understanding consumer’s behavior on using and buying monosodium glutamate in hochiminh city

HCM UNIVERSITEÙ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL MBMM4 LAI TRAN MAI KHANH UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER’S BEHAVIOR ON USING AND BUYING MONOSODIUM GLUTA






TRƯỜNG ðẠI HỌC MỞ TP HCM UNIVERSITEÙ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY SOLVAY BRUSSELS SCHOOL

MBMM4

LAI TRAN MAI KHANH

UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER’S BEHAVIOR ON USING AND BUYING MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE

IN HOCHIMINH CITY

MASTER PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Tutor’s name: Dr Vu The Dung

Ho Chi Minh City (2010)






COMMITMENT

This thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree

of diploma in any university or other institution and to the best of my knowledge contains

no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of this thesis

In this study, the survey is conducted by professional interviewers, observed by an independent quality controller and the author of this thesis Thus, it has high level of trust, confidence and agreement

This information source is strictly warned by the research company to use for limited purposes and not allowed to be spread out excepting for the jury of Solvay Business School and some marketing professionals including the MBMM tutor






ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe the greatest debt to my tutor, Dr Vu The Dung, his intellectual support and advice, continuous guidance, full of patience and enthusiasm, has kept me carrying out my thesis and writing up my thesis In spite of being very busy with his plentiful plans, Dr Vu The Dung has been very generous with his time, comments, suggestions and corrections on the draft of my thesis Without such guidance and assistance, I could not have finished

my research and writing up this thesis on time

My utmost thanks go to my study group in MBMM4 class, who gave me endless experienced and mental support Also to my family, other colleagues and friends, who listened to my ideas and encouraged me in completing this thesis

I am ever more indebted to all Professors of Solvay Business School, my school, who gave me very interesting and great lectures This course gives me a lot useful and interesting knowledge that helps me much in my future career path Especially thanks to Prof Bayern, chairman of the program, for his enthusiasm, support, and professionalism

I did with all my best to fulfill this thesis but certainly, shortcomings could not be avoided totally

Once again, thanks for all the enthusiastic support

Best wishes,

Lai Tran Mai Khanh

TUTOR’S COMMENTS

Student name: LAI TRAN MAI KHANH

Attitude: Ms Khanh highly committed for her thesis

Content: well designed and structured

Method and technique: the thesis is well designed and the methods used are scientific

Data analysis: good and reliable data sources and analysis

Recommendation: Provide some good recommendations for the public, and managers

Overall comments: The project has been successfully completed and met all the objectives Very good

Tutor,

Dr Vu The Dung






TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT 5

LIST OF ABBRIVIATION 7

LIST OF TABLES 8

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 9

I.1 Problem statement: 9

I.2 Objectives: 12

I.3 Scope of the study: 12

I.4 Managerial implications: 12

I.4.1 The managers: 12

I.4.2 The competitors: 13

I.4.3 The representative famer: 13

I.4.4 Social management: 13

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 15

II.1 Consumer behavior: 15

II.1.1 The cultural factor: 16

II.1.2 The social factor: 18

II.1.3 The individual factor: 19

II.1.4 The psychology factor: 20

II.2 Buying – decision: 21

II.2.1 Types of buying decision behavior: 21

II.2.2 Buying decision process: 23

II.2.2.a Needs recognition: 24

II.2.2.b Information seeking: 25

II.2.2.c Evaluated selection: 26

II.2.2.d Buying decision: 26

II.2.2.e Post purchase evaluation: 27

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 29

III.1 Research procedure: 29

III.1.1 Methods of measuring behavior: 29

III.1.2 Data Collection: 30

III.1.3 Survey timing: 30

III.1.4 Data analysis: 31

III.1.5 Information needs: 31

III.2 Sampling: 32

CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH RESULTS 33

IV.1 General information of seasoning consumers: 33

IV.2 Determining the behavior of seasoning consumers: 34






IV.3 Consumer buying decision: 37

IV.3.1 Need recognition: 37

IV.3.2 Information seeking: 38

IV.3.3 Evaluated selection/ Buying decision/ Post buying evaluation: 39

IV.4 Consumer’s attitude and behavior towards the environmental affection caused by Vedan .40

IV.4.1 Consumer’s attitude: 41

IV.4.2 Consumer’s behavior: 41

CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 44

V.1 Summary: 44

V.2 Recommendations 45

V.3 Conclusion: 46

REFERENCES 48

APPENDIX A: Questionnaire in English 49

APPENDIX B: Questionnaire in Vietnamese 57

APPENDIX C: Table of data 66






LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Culture is the sum of norms, beliefs and values 18

Figure 10: Chart 6 Report of last 6 months (in the past) and the forecast of

the next 6 months (in the future) in using seasoning

35

Figure 13: Chart 9 The reason why consumer buy seasoning 37

Figure 15: Chart 11 Information sources to find seasoning powder 39

Figure 17: Chart 13 Consumer’s attitude before and after receiving

information of environmental affection caused by Vedan

40

Figure 18: Chart 14 Consumer’s attitude towards the information of

environmental affection caused by Vedan

41

Figure 19: Chart 15 Consumer’s behavior towards the environmental caused

by Vedan

42

Figure 20: Chart 16 The compensations which suitable to Vedan follow

seasoning consumer accordingly

43






CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION I.1 Problem statement:

Customer’s loyalty is the target of any company strategy To support the loyalty aspect, companies must embrace customers’ needs of being respected and self-respecting Customer loyalty can be achieved in some cases by offering a quality product with a firm guarantee Customer loyalty is also achieved through free offers, coupons, low interest rates on financing, high value trade-ins, extended warranties, rebates, and other rewards and incentive programs The ultimate goal of customer loyalty programs is happy customers who will return to purchase again and persuade others to use that company's products or services

According to the Maslow’s theory, the needs of esteem lays on nearly top of the pyramid, it means that people always want to be respected by the others Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame Self-esteem will be lost as people being hurt and they have not the loyalty to some products anymore

In other words, when customers’ self-esteem is challenged or damaged by a service or product provider, there is a very good chance that they will turn away from that company

or organization no matter how loyal they used to be to it And that is the theory

What about in reality? Surprisingly as far as we observe, in many cases, customers still use the products or services provided by the organizations which imposes negative impact on customers’ self-esteem Take this as an example: an employee of the largest Vietnamese rice restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City beat and injured a customer This was obviously a hooligan act and proves that this restaurant did not pay any respect to its






customers But then, after the incident happened, customers continue to dine at this scandalous restaurant, which means nothing ever hampered them from buying their products and services

Nowadays, the environment is seriously polluted In Vietnam, recording to the Ministry

of Environment, there are around 700,000 cubic meters of waste water are released into the environment by 717 industrial zones in Vietnam This untreated water causes many problems to the environment and also to the people who live near the factories and use the water Environment pollution has increased as well as the number of cases of occupational diseases There are 5,497 cases recorded between 1976-1990, and in 2004, the number of cases increased to over 21,000 It is expected that the cases will rise to over 30,000 within this year There are many cases in Vietnam that untreated water perishes marine creatures For instance, two tons of fishes, shrimps and crabs were killed

by untreated water in Tra Khuc River (Quang Ngai) The sewage came from Sugar Joint Stock Company Or 3,000 ducks in Tinh Khe Commune died because they ate poisoned fish and drank the untreated water Or specially, Vedan (a Taiwanese-owned company produces monosodium glutamate) has dumped untreated water into Thi Vai River (Dong Nai) for 14 years (Figure 2) More than 23 tons of dead fish were found in the river According to Nguyen Trung Tin (vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee), Ho Chi Minh City claimed the company to pay $2.4 million to compensate for the damage that they made But Vedan refused to pay for the compensation The water, the land are polluted seriously, the famers lost all their products Moreover, living nearby the river side and using the river water everyday increases the possibility to catch diseases

We know that consumption effects on the environment through production and waste but how the customer attitude toward the environment affection

Now on a much larger scale, Vedan glutamate company released waste water into Thi Vai River, polluting the river and affecting thousands of farmers who live nearby this






area This enormous incident, with the boost from most major newspapers, provoked fury among the community At times, it seems Vedan could never recover from this scandal and may be even thrown out of the market But still Vedan products are sold and consumed like nothing ever happened A few questions may pop up in people’s mind Question 1: is the consumers’ loyalty to this kind of product so high that it can not be impacted by any external factors, or moreover, is the company brand name so stable and strong that consumers can never turn their back on it

Question 2: is the customers’ perception not lucid enough to acknowledge the fact that this “criminal act” actually hurt their self-esteem or is their buying behavior is just simple

as a habitual buying action It seems like a very human common reaction or conditional reflexes, for example, when people get too thirsty, they see the bottle of water and they drink without thinking

There are many factors which influence consumers’ buying decisions And of all these factors, information and communication channel play very important roles How do the consumers react towards the information that might affect their self-respect?

As a reply to Vedan scandalous act which impact seriously the environment and the critical reaction from the community and public opinions, a number of supermarkets in

Ho Chi Minh City show their boycott against Vedan products by removing Vedan products from their shelves Hence, one question is raised, if the supermarkets did not react that way, would consumers continue to buy Vedan products?

This thesis will not focus on customer’ self-esteem research or how the bad elements impact buying decisions of Vedan MSG’s consumers It is merely a research on the MSG’s consumers’ attitudes, behavior or reaction when they are exposed to the information that the products which they have been using are harmful to the environment

as well as human life






On the other side, this research to great extent concerns Vedan MSG’s customer’s experience as towards the bad news which damage the customers’ loyalty and self-esteem currently

I.2 Objectives:

The ojectives of this project are (a) to determine consumer behavior on using and buying MSG products and (b) to compare the difference of consumer behavior on using and buying MSG products before and after receiving the information on the environment damage of Vedan

Based on the research results, some recommendations were presented

I.3 Scope of the study:

Due to the characteristic of research product is non-universal to everyone, so this thesis will concentrate on the Ho Chi Minh City consumers, focuses on main subject of the housewives who have the culture of using spices in every family meal regularly The age will be limited from 25 to 55 years old

I.4 Managerial implications:

This thesis result will get the meaning managerial implications for:

I.4.1 The managers:

Firstly, that is the step that a marketing manager in Vedan company who has got the chances to review his marketing strategy In addition, based on the research result, maybe good or bad, he could also find out a suitable way to continue develop his






company and remain the customers loyalty This research result is also valuable to board

of managing for giving management up coming

I.4.2 The competitors:

Secondly, any information, especially, against to the brand name of a company are valuable to the competitors In some aspects, much of competitive companies should pay

a large sum just to know how much percentages of leaking that a competitive company does spend for its fault Therefore, this research result may take advantages to some competitive companies of Vedan to offer much better sales and marketing strategy as they have known clearly about the way how a competitor is growing up

I.4.3 The representative famer:

Those who are affected directly by Vedan company’s activities - the farmers living nearby Thi Vai River want all consumers to be aware that manufacturers must be responsible for their behavior to the environment and ecosystems, they have to admit their mistakes and show off their sincerity, also compensate adequately for the famers caused by those actions Research results will help the representative farmers give the alert bell to consumers of self -esteem

I.4.4 Social management:

After the event of condemning to the action of polluted environment, Vedan monosodium glutamate company was criticized by the public opinion It likes a ring bell

to the local society managers They did not care deeply in the environmental management till things became very serious and then they give very softly reaction as public attacked to Some foreign organizations expressed their reaction by boycotts or making some advertisements against companies that harm the environment Actually, in Vietnam there are no any specific laws to protect the rights of consumers Therefore, all actions to protect consumers’ rights almost start from their awareness Social managers

should consult this study to provide a specific rule, at least based on the behavior of consumers to protect the interests of consumers and protect the ecosystem






CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

II.1 Consumer behavior:

Consumer behavior is way more than just a guessing game; it’s crucial to a successful marketing plan A clear understanding of the consumer usually makes the difference between companies that succeed and those that fail By understanding the behaviors of consumers, you can make more informed business decisions; these decisions alone can raise bottom-line revenues, lower customer acquisition costs, and increase customer retention and profitability (Laura A Lake, 2009)

Customer behavior study is based on consumer buying behavior, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behavior analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance

of the customer or buyer A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions

Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrow’s possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously The most important characteristic

of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009)






There are two groups of factors which strongly affect consumer behavior On the one hand there are internal characteristics that determine the behavior: psychological and personal And on the other hand, there are external influences that represent the

environment in which the individual behavior takes place: cultural and social (Philip Kotler, Marketing, 1998)

II.1.1 The cultural factor:

Many factors leverage consumer behavior, including the disposition of a consumer toward a specific product (Laura A Lake, 2009) Culture is one of the most basic external influences on a consumer’s needs, wants, and behavior, because all facets of life are carried out against the background of the society in which a consumer lives Culture is the all-encompassing force that helps to form an individual’s personality, which in turn is the key determinant of consumer behavior The culture of a consumer affects to everyday behavior, and there’s experiential support for the concept that culture determines what a consumer purchases and when he/she purchases it

- Norms: These are rules within a culture that designate forms of acceptable and unacceptable behavior In short, they’re the way a culture does things Norms aren’t statistical averages; they’re linked with acceptable social standards of appropriate behavior within a culture They may or may not coincide with laws and policies; for example, it’s a common norm to drive 5 miles per hour over the posted speed limit Norms have different strengths, and the consequences for violating a norm can vary Cultural norms often are so strongly ingrained in an individual’s life that he is unaware

of certain behaviors until they’re contrasted with a different culture that has different norms

- Beliefs: These are mental and verbal statements that reflect a consumer’s particular knowledge and assessment of something and that affect an individual’s behavior The belief system of a culture is created through stories or myths whose interpretations can

of values plays an important role in consumption activities, because in many cases, people purchase products and services that they believe will help them attain a value-related goal Every culture has a set of values that it imparts to members It’s important

to understand the following specific characteristics of value, because values are often used to guide consumers in their purchasing behavior as well as in their consumption patterns:

• Values are few in number

• Values are difficult to change

• Values aren’t linked to specific objects or situations

• Values are widely accepted by members within a cultural society

Culture is the most basic element to decide what the desired behavior of a person Generally, Vietnamese people and the housewives in particular have a habit of using monosodium glutamate (a kind of seasoning) for every meals, making them more tasting and stimulating digestion Progressively longer, the using action of seasoning powder is considered as a form of Vietnamese culture which be handed over from generation to generation Usually, the mother hands over to her daughter’s perception from childhood The good cooking skill is a secret key for keeping a happy family of Vietnamese woman Similar to many countries in Asia, they also have famous culinary cultures long time in using flavors and colorful spices to make the meals more eye-catching as Korea, Thailand, India Vietnam people also have the habit of using monosodium glutamate, because to Vietnamese people’s minds, monosodium glutamate is made from pure sugar






cane extract, such a natural vegetation which is very good for health and also make dishes more sweet, delicious and tasty

Figure 1 Culture is the sum of norms, beliefs and values

Source: Laura A Lake, Consumer behavior for dummies, 2009

II.1.2 The social factor:

Household type of all factors influencing consumer behavior (Philip Kotler, Marketing, 1998), according to Vietnamese tradition, the wife usually is responsible for purchasing foods for the family This research should focus on the analysis of social factors which can influence the purchasing behavior of the person responsible for housework in the family These social factors are: social class, reference groups (direct reference group and indirect reference group)

- Social classes: society usually is divided into many classes, based on the characteristic

of each class to study about people needs in each class One example, people in the middle class will have higher demand for laptop products than people in poor class, because only kind of product just suitable to people with above average incomes, understanding of computers, and live in an area within easily reach for a laptop applications such as: software, networks Therefore, we should not waste too much expenses on advertising or approaching strategy to farmers and sell only one laptop which have the price equal to a year income that they hard working






Well-tasting and good-feeding demand have no limitation because every body all has the needs of eating and drinking deliciously Seasoning powder product is not picky to the customer because its price is not too high and it is not difficult to find information about this demand It is a very common product in people's lives Therefore, factors social class and social status hardly affect the purchase of seasoning powder

- Direct reference group: people who are affected directly, is a member of this group, for example: customer and consumer

- Indirect reference group: people impact on consumer: for example: family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues

II.1.3 The individual factor:

This factor takes an important role in consumer behavior It includes lifestyle, ccupation, education and economic situation (Philip Kotler, Marketing, 1998)

- Occupation: One’s occupation usually affects his or her way of consumption For example, workers have to buy labor protection clothes and rubber boots while officers wear shirt, tie or dress It is also very likely that because of time matter, white-collar workers would like to buy food in supermarkets after long working hours every day or at the weekend rather than in markets

- Income: The choice of products is significantly affected by one's financial situation which includes his or her disposable income (income, stability and time management) Thus, buying a laptop will have strong effect on income while buying a pack of salt will not The reason is housewives usually estimate monthly cost for regular spending in kitchens

- Lifestyle: People who have the same culture, social class and occupation still can have different lifestyles Whereas many people spend much time cooking, others prefer going






out for meals to save time and effort A person's lifestyle is his or her inside world which

is shown through activities, caring about and giving ideas to an issue Lifestyle gives a vivid and full description about a person in the connection with the world Applied to the content of the topic, lifestyle is fairly important which affects housewives' interests in general information related to other people's life

- Education: When people do something, they also enrich their knowledge which describes the changes in one's behavior causes by consumption experiences Assuming that the deeper knowledge is, the greater customers awareness is Therefore, people's needs will increase leading to the increase of their demand However, consumer behavior is also affected by many other factors

II.1.4 The psychology factor:

Consumer behavior is affected by 4 psychology factors: the motivation, perception, learning (memory), beliefs and attitudes, personality and self-concept (Philip Kotler, Marketing, 1998)

According to Maslow's motivation theory, he explains why at different times, people were inspired by different needs Some one like the safety however another is interested

in homage He said the needs are arranged in the order, from less urgent to the most urgent (Motivation and Personality by Abraham H Maslow, 1970)

Below is the model of needs which is presented by Maslow:

Figure 2 Maslow’s hierarchy of need






Source: Abraham Maslow, 1970

The order is arranged as follows: physiological needs, security needs, social needs, the needs of respect and self-actualization their needs People will try to satisfy firstly the most important needs When people catch up with the satisfaction of demand, it will no longer be the current motivation, then they will try to satisfy the next most significant For example, a person is nearly of the starvation (the first needs) will not just be interested in what have just happened in the art world (the 5th need) or neither look around to find out how much he/she is respected by the others (the second need) But as the first need is satisfied, then he/she will move forward to the next needs

This Maslow theory helps people understand that different products will be suitable for different ideas, purposes and lives of implicit consumers

II.2 Buying – decision:

II.2.1 Types of buying decision behavior:

Consumer decision making varies with the type of buying decision There are great differences between buying toothpaste, a tennis racquet, an expensive camera and a new






car More complex decision is likely to involve more buying participants and more buyer deliberation (Philip Kotler, Marketing, 1998, 202)

Figure 3: Four types of buying behavior

Source: Philip Kotler, Marketing, 1998, 203

- Complex buying behavior: Consumer undertake complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in a purchase and perceive significant differences among brands Consumers may be highly involved when the product is expensive, risky, purchased infrequently and highly self-expressive

- Dissonance-reducing buying behavior: occurs when consumers are highly involved with

an expensive, infrequent or risky purchase, but see little difference between brands Consumer buying behavior in situations characterized by high involvement but few perceived differences among brands

- Habitual buying behavior: occurs under conditions of low consumer involvement and little significant brand difference Taking salt as our example, we would find that consumers have little involvement in this category-they simply go to the store and reach for a brand If they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit rather than strong brand loyalty

Complex buying behavior

Variety-seeking buying

behavior

Dissonance reducing buying behavior

Habitual buying behavior






- Variety-seeking buying behavior: Consumer undertake variety-seeking buying behavior in situations characterized by low consumer involvement but significant perceived brand differences In such cases, consumers often do a lot of brand switching For example, when buying biscuits a consumer might hold some beliefs, choose a biscuit brand without much evaluation, then evaluate that brand during consumption But the next time, the consumer might pick another brand out of boredom or simply to try something different Brand switching occurs for the sake of variety rather than because

of dissatisfaction

II.2.2 Buying decision process:

Before the purchase decision is made, the decision maker goes through several steps of buying process (Palmer, 2001)

The process starts with identifying needs, which is a motivator of an action that would satisfy the need Then, information is sought for in order to find the best solution Subsequently, the alternatives are assessed and the final decision is made After the purchase, the buyer evaluates it Analyze 4 factors which affect to consumer buying-decision process: cognitive needs, information seeking, evaluated selection, buying decision, after-buying behavior

Figure 4: Buying process

Source: Palmer, 2001

II.2.2.a Needs recognition:

Firstly, the first step of buying decision process is 'Needs recognition' That is the stage of the buyer decision process in which the consumer recognizes a problem or need At this stage, there will have a situation that push consumer to such action That may be the situations that the stove can not work, spices no longer are on the shelves, and the weather is quite hot in the summer Or may also a company held a sporting, flowers arrangement or cooking contest…and everything should be prepared under the best condition All things happen randomly and lead people to the condition in which people have to brainstorm to solve problems Obviously that, if the stove runs can not work, it might be ran out of gas, or the stove is broken down, and to continue the operation of cooking, people should buy a new one gas tank by calling someone to bring new one to replace with, or buy a new stove because the old one is deactive, or go to the supermarket for full of the lacking off spices As mentioned, the cooking culture of Vietnamese people is spicy; colorful; various dishes in a meal would create a permanent need of seasoning in the kitchen of every family Seasoning becomes an important part






in the cooking process to make delicious meals for the family, so monosodium glutamate plays also an important part of permanent need for cooking of Vietnamese households Existing as a permanent need, monosodium glutamate is consumed with a big quantity, which would help the monosodium glutamate companies like Vedan has grown healthily However, in reality many decisions are not made in awareness of a determined problem

by the consumer

II.2.2.b Information seeking:

Once a consumer has recognised a problem, they search for information on products and services that can solve that problem Belch and Belch (2007) explain that consumers undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search Sources of information include:

• Personal sources: family, friends, neighbors, relatives…

• Commercial sources: Advertising, sales forces, dealers, packaging, trade fair…

• Public sources: social communication channels, consumption researching communities

• Personal experience: using, touching…

The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with information search is perception Perception is defined as 'the process by which an individual receives, selects, organises, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world The implications of this process help develop an effective promotional strategy, and select which sources of information are more effective for the brand

Anyone has the needs of using products or services in the best allowed abilities So they will search information about the products that they have needs If this product is reviewed in a represent market economy, this product should be chosen by a large of consumers or that must be provided for multiple-choice consumer Actually, there are






many characteristics that will be provided with adequate values: quality, price, promotion, packaging especially, the competition between brands and brands, products and products will provide consumers with a lot more information Producers do not ever attempt to gain access to the consumer by including direct or indirect way: advertised programs on television, radio, sites of advertise on newspapers, magazines, or digital color panel on the street, bus station even brochure and leaflet which are distributed to each person Therefore, out of Vedan, consumer can approach to many products such as: Ajinomoto, Knoor, Ajingon, Maggie… which help the households have more choices

II.2.2.c Evaluated selection:

At this time the consumer compares the brands and products that are in their evoked set How can the marketing organization increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the consumer's consideration set? Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological benefits that they offer The marketing organization needs to understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most important in terms of making a decision

The diversity of products with the huge information from advertising of manufacturers leads customer to a stage called: “evaluated selection” Based on the need of having seasoning for the meal, the customer here – the household will look back of what they are provided as information about seasoning, the tasting, the smelling, the pricing, the current promotion of a new product and one important thing, that is their experience (perception and behavior) in the past, which could help them deliver a good and delicious meal to their family, then they will make decision of buying

II.2.2.d Buying decision:

Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a purchase decision Sometimes purchase intention does not result in an actual purchase The

marketing organization must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention The organization can use variety of techniques to achieve this The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales promotion such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a competition may provide an incentive to buy now The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with purchase decision is integration Once the integration is achieved, the organization can influence the purchase decisions much more easily

However, in reality, the buying decision is not always controlled by the manufacturers; the customers can try a new product with best offer from a promotional campaign for a while, like the Vietnamese households have started trying the bouillon besides traditional monosodium glutamate a little bit for their cooking but not completely a replacement of seasoning Monosodium glutamate is still on their seasoning shelf as an essential spice

II.2.2.e Post purchase evaluation:

It is common for customers to experience concerns after making a purchase decision This arises from a concept that is known as “cognitive dissonance” The customer, having bought a product, may feel that an alternative would have been preferable In these circumstances that customer will not repurchase immediately, but is likely to switch brands next time

To manage the post-purchase stage, it is the job of the marketing team to persuade the potential customer that the product will satisfy his or her needs Then after having made

a purchase, the customer should be encouraged that he or she has made the right decision for buying the product Maintaining the relationship with customer by building up a loyalty system, keeping informed about product to customer, giving new promotion to them regularly through direct and indirect marketing and so forth are the best way to keep customer come back for the next buying, especially for FMCG products






Seasoning products are not out of this track, once, the customer believes that monosodium glutamate help the meal more delicious, the households will be satisfied in choosing monosodium glutamate for their meal preparation and always keep in mind as a secret method for having a happy family






CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this study are to determine consumer behavior on using and buying MSG and to compare the difference of consumer behavior on using and buying MSG before and after receiving the information on the environment damage of Vedan

A quantitative non-experimental methodology was used to determine the factors that affect consumer behavior on using and buying MSG in Vietnam

III.1 Research procedure:

III.1.1 Methods of measuring behavior:

Quantitative research is based broadly on the ideals of positivism which arose some two hundred years ago with the ideas of Auguste Compte (1798-1857) Therefore, the quantitative information is the agronomic characteristics those can be measured by interviewee’s reality experience such as the person who is directly use the MSG product (Robert Y Cavan, Applied business research: qualitative and quantitative methods, 2000) Apply to Vietnamese’s culture from far away up to now, cooking duty is belonged

to the housewives So, the research is seen as those objectives’ observation, measurement, statistical analysis and verifiable truths Hypotheses are straight forward determining of MSG consumer’s attitude and behavior, then calculation of how much a bad brand’s image affection on their consumption

There are a lot of difference methods that can be used to measure behavior In this study,

to satisfy the objectives of determining consumer’s behavior and how consumers feel towards a particular issue, then taking about attitudinal scales, hence, the method of measuring behavior which be the most suitable in this study is the questionnaire






Sample of questionnaire be showed at Appendix A (page 49 in this study) The questionnaire mainly concentrates on “yes/ no/ do not know” and multiple choices questions to find out the consumers’ perception and their behavior, and then easy to measure the changes in their perception To get the consumer’s behavior, the survey be conducted by door to door, kitchen scanner, observation of supermarket comers… to find the most suitable people who is related to this field

III.1.2 Data Collection:

Data for the study was collected using a survey design The population of the study included women at the age of 25 to 55 The sampling frame was the housewives who live

in the urban are of Ho Chi Minh City

To collect the answers from respondents, there are two groups:

- Group 1: Housewives The interviewers come to any random house in some crowded districts as 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, Tan Binh, Phu Nhuan… in Ho Chi Minh City and interview the housewies

- Group 2: Supermarket comers The interviewers come to some big markets in Ho Chi Minh City such as: Coop Mart, Maximax and Big C…, having a short scanning or observation to the supermarket comers and just deliver the interview to women who are interested in MSG products or who bought such kind of products

III.1.3 Survey timing:

The survey will be conducted within 2 months includes:

- Questionnaire design: 1 week

- Data collection: 2 weeks

- Data processing: 1 week

- Report and recommendation: 1 week and a half






III.1.4 Data analysis:

Descriptive statistics was used in this study to define the factors that influence consumer behavior on using and buying MSG Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used to analyze the respondent data for the study

III.1.5 Information needs:

This study needs to gather the following information:

- How do consumers think about seasoning in their cooking culture?

- What is consumer buying decision’s type as buying seasoning powder?

- Getting a very general concept of consumer behavior of using seasoning powder The changing of consumer behavior in using seasoning powder now as compared with the past

- Social factors which have much effect on consumer behavior: age, gender, income, education and occupation

- Which brand of seasoning is recalled first? Aided awareness brands?

- Which brands are used in the past a half of year?

- Which brands are used most frequently and how often are they used currently and in the past?

- Which information sources help to find seasoning powder brand?

- Where is seasoning powder usually bought?

- Which factors are most important in choosing seasoning powder for cooking?

- What marketing factors affect the recent seasoning powder buying decision?

- Will a bad brand name affect consumer’s buying decision or not

- To what extent, how much a bad news affect consumer’s attitude and behavior?

- How do consumers react to protect their self-esteem?






III.2 Sampling:

The convenient sampling was used in this study The elements in the population have no probability attaches to their being chosen as sample subject It means that the purpose of determining whether people prefer one product to another, then calculate how many people prefer a product over a product The convenient sampling is the best way of collecting basic information quickly and efficiently

Discuss the participants: sample size, age, area, job

- Conduct face to face interview

- Area: urban area of Ho Chi Minh city

- Sample size: n = 100

Chart 1: Marital status

- Education: They are all at least high school graduated, therefore they have knowledge about seasoning and well-informed for the scandal of Vedan

Chart 2: Education

Chart 4: Income

IV.2 Determining the behavior of seasoning consumers:

- 100% of consumer use seasoning in cooking

- Getting a very general concept of consumer behavior of using seasoning powder The changing of consumer behavior in using seasoning powder now... important in choosing seasoning powder for cooking?

- What marketing factors affect the recent seasoning powder buying decision?

- Will a bad brand name affect consumer’s buying decision... factors which affect to consumer buying- decision process: cognitive needs, information seeking, evaluated selection, buying decision, after -buying behavior

Figure 4: Buying process