INRODUCTION

COMPANY PROFILE
Birla Corporation limited is a multi product multi interest more than thousand
carore conglomerate. It plays significant roles in cement industry. The story of
Birla Corporation limited began 89 years ago, when young man Ganshayam das
Birla came to Kolkata. A man of vision an enterprise, Sri G.D.Birla set first Indian
owned jute mill near Kolkata in 1919. The firm was named Birla jute
manufacturing company limited. Time watched as small unit prospered, it also
embarked a young man to bacon the new industrial India.

After that Shri Madhav Prasad ji Birla transformed the humble jute
manufacturing company into a mighty conglomerate Birla corporation ltd. The
name of company changed to Birla jute and industries limited in 1983. In view
the opportunities offered by the liberalised fast growing economy and to
promote brand equity and international image the name was changed to Birla
Corporation limited in 1997. After the demise of M.P Birla, his wife Priyamvada
Birla took over a chairman of BCL and continue to leap company till her death in
july 2004. Today under the chairmanship of Mr. R. S. Lodha Company has
crossed the 1800 crore plus turn over and has wide spread interest in which
cement, jute, and auto trims, synthetic yarn, are their main product. Birla
Corporation limited is keenly aware of its social responsibility, it provide s
education and healthcare facility to for employees and their families and
community at a large.

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 CEMENT INDUSTRY
Cement is a binding material used in civil construction. It is fine powder, which
on addition of requisite addition of water is capable of harding by the chemical
interaction of its constituents with water and is capable of blending together. The
real foundation stone of present industry was laid in the year 1912 when India
Cement Corporation limited established a small factory at Porbander in
Kahtiawa. This factory commenced in 1914 at the rate of about 100 metric tons
per day.

The raw material required for cement making are lime stone, coal, clay fly ash,
and gypsum which regulate setting time. There are two process of cement
manufacturing wet and dry. In the wet process the raw materials are grounded
along with water, but in dry process materials are grounded in dry state.

Regarding the varieties of the product there are eight varieties in the industry,
Portland cement, Blast furnace, Slag cement, Portland pozzolana cement, Grey
cement, White cement.

Important cement producing companies in India are Associated Cement

Company, Birla Cement Corporation, Jaypee Cement Corporation, Gujrat Ambuja
Cement etc in private sector and in public sector important Cement Company is
Cement Corporation of India Ltd.

BCL CEMENT DIVISION

The Cement Division of Birla Corporation Limited has seven plants, having an
installed capacity of 5.8 million tons. After the completion of the ongoing
expansion projects, the capacity will increase to 7 million tons.

This plant manufacture varieties of cement, including Ordinary Portland Cement

(OPC), 43 & 53 grades, fly ash–based Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC),
Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and low- alkali Portland Cement. Recently, the
Company has started producing Sulphate Resistant Cement (SRC) and it has
been well accepted in the market.

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OPC is marketed under the brand name of Birla Cement KHAJURAHO and Birla
Cement CHETAK, while PPC is marketed under the brand name of Birla Cement
SAMRAT. PSC is marketed under the brand name of Birla Cement.

The Birla Cement SAMRAT brand is ideal for mass concrete, RCC / pre-stressed /
precast structures (for reduced thermal crack), increased water tightness of
concrete , increased resistance to sulphate content in soil, aggressive water and
alkali aggregate reaction, besides corrosion resistant properties.

The brands have significant presence in the northern, western and eastern parts
of the country as well as central India. The company has a large network of
dedicated distributors and stockists in all its marketing regions.

Durgapur Cement Works and the two cement units at Satna have received the
ISO 9002 quality certification, covering production and marketing. The Satna
units have also received the IS/ISO: 14001 certificate for "implementation of the
Environmental Management System". The two chanderia units have received
the ISO 9001: 2000 certification for Quality Management System, as well as the
IS/ISO: 14001 certification.

The quality control laboratories of both Birla Cement Works and Chanderia
Cement Works have been accredited by National Accreditation Board for Testing
& Caliberation Laboratories, Department of Science & Technology, and
Government of India.

The cement units have been receiving, since the past decade, prestigious awards
for productivity, pollution control, energy performance and worker's education.
Total capacity of six plants is 53.3 lakh tons. These plants have access to the
latest technology and infrastructure, and rated amongst the advance in the
country

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 MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Mining
The cement manufacturing process starts from the mining of limestone, which is
the main raw material for making cement. Limestone is excavated from open
cast mines after drilling and blasting and loaded on to dumpers which transport
the material and unload into hoppers of the limestone crushers.

Crushing Stacking & Reclaiming of Limestone

The LS Crushers crush the limestone to minus 80 mm size and discharge the
material onto a belt conveyor which takes it to the stacker via the Bulk material
analyser. The material is stacked in longitudinal stockpiles. Limestone is
extracted transversely from the stockpiles by the reclaimers and conveyed to the
Raw Mill hoppers for grinding of raw meal.

Crushing Stacking & Reclaiming of Coal

The process of making cement clinker requires heat. Coal is used as the fuel for
providing heat. Raw Coal received from the collieries is stored in a coal yard.
Raw Coal is dropped on a belt conveyor from a hopper and is taken to and
crushed in a crusher. Crushed coal discharged from the Coal Crusher is stored in
a longitudinal stockpile from where it is reclaimed by a reclaimer and taken to
the coal mill hoppers for grinding of fine coal.

Raw Meal Drying/Grinding & Homogenisation

Reclaimed limestone along with some laterite stored in their respective hoppers
is fed to the Raw Mill for fine grinding. The hot gasses coming from the
clinkerisation section are used in the raw mill for drying and transport of the
ground raw meal to the Electrostatic Precipitator / Bag House, where it is
collected and then stored and homogenised in the concrete silo. Raw Meal
extracted from the silo (now called Kiln feed) is fed to the top of the Preheater
for Pyroprocessing.

Clinkerisation

4
Cement Clinker is made by pyroprocessing of Kiln feed in the preheater and the
rotary kiln. Fine coal is fired as fuel to provide the necessary heat in the kiln and
the Precalciner located at the bottom of the 5/6 stage preheater. Hot clinker
discharged from the Kiln drops on the grate cooler and gets cooled. The cooler
discharges the clinker onto the pan / bucket conveyor and it is transported to
the clinker stockpiles / silos. The clinker is taken from the stockpile / silo to the
ball mill hoppers for cement grinding.

Cement Grinding & Storage

Clinker and Gypsum (for OPC) and also Pozzolana (for PPC) are extracted from
their respective hoppers and fed to the Cement Mills. These Ball Mills grind the
feed to a fine powder and the Mill discharge is fed to an elevator, which takes
the material to a separator, which separates fine product and the coarse. The
latter is sent to the mill inlet for regrinding and the fine product is stored in
concrete silos.

Packing
Cement extracted from silos is conveyed to the automatic electronic packers
where it is packed in 50 Kgs. Polythene bags and dispatched in trucks.

5
 SATNA CEMENT WORKS, SATNA (M.P)

Commissioned in 1959, Satna Cement Works (SCW) has the distinction of being
the first Cement plant in Birla Group manufacturing Cement with the then
prevailing "Wet process" technology. In keeping with technological
developments, the plant was upgraded and switched over to "Dry process" of
Cement manufacturing in 1989. The plant has been conferred with ISO-9002
and ISO-14001 certification in recognition of its performance in quality
management and environmental management systems. Besides the
conventional general purpose Cement OPC 33G, 43G and 53G, Satna Cement
manufactures PPC utilizing Flyash received from NTPC Thermal Power Plant at
Unchahar(U.P) and also special purpose Cements viz. Sulphate Resistant
Portland Cement, Low Alkali Cement and 1RS.-T-40 grade Cement for Railway
sleepers. This plant has the distinction of being the only plant in INDIA with an
Alkali bypass system installed. In consonance with its commitment to quality,
necessary instrumentation facilities including X-Ray analyzer and X-Ray
diffractometer are provided for monitoring and controlling quality of Raw
materials and Clinker/Cement. While domestic market requirements the met
with our products under the brand name "BIRLA CEMENT KHAJURAHO" and

6
"BIRLA SAMRAT", our Cement is being regularly exported to Nepal and
Bangladesh under the brand name "CAMEL" & "ROYAL TIGER".

An split location Cement Grinding unit was commissioned in Dec.1998 for Flyash
base PPC grinding capacity of 30000 TPM, Clinker is being sent from Satna and
Flyash is collected from NTPC Thermal Power house at Unchahar (U.P).

APPLICATIONS
1. Birla Cement Khajuraho/Chetak - 43 grade Ordinary Portland Cement-
• Brick and stone masonry.
• Plastering and flooring.
• Plain and reinforced cement concrete.
• Pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete.

2. Birla Cement Khajuraho/Chetak-53 Grade Ordinary Portland Cement-

• Railway sleepers
• Pre-stressed girders and electric poles.
• M25 & above concrete.
• Roads, runways, industrial buildings, RCC bridges & lofty buildings.
• Pre-cast concrete elements

3. Birla Samrat - Portland Pozzolana Cement-

• Brick and stone masonry
• Plastering and flooring.
• Plain and reinforced cement concrete.
• Ordinary Pre-cast concrete work.

4. Birla Cement Khajuraho - Sulphate Resisting Portland Cement-

• Building near sea coast.
• Below ground, where concrete or mortar is used in foundation, aqua
ducts, canals & culverts.
• Desert conditions.
• In swampy areas for footing, plinth beams, piles etc.

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 • Industrial effluent treatment plant, cooling towers, chimneys, sewerage
treatment plant.
• Marine structures

5. Birla Cement Khajuraho - Low Alkali Cement -

• Bridges
• Dams
• Reservoirs

6. Birla Cement Khajuraho - IRS-T40 Cement -

• Railway sleepers.

PRICING
Price is one of the important elements of marketing mixture. Various factors
affecting pricing policy of company are:-
1. Competitor’s price- competitor polices affects Birla pricing strategies and
needed to be continuously watched.
2. Market positioning-a company can earn more profit if position of their product
is good. Birla also consider brand positioning of various brands.
3. Godown stock- godown stock, market demand and supply also affect the
pricing strategies.
4. Transportation cost- company continuously trying to reduce the cost by
transporting right quantity through most suitable mode of transportation.
5. Brand image-brand image plays important role in pricing policy.

BCL is continuously trying to reduce the cost without affecting the quality of
product.

PRODUCT
Product range of Birla Corporation Limited in cement sector includes three main
types that are:-
Ordinary Portland cement

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Ordinary portland cement is the most commonly used cement for a wide range
of applications. These applications cover dry-lean mixes, general-purpose ready-
mixes, and even high strength pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete.

Portland blast furnace slag cement

Portland blast-furnace slag cement contains up to 70 per cent of finely ground,
granulated blast-furnace slag, a nonmetallic product consisting essentially of
silicates and alumino-silicates of calcium. Slag brings with it the advantage of
the energy invested in the slag making. Grinding slag for cement replacement
takes only 25 per cent of the energy needed to manufacture portland cement.
Using slag cement to replace a portion of portland cement in a concrete mixture
is a useful method to make concrete better and more consistent. Portland blast-
furnace slag cement has a lighter colour, better concrete workability, easier
finish ability, higher compressive and flexural strength, lower permeability,
improved resistance to aggressive chemicals and more consistent plastic and
hardened consistency.

Portland Pozzolana cement

Portland pozzolana cement is ordinary portland cement blended with pozzolanic
materials (power-station fly ash, burnt clays, ash from burnt plant material or
silicious earths), either together or separately. Portland clinker is ground with
gypsum and pozzolanic materials which, though they do not have cementing
properties in themselves, combine chemically with portland cement in the
presence of water to form extra strong cementing material which resists wet
cracking, thermal cracking and has a high degree of cohesion and workability in
concrete and mortar.

The Product and Brand names are as follows:

Units Products Brand Name
Birla cement works OPC-43G,55G,PPC Birla Cement Chetak
Chanderia Cement Birla Cement Samrat
work
Satna Cement Works PPC & OPC(43 Gr.) Birla Cement Samrat
Birla Vikas Cement Birla Cement Khajuraho

Raebareli Grinding Unit Portland Pozzolana Birla Cement

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 Cement (PPC) Birla Premium Cement
Durgapur Cement Portland Slag Cement Birla Cement
Works (PSC) Birla Premium Cement
Durga Hitech Cement Portland Pozzolana Birla Cement Samrat
Cement (PPC)
Special features Birla Cement Samrat
• Low heat of hydration which prevent cracks in concrete.
• Prevent iron from corrosion due to low chloride contain.
• Resistance against water leakage.
• Ability to handle high pressure.
• Low setting time & need less water for it.
• Long life due to low magnesium and tricalcium aluminates.

PROMOTION
Promotion a key element ingredient in marketing campaigns consists of diverse
collection of intensive tools. Sales promotion and incentive schemes are mostly
short term and designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular
product or services by consumer on the trade. The various sales promotion
methods adopted by the company are:-
1. Advertisement through television, newspaper, hording, wall painting, calendar
etc.
2. Dealers and retailers meet and training programme.
3. Architect and engineer meet.
4. Incentives schemes to dealers like cash discount, quantity discount, annual
discount, target setting, loyalty discount, annual visits to tourist places, annual
gifts.
5. Dealer’s relationship programme like best seller award and other award
programs.
6. Company visits to dealer’s shop.

TECHNICAL CONSUMER SERVICE CELL

Backed up with a dedicated team of highly skilled professional and experienced
application Engineers, the cell functions in an advisory capacity. Besides
handling their constructional problems the cell offers all kind of assistance and

10
guidance in the selection of the right cement for different application to ensure
cost-effective, durable and safe construction.

PLACE
Two type of distribution network mainly followed by the company are followings
1. Trade- This is available for the distributor, in this type company supply the
cement through deport or directly from the factory.

2. Non Trade- It is basically contract basis, it include contractors and

government. It is for a fix period at fix rate.

There are two methods which followed by company regarding transportation cost

1. To be billed- In this category company pay fright and transportation cost, it is

applicable in stock transfer only. The company first supply the cement to depot
then supply to the dealer.

2. To Pay- In this category supply cost is given by the stockiest or dealer.

Application in direct sale means from industry to Dealer.

75% transportation is through railway and rest through from road.

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 OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF STUDY

MAIN OBJECTIVE:-
“To analyze the market of Birla cement in Satna region”

SUB OBJECTIVE:-
1. To identify the leading company.
2. To identify best promotional method.
3. To study dealer’s satisfaction about Birla product.
4. To know current position of Satna market.
5. To know about the effectiveness about distribution channels.
6. To know about heavy users of cement in Satna.
7. To collect the suggestion of retailers and dealers for Improvement of Birla
policies.

SCOPE OF STUDY:-
Company can use this information for the betterment of the policies and making
new strategies.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

It’s imperative that any type of organisation in the present environment needs
systematic supply of information coupled with tool of analysis of for making
sound decision which involves minimum risk.

A research design is purely and simply the framework or plan for a study that
guides the collection and analysis of the data.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

• Through interaction with retailers.
• Through questionnaires filled from the consumer and retailers.

SAMPLE DESIGN
Considering the constraints, it was decided to conduct the study based on
sample size of 100 respondents.

The selection was made through combined approach of random sampling and
convenient sampling. Scientific method was not adopted in this study because of
financial constraints and also because of lack of time, also the basic aim of doing
the research was academic, hence most convenient way was selected.

TOOLS USED
There are several methods of collecting primary data, particularly in surveys and
descriptive research. Important are:-
• Observation method.
• Through questionnaires.
• Interview method.

In this project I have used questionnaire method.

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 RESULTS

The survey is conducted in SATNA and its nearby districts .Total number of
respondent covered under this survey is 100 which are either dealers or
retailers.

In SATNA mainly five companies are in the markets that are BIRLA, ACC, PRISM,
MAIHER, and JAYPEE. Prism is toughest competitor of Birla cement.

The following are company main brand in SATNA market.

COMPANY MAIN BRAND M.R.P(Rs)
BIRLA SAMART 174
ACC SURAKSHA 180
JAYPEE BULAND 178
MAIHAR FAULAD 175
PRISM CHAMPION 182

.
Cementing the future

Har nirmaan ki jaan

14
Majboot har pal

Vishwas se kare nirmaan.

Chtaan sa majboot khare sone ki quality.

Buland Bharat ka buland cement.

Engineers ki pehli pasand.

1. LEADING COMPANY

COMPANY RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

ACC 25
BIRLA 20

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 JAYPEE 18
MAHIER 09
PRISM 28

2. LEADING BRAND

BRAND RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

SURAKSHA 21
BULAND 19
SAMART 18
CHAMPION 25
FAULAD 17

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3. LEADER IN SUPPLY OF CEMENT

COMPANY RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

PRISM 24
ACC 21
BIRLA 20
JAYPEE 18
MAIHER 17

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4. HEAVY USERS OF CEMENT

CATEGORIES RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

HOUSEHOLDER (H.H) 50
BUILDER 28
GOVT. CONTRACTOR (G.C) 14
ARCHITECTORS 00
OTHERS 08

18
 H.H BUILDERS G.C ARCHITECT
OTHERS

6. PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR OF CUSTOMER DEPENDS ON

REASONS RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

PRICE 30
ADVERTISEMENT 10
QUALITY 33
BRAND 06
OTHER 21

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7. MOST EFFECTIVE METHOD OFSALES PROMOTION

METHODS RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

DEALERS, RETAILERS MEET 42
AND TRANING(D.R.M.T)
ADVERTISEMENT 28
INCENTIVE SCHEMES(I.S) 11
AWARD PROGRAMS 13
OTHERS 06

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8. BEST SOURCE OF ADVERTISEMENT

SOURCE RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

TELEVISION 65
NEWSPAPER,MAGZINES 16
RADIO 02
HORDING,WALL PAINTING 11
OTHERS 06

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9. BEST IN QUALITY

COMPANY RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

PRISM 43
ACC 26
BIRLA 18
JAYPEE 13
MAIHER 00

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10. OFFER BEST INCENTIVE SCHEME

COMPANY RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

PPRISM 14
ACC 58
BIRLA 10
JAYPEE 14
MAIHER 04

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11. SATISFACTION IN PACKAGING

COMPANY RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

ACC 20
BIRLA 26
JAYPEE 22
MAIHER 10
PRISM 22

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12. MOST REASONABLE PRICE

COMPANY RESPONDENTS IN FAVOUR

ACC 05
BIRLA 66
JAYPEE 05
MAIHER 14
PRISM 10

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 SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTH:
1. BIRLA Samrat is third most preferred brand after ACC Suraksha and JAYPEE
Buland.
2. It has reasonable price in comparison to its competitor.
3. Quality of product is good.
4. Setting time and shining is better than competitors.

WEAKNESS:
1. Lack of distribution channel.

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2. Lack of availability of product.
3. Low advertisement budget.

OPPORTUNITIES:
1. Boom phase in cement market.
2. Immense export opportunities.
3. Rapid infrastructure development.

THREAT:
1. Tough competition from ACC, JP, PRISM.
2. Scarcity of raw material in near future.
3. Lack of infrastructure in near future.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Birla Cement can easily increase its market share in Satna market by giving
more attention to various element of marketing mixture. For this purpose
suggestions are followings:-

FOR PRODUCT
1. Company should more invest in R&D.
2. Company should improve packaging because some complain about the
packaging is found.
3. Company should give more training to workers about total quality
management.

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4. Company should organise more mansion meet, so that opinion and suggestion
of users can be known.

FOR PRICE
1. Price fluctuation is one of the complaints from dealers and retailer; company
should fix prices at least for one month.
2. Company should also give credit facilities to dealers and retailers.
3. Price of brand should be reasonable and not more than competitor’s price.
4. Company should fix certain amount of margins for dealers.

FOR PROMOTION
1. Company is for behind in comparison to its competitors in all mode of
advertisement, hence budget for it should be increased and serious attention
should paid on it.
2. Company should provide good incentives scheme to dealers and retailers.
3. Dealers and retailers meet should be organised to understand and solve their
problem, and utilised as promotional method.

FOR PLACE
1. Birla distribution channel is not so strong in comparison to others, especially
in Madhya Pradesh; hence company should pay attention to it.
2. Company should increase its number of dealers for easy availability.
3. Company should supply the cement directly to its heavy users i.e. railway.

LIMITATION
1. Sample size of 100 is not enough to generalise result.
2. Response is depending upon psychology of respondent.
3. The survey is geographically limited to Satna district.
4. Some of the respondent tries to hide information like sales volume.
5. Dealers take it lightly and do not show interest in providing sufficient and
exact information.
6. Some secondary data which I expect to collect from the company is not
provided to me.

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 REFRENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. MARKETING MANAGEMENT by Philip Kotlar.

2. RESEARCH METODOLOGY by C.R.Kothari.
3. MARKETING RESEARCH by Tall, Donals & Howkins.
4. www.birlacorporation.com
5. BUSINESS MAGZINES i.e Business Today, Business World.
6. NEWSPAPERS i.e Economic Times.
7. BIRLA CORPORATION LIMITED annual magazines and reports
8. www.acclimited.com
9. www.prismcement.com

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 10. www.jalindia.com
11. www.maiharcement.com

APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

DEAR RESPONDENT,
I am doing the survey project in Birla cement work SATNA (A venture of
Birla Corporation Limited) for my summer training .I need your expensive time. I
assure u that this survey is only for academic purpose.

Name: - __________________________
Address: -________________________
Contact: - _________________________

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Q1.How many companies you are dealing for sale of cement?
1) 1
2) 2
3) 3
4) 4 or more than 4

Q.2 Which company is leading the market?

1) Prism
2) ACC
3) Birla
4) Jaypee
5) Others

Q.3 Which brand is leading the market?

1) Champion
2) Surksha
3) Buland
4) Samart
5) Others

Q.4 Which Company is best in quality?

1. Prism
2. ACC
3. Birla
4. Maiher
5. Jaypee

Q.5 Best packaging offered by which company?

1) Prism
2) ACC
3) Birla
4) Maiher

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 5) Jaypee

Q.6 Which company is leader in supply of demand?

1) Prism
2) ACC
3) Birla
4) Maiher
5) Jaypee

Q.7 Purchasing behaviour of customer depends on

1) Advertise
2) Quality
3) Brand
4) Others
5) Prise

Q.8 Best source of advertisement.

1. TV
2. Newspaper
3. Magazine
4. Hording
5. Others

Q.9 Most effective method of sale promotion

1) Dealer meet and Training
2) Award programs
3) Advertisement
4) Incentive schemes
5) Others

Q.10 Which company has best sales promotion scheme?

1) Prism
2) ACC
3) Birla
4) Maiher

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 5) Jaypee

Q.11 Any suggestions for our Birla Cement Co. Ltd.

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