perform and take the edge over other competitors. The following table shows the market size of the telecom service subscriber and the penetration rate.

Factors Total Telecom subscriber (GSM +

In numbers 21.43 million

Penetration 14.31%

CDMA + Fixed) Total Fixed Line subscriber CDMA subscriber GSM subscriber

1.23 million 1.03 million 19.16 million

0.83% 0.69% 13.48%

Table 1: Market size & Penetration rate 3.1 Consumer Perception

Consumers’ perception of quality has received considerable interest in relation to the investigation of consumer buying choice (e.g. Babin and Darden, 1996). Perceived quality has been shown to affect, e.g. perceived value (Chang and Wildt, 1994), satisfaction, and loyalty (Hansen, 2001). It is therefore highly relevant for consumer and service providers, among others, to gain insight into the consumer quality perception process in order to reach the desired position in the market. Due to the potential complexity of the perceptual process several problems may, however, arise in connection hereto. For example, the way consumers perceive the quality of a product before a purchase is often different from the way quality is perceived after consumption (Jover et al., 2004). The perception of quality in the usage situation may therefore be important for the consumer’s future associations between quality stimuli and quality benefits, and consequently, for the a priori beliefs of the consumer in the next purchasing situation (Kopalle and Lehmann, 1995). This suggests that an understanding of the perception process in relation to product quality should be sought on the basis of both the purchasing and the usage situation. As another example, the quality perception process may be moderated by a number of both personal (e.g. involvement, past experiences and the like) and situational variables (e.g. physical surroundings, buying purpose, and the like), which also must be taken into account when seeking to understand consumers’ perception of product and service quality. It is probably impossible to define any unambiguous interpretation of quality, which can be applied to all consumers in relation to all products and service in all situations. The perception of the quality of product and services is a result of an interaction between the consumer’s conceptual perception and the consumer’s subjective assessment of a product’s quality in a given situation. A study of consumer perception must therefore aim at mapping various aspects of the applicable products, situations and people which, taken as a whole, lead to variations in consumer perception. On the basis of such considerations the first purpose of this paper is to develop a framework, which may serve as a frame of reference for the study of a consumers’ perception process.

3.2 Competitiveness Competitiveness means different things to different organizations. Some organizations view competitiveness as the ability to persuade customers to choose their offerings over alternatives while others view competitiveness as the ability to improve continuously process capabilities. In other words, core competences as well as capabilities that drive such competences are considered to form the essence of competitiveness. However, these factors are interrelated and difficult to quantify, thereby reducing the potential of their application in the process of strategy development. There is a need for a holistic definition of competitiveness that makes it possible to determine the competitive position of an organization in a measurable form. Such a measurement should allow a comparison of the competitive position of an organization against that of its competitors.

Competitiveness is relative and not absolute. It depends on shareholder and customer values, financial strength which determines the ability to act and react within the competitive environment and the potential of people and technology in implementing the necessary strategic changes.

Competitiveness can only be sustained if an appropriate balance is maintained between these factors, which can be of a conflicting nature.

Competitiveness may be examined at any of the following levels of aggregation / disaggregation: 

Individual transaction,



Individual product/service,



Product line,



Company,



Industry and



Economy.

Competitiveness will be examined at the company level with Sanchez-Heene model of the company as an open system (Sanchez and Heene, 1996) having been selected by the author to help build the framework of the proposed method.

A company that wishes to always be able to choose optimal business options needs to be able to ensure a superior intelligence, access to all current business information available in public domain as well as analyze all this information faster and better than most of its competitors. The challenge consists not merely in obtaining access to all information available in various languages but perhaps even more, in verifying and interpreting it properly and ensuring that the right decisions are made within the time frame allowed. This global task can prove a major challenge and will always require a great deal of ongoing attention and substantial resources. Employing expatriates has often been found quite helpful in building this kind of competence (Enderwick and Akoorie, 1994).

3.3 Relationship between Consumer perception and Competitiveness When a company desires to prefer optimal business performance, they must guarantee a greater intelligence, access to all past and current business information available and to evaluate all this information faster and better than most of its competitors. A necessary glance at the level of consumer perception of their products and service should come to the top of that list. This task can prove a major challenge and will always require a great deal of attention, because their competitiveness could depend on it. Thus, it is extremely important for consumer and service providers, to expand their knowledge and control into the consumer quality perception process to achieve the most wanted position in the competitive market.

To achieve the desired level of competitiveness over the competitors a great deal of homework of consumer perception should be done and they must target at taking a look into different aspect of the products they offer to the people, and their perception.

4.0 Operational Definition From the literature review the operational definitions of measured variables are tabulated below:

Measured Variables

Measured Models

Competitiveness

Will be operated defined by Sanchez and Heene, 1996

Consumer Perception

Will be operated defined by Babin and Darden, 1996

Table 2: Operational Definition 4.1 Research Question This study proposes to investigate the following question: 

Is there any significant relationship between Competitiveness and Consumer Perception of Product and Services in the context of Grameenphone Ltd.?

4.2 Research Hypothesis The hypothesis which was derived from research question is as follow: •

There is a significant relationship between Competitiveness and Consumer Perception of Product and Services in the context of Grameenphone Ltd.

4.3 Conceptual Framework

Consumer Perception of Product and Service Figure 2: Conceptual Framework

Competitiveness of Product and Service

5.0 Research Methodology 5.1. Research design The relationship between the independent variable (consumer perception) and the dependent variable (competitiveness) has been portrayed by the conceptual framework (Figure. 2). The model specifically supports the research question and hypothesis.

According to William, and Anuchit (2002), the study of the relationship between two or more variables is referred to as a co relational study. In this study, a co relational research design was selected in order to find out the appropriate answers of the research question which is, in fact, the hypotheses that the researcher wanted to prove. The variable relationship shown in the model (Figure.

2) also suggested the co relational design. To gather the measurable data on the research question, the researchers took the help of questionnaire technique and took the responses from the respondents.

The underlying principle behind using questionnaire to collect data is: 1) It usually takes less time to fill up a questionnaire.

2) The data obtained from the questionnaire is easy to analyze.

In the long run, questionnaire seemed to be the most appropriate method to collect data for this study.

5.2 Research instrument Like many other researches, questionnaire had been adapted from previous empirical studies. The Psychometric Properties of the Scale items were assessed using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha, which was reported to be the preferred method (William, and Anuchit, 2002). In general, the acceptable range of alpha value is greater than 0.50. The survey questionnaire consisted of 2 sections including 10 questions related to competitiveness and consumer perception of product and services of GrameenPhone Ltd. The 1st section verified the perceptions of the consumers towards the products and services and the 2 nd section was on the competitiveness of product and services of the company.

5.3 Research sampling For the current study, the researcher used the post-paid subscribers of GrameenPhone Ltd, as the sample for the study. The package which falls under these post paid categories of the company are “xplore” 1 and 2, BS Postpaid, and “GPPP” of GrameenPhone. The population of the sampling was the post-paid subscribers of GrameenPhone Ltd. of Dhaka City. The pre-paid subscribers could be taken into the sample study, but because of the time limitation it was not possible.

The researcher used non-probability convenient sampling technique to collect the sample for this study. From the users of Grameenphone, about 100 postpaid subscribers were conveniently selected and thus the sample size was 100. Data was collected using the “personal-contact” approach, i.e. the respondents have been approached personally and given a detailed explanation about the survey.

Otherwise, if the questionnaire was mailed to the subscribers, the response rate could have been less than expected. The interview technique was also not considered since the respondents could have felt hesitated to answer the questions face to face.

5.4 Pilot Test of Questionnaires According to Cooper and Schindler (2003), a pilot test was conducted before the final survey to detect weakness in design and instrument and to provide proxy data for selection of probability samples. The researcher conducted a pretest to evaluate all aspects of the questionnaire, including clarity, bias, question content, wording, sequence, form, layout, question layout, difficulty of the question and relevance to research variable. Moreover, through pre-testing, the researcher also could determine the reliability and validity of the questionnaires.

According to cooper and Schindler (2001), a group size of pilot testing may vary from 25-100 respondents. Therefore, the researcher selected 30 post-paid subscribers of the company to conduct the pilot survey. The researcher had to use only 30 respondents in the pilot survey because of the time limitations.

5.5 Research data collection Primary data was collected through questionnaire from post-paid subscribers of Grameenphone Ltd. The packages which fall under these categories were “xplore” 1 and 2, BS Postpaid, and “GPPP”.

5.6 Data analysis Pearson’s Correlation analysis had been used to find out the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Correlation analysis is the statistical tool that can be used to describe the degree to which one variable is linearly related to another (William, and Anuchit, 2002).

After collecting the data, Pearson’s co relational matrix for the variables was prepared and the researcher looked for significant correlations. The researcher used correlations, and regressions to test the strength of associations between the studied variables.

In the current situation, the study is a relational study that intended to analyze the relationship between consumer perception and competitiveness of product & services of the company. As a result, after collecting the data the researcher used mean score for each of the six dimensions of competitiveness to make the relationship with consumer perception. In this study, the researcher also utilized factor analysis to analyze the data for the proposed study. The researcher intended to check if the scale items included in the questionnaire constituted a single dimension in the specific context of the cell phone company and then make a relationship between competitiveness and consumer perception. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version.13 software was employed to analyze the data collected from the actual survey.

6.0 Analysis of the data from questionnaire 6.1 Reliability Coefficient and Descriptive Statistics The reliability coefficients, means, and standard deviations of all the constructs of the data’s obtained from the questionnaires are displayed below in Table 3. By using the reliability procedure in SPSS the coefficient alphas for the different constructs were computed. Nunnally (1978) suggested that for early

stages of any research the reliability of .50-.60 is sufficient. The reliabilities of all the constructs in this study found to be above the standard set by Nunnally (1978).

Scales

Number of items

Alpha

M

SD

Consumer Perception Competitiveness

5 5

0.727 0.714

1.94 2.03

0.510 0.562

Note: n = 10 Table 3: Reliability Coefficient and Descriptive Statistics of Consumer perception and Competitiveness of Product and Services.

Mean scores have been computed by equally weighting the mean scores of all the items. On a fivepoint scale, the mean score for consumer perception is 1.94 (SD = 0.510). And the mean score for competitiveness is 2.03 (SD = 0.562). The mean scores of measured variables are ranging 1.94- 2.03; however, between the two variables the mean score of competitiveness is higher. This is an indication of the consumers’ competitiveness of product and services in the context of GrameenPhone Ltd. are very high.

6.2 Correlation analysis A correlation analysis was conducted on all variables to explore the relationship between variables particularly relationships among the independent variable (consumer perception) with dependent variable (competitiveness). The bivariate correlation procedure was subject to a two tailed of statistical significance at one level of highly significant (p<.01).

Consumer Perception Competitiveness Note: **p<.01.

Consumer Perception -

Competitiveness 0.604** -

Table 4: Correlation Matrix for Competitiveness and Consumer Perception of Product and Services The result of correlation analysis for all the variables is shown in Table 4. It examines the correlations between competitiveness and consumer perception of product and services in the context of GrameenPhone Ltd.

The variable, consumer perception was found highly significant and positively correlated with the dependent variable competitiveness of product and services (r = 0.604, p< .01).

6.3 Regression Analysis Stepwise regression Stepwise regression analysis was performed to identify the relationship between competitiveness and consumer perception of product and services in the context of GrameenPhone Ltd. Variable

B

SE B

Beta

R2

0.089

0.604***

0.365

Step 1 Consumer Perception 0.665 Note: *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001.

Table 5: Stepwise regression on Competitiveness and Consumer Perception of Product and Services The above Table 5 depicts that in GrameenPhone Ltd, consumer perception (p<.001) was found to be statistically significantly related with competitiveness of product and services. Significantly related predictor variable explained 36% of the variance in competitiveness of product and services of GrameenPhone Ltd. 6.4 Assessment of the research hypothesis Hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between competitiveness and consumer perception of product and services in the context of Grameenphone Ltd. The result of correlation analysis depicts that the consumer perception was positively and significantly correlated with competitiveness of product and services in the context of Grameenphone Ltd. (r = 0.604, p< .01).

Moreover, the result of stepwise regression also suggests that in Grameenphone Ltd. consumer perception (p<.001), was found to be statistically significantly related with competitiveness of product

and services. Significantly and positively related predictor variable, consumer perception is explained 36% of the competitiveness of product and services. Hence, the result of stepwise regression provided support for the hypothesis which the researcher drew primarily. .

7.0 Limitations of the Study It was not possible to collect the necessary data in a large scale due to the cost and time constraint.

Because of the short time scale, the researcher had to opt for non-probability convenience sampling. As a result, the precision of the sampling was not up to the desired level. Moreover, the researcher had limited access to the related literature review due to lack of journals available on the measured variables. As a result, the access to the resource was limited.

7.1 Recommendation From the above discussions, consumer perception does prove to have a significant relationship with competitiveness.

Therefore, Grameenphone should concentrate to create a positive consumer

perception to have a better competitiveness in the market.

A superior consumer perception is a key factor to have the edge in competitiveness among several other competitors in the market. If the organization values the importance of this factor then it can achieve a desired position in the market related to competitiveness.

8.0 Conclusion The researcher, therefore, proves the relationship between competitiveness (dependent variable) and consumer perception (independent variable).

In the long run, we can say that the above

relationship would provide noteworthy insight to enhance the competitiveness of Grameenphone Ltd in the telecom market of Bangladesh.

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Nunnally, J.C. (1978), Psychometric Theory (2nd ed.), McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Appendices 1 The questionnaire for the survey is shown below, Dear Sir/Madam,

Your valuable opinion is needed for a research project that is going to be done in the context of the GrameenPhone Ltd. It will be an immense help if you take the time to fill the questionnaire. This study will be used to study a relationship between the Consumer perception and Competitiveness. I guarantee that your responses will be treated as strictly confidential. You are under no obligation to answer and you are free to terminate the interview at any time.

1 = Excellent; 2 = Good; 3 = Moderate; 4 = Unsatisfactory; 5 = Poor

Serial No.

Items

Remarks

01

Your perception about the network service you get

1

2

3

4

5

02

Your remark about the provided value added service.

1

2

3

4

5

03

How would you comment on the electronic billing system of Grameenphone?

1

2

3

4

5

04

How would you rate the service and solution from helpline?

1

2

3

4

5

What is your perception on the 1product of Section Grameenphone about being economical compared to other operator’s product?

1

2

3

4

5

05

1 = Excellent; 2 = Good; 3 = Moderate; 4 = Unsatisfactory; 5 = Poor “Thank You Very Much For Your Cooperation” Appendices 2 Reliability of Consumer Perception ****** Method 1 (space saver) will be used for this analysis ****** R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L P H A) Reliability Coefficients N of Cases =

10.0

N of Items = 5

Alpha = .727

Reliability of Competitiveness ****** Method 1 (space saver) will be used for this analysis ****** R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L P H A) Reliability Coefficients

N of Cases =

10.0

N of Items = 5

Alpha = .714

Descriptive N PER COM Valid

100 100 N 100

Minimu

Maximu

m 2 2

m 3 3

PER 1

COM .604(**)

(listwise) Figure 3: Descriptive Statistics Correlation

PER

COM

Pearson

Correlation Sig. (2- .

.000

tailed) N Pearson

100 1

100 .604(**)

Correlation Sig. (2- .000

.

tailed) N 100 100 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Figure 4: Correlations Regression Stepwise Variables Entered/Removed(a) Mode

Variables

Variables

l

Entered

Removed

Method

Mean

Std.

1.94 2.03

Deviation .510 .562

1

PER

.

Stepwise (Criteria: Probabilityof-F-to-enter <=

.050,

Probabilityof-F-toremove >= .

100). a Dependent Variable: COM Model Summary Mode

R

R Square

l 1

.604(a)

Adjusted

Std. Error of

R Square

the

Estimate .365 .358 .450 a Predictors: (Constant), PER ANOVA(b)

Model 1

Sum Regressi

of df

Squares 11.401

on Residual 19.857 Total 31.258 a Predictors: (Constant), PER

1 98 99

Mean

F

Sig.

Square 11.401

56.265

.000(a)

t

Sig.

.203

b Dependent Variable: COM Coefficients(a) Model

Unstandardized

Standardized

Coefficients 1

(Consta

Coefficients

B

Std. Error

.739

.178

nt) PER .665 .089 a Dependent Variable: COM

Beta 4.147

.000

7.501

.000

Mean

F

Sig.

Square 11.401

56.265

.000(a)

.604

Regression Entered Method Variables Entered/Removed(b) Mode

Variables

Variables

Method

l 1

Entered PER(a)

Removed .

Enter a All requested variables entered. b Dependent Variable: COM

Model Summary Mode

R

R Square

l 1

.604(a)

Adjusted

Std. Error of

R Square

the

Estimate .365 .358 .450 a Predictors: (Constant), PER

ANOVA(b) Model 1

Sum Regressi

of df

Squares 11.401

1

on Residual 19.857 98 Total 31.258 99 a Predictors: (Constant), PER b Dependent Variable: COM Coefficients(a)

.203

Model

1

(Consta

Unstandardized

Standardized

Coefficients

Coefficients

B

Std. Error

.739

.178

nt) PER .665 a Dependent Variable: COM

.089

Sig.

Beta

.604

4.147

.000

7.501

.000