THESIS REPORT KRISHNANDU NATH

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi.
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
NEW DELHI
THESIS REPORT
ON
“IMPACT OF CSR ON THE BRAND EQUITY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
INDUSTRY IN INDIA”
SUBMITTED TO:
THESIS MARKETING DEPARTMENT, NEW DELHI
EXTERNAL GUIDE:
MS. NABAMITA DE
DEPUTY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY:
KRISHNANDU NATH
BATCH: SPRING/12-14 (SUM)
THESIS ID NO.: SPRING/12-14/M-61/DELHI/ISBE
Batch – Spring/12-14 (SUM) 1
Thesis ID: Spring/12-14/M-61/Delhi/ISBE

INDEX
S.No TOPICS Page No
ABSTRACT
LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
SYNOPSIS
1 INTRODUCTION 1-18
1.1 General introduction 1
1.2 Dissertation Background 9
1.3 Objective Of Dissertation 16
1.4 Dissertation Plan 17
1.5 Motive Of Dissertation 18
1.6 Limitation Of Dissertation 18
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
19-29
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30-33
3.1 Research Design 30
3.2 Defining data and Source of Data 31
4 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
34-58
4.1 Analysis Of Secondary Data
4.2 Analysis Of Primary Data
5 SUMMARY
59-60
6 CONCLUSION
61
7 BIBLIOGRAPHY
62
8 ANNEXURE
7.1 Questionnaire Link 63
7.2 Sample Questionnaire -
7.3 Details of Respondents -

ABSTRACT
In a very competitive global market, mobile telecommunication companies must strive
to portray a picture of themselves as highly socially responsible companies. Active
involvement in socially beneficial programs provides extra advantages to the company.
The purpose of this project is to find out the impact of corporate social responsibility
activities on Brand Equity by examining the correlation between CSR & Brand Equity.
Brand Equity being a dependent variable in this research is measured by many
independent variables like Brand Loyalty, Brand awareness, Brand association,
Perceived quality & overall Brand Equity. This study also examines the concentration of
CSR activities of mobile telecommunication companies in India. Furthermore, this study
also determines the motives and the most influencing factors in their concentration of
involvement in CSR. Generally, involvements in CSR activities are inspired by several
construct motivational factors and follow the agency theory assumption. One of the
primary motivating factors is the belief that CSR can increase long term profitability and
sustainability of the company as well as enhance the reputation of the organization.
Various companies show satisfactory level of involvement in five (5) main categories;
environmental concerns, welfare or charity, community involvement, products or
services improvement and natural disasters awareness programs.

LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE
This is to certify that the project work entitled “IMPACT OF CSR ON THE BRAND EQUITY OF
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY IN INDIA” has been accomplished by Mr. Krishnandu Nath
student of IIPM (Marketing) under my guidance and supervision. This project is being submitted by him in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of “Master of Business Administration” from “IIPM NEW
DELHI”. All sources of information have been duly mentioned and is a record of bonafide work carried out by
him.
Ms. Nabamita De
Deputy Manager
REVE Systems

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
All praise to the almighty with whose auspicious blessings I have been able to accomplish my research
project report successfully. Equal credit goes to my parents and teachers who made me what I am today
by their hard labor, devotion, support & prayer.
My special thanks to for generic cooperation coordination and valuable support. I pay my gratitude
towards my other faculty members. I must not forget to render my deep feelings of gratitude and thanks
to all the respondents whom I visited during the survey for valuable information, co-operation, advice
and suggestion to make this endeavor a great success.
I am grateful to my guide Ms. Nabamita De, Deputy Manager, REVE Systems for her efforts during
my thesis work. My sincere thanks to all other who were associated with the project directly or
indirectly for providing me the excellent guidance during the project.
I appreciate the co-ordination extended by my friends and also express my sincere thankfulness to the
entire faculty members of Indian Institute of Planning & Management, Delhi, giving me the opportunity
to do this project/study and also assisting me for the same.

THESIS SYNOPSIS
Name: Krishnandu Nath
Phone Number: +91 8860283264
Email address: newyork202001@gmail.com
Course to which admitted: ISBE B
Month & year of admission: May 2012
Place of study: (IIPM CENTER) New-Delhi
Thesis Id Allotted: Spring/12-14/M-61/Delhi/ISBE
Thesis Topic: “IMPACT OF CSR ON THE BRAND EQUITY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY IN
INDIA”
Specialization Area: Marketing
Introduction:
This chapter gives the introduction to my research topic. It gives the brief overview of Corporate Social
Responsibility, Brand Equity and the relationship between them.
During the last decades, brand equity has been a priority topic for both practitioners and academics. In
accordance with the structural changes in the economic settings caused by the So-called “new
economy”, corporations are being confronted with a shift on perceived business value structure from
tangible assets to intangibles. On the other hand firms increasingly are adopting more responsible
behavior towards their societies. In this context one critical question is to understand how corporate
conduct may affect brand equity.
Research Objective:
In order to study the extent of telecommunication companies’ involvement in CSR activities, the objectives that
guide to get the valuable information to implement this study are:
i. To identify the CSR initiatives taken up by the telecom companies in India.
ii. To determine the impact of CSR activities on brand equity of the various telecom companies in India based on
contribution or cost allocation towards such activities.
The telecom industry in this research will include telecom service providers, equipment manufacturers &
infrastructure providers.

Research Methodology:
Research design: Descriptive Research and Exploratory
I will use the Descriptive Research method in my dissertation. This method describes the data and
characteristics about the population or the phenomenon being used. My research will answer the questions like
“What are the factors that influence a consumer to buy a Service provider”. It provides research questions,
populations or methods of analysis before the research is started. It sometimes consists of longitudinal studies,
which study the behavior of individuals over time, and cross-sectional studies, which examine many populations
at one specific time.
• Prepare a questionnaire to analyze the factors affecting choice of Service Provider;
• Primary Analyze the data/ results from the questionnaire;
• Secondary Analysis of papers in journals;
• Collect relevant data from white papers.
I will also apply a little part of Exploratory Research in my research work. This research is applied
when only a little is known about the topic and the researcher goes in depth of the topic to gain the
knowledge of it. The primary point of exploratory research is to give researchers pertinent information
and help them to form initial hypotheses about the subject. The previous theories and results are not
applicable in this research.
How Exploratory and Descriptive Research Work Together Exploratory research must
happen first for descriptive research to be effective. The latter organizes the data and
hypotheses found during the exploratory process. Researchers must spend the necessary
time in exploratory research before moving on to the descriptive phase. Both exploratory
and descriptive research have their place in forming a better understanding of a problem
or issue, and understanding the difference between the two can make your research more
targeted and effective. I will use the mix of both these researches in my work. I have
read a lot of Literature Review about the topic which is part of exploratory research will
helps me to well understand my area of research. Next I will use the descriptive research
in my work in which I will make the respondents to fill my questionnaire. The results
will be analyzed and the conclusion will be reached.

Sample size: 10 respondents.
Our targeted respondents were Managers of Corporate Communication Division for each
company because they could demonstrate the intensiveness of the activity and
motivation factor for each CSR activity.
Sampling method: Convenience sampling
It is the technique of sampling where the subjects are selected because of their
convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher. It is one of the easiest methods
of sampling because the researcher does not consider the whole population. Instead few
samples are taken from different places which will represent the whole population. In
my research I will use this technique and I will collect samples from different regions
that will represent that whole region.
Data Sources: The data sources that I will use in this research is of two types:
Primary Data and Secondary Data
Primary Data: Primary data is that which is collected by researchers themselves during
their own research using research tools such as experiments, survey questionnaires,
interviews and observation. Primary data has not been published yet and is more reliable,
authentic and objective. Primary data has not been changed or altered by human beings,
therefore its validity is greater than secondary data. Importance of Primary data cannot
be neglected. A research can be conducted without secondary data but a research based
on only secondary data is least reliable and may have biases because secondary data has
already been manipulated by human beings. In Statistical surveys it is necessary to get
information from primary sources and work on

Primary data: for example, the statistical records of female population in a country
cannot be based on newspaper, magazine and other printed sources. One such sources
are old and secondly they contain limited information as well as they can be misleading
and biased.
The primary data that I will use during the research is that data that I will obtain from the
Questionnaire that I will prepare. The number of respondents for this Questionnaire will
be 50. This data will be analyzed and factors on which choice of selection of mobile
service provider depends will be concluded.
Secondary Data: Data collected from a source that has already been published in any
form is called as secondary data. The review of literature in nay research is based on
secondary data. Mostly from books, journals and periodicals.
Secondary data can be less valid but its importance is still there. Sometimes it is difficult
to obtain primary data; in these cases getting information from secondary sources is
easier and possible. Sometimes primary data does not exist in such situation one has to
confine the research on secondary data. Sometimes primary data is present but the
respondents are not willing to reveal it in such case too secondary data can suffice: for
example, if the research is on the psychology of transsexuals first it is difficult to find
out transsexuals and second they may not be willing to give information you want for
your research, so you can collect data from books or other published sources.
Apart from the primary data that I will use during my research I will use the Secondary
Data as well. The data that is ready made will also be applied by me in the research. The
various sources of secondary data are:
• Journals
• White Papers
• Case Studies

• Internet
• Magazines
• Books
• Web Blogs
• Websites
• E-Journal
Book Referred:
 Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller
 Marketing Research by Boyd and Harper.
Details of the External Guide:
Name of the Guide: Nabamita De
Phone No: +91 9711430594
Email Address: nabamita@revesoft.com
Designation: Deputy Manager – Marketing.
Name of the organization: REVE Systems India Pvt Ltd.

Attach the acceptance letter: Attached

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter gives the introduction to my research topic. It gives the brief overview of
Corporate Social Responsibility, Brand Equity and the relationship between them.
1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
During the last decades, brand equity has been a priority topic for both practitioners and
academics. In accordance with the structural changes in the economic settings caused by
the So-called “new economy”, corporations are being confronted with a shift on
perceived business value structure from tangible assets to intangibles. On the other hand
firms increasingly are adopting more responsible behavior towards their societies. In this
context one critical question is to understand how corporate conduct may affect brand
equity.
Corporate Social Responsibility
World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines Corporate Social
Responsibility as:
“The continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic
development while improving the quality of life of workforce and their families as well
as of the local community and society at large.”-This definition was given by Mallen
Baker.
Different organizations have framed different definitions - although there is considerable
common ground between them that is CSR is about how companies manage the business
processes to produce an overall positive impact on society.
CSR is also referred as corporate citizenship, responsible business and corporate social
opportunity. It is the concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by
taking responsibility for their impact of their activities on customers, suppliers,
employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the

environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply
with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the
quality of life for employees and their families as well as local community and society at
large.
The practice of CSR is subject to much debate and criticism. Proponents argue that there
is a strong business case for CSR, in that corporations benefit in in multiple ways by
operating with a perspective broader and longer than their own immediate, short term
profits. Critics argue that it distracts from fundamental economic role of businesses.
CSR has become an effective strategy to involve firms, large, medium, and small, to
achieve sustainable development. A large number of firms are currently engaged in
delivering social and economic benefits to local communities across the globe. The
manifestation of this trend is also visible in telecom companies in India. Several
companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Nokia, etc. are partnering with government
agencies, NGOs and UN agencies to further the social and economic goals.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is defined as categories of economic, legal, ethical
and social responsibilities of a business entity as adapted to contribute to the values and
expectations of society it can be depicted by the CSR pyramid shown below:

i. Economic Responsibilities: - Business organizations are formed as economic
entity’s to provide quality goods and better services to societal members. The
profit motive was established as primary incentive for entrepreneurship. Business
organizations were treated as the basic economic unit in our society. Thus its
major role was to produce goods and services that consumers needed and wanted
and to make an acceptable profit in the process. At some point the motive of
getting profits are transformed into a notion of maximum profits, and it has been
an enduring value ever since. All other business responsibilities are predicted
upon the economic responsibility of the firm.
ii. Legal Responsibilities: - Business should not be only for profit motive while
serving the society. At the same time business is expected to comply and should
abide with the laws and regulations promulgated by state and local government
as the ground rules under which business must operate. As partial fulfillment of
the social contract between business and society, firms are expected to pursue
their economic missions with the framework of law. Legal responsibilities made
businesses are having codified ethics and they co-exist with economic
responsibilities as fundamental precepts of the free enterprise system.
iii. Ethical Responsibilities: - Although the economic and legal responsibilities
have ethical base about fair practice and justice, ethical responsibilities embrace
those activities and practices that are prohibited by members of the society even
though they are not codified in to law. Ethical responsibilities frames those
standards, norms or expectations that reflect a concern for what consumers,
employees, shareholders and the community regard as fair just or in keeping with
the respect or protection of stakeholders moral rights. In other sense, ethical
responsibilities rare viewed as newly emerged values and norms may reflect a
higher standard of performance than that currently required by law.

iv. Philanthropic responsibilities: - Philanthropy encompasses those corporate
actions that are in response to society expectation that business to be good
corporate citizens. That is actively engaged in various activities that business to
be good corporate citizens. That is actively in various activities or programs to
promote human welfare or goodwill. Examples of philanthropy include business
contribution to arts, education or community. Therefore philanthropy is more
discretionary on the business part even though there is always the societal
expectation that businesses provide it.
The CSR of business entails the fulfillment of the firm’s economic, legal, and
philanthropic responsibilities. The CSR firm should strive to make a profitable value,
obey the law, and be ethical and good corporate citizen.
CSR in telecom companies in India.
Over the last few decades the telecommunication sector in India has undergone a sea
change on account of the interplay of the Government and private sector. It has played
an important part in bridging the rural urban gap. Rapid economic growth, leading to a
rise in the standard of living of individuals has been the main driving factor for the
fastest growth of the Indian Telecom industry. India's telecommunication network is the
second largest in the world based on the total number of telephone users (both fixed and
mobile phone). The telecom sector is broadly classified into three major drivers they are:
The service providers, handset manufacturers and the equipment manufacturer.
The telecommunication sector deals with numerous social and operational challenges
such as technological development, increased demand for telecommunication services,
health concerns and environment protection. Therefore telecom companies are
reorganizing themselves by viewing CSR as an exclusive arm of their business strategy
by building a competitive edge though its social initiatives in order to transform the
society. The telecom industry has the power to transform society, which is why corporate
responsibility is an important part of telecom industry in India. The strategic direction of

the companies are well defined in that they need to maximize the impact of
telecommunications, create shared value for society and shape a sustainable future.
Importance of CSR
CSR is one of the fundamental tools in vital duty for any business organization
irrespective of its size. The business which fulfills its corporate social responsibilities
successfully will survive in long run. Though organization and society are interlinked
and inter depended, the fair practice of CSR will impact on the good will of the
organization. CSR minimizes negative impact on stakeholders and it produces wealth
and value for all stakeholders.
CSR as a tool for Marketing
Coca-Cola’s “Support My School” initiative in India has been touted as one of the
biggest CSR initiatives by corporate India and is beamed on NDTV with a lot of fanfare.
Coca-Cola is not the only company that has effectively bundled, branded and
communicated its CSR efforts; too many companies have started communicating their
CSR efforts too early in too conspicuous a way. When companies put their profits back
into the very same people who help them make money, the marketing cycle is complete
(Harish Bijoor, CEO, Bijoor Consultants). The practice of advocating corporate social
responsibility in marketing communications activities is commonly known as cause
related marketing.
 Cause-related marketing (CRM)
It is defined as the process of formulating and implementing marketing activities
that are characterized by contributing a specific amount to a designated nonprofit
effort that, in turn, causes customers to engage in revenue providing exchanges
(Mullen, 1997). In the USA, CRM is used as a corporate term for ‘working
together in financial concert with a charity to tie a company and its products to a
cause’ (Ptacek & Salazar, 1997). It is a ‘dramatic way to build brand equity as it
creates the most added value and most directly enhances financial performance’

(Mullen, 1997). It (societal marketing) can generate the long-term value needed
for a company to survive and achieve competitive advantage (Collins, 1993).
CRM is the latest buzz-word for European and Indian marketers who have come
to realize that alliances of companies with charities and other community welfare
can potentially result in growing market shares and customer loyalty (Stewart,
1998). Cause-related marketing has a great potential in helping marketers to stay
in tune with the mood of the public, as it is more sensitive, trustworthy and
relevant to society (Duncan & Moriarty, 1997).
CRM is also referred to as Mission Marketing (MM) that integrates a non-
commercial, socially redeeming system into a company’s business plan and
operations.
Previous researches however, indicate that the potential to affect buying behavior
does exist and is credited to:
• The value it can add to the brand and thus brand equity,
• The ability to strengthen relationships with internal and external
stakeholders, whose support is vital to brand equity and ultimately
affects the company’s bottom line,
• The ability to make the message believable, less confusing and
misleading.
Brand Equity
Brands represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property, capable of influencing
consumer behavior, being bought and sold, and providing the security of sustained future
revenues to their owner. The value directly or indirectly accrued by these various
benefits is often called brand equity (Kapferer, 2005; Keller, 2003). A basic premise of
brand equity is that the power of a brand lies in the minds of consumers and what they
have experienced and learned about the brand over time. Brand equity can be thought of
as the "added value" endowed to a product in the thoughts, words, and actions of

consumers. There are many different ways that this added value can be created for a
brand. For brand equity to provide a useful strategic function and guide marketing
decisions, it is important for marketers to fully understand the sources of brand equity,
how they affect outcomes of interest (e.g., sales), and how these sources and outcomes
change, if at all, over time. Understanding the sources and outcomes of brand equity
provides a common denominator for interpreting marketing strategies and assessing the
value of a brand: The sources of brand equity help managers understand and focus on
what drives their brand equity; the outcomes of brand equity help managers understand
exactly how and where brands add value.
The term brand equity had been studied in many researches and there had been many
perspectives in viewing what does the term means (Farquhar, 1989). It has been defined
frequently as the value of the brand name adds to a product. The value in this case can
influence other product categories. More fundamentally brand equity is generated from
all activities required to market the brand. Brand managers realize the Dilemma of
Parity, which has been indicated in many categories as result of look-alike advertising
and the proliferation of me-too brands (Aaker, 1991; Vobb-Walgren, Riuble,& Donthu,
1995). This dilemma has led both Manufacturer and retailers to find out ways to enhance
brand equity toward their brands (Aaker, 1991).
The Relation between CSR and Brand Equity
Currently, both corporate responsibility and branding strategies have become
progressively more important that firms have to detect how these strategies affect their
creation of values (Blumenthal & Bergstrom, 2003). Firms can benefit using synergies
created by merging CSR and branding strategies (Blumenthal & Bergstrom, 2003). From
a marketing point of view, strategies established by firm can influence their brand
equity. The rationale behind this integration is: to assure the degree of corporate
promise, sustaining customer loyalty and avoiding conflict with owners (Blumenthal &
Bergstrom, 2003). Gobe (2002) introduces concept of citizen brand which take into
consideration the effects of its behavior on its stakeholders. Gobe (2002) argues that
today people want to build a holistic multifaceted relationship with brands. In this
concept consumers’ expectations of brands goes beyond of merely good philanthropist

brand (ibid). Corporate responsible conduct as defined in previous chapters can be seen
in the triple bottom line notation of sustainability where all dimensions of corporate
performances must be considered simultaneously. The concept of triple bottom line
emphasizes the need for simultaneous adaption of environmental integrity, economical
prosperity and social equity principles (First, 2010; Mark-Herbert and Rorarius, 2010). It
is more important when considering long-run effects of corporate conduct on business
image, reputation and in general its performance. Also brands are the “long-lasting
assets of organization that will translate to sustainable long-term profit” (Cravans &
Guilding, 1999, 16). Analyzing existing brand valuation approaches revealed that each
of these valuation techniques is defined within a special conceptual framework and
mostly for specific purposes. As it is argued in chapter six, most concentrated dimension
of triple bottom line in existing brand evaluation techniques is financial performance of
business (and brands). Social and environmental dimensions of corporate conduct mostly
have received less attention, though the potential of including these two dimensions in
some methods exist. The inclusion of social and environmental aspects in form of brand
associations and brand features have analyzed in some cases but the problem is that these
measurements can helpful to understand the consumer preferences and perceptions and
still needs to be proved. For instance marketing managers and executives can benefit in
their campaign developments by analyzing the consumer awareness and consciousness
to the firm’s social and environmental concerns. But from the value analyzing point of
view trustworthy of corporate conduct must be assured. Corporate performance can be
perceived by stakeholders through a series of images which form sort of firm’s
intangible value (Brady, 2003). Stakeholder theory has materialized as a challenge to
traditional conceptualizations of the model of the firm (Clarke & Clegg, 1998), and it
brings in the perception that the business exists within a complex network of
stakeholders (Jones, 2005). Stakeholder theory framework expresses the importance of
identifying of each stakeholder that “can affect or are affected by the achievement of the
corporation’s purposes” (Freeman, 1984, 52). A foundation of the stakeholder theory is
that business performance is linked to stakeholder relations (Freeman, 1984).
Considering brand equity context, calls for contemplation of a range of stakeholders that
affecting the brand value (creation or subtracting) and studying its relationship (Jones,

2005). In the stakeholder view of brand equity valuation the corner stone is the
meaningfulness of the brand and its relation with all external and internal stakeholders is
meaningful. Ambler (200, 44) defines the value creation process for a range of
stakeholders as total equity. Thus considering a brand have strong customer relation
(equity) for instance, its equity will be undermined by negative media coverage effect
(Jones, 2005, 18). Likewise a brand which has a poor customer equity but a strong and
well-known distribution channel with ability to dominating competitors retail chain, its
overall equity can’t be recognized as a poor equity (Jones, 2005). Considering existing
evaluation methods the most common stakeholders which are mainly expressed and
stressed are consumers and brand owners which can be generalized (not in all of
valuation methods) in the form of society and firm as whole. Even in some cases the
stress may be mostly on one side rather both sides. For example Aaker (1991) and Keller
(2003) models are based on consumer perceptions and preferences. Likewise accounting
based approaches like cost based and market value methods are concentrating on
benefits to brand owners. Adapting stakeholder approach to brand equity allow move
beyond customer orientation approach and facilitate better understanding of brand
efficiency against each stakeholder (Jones, 2005). Stakeholder theory declares that the
business is subjected to a network of relations where the business is legally,
contractually and morally committed to the members of this system (Jones, 2005). Since
brands create value to primary stakeholders (owners and customers) as well as secondary
stakeholders (other parties affecting the business performance), brand value creation
understanding calls for more holistic view (Ambler, 2000). This view is in line with
stakeholder thinking, where the firm’s performance linked to multiple stakeholder
considerations (Greenley & Foxall, 97). In relation to brand equity the stakeholder
concept gives us a much clear picture of brand value creation (Ambler, 2000).
1.2 DISSERTATION BACKGROUND
This research is based on finding out the various CSR initiatives taken up by telecom
companies in India and finding out the impact that CSR creates on the brand equity of a
particular telecom company on customer’s mindset all over India of different age groups
and occupations. In a very competitive global market, mobile telecommunication

companies must strive to portray a picture of themselves as highly socially responsible
companies. Active involvement in socially beneficial programs provides extra
advantages to the company. The purpose of this project is to find out the impact of
corporate social responsibility activities on Brand Equity by examining the correlation
between CSR & Brand Equity. Brand Equity being a dependant variable in this research
is measured by many independent variables like Brand Loyalty, Brand awareness, Brand
association, Perceived quality & overall Brand Equity, as per Brand Resonance Model
for Brand Equity proposed by Kevin Lane Keller.
This study also examines the concentration of CSR activities of telecommunication
companies in India. One of the primary motivating factors is the belief that CSR can
increase long term profitability and sustainability of the company as well as enhance the
reputation of the organization. Various companies show satisfactory level of
involvement in five prime categories; environmental concerns, welfare or charity,
community involvement, products or services improvement and natural disasters
awareness programmes.
Firstly a list of top telecom service providers, equipment manufacturers and handset
manufacturers operating in India has been obtained by reliable sources. Thereby the CSR
initiatives undertaken by these companies are found out in the secondary data research.
The second part of the research explores the following question i.e. Does CSR create any
impact on the brand equity of the firm. This is done by finding out the correlation of
CSR with brand equity from various responses of the customers in a form of a
questionnaire. The questionnaire is based on the customer based brand equity model
given by Keller.
Kevin Lane Keller’s Customer Based Brand Equity model depicts the process that goes
into building strong brands. This model is set in the realm of brand added value, which
Keller defines as follows: the differential effect that consumers brand knowledge has on
their response to the marketing of that brand. The model is made up of number of steps
that should be taken in a fixed order. It describes six dimensions of brand equity: Brand
Salience, Brand Performance, Brand Imagery, Consumer Judgments, Consumer Feelings

and Brand Resonance. The highest level of brand equity is attained when the top of the
pyramid is attained i.e. brand resonance.
The explanations of the six dimensions are:
1. Brand Salience: The first step in the development of strong brand involves
describing its identity. In order to negotiate this first step consumer will be able
to identify with the brand. A clear associative link between the brand and a
specific product class/ category has to be established in the minds of the
consumers. This provides a solid footing for building a brand awareness and
knowledge. It refers to how familiar consumers are with a brand. Brand salience
comprises of three factors; brand awareness, recognition and recall.
a. Brand Awareness: Brand awareness is related to the strength of the brand
in memory, as reflected by consumers' ability to identify various brand
elements (i.e., the brand name, logo, symbol, character, packaging, and
slogan) under different conditions. Brand awareness relates to the
likelihood that a brand will come to mind and the ease with which it does
so given different type of cues.

b. Brand Recognition: In the abstract, recognition processes require that
consumers be able to discriminate a stimulus a word, object, image, etc.
as something they have previously seen. Brand recognition relates to
consumers' ability to identify the brand under a variety of circumstances
and can involve identification of any of the brand elements.
c. Brand Recall: Brand recall relates to consumers' ability to identify the
brand under a variety of circumstances. With brand recall, consumers
must retrieve the actual brand element from memory when given some
related probe or cue. Thus, brand recall is a more demanding memory
task than brand recognition because consumers are not just given a brand
element and asked to identify or discriminate it as one they had or had not
already seen.
2. Brand Performance: Brand performance relates to the ways in which the product
or service attempts to meet customers' more functional needs. Thus, brand
performance refers to the intrinsic properties of the brand in terms of inherent
product or service characteristics. There are five important types of attributes and
benefits that often underlie brand performance and can be measured as follows:
Primary characteristics and supplementary features, product reliability durability
serviceability, service effectiveness efficiency and empathy, style and design and
finally price.
In this research only one attribute has been taken to measure the performance
parameter that is the price which is explained briefly below.
a. Price: Pricing policy for the brand can create associations in consumers'
minds to the relevant price tier or level for the brand in the category.
3. Brand Imagery: The other main type of brand meaning involves brand imagery.
Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product or service,
including the ways in which the brand attempts to meet customers’ more

psychological or social needs. Brand imagery is how people think about a brand
abstractly rather than what they think the brand actually does. Thus, imagery
refers to more intangible aspects of the brand. All different kinds of intangibles
can be linked to a brand, but five categories can be highlighted:
a. User profiles: The type of person or organization who uses the brand.
This imagery may result in a profile or mental image by customers of
actual users or more aspirational, idealized users. Associations of a
typical or idealized brand user may be based on descriptive demographic
factors or more abstract psychographic factors. In a business-to-business
setting, user imagery might relate to the size or type of organization.
b. Purchase situations: Under what conditions or situations the brand could
or should be bought and used. Associations of a typical purchase situation
may be 18 based on a number of different considerations, such as: 1)
Type of channel (e.g., department store, specialty store, or direct through
internet or some other means); Specific store (e.g., Lord & Taylor, Radio
Shack or Bluefly.com); and 3) Ease of purchase and associated rewards,
if any.
c. Usage situations: Under what conditions or situations the brand could or
should be used. Associations of a typical usage situation may be based on
a number of different considerations, such as: 1) Particular time of the
day, week, month, or year to use the brand; 2) Location to use the brand
(e.g., inside or outside the home); and 3) Type of activity where the brand
is used (e.g., formal or informal).
d. Personality and values: As noted above, brands may also take on
personality traits and values similar to people. Brand personality is often
related to the more descriptive usage imagery but involves much richer,
more contextual information.
e. History, heritage, and experiences: Finally, brands may take on
associations to their past and certain noteworthy events in the brand

history. These types of associations may involve distinctly personal
experiences and episodes or be related to past behaviors and experiences
of friends, family, or others.
4. Brand Judgments: Brand judgments focus upon customers' own personal
opinions and evaluations with regard to the brand. Brand judgments involve how
customers put together all the different performance and imagery associations for
the brand to form different kinds of opinions. Although customers may make all
types of judgments with respect to a brand, four types of summary brand
judgments are particularly important:
a. Brand quality: Among the most important attitudes that customers may
hold relates to the perceived quality of the brand. Other notable attitudes
related to quality pertain to perceptions of value and satisfaction.
b. Brand credibility: Customers may form judgments that transcend more
specific brand quality concerns. Brand credibility refers to the extent to
which the company or organization making the product or providing the
service as a whole is seen as being: 1) Competent, innovative, and a
market leader (brand expertise); Dependable and keeping customer
interests in mind (brand trustworthiness); 3) Fun, interesting, and worth
spending time with (brand likeability).
c. Brand consideration: Consideration deals with the likelihood that
customers will actually include the brand in the set of possible options of
brands they might buy or use. Consideration depends in part on how
personally relevant customers find the brand, i.e., the extent to which
customers view the brand as being appropriate and meaningful to
themselves.
d. Brand superiority: Finally, superiority relates to the extent to which
customers view the brand as unique as and better than other brands.

5. Brand Feelings: Brand feelings are customers' emotional responses and
reactions with respect to the brand. Brand feelings also relate to the social
currency evoked by the brand. What feelings are evoked by the marketing
program for the brand or by other means? How does the brand affect customers’
feelings about themselves and their relationship with others? These feelings can
be mild or intense and be positive or negative in nature. Six important types of
brand-building feelings:
a. Warmth: Warmth refers to more soothing types of feelings – the extent to
which the brand makes consumers feel a sense of calm or peacefulness.
b. Fun: Feelings of fun are also upbeat types of feelings when the brand
makes consumers feel amused, light-hearted, joyous, playful, cheerful,
and so on.
c. Excitement: Excitement relates to more upbeat types of feelings – the
extent to which the brand makes consumers feel energized and a feeling
that they are experiencing something special.
d. Security: Security feelings occur when the brand produces a feeling of
safety, comfort, and self-assurance.
e. Social approval: Social approval is when the brand results in consumers
having positive feelings about the reactions of others – i.e., when
consumers feel others look favorably on their appearance, behavior, and
so on.
f. Self-respect: Self-respect occurs when the brand makes consumers feel
better about them.
6. Brand Resonance: Brand resonance sits at the top of the brand equity pyramid
because it's the most difficult and the most desirable level to reach. Brand
resonance is achieved when your customers feel a deep, psychological bond with
your brand. Brand resonance can be broken down into four categories:

a. Behavioral loyalty: This includes regular, repeat purchases.
b. Attitudinal attachment: Your customers love your brand or your product,
and they see it as a special purchase.
c. Sense of community: Your customers feel a sense of community with
people associated with the brand, including other consumers and
company representatives.
d. Active engagement: This is the strongest example of brand loyalty.
Customers are actively engaged with your brand, even when they are not
purchasing it or consuming it.
Referring to this model of Brand Equity given by Keller. The questionnaire is made which
evaluates the impact of CSR on brand equity in mindsets of the customers.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF DISSERTATION
In order to study the extent of telecommunication companies’ involvement in CSR
activities, the objectives that guide to get the valuable information to implement this
study are:
i. To identify the CSR initiatives taken up by the telecom companies in India.
ii. To determine the impact of CSR activities on brand equity of the various telecom
companies in India.
In the first objective the prime motive is to identify the CSR practices that are taken up
by various telecommunications companies. This research includes the telecom
companies such as service providers, equipment manufacturers and handset

manufacturers. CSR involves various aspects such as economic factors, legal
requirements, ethical orders and discretionary demands. In this high-tech era, business
environments are susceptible to changes in these factors. In order to be a leading
telecommunication provider, each firm must be fully aware and sensitive to the impact
of these factors. The effect of these factors may add to the firm’s corporate image and
financial performance. CSR actually portrays the image of the firm itself. It shows what
the company has done to fulfill its corporate duty to ensure the firm is not only good in
providing the service but also plays its roles by contributing something to the
community.
In the second objective the impact of CSR on the brand equity of various telecom
companies in India was evaluated. The evaluation parameters were based on the brand
resonance model of brand equity by Kevin Lane Keller. Brand Equity is not an
independent variable, it is dependent upon various other variables such as customer
loyalty, brand awareness, brand image, etc. By correlating brand equity with CSR a
questionnaire was formulated by which the customers’ views were assessed. Brands can
build trust and loyalty within consumers and help them make their purchase decisions
faster. In return this enables companies to develop their equipments, qualities, efficiency
in a larger quantity production and lower prices.
1.4 DISSERTATION PLAN
This research study is divided into various sections which have been named as chapters.
There are seven chapters in this study which are as follows:
• Introduction
This chapter provides the introduction to the topic. This chapter will give a brief
overview of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Brand Equity and the
relationship between the two. It also contains the dissertation background and the
dissertation objective.

• Literature Review
This chapter contains the reference to all the previous research studies which has
been conducted in the same field. These researches help in doing the exploratory
research on the topic.
• Research Methodology
This chapter contains the method of research that has been used while conducting
this research. It deals with the type of research, sample scope, sample size, data
sources, analysis of collected data etc.
• Analysis of impact created by CSR on Brand equity of telecom companies in
India
This chapter deals with the behavior of consumer towards various CSR initiatives
taken up by telecom companies in India in order to analyze the impact it creates on
the brand equity of the firm. This analysis will be based on the data that has been
collected from the consumers and the secondary data.
• Conclusion
This chapter contains the conclusion of the research study. The findings of the
research study will be recorded in this chapter.
• Bibliography
This section contains the information about the websites and books that has been
referred to during the research study.
• Annexure
This section contains the samples of filled and unfilled questionnaire that has been
used as data collecting tool during the research.
1.5 MOTIVE OF DISSERTATION
I have taken this topic as Brand Equity is one of the factors that increase the financial
value of a brand to the brand owner. Elements that can be included in the valuation
of brand equity include: brand awareness and knowledge, brand image, brand

judgments, brand associations and brand loyalty etc. Survival of the company
depends upon how responsible company is towards society. More concerned a
company is, it is easier for it to create the positive brand image in the minds of the
consumer that leads to working towards building brand equity.
CSR involves various aspects such as economic factors, legal requirements, ethical
orders and discretionary demands. In this high-tech era, business environments are
susceptible to changes in these factors. In order to be a leading mobile
telecommunication provider, each firm must be fully aware and sensitive to the
impact of these factors. The effect of these factors may add to the firm’s corporate
image and financial performance. CSR actually portrays the image of the firm itself.
It shows what the company has done to fulfill its corporate duty to ensure the firm is
not only good in providing the service but also plays its roles by contributing
something to the community.
This topic closely associates two intangible assets of the company, brand and CSR.
1.6 LIMITATION OF THE DISSERTATION
• I only had a limited time of two months available for my research to find
conclusion , I could not go to more places to get response due to time limitations.
• The information given by the respondents was assumed to be authentic and best
of their knowledge.
• The information has been collected from a sample of population; their view
cannot be generalized on large population.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), calls for a lengthy discussion due
to its varied history. In the past, there have been traces of evidence in the business
community that showed their concerns for society in general. Although there are many
definitions of CSR available, we center our attention on more recent concepts of CSR.
According to Richardson, Welker and Hutchinson (1999), CSR behaviors can be defined
as discretionary actions undertaken by companies that are intended to advance their
social issues. Joyner, Payne & Raiborn (2002) noted that CSR are categories of
economic, legal, ethical and discretionary activities of a business entity as adapted to the
values and expectations from society. They also added that, CSR are the basic
expectations of the company regarding initiatives that take the form of protection to
public health, public safety, and the environment. In this concept, they explained that
values and ethics influence the extent of a corporation's perceived social responsibility
that is influenced by societal activities, norms or standard.
In today’s world, CSR can be defined as regards to all aspects of business behavior so
that the impacts of these activities are incorporated in every corporate agenda (Orgrizek,
2001; Coldwell, 2001). So, with the literatures definition of CSR, it can be concluded
that CSR is the continuing commitment taken by business organizations to strengthen
their ethical concepts and social involvement in society, contribute to economic
development, sponsor charitable programs, and improve the quality of the workforce and
also the increment of services provided. However on the other hand, Freeman & Liedtka
(1991) argue that CSR can promote incompetence by leading the managers to get
themselves involved in areas beyond their expertise, that is, trying to repair society’s ill.
Factors Influencing Involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility
The primary role of business is to produce goods and services that society wants and
needs. According to Coldwell (2001), a business only contributes fully to a society if it is
highly efficient, highly profitable and has socially responsible agendas. Based on the

literatures definition of CSR, CSR behaviors are not constant over time or space. Social
expectations and pressure for specific types of CSR have varied over time and are
contingent on the nature of the company (Richardson, Welker & Hutchinson, 1999). A
study by Windsor (2001) showed that social responsibility is achieved when the
corporation conforms to the prevailing norms and expectations of social performance in
a given society.
Since CSR behaviors are charitable and discretionary, the likelihood that a specific
company will engage in CSR will also depend on the characteristics of the business and
management. According to J. Richardson, Welker and R. Hutchinson (1999), a company
may decide to take a proactive attitude on an ethical issue in the absence of specific
pressures for that company to act, more specifically it is voluntary. On the other hand, it
is possible for businesses with publicly known CSR related problems to take no action
with regard to these problems.
A firm or organizations size might be associated with the level of social involvement. A
study by Smith (1991) found that heavy manufacturing companies involved in smelting
and chemical production are more closely monitored for environmental performance
than companies in other industries. This is due to the fact that heavy manufacturing
companies are perceived to be more harmful to the environment and natural habitats.
Furthermore, a causal effect exists between business size and industry on the amount of
social disclosure (Tilt, 1994). This interaction indicates that the size effect is most
obvious in sensitive industries. For example, large firms in the oil and gas industry are
more likely to undertake CSR behaviors than small firms in that industry. However, no
size effects are apparent in low impact industries such as retailing or financial services.
Joyner, Payne and Raiborn (2002) also compared small and larger organizations and the
results showed that smaller business seemed to better understand the issues of corporate
social responsibility than larger companies. They also identified the different internal
and external factors that would cause inconsistency in the ethical behavior of small and
large businesses. On the contrary, a study by Thompson and Smith (1991) revealed that
small businesses have not been encouraged to overlook social activism and to
concentrate instead on avoiding irresponsible behavior.

CSR is also influenced by the ethics of the firm or organizations. Ethical motivation can
guide the business or organization to do the right thing without any external pressure or
governmental constrain. Joyner, Payne & Raiborn (2002) contended that people believe
businesses are amoral, when in fact they generally embrace the values of ethics in doing
business. They cited several factors that serve to legitimize their position and one of the
factors is society, which expects moral behavior of the business when it cries out against
immoral labor practices or environmental policies.
According to Ogrizek (2001), business leaders are starting to acknowledge some of the
market benefits and competitive advantages for companies who put into place a
comprehensive CSR policy. This means that a business with a strong stance in corporate
responsibility will attract top talent and reputation. However, most of the respondents in
a study by Zabid and Saadiatul, (2002), did not agree that business leaders who have too
much social power should not engage in social activities that might increase their social
power. It shows that the political power that they possess might have a direct
relationship with the companies’ social agendas.
Profitability or financial performance also has an influence on CSR. A study by Cochran
& Wood (1984), found that within industry groups, the financial variable that most
strongly correlated with CSR is asset age and that omission of this variable results in a
spurious correlation of CSR and financial performance. In other words, firms with older
assets have lower CSR ratings. Aupperle, Can-oil and Hatfield (1985), tested the
association between social involvement and profitability and reported it as a positive
correlation. Meanwhile Abbott and Monsen (1979) stated that there is no conclusive
evidence that there is a clear linkage in any direction between corporate social activities
and profitability which in their research, for example, appears convincing that CSR is
inversely linked with profitability in the short run.
According to Mcguire, Sundgren and Shneeweis (1988), CSR is a core corporate duty
which consists of corporate decision making, the relationship of the firm’s social and
ethical concerns with financial performance. The issue that emerges here is the
relationship between the firm's social responsibility and their financial performance. A
theoretical framework was used in the research based on the stock market results and it

did not show any relationship between financial performance and the firm’s social
involvement. On the contrary, using the accounting based performance the relationship
was established. In order to overcome the weakness of this method, the authors used
performance in controlling pollution as a proxy measure. Corporate social responsibility
can be achieved if the firm considers the influence prior to its performance and should be
stressed theoretically and empirically.
Activities in CSR Agendas
Abbott and Monsen, (1979) developed a corporate social involvement disclosure scale
based on a content analysis of the Annual Reports of the Fortune 500 companies. The
purpose of the study was to pursue the use of self-reported disclosures as a means of
constructing a quantitative scale, identified as the Social Involvement Disclosure (SID)
scale and to obtain it from a content analysis of the Annual Report. In this research, they
used a content analysis as a technique for gathering data. However, it is not easy to
measure corporate social involvement. There are two basic difficulties in measuring
corporate social involvement. The first is the unavailability of detailed information in
quantitative terms of the social activities (merely to qualitative). The second is that the
methodology used must be devised by researchers to measure the full impact of known
corporate activities on society. Based on this research, the CSR activities that are always
reported are environmental issues, equal opportunity for employees, personnel welfare,
community involvements and product care. These activities reflect the criticisms that
companies currently encounter by the set up of the modern corporation and the need to
meet the governmental regulations.
According to Orgizek (2001), the scope of CSR is much broader than charitable
activities, philanthropy and community involvement. It embraces business practices,
including environmental management systems, human resource policy and strategic
investment for a sustainable future. He also states that CSR is all about competing
beyond technology, quality improvement, service reliability and competitive pricing.
Meanwhile Joyner, Payne and Raiborn (2002) associate corporate leadership with CSR,
citing leadership and support of publicly important issues such as education, resource
conservation, community services, improvement of industry and business practice and

the sharing of nonproprietary quality-related information. They mentioned that majority
of the entrepreneurs felt responsible to their communities, employees, customers, and
other stakeholders. These firms may undertake many things such as supporting the arts,
helping local schools find funding, contributing to local festivals and providing food and
supplies in order to fulfill their CSR.
Also, to ensure CSR has been fulfilled by a firm, a lot of programs that has been
organized by a firm were related to environmental quality and pollution control
(Mahapatra, 1984). It was also an opportunity to investigate the ethical issue of investor
and rational economic investor. The theoretical framework is organized to details up the
effect of pollution control but it seems that it has not contributed anything to the CSR of
the firm.
The conceptualization of CSR activities offered by Hay and Gray (1974) were
characterized into three periods or phases of social responsibility which are profit
maximizing, the emergence of trustee management and a shift towards quality of life
management. Profit maximizing management emphasizes profits, wealth accumulation,
productivity, and stockholder interest, and is less concerned about product quality, job
security and social values. While the trustee manager attempts to offer quality products
at fair prices but is less tending to support environmental conservation, cultural values,
or employee rights. In conclusion, they noted that a high quality of manager should have
many of the ethical values ranked high and be concerned with employee rights, social
justice and the quality of the environment.
CSR Activities in telecommunication industry
In 2011 Bharti Airtel one of the major players in telecom service provider has started its
CSR initiative known as the airtel sustainability (http://www.airtel.in/sustainability/).
They believe in social inclusion of people everywhere, and have made this the
cornerstone of their sustainability programme. Airtel's sustainability journey endeavours
to contribute further to our society and to our environment. It is their firm belief that not
a single man, woman or child should be denied access to education, health and
prosperity. Airtel has divided its CSR activities in three pillars they are:

(i) Provide financial, education and health services through m-Commerce, m-
Education and m-Health.
a. M-Commerce - Airtel is one of the first telecom operators in India to get a
license from RBI to build mobile payment services. Airtel Money, a
product of Airtel m-commerce Services Ltd (AMSL), is building a
railroad that could transform the existing payments landscape. Today the
benefits of Airtel Money include utility bill payments for electricity,
water and cooking gas bills, remittance for medical and education
services, payment of citizen services, convenient shopping at local kirana
(grocery) stores - all of these without carrying a card or cash or having
the constant worry of losing either.
b. M-Education- m-Education services offer include:
• Assisting students in preparing for various entrance exams through SMS
and WAP Products.
• Career and job preparation-focused products like Ask an Expert.
• Career counseling: English language skill enhancing products like
English Guru and Office Vocabulary.
c. M-health- Airtel’s med phone service is making commendable progress
in providing health advice over the mobile phone. We are also exploring
ways and means through which we can provide the following services:
• Real time treatment
• Remote disease monitoring
• Health awareness
(ii) Airtel’s e-Gram initiative:
• India’s largest rural connectivity drive connecting 13,716 villages of
Gujarat with the Common Service Centers (CSCs) located in different
parts of the state. This initiative provides last mile connectivity
through comprehensive V-SAT-based solution to the villages to

promote high quality, cost-effective video, voice and data services in
the areas of agriculture, e-governance, health, education In addition to
this, through this infrastructure, the Village Panchayats become
delivery points of services of the various government departments
even in tough terrains of Rann of Kutch prone to flooding and other
calamities.
(iii) Enable community development and quality education through the Bharti
Foundation, and regional community service.
• Launched in 2006, the Satya Bharti School Programme initiated by
Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, is one
of the largest end-to-end rural education initiatives undertaken by a
corporate in India. This programme supports the pursuit of excellence
and aims to set benchmarks for quality education across the country.
The programme provides free, quality education to underprivileged
children, with a special focus on the girl child, in the deepest rural
pockets of the country.
• Bharti Foundation Statistics (As on 31st
March 2012)
o Total Number of Schools : 253
o Total Number of Students : 37648
o Total % of Girls Enrolled : 49%
o Total Number of Teachers : 1334
o Percentage of Female Teachers : 58%
(iv) Other than this its response to the natural calamities were:
Bharti Airtel’s response to Tsunami Disaster:

• Built a mobile network in Andaman & Nicobar islands in less than 3 months
to aidrapid rehabilitation of the island
• Donated Rs. 1 Cr. to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, in addition to
contributions from employees
• Created 29 Airtel Crisis Communications centers in Tamil Nadu
• Raised resources for Tsunami victims by initiatives such as a ‘Benefit Cricket
Match’.
• Mumbai Floods: Bharti Airtel employees climbed up the towers to restore
the networks so that our customers could conveniently reach its employees.
• Bharti Airtel’s response to Kashmir earthquake: Bharti Airtel’s ‘Rapid
Response Team’ responded to the Kashmir earthquake by bringing more
than 2000 food packets and water bottles to the affected area. Money, clothes,
woolens and blankets were also collected from employees to
distribute among earthquake victims.
• Airtel Ashiana for underprivileged children at the Mohali office of Airtel,
BAL North tied up with an NGO to distribute daily surplus food to needy
children, Airtel Experience Centre for the benefit of visually impaired people
as well as people from deprived section of society are amongst its other
initiatives.
• Airtel has tied up with Indian Farmers Fertiliz er Cooperative Limited
(IFFCO) to reach farmers directly. Farmers will receive free voice messages
twice daily on farming techniques, weather forecasts, dairy farming, rural
health initiatives, fertilizer availability, loan information and market rates.

Additionally, farmers can also call a dedicated helpline, manned by experts
from various fields, to get answers to their queries.
Apart from Bharti Airtel, service providers like Vodafone, Idea, TTSL, RCom, etc have
also shown their CSR initiatives in various ways such as environmental concerns,
welfare and charity, community involvement, products or services, natural disaster and
rural development.
• Idea cellular’s “Walk and Talk” campaign and now “Ek Idea jo badal de duniya”
which includes awareness to causes such as corruption and saving paper.
• Reliance Communications has introduced low tariff initiative like the Grameen
Programme for rural subscribers
• Vodafone has its charity organization Vodafone foundation, works on
environmental concerns by reducing CO2 emissions, tackle climatic conditions
by the green agenda, handset reusing and various fund raising programmes.
Consumer Reaction to CSR
Sen, Sankar & Bhattacharya (2001) examined when, how, and for whom specific
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives work. These researchers studied
consumers' CSR responses and the means underlying these responses. There were two
studies in this research. The first focuses on an evaluation of the relationship between
CSR and the company. Meanwhile the second study focuses on CSR's direct influence
on consumers' product evaluations which depends on CSR domain, CSR and company
ability, beliefs and CSR support. The results showed that reactions from customers to
CSR initiative for each company was positive when there was a similarity between the
company's character and their own CSR activities carried out. The finding of this
research can be divided into two, the primary finding is the effect of CSR on company
evaluations and the secondary finding is the effect of CSR on product purchase
intentions. Using real CSR and product information about a company, the researchers

found that the positive effect of CSR initiatives on a consumer's company evaluations
were mediated by their perceptions of self company congruence and moderated by their
support of the CSR domain.
Furthermore, the researchers found that consumers' were more sensitive to negative CSR
information than positive CSR information when evaluating the company. More
specifically, all consumers reacted negatively to negative CSR information, whereas
only those most supportive of the CSR issues reacted positively to positive CSR
information. For the effect of CSR on product purchase intentions, the researchers found
that CSR influenced consumer's product purchase intentions in a more complex manner
than its straightforward positive effect on their company evaluations. Specifically, this
suggested that a company’s CSR effort can affect consumers' intentions to purchase its
product both directly and indirectly. The researchers stated that people often identify
with a company they belong to for their self-consistency and self-enhancement. They
also suggest that customers did believe about the trade-offs. A company in such a
situation would benefit from informing customers that CSR actions do not detract from
its ability to produce quality products or improving its product offering. It also can help
the company to dodge the wrong perception from the customers about the CSR.
Another study by Grunig (1979) used the situational theory to evaluate the public in his
study. He assumed that behaviors of different people will be more consistent in the same
situation compared to the behavior of a single person in different situations. The answers
to his research questions could help corporations determine the areas of social
responsibility in which they should be more concerned. Furthermore, this can also be
evaluated in a corporate social audit in suggesting strategies for communicating with the
public. This study used both the situational perception concepts and the cognitive
strategy concepts. Both of these theories can measure only a limited number of variables
with a single measurement instrument. So, this study is designed to use the concepts in a
survey to identify the public and opinions of the public on an important social aspect of
management. The results suggest that corporate managers should be most concerned
with social responsibility in carrying out business activities. Respondents in this study
generally did not believe businesses should be involved in social problems, such as

education, support of charities, or decay of the cities not directly related to the business.
The results also suggest a communication strategy for each public. The public want
businesses to perform responsibly when its actions have consequences on the public and
would be likely to seek information about these business actions from corporate social
reports, audits and similar publications.
Smith and Alcom (1991) mentioned that the most creative and cost-effective product
marketing strategy, if it is implemented through one of the three forms of corporate
sponsorship. They stated the purpose of research is to investigate consumer incentives to
respond to dual incentive causes marketing programs. Many companies believe that the
direct and measurable benefits accrue to the corporation, although they also discuss
about the "enlightened self-interest" since the legality of unrestricted corporate giving is
resolved. Results suggest CSR is the most effective and attractive mediation of
marketing strategies.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research design: Exploratory Research and Descriptive Research
I used Exploratory Research method in my dissertation. This research is applied when
only a little is known about the topic and the researcher goes in depth of the topic to gain
the knowledge of it. The primary point of exploratory research is to give researchers
pertinent information and help them to form initial hypotheses about the subject. The
previous theories and results are not applicable in this research.
I then applied Descriptive Research in my research work. This method describes the
data and characteristics about the population or the phenomenon being used. My
research will answer the questions like “What are the factors that influence a consumer
to buy a Service provider”. It provides research questions, populations or methods of
analysis before the research is started. It sometimes consists of longitudinal studies,
which study the behavior of individuals over time, and cross-sectional studies, which
examine many populations at one specific time.
• Prepare a questionnaire to analyze the factors affecting choice of Service Provider
• Primary Analyze the data/ results from the questionnaire
• Secondary Analysis of papers in journals
• Collect relevant data from white papers
How Exploratory and Descriptive Research Work Together
Exploratory research must happen first for descriptive research to be effective. The latter
organizes the data and hypotheses found during the exploratory process. Researchers
must spend the necessary time in exploratory research before moving on to the
descriptive phase. Both exploratory and descriptive research have their place in forming
a better understanding of a problem or issue, and understanding the difference between
the two can make your research more targeted and effective.

I will use the mix of both these researches in my work. I have read a lot of Literature
Review about the topic which is part of exploratory research will helps me to well
understand my area of research. Next I used the descriptive research in my work in
which I will make the respondents to fill my questionnaire. The results will be analyzed
and the conclusion will be reached.
Sample size: 100 respondents.
I have targeted 100 respondents who are the customers of telecom companies of various
age groups and if CSR activities have impacted them.
Sample scope: All over India.
The sample scope refers to the particular area in which the research is confined to. The
scope identifies the boundaries of the study in term of subjects, objectives, facilities,
area, time frame, and the issues to which the research is focused. For example, “the
coverage of this study”, “the study consists of”, “the study covers” are some phrases that
define the scope of the research.
The sample scope of my research is all over India. The samples that I have taken are
going to be the customers of various telecom companies such as the telecom service
providers, equipment manufacturers, infrastructure developers of that particular region
only. I have chosen this sample scope because this region is easily accessible to me.
Sampling method: Convenience sampling
It is the technique of sampling where the subjects are selected because of their
convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher. It is one of the easiest methods
of sampling because the researcher does not consider the whole population. Instead few
samples are taken from different places which will represent the whole population. In
my research I have used this technique and I will collect samples from different regions
that will represent that whole region.

3.2 Defining Data & Data Sources: The data sources that I used in this research are of
two types: Primary Data and Secondary Data.
Primary Data: Primary data is that which is collected by researchers themselves during
their own research using research tools such as experiments, survey questionnaires,
interviews and observation. Primary data has not been published yet and is more reliable,
authentic and objective. Primary data has not been changed or altered by human beings,
therefore its validity is greater than secondary data.
Importance of Primary data cannot be neglected. A research can be conducted without
secondary data but a research based on only secondary data is least reliable and may
have biases because secondary data has already been manipulated by human beings. In
statistical surveys it is necessary to get information from primary sources and work on
primary data: for example, the statistical records of female population in a country
cannot be based on newspaper, magazine and other printed sources. One such source is
old and secondly they contain limited information as well as they can be misleading and
biased.
The primary data that I used during the research is the data that I obtained from the
Questionnaire that I prepared. The number of respondents for this Questionnaire was
102. This data was analyzed and factors on which impact of CSR on brand equity were
concluded.
Secondary Data: Data collected from a source that has already been published in any
form is called as secondary data. The review of literature in nay research is based on
secondary data. Mostly from books, journals and periodicals.
Secondary data can be less valid but its importance is still there. Sometimes it is difficult
to obtain primary data; in these cases getting information from secondary sources is
easier and possible. Sometimes primary data does not exist in such situation one has to
confine the research on secondary data. Sometimes primary data is present but the
respondents are not willing to reveal it in such case too secondary data can suffice: for
example, if the research is on the psychology of transsexuals first it is difficult to find

out transsexuals and second they may not be willing to give information you want for
your research, so you can collect data from books or other published sources.
Apart from the primary data that I will use during my research I will use the Secondary
Data as well. The data that is ready made will also be applied by me in the research. The
various sources of secondary data are:
• Journals
• White Papers
• Case Studies
• Internet
• Magazines
• Books
• Web Blogs
• Websites
• E-Journal

CHAPTER 4
PRESENTATION
AND
ANALYSIS OF DATA

4. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.1 ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY DATA
From various reliable sources the top telecom companies were sorted out operating in
India which includes the service providers, equipment manufacturers and handset
manufacturers. After finding out the telecom companies the CSR initiatives taken up by
them were found out from company websites, journals, news publishes and articles. The
companies and their CSR initiatives are enunciated below;
SERVICE PROVIDERS
1. AIRTEL: In 2011 Bharti Airtel one of the major players in telecom service provider
has started its CSR initiative known as the Airtel sustainability. Airtel has divided its
CSR activities they are:
(i) Provide financial, education and health services through m-Commerce, m-
Education and m-Health.
a. M-Commerce – Airtel is one of the first telecom operators in India to get
a license from RBI to build mobile payment services.
• Airtel Money, a product of Airtel m-commerce Services Ltd (AMSL), is
building a railroad that could transform the existing payments landscape.
• The benefits of Airtel Money include utility bill payments for electricity,
water and cooking gas bills, remittance for medical and education
services, payment of citizen services, convenient shopping at local kirana
(grocery) stores - all of these without carrying a card or cash or having
the constant worry of losing either.
b. M-Education- m-Education services offer include:
• Assisting students in preparing for various entrance exams through SMS
and WAP Products.
• Career and job preparation-focused products like Ask an Expert.

• Career counseling: English language skill enhancing products like
English Guru and Office Vocabulary.
c. M-health- Airtel’s med phone service is making commendable progress
in providing health advice over the mobile phone. We are also exploring
ways and means through which we can provide the following services:
• Real time treatment
• Remote disease monitoring
• Health awareness
(v) Airtel’s e-Gram initiative:
• India’s largest rural connectivity drive connecting 13,716 villages of
Gujarat with the Common Service Centers (CSCs) located in different
parts of the state. This initiative provides last mile connectivity
through comprehensive V-SAT-based solution to the villages to
promote high quality, cost-effective video, voice and data services in
the areas of agriculture, e-governance, health, education In addition to
this, through this infrastructure, the Village Panchayats become
delivery points of services of the various government departments
even in tough terrains of Rann of Kutch prone to flooding and other
calamities.
(vi) Enable community development and quality education through the Bharti
Foundation, and regional community service.
• Launched in 2006, the Satya Bharti School Programme initiated by
Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, is one
of the largest end-to-end rural education initiatives undertaken by a
corporate in India. This programme supports the pursuit of excellence
and aims to set benchmarks for quality education across the country.
The programme provides free, quality education to underprivileged

children, with a special focus on the girl child, in the deepest rural
pockets of the country.
• Bharti Foundation Statistics (As on 31st
March 2012)
o Total Number of Schools : 253
o Total Number of Students : 37648
o Total % of Girls Enrolled : 49%
o Total Number of Teachers : 1334
o Percentage of Female Teachers : 58%
(v) Other than this their responses to the natural calamities were:
Bharti Airtel’s response to Tsunami Disaster:
• Built a mobile network in Andaman & Nicobar islands in less than 3 months
to aid rapid rehabilitation of the island.
• Donated Rs. 1 Cr. to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, in addition to
contributions from employees.
• Created 29 Airtel Crisis Communications centers in Tamil Nadu.
• Raised resources for Tsunami victims by initiatives such as a ‘Benefit Cricket
Match’.
• Mumbai Floods: Bharti Airtel employees climbed up the towers to restore
the networks so that our customers could conveniently reach its employees.
• Bharti Airtel response to Kashmir earthquake: Bharti Airtel ‘Rapid Response
Team’ responded to the Kashmir earthquake by bringing more than 2000
food packets and water bottles to the affected area. Money, clothes, woolens

and blankets were also collected from employees to distribute among
earthquake victims.
• Airtel Ashiana for underprivileged children at the Mohali office of Airtel,
BAL North tied up with an NGO to distribute daily surplus food to needy
children.
• Airtel has tied up with Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited
(IFFCO) to reach farmers directly.
2. VODAFONE: Their CSR activities include
• Charity funding programme, the Vodafone Foundation
• Tackle climate change through The Green Agenda
• Vodafone to help the environment by its various campaigns such as Goodbye paper
bills, hello trees, top up online, recycle your phone and recycle fixed landline
modem.
• The facts about mobile phones: mobile phones, our network and the environment.
Reuse and recycling of handsets saves raw materials and reduces the scale of
environment problems associated with their disposal. It also works very hard to
lessen the visual impact of its base stations on the environment.
• It supports The National Children’s Hospital Tallaght,
• The National Council for the Blind, and The Hospice, Harolds Cross, Dublin.
• They sponsor the Calcutta run which raises money for GOAL and The Arrupe
Society.
• Technology for customers with special needs like Braille bills, Phones with large,
well-spaced keypads Raised dot on keypad.
• The Vodafone safe driving campaign.

• Vodafone’s ‘e-Mamta’ initiative, a mother – child tracking programme, in
association with the Govt. of Gujarat, has helped in reducing the infant mortality
rate in the state.
3. IDEA CELLULAR:
• Idea cellular’s “Walk and Talk” campaign and now “Ek Idea jo badal de duniya”
which includes awareness to causes such as corruption and saving paper.
• IDEA's 'My Gang'- the first ever Community User Group on prepaid, targeted at
youth for creating and sharing Identities in the Cyber & Mobile space, was declared
the Most Innovative Product winning the Golden Peacock Award 2008.
4. RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS:
• The company continued to contribute actively to community welfare activities.
• Take up several initiatives and measures related to education and healthcare.
• Low tariff plans, Grameen Programme for rural subscribers.
5. TATA TELESERVICES:
• Sustainable livelihoods are the demand of all social initiatives in the Group.
• The main objective behind the CS initiatives of TTL is to use telecom to impact the
life of the underprivileged sections of society.
• The company endeavors to make a positive contribution to the community by
supporting a wide range of socio-economic, educational and health initiatives.
6. AIRCEL:
• Save our Tiger campaign,
• Education facilities for the under privileged.

• Apart from this they emphasize on an inclusive work culture to appreciate differences
and believe engagement with our employees is quintessential for an effective CSR plan,
supporting NGOs and NPOs.
7. UNINOR:
• Uninor launched 'Helping Hands' - its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.
Helping Hands will work towards the betterment and development of underprivileged
children;
• Uninor has partnered with two children homes - Save a Child and Hope Home of the
Carpe Diem Foundation as a part of this initiative
8. MTS:
• Invest in stable development, in social health and prosperity.
• Consider the interests of all parties involved.
• Follow the rules and practices of the markets in which they operate or are regulated, while
emulating international standards of business behavior.
• Facilitate greater information transparency and enhance corporate governance.
HANDSET MANUFACTURING COMPANIES
1. NOKIA:
• Green and ethical sustainability programs by using handset recycling as CSR
initiative.
2. SAMSUNG:

• They focus on greening of the management, products, processes, workplaces and
communities.
• Activities such as Climate strategy, Eco product, Chemical management, take back
and recycling.
• As an initiative to CSR Samsung had also started “Wheels Of Hope”- A mobile
computer lab to give students of MCD and government schools their first exposure
to the power of computing and internet.
3. KARBONN:
• CSR campaign was witnessed during their IPL association last year, wherein they
initiated “Catch the Pink - Karbonn Breast Cancer Initiative”, where Rs. 25k was
donated per match to the Indian Cancer Society, Delhi.
4. HTC:
• HTC's corporate social responsibility standards are based on policies derived from
the company's Safety Policy & Procedures.
• They provide a safe and secure environment for its employees and the global
community so that no one gets hurt and nothing gets harmed.
• HTC works to continually improve its policies in the areas of environment
protection, health and safety.
5. SPICE DIGITAL: No CSR

6. HUAWEI TELECOM:
• Bridging the digital divide by ensuring that all people can experience basic
communications and information services.
• Protecting the environment is a core strategy of Huawei that focuses on providing the
most competitive and efficient end-to-end green ICT solutions.
• CSR management includes safe operations, social contributions, caring for employees,
and stakeholder communication.
EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS
1. HONEYWELL AUTOMATION: Honeywell Automation India Ltd. (HAIL) is a
leading provider of integrated automation and software solutions that improve
productivity and enhance safety and security of homes and businesses.
It has its Corporate Social Responsibility with Honeywell Hometown Solutions. Efforts
are focused on four important societal needs that align with Honeywell’s heritage
products and people:
• Science and Math Education.
• Family Safety and Security.
• Housing and Shelter.
• Humanitarian Relief.
2. BHARTI INFRATEL: Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related
infrastructure and on a consolidated basis; it is one of the largest tower infrastructure
providers in India.

Bharti Infratel believes that a healthy environment is a prerequisite for progress,
contributing to the well being of society, people and business.
• They promotes tower sharing which helps bring down the carbon footprint for
telecom networks and works towards a sustainable economy.
• It deploys people, ideas and capital to find effective solutions to address
environmental challenges.
• Green Towers P7 program based on 7 innovative ideas aimed at minimizing
dependency on diesel and thereby, carbon footprint reduction. This program
promotes (a) improving energy efficiency of tower infrastructure equipments, (b)
use of renewable energy resources, and (c) reduction of equipment load on tower
infrastructure equipments.
As part of the Green Towers P7 program, Bharti Infratel has commissioned:
• Over 1,200 solar powered towers
• Variable speed DC powered DG sets
• Integrated Power Management Systems (IPMS), and
• Free Cooling Units (FCU)
• Green towers eliminating use of DG sets
3.GTL INFRA: GTL Infrastructure Limited (GTL Infra), a Global Group enterprise, is
in the business of Shared Passive Telecom Infrastructure in India. The company has a
portfolio of over 30,000 towers located across India that will help bringing in
connectivity at affordable prices to the poorest of poor, creating a positive impact on
Indian economy.
• Contribution of a part of its profit to Global Foundation for continuing the CSR
programs.

• Global Foundation has taken up the social cause of disability. Global Foundation is
committed to tap the potential of differently able people and integrate them with
national economic system and productive force. Global Foundation is empowering
visually impaired students with IT education and employment.
• The Foundation has initiated Project Netra and has set up two Advanced Computer
Training Centers for the Visually Impaired in Mumbai.
4. KAVVERI TELECOM: Kavveri Telecom is a global solution provider of telecom
infrastructure and wireless products. The company aims to fulfill its social
responsibilities by;
• Being actively involved in a variety of public service projects serving under
privileged groups.
• The company also makes donations to religious institutions.
5. NELCO: Nelco is today focused on helping its enterprise & government customers
unlock potential by offering solutions in the areas of Integrated Security & Surveillance,
VSAT connectivity (Tatanet VSAT), Managed Services, Satcom Projects and
Meteorological Solutions. Its CSR activities involve:
• Being a TATA Company it is committed in improvement of quality of life of the
people in the communities in which it operates with the objective of making them
self reliant.
• Such social responsibility would comprise, to initiate and support community
initiatives in the field of community health and family welfare, water
management, vocational training, education and literacy and encourage
application of modern scientific and managerial techniques and expertise.
• The Company conducts on an ongoing basis class room training to the under
privileged children in a rural school at Virar, Thane District.

6. SHYAM TELECOM: Shyam Telecom is a leading global telecom equipment
manufacturer supplying innovative indoor and outdoor wireless signal enhancement
solutions for more than 100 networks on five continents.
CSR Activities: None
7. HFCL: It is telecom infrastructure provider, delivers innovative, customized and
competitively priced end to end telecom solutions enabling its partners to stay ahead of
peers
CSR Activities: None.
8. STERLITE TECHNOLOGIES: Sterlite Technologies Limited is a leading global
provider of transmission solutions for the telecom and power industries. It is India's only
fully integrated optical fiber producer.
Their major areas of CSR are;
• Education
• Environment and Healthcare
• Some of their sustainable development projects are mobile dispensary, blood
donation camp, eye check up camp, teacher training camp etc.
9. INDUS TOWERS: Indus Towers, as the world’s largest telecom tower Company is
enabling communications revolution into a significant new phase.
Their CSR activities include:
• Due to frequent power disruptions across the energy deficient country, mobile
tower firms depend on the carbon- emitting diesel for keeping the towers
running. To go diesel- free, Indus has enhanced electricity supply at the site,
augment battery bank, deploy free cooling unit and increase usage of solar power
interventions. Indus Tower saves up to 5 million litre diesel annually.

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