NOKIA'S MARKETING STRATEGIES IN INDIA

NOKIA’S MARKETING STRATEGIES
IN INDIA

by
Nikunj Daga


2006-2007


A dissertation presented in part consideration for the degree of MA in Marketing


















No portion of the work referred to in the dissertation has been submitted in
support of an application of another degree or qualification of this or any
other university or other institution of learning.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Writing a dissertation is always the most challenging part of a student’s life. It was definitely the
most important academic contribution by me. This however would not have been possible without
the encouragement and of a few people. Here I take this opportunity to display my gratitude towards
them,

First and foremost, I would like to thank my professor, Dr Heidi Winklhofer for being a source of
support and encouragement, guidance and persistent help. Thank you ma’am for your time, support
and patience. My Sincere thanks to both academic and non-academic staff of the Nottingham
University Business School, for all their assistance.

I would like to thank my parents for love and support bestowed on me. Thank you for your
blessings. Also I would like to thank my friends for staying by me during the difficult parts of life.
Thanks for help and love irrespective of the situations. I would also like to thank all my respondents
for taking out time from their busy lives to help me with my research.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank God for all.

Thank You!!
Nikunj Daga
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ABSTRACT
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

This research studies the marketing strategies of Nokia, a high technology company in a developing
country India. The study attempts to check the role of marketing activities in success of Nokia in
India. After studying the past of the company and the history of Indian mobile industry, Nokia’s
marketing strategies are examined through secondary resources.

Then to check the effect on the consumers, semi-structured interviews of a few mobile phone dealers
in India are taken. Here, interviews as a tool of qualitative research is adopted to create a deep
understanding of the customers perceptions. To get a generalized view, mobile phone dealers are
interviewed as they deal with many consumers and can give the opinion of the market as a whole.

The findings advised that consumers preferred Nokia over all other brands due to features of the
phone. Features such as user friendliness, rough and tough body, long life etc were believed to be the
reasons of success. Though the marketing strategies have been aggressive, they were not the reasons
for high market share of the company.

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INDEX
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

ABSTRACT 4

1. INTRODUCTION 7
1.1 Introduction and Objectives of Research 7
1.2 Outline of Chapters 8

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 10
2.1 Introduction 10
2.2 Country of Origin effect 11
2.3 Culture 14
2.4 Internationalization and Globalization theories 18
2.4.1 Uppsala Model 19
2.4.2 Eclectic Paradigm and TCA 20
2.4.3 Interactive Network Approach 21
2.4.4 Business Strategy Approach 21
2.5 Pricing and Distribution 23
2.5.1 Pricing 23
2.5.2 Distribution 26

3. INDUSTRIAL ANALYSIS 30
3.1 Mobile phone industry in India 30
3.2 About Nokia 34
3.3 Nokia in India 38
3.4 SWOT Analysis 40

4. METHODOLOGY 42
4.1 Introduction 42
4.2 Qualitative Research Methods 45
4.3 Quantitative Research Methods 47
4.4 A Qualitative approach 47
4.5 Data Collection 48
4.6 Interviews 49
4.7 Summary 51

5. MARKETING STRATEGY 52
5.1 Introduction 52
5.2 Product 52
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5.3 Price 55
5.4 Place (Distribution) 56
5.5 Promotion 58

6. ANALYSIS 64
6.1 Introduction 64
6.2 Background of Respondents 64
6.3 Analysis and Discussion 66
6.4 Success of the Brand 68
6.5 The 4 P’s 71
6.6 Future and Scope of improvement 74

7. CONCLUSION 77
7.1 Conclusion and Recommendations 77
7.2 Limitations of research and Suggestions 78

REFERENCES 79

APPENDICES 92






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1. INTRODUCTION
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

1.1 Introduction and Objectives
Day by day, mobile phones are turning into more of necessity then a luxury. The benefits of the
mobile phone are far too many. Ease of communication, the anywhere, anytime contact - with
friends, relations, colleagues and in theory at least the efficiency brought to busy lives (Web 21).
Nokia’s growth in India has been substantial. They have led the market with 70% share for long time
now. What is interesting is that there is further scope of improvement in sales. It is a high technology
market and India being developing country, will see more and more subscribers to this technology in
the future. As noted by, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the president and chief executive of Finnish telecom
giant Nokia “India is now Nokia's second-largest market, displacing the U.S. and behind only
China” (Web 22).

This research aims at studying the strategies applied by Nokia in India, and analyzing the effects of
these strategies on the sales of the company. For this purpose, secondary data in form of case studies
and news articles have been used to gather the information about the marketing strategies that were
applied by Nokia in India. Then dealers on Nokia in different parts of India were interviewed with
semi-structured interviews to check the impact of these strategies. The objective was to study the
main reasons of success of the market leader Nokia, and also to study the drawbacks of the
company. It was intended to study the areas where there was scope of improvement and note down
some recommendations.
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1.2 Outline of the Chapters
Here, a very brief synopsis of the chapters that follow in the study is given.

Chapter two – Literature Review, summarizes all the past researches that have been conducted in
the field of international marketing. The main topics discussed here are Country of origin effect,
impact of culture in international marketing, Internationalization and Globalization theories and
Pricing and Distribution in international markets.

Chapter three – Industry analysis, to begin with this chapters deals with the analysis of mobile
phone industry in India. Then, history of Nokia is studies. When did the company start, how changes
occurred resulting Nokia venturing into mobile phone business. Finally history of Nokia in India is
conferred.

Chapter four – Methodology, talks about the methodology used in the research to collect data. First
all the available methodologies are discussed and then the best suited one is selected. The important
terms used in this chapter are Primary data, Secondary data, Quantitative research methods,
Qualitative research methods and semi structured interviews.

Chapter five – Marketing strategy, points out the marketing strategies applied by Nokia in India
since the time of foundation in the country. The data here is secondary and thus is collected with the
help of case studies and news articles. Here the strategies are discussed on the basis simple concept
of 4 P’s.
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Chapter six – Analysis, deals with discussing and analyzing the research results to conclude the
objectives of the study. Here, the interviews taken are scrutinized and conclusive lines are drawn.

Chapter seven – Conclusion, concludes the study with fulfilling of the objective. It further offer
recommendations to the company for future planning. Last but not the least, it discussed the
drawbacks of the study and offers suggestions for further researches.

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW
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2.1 Introduction
“Reviewing the literature on a topic can… provide an academically enriching experience but only if
it is done properly.” Hart (1998)

According to Hart, Literature review is of prime importance to the research. To achieve this, review
should be regarded as a process of fundamental to any worthwhile research or development work in
any subject irrespective of discipline. It is the responsibility of the research student to find out what
already exists in the area in which research is intended to be done before doing the research itself.
The researcher will define framework of his work with the help of ideas and work of others.

As Burger says, ‘A literature review summarizes the major findings of scholars and researchers who
have conducted research in the