The Indian Wedding Industry and Use of Social Media
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The Indian Wedding Industry and Use of Social Media Dissertation submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (General) at Dublin Business School Rohit Maheshwari 10378459 Master of Business Administration (General) August 2018 Declaration I, Rohit Maheshwari, declare that this research is my original work and that it has never been presented to any institution or university for the award of Degree or Diploma. In addition, I have referenced correctly all literature and sources used in this work and this this work is fully compliant with the Dublin Business School’s academic honesty policy. Signed: Rohit Maheshwari______________ Date: 31/08/2018_____________________ Page | 2 Acknowledgment This dissertation is based on research conducted on the “Indian wedding industry and use of social media”. I am grateful to Dublin Business School, for giving me an opportunity to be a part of such a great academic journey and pursue this area of research as my dissertation. During the entire journey of this MBA, I have realized, how fruitful and incomparable this experience has been. I cannot thank everyone enough for all the learnings, experiences, and overall development I have had throughout this course and until this stage of submitting my final dissertation. To begin with, I would like to thank all my professors, who have greatly contributed to my learnings pertaining to each module of this course. Then, I would like to thank Dr. Brid Lane and PJ Paul for the immense support and guidance they have facilitated during my Research proposals. Needless to say the significant role of my supervisor; Niamh Hickey. It is only the professional expertise, vast knowledge, and experience, of all the supervisors at each stage of this dissertation process, has helped me turn a mere idea into this comprehensive research work. Also, a special mention, for the help and support I was extended from Mary and Anita during this period. Second, I am very grateful to all the participants, who have participated in this dissertation. This research work would always be accountable for their valuable inputs and insights, to closely analyze the subject area and be able to formulate the findings and conclusion. And last but not the least, to my lovely parents, wife and my son, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for their wise console and a sympathetic ear. And most of all, I am thankful to my brother; Lav Bhutada and my maternal uncle, Mr. Dilip Jaju. They hold the entire credit of all my achievements till date, as without their financial assistance this would have only remained a dream. Page | 3 Abstract Despite the surging growth and huge economic contribution, the wedding industry in India lacks the attention of researchers and quality literature. Underpinned by technological enhancements, social media influence, changing consumption and marketing paradigm, this research is an attempt to explore the impact of such change in relation to the current wedding industry. The size of the industry would vary in as many sources as you explore. The Industry encompasses many sub-industries like travel, hotel, food, clothing, entertainment, decor, photography, make-up and so on. Subsequently, it is hard to set a figure around the size of the Industry. A conventional Indian wedding celebration would involve couples, and their respective family and friends to plan and manage the entire show. However, the industry has witnessed a significant drift in relation to emerging trends of hiring wedding planners, use of technology and social media, in the past few decades. The inspiration for research begins, with researchers’ long trail of personal observations in and around close friends, family, and social circles. In this light, this paper seeks to address the specificity of the changing persona of the wedding industry in India and the effects of social media in this context. With the corresponding drifts of human behavior and marketing practices; accelerating use of dedicated social media such as LinkedIn, Airbnb, Couchsurfing and so on, this paper further represents an attempt to explore a business model of building a dedicated social media platform for the use of wedding planners and service providers in India. In this light, the researcher’s aim is to: Study the current Indian wedding industry size, challenges, and use of social media Explore the need for a dedicated social platform and can the use of such a platform modify the process of wedding planning and management itself? How would the expansion of such medium collide with other traditional ways of wedding planning and management? Page | 4 Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 8 Structure of the Study ......................................................................................................................... 8 Research Overview ............................................................................................................................. 8 Research Background ........................................................................................................................ 11 Research Problem ............................................................................................................................. 12 Research Aims and Objective ............................................................................................................ 12 Research Question ............................................................................................................................ 12 Research Scope and Limitations ....................................................................................................... 13 Research Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 - Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 14 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Weddings .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Background ................................................................................................................................... 16 The Wedding Industry: evolution, present, and future ................................................................ 18 Indian Weddings and the Industry ................................................................................................ 19 Social Media ...................................................................................................................................... 21 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 21 Redefining Marketing and Businesses .......................................................................................... 22 Chapter 3 – Research Methodology ..................................................................................................... 26 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Research Philosophy – Interpretivism .......................................................................................... 27 Research Approach - Inductive ..................................................................................................... 28 Research Strategy –Grounded Theory/Qualitative....................................................................... 29 Data Collection .................................................................................................................................. 30 Secondary data ............................................................................................................................. 30 Primary data .................................................................................................................................. 30 Sample Size and Technique ............................................................................................................... 31 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 32 Research Ethics ................................................................................................................................. 33 Research Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 4: Analysis and Interpretation ................................................................................................. 36 Findings ............................................................................................................................................. 36 Mono method qualitative study: semi-structured interviews ...................................................... 36 Participant’s profile ....................................................................................................................... 36 Themes and findings: .......................................................................................................................