‘A PROJECT ON THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF AND MAGAZINES ‘

To be submitted to Arni University for the degree of BBA (Bachelor for Business Administration)

By Udayini Kochhar AEBB0004A/10

ARNI UNIVERSITY KATHGARH INDORA HIMACHAL PRADESH

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to acknowledge my sincere thanks to, Mr. Vishal Sharma (Sen. Manager, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.), for his valuable Co-operation and guidance for the preparation of this project.

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES :

This project is on supply chain management of newspapers and magazines Supply chain management is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory while maintaining necessary product availability.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT:

This project has been made on the topic, SUUPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES. have made this project report after undergoing summer training in The Times Of for a period of 45 days. Every day my work in this training was to meet atleast 30 customers daily and convince them to subscribe for and their various magazines. We used to be allotted different areas everyday for marketing by our senior heads, and they explained to us the various schemes being offered by Times Of India on their products that we had to market. We visited these areas from 8 am to 11 am and then from 5 pm to 7.30 pm as during these hours people are usually in their houses. During the training I met various kinds of people and I had to deal with each person in a different way. Some were very warm and friendly whereas some were extremely rude. It was really difficult to deal with the ones who were rude. By undergoing this survey everyday I came to know the preferences of customers, their likes and dislikes, how much are they willing to spend on newspapers and magazines, what are their interests, etc. This project gave me immense knowledge. I learnt how to behave with all kinds of customers, whether they were rude or friendly, I learnt how to convince people to buy products, I learnt a basic psychology of customers and people, I learnt what nowdays people are mostly interested in doing, I came to know the goodwill of Times Of India, after convincing the customers to subscribe for the magazines and newspapers, I would take their feedback in which they would tell what magazines and newspapers they already had, what schemes they like, what gifts would they like, if they had any complaints etc. My work was to increase the sales of Times Of India.

By meeting customers daily by making sale calls and by taking their feedback, I came to know about :

• The Company’s strength and weakness.

• Scope of improvement in the newspapers and magazines.

• Where the newspapers and magazines are lagging behind?

• In which areas they should target to increase their market share.

• What they need to add in their newspapers and magazines?

OBJECTIVES OF THE TRAINING :

• To find the strengths and weaknesses of The Times of India.

• Consumer Behavior Preference in Indian print Industry.

• To increase the sales of The Times of India.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

To study the market for newspaper in terms of the following parameters across competitors: - • Product range available, target segment.

• Distribution Structure (level of distribution in rural and urban sectors).

• Schemes and promotional activities undertaken VISION AND MISSION STATEMANT OF TIMES OF INDIA

• To maintain top position among the top newspaper in India.

• To capture the market for which it is going towards the rural sector also.

• To expand its business other than newspaper.

• To provide accurate news in time.

Table of Contents of supply chain management in :

The sum of these decisions will define the capabilities and effectiveness of a company’s supply chain. The things a company can do and the ways that it can compete in its markets are all very much dependent on the effectiveness of its supply chain. If a company’s strategy is to serve a mass market and compete on the basis of price, it had better have a supply chain that is optimized for low cost. If a company’s strategy is to serve a market segment and compete on the basis of customer service and convenience, it had better have a supply chain optimized for responsiveness. Who a company is and what it can do is shaped by its supply chain and by the markets it serves.

2. How the Supply Chain Works

Production

Production refers to the capacity of a supply chain to make and store products. The facilities of production are factories and warehouses. The fundamental decision that managers face when making production decisions is how to resolve the trade-off between responsiveness and efficiency. If factories and warehouses are built with a lot of excess capacity, they can be very flexible and respond quickly to wide swings in product demand. Facilities where all or almost all capacity is being used are not capable of responding easily to fluctuations in demand. On the other hand, capacity costs money and excess capacity is idle capacity not in use and not generating revenue. So the more excess capacity that exists, the less efficient the operations becomes.

Inventory

Inventory is spread throughout the supply chain and includes everything from raw material to work in process to finished goods that are held by the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in a supply chain. Again, managers must decide where they want to position themselves in the trade-off between responsiveness and efficiency. Holding large amounts of inventory allows a company or an entire supply chain to be very responsive to fluctuations in customer demand. However, the creation and storage of inventory is a cost and to achieve high levels of efficiency, the cost of inventory should be kept as low as possible.

Location

Location refers to the geographical setting of supply chain facilities. It also includes the decisions related to which activities should be performed in each facility. The responsiveness versus efficiency trade-off here is the decision whether to centralize activities in fewer locations to gain economies of scale and efficiency, or to decentralize activities in many locations close to customers and suppliers in order for operations to be more responsive. When making location decisions, managers need to consider a range of factors that relate to a given location including the cost of facilities, the cost of labor, skills available in the workforce, infrastructure conditions, taxes and tariffs, and proximity to suppliers and customers. Location decisions tend to be very strategic decisions because they commit large amounts of money to long-term plans. Location decisions have strong impacts on the cost and performance characteristics of a supply chain. Once the size, number, and location of facilities is determined, that also defines the number of possible paths through which products can flow on the way to the final customer. Location decisions reflect a company’s basic strategy for building and delivering its products to market.

Transportation This refers to the movement of everything from raw material to finished goods between different facilities in a supply chain. In transportation the trade-off between responsiveness and efficiency is manifested in the choice of transport mode. Fast modes of transport such as airplanes are very responsive but also more costly. Slower modes such as ship and rail are very cost efficient but not as responsive. Since transportation costs can be as much as a third of the operating cost of a supply chain, decisions made here are very important.

Information

Information is the basis upon which to make decisions regarding the other four supply chain drivers. It is the connection between all of the activities and operations in a supply chain. To the extent that this connection is a strong one, (i.e., the data is accurate, timely, and complete), the companies in a supply chain will each be able to make good decisions for their own operations. This will also tend to maximize the profitability of the supply chain as a whole.

3. The Evolving Structure of Supply Chains

The participants in a supply chain are continuously making decisions that affect how they manage the five supply chain drivers. Each organization tries to maximize its performance in dealing with these drivers through a combination of outsourcing, partnering, and in-house expertise. In the fast-moving markets of our present economy a company usually will focus on what it considers to be its core competencies in supply chain management and outsource the rest. This was not always the case though. In the slower moving mass markets of the industrial age it was common for successful companies to attempt to own much of their supply chain. That was known as vertical integration. Participants in the Supply Chain In its simplest form, a supply chain is composed of a company and the suppliers and customers of that company. This is the basic group of participants that creates a simple supply chain. Extended supply chains contain three additional types of participants. First there is the supplier’s supplier or the ultimate supplier at the beginning of an extended supply chain. Then there is the customer’s customer or ultimate customer at the end of an extended supply chain. Finally there is a whole category of companies who are service providers to other companies in the supply chain. These are companies who supply services in logistics, finance, marketing, and information technology.

Producers

Producers or manufacturers are organizations that make a product. This includes companies that are producers of raw materials and companies that are producers of finished goods.

Distributors

Distributors are companies that take inventory in bulk from producers and deliver a bundle of related product lines to customers. Distributors are also known as wholesalers. They typically sell to other businesses and they sell products in larger quantities than an individual consumer would usually buy.

Retailers

Retailers stock inventory and sell in smaller quantities to the general public. This organization also closely tracks the preferences and demands of the customers that it sells to. It advertises to its customers and often uses some combination of price, product selection, service, and convenience as the primary draw to attract customers for the products it sells. \

Customers

Customers or consumers are any organization that purchases and uses a product.

Service Providers These are organizations that provide services to producers, distributors, retailers, and customers. part A company’s supply chain is an integral part of its approach to the markets it serves. The supply chain needs to respond to market requirements and do so in a way that supports the company’s business strategy. The business strategy a company employs starts with the needs of the customers that the company serves or will serve. Depending on the needs of its customers, a company’s supply chain must deliver the appropriate mix of responsiveness and efficiency. A company whose supply chain allows it to more efficiently meet the needs of its customers will gain market share at the expense of other companies in that market and also will be more profitable.

4. Information Systems that Support the Supply Chain

Information technology can support internal operations and also collaboration between companies in a supply chain. Using high speed data networks and databases, companies can share data to better manage the supply chain as a whole and their own individual positions within the supply chain. The effective use of this technology is a key aspect of a company’s success.

All information systems are composed of technology that performs three main functions: data capture and communication; data storage and retrieval; and data manipulation and reporting. Different information systems have different combinations of capabilities in these functional areas. The specific combination of capabilities is dependent on the demands of the job that a system is designed to perform. Information systems that are employed to support various aspects of supply chain management are created from technologies that perform some combination of these functions.

4. Information Systems that Support the Supply Chain Information technology can support internal operations and also collaboration between companies in a supply chain. Using high speed data networks and databases, companies can share data to better manage the supply chain as a whole and their own individual positions within the supply chain. The effective use of this technology is a key aspect of a company’s success.

All information systems are composed of technology that performs three main functions: data capture and communication; data storage and retrieval; and data manipulation and reporting. Different information systems have different combinations of capabilities in these functional areas. The specific combination of capabilities is dependent on the demands of the job that a system is designed to perform. Information systems that are employed to support various aspects of supply chain management are created from technologies that perform some combination of these functions.

5. Developing Supply Chain Systems

After a company defines its supply chain strategy and sets the performance targets for the markets it serves, the next step is to develop the systems needed to implement the strategy. Often existing systems need to be enhanced and new systems need to be built. Here it presents a process to follow to create the detailed system designs and to build those systems.

TIMES OF INDIA Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd.

Type: Private Industry: Founded: India (1838) Headquarter: New Key People: (chairman) Sameer Jain (MD) Ravi Dhariwal (CEO) Products: , television, Newspaper, magazines, Books, websites Revenue: $ 700 used (2007) Employee: 7000(2007)

The Times Group is the largest media conglomerate in India. It is headed by brothers Samir and Vineet Jain. The company has eleven publishing centers, fifteen printing centres, fifty-five sales offices, Over 7000 employees, five dailies, including two of the largest in the country with approx 4.3 million, copies circulated daily, two lead magazines, twenty-nine niche magazines reaching 2468 cities and towns, thirty-two Radio Stations, two Television News Channels, one Television Life Style Channel and turnover in excess of USD 700 million.

Brands: Its major brands include: • The Times of India, • • Times, • , • Sandhya Times, • • Mirror • Ahmedabad Mirror • Mirror • Mirror, • Times Private Treaties,. • Vijaya , • ZigWheels • • Grazia • Top Gear • Lonely Planet • Good Homes • • Knowledge • Hello. • Femina • Filmfare Hindi The Times of India competes with HT Media, the media conglomerate that owns of English- language newspaper Times and the Hindi daily Hindustan. Those two alone had a daily readership of 12.7 million according to their website

Subsidiaries: subsidiary companies include:

1. ENIL & TIML:Times Infotainment Media Limited & Entertainment Network India Limited that together control

2. TIL: Limited which has

3. Times of Money: Times of Money which has

Remit2India

Window2India

Remit2Home

Times Card

DirecPay

3. Times Global Broadcasting Limited:

4. Times Business Solutions

5. World Wide Media

6. VPL

7. Times Private Treaties

8. TIML Radio Limited

9. Times Syndication Service Company Profile:

The Times of India (TOI) is an English-language daily Newspaper in India. It has the largest circulation among all English-language newspapers in the world, across all formats (, tabloid, compact, Berliner and online). It is Owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.which Is owned by the Sahu Jain family. In the year 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a Circulation of over 3.14 million) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations(India) as the world's largest Selling English-language daily newspaper, placing as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the world. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010, the Times of India is the most widely read English newspaper In India with a readership of 70.35 lakhs (7.035 million). This Ranks the Times of India as the top English newspaper in India by readership. According to ComScore, indiatimes (and not TOI online) is the world's most-visited newspaper website with 159 million page views in May 2009, ahead of the New York Times, The Sun, Washington Post, Daily Mail and USA Today websites. The Times of India has been highly criticized because of being supportive of party in India. Times today

The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company, along with its other group companies, known as The Times Group, also publishes The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror, Pune Mirror, , Ahmedabad Mirror, the Navbharat Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet).

In late 2006, Times Group acquired Vijayanand Printers Limited (VPL). VPL used to publish two newspapers Vijay Karnataka and Usha Kiran and an English daily Vijay Times. Vijay Karnataka was the leader in the Kannada newspaper segment then.

In January 2007, the Kannada edition was launched in Bangalore and in April 2008 the Chennai edition was launched. Their main rivals in India are and , which hold second and third position by circulation.

There was a backlash against the paper's alleged "irresponsible" coverage following the verdict of Ayodhya disputed land case. This also provoked criticism about the papers alleged "poor" news standards on Twitter.

The times of India is printed from the following places:

Bhubneshwar,Bengaluru,Bhopal,Chandigarh,Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur , , Kolkata, , , Mumbai, Mysore, , Patna, Pune, Ranchi , Surat

Key persons

• Indu Jain, current Chairperson • , Vice-Chairman & Publisher • Vineet Jain, MD • Ravi Dhariwal, CEO • Jug Suraiya (associate editor, columnist, "Jugular Vein," cartoonist, "Dubyaman II") • Swaminathan Aiyar (columnist, "Swaminomics") • R. K. Laxman ("You Said It" editorial cartoon, featuring the famous Common Man) • Rukmini Subramanian, Senior Writer • , columnist, "Erratica" • Vinay Pandey, Editor-Online • Vinita Nangia, Editor-Times Life • Shobha De, columnist • Jaideep Bose, Editorial Director • Arindam Sen Gupta, Executive Editor • Dileep Padgaonkar, Former Editor, currently Consulting Editor and columnist • M J Akbar, Columnist, "The Siege Within" and former Editorial Team • Gurcharan Das, Columnist • Gautam Adhikari, former Executive Editor, Editorial Consultant • Russi Karanjia , assistant editor during the 1930s • Trivadi, columnist and humorist well known for his editorials, humor pieces, and satirical poems. • Chetan Bhagat, Columnist, Sunday TOI • Kaushal Thakkar, Sr. Product Manager, Response – Ascent

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

NEWSPAPER : The Times of India, The economic times, Navbharat times, Maharashtra Times, Bangalore mirror, Mumbai Mirror, Pune Mirror, Bangalore Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror, the Navbharat Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet).

MAGZINES: Femina, Top Gear, good Homes, Lonely planet, Grazia, Zig wheeles, Hello, filmfare, BBC knowledge.

SUPPLIMENTS FROM TIMES OF INDIA:

The times of India comes with several city specific supplements, such Delhi times, Bombay times, Ahmadabad times Chandigarh times, Ludhiana times, and other like Sunday times, property, ascent etc.

Other regular supplements include,Times wellness (saturady),Education times,Times ascent(wenesday),Zig Wheels,Times life(sunady),Wee wonder,Rouge,What’s Hot,Address.

NEWSPAPER

A newspaper's circulation is the number of copies it distributes on an average day. It is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the reader. Readership figures are usually higher than circulation figures because of the assumption that a typical copy of the newspaper is read by more than one person.

In many countries, circulations are audited by independent bodies such as the Audit Bureau of Circulations to assure advertisers that a given newspaper does indeed reach the number of people claimed by the publisher.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL:

CHANNEL FUNCTIONS AND FLOWS:

A marketing channel performs the work of moving goods from producers to consumers. It overcomes the time, place, and possession of goods and services from those that need or want them.

Members of the marketing channel perform the following functions:

• They gather information about potential and current customers, competitors. And other factors and forces in the marketing environment. • They develop and disseminate persuasive communications to stimulate purchasing. They reach agreement on price and other terms so that transfer of ownership or possession can be affected. • They place orders with manufactures. They acquire the funds to finance inventories at different levels in marketing channel. • They assume risk connected with carrying out channel works. • They provide for the successive storage and movement of physical products. • They see the buyer’s payment of their bills through banks and other financial institutions. They oversee actual transfer of ownership from one organization or person to other.

EDITORIAL

PRESS

DISTRIBUTION

WHOLESELLER

DEPOT

VENDOR

POINT POINT

CASH SALE CASH

HAWKER

READER

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL: Distribution means the transfer of goods from producer to consumer. In a distribution system we have, first find out what kind of distribution channel is to select as the firm can get a convenient supply and economic maintenance of profit. In print industry where the flow of goods matter a lot, it must to consider the following points very carefully.

• Selection of channel for distribution.

• Warehousing and transport

• Operational research

• Logistic mix

Let’s explain each of the above points one by one in a detailed manner: 1. SELECTION OF CHANNEL FOR DISTRIBUTION: For selecting a channel for distribution following points are to be considered. a) NATURE OF PRODUCT b) VARIETY OF THE PRODUCT TO BE SOLD 2. WAREHOUSING AND TRANSPORT • Warehousing

• Transport

Warehousing and transport are essential part of distribution system. Warehousing should be done in a manner minimum maintenance of cost should occur. That should be source of quick supply to consumer because from their place basic supply starts. Transport is costly.

So decision should be taken as to whether warehousing are to be centrally situated or decentralized. To maintain economical support, control of cost of vehicle is essential and shipment must be planned so those vehicle are effectively employed.

3. OPERATIONAL RESEARCH

Operational research is valuable in improving aspects of distribution process:

a) By mathematical representation of whole distribution system.

b) Noting and comparing transport cost.

c) Measuring warehouses operation costs.

d) Measure stock level.

4. LOGISTIC MIX

There has been little close examination of possible savings in area of physical distribution, now known as logistic. “Consumer wants product available at the right time, and right condition.”

This is possible, if 5 key decisions are co-ordinate: – 1-Facility 2- Inventory 3-Communication 4-Utilization 5-Transport. It is important to remember that physical distribution management refers to the flow of goods from end of production time to customer. Logistic incorporates the flow of information through out the system

TYPES OF NEWSPAPER:

• Daily

A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays.

• Weekly

Weekly newspapers tend to be smaller than daily papers.

• National

In India, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Times of India, The Hindu, , Hindustan times, , etc.

• International

Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or “international editions” of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers.

• Online newspaper the newspaper industries have started publishing their news articles in the form of e-papers, which allows the users to read the news online. The e-papers are given at free of cost by some sites and some sites charge their customers for the news. • Employment

There are special employment newspapers, which carry information about the opportunities available in the corporate and other companies.

Zoned and other editions

Zoning occurs when advertising and editorial content change to reflect the location to which the product is delivered. The editorial content often may change merely to reflect changes in advertising — the quantity and layout of which affects the space available for editorial — or may contain region-specific news. In rare instances, the advertising may not change from one zone to another, but there will be different region-specific editorial content. As the content can vary widely, zoned editions are often produced in parallel.

CIRCULATION AND READERSHIP

The number of copies distributed, either on an average day or on particular days (typically Sunday), is called the newspaper’s circulation and is one of the principal factors used to set advertising rates.

ADVERTISING

The bulk of newspapers' revenue comes from advertising - the contribution from sales is small by comparison. a newspaper generates 75% of its revenue from advertising and 25% from sales. The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called editorial content, editorial matter, or simply editorial, although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles in which the newspaper and its guest writers express their opinions.

The classified category is shifting to sites including craigslist, employment websites, and auto sites. National advertisers are shifting to many types of digital content including websites, rich media platforms, and mobile.

Advertorials are most commonly recognized as an opposite-editorial which third-parties pay a fee to have included in the paper. Advertorials commonly advertise new products or techniques, such as a new design for golf equipment, a new form of laser surgery, or weight- loss drugs.. THE NEWSPAPER SUPPLY CHAIN

In India, newspapers are published in about 100 regional languages and dialects other than Hindi and English. .

Due to the perishable nature of the product, its distribution needs all the more importance.

A newspaper industry consists of five major functional areas. These include editorial, advertising, production, administration and circulation. Editorial supplies the raw material, which is transformed to the finished product through printing. The marketing function is performed by advertising and management is done by administration.

DISTRIBUTING A PRODUCT:

A perishable good is one that either loses significant value if stored or a good that will cause economic loss if delivered late.

There are three main categories of perishable goods: Goods that are perishable only when considered by the customer; Goods that are perishable only to the manufacturer; and Goods that are perishable to both the manufacturer and the customer. Newspapers fall into this later category.

Newspaper companies cannot print the news sections of the newspaper in advance because of the requirement that news be timely. Additionally, with the increase in commuting times, especially in the large, metropolitan markets, late delivery is also not entertained.

Therefore, newspaper production/distribution is the problem of distributing highly perishable products under severe time constraints. The distribution channel consists of stages involved in fulfilling consumer requirements. The channel includes manufactures, suppliers, transporters, vendors and customers.

The distribution channel of a typical newspaper can be represented through the following flow diagram:

Printing Facility

Salesmen Newspaper Distributor

Vendor

Hawker

Bookstalls

Reader

DRIVING THE NEWSPAPER SUPPLY CHAIN

The main drivers of supply chain are inventory, transportation, facilities and information.

 Inventory exists in the supply chain because of a mismatch between supply and demand. Applying this to the newspaper industry, inventory of the raw material i.e. newsprint is maintained based on the safety inventory model. This model states that inventory is held just in case demand exceeds expectation, i.e. it is held to counter uncertainty  Transportation moves the product between different stages in a supply chain. It bears a large impact on both responsiveness and efficiency. Faster transportation allows a supply chain to be more responsive but reduces its efficiency  Facility: Deciding where a newspaper should locate its facility constitutes a large part of design of a supply chain. The tradeoff here is whether to centralize to gain economies of scale or decentralize to become more responsive by being closer to the customer. In case of newspaper industry, the second option is desirable. Warehousing in newspaper industry follows cross-docking model to a good extent. The product from printing facility is carried to the agents from where it is further transported to salesmen and hawkers. .

The communication of news between various offices of a modern newspaper is achieved through networking. The master newspaper is designed and finalized at the head office of a newspaper. It is then made available on the intranet of the newspaper company. The local editions are normally generated by making suitable changes to the master copy on the intranet itself.

Starting at the first hawker, newspaper requirements are accumulated until the vehicle limit is reached. At this hawker, another vehicle route is begun. The procedure is continued until all the hawkers are included in some route

After the routes that include all the hawkers and that satisfy the vehicle capacity constraints have been constructed, the time constraints must be checked.

Costs can be divided into two major categories: costs associated with the actual production and distribution activities, and costs directly attributable to the perishability of either an input or an output. The latter costs will be accrued only if the schedule is not feasible. In the newspaper problem, an infeasible solution would be one in which not all newspapers are delivered by the deadline. The costs associated with this infeasibility may include the cost of the newspaper, a lost opportunity and the cost of processing the complaint.

NEWS AGENCIES:

News agencies can be corporations that sell news cooperatives composed of newspapers that share their articles with each other, commercial newswire services which charge organizations to distribute their news. Governments may also control "news agencies," particularly in authoritarian states, like China and the former Soviet Union or non-profit organizations operated by both professionals and volunteers. .

News agencies generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to other news organizations. They provide these articles in bulk electronically through wire services (today they frequently use the Internet). Corporations, individuals, analysts and intelligence agencies may also subscribe.

REUTERS:

Reuters Group is known as a financial market data provider and a news service that provides reports from around the world to newspapers and broadcasters.

JOURNALISTS:

Reuters has a team of several thousand journalists.

NEWS PAPER SUPPLY CHAINS • SUPPLY CHAINS • NEWSPAPER SUPPLY CHAIN • FINDING THE VALUE • NEWSPRINT & INK • ADVERTISING & NEWS • PRESS OPERATIONS • PACKAGING OPERATIONS • DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS • MANAGEMENT INFORMATION • TYING IT TOGETHER— SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

It is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. It involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies.

Supply chain management flows can be divided into three main flows:

• The product flow • The information flow • The finances flow

Product flow: The final product is distribute through printing place to warehouse to distributers to vendors and lastly to the readers.

Information flow: information or the news required for the printing is collected through different news agencies, newspaper’s reporter and than to the editorial from where final news goes to printing press.

Finances flow: The finance required for the various function of the printing, handling, distributing comes mainly through the advertisements. Because cost of production of a newspaper is around six rupees, and selling price is around two rupees. So the profit comes through only advertisements print in the newspaper.

FINDING THE VALUE

Newspapers require unique definition of their product, information, and financial flows to be adapted to supply chain and other quantifiable management programs.

The primary supply chain flow for newspapers is the outbound product flow and its associated information flow.

Newspapers have successfully separated subscriber and advertiser cash flow timing from product delivery. As such, all financial flows within the newspaper supply chain are either discretionary or direct costs resulting from the supply chain in place. The primary components affecting the total supply chain cost for a newspaper are:

• Inbound Information: advertising, news, editorial, pagination.

• Press Operations: platemaking through pressing.

• Packaging Operations: handling, insertion, storage, package design & flow.

• Distribution Operations: transport mode, timing, locations, and handling.

NEWS PRINT & INK

Inbound transportation of newsprint and ink is largely governed by broad purchasing contracts and commodity pricing. These channels are best left flexible to leverage base product pricing, as this pricing gain exceeds any potential for savings from an optimized inbound supply chain.

The inbound raw material that controls the start time of critical manufacturing processes is intangible. News happens without regard for newspaper deadlines. News deadlines are set to provide the latest possible news to the subscriber, while advertising deadlines are set to allow the widest possible purchasing window for advertisers. Both deadlines must allow necessary time for the remaining links in the supply chain to process any packages fronted by these start times, and backed by consumer delivery deadlines.

ADVERTISING & NEWS

In order to preserve both late news and early delivery deadlines, traditional efficiency gains have come by Reducing costs.

Looking forward, ratios may be better by adding time to the process, allowing cost to be reduced further, while keeping service levels intact.

PRESS OPERATIONS

The critical time for press operations is the fixed run time. Papers per hour output is limited by the speed of a press and the number of presses. The number and type of press is difficult and costly to alter. Remaining opportunities inside press operations involve eliminating any barriers to maximum sustainable speed. The value of each stop and start, each edition change, or once weekly collect run, should be assessed versus its total cost to the supply chain. Odd production days and unnecessary edition Breaks can add time and cost to the supply chain. However, unless all current final production runs deliver directly to stackers rather than to the mailroom for additional processing, value can best be derived from other areas of the newspaper supply chain.

PACKAGING OPERATIONS Packaging process, flow, and timing are the keystone to huge potential cost gains to the total supply chain, especially for newspapers unable to increase value at other links in the chain. Speed and accuracy during the final production process are the typical focus for packaging management.

The fastest piece of production equipment for a newspaper is the press. If this rate of production is slowed by any downstream mailroom processing, the value of this activity versus its alternatives must be measured and balanced in terms of cost, speed, and accuracy.

WORKFLOW

The packaging link in the supply chain controls the work flow not only for itself, but for each downstream element in the supply chain.

Package design, count, timing, and handling must act to balance workflow for packaging and distribution to achieve the lowest possible cost.

Mailroom headcount and shifts, packaging equipment type and quantity, handling methods, storage needs, distribution operations management needs, vehicle type and number, driver type, count, and shifting, carrier count and route length—all of these factors must balance for maximum gain. Each newspaper will have different needs and priorities, requiring a customized model and considerations; however, the focal point for this balance is the largest cost in the system, the human resource availability and prevailing wages in the local market place.

DISTRIBUTION OPERATIONS

Distribution operations for most newspapers are reactive. They receive product by time and must complete operations by time .All delays in earlier supply chain links must be compensated for by distribution, or the consumer suffers. These parameters can be altered by changes up stream in the supply chain, but solutions inside the distribution link can still bring broad value to the overall cost of the newspaper supply chain.

In order to assess the potential for improvement within a newspaper’s distribution operations, the activity must be divided into two parts: Bulk Distribution and Carrier Distribution.

Compliance & Risk

• To simply driver hiring, many newspapers use trucks . These trucks can carry At the very most, newspapers, (5) pallets,(10) carts, or about 350 bundles . Information

Information is the thread that binds the entire newspaper supply chain.

BASIC NEWS PAPER SUPPLY CHAIN PROCESS CARRIED OUT DAILY IN THE TRAINING

• The company assigned us different areas daily to carry out the survey and for marketing

• We had to work in 2 shifts – from 8 am to 11am and from 5 pm to 7.30 pm

• In the beginning we went to household and convinced people to subscribe for the magazine and newspapers of times of india in the households and later we went to colleges and asked students to subscribe for the newspapers as there was a special scheme for students. This working in the colleges was for around 6 hours. • On meeting the customers I explained to them the schemes that Times Of India was offering on its products and I tried convincing them to subscribe for the magazines or newspapers.

• I took feedbacks from the cutomers in which they would tell what newspapers and magazines they already had subscribed for, what changes they would like in the newspapers and magazines, if they liked the schemes, if they liked the gifts that were being offered, if they had any complaints etc.

• The customers who were interested I booked their orders

• I also renewed subscribtions for the customers who had already subscribed for magazines and whose subscription had got over.

• I made a report daily of how many calls I had been able to make and how many orders I could get booked.

CUSTOMER BEHAVIUR AND MARKETING STRATEGY

The behavior of the customers makes organizations decide their marketing strategies as they come to know what the customers think, feel, about their products and what choice they make between the different alternatives given to them. They also come to know how customers are influenced by their family, friends etc They also come to know that while choosing from the different products a final product what the customer keeps in mind while making his choice. They also come to know how much knowledge consumers have from before regarding their products. By learning all this and many more such things organizations get to know the preferences of customers. They get to know how better they can advertise in order to increase sales, what better schemes they can adopt. How they can reduce the costs. Many more such things can be learnt by organizations by studying customer behavior.

SCHEMES OF THE TIMES OF INDIA NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES:

THE TIMES OF INDIA - ANNUAL SCHEME

PERIODICITY: Daily

COVER PRICE: 2 Rs. on weekdays and 2.50 Rs. On Saturday and Sunday

ANNUAL RATE: 499

DURATION: 1 year

ASSURED GIFT : 50% off on cover price plus one sipper

SIX MONTHS SCHEME

PERIODICITY: Daily

COVER PRICE: 2 Rs. on weekdays and 2. 50 Rs. On Saturday and Sunday

SIX MONTHS RATE: 225

DURATION: Six months

ASSURED GIFT: calculator Sr.no Magazine’s Name No. of Issues Market Price Subscription in a Year for One Year Price

1 Femina 28 1400 700

2 Femina Hindi 12 480 240

3 fare 26 1300 650

4 Grazia 12 1200 600

5 GoodHomes 12 1200 600

6 Hello 12 1200 600

7 TopGear 12 1200 600

8 Lonely Planet 12 1200 600

9 knowledge 12 600 360

DATA COLLECTION FOR THE PROJECT :

Data is the foundation of all marketing research. Data or facts may be obtained from several sources. Data can be classified into two ways:

1. Primary data

2. Secondary data

PRIMARY DATA:

Primary data is the data gathered for the first time by the researcher. Collection of primary data is a task demanding technical expertise. The provider or source of primary data is termed as Respondents. A respondent may give information actively or passively. SECONDARY DATA: Secondary data is a data borrowed from secondary sources by the researcher. Secondary data can be internal or external means either from internal records of the company or from any other source or statistical origination. Secondary data was collected from the sources available either from the magazines or from the records or from the material loded on the internet.

FINDINGS FROM THE NEWSPAPER SURVEY :

1) Which newspaper do you like to read? a)Times Of India b)Hindustan Times c)Tribune d)Denik Bhaskar e) f) Others

Option Number Percentage(%) Times of India 78 15.6 Hindustan times 62 12.4 Tribune 177 35.4 Denik bhaskar 98 19.6 Amar ujala 50 10 Others 35 7

Comments:

In Chandigarh maximum people prefer . Denik bhaskar is the 2nd preferred newspaper in Chandigarh. Times Of India is at the 3rd position and closely after it is the Hindustan Times.

2)What do you like the most in your newspaper? a) Content b) Presentation c) Language d) Any other

Option Numbers Percentage Content 128 25.6 Presentation 199 39.8 Language 173 34.6 Any other 0 0

Comment: Most of the people like the presentation of the newspaper. People find the language a bit difficult of the newspaper. They find the content ok.

3)Do you go through additional supplements that are provided with the newspaper? a) Yes b) No

Option Number Percentage Yes 365 73 No 135 27

Comment: Almost more than half of the people said that they read the additional supplements of the newspaper and the rest which was a small portion said that they don’t read the additional supplements.

4: Does your newspaper provide you all the essential business information? a)Yes b) No c) Doesn’t read

Option Number Percentage(%) Yes 130 26 No 80 16 Doesn’t read 290 58

Comment: Maximum number of people said that they don’t read the business section of the newspaper. A few said that they read it and all essential business news is provided to them and a ver few said that they are not provided with essential business information

5: Has the information from classified section been able to resolve your queries? a)Yes b) No c) Doesn’t read

Option Number Percentage(%) Yes 134 26.8 No 109 21.8 Doesn’t read 257 51

Comment: A little more than half of the people said that they don’t read the classified. 26% said that they read it and it resolves their queries and the rest said that the classified does not resolve their queries. FINDINGS FROM THE MAGAZINE SURVEY :

• Have you subscribed for any magazines?

ANSWER: Mostly people said that they had subscribed from a vendor who would provide them 15 magazines a month for reading. Only few said that they had subscribed for a few magazine before and a very less number subscribed for magazines.

• Do you like reading magazines?

ANSWER : Most of the people said that they were not interested in magazines as they did not get time to read magazines. They were too busy to read magazines. They said whenever they wanted they would buy a single supplement from a vendor or they would borrow from a library.

• What rates did most of the customers prefer?

ANSWER : Most of the customers preferred the cheapest magazine for subscription. Customers felt that subscribing for magazines was a waste of money as well as resources as mostly magazines would remain unread. They were willing to spend little money on the subscription of magazines inspite of the fact that all the magazines had schemes. I analysed that customers rather than subscribing for magazines preferred to either buy a magazine when they wanted to read or they would borrow a magazine from the library.

• Are the gifts satisfactory that are given with the magazines?

ANSWER : Most of the people were satisfied with the gifts that were offered. Some said that they would like better quality gifts. Some said that they never have got any gifts with any magazine.

• Would they like any other kind of magazine apart from the ones that are already printed by the Times group?

ANSWER : Most of the people did not know which magazines did the Times print. They mainly knew about the Femina, Filmfare and Good Homes. Some said that they would like magazines which had only about various carear opportunities for students. Some said they would like magazines having true storeys . The reast said that the magazine content was satisfactory.

CONCLUSION

This summer training in Times Of India gave me immense knowledge and experience. I got to learn many things like different customers and their behaviour, how to behave with different people, likes and dislikes of people, preferences of people, how much money people are willing to spend, how to convince people, marketing, etc. I also got to know about the goodwill of Times Of India, their different products and services, their various schemes, etc.

Therefore I am very thankful to my college for placing me in the Times Group for my summer training.

BIBLIOGRAPHY www.google.com www.wikipedia.com www.indiatimes.com