A STUDY OF AN APPRAISAL OF THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN MARKETING OF GOODS AND SERVICES

A STUDY OF AN APPRAISAL OF THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN MARKETING OF GOODS AND SERVICES

(A CASE STUDY OF UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC ABUJA)

ABSTRACT

The need for effective communication is not just a mere process but it is a management skill and techniques that has various effects on the organization and its custom in the business and marketing environment. This project work attempt to explore the concept of effective communication with the view to accessing its general effect on organization. The work was categorized into five chapters with chapter one as introduction aspect, chapter two reviews of related literature on the subject with particular attention to the concept communication process communication tools significance of communication barriers to effective communication and relevance of communication to an organization’s growth respectively.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION

Communication as known is a dynamic instrument for change. Communication is an important aspect in organizing, directing and controlling. Over the years many managers have either neglected the important area or paid little or no attention to the importance of communication and this has made many good organization faced with the problem of disseminating information. Communication creates that consensus and understanding among individual that make up a social group. Etymologically, to communicate comes from a certain word of communication which means the same thing as to pass on to. Today communication has been seen as a vital tool for management in any organization be it private or public. Most organization today find it extremely difficult to understand why the performance and their organization are not progressing they way they should. This is due to so many of the factors one reason why an employee is not fully involved in an organization is lack of effective communication, good understanding of the efficient type of communication technique will go along way in making the organization achieve its set objectives. Communication is an act of importing and transporting knowledge.

Every form of society has a life history as well as tradition. It is by the means of communication that the history and tradition are socially transmitted, in this way institution are maintained from day to day and generation to generation therefore, communication function is to maintain the unity and integrity of the social group through space and time.

Communication is a process of transforming ideas from one person to another and it is only effective if the ideas transmitted are well understand by the receiver. Communication is both interpersonal and organization based. Communicationis very important for the advertisement of organizational goal and objectives.

1.2     HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC

Unilever Nigeria PLC (Old Lever Brother) came into Nigeria in 1923 when it was incorporated as a private company with name lever brothers (west Africa) Ltd, later lever brothers (Nig.) Ltd by 1955.

According to Unilever annual report 2001, the Unilever Nigeria PLC (RII3) is the largest surviving manufacturing outfit in Nigeria. The company was incorporated 1923, to manufacturing of soap based on local expanded oil, over the years, the company diversified and expanded it operation to the production and marketing of personal products, currently Unilever PLC operates four factories which are located at Apapa, Aba, Agbara and Kaduna.

The company started with the business of producing bar soap, using palm oil in the Apapa factory which was commissioned in 1924, ever since expansion has taken place to include in the production of international toiletry brand like lux beautiful soap, astral, asepsa, powders, close-ups tooth paste are also manufactured. Unilever NigPlc factory located in the Aba was commissioned in 1958, producing sunlight and key laundry soaps, Vaseline jelly etc, Agbara factory in Ogun state is the company’s third factory.

The ultra modern complex was commissioned in 1983 for the manufacturing of Edible products. This factory produced Blue Band Plata Margarine, Lipton yellow label tea, industries oil for third parties.

The company’s newest plant commissioned in 1995 is ultra modern food factory in Kaduna state where they produce Roycobullion cubes, tree top and moyo, the company’s range of quality products are distributed and sold at Uniform prices all over the country through an established and tested distribution network using appointed distribution supervised by its trained forces. The company has about 1990 direct employees and also provides income for tens of thousands of others through indirect employment as supplies, distributors and service providers, because it has various distribution points through out the country.

In accordance with the enterprise promotion act of 1972 and 1977 sixty percent (60%) of the company’s equity shares had been sold to Nigerian citizens and institutions, while forty percent (40%) remaining is held by Unilever overseas Holding Limited. Lipton Tea Company Limited Unilever (Nig.) Plc has six sales regions each regions each with district sales district respectively across the six geo-political zones it the country.

Sales region are supervised by regional managers, while districts are supervised by district managers.

One of the sales regions in the six geo-political zones is north central where Kaduna factory belongs, Unilever Nigeria Plc has been dedicated to the production of the top quality brands for Nigerians for over eighty two (82) years.

1.3     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The researcher intends to look at the needs for effective communication in marketing of goals and services.

The main problem to be considered in this work is the barriers to effective communication on the organization marketing performance, in the quest to answers the problems, the researcher also put into consideration the following problems:

1. Noise is any internal factors which interfaced with the effectiveness of communication.
2. Cultural differences can adversely affect the communication effectiveness
3. Semantic barriers can occur due to difference in individual interpretation of words and symbols
4. Emotion helps affects effective communication both positively and negatively
5. Language barriers occur in an attempt to communication idea
6. Information capacity (over load) occurs when individual receive more information than they can process

1.4     STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

The researcher carried out to achieve the following objectives;

1. To estimate and evaluate concepts of communication
2. To estimate the process of communication in marketing of goods and services
3. To determine the link between communication mix and the marketing activities of the company.
4. To ascertain the tools and method of communication in an organization
5. To identify problems of effective communication in an organization.
6. To proffer possible solution and make recommendations in respect of the problems identified and make possible suggestion on the subject matter.

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

As this research covers and emphasizes the need for effective and proper communication in marketing of goods and services in an organization. In other to achieve efficiency it will relatively be meaningful and useful to marketing managers employers of not only the private sectors or organization, but also public organizations. Quite precisely, it shall be useful to the management of public firm like Unilever Nigeria Plc, as it provide basic for making changes in the organization’s techniques with respect to effective communication.

1.6     SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY

The scope of the research work is on how the need for effective communication in marketing of goods and services is relevant to an organization more especially in the case of Unilever Nigeria Plc. Also in the course of the study, the researcher faced the following problems

1. Respondent Attitude: Most of respondent were not compromising with the researcher as they believe that the study would be of no benefit to them.
2. Time: At the time of conducting the research, some important personalities who could have been in position to give accurate information were too busy to be interview and some were not on seat when the researcher visited the company.
3. Finance: the researcher faced financial problems which led to the use of few questionnaire writing materials as well as transportation expenses were not easily to come by.

1.7     STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

A hypothesis is a statement of declaration of assumed answer to the research problem. If it is a guessing statement that tells what a research is looking for.

In this work the following hypothesis have been used.

Ho: That noise would not negatively affect effective communication skills

Hi: That noise would negatively affect communication skill and marketing advertising.

1.8     DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

a)communication: Is defined as the process by which people exchange information or express their thoughts and feeling. It is also transmission of message from the sender to the receiver.

1. Advertising: Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.
2. Sales Promotion: Is defined as a diverse collection of incentive, mostly short-term designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular product or services by customer or trader.
3. Direct marketing: is defined as the use of customer direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to customers without using marketing middlemen.
4. Personal selling: Is defined as the face or person to person communication with potential buyers to inform them about and persuade the prospective buyer to patronize a product of an organization.
5. Marketing: Is defined as the process of developing and exchanging ideas, goods and exchanging ideas, goods and services that satisfy customers using the principle of pricing, promotion and distribution.
6. Organization: Is defined as a group of people who form a business club etc together in order to achieve a particular objectives or goals.
7. Want: Is defined as the desire to acquire specific satisfier to human needs, people have the same need but different want.
8. Goods: Is defined as a tangible product that customers can evaluate by touching, seeing, tasting or hearing.
9. Services: Is defined as an identifiable, intangible activities that are the main object of transaction designed to provide want satisfaction to customers.

REFERENCES

Philip Kotler (2003) “Marketing Management” 11^th Edition Singapore,

Peason education Inc. Page 12 and page 589.

LIB court land and VIT. John (1992) “Marketing” 1^st Edition New York Inc.

Grain.Hill Inc. Page 5