SharqStream and Sarkor eXtreme marketing analysis 2011

1. 1. Introduction
Analysis and comprehension of the consumer behavior is an essential and integral part of marketing
research, as Arndt (1986) and Albanese (1993) imply. Therefore, it can be concluded that the consumer
research helps companies succeed in the market. Thus, marketers have to able to apply the academic
theories and concepts related to the consumer behavior and decision-making process to the analysis of
the current market situation and provide the solutions to the problems in the field of satisfying
consumers needs via creating proper marketing mix and marketing positioning (Pellémans, 1971;
Galloway, 1999). So, the aim of this report is to present the results of the qualitative and quantitative
research made on two competing brands, namely, SharqStream and Sarkor eXtreme and to analyze the
results of this research in terms of the factors that are important for the consumers. The analysis will
also include the examination of the consumer’s decision-making process. As the result, the
recommendations to both companies will be suggested in order to attract more consumers and increase
their competiveness. It should be noted that both analysis of the collected data and suggestions are
made to the services provided only for individual customers and only in Tashkent.
2. Body part
2.1.Brands overview
The brand overview can be found in Appendix A
2.2.Methods of research
In order to understand the behavior of the consumers, the way of how they perceive the range of the
promotional activities of the services offered, their quality and suitability to their needs, in addition to
the brand awareness of these two companies the comprehensive consumer research was done. It
included both of the main research methodologies, namely quantitative and qualitative, which were
actively used in the in addition to other consumer research techniques. The active research on the basis
of the wide range of theoretical and practical methods made it possible to create the profound profile of
consumer behavior (Reilly, et al, 2011; Gummesson, 2007). It should be noted that the presentation will
be mainly focused practical rather then theoretical interpretations
The collection of the secondary data was a prerequisite of the following collection primary ones. The
reason here was that the secondary data that was collected through the range of the sources, such as
periodicals, books, academic articles, open government statistics, the opinions of active users collected
on the web forums and web sites shaped the design of both quantitative and qualitative researches, as
recommended by Saren (2011) and Robert and Reilly (2011). During the distribution of the duties each
member of the group received roughly the same amount of work to be done. Then, the results both
quantitative and qualitative researches were studied and thoughtfully analyzed from both theoretical
and practical knowledge gained by the team members before and even during the research, to design
the list of the main factors contributing to the decision of the customers between two alternatives
(Hyde,2000). The more detailed information about the course of collecting both quantitative and
qualitative researches and their analysis is presented further.
2.2b Scopes and limitations
The team faced the range of constrains, including time and money. In addition, there were only towp
companies to make the analysis, in spite of the fact that there are main four companies working in this
field.
2.3. Customer profile

2. The study of market segmentation and customer profile is important for proper positioning of the
product or service since it enhance the knowledge of the specific wants and needs of different groups of
the possible consumers (Rossiter and Danaher, 2011). Therefore, this study helps in developing both
positioning in comparison with its competitors' brands and effective delivering this positioning to the
customers through the range of promotional activities. Therefore, both customers of SharqStream (11
respondents) and Sarkor eXtreme (7 respondents) were asked several questions to understand their
position from geo-demographic, socio-cultural and usage points of view. One the one hand, the quantity
of respondents could not reflect the whole spectrum of the customer profiles of these two companies.
On the other hand, the respondents were chosen on the basis of judgment sample, so these users of
ADSL-connection had the knowledge of their counterpart’s profiles and needs. Thus, they were
encouraged to share this knowledge and provide the interviewers with the information of the current
customers profiles, wants and needs and even the possible solutions to the problems with the
satisfaction of these needs. To add, they also suggested whether the companies are successful in market
differentiation or not. So, according to the results of the research, the majority of the users of both
companies are:
• young (the majority of SharqStream’s and Sarkor’s users are under the age of 34, however, the
connection is usually used by all the members of the family)
• unmarried (only 2 and 1 of SharqStream’s Sarkor’s users respectively are married)
• males (only 2 of SharqStream’s and 2 of Sarkor’s users are females)
• with little of no income (6 of SharqStream’s and 3 of Sarkor’s do not have own income or have
less than $200 per month, therefore the main source of money are parents)
• students (5 of SharqStream’s and 3 of Sarkor’s are students of colleges or universities)
• using Russian as mother language (9 of SharqStream’s and 5 of Sarkor’s users)
• usually using between 1.5 and 3 Gb of traffic per month on average
• using their internet connection mainly for leisure purposes
• using their internet connection mainly at the evening or night
In addition to these facts, in should be mentioned that the big amount of ADSL-connection users are
working in IT and design field. The whole information can be found in Appendix B
2.4.Quantitative research
The range of questions was asked during the two survey campaigns, with 100 and 27 respondents
respectively.
During the first survey 100
respondents were asked about their
patterns of consumption internet
connection, their perception of the
technologies of connection and prices
for the services. The whole
information can be found in Appendix
C

3. It can be seen that the majority of the possible users are still unaware of the main features and benefits
of ADSL technology.
The results show that for the majority of internet users that most frequent place to access interned are
work and internet cafes. However, it should be noted that the majority of them are rare users of
internet. Dialup connection is still popular way of connection, but mobile internet is becoming popular.
It is also worth to notice that during the in depth interview, two of the respondents, who were working
in the field of IT
suggested that the
results are not fully
correct, because the
mobile internet is
probably more
popular according to
their points of view.

4. The results show that the majority of the respondents are not active users, 32 of them use internet less
that once a month and 33 use it at least once a month, while only 12 use it almost every day and 23 use
it at least once a week. Here, it should be noticed that the respondent were asked how often they use
internet despite of the place, therefore not only at home.
It was predictable that the majority of the respondents are willing to pay for internet connection at
home less that $10, while 12 are able to pay from 11 to 29, 3 respondents agree to pay maximum $30-
59, while only 1 of 100 can afford internet at home for more than $60. It is important to mention that
the respondents were asked to answer this question in USD according to the exchange rate of CBU,
because Sarkor and Sharq, as well as the majority of the telecommunication companies offer their
services in US dollars.
2.4b. Second part of surveying
After the analysis of the obtained data it was decided that there should be additional quantitative
surveys. One should be done in the field, while other should be integrated into the in-depth interviews
conducted as the part of collecting data for qualitative research on the users’ profile of Sarkor eXtreme
and SharqStream. The first one should be aimed at the users of all the broadband connection services

5. offered to individuals and who are familiar with both Sarkor’s and Sharq’s ADSL services to individuals,
while the second one should be obviously useful for collecting information exactly about the users of
ADSL connection offered by Sarkor and Sharq and their market segmentation.
During the field research 27 respondents were asked to provide researches with the following
information. Firstly, the semantic differential scale was used to determine how the possible and current
users of ADSL-connection perceive both SharqStream's and Sarkor's brands and quality of services they
offer:
The results were the following:
The results show that the majority of the respondents are familiar with both offers of Sarkor and Sharq
consider SharqStream as the cheaper alternative with a good range of plan’s choices, while Sarkor is
considered to have a high-quality of internal sources (which are free for the users) and somewhat better
quality of connection.
Then, the Rank order scales (from 1 to 5) were used to understand which factors are the most important
for the consumers of broadband connection and the results were the following:

6. It means that price is the most important factor for the respondents, while quality and stability of
connection is the least important ones.
2.5.Qualitative research
Qualitative research was very prolific for the research, as it was concluded by all the members of the
team. During the all the members shared the number of interviewees and used the range of means to
make the interviews. 11 of them were asked during personal interviews, 3 of them using the telephone
and 4 using the online interviewing via instant messengers. The interviewers managed to reach the
satisfactory level of the interviews in terms of the speed, response rate, interviewer bias and quality of
response despite of the different essence of used approaches. The main findings were in the field of
how current users of SharqStream and Sarkor ADSL made their decisions between these two, and other
internet provides and how they evaluated these alternatives. However, one of the interviewee, the
student of WUIT, was able to related ADSL connection usage to motivation theory and Freudian theory.
Another two of the interviewees suggested linking to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in addition to the
analysis of different appeals offered by the companies. The majority of suggestions and
recommendations were based on this research.
3. Recommendation and implications.
The range of recommendations were emerged as the result of quantitative, and more importantly,
qualitative research. However, during the group discussion of what factors are actually important for
customers, some of them were rejected, while others were reshaped.
a. Both providers should use the promotional and marketing methods used for high-involvement
product. In spite of the relatively small amount of money required to pay for this product,
almost all the interviewees said that they carefully analyzed the alternative before the decision
and made it consciously and rationally.
b. Prices for the service are a very important factor; therefore it should be considered as the main
variable in the marketing mix. Several of Sharq’s customers said that they choose SharqStream,
instead of Sarkor (and two of them instead of TPS Jet), because of the lower prices for the
similar offers.
c. The companies should take into account the fact that current and possible users are
acknowledged that the prices are enormously higher, while comparing with the prices for
broadband connection in other countries. However, the majority of the respondents are sure
that the current high level for the prices is the result of monopoly of Uznektelekom on the
external communication channels, and the result high markups of internet providers. Therefore,
it is suggested for internet providers to lobby for the proposal for increasing the external
channel and decreasing the prices offered by Uznektelekom using all the possible means.

7. d. Both Sharq and Sarkor should react to the fact that they face increasing competition from
mobile operators. With the introduction of 3G and internet packages, MTS, UCell and Beeline
offer the comparable amount of traffic at the high speed of connection for almost the same
prices, while increasing the mobility of connection. Therefore, the only advantages of ADSL
providers for individuals suggested are speed and stability of connection, because 3G offers the
less speed and stability than it was declared, in addition to the internal sources that Sharq and
Sarkor can provide. Therefore, quality of internal sources becoming more and more important.
Because both of the companies tend to have almost the same level of prices (but Sarkor’s prices
are still a but higher in general), and competition of mobile operators
e. Sarkor should understand the importance of the “Place” factor. 2 of the Stream’s customers said
that they choose Sharq because it was the only ADSL-provider at their dial office (also known as
“ATC”). Indeed, the number of ATCs where Sarkor works is significantly less while comparing
with SharqStream.
f. Both Sarkor and Sharq have roughly the same quality of connection and support, thought they
should improve the quality of supporting the installation of the equipment. There were several
complaints from the users of both Sarkor and Sharq about this area.
g. Time differentiation is a weak factor of Sarkor, while Sharq should also reshape it. Sharq has the
better series of Night plans. Few of the users chose Sharq mainly because of this factor. This
mainly includes the suggestions of implementing better plan for evening users, especially those
who mainly use internet from 21:00. Some of the interviewees said that this suggestion is
realistic, because the main load from corporate users decreases at that moment.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, the group coursework was prolific for understanding the way of how quantitative and
qualitative researches should be done in reality. It was also useful for comprehension of the link
between the theoretical knowledge of consumer behavior and its practical implications. The
recommendations emerged as the result of the analysis of pre-purchase behavior and decision making
process can be implemented by both of the companies.

8. Bibliography and further reading
Albanese, P.J., 1993. Personality and Consumer Behaviour: An Operational Approach, European Journal
of Marketing, Vol. 27 Iss: 8, pp.28 - 37
Arndt, J., 1986. Paradigms in Consumer Research: A Review of Perspectives and Aapproaches, European
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 20 Iss: 8, pp.23 – 40
Biggs, P., and Kelly, T., 2006. Broadband pricing strategies, Vol. 8 Iss: 6, pp.3 – 14
Danaher, J.D. and Rossiter, J.R., 2001. Comparing perceptions of marketing communication channels,
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 45 Iss: 1/2, pp.6 – 42
Dwivedi, K.Y., and Lal, B., 2007. Socio-economic determinants of broadband adoption, Industrial
Management & Data Systems, Vol. 107 Iss: 5, pp.654 – 671
Fijnvandraat, M. and Bouwman, H., 2010. Predicting the unpredictable: dealing with risk and uncertainty
in broadband roll-out, Vol. 12 Iss: 6, pp.3 - 19
Galloway, L., 1999. Hysteresis: a model of consumer behaviour?, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 9 Iss: 5,
pp.360 - 370
Gummesson, E., 2007. Access to reality: observations on observational methods, Qualitative Market
Research: An International Journal, Vol. 10 Iss: 2, pp.130 - 134
Harrison, R.L., and Reilly, T.M., 2011. Mixed methods designs in marketing research, Qualitative Market
Research: An International Journal, Vol. 14 Iss: 1, pp.7 - 26
Henten, A., and Godoe, H., 2010. Demand side economies of scope in bundled communication services,
Vol. 12 Iss: 1, pp.26 - 38
Hyde, K.F., 2000. Recognising deductive processes in qualitative research, Qualitative Market Research:
An International Journal, Vol. 3 Iss: 2, pp.82 - 90
Kayne, R. 2011. What is ADSL? [Online]. Available at: < http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-adsl.htm >
[Accessed 23 March 2011].
Makarov, 2009. M., Necessity of the connecting to ADSL-providers [Online]. Available at: <
http://www.pc.uz/news/shownews?id=263&type=2 > [Accessed 23 March 2011].

9. Pellemans, P.A., 1971. The consumer decision-making process, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 5
Iss: 2, pp.8 - 21
SharqStream, 2011. Information about SharqStream [Online]. Available at: <
http://www.stream.uz/information > [Accessed 21 March 2011].
Saren, M., 2011. Marketing empowerment and exclusion in the information age, Marketing Intelligence
& Planning, Vol. 29 Iss: 1, pp.39 - 48
Appendix A
2.1a SharqStream
SharqStream is the brand of SharqTelecom, which started offering it’s serviced of broadband internet
providing via ADSL technology since 2005. Since the beginning the company positioned this service was
as socially beneficial because it was claimed as innovator, which was the first one that provided the
individual customers with the broadband connection for the reasonable prices (SharqStream, 2011).
Within the period of 6 years, the customers of SharqStream experienced both the gradual prices cutting
- more than 3-4 times, and increase of the quality of the services. Nowadays, the SharqStream offers the
wide range of the rates and tariffs, including those with limited traffic, unlimited connection via STREAM
Nova service, in addition to the Stream Night tariff plans.
2.1a Sarkor eXtreme
Sarkor eXtreme is the brand of Sarkor-Telecom, one of the leading internet providers, which also started
providing its services of broadband connection via ADSL technology to individual customers in 2005, just
few moths later after the establishment of SharqStream (Makarov, 2009). Since the beginning the
company offered only plans with the limited traffic, while emphasizing the quality of their services and
internal resources. However, nowadays the Sarkor eXtreme was transformed into mere Sarkor ADSL,
which offers the range of the plans with the limited and unlimited amount of monthly traffic.

10. Appendix B
Age (SharqStream)
2 - >17
8 - 18-34
1 - 35-49
Age (Sarkor eXtreme)
1 - >17
6 - 18-34
Sex (SharqStream)
8 – Male
3 – Female
Sex (Sarkor eXtreme)
5 – Male
2 – Female
Marital Status (SharqStream)
9 - single
2- married
Marital Status (Sarkor eXtreme)
6 - single
1 - married
Income (SharqStream)
6 - no own income and/or less than $200/month
2 - $200-600/month
1 - more than $600
2 - no answer
Income (Sarkor eXtreme)
3 - no own income and/or less than $200/month
1 - $200-600/month
2 - more than $600
1 - no answer
Occupation (SharqStream)
5 - Study
3 - Information Technology
1 - Design and/or arts
1 - Law

11. 1 - Unemployed/housewife
Occupation (Sarkor eXtreme)
3 - Study
2 - Information Technology
2 - Design and/or ards
Mother language (SharqStream)
9 - Russian
1 - Uzbek
1 - Tadjik
Mother language (Sarkor eXtreme)
5 - Russian
2 – Uzbek
Usage rate, Gb of traffic per month (SharqStream)
1 - Less than 1.5 Gb
6 – 1.5-3 Gb
3 - more than 3 Gb (including one with 128 kbit unlim and one with 256 kbit night unlim and 512 night
unlim)
1 - Don't know
Usage rate, Gb of traffic per month (Sarkor eXtreme)
5 – 1.5-3 Gb
2 - more than 3 Gb
Main purpose of using internet (SharqStream)
3 - Work
1 - Education
2 - Communication
5 - Leisure etc
Main purpose of using internet (Sarkor eXtreme)
1 - Communication
4 - Leisure etc
2 - Work
Time Segmentation, the period of main consumption (SharqStream)
5 - night (0:00 - 9:00)
4 - evening (18:00 - 0:00)
2 - daytime (9:00 - 18:00)
Time Segmentation, the period of main consumption (SharqStream)
1 - night (1:00 - 9:00)
4 - evening (18:00 - 1:00)
2 - daytime (9:00 - 18:00)

12. Appendix C
Have you ever heard about the ADSL technology and can you explain its main features?
13 - Heard something but cannot explain, or explain vaguely the main features and benefits
5 – Can explain the main features and benefits to a certain degree
82 – Never heard and/or don’t know
Where do you usually connect to the internet (the most frequent type and place of connection)
29 – At work (16 – broadband connection, 8 - don’t know)
21 – At internet cafes (mainly light and almost non-users)
4 – At the place of study
4 – Mobile internet via mobile phones
1 – Free Wi-Fi spots
12 – Dial-up at home
5 – Mobile internet at home (1 is EVO)
2 – ADSL connection at home
1 – Ethernet home
21 - Don’t use internet at all
How often do you usually use internet for any of the purposes?
12 – At lease once a day (or almost every day)
23 – At least once a week (or several times a week)
32 – At least once a month (or several times a month)
33 – Less than once a month (or do not use internet at all)
How much are you ready to pay for internet connection per month? (in USD according to exchange
rate of CBU)
84 - <=$10
12 – $11–29
3 – $30-59
1 - >$60
Semantic differential scale was used to determine how the possible and current users of ADSL-
connection perceive both SharqStream's and Sarkor's brands and quality of services they offer.

13. Here is the sample of semantic differential scale, which was implemented during the research
(translated into English)
Considering SharqStream and Sarkor eXtreme, in addition to the other way of broadband connection,
mark an X between the two statements in a position, which reflects your view of the services, provided
by these two brands, while comparing with all other companies and brands, providing broadband
connection.
a. Inexpensive ___:___:___:___:___: Expensive
b. Low Quality of Connection ___:___:___:___:___: High Quality of Connection
c. Low Quality of Internal Sources ___:___:___:___:___: High Quality of Internal Sources
d. Narrow Range of Tariff’s choices ___:___:___:___:___: Narrow Range of Tariff’s choices
The results are the following:
SharqStream:
Prices 78/135 (Mean – 2.89)
Quality of Connection 93/135 (Mean – 3.45)
Quality of Internal Sources 98/135 (Mean – 3.63)
Range of Tariff’s choices 103/135 (Mean – 3.81)
Sarkor eXtreme:
Prices 99/135 (Mean - 3.67)
Quality of Connection 95/135 (Mean – 3.52)
Quality of Internal Sources 117/135 (Mean – 4.33)
Range of Tariff’s choices 83/135 (Mean - 3.07)