Letter of Submission

10 Feb 2021

To
Professor Dr.

Comilla University.

Subject: Submission of the Internship Report

Dear Sir,

This has reference to my intern course as the part of my course study of Master of Business
Administration. In this connection, I am submitting herewith the report regarding the topic-
“Analysis of Marketing Stategies: A Case Study On GPH ispat”. I think the internship
program is very useful and realistic to gather practical experience about a company’s
operations and activities. For my study I have worked and collected data from two
available sources as primary & secondary. The secondary data are collected from the
company personnel, annual financial report, general report and other available sources &
records. For collecting secondary data a formal questionnaire has been prepared to collect
information through face to face interview with customers, architects, engineers, dealers,
mason, etc. After collecting necessary information I have tabulated and analyze that
information and finally this report has been made by using those data. I think this report
will help other peoples to gain knowledge about the company. I hope this will also be
beneficial to the students of CoU.

I therefore, pray and hope that you would be kind enough to accept my report and oblige
hereby.

Sincerely yours,

_______________________
.

i
 AKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those without whose blessing and
cooperation this report would not have been possible.

First of all I am grateful to Almighty who has created all the things and make it
possible to enjoy them for our good selves. He has also gave me opportunity to finish this
report in time.

I would be glad to thank my supervisor of the internship program – Professor Dr.

Mohammed Solaiman,………………………., for his guidance, constant and spontaneous
support and constructive suggestion. Without his help this report could not have been
possible.

This is the way by which I can extend my heart felt thanks to the contributors of
generous help I have received from many sources of GPH Group of Companies. I would like
to express my tributes and gratitude to Mr. ……………., Chief Accountant & Company
Secretary & Mr. ………….., Senior Manager (Accounts & Finance), GPH Group of
Companies, Head Office, Crown Chamber - 325 Asadgonj, Chittagong-4000, Bangladesh for
giving me the opportunity, appointment for discussions and collection of data from internal
sources.

I will never forget the contribution of all the staff and managers of GPH Group of
Companies, Head Office, Crown Chamber - 325 Asadgonj, Chittagong-4000, Bangladesh
who have spread their valuable advice, suggestion, opinion and time to me. Thank you all the
guys who are directly or indirectly related to this report.

ii
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The report deals with an important topic described “Analysis of Marketing Stategies:
A Case Study On GPH ispat”. The principal objective of the report is to analyze the
marketing mix of the product-“GPH TMT 500W”, their effectiveness and also evaluate the
overall performance of GPH Ispat Ltd. On the basis of internship program I am intending to
prepare and submit this report. This practical knowledge has been brought under eight major
sections. The very short first section contains introduction, background, research problems,
objectives, research methodology, beneficiaries and limitations of the study.

To conduct the study properly some sorts of secondary data were collected from the
company source such as accounts & finance department, the marketing and promotion
department and supply chain and logistic department. But these were not sufficient enough to
come to a decision. To get a clear picture of the market as well as to know their problems &
prospects of market some sorts of primary data also been collected from the available sources
in the market of steel rod industry. As our target is the steel rod industry we have chosen
probability samples of 100Peoples on random basis from the industry related and other
general public. To collect primary data questionnaire & interview method is followed.
Sample has been taken from dealers, real estate companies, architecture, engineers, masons,
students, teachers and other professionals, etc. accomplish the study. Both primary and
secondary data have been used to conduct the study and make a report properly. I have tried
my best to depend on the sources of data that are more reliable and rational. All the
information and data included in the report were updated and from a reliable source and so
little assumptions were made which help make the report further praiseworthy and reliable in
order to use it by anybody for any research program in future. On the top of that interview
was fair, friendly with the important customers and users, so that the collected information
becomes more relevant to the study.

After analyzing all the secondary & primary data I have come to know that there is
huge competition in the market of steel rod industry. There are some major companies in
Bangladesh who are in the market and competing with each other very strongly. Major
companies in this industry are as under:

GPH ( Prduct-GPH TMT 500W)

KSRM ( 60 Grade Deformed Bar)
RSRM (60 Grade Deformed Bar)
SARM (60 Grade Deformed Bar)
Rahim Steel ( 60 Grade Deformed Bar)
SARM ( 60 Grade Deformed Bar),

iii
Islam Steel ( 60 Grade Deformed Bar),
Anwar Ispat (60 Grade Deformed Bar),
Basundara Steels ( 60 Grade Bar), Ira Steel ( 60 Grade Bar), etc.

In the study it was found that GPH has achieved brand loyalty among the customers
and users for their quality and in time delivery of goods. The other hidden reasons of success
are related to the brand image, corporate branding, complain handling procedures of final
users, fallow both o level or 1 level channel in the distribution system, 6 local sales offices,
long term experience of producing quality materials, updated marketing and promotional
policies, sales promotion or gift for channel members, a group of experienced employees, etc.
But they are facing problems with raw materials & skill ness of the employee. As a result,
sometimes they are facing trouble to compete with their rivals in the market.

It is also found that all the dealers, retailers and customers of GPH Ispat Ltd. are
totally satisfied with the products performance. But there are some sorts of dissatisfaction
among the customers of GPH TMT 500W. They charge premium prices for their products
which are more than the competitors in the market. As a result GPH loosing lower income
level customers. From the study it is found that if they can reduce the price of GPH TMT
500W then the market of GPH Ispat Ltd. will be expanded further.

At last a number of recommendations have been suggested for overcome the problems
and for the betterment of the marketing performance of GPH TMT 500W. I have also
presented some important information about the competitors of GPH Ispat Ltd. in the
industry. GPH is now the market leader in the industry. If the suggested recommendations
can be applied to their mills then the company will gain more sustainable development for
long run in the industry.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Serial Contents Page
Letter of Submission

AKNOWLEDGEMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Chapter -1 Introduction
Introduction
Research Problems
Objectives of the Study
Methodology of the Study
Data Collection
Research Description
Sample Design
Beneficiary of the Study
Limitations of the Study
Chapter - 2 Company Overview And Product Management
BACKGROUND - GPH ISPAT
MISSION, VISION & VALUES
CORPORATE INFORMATION
SISTER CONCERN OF GPH ISPAT LTD.
“GPH TMT 500W”- The New Product
The Product Life-Cycle
New Product Development
Idea Generation
Idea Screening
Concept Development and Testing
Business Analysis
Beta Testing and Market Testing
Technical Implementation
Commercialization
The Product – “GPH TMT 500W”
Product Price of “GPH TMT 500W”
Order Booking System
Chapter - 3 Logistic Management
GPH’s Mills Infrastructure
In House Storing Systems of GPH Ispat Ltd
Bending & Delivery System at GPH Ispat Ltd.
Location & Communication to Other Parts of the Country
Logistic Support
Local Transport Suppliers
Storing & Bending Facilities at Local Offices
Order Receiving & Delivery Management

v
Chapter - 4 SWOT & Competitors Analysis
SWOT Analysis for “GPH TMT 500W”
Competitors of GPH TMT 500W
Major Competitive Brands
Chapter - 5 Channel Relationship & Promotion Management
Orders Receiving & Supply Channels
Internal Order Receiving & Follow Up Procedure
Promotional Activities
Promotional Budget for “GPH TMT 500W”
Selecting Effective Promotional Tools
Chapter - 6 Implications & Strategies
Problems of “GPH TMT 500W” Product Marketing
Suggestion/Recommendation for Solving the Problems
Conclusion
Bibliography
Questionnaire for Information Collection on GPH Product

vi
Chapter -1

Introduction

1
1.1 Introduction
Marketing research is very important to find out the real position, competitive
advantages, strengths, weaknesses and market position of a company. The subject company-
GPH Group of Companies, Head office – Hamid Tower (3rd Floor), 24 Gulshan C/A,
Bangladesh is one of the well established steel rod manufacturing companies in Bangladesh.
The company has started their business in Bangladesh since 2006. Very recently in 2008 they
have introduced their new product- “GPH TMT 500W” in the market which is basically an
upgraded steel rod brand uses for building uprising apartment building. Before introducing
their new product GPH were marketing their products like – GPH 60Grade and GPH
40Grade Deformed Bars.
This present report highlighted the total market position, strengths, weaknesses, and
competitive analysis of “GPH TMT 500W”. Although it is not an easy task to find out the
total market situation of a product in a very short time but I have tried to find out the real
position of the product by using related primary and secondary data of the company from the
market. The primary data has been collected from the available sources of the market
whereas the secondary data has been collected from the company sources, related financial
reports of the company and various journals, printed articles and website of the company.
After critical analysis of the collected data for “GPH TMT 500W” some of the
findings have been sorted out which are placed as recommendation for betterment of the
company’s current position in the later section of the report. There are some ways of
implementation of the recommendations which have been suggested in the conclusion
chapter of this report. I am sure that the subject company-GPH can improve their market
position by overcoming their weaknesses, proper utilization of their available resources and
implementing the recommendation properly.
As the report is based on a single company-GPH it may not represent the overall
situation of the industry. Although there were some short comings of my report which I have
explained in the introductory chapter of this report but I am hopeful that the report can be a
source of the real situation of the steel industry. As GPH holds 25% of the market share of
the industry so it can give some more accurate situation to the users of this report to know the
actual facts of the industry.
Due to changes and advancement in the steel manufacturing technology the market
situation changes day by day. More and more companies are now trying to upgrade their
manufacturing technology to compete in the market. So, the situation can change anytime in
favour of any company, so I recommend all of the users of this report to collect and study
present data to get the real picture of that company.

1.2 Research Problems

There are many problems for designing & marketing of a new product in to the
industry. GPH also faces that kind of problems for designing & marketing their new
product“GPH TMT 500W”. As steel rod manufacturing industry is very large it faces various
problems in terms of raw materials, technology, skill ness and very strong competition. Each
of the firm faces lots of problems at a time. Within a short time all the problems can not be

2
sorted out. So, I have to concentrate on some major problems to get a clear understanding
about that. I have sorted out the following problems for designing and marketing of a new
product-“GPH TMT 500W” by GPH:

1. GPH’s new state-of-the-art plant for manufacturing “GPH TMT 500W” has
imported from Italy with huge investment on it. The technology is upgraded and
international standard. But to run the new plant there is no skilled persons in
Bangladesh. As a result they have been appointing skilled persons of iron rod
industries from abroad like India & Pakistan. So, they are paying huge amount of
foreign currency in terms of their salary & pay and the currency are going out of the
country.

2. Product prices for GPH TMT 500W are very unstable in the market. It is said
that GPH charges their customer with premium prices which is not competitive in the
market and they increase their prices very often. So, customers are dissatisfied with
GPH prices.

3. Main raw material for steel rod is billets. Raw materials are not locally
available in the market. So, they are defendant to imported billets.

4. GPH has very strong competitors in the market who are offering very cheap
prices as a result GPH’s can not keep holding their potential customers.

In house raw materials storing facilities at GPH Ispat Ltd. is not sufficient and the main raw
materials store is located at other location which requires additional transportation to mills
and ultimately it increases the products prices.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

Research objectives are the guide lines for searching the hidden causes of the research
problems. As the present study is about the new product – GPH TMT 500W by M/s. GPH
Ispat Ltd. we should concentrate some of the main objectives of our research study. The main
objectives of the present study are to find out the hidden causes of –
1) To run the new plant of “GPH TMT 500W” effectively & efficiently, GPH need skilled
peoples in their mills. By this study we shall try to find out -
- Why the required skills are shortage in the industry;
- Is there no people to get the required skills at all;

3
 - If there are peoples to achieve such skills then where is the problems to
recruit and train them accordingly;
- The ways to get new skilled persons for the industry.

2) GPH charges premium prices for their new product- GPH TMT 500W to their customers
which is more than the competitive prices in the market. With the help of this study we shall
try to find out-
- the causes of such customers dissatisfaction;
- Affect of this dissatisfaction in the total sales of GPH’s products, and
- The ways to recover the situation to build a strong reputation in the
market.

3) GPH sometimes faces raw materials shortage. By this study we shall try to find out –
- Why this raw materials shortage in their firm;
- How it can affect the total production of the firm; and
- To find out the ways to resolve the raw materials shortage for GPH
TMT 500W.

4) GPH has very strong competitors in the market of steel rod industry. Here we shall try to
find out-
- Who are the strong competitors of GPH TMT 500W;
- How they compete with GPH TMT 500W;
- What is the affect of such competition in the market; and
- The policies to protect the GPH TMT 500W in the market.

1.4 Methodology of the Study

Steel rod manufacturing industry is very large industry in Bangladesh. To gather
knowledge about the present study it is very tough to collect necessary data and information
for this study from a single source. As some of the data for this study are mainly related with
the GPH, they are only available with the company sources. But to get some other
information such as product performance, competitive advantages of GPH TMT 5ooW,
customer’s acceptance, etc. are related to the market, so here a market survey has been
conducted. The present study is the embodiment of both primary and secondary data. Here
we want to find out the product marketing performance and shortcomings so here our
research type will be exploratory & descriptive. As our study is related to the steel industry
we data collection should be based on steel industry related personnel, users such
4
products and general public. As here we faced some fund and time constrains we have
conducted the survey on some representative samples of 100persons which are selected
mainly on probability sampling basis. The samples are selected on random basis from the
market to the easy reach sources. Our primary data and information have been collected
from the sample with structured questionnaire through direct interview method. Informal
discussions and participatory observation have also been used for primary data collection.
The sample respondents have been randomly chosen from the students, college and university
professors, businessmen, private-public –multinational companies’ high officials,
housewives, etc. of Chittagong while the secondary data have been collected on the basis of
the company’s web sites, financial reports, journals, relevant company brochures,
prospectus, etc.

5
1.4.1 Data Collection
There are many sources form which data such as competitors’ information,
dealer/consumer information, market condition, market size, promotional data and company
information is collected and sorted out. Most of the data was available with the company,
while questionnaire was developed to make the survey for having some additional market
information. However, table 1.1 shows an overview of collecting data.

1.4.2 Research Description

After the research problems have been defined carefully the manager and researcher
must set research objectives. Research must have some limited objectives like one to three.
The objective of exploratory research is to gather preliminary information that will help to
define the problems, situation and position of market such as market potential for a product,
price, distribution and promotion or the demographics and attitudes of consumers. Casual
research is to test hypothesis about cause and effect relationship. As our objective is to find
out the marketing mix analysis, situation and position of product-“GPH TMT 500W” of the
subject company – GPH Ispat Ltd. So proposed research type is Descriptive Research.

1.4.3 Sample Design:

i) Sample:
A segment of the population is selected as sample for the research.

ii) Population:
In our research, population is all of the dealers, retailers and users of m.s.rod and
general public. It is not possible to collect information from all the dealers, retailer,
engineers, architects, users and general public as they are located at various corners
around the country. Designing the sample requires three decisions first who is to be
interviewed (What sampling unit), then the researcher must determines what
information is needed and who is most likely to have the required information.
There are more than 800 dealers of GPH products and I have selected 25 dealers to
collect information. There are several individual users like architect, engineers, home
builders, real estate companies employees, individual building manufacturer, masons,
etc. and I have selected 100 ( 15 architects, 15 civil engineers, 20 real estate
companies employees, 24 individual building manufacturers, 14 home builders and 12
masons) users and related persons among them.

iii) Sampling Unit

6
 Our sampling unit is 15 dealers, 10 architects, 10 civil engineers, 13 real estate
company’s employees, 8 House wives, 18 Teachers & students, 8 individual building
manufacturer, 8 home builders and 10 masons. So they are our sample unit.

iv) Sample Size

How many peoples are interviewed/surveyed it is called the sample size. As we had
selected 100 peoples for interview our sample size is 100. Our sampling unit is 15
dealers, 10 architects, 10 civil engineers, 13 real estate company’s employees, 8 house
wives, 18 students & teachers, 8 individual building manufacturer, 8 home builders
and 10 masons.

v) Data Analysis and Interpretation

The paper is mainly an empirical research work to achieve the principal objective of
the study. Table 1 exhibits the distribution of the sample respondents.
Table 1: Distribution of Sample Respondents
Profession Working Area No. Of Respondents
Male Female Total

Dealers, Dealers, Retailer, Stockist, Suppliers and sellers,

etc. of iron rods at different places around the
Retailers &
country.
Sellers
15 - 15

Architects, Civil Real Estate Companies, Building Designing ---

Companies, Government, Semi-Govt. and
Engineers & 20 20
private related organizations, etc.
Professionals
Employees of Land developer companies, Real Estate
companies, Home makers, etc.
Real Estate 10 03 13
Companies
Housewives Home and Residence --- 08 08
Regular and full time students, unemployed
students, intern students, Professional
Students & (Executive) students from Banks,
Teachers Multinational and NGOs, etc. 12 06 18

Individual Professors of Public and Private Colleges and 12 04 16

Universities.
Building

7
 Manufacturer &
Home makers
Masons 10 - 10

Total 79 21 100

Source: Field Survey

1.5 Beneficiary of the Study

All research projects create some benefits by which everybody who are related to the
research project and who will use it in future can be benefited. The current research also has
some benefits to the persons as listed below:
1) Me, As The Research Student:
The current research is the part of my MBA studies, it will help me to acquire the practical
knowledge about the problems & market position of GPH’s new product- “GPH TMT
5000W”.It also help me to know total marketing situation, marketing style, promotional mix,
their strength, weaknesses, opportunity, threat, competitors analysis and their affects to the
market, etc. It can give me the idea about the market competitors of m.s.rod and position of
GPH as the competitors.
2) GPH Can Be Benefited:
The total research is focused on the new product- “GPH TMT 500W” by GPH Ispat Ltd. The
research has highlighted their market position, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats, their problems, their competitors and their policies, etc. It also gives some
suggestions to overcome the weaknesses of GPH’s marketing activities. So, if GPH can
implement the suggestions as recommended then GPH can be benefited by this research
studies.
3) Future Student of USTC Can Be Benefited:
The final report of this research study will be kept in the central library of USTC which will
help future student of USTC to acquire new knowledge on market research and findings. This
will give them some information about GPH and their new product- GPH TMT 500W, its
marketing process, promotion mix, their problems, competitors, etc. to get them ready for
future works.
4) It will Enhance Knowledge of General Public:
Public as general readers of this research report can gain knowledge about GPH, their product
marketing and promotion procedures, their SWOT analysis, their problems, their competitors,
their market position, etc. which will enhance their knowledge. The knowledge will help
them to implement the procedures in their study/working field in future.

8
1.6 Limitations of the Study
Limitations acts as the barriers to do something. Like all other researchers I am not
beyond the limitations. So I had to face some limitations for collecting information from the
inner sources of the company. But I have tried my best to stay in line and to gather the
information accurately from the inner sources. As I am the present employee of GPH Group
of Companies I have been able to collect the information from the appropriate inner sources.
But this report is not free from the limitations. While collecting information and preparing
report I have faced some of the limitations as under:
1) Fund Constraint:
Information collection from the primary market through questionnaire is very much costly.
Most of the dealers and customers are living in the urban area through out the country.
Visiting them at their shop and working place is very costly. But I have tried to go to them to
collect information from them. But as I am the employee of GPH they have extended their
cooperation to give information sometimes by post, e-mail and fax messages which enriched
the study.
2) Time Constraint:
Although I have very little time to gather information and data to prepare the report for such a
large industry I have tried to be more accurate with the present situation.
I always tried my best to utilize my allotted time for the study.
3) Uneven Information:
The annual reports of the company were not as per my requirement of the study. So, I have to
collect additional information as per my requirement from the personnel of accounts
department to get a clear picture for my study. So, I think it could not affect my report
strongly.
4) Personal Constraint:
As a human being, I personally was not beyond the limitations. As I am the full time
employee I have to collect information on my leisure time and in holidays.
5) Company Secrecy:
Some of the employees of the company are very much loyal to their employer. Account
department is very much conservative department of the company as they preserve the
financial information of the company. So they did not want to disclose the company secret
information for a research.
6) Managing the Out Side People:
It is really very hard to manage the dealers, engineers, architects, mason, etc. to give
information. But I have tried to manage them properly.
7) Area Constraint:
As my information collection is for my personal interest I had to select a small area. But the
steel rod manufacturing industry is very large and stake holders are located all over the

9
country. So collecting information from a small area may not represent the accurate picture of
the industry. But I am pretty sure that it can reflect the actual situation in a small picture.

Chapter - 2

Company Overview
And
Product Management

10
2.1 BACKGROUND - GPH ISPAT

G
GOD FEARING

P
PLAIN LIVING

H
HIGH THINKING

“In the beginning, God created man” and after thousand years of intelligence,
precision, hard work and innovation, man created steel – one of the greatest inventions
of all time. This super-strong, carbonized and alloyed form of iron is an element
without which modern life is literally unimaginable. From skyscrapers and planes to
syringes and forks, steel is an essential part of our everyday life.

GPH Ispat Ltd. One of the leaders of Bangladesh in manufacturing steel promises a
super strong future and economy with its world –class products. Not only structural
bar, but GPH Ispat Ltd. is also one of the producers of low & medium carbon and low
alloy steel billets in Bangladesh, the main ingredient of manufacturing graded steel bar.
As GPH is ensuring the highest quality products in Bangladesh as per various
international and national standards, GPH steel billets and Bars is getting exported to
other countries after nourishing national demand. The introduction of GPH Ispat Ltd.
has all the potentials to take Bangladesh quite a few steps forward to a stronger,
brighter tomorrow.

11
2.2 MISSION, VISION & VALUES
VISION

Our Vision is “to enrich the steel sector of Bangladesh as a beacon of light for others
and to help the country in upcoming infrastructural development".

MISSION

Our Mission is “to provide customers with excellent services and products resulting in
constant improvement and innovation at the highest level of quality".

VALUES

 We are committed to provide enjoyable work environment for our employees,

our most important resources. We will continually promote teamwork, quality
improvement and excellence in all the places of business for establishing good
governance.

 We will provide products and services of highest quality and value by respond
to our customers with promptness, sensitivity, respect & always with integrity.

 We enrich stakeholders’ interest where employees are our strength, customers

are our Brand Ambassador, and suppliers & service providers are our value
chain.

 We meet the challenges of Earthquake with our quality products in strong

infrastructure development to secure the safety of country people.

 We will maintain a financially strong, growth – oriented company for the

protection of our share holders & employees through leadership & innovation.

 We ensure that our production process is free from environmental pollution.

12
2.3 CORPORATE INFORMATION

Company Name : GPH Ispat Limited

Registration No : CH-5853 of 2006
Date of Incorporation : May 17, 2006
Commencement of Business : August 21, 2008
Conversion to Public Limited Company : December 18, 2009
Listed with Stock Exchanges : April 19, 2012
TIN : 875829530252
VAT Registration : 24241012302
BOI Registration : 20060607-C
Trade License : 180048
Import Registration Certificate : BA-0165484
Export Registration Certificate : RA-0088918
Registered Office : Crown Chamber, 325 Asadgonj,
Chittagong-4000
Factory : Masjiddah, Kumira, Sitakunda, Chittagong.
Dhaka Office : Hamid Tower (3rd Floor), 24 Gulshan C/A,
Circle-2, Dhaka-1212
Phone : +880-31-631460(PABX), +880-31-2854997
Fax : +880-31-610995
E-mail : info@gphispat.com.bd
Website : www.gphispat.com.bd
Board of Directors:
Mr. Md. Alamgir Kabir : Chairman
Mr. Mohammed Jahangir Alam : Managing Director
Mr. Md. Almas Shimul : Additional Managing Director
Mr. Md. Abdur Rouf : Director
Mr. Md. Ashrafuzzaman : Director
Mr. Md. Abdul Ahad : Director
Mr. Md. Azizul Hoque : Director
Mr. M.A Malek : Independent Director
Mr. Mukhtar Ahmed   : Independent Director

Audit Committee:
Mr. Mukhtar Ahmed : Chairman
Mr. Md. Almas Shimul : Member
Mr. Md. Ashrafuzzaman : Member
Mr. Abu Bakar Siddique, FCMA : Secretary

Nomination and Remuneration Committee:

Mr. M.A Malek : Chairman
Mr. Md. Abdur Rouf : Member
Mr. Md. Almas Shimul : Member
Mr. Abu Bakar Siddique, FCMA : Secretary

13
Corporate Officials:
Mr. Abu Bakar Siddique, FCMA : Executive Director-Group and Secretary
Mr. H. M. Ashraf-Uz-Zaman, FCA : Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Mohammed Atiqur Rahman  : Head of Internal Audit
Advisors:
Mr. Shidhartha Barua, FCA : Tax Advisor
Engr. Serazul Islam : Technical Advisor (230 KV T/L & Substation
Project)
Mr. Mohammad Osman Gani Chowdhury  : Media Advisor
Mr. Arafat Kamal, FCA : Internal Audit Advisor
Listing :
Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited
Chittagong Stock Exchange Limited

Bankers :

AB Bank Ltd. United Commercial Bank Ltd.

Trust Bank Ltd.                   Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd.
Standard Chartered Bank                                Bank Asia Ltd.
Pubali Bank Ltd.  Basic Bank Ltd.
The City Bank Ltd. Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd.
One Bank Ltd.      Meghna Bank Ltd.
Premier Bank Ltd. Midland Bank Ltd.
Mercantile Bank Ltd. Modhumoti Bank Ltd.      
State Bank of India             Eastern Bank Ltd.
Al Arafah Islami Bank Limited NCC Bank Limited
Uttara Bank Limited Agrani Bank Limited
Community Bank Bangladesh Sonali Bank Limited
Insurer : Credit Rating :
Asia Insurance Limited Alpha Credit Rating Limited
Pioneer Insurance Company Limited
Pragati Insurance Limited
Peoples Insurance Company Limited
2.4 SISTER CONCERN OF GPH ISPAT LTD.

GROUP CONCERN

14
  Jahangir & Others Limited
 Brothers Corporation (Trading Firm)
 Nirnoy Enterprise (Trading Firm)
 Brothers Electronics (Trading Firm)
 Indo Steel Industries Limited (Manufacturing of Rod)
 A. Ahad Corporation (Trading Firm)
 Chittagong Capital Limited ( Corporate member of Chittagong Stock Exchange)
 GPH Power Generation Limited ( Producer of electricity from natural gas)
 GPH Engineers & Development Limited (Developing Company)
 Metal Trade International ( Trading Firm)
 GPH Ship Builders Limited
JOINT VENTURE CONCERN
 M. I. Cement Factory Limited (Crown Cement)
 Asia Insurance Limited
 Premier Cement Mills Limited
 Crown Polymer Bagging Limited
 Crown Power Generation Limited
 Crown Mariners Limited
 National Cement Mills Limited
 Crown Transportation & Logistics Limited
 Crown Cement Concrete & Building Products Limited
 Chartered Life Insurance Limited

2.5“GPH TMT 500W”- The New Product

“GPH TMT 500W” is basically a mild steel rod of international standard, the quench
and temper facility for up to 75 tons/hr and 500mpa bars. To cater with the upcoming demand
for housing of billions of people all over the world the engineers’ and architects have
designed the multistoried housing project. To build the projects it is necessary to use the
building materials with more strength and durability and “GPH TMT 500W” is the
international standard m.s.rod which offers all the required quality.

2.6 The Product Life-Cycle

Product Life Cycle (PLC) is a very useful tool for conceptualizing the changes that
may take place during the time that a product is on the market (David Jobber). It is quite
flexible and can be applied to both brands and product lines (Polli and Cook). The
conventional product life-cycle shows how a product goes through 4 stages during its life in
the marketplace. At each stage in the product life-cycle, there is a close relationship between
sales and profit. Therefore, when a product goes into decline, profits decrease. Again when a
product is introduced to the market, growth is slow due to limited awareness. Soon as the
product establishes itself, sales start to increase during the period of growth. As the product

15
reaches maturity, the company needs to inject new life into the product; either by creating
brand extensions or variants (i.e., product differentiation) otherwise the product will reach
maturity and start to decline.
Hence, to ensure a sustainable product life cycle of “GPH TMT 500W” needed to undertake
market research. In this regard, GPH searched for answers to the following questions:
 What changes taking place in society are likely to affect the manufacturing
product (i.e., m.s.steel rod, angle, channel, etc.)?
 How might new technologies such as convergence technologies affect the
business of the m.s.steel rod?
 What are likely to be the future market trends of the m.s.rod?
 Where are the opportunities within the market place?
 What new categories would appeal to the target market?
 How far do consumers think the brand could stretch into the market for
different product?

GPH needed to understand how the product can be extended into a series of variants which
would keep the core product strong, but grow the brand as a whole.

In time delivery capability is another key issue. If newly launched products –GPH TMT
500W is successful in the target markets, GPH must have the service delivery capacity to
meet consumer demand as well as the supply chain necessary to reach those consumers.

2.7 New Product Development

In order to develop a new product – ‘GPH TMT 500W’ GPH gone through the
following stages:
2.7.1 Idea Generation:
This is the very first step that GPH followed for developing a new product. The
corporate level managers and Marketing & Promotion Department of GPH invited ideas
about the new and innovative m.s.steel rod of 75grade features so that it can enjoy a
competitive edge over its rivals. In this regard, the company Marketing & Promotion
Department invited ideas from -----
 customers of corporate and general sales, such as designers, builders, architect,
etc.
 competitors (competing brands),
 focus groups (sample respondents from different occupations),
 employees (m.s.steel rod company executives and other officials),
 salespeople (corporate sales team, agents, dealers, franchisee, etc.),

16
  corporate spy (ambitious but competent executives of the other competing cell
phone companies),
 trade shows

2.7.2 Idea Screening:

From the generated ideas of 75 grade m.s.steel rod by the stakeholders, the concerned
company had considered the few best ideas and screen or drop those which were less
effective in nature. The object is to eliminate unsound concepts prior to devoting resources to
them. Here, the screeners asked following three questions:
 will the customer in the target market benefit from the product/service?
 is it technically feasible to offer the product/service?
 will the product be profitable when offered and delivered to the customer at the
target price?

2.7.3 Concept Development and Testing:

After screening the poor ideas a good concept of new product developed with the
following marketing and engineering details
 Who is the target market and who is the decision maker in the purchasing process?
 What product features must the product incorporate?
 What benefits will the product provide?
 How will consumers react to the product?
 How will the product be produced most cost effectively?
 prove feasibility through rapid prototyping  What will it cost to design and
deliver it?
The company then tested the concept by asking a sample of prospective customers what they
think of the idea.

2.7.4 Business Analysis:

After the concept tested given a positive outcome it was analyzed from the business
perspectives. In this context, GPH-
 estimated likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback
 estimated sales volume based upon size of market
 estimated profitability and breakeven point

2.7.5 Beta Testing and Market Testing:

On the basis of the findings and recommendations of the business analysis GPH
primarily conducted a beta test and later on a market test. GPH - as a m. s. rod manufacturing
company in such phase did the following.

17
  developed a physical prototype of the product
 tested the product in typical usage situations such as daily conversations
 conducted focus group customer interviews or introduce at trade show for a
limited number of sample prospect customers who represent different occupations
 made adjustments where necessary
 developed an initial run of the product and sell it in a test market area to determine
customer acceptance

2.7.6 Technical Implementation:

As the results of both the beta and market tests were affirmative, then GPH proceeded
for
 New program initiation such as new features development, new promotional
campaign, etc.
 Resource estimation such as availability of trained employees, project finance, etc.
 Publication of the requirements
 Engineering operations planning such as tower and network set up
 Department scheduling
 Collaboration with the suppliers
 Publication of the Resource plan such as layout details
 Program review and monitoring
 Contingencies - what-if planning

2.7.7 Commercialization:
This phase of new product development is often considered as post-NPD. In fact,
GPH at this phase moved to commercially market the new product GPH ETMT 500W to its
target market – Real Estate companies. The steps of the company in this phase were to:
 physically launch the product-“GPH TMT 500W” in the Bangladesh market
 produced and placed advertisements and other promotions
 fill the distribution pipeline with product –“GPH TMT 500W”

2.8 The Product – “GPH TMT 500W”:

This element relates to how the company meets the needs and wants of customers. As
the local tendency for high rising building is growing up day by day there is a significant
requirement for new grade of international standard and strength of m.s.steel rod. The growth
in higher living standards also creates opportunities for GPH Group of Companies to upgrade
the products standard (i.e. Grade 75) for its various customers like real estate companies;
govt. authorized builders, contractors, engineering workshops, private companies and
individual home manufacturers.

18
2.9 Product Price of “GPH TMT 500W”:
GPH charges premier pricing for their products. They have brand loyalty and
potential customer for their products which is a plus point for marketing their products. The
price is very unstable here in the industry which is mainly related to the suppliers of m.s.scrap
and billets in home and abroad. Renowned upgrade brands/grade of m.s.steel rod such as
GPH TMT 500W manufacturing by GPH Ispat Ltd. charges a premium price (i.e. higher rate)
as it is the market leader and the other feature such as the higher grade, more strength and
smooth finishing of the brand and product quality.

2.9.1 Current Products Prices of GPH TMT 500W

Size: Price (Ex-Mill )
M.S.Deformed Bar:
8mm to 25mm Tk.47,500.00
28mm to 32mm Tk.48,000.00
GPH Family also manufacture & sale M.S.Deformed Bar of 60-Grade & 40-Grade, M.S.
Angles, Channels, Wire Rods, I-Beam, M.S.Rail, M.S.Shaft, M.S.Spring Steel, etc.

2.9.2 Transport/Carrying Charges:

1. Dhaka/Savar/Chandpur/MouluviBazar/ Sylhet/B.Baria/teknaf add Tk. 700/= PMT
2. Comilla/Feni/Noakhali/Cox's Bazar/Chakaria add Tk. 400/= PMT
3. Bogra/Serajgonj add Tk. 1,100/= PMT
4. Khulna/Jessore/Faridpur/Kushtia add Tk. 1,000/= PMT
5. Rangpur / Rajshahi / Naogaon / Pabna add Tk. 1,200/= PMT
6. Tangail/Mymensing/Kishorgonj add Tk. 900/= PMT
7. Barisal add Tk.1,300/= PMT
8. Baraiyarhat/Mirsarai/Rangunia/Patiya/Fatickchari Nazirhat/Sathkania add Tk.200/=
PMT

2.10 Order Booking System:

If a customer wants to buy GPH’s products he has to book his order with any of their
offices with advance payment before 2-3 working days of the delivery of the products. If the
payment is made by cheque then the delivery will be affected after encashment of the related
cheque. There are two types of booking system such as – 1) C&F Site delivery and 2) Mills
gate delivery. For C&F Site delivery basis order customer has to pay carrying charges in
addition with the ordered product prices as applicable as per list as stated above.

19
 Chapter - 3

Logistic Management

20
3.1 GPH’s Mills Infrastructure:
GPH has very strong infrastructure. GPH Ispat Ltd., which is producing GPH TMT
500W, is situated at 4, Fouzderhat Industrial Area, Chittagong, Bangladesh beside the main
Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The total mills are placed on 16 acres of land area. The total
investment for mills is about 450crore Bangladesh Taka. The main state-of-the-art with latest
technology rolling mill, WTP and APC systems have been imported from Danielli,
Italy.Total building structure of GPH Ispat Ltd. has imported from M/s.PEB Steels, Vietnam.
All other related mills and parts are imported from Germany, India and Singapore.

3.2 In House Storing Systems of GPH Ispat Ltd.:

GPH’s raw materials stack yard is situated out side their mills which are at Shitalpur.
But they have their finished products storing capacity of 2lac M/Tons at their mills. There are
five modern overhead cranes supplied by Konecrane, Singapore which can carry raw
materials and finished products from one end to another of their mills.
They have very large spare parts store in the mills where they have stored all the required
spares for more than 5 years.

3.3 Bending & Delivery System at GPH Ispat Ltd.:

At present GPH has five rod bending & loading points at their mills site. Four way
bridges weigh the weight of the loaded goods to deliver to their customers.

3.4 Location & Communication to Other Parts of the Country:

As GPH receives their orders from all over the country they have to arrange delivery
of their products to the customers accordingly. GPH Ispat Ltd.’s mills are situated at
Fouzderhat besides the Dhaka-Chittagong highway so they get competitive advantage to
arrange delivery by road very easily. All of their products are delivered to the customers by
road. As the mills are situated outside the town it is free from all kinds of communication
problems and traffic jams. So, they can arrange the delivery of their products uninterruptedly.

3.5Logistic Support:
GPH has 35 numbers of new vehicles of their own which are managed by their
Logistics Department. Besides that they are hiring additional long vehicles and trucks as per
their requirement from the local transport suppliers. The main operation is controlled by their
head office’s Logistic Department. But the works are executed at their mills by mill’s
Customer Service & Logistics Department.

21
3.6 Local Transport Suppliers:
GPH has only 35 numbers of new vehicles of their own but they require much more
vehicles to make delivery of their products to the customers. To meet their day to day
requirement now they are hiring long vehicles and trucks from the local transport suppliers.
The transport suppliers who are supplying transport to GPH are as under-
1) M/s. M.M. Transport Co. Ltd. About 20 Vehicles per day
2) M/s. Al Safa Transport Co.Ltd. About 8-10 Vehicles per day
3) M/s. Sayera Transport About 5-6 Vehicles per day
4) M/s. Rasul Hoque Transport About 5-6 Vehicles per day
There are some other transport suppliers who are not regular suppliers.

3.7 Storing & Bending Facilities at Local Offices:

Storing and delivery of raw materials and finished products are very essential for
smooth running of a business. Maintenance of delivery schedule is also a vital decision for
marketing a product. GPH has recently taken decision to store their materials at various local
office godowns and they have arranged bending, weighing and delivery facilities at that
godown. For doing this they are now sending full length straight rebar to their store at Dhaka
and Bogra where after bending the rods deliveries are made to the customers. As a result their
delivery lead time to the points has reduced a lot. Now customers are very much pleased at
those places.

3.8 Order Receiving & Delivery Management:

Total sales volume of GPH Ispat (GPH) Ltd. is about Receives 2 types of orders from
their customers, such as i) Order on C&F Site Delivery Basis & ii) Order on Ex-Mills basis.
GPH arrange delivery of their products to the customers in the following separate ways-

a) Direct Orders:
GPH receives some direct orders from the potential customers. For delivery of goods
against such kind of orders GPH use 0 level channel and goods are directly delivered to
customers by company vehicles.

GPH Mills Customer

0 Level Channels

22
b) C&F Site Delivery Basis Order :
GPH receives orders on c&f delivery basis. For such type of orders the goods to be
delivered to the dealers or customers through company/hired vehicles. For delivery against
such kind of orders GPH uses 1 level of channel.

GPH Mills Dealer/Local Customer

offices

1 Level Channel

c) Mills Site Delivery Orders:

The customers can take delivery of their ordered goods directly from the mills site. For
delivery of the goods against the Ex-Mills order the customer has to arrange the transport to
take delivery from their mills at 4, Fouzderhat Industrial Area, Chittagong. They give
delivery of their products by rotation of the placed order. To deliver the goods against the
orders of mills site GPH use 1 level channel.

GPH Mills Dealers Customer

1 Level Channel

d) Orders Through Local Offices:

The deliveries against the orders which are received through GPH’s local offices are
made through 1 level channel. In this system the goods generally delivered to the local offices
and then to the customers. Here 1 level channel is used.

GPH Mills Local Office Customer

1 Level Channel
But the goods may be received by the customers directly then here 1 level channel is
effective.

Mills Customer

1 Level Channel

23
GPH has its own logistic department. Employees of the logistic department are directly
related with the delivery and transportation of customers ordered goods. They are responsible
to make delivery to the customers in time.

Chapter - 4

SWOT
&
Competitors Analysis

24
4.1 SWOT Analysis for “GPH TMT 500W”
For each and every research it is important to analyse the company’s internal factors
as well as related external industry factors to find out firm’s strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. Strength and weaknesses are related to the firm’s internal factors.
On the other hand opportunity and threats are related to the firm’s external e.g.: industry
environment. So, to get a clear picture of “GPH TMT 500W” we have analysed the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis. Some of our finding is as under:

4.1.1 Strengths of GPH TMT 500W:

“GPH TMT 500W” has following strength points:
i. Family branding;
ii. Market reputation for quality products;
iii. Own billet manufacturing plants ensures in time delivery of raw materials;
iv. Country wide sales network;
v. Brand loyalty;
vi. Near to the import port reduce raw materials cost;
vii. Strong financial support;
viii. Extra benefit offerings as-
• 20% Stronger than grade 60 steel
• 15% Less Steel Required than grade 60 steel
• Superior Bend ability
• More meter of steel per ton
• Better bonding with Concrete
• Safety Weld able
• Needle Straight Bar

4.1.2 Weaknesses of GPH TMT 500W:

“GPH TMT 500W” has following weaknesses:
i. High Price, Minimum Tk.1000.00/MT over then the competitors price;
ii. Minimum Order Quantity (Minimum Full Truck Load, 20M/T) for Direct Orders;
iii. Delivery Lead Time, sometimes 5-7days after placing orders;
iv. Confusion about quality of GPH TMT 500W & 60 Grade Deformed Bar;
v. Sales Network to rural areas;
vi. Dependency on import scraps;

25
4.1.3 Opportunity of GPH TMT 500W:
“GPH TMT 500W” has following opportunities:
i. Large market and increasing demand ( now GPH has only 20% of market share);
ii. Previous long time experience in the industry;
iii. Market reputation for financial support;
iv. Well experienced employees and working forces;
v. Strong share index increasing the demand for the products;
vi. More direct sales offices can increase the products sale in long run;

4.1.4 Threats of GPH TMT 500W:

“GPH TMT 500W” has following threats:
i. Up gradation of competitors mills and plants for manufacturing 75grade
deformed bars;
ii. Increase of competitors in large numbers;
iii. Premier pricing sometimes loosing potential customers;
iv. Irregular demand sometimes creates delivery problems;
v. Minimum Order Quantity (Minimum Full Truck Load, 20M/T) for DirectOrders;
vi. Delivery Lead Time, sometimes 5-7days after placing orders;
vii. Confusion about quality of GPH TMT 500W & 60 Grade Deformed Bar;
viii. Sales Network to rural areas;

4.2 Competitors of GPH TMT 500W

The industry which has very strong competitors in the market, generally, price
competition in that industry is very strong. As a result, sometimes the market becomes very
unstable. Steel rod industry is such kind of industry which is very unstable in terms of prices.
Government has very nominal control in this industry. The competitors can hike their price as
per their intension. It is said that there is a cartel in the industry which mainly control the
market price of the rod.

GPH is one of the pioneer and leading manufacturers and suppliers of steel rod for
construction industry. In the meantime they have established a brand loyalty for their
products by supplying quality products to their customers for a long time. The group’s total
production capacity is about 5lac M/T per annum which is about 25% of the country’s total
demand for steel rod. It’s the highest production capacity by a single company. So the
company is the market leader and offers premier prices for their products. Sometimes they
control the market for pricing. All of the other competitors are basically followers in the
market. The major competitors of GPH in the industry are as follows-
1. Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills(KSRM) Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.
2. Rahim Steel Mills Co. (Pvt.) Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
3. Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills(RSRM) Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.

26
 4. Seema Automatic Steel Re-Rolling Mills (SARM) Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.
5. Baizid Steel Mills Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.
6. Islam Steel Mills Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.
7. Basundhara Steel Complex Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
8. Abul Khair Steel Mills Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.
9. BSRM Steels Ltd. Chittagong, Bangladesh.
10. Ananda Metal Engineering, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
11. Asif Steels Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
12. Bangladesh Steel Complex Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
13. Anwar Ispat Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
14. Ira Re-Rolling Inds. Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
15. Khaled Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Among the competitors BSRM, KSRM, Rahim Steels, RSRM, SARM are very strong
competitors for “GPH TMT 500W” which have captured about 50% of the market share in
the steel industry. In the mean time, all the above mentioned firms already have taken BMRE
program to their plant for up gradation and manufacture equivalent products like GPH TMT
500W. So it is very crucial to GPH to hold their market share to compete in the long run.
There are some competitors in the industry like Shitalpur Steel Mills Ltd., Motaleb
Steel Mills Ltd. and A.R.Steels Ltd. who are basically hand rolling mills and producing small
number of products which has very small effects in the market.
Some of the competitors have very strong backward linkage industries like ship
breaking industry, billet manufacturing plants, other supporting industries and trading houses.
They have very strong effect in the manufacturing process. Such as GPH has own ship
breaking yards, billet manufacturing industry. KSRM & SARM also have same facilities.

Others BSRM
21 % 25 %
GPH
6%

Baizi d
6% KS RM
SARM 12 %
6%
RSRM Rahim Steels
8% 16 %

Market share of competitors as shown in the figure:

RSRM has their own billet manufacturing plant. As they have backward linkage industries
they can produce their products in a lower cost which is one of the competitive advantages
for them to be successful in the industry. So they are in the driving seat in the industry.

27
4.3 Major Competitive Brands
GPH TMT 500W is the 75Grade of international standard steel rod. Although they are
the pioneer in the industry for introducing 75Grade products in the market but in the
meantime, some of their competitors have already entered in the market with same grade
steel rod. Some of the main competitor’s products are as under-
Name of the Competitor Brand name of New Product
1) BSRM Steels Ltd. Xtreme 500W
2) Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills(RSRM) Ltd X-Power-75
3) Baizid Steel Industries Ltd. (BSIL) BSIL QSL 500+
4) Seema Automatic Steel Re-Rolling Mills (SARM) Ltd. Supreme – 500W
5) Abul Khair Steel Industries Ltd. SUPERSTRUCTURE 400 & 500
6) Islam Steel Mills Ltd. Ultra 500W

Some of the strong competitors are still with 60 Grade Steel Rod such as Kabir Steel
ReRolling Mills (KSRM) Ltd., Rahim Steel Mills Ltd., GPH Ispat Ltd. They are upgrading
their production systems to produce same grade products.

28
 Chapter - 5

Channel Relationship
&
Promotion Management

29
5.1 Orders Receiving & Supply Channels
Marketing channel decisions are among the most critical decision facing management.
Marketing channel can be viewed as set of interdependent organizations involved here in the
process. Total distribution/delivery system of GPH is mainly in two types-

a) Direct Orders & Direct Supply:

GPH takes direct orders by e-mail, telephone, etc. Basically some potential buyers are
directly sending their orders to head office. Real estate companies, dealers are such kind of
buyers.
Order Receiving:

GPH H.O. Customers

Delivery of Goods:
GPH Mills Customers

0 Level Channel

b) Order & Supply Through Dealers:

GPH has more than 800 (eight hundred) dealers and distributors all over the country.
They distribute their products to their customers through them against the orders which are
received through them.
Order Receiving:

GPH H.O. Dealer Customer

Delivery of Goods:

GPH Mills Dealer Customer

1 Level Channel

30
c) Orders & Supply Through Local Offices :
GPH has 6 (six) local offices throughout the country by which they mainly control
their sales and marketing activities. The offices are located at Dhaka, Sylhet, Moulvibazar,
Bogra, Khulna & Comilla. All the goods against direct marketing orders are being distributed
through these offices. They also monitor their customer care activities through the local
offices.
Order Receiving:

GPH H.O. GPH Local Office Customer

Delivery of Goods :

GPH Mills GPH Local Office Customer

1 Level Channel

31
5.2 Internal Order Receiving & Follow Up Procedure
After receiving the order at any point of GPH’s sales personnel of GPH input the data to the
central network at Head Office. After receiving the data the Customer Service Department
(CSD) arrange checking with the respective office and get approval from the competent
authority. If the receipt of payment is confirmed then the CSD Department arranges issuance
of related Delivery Order (DO) in favour of the customer. Once the DO is issued then the
data has been transmitted to the respective CSD Department at mills for final delivery. Then
the CSD Department arrange delivery of the materials to the customer accordingly.

Customer

Order Placed

GPH Local Office

Information/Data sent

GPH H.O.

Approval given

GPH H.O.CSD

Delivery Order issued in favour of customer & data sent

GPH Mills CSD

Arrangement for delivery of goods to Customer

32
33
5.3 Promotional Activities
GPH has a strong team of employee in their Marketing & Promotion Department
headed by the Head of Business & Product Development.
GPH develop their branding and promotional activities with the help of M/s Unitrend
Ltd.,Dhaka. They are mainly developing and circulating the promotional campaign for GPH
to various media.

5.4 Promotional Budget for “GPH TMT 500W”:

Total promotional budget for “GPH TMT 500W”was about Tk.8.00 crore in 2009
which is about 0.51% of their annual tern over and the budget is decided by the management
on residual method.

5.5 Selecting Effective Promotional Tools:

GPH settled on a strong positioning statement, it develops various strategies for its
marketing programs. For GPH this means considering programs such as:

Conference & Direct Public Advertisin Work Shop

Trade Show Marketing Relation g

Marketing Communications Tele

E-
By Marketing
marketing
GPH

Merchandisin Website Sign Event Seminar &

g Promotion Materials Board, Sponsorship Symposium
Billboards

Seminar,Sympo Others
Mer.Promotion 5% 5%
5%
TV Ads
Public Relation 20 %
10 %

Billboard,Sgnbrd News Paper Ads

20% 35%

Figure: Promotional Activities & Budget allocation by GPH.

34
5.5.1 Advertising:
At present GPH adopt various advertising policy for promotion of their products.
They use print media such as news papers, magazines and various TV channels for
circulating their ads. Basically they circulate informative ads for their product. As they are in
the line from 1952, sometimes they also circulate reminder ads for their products. Sometimes
they distribute products brochures, leaflet, etc. among the engineers, users and general public.
As a result they get huge coverage of their products to general public. In general GPH expend
45% of their promotional budget on TV ads, 20% on daily newspapers ads on local &
national,10% on billboards and signboards,10% on public relation activities (such as road
dividers, donations, helping the poor on various occasion, etc.), 5% on merchandising
promotions,5% on seminar, symposiums, conference, event sponsorship, etc. and 5% on
others.

5.5.2 Public Relations:

GPH participate in various fairs organized by CSE, Organization of real estate
companies to send the messages of their company. They have strong tie with various print
media as they are circulating their ads by them. Sometimes news papers cover events or news
of GPH products where they discuss about the product of GPH.

5.5.3 Web Materials:

GPH strongly believe that now-a-days without a web site no company will be
successful. So they developed their website by putting information about their company &
their products. They placed products brochures, usage instructions and other product related
info on their web. They placed their price list and purchasing procedures to their web.
Anybody can enquire by sending a message to them. As a result communication system has
developed.

5.5.4 Seminars & Symposiums:

Sometimes GPH arrange seminars and symposiums for their dealers, engineers and
masons as they are the ultimate users of the GPH products. By these seminar & symposiums
they communicate their messages to the attendant.

5.5.5 Conferences and Trade shows:

GPH arranges various conferences for engineers and dealers where they communicate
their messages to them. They attend various conference and trade show.

35
5.5.6 Direct Marketing:
As GPH is the pioneer and renown company in the steel manufacturing industry they
have a lot of loyal & potential customers all over the country. They place their orders with
GPH directly through their local offices.

5.5.7 Event Sponsorships:

GPH sponsors various Real Estate Fares, Seminars and Symposiums, donate food and
cloth in flood effected area and many more. GPH provides road dividers to the traffic police
department which is dividing the roads to control traffic jam.

5.5.8 Merchandising Promotions:

GPH gives various promotional gifts such as umbrella, table clock, T-shirts, Mug,
Key Ring etc. with their company logo and products information & ad to the dealers,
engineers and masons as they are the ultimate users of GPH products. They also give
discount of Tk.1,000.00 per ton to the dealers.

5.5.9 E- Marketing:
GPH sometimes communicate their promotional activities through e-mail
correspondence. As most of the major buyer of GPH are well educated and technologically
advanced they really like to get promotional news by e-mail.

5.5.10 Tele- Marketing:

GPH sometimes takes telephonic-marketing procedures for their promotional
activities. They communicate information of changes of their product by telephone to the
sophisticated buyers as engineers, dealers, real estate companies other sophisticated
customers of their products.

36
Chapter - 6

Implications
&
Strategies

37
 6.1 Problems of “GPH TMT 500W” Product Marketing
GPH Ispat Ltd. Is the producer of “GPH TMT 500W” has a large number of customers
all over the country. They are facing various problems for producing and marketing their
products. As a result, some sort of customer dissatisfaction has arisen in the market. But the
management of GPH is very much positive to solve the problems in the root level. Problems
which are facing by GPH are generally in the following types:
1) GPH faces skill shortage for their new plant GPH Ispat Ltd. We can find out
following problems to fulfil their skilled employee shortage:
a) As the mill is of upgraded with state-of-the-art high technology, local employee
& labourers are not skilled with such sophisticated technology.
b) GPH prefer foreign skilled employees rather than the local employees. Huge
investment is required to train a local employee. But GPH is unwilling to train
them as the migration rate of local employee is very high in the industry.
c) Foreign expert of GPH mills are not willing to train local peoples as there is a
fear of to be jobless.
d) To educate about new technology infrastructure development is required but
GPH has no such facilities at this time.
2) Some customers are expecting competitive prices from GPH. But to fix the prices at
market level we found following problems:
a) GPH charges premium prices which they think is logical in terms of their quality
and goodwill.
b) GPH argues that to maintain the quality of their products they have to expend
more in their production process and quality assurance;
c) GPH has achieved goodwill in the market for supplying standard products at a
prestigious price. To bear the prestige they are keeping their prices high in the
market.
3) GPH suffers for raw materials shortage. I think the following problems are related
to this shortage:
a) They have no sufficient billets manufacturing firms to supply raw materials as
per their requirement.
b) Their production capacity is very large but they did not build backward linkage
industry for manufacturing billets accordingly. As a result, they are mostly
dependent on imported billets;
c) Sometimes imported billets are profitable than local production so they are
unwilling to procure them locally.
4) Prices of steel rod in the markets are very unstable. It mainly depends on the scrap
and billets rates of the international and home market. GPH can not compete in the
market with the lower prices for the following reasons:
a) Some of the competitors have backward linkage industries for producing their
raw materials, as a result their production cost is stands low.
b) Competitors’ marketing channels are very strong as a result they have
competitive advantages to deliver their products to the customers. But GPH has
no such facilities.
c) Some of the major competitors are located at Dhaka which is the larger market
for steel rod. As GPH is located at Chittagong their delivery charges are on the

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 high side. So customers at Dhaka market can buy products from local suppliers
at the lower prices.
d) As GPH depends on imported raw materials which are sometimes expensive so
they can not give their products to the customers at the lower prices.
e) GPH has very large establishment maintenance cost of which is very high.
So it increases their products prices.

6.2Suggestion/Recommendation for Solving the Problems

The following action plans may be recommended for the successful development,
promotion and profitable sales of the GPH TMT 500W:
 To fill up the skill shortage of GPH, they can appoint fresher and develop them at
their mills by giving them in house training by the foreign experts. They can impose
some bindings of leaving the company at the time of appointment. Then the migration
habit will decrease among the employees.
 To attract the appropriate persons from the steel rod industry GPH can offer them
handsome salary and other fringe benefits, so that people will be very much interested
to join GPH.
 GPH should build up backward linkage industries for their raw materials-billets. If
they can build another two billet manufacturing industry then their import dependency
will be decreased at large. It is hopeful that GPH already established their new billets
manufacturing plants in the name of GPH Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. at Nasirabad I/A,
Chittagong with the investment of Tk.350.00 crore to manufacture 25000 M/Tons of
billets per month. The plant will go for production within 15th March, 2010.
 Establishment cost of GPH Ispat Ltd. Is very high. As a result their products prices
become on the high side. To re-fix the products prices at market level GPH should
reduce establishment cost by cutting down additional cost at their mills and others. If
they could re fix their prices at market level GPH’s total sales will increase which will
add profit for the company in the long term.
 GPH should extend and accommodate their raw materials and finished products store
so that they can store huge quantity of raw materials and finished goods for buffer
stock. It will help them to minimize storing and carrying cost at different places.
 GPH should extend their finished product bending and delivery points at mills and/or
other places in the country which will decrease their delivery lead time and customer
will rely on them. Their sales will ultimately be increased accordingly.
 Extension of dealership network all over the country is another way to develop
relation with the customers. If the customers can buy the products from his nearest
shop it will ease his hassle for ordering and getting delivery in time. On the other
hand, if the products will be available with local sources then the customer will be
interested to use quality products at a higher price and as a result the total sales
volume will be increased to add profit to the company account in long term. By doing
so the brand loyalty of “GPH TMT 500W” will be increased.
 As a result of affluent life style of the peoples in the urban areas total demand for
multi storied building is increasing day by day. To fulfil the demand architects is
designing high rising multi-storied building by quality building materials. Steel rod is
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 one of the vital elements of building materials. So, GPH’s product demand is
increasing gradually. To face such demand GPH may take initiative for necessary
expansion of plants and machinery to increase production. They may establish new
mills to cater the increasing demand.
 Everybody wants high quality building materials at a lower price. Most of the
customers in Bangladesh are of medium income level & lower income level. To make
their products within the reach of such large numbers of customers GPH should think
to keep their product prices at the market level, then the demand of their products will
increase dramatically.

6.3 Conclusion
The issues discussed above regarding the total marketing procedures of “GPH TMT
500W” is a systematic process which can help other company in the industry in gaining
competitive edge over its rivals. The strategies and action plans that have been recommended
marketing mix elements are properly followed, they may help in the sustainable development
of the concerned companies of Bangladesh.

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 Bibliography

1. Mr. Philip Kotler, Author: Marketing Management, Upper Siddle River, New
Jersey, Prentice Hall, 2003, PP-393-400.

2. Mr. Naresh K. Malhotra, Author: Marketing Research: Second Indian Reprint,

2006, PP 72-100 & 312-340.

3. Mr. Md. Reaz Uddin, Ex-Student, MBA(Evening Program), 10th Batch, Roll
No.274, FBA, USTC, Chittagong.

4. GPH Group of Companies Sales Manual.

5. GPH Group of Companies Annual Report.

6. Web site of GPH Group of Companies : www.gphispat.com.bd

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 Questionnaire for Information Collection on GPH Products

Name:..…………………………………………………………………………………………

Company Name: ………………….…… Occupation/Designation: ……….……………..….

Address:
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Please read the questions carefully and put your answer in the space as given below:

1) What type of GPH’s products you are using/selling?

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2) How long you are using/selling GPH’s products?
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3) How much quantity of GPH’s products you are selling/using?
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4) Why do you choosing GPH’s products?
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5) Is there any substitute products to GPH? If so, what is that?
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6) Is GPH maintains their delivery schedule?
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7) Are there any delivery problems which you are facing with GPH? If so, what are
those?

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8) What is your most preferred channel of order of channel & distribution?
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9) What is your opinion about the weight giving by GPH? Are they giving delivery of
accurate quantity of goods as per your order?
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10) How can the service of GPH be upgraded as per your opinion?
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11) What are the problems you are facing by using GPH’s products?
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12) Did you lodge any complaint with GPH regarding the problems?
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13) Are they (GPH) caring about your complaint?
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14) What was their (GPH’s)
feedback? ...............................................................................................................................
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15) Does anybody get preference for discount, order placement or taking from GPH?
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 12) Are you satisfied with the total services provided by GPH?
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13) What is your suggestion for up gradation of GPH’s overall services?
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------------------------------------ Signature of the interviewee

Thank you for your time and effort as given.

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