An investigation about the brand values of Sony Television

This dissertation is an investigation about the brand values of Sony Television and Panasonic Television. It is a research which will find out the basis of customer preference. It is important to know how the customers actually make their buying decisions. A customer is faced with so many brands in the market.

They view brands primarily as a means of providing a consistent quality guarantee and reducing the risk involved in the buying decision. Although some brands are differentiated, many lack relevant added values, which encourages consumers to also consider price.Sony and Panasonic are the top most brands in the market. But it is not known clearly why does a customer prefer Sony and why does one prefer Panasonic.

Through this study I will investigate what are the important factors which influence the consumers brand preference. According to an article consumer, in general, buy their favorite brands on the basis of quality. The main purpose of this dissertation is to study the basis of consumer's preference. We will see that what social and personal factors acts as influencer.The product that I have chosen is television.

Selecting a product category for a research is one the most important criteria. It depends on the interest for a specific product. I have that for the past few years there has been not much innovation in the technology of televisions. The only biggest innovation is the digital flat screen technology. Almost all the brands are offering the same features.

There is very less differentiation in features. This is what has created interest in me to investigate the reason why customer prefers one brand to the other.Since Sony and Panasonic are the top brands in the market so I have decided to carry out the study on these 2 brands. Both brands provide good quality and hence there is less differentiation. So we will see what are the factors which will influence the consumer to prefer one brand over the other.

In a burnt-out department store in Tokyo in May 1946 just after World War II, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company), with the aim of developing products and technologies that would help rebuild Japan's economy.In January 1958, the company name was subsequently changed to Sony Corporation. The name "Sony" was created by combining two words. One is 'sonus' in Latin, which is the root of such words as 'sound' and 'sonic'. The other is 'sonny' meaning little son.

The words were used to show that " Sony" comprised a group of young people who have the energy and passion toward unlimited creation. An electric rice cooker was one of the first ideas spawned by our founders. The breakthrough came in 1955, when they developed the world's first transistor radio.This was subsequently followed by many revolutionary products such as the: Trinitron color television (1968); Walkman personal stereo (1979); Compact Disc player (1982); Betacam for broadcast use (1982); Floppy Disk (1983); Handycam (1985); MiniDisc (1992); PlayStation (1994); DVD (1997); Memory Stick (1998); AIBO (1999); PlayStation 2 (2000) and CLIE, Sony's personal entertainment organizer (2000)Today, Sony is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.With music, pictures, computer entertainment and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be a leading broadband entertainment company in the world.

Globally, Sony has: Operations spanning over 70 countries 1,080 subsidiaries 189,700 employees Achieved consolidated annual sales of more than US$63 billion (for fiscal year ended March 31st, 2000) In the 21st century, Sony continues to strive for excellence in all areas of their business. The distributor of Sony TV in the U. A. E market is Jumbo Electronics Company Ltd (LLC). Jumbo Electronics Co. Ltd is an ISO 9002 company.

It was founded in the United Arab Emirates in 1974. Their U. A. E. presence encompasses the seven Emirates of Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Ajman and Al Ain.

They are one of the largest distributors of Sony products in the world. Panasonic's vision of the digital future is driven by the needs and aspirations of its business customers and millions of consumers around the world who use their products every day. Panasonic shares their dream to live a fuller life by providing ways of working smarter and enjoying the rewards of technological advances.