PHASES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Identification: - Careful scanning of the environment for investment opportunity and the ROI.
• Formulation: - Translation of idea into a concrete project, scrutiny and preparation of feasibility report.
• Appraisal: - Analysis and evaluation of market, technical, financial and economic variables, return on investment and break- even point.
• Selection: - Rational choice considering objectives and limitations.
• Implementation: - Expeditious completion within allocated resources.
• Management: - Operation of an enterprise with maximum of net present value, maximization of return. Increase in rate of return at low risk.

To summarize, it can be said that

• Project is a scheme for investing resources in an enterprise.
• It can be a massive scheme like a multipurpose river valley project or a venture with small investment.
• It provides complete details and analysis of technical, marketing and economic aspects.
• To an entrepreneur it opens up a programme for action, profitability and economic viability.
• A sound project will definitely contribute towards economic development.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF A PROJECT

Conceptual Framework of a Project

•  A productive activity, which can be analyzed appraised and monitored independently.
•  A specific objective in terms of a geographic location, specific starting and end point
• Serve the target population by achieving good returns on investment.
• Has an organization to implement it.

CONCEPT OF PROJECT AND ITS CLASSIFICATION

CONCEPT OF PROJECT

The term “project” connotes programme of action. Project is always interwoven with all socio- economic and cultural activities the project involves a scheme and a speculative imagination.

The kinds of projects

1. Agricultural projects- relating to

1. Land development
2. Irrigation
3. Soil- conservation
4. Fertilizers, and
5. Seeds etc.

2. Research projects

Definition of “Project”- According to World Bank, project can be defined as “An approval for a capital investment to develop facilities to provide goods and services”.

Little and Mireless defines project as “A scheme or a part of scheme for investing resources which can be reasonably analyzed and evaluated as an independent unit”. “It is an appraisal for investment with the definite aim of producing a flow of output over a specific period of time”.

Gittinger has defined it as the whole gamut of activities involved in using resources to gain benefits.

According to Dr. Albert O. Hirchman” The development project connotes purposefulness, some minimum size, a specific location, the introduction of something qualitative new, and the expectation that a sequence of further development will be set in motion”.

Project can be defined as a scientifically evolved work plan devised to achieve a specific objective with a specified period of time. The three basic attributes of a project are

1. A course of action
2. Specific objectives, and
3. Definite time perspective.

CLASSIFICATION OF PROJECTS

Establishment of a new business unit to manufacture some product or arrange for the distribution of products of another company poses a challenge to the entrepreneur.

1. Helps in expressing and highlighting the essential features of the project.
2. Project includes all activities aimed at:
• Increased production of goods and/ or services.
• Increasing the capability of existing projects and
• Increasing the productivity of these goods/ services.

The projects can be classified as under:

1. Quantifiable and Non- quantifiable projects

• Quantifiable projects- quantitative assessment of benefits can be made. Concerned with industrial development, power generation, and mineral development.
• Non- quantifiable projects- where quantitative assessment is not possible. Concerned with health, education, defense etc.

2. Sectoral Projects

In India planning commission has accepted the Sectoral basis as the criterion for classification

• Agriculture & Allied sector
• Irrigation and power sector
• Industry and Mining sector
• Transport and communication
• Social service sector
• Miscellaneous

Useful in resource allocation at macro level

3. Techno- Economic Projects

Based on their techno- economic characteristics

 (a) Factor intensity- oriented classification

• Capital intensive
• Labour- intensive

(b) Causation-oriented classification

• Demand based or,
• Raw materials based

Dominant reasons for starting a project

• Non- availability of certain goods or services and consequent demand for such goods or services.
• Availability of certain raw materials, skills or other inputs.

(c) Magnitude- oriented classification- based on the size of the investment.

• Large- scale.
• Medium- scale.
• Small- scale.

Techno- economic classification facilitates the process of project feasibility appraisal.

4. Financial Institution Classification

All India and state financial institutions classify projects according to their age, experience and the purpose.

• New projects
• Expansion projects
• Modernization projects
• Diversification projects

These projects are invariably are profit- oriented.

5. Services Projects

• Welfare projects
• Service projects
• Research and development projects
• Educational projects

MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS: POST-TESTING METHODS

It is applied after the advertisement has ended to find out how far advertising has been successful. The objective of advertising is to arouse consumer awareness, his interest, desire and develop his attitude to the product. These are

• recognition tests,
• recall tests,
• attitude change,
• sales and recognition tests

Recognition test:

It is developed by Danial Starch. It measures the readership of printed advertisements. It is also called the readership test. It is based on the assumption that there is a high correlation between the reading of the advertisement and the purchase of the product. A particular advertisement may be examined by sending the whole newspaper or magazine wherein it is published. Afterwards readers are approached to find out whether they have read the advertisements or not.

The percentage of readership who have seen the advertisement and remember it, who recall seeing or reading any part of it, identifying the product and brand, and who reported reading at least one half of the advertisement is calculated. The relationship between readers per rupee and the median readers per rupee can be established. The advantage is that it measures something which has been realized under normal conditions. The recognition tests show the importance of each type of advertisement on the basis of the readership test. This is an uncontrolled interview and suffers from the problems of uncontrolled techniques of examination.

Recall Tests

A recall test depends on the memory of the respondents. This test is applied to measure the impression made by an advertisement on the reader's mind. It is classified into two types – aided recall and unaided recall. Some have combined the two and made it a combined recall test.

• Aided Recall: It is used to measure the reading memory of magazine advertising impressions. It is necessary to use a large sample size for statistical reliability. The aided test measures television advertising. The interviewer may approach the respondents over the telephone or in person to find out something about their recall of the commercial. A radio advertisement may be given the aided recall test followed by an unaided question. For example: "What products have been advertised during the last two days?" Then the recall aid is provided by asking: 'Have you heard the advertisements of brand X? “The recall test may be administered immediately or two or three days after the exposure.
• Unaided Recall: Under this method, little or no aid is given. The purpose is to measure the penetration of the advertisement. Respondents are asked whether the advertisements included a particular picture or message. The name of the product is not given to the audience. They have to recall it themselves. If they do remember, it is established that there was some impact of the advertisement.
• Combined Recall Tests: It includes aided as well as unaided recall tests. This test was developed by Gallup and Robinson. Respondents are asked whether they have read the magazine or newspaper, or listened to the radio or watched television.

This technique involves following steps.

• The respondents should recall and describe correctly at least one editorial feature in the magazine or newspaper.
• They are handed a group of cards on which are printed the names of brands advertised in the issue. They are asked which of the brands were advertised in that issue.
• The respondents are questioned in depth to evaluate the accuracy of their recall.
• A copy of the magazine is given to the respondents. They are asked whether they have seen the advertisement: for the first time or seen it a second or third time. The reply that they have seen it a second time or more often is discarded from the recall test because they are included under the Proven Name Registration (PNR). The information on age, sex, education, occupation, etc. may establish a relationship between these factors and recall. This method measures the recall of qualified readers to assess the depth of penetration achieved by the advertised message.

The limitation of the test is the heavy cost involved in the study. It is affected by the variation in human memory. The audience may recall because it has seen the previous advertisements of the product.

Attitude Change

There are several techniques for the measurement of attitude change after the advertising has ended. These techniques are as follows:

• Semantic differential,
• Likert scale,
• Ranking techniques and
• Projective technique.

(i) Semantic Differential: It is used to measure attitude in the field of marketing and advertising research. It uses a bi-polar (opposite) adjective statement about the subject of evaluation. The attitude is measured in the light of some objectives. The two-way scale is used for the purpose. The neutral is mid-point, while the three points on both the sides of the neutral point, on the same scale, provide the degree of favourable and unfavourable characteristics. The semantic differential is illustrated below.

SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIALS

Known ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- unknown

Informative.------------------------------------------------------------------.      Un informative

Realistic-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  Unrealistic

Persuasive ---------------------------------------------------------------------   Not persuasive

Instructive -------------------------------------------------------------------------   Destructive

Effective ---------------------------------------------------------------------------    Ineffective

Useless-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Useful

The above points are merely illustrative. Depending upon the characteristics and features of an advertisement more number of points may also be used.

(ii) The Likert Scale: The Likert scale is used to measure audience attitude to advertisements. A series of statements are described to measure the attributes of the advertisement. Only the relevant statements are used for the purpose. Each statement is measured on a five-point scale. It is being illustrated as follows:

THE LIKERT SCALE

Particulars	Strongly agree	Agree	Uncertain	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Radio advertising has been heard by a majority of the population.
Nirma Advertisement appealed to people who have accepted it.
Repetition of advertisement has reminded people about the product

 (iii) Ranking techniques: The preferences to several types of advertisements are ranked to find out the place of a particular advertisement among the several advertisements. An advertisement of one product can be measured with the advertisements of other products taken together. This is done to find out the effectiveness of the advertisement in a competitive atmosphere. The winner may be given rank 1 and loser is given rank 5. The ranking is based on awareness, interest, attitude change, attractiveness, usefulness, entertaining respect, effectiveness, etc. A sufficient number of consumers are selected for a sample survey. The overall rank is summed up to determine the final rank of the advertisement of the brand.

(iv) Projective Techniques: It is used to measure attitude change. Association techniques, completion techniques, construction techniques and expressive techniques are used to measure the change in attitude.

Sales Test

It is designed to evaluate the effects of advertising on the purchase behaviour of the consumer. It is successfully applied to examine the consumer behaviour to advertisements of consumption goods. Sales are effected after creating an image of and interest in, the product. With the help of sales audit and audience response, it is possible to evaluate the effects of advertising on sales. There are generally three types of sales tests, viz.,

• Measure of past sales,
• Field experiments, and
• Matched samples.

(i) Measure of Past Sales: Advertising and sales are correlated by using the past sales data. The past data on sales are diversified and their advertising expenses are correlated to establish their relationship Sales data for the past ten years as well as the advertising expenses are collected and tabulated to establish the correlation between the sales volume and advertising expenses. All other factors influencing sales are also correlated with the sales. The differences between their correlations show the importance of each individual factor influencing sales.

(ii) Field Experiments: Field experiments may show the extent to which a particular advertising campaign has affected sales. The whole market may be divided into test and control areas. One treatment may be randomly administered to each area to know how a particular factor has influenced the sales in that area. The different treatments may be used to eliminate irrelevant variables. The results of each variable are recorded for different periods. These figures give the total impact of advertising on sales.

(iii) Matched Samples: The respondents belonging to the same age, educational status, occupation, sex, etc. are selected for comparison of advertising effectiveness. They are matched in every respect but not for the test treatment. One group has seen the advertisements and other group has not seen the advertisements. The sales of the treated group should he higher than those of the not-treated group. This would show the difference between the sale of the advertised products and of the non-advertised products.

MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS: Pre testing methods

Pre-testing is preferred because it enables one to know how effective an advertisement is likely to be, before spending the budget and adopting advertising actions. The advertiser should use only those messages and media which prove to be the strongest in producing the desired results. It is important to adopt corrective methods against mistakes. Pre-testing may be of the following types:-

• consumer jury,
• storyboard tests,
• laboratory tests,
• tachistoscope,
• psychogalvanometer,
• eye camera,
• pupil dilation,
• attitude test, and
• Depth interviewing.

Consumer Jury

Consumer reaction has greater validity than the reactions of non-consumers. Consumers can provide true information on reaction to an advertising campaign. Others may underestimate or overestimate the reactions. The copy, illustrations, filming techniques, layout, etc. can be properly evaluated by the consumers concerned with the product. The consumer jury technique is adopted for print media, broadcast media and direct mail.

Print Media: The consumers selected may be asked either to evaluate an advertisement or rate two or more advertisements. Each respondent is asked to express his preference for each advertisement. The most common method is to insert a questionnaire in the advertisement and request the readers to indicate their preferences. Copywriters test their creations on consumers. Some newspaper advertisers invite consumers their office and invite their reaction to the advertising copy or copies of magazines are sent to some consumers to find out their reactions. The reactions of consumers are evaluated and any inconsistency in advertising is removed.

The major advantage is that they separate out the weak advertisements from the strong at a low cost and high speed. The actual consumers may suggest improvements and modifications. Only conscious ratings are evaluated. Reply to the questions in a very conscious manner may not give a correct impression of advertisements.

BroadcastMedia: Consumers are asked to come to the television studio where they are shown different television programmes for final consideration. Sometimes, the television advertisement messages are pre-examined in different localities.

Direct mail test: The direct mail test is used through the mail. The post cards containing copy appeal, each with a reply-paid card, is sent free-of-cost to consumers, who are required to give their evaluation.

Storyboard Tests: The storyboard prepared for television advertising is tested before it is used. The storyboard pictures are transferred to a film strip and the audio section onto a tape. Vision and sound are synchronized and shown to an audience for evaluation. This test uncovers the unnecessary part. The important part of advertising is accepted for telecasting. The anteroom trailer method is used to test the commercial. The anteroom contains magazines, newspapers, distractions and television recorded programmes.

Laboratory Tests:The respondents are placed in laboratory situations and are asked to explain the measurements regarding the effectiveness of the advertisement. Laboratory conditions offer a controlled environment that excludes the variables which may invalidate the test. It is used to measure awareness, attention, desire, retention, etc. For example, the respondents are taken to a theatre, mock-up supermarkets or some other place for experimental purposes.

Tachistoscope: It is a projector that can project objects on to a screen at rates so fast that the viewer cannot detect the message. It is slowed down to a level where the message can be perceived easily. The respondents should understand and appreciate the message, interesting words, slogans, headlines, etc. They can be easily segregated from the less interesting message.

Psychogalvanometer: It is a mechanical device that measures the amount of perspiration. It measures a respondent's reactions to new records and slogans. Electrodes are attached to his palms to detect changes in electrical resistance arising from perspiration. If the machine registers lower electrical resistance it is the existence of tension. The main objective is to attract attention to the product which is reflected by the galvanic skin response. But it should not be concluded that greater tension reflects the greater success of the advertisement.

Eye Camera: The eye movements are recorded by a video camera. It records the activity of the eye by is movements. The audience is asked to look at a series of pictures on a screen but unaware that their eye actions are being photographed. It shows what the respondent sees. If a commercial is interesting and if he is attracted by it, his eyes will be fixed on that. The respondents may be asked some questions about the advertisement.

Pupil Dilation: The size of the pupil changes as people see different things. The change follows different advertising stimuli. It becomes wider as greater interest isaroused. The pupil shrinks if the eye is not interested. A pupilometer records the dilation which is involuntary and measures the interest shown by the respondent.

Attitude Test: The attitude is closely related to advertising effectiveness. Respondents are asked to give answers to the questions on a seven-point bipolar scale about their feelings about a particular advertisement. The semantic differential rating scale has been used extensively to measure advertising effectiveness. If the attitudes of potential customers are changed toward the products, the advertisement is considered effective. The attitude of potential customers or respondents can be measured accurately on the attitude scale. This scale measures the position of the consumers' attitudes on a continuum, varying from favourable at one end and to unfavourable at the other end. This test is applied before the use of the advertising media, message and campaign to find out how far they would influence consumer attitudes.

Depth Interviewing: It is concerned with getting the respondent to react freely to the brand, organisation and product. By suitable questions, the interviewer brings out his unconscious reactions to the surface. The reactions are noted to bring out the facts. Depth interviewing involves non-structured questions. The flexibility and intelligence of the interviewer identify the significant points made in the interview and achieve meaningful and valid results. This technique is useful for exploratory research, for ideas and suggestions

MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS: INTRODUCTION

Advertising may be extensive but ineffective in its approach. An unnecessarily large amount is sometimes spent without any reward. An improper display may tarnish the image of the product. An advertising measurement is adopted both before and after an advertising campaign is launched. After a campaign has been launched, it is essential to know how far the advertising plans, strategies and programmes are successful in achieving the objectives so that they may be modified and redesigned for better performance if needed. This process is known as measuring the advertising effectiveness. There are several questions which are to be answered by advertising measurements. For example, How far was the campaign successful? Why was it not successful? What were the reasons for not attaining the objectives?

OBJECTIVES OF MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS:

Some advertisers do not bother to measure advertising effectiveness. They expect that the sales will ultimately increase by reason of advertising. But, recently, problems and difficulties have compelled them to measure advertising effectiveness. The producers also adopt a measuring device because they incur a sizeable amount of expenditure on advertising. The effectiveness of media and message are also assessed for their use in future. The results of same amount of advertising budget vary for several reasons.

Only through the measuring of advertising effectiveness the success of a particular campaign can be known. Various measuring techniques have been developed to measure effectiveness at every stage to isolate the effects of advertising from those of other promotional and marketing activities. The copy, media and other advertising components have been tested. The factors like readership, consumer opinion, belief or disbelief, recall, attention, comprehension, attitude, etc are taken into consideration for measuring effectiveness. Positive relationships are established between these factors and sales. The best read and highly rated advertisements are determined by consumers under an advertising research programme. There are different methods of measuring audience response.

MEASURING SALES AND COMMUNICATION PERFORMANCE

Two important aspects of measurements, viz., sales and communication objectives are measured to judge the advertising effectiveness.

Sales Measurement:

Where advertising is the predominant contributor to sales, the sales response is immediate and when internal and external factors affecting sales are held constant or are ineffective. Measuring effectiveness in terms of sales only is not very logical or scientific as advertising is not the only contributory factor to sales. A non-linear relationship exists between advertising and sales. The advertising effect is not always immediate. There are the adverse effects of competition too. While measuring the advertising with the yardstick of sales the measurement of advertising effectiveness becomes easy if the controllable and uncontrollable factors are taken as constant.

Measurement of Communication effects:

Advertising is basically a communication process. The effectiveness of advertising can be measured by how much the communication process has been useful in motivating consumers. The communication objectives, i.e., establishing brand awareness, improving recall, increasing brand recognition, bringing about an attitude change, etc., can be measured because these are realistic. Advertising effectiveness is measured by its direct and immediate impact on consumer behaviour.

The measurement of objectives in terms of sales is not scientific. The measurement of attitude is not logical. If image building is the objective of advertising, its effectiveness should be measured in terms of image building and not in terms of sales or in terms of the attainment of any other communication objectives.

WHEN TO MEASURE?

The measurement of advertising effectiveness can be done at any time from planning stage to final stage. If advertising is tested before it is run, it is known as pre-testing. It helps to develop more effective communication and exercises control over costs. The effectiveness of advertising activities is generally examined when the campaign has been run and advertising functions have been performed. This is  known as post-testing because the effectiveness is measured after the final stage of the campaign has been reached. The advertising effectiveness can also be tested when the campaign is under way with a view to modifying it, if necessary. While adopting a particular test, the cost of testing should be borne in mind.

Pre-testing is adopted to measure the effectiveness and accuracy of an advertising plan before its implementation. Post-testing is done after the advertising activities have been completed to examine the effectiveness of these advertising activities. A mid-test involves a test before the completion of advertising functions and after the implementation of the advertising plan.

METHODS OF MEASUREMENTS

There are two methods of measuring advertising effectiveness, viz,, experimental method and survey method. Under experimental method, consumers are given a controlled exposure to the message and the effects are measured on the basis of the change in opinion or attitude. A base line is observed with the use of a control group not exposed to the advertising campaign. The results of the exposure in almost all the situations are recorded. The alternative effects of each exposure are considered for comparison and with a view to establishing a relationship between the exposure and the effects. Field experiments are conducted to measure the effects of mass communication. Sample surveys or interviews or questionnaires are used to obtain information about people's exposure to the advertising campaign. The effectiveness is evaluated on the basis of the correlations between the exposure and the attitude or action.