“A STUDY ON DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL”

UNDERTAKEN AT

TIMEX GROUP INDIA LIMITED

Submitted By

E.KARTHIKA

(Reg.No:12309631019)

Of

GOJAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

REDHILLS

SUBMITTED TO THE

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of

the degree

Of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

IN

MARKETING

AUGUST 2010
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report titled “A study on Distribution

Channel” is the bonafide work of Miss. E.Karthika
(Registration Number: 12309631019) who carried out the
research under my supervision. Certified further, that to the
best of my knowledge the work reported herein does not form
part of any other project or dissertation on the basis of which
a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion on
this or any other candidate.

Supervisor Head of the

Department

Submitted to Project and Viva Examination held on ____________

Internal Examiner External

Examiner
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere thanks to our Chairman

Dr.G.NATARAJAN Ph.D., our member of Secretary Thiru.E.
BABU, M.A., D.B.M., (Industrialist) and our Director Prof.
J.RAJA GOPALAN, M.SC., M.PHIL, M.I.S.T.E., Gojan School of
Business and Technology, Edapalayam, Chennai – 600 052. For
their whole hearted and kind co – operation.

A Special thanks to our Prof. Sundararajan., Gojan School of

Business and Technology Edapalayam, Chennai – 600 052. For
giving me the opportunity to do this project works.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my deep sense of

gratitude to Prof. Neena Rao MBA Ph.D., Head of the
Department, Department of Management Studies, and Dean of
the College, Gojan School of Business and Technology,
Edapalayam for the valuable guidance in this endeavor.

I thank our faculty members Prof.M.SENTHIL, M.B.A.,

Ph.D., Prof.M.G.SUMITHRA, M.B.A., Prof.VINODH, M.B.A.,
Class Advisor and Prof. G.PREMA, M.B.A., of the Department of
Management Studies, Gojan School of Business and Technology,
Edapalayam, Chennai for his/her encouragement and valuable
guidance provided for the successful completion of this project.

I wish to extend my heartiest and sincere thanks to Mr. K.G.

SHANKAR, Sales Manager, Timex Group India Limited, for his
guidance and encouragement through out my project work.

I take privilege of thanking Mr.Ganesh, Distributor, Timex

Group of India Limited, Chennai.
 I like to thank Prof. Neena Rao M.B.A Ph.D., faculty
member, department of management studies Gojan School of
Business and Technology, Edapalayam for her support and
motivation throughout the research.

[KARTHIKA.E]
DECLARATION

I, E,KARTHIKA., (Reg.No:12309631019) a bonafide

student of Department of Business Administration, Gojan
School Of Business and Technology, Chennai would like to
declare that the project entitled, “A STUDY ON
DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL” in partial fulfillment of Master of
Business Administration course of the Anna University is
my original work.

(KARTHIKA.E)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
CHAPTERS TITLE NO.
Title Page 1
Bonafide Certificate 2
Acknowledgement 3
Declaration 4
Table of Contents 5
Abstract 6

CHAPTER - 1 INTRODUCTION 7
1.1.Introduction - Watch Market 8
1.2.Introduction to the Company 18
1.3.Company Profile 38
1.4.Product Profile 43
1.5.Industrial Profile 45
CHAPTER - 2 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAIN THEME 49
2.1.Need for the Study 50
2.2.Scope of the Study 51
2.3.Objectives of the Study 52
2.4.Limitations of the Study 53
2.5.Review of Literature 54
CHAPTER - 3 LEARNINGS IN THE COMPANY 63
3.1.Introduction about CFA 64
3.2.CFA in TIMEX 66
3.3.CFA Process 68
3.4.Forecasting in CFA 69
CHAPTER - 4 DISTRIBUTORS IN TIMEX 71
4.1.Roles Played by the Distributors 72
4.2.Schemes by the Company 73
4.3.Benefits to the Distributors 75
4.4.Advantages of Distributors 76
4.5.Disadvantages of Distributors 76
4.6.Conclusion 77
BIBLIOGRAPHY 78
ABSTRACT:

The study was made at Timex Group of India Limited on the

topic “Distribution Channel” With a focus on how the
distribution takes place in Timex and what are the processes
are carried on.

Distributor is the Main intermediary without whom the other

channel will not take place. Distribution channels may not be
restricted to physical products alone. They may be just as
important for moving a service from producer to consumer in
certain sectors, since both direct and indirect channels may be
used.

A set of interdependent organizations (intermediaries) involved

in the process of making a product or service available for use
or consumption.

It is a distribution network through which a producer puts his

products in the hands of actual users.

The channel serves as a connecting link between the producer

and consumers. By bridging the gap between the point of
production and the point of consumption, a channel creates
time, place and possession utilities.
 CHAPTER – 1
INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER – 1
1.1. INTRODUCTION – WATCH MARKET:
The Great Indian Watch Market:
Wrist Watches form an integral part of the personality of
individuals in the present era. Earlier seen as a luxury item, they
are now witnessing a fundamental change in perception, and are
now gaining respect as an essential utility item. For the watch
industry, time seems in its favour what with the liberalization of
the Indian market coupled with the rising purchasing power of the
young and consumerist Indians.

Indian watches market was for long dominated by public

sector organizations like Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd. (HMT) and
Allwyn (also famous for its refrigerators once upon a time!), and
has now left the pioneers far behind or nowhere in market by
private sector enterprises like Titan, Sonata, Ajanta and Timex
along with foreign entities jostling for display space in the
smallest of shops selling these products.

Before the establishment of HMT as the dominant player in the

Indian markets initially, the country was solely dependent on
imports to meet the internal demand. However, establishment of
HMT as the leading player in the wrist watch segment in the
1960’s, changed the scenario.

In post liberalization India, the market stood to witness

intensive competition between foreign and Indian manufacturers
like Timex, Titan, Movado, Longines, Rado, Rolex, Fréderique
Constant, Mont Blanc, Swatch, and many others. Many watch
makers have made significant inroads in the industry and others
are in the process of establishing themselves, currently.

Besides this, buyers are extremely choosy about the brand

and type of wrist watches they wear. Being extremely brand
conscious, their tastes have evolved over the years and have
gone beyond the realms of durability to choose in terms of
aesthetics and elegance. Thus it is a buyers market with
multitude of designs that have entered and flooded the market
place.

The size of the watch market currently is estimated to be

around 40 to 45 million pieces annually. The organized sector
alone contributes up to 30 percent of this figure, and the rest of
the demand is being met by the unorganized grey sector. This
data is significant indeed in view of the socio economic
distribution of the Indian populace. More than 58 percent of the
population is under twenty five and more than 80 percent of the
population is below 45 years of age.

In dollar terms, the estimated annual market size is around

USD 195 million, despite the fact that the penetration of watches
is the lowest, compared globally. Looking into this fact and the
long standing Indian tradition of comparing watches with
jewellery and other traditional items, many watch companies are
interested in setting up base in India. The average growth in the
size of the market is slated to be around 10 -15 percent per year.

A casual study of the watch market reveals that it is

segmented on basis of multiple proportions such as price,
benefits and types of watches. The price of the watches is a major
motive in the minds of the customer. Accordingly, three segments
can be identified here, namely low priced, medium priced, and
high priced watches.
 The lower priced segment consists of watches priced less than
INR 500; the medium price range consists of watches in the INR
500-1500 range and the high priced watches come in the INR
1500 upwards range. There are other higher categories as well
such as the premium and luxury range, but they appeal to only a
small category of the watch market in India.

According to a recent study, more than 90 percent of the

watches were from the lower price ranges with international costs
being less than 20 Euros. Moreover, around 20 to 25 watches are
being sold for every 1000 citizens. Thus there is enormous
potential for growth of the industry in this untapped segment.
Some customers look out for features like fashion appeal,
technology, sophistication and status. Others go for durability,
economy and precision.

Many customers prefer mechanical and automatic watches,

while others prefer quartz watches. Newer segments are also on
rise such as ladies watches, children’s watches and gent’s
watches. Customers usually base their preferences and buying
decisions on a variety of factors like price, durability, utility,
aesthetic appeal and brand name. A combination of all these
points ultimately forms the customer’s buying decision that
translates into the purchase of a watch.

The retail sector has just begun to boom in India. Since the
early 1990’s, Indian customers are relying more on departmental
stores and shopping malls to purchase their wants and needs.
This has come as a boon for watch manufacturers and dealers,
who are now looking forward to utilise these new outlets to reach
out to the Indian masses. Watch manufacturers are looking at a
suitable mix to market their products ranging from exclusive
retail outlets to display sections in malls and large departmental
stores.
 In the end, though India is still considered to be a difficult
market to penetrate, due to reasons like price sensitiveness and
its largely unorganized sector. However, with the right planning
and the right partners and experienced collaborators, it is
expected that both international and domestic watch
manufacturers will do well in the Indian markets.

1.1.1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

In today’s corporate and competitive world, I find that

customers prefer only branded products with new styles and
looks. The Timex Group has created an infrastructure and a
marketing network that's absolutely enviable.

Within just a short period of time, the Group has managed to

create a solid network of 10,000 distributors and dealers. Its
products are available across the country, right from Assam to
Kutch and from Jammu to Madurai.

Today, with employee strength of over 800 people, the Timex

Group reiterates the fact that no dream is too big for the
envisioned.

This growth potential attracts me to enter into this channel and

Times Group of India Limited has give me the opportunity to work
and understand the importance of customers for an organization.
 This shows that the main aim of this Timex Company is to make
their product available to all the people in the world.

Distributors are the only mediator with whom the watches will
be available to all the customers from the nook and corner of the
country.

1.1.2 .THE EVOLUTION THAT BROUGHT A

REVOLUTION:
The year was 1985, when Mr. Chapsi Gala, having years of
experience in wholesale trading of Plywood, Mica and Veneer
created his own brand “Timex”. Timex was an instant success in
the market, due to its high degree of production quality,
extensive usability and competitive pricing. Within just six
months, the newly formed Timex group set up its first state-of-
the-art plant for manufacturing commercial & marine ply, block
boards and flush doors. And in a span of just 2 years, another
plywood unit had to be set up due to an ever increasing demand
for the brand. In this venture, Mr. Chapsi Gala was well supported
by his brothers, Jagshi Gala, Suresh Gala and Mahendra Gala.

1990's added another interesting chapter to the progressive

episodes of Timex Group. With personal insights into the
European markets, the Group decided to diversify into exotic
decorative veneers, a segment that was literally untapped in
India. A manufacturing unit was immediately set up and the raw
material was sourced from various parts of the world. Today, the
Timex brand is virtually a market leader in the segment and is
renowned for its widest range of Veneers in the country.

The year 2002 witnessed new forays of the Group. ACP and
Ceramics were introduced into the repertoire and these added
wings to the Group's soaring aspirations. In 2008, a revolution of
sorts was created by the Timex Group when it set up a highly
modernized unit near Vapi to manufacture an extensive range of
decorative laminates. An enviable infrastructure

The Timex Group has created an infrastructure and a

marketing network that's absolutely enviable. Within just a short
period of time, the Group has managed to create a solid network
of 10,000 distributors and dealers. Its products are available
across the country, right from Assam to Kutch and from Jammu to
Madurai. Today, with employee strength of over 800 people, the
Timex Group reiterates the fact that no dream is too big for the
envisioned.

MISSION:
“Our mission is full of promise and commitment to the society.
By maintaining transparency, opening up exciting opportunities
where we have a competitive edge for developing our business in
the future and our new logo will help us confidently identify
ourselves in every aspect of our business. We also intend to
provide the best quality product at the most competitive price.
Followed by an unmatched client service.”
VISION:
• To create a Timex family of distributors, dealers and employees
and to be the foremost and efficient conglomerate with
professional & ethical approach.

• To be a trendsetter by providing innovative and customized

solutions.

• To reach the pinnacle of success by riding the customer’s

confidence and well-wishes.

1.1.3. HISTORY OF TIMEX GROUP OF INDIA

LIMITED:
1850s-1870s: Waterbury Clock made timekeeping affordable for
working class Americans. Its inexpensive yet reliable shelf and
mantel clocks, with cases designed to imitate expensive imported
models, contained simple, mass-produced stamped brass
movements. Waterbury Clock's products grew out of a long
tradition of innovative clock making that developed in
Connecticut's Naugatuck Valley, known during the nineteenth
century as the "Switzerland of America."

1880s: Waterbury Watch, a sister company, manufactured the

first inexpensive mechanical pocket watch in 1880 and quickly
sold more than any other firm in the world. The "Waterbury,"
known for its extraordinarily long, nine-foot mainspring, was
assembled by a predominantly female workforce whose dexterous
fingers were prized for the close and exacting work. Waterbury
pocket watches sold throughout North America and Europe, and
could be found in Africa, where they were presented as gifts to
native .

1900s: By the turn of the twentieth century, the watch industry's

first and most successful mass marketer, Robert H. Ingersoll,
worked with Waterbury Clock to distribute the company's
"Yankee" pocket watch, the first to cost just one dollar. Twenty
years later, with nearly forty million sold, the "Yankee" became
the world's largest seller and "the watch that made the dollar
famous." Everyone carried the Yankee: from Mark twain to
miners, from farmers to factory workers, from office clerks to
sales clerks.

1917: During World War I, the U.S. Army required Waterbury

Clock to re-tool the Yankee pocket watch into a convenient new
"wristwatch" for soldiers; after the war, returning veterans
continued to wear the handy timepiece, and civilians took them
up in huge numbers during the 1920s.

1930s: The popularity of a brand new cartoon character led

Waterbury Clock to produce the very first Mickey Mouse clocks
and watches in 1933, under an exclusive license from Walt
Disney. Despite the deep shadow cast by the Great Depression,
within just a few years, parents bought two million Mickey Mouse
watches for their children. Originally priced at $1.50, these same
watches are
Collector’s items that today command higher and higher prices.

1940s: During World War II, the newly renamed U.S. Time
Company completely converted its factories to wartime
manufacturing. Over the course of the war, it turned an eighty-
four year tradition of reliable mechanical timekeeping to the
record-breaking production of more high-quality mechanically-
timed artillery and anti-aircraft fuses than any other Allied source.

1950s: U.S. Time's wartime expertise in research and

development and advanced mass production techniques led to
the creation of the world's first inexpensive yet utterly reliable
mechanical watch movement. The new wristwatch, called the
Timex, debuted in 1950. Print advertisements featured the new
watch strapped to Mickey Mantle's bat, frozen in an ice cube tray,
spun for seven days in a vacuum cleaner, taped to a giant
lobster's claw, or wrapped around a turtle in a tank. Despite these
and other extensive live torture tests, the Timex kept ticking.
When John Cameron Swayze, the most authoritative newsman of
his time, began extolling the Timex watch in live "torture test"
commercials of the late 1950s, sales took off. Taped to the
propeller of an outboard motor, tumbling over the Grand Coulee
Dam, or held fist first by a diver leaping eighty-seven feet from
the Acapulco cliffs, the plucky watch that "takes a licking and
keeps on ticking®" quickly caught the American imagination.
Viewers by the thousands wrote in with their suggestions for
future torture tests, like the Air Force sergeant who offered to
crash a plane while wearing a Timex.

1960s: The Timex brand name became a household word during

the 1960s. Having completely conquered the low-priced market,
the company upgraded and diversified its product line. It
introduced the "Cavatina," its first women's brand in 1959 and
with it, a revolutionary merchandising concept: the watch as an
impulse item. For the price of one expensive watch, women could
buy several Timex watches to match different occasions or
ensembles. Technological advances allowed the company to offer
a wide range of
Products, including the first low-priced electric watches for men
and women, as well as several other, inexpensive jeweled models.
Still another improved watch movement, introduced in 1961,
served as the cornerstone for an extra Ordinary array of men’s
wristwatches.

1970s: By the mid-1970s, the renamed Timex Corporation had

sold more than 500 million of these mechanical movements. At
this time, every other watch bought in the U.S. was a Timex, and
the brand retailed in two hundred and fifty thousand different
outlets. None of these manufacturing, sales, and distribution
records has ever been duplicated by another watch manufacturer.

1980s: Alone among all domestic watchmakers, only Timex

survived the brutal 1970s watch industry shakeout caused by new
digital watch technology and fierce price competition from the Far
East. Having gradually phased out mechanical watch production
in favor of digital watches, in 1986 Timex introduced its "Ironman
Triathlon®," jointly devised by serious athletes and industrial
designers. Within a year, the "Ironman Triathlon®" became
America's best-selling watch and, diversifying into a full line for
men and women, became the world's largest selling Sports watch,
a distinction it has held throughout the 1990s.

1990s and Beyond: In the 1990s, a nearly 150 year-old Timex

vigorously pursues its long tradition of technological innovation
and market leadership. The company introduced the industry's
first electroluminescent watch face in 1992, when the blue-green
Indiglo® night light appeared on some of its digital and analog
watches. Today, more than 75 percent of all Timex watches are
equipped with the Indiglo night light®. The All-Day Indiglo®
display, using a hologram-like material, provides greater contrast
between digital numbers and the display background. In 1994,
Timex introduced the Data Link® watch, a sophisticated wrist
instrument that carries scheduling, phone numbers, and other
personal information, having collaborated with Microsoft to create
the necessary software to communicate the data from computer
to watch. In 1998, Timex pioneered its i-Control™ turn n pull
analog alarm watch and, in a joint venture with Motorola, a new
wrist pager called Beep wear®.

Timex embraces the new millennium with high brand

confidence and a strong global workforce. Annual surveys
consistently rank Timex as number one out of fifty fashion brands
in jewelry and accessories and the third most popular of all
women's accessory brands. Seventy-five hundred employees are
located on four
continents: in Middlebury (next door to Waterbury), Connecticut;
Little Rock, Arkansas; Manaus, Brazil; Besancon, France;
Pforzheim, Germany; Cebu, the Philippines; People's Republic of
China; Jerusalem, Israel; and Delhi, India.
1.2. INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY:

Waterbury Clock Company (1854–1944):

In 1854 Waterbury, CT-based brass manufacturer Benedict &

Burnham created Waterbury Clock Company to manufacture
clocks using brass wheels and gears. Waterbury Clock Company
was legally incorporated on March 27, 1857 as an independent
business with $60,000 in capital. The American clock industry,
with scores of companies located in Connecticut's Naugatuck
Valley, was producing millions of clocks, earning the region the
nickname, “Switzerland of America.”The Waterbury Clock
Company was one of the largest producers for both domestic
sales and export, primarily to Europe. Today its successor, Timex
Group USA, Inc. is the only remaining watch company in the
region.

Ingersoll Watch Company

Originally, the company produced clocks as less expensive

alternatives to the high-end European counterparts of the time. In
1887 the company began experimenting with its product line
leading to the creation of the large Jumbo pocket watch invented
by Archibald Bannatyne – named after the famous P. T. Barnum
elephant. The Jumbo was put on the market in New York City on a
trial basis catching the attention of Robert H. Ingersoll, a
salesman and eventual marketing pioneer. During the turn of the
century, Waterbury Clock Company produced millions of pocket
watches for the newly created partnership of Robert and his
brother Charles, Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro., under their own brand
name.

In 1896, Ingersoll introduced the Ingersoll Yankee, a dollar

pocket watch supplied by Waterbury Clock Company. These
watches gained such great popularity that they became known as
"the watch that made the dollar famous."

Waterbury Watch Company:

In 1877, a new prototype was introduced to Benedict and

Burnham for an inexpensive pocket watch made of 58 parts,
mostly made of punched sheet brass. They immediately set aside
an unused portion of their machine shop and began producing the
Long Wind at a rate of 200 per day by 1878. The department
quickly outgrew its space in the plant, so with a capital of
$400,000 Waterbury Clock's sister company Waterbury Watch
Company was incorporated by Benedict & Burnham in 1880 to
manufacture and sell inexpensive watches and other timepieces.
Waterbury Watch started out very successfully in its early days,
employing hundreds of women for their "slender fingers" and
"delicate manipulation," having become the largest volume
producer of watches in the world by 1888.

Due to poor sales techniques, where jobbers and salesmen

gave away much of the Waterbury Watch products as loss-leaders
with little regard to the company's future – thereby cheapening
the products' perceived value – Waterbury Watch quickly fell into
bankruptcy. In a last attempt to salvage the company, Waterbury
Watch began to produce higher-end watch models which only
created more demand on a workforce unable to keep up with the
complexity of the new watches using several hundred parts. The
company was finally reorganized as the New England Watch
Company in 1898 as its London sales office was placed into
liquidation. The company continued to focus on high-priced watch
models and eventually fell into receivership, discontinuing
business in July 1912. Robert H. Ingersoll & Bro. bought the
Waterbury plant and began manufacturing Ingersoll Watches
there in 1914.

Advent of the wristwatch:

With the beginning of World War I there were new demands for
timepiece design. Artillery gunners needed an easy way to
calculate and read time while still being able to work the guns.
The Waterbury Clock Company met this need by modifying the
small Ingersoll ladies' Midget pocket watch to become military-
issue wristwatches – lugs were added for a canvas strap, the
crown was repositioned to 3 o'clock, hands and numbers were
made luminescent for nighttime readability – thus making one of
the first wrist watches.

In 1922, Waterbury Clock Company purchased the Robert H.

Ingersoll & Bro. for $1,500,000 which had gone bankrupt the
previous year due to the post-war recession, thereby inheriting all
of Ingersoll's and Waterbury Watch's assets and facilities. Unable
to deliver on Ingersoll's guarantee of quality in Europe due to the
Great Depression, Waterbury Clock sold the London-based
Ingersoll, Ltd. to its Board of Directors in 1930, making it a wholly
British-owned enterprise. The "powerful Ingersoll brand name"
was continued in the United States by Waterbury Clock into the
1950s.No longer part of Waterbury Clock Company, Ingersoll Ltd.
continued to produce the Ingersoll watch brand independently for
the European and other international markets.
 Following the Great Depression and a period of hardship for
the company, Waterbury Clock Company regained its identity in
the consumer market. In 1930, a license agreement was reached
with Walt Disney, resulting in the production of the famous
Mickey Mouse watches and clocks under the Ingersoll brand
name. The new Mickey Mouse timepieces were introduced to the
public at the Chicago World's Fair in June 1933 and quickly
became the company's first million dollar line saving it from
financial disaster.

In 1940, Thomas Olsen (owner and operator of Fred. Olsen

Shipping Co.) And Joakim Lehmkuhl fled Norway with their
families because of the Nazi invasion.Eventually they came to the
United States seeking investments to assist in the war effort. In
1941, Olsen and Lehmkuhl purchased controlling interest in
Waterbury Clock Company, Thomas Olsen became Chairman.

Though the company had fallen on hard times during the Great
Depression it still had the manufacturing capability to make large
numbers of timing devices. Mr. Lehmkuhl, who had studied
business and engineering at Harvard and MIT, was appointed
President by Olsen and, under his direction, the company became
the largest producer of fuse timers for precision defense products
in the United States. A new concrete plant was built in nearby
Middlebury, CT in 88 days in 1942 for the high-volume production
of precision timers. In August 1943, the Army-Navy 'E' Award for
excellence was awarded by the United States Under-Secretary of
War to Waterbury Clock Company for the "Anglo-American fuse".
As a result of this success shareholders in the following December
voted to rename the company to United States Time Corporation.

United States Time Corporation (1944–1969):

Following the end of the Korean War, sales declined because of

diminishing defense orders. United States Time Corporation
President Lehmkuhl was convinced that an inexpensive watch
that was both accurate and durable would be a marketing
success. He felt that low cost could be accomplished through the
combination of automation, precision tooling techniques used in
making fuse timers, and a simpler design than that of higher-
priced Swiss watches. Durability was accomplished through a new
hard alloy, Armalloy, developed through wartime research.
Armalloy was used to produce long wearing bearings, replacing
the expensive jewels traditionally used in a watch's movement.
These innovations led to the eventual public debut of the Timex
brand in 1950, though the name was first used on a small trial
shipment of nurses' watches in 1945.The X suffix was used to
"convey U.S. Time's technological expertise and innovation".

Slogan: “It takes a licking and keeps on

ticking”
The new watch movement design faced resistance from
traditional jewelers. Lehmkuhl made two more decisions that
proved pivotal to the company's long-term success. The company
would go on to, or continue to pursue innovative marketing
programs and develop new channels of distribution. A marketing
decision was made to use the most credible newsman in the
United States at that time, John Cameron Swayze, as a
spokesperson for live torture tests on television with the tag line,
"Timex – Takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking" – a well-
recognized campaign in advertising history. These commercials
were developed by Hirshon Garfield as elaborations on tests
originated by United States Time Corporation salesmen. The
commercials included high-divers, water skiers, a dolphin,
dishwashers, jackhammers, paint mixers and the propeller of an
outboard motor, all torturing a Timex watch.
 Consumer demand increased and new distribution channels
were opened – despite the resistance from jewelers because of
the low 50% markup – to include department stores, cigar stands,
drug stores and a host of other mass market outlets. By 1962, the
Timex brand held the number one market share position in the
United States where one out of every three watches sold was a
Timex. Foreign markets were added with company sales offices in
Canada, Mexico, France, Great Britain, Germany and Portugal as
well as with distributors in about twenty other countries. Plants
were built in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Edwin H. Land, co-founder of Polaroid Corporation, contacted

United States Time Corporation in 1948 in search of a
manufacturer for his cameras. A strong relationship was forged
between the companies in 1950 resulting in United States Time
becoming the exclusive manufacturer of all Polaroid cameras
worldwide through the 1970s, totaling more than 44 million
cameras.

In recognition of the Timex brand's worldwide success, United

States Time Corporation was renamed Timex Corporation on July
1, 1969.

Timex Corporation (1969–2008):

In the 1970s and early 1980s, the American watch and clock
industry was devastated by the arrival of cheap mechanical
watches from the Far East, as well as the development of digital
quartz watches pioneered by Japanese companies. Lehmkuhl
retired in 1973 with no clear successor. Polaroid ended its
contract with Timex in 1975 resulting in a layoff of 2,000
employees. New technology, in the form of electronic digital
watches and quartz analog watches, was developing very rapidly,
making Timex's mechanical watch making production facilities
obsolete. Timex closed and consolidated worldwide operations,
cutting the 30,000 employee workforce to 6,000.New
competition, including Japanese companies, low-cost Hong Kong
producers and large American companies such as Gillette, Texas
Instruments and National Semi-Conductor were aggressively
entering the business.The Disney license had expired and John
Cameron Swayze retired from his role as spokesperson. The
subcontracting business was rebuilt with new customers such as
IBM, Hugin-Sweda and General Electric. In a joint venture with
Sinclair Research Ltd., the company entered the home computer
business, selling such computers as the Timex Sinclair 1000 and
succeeding machines, modeled on the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. In
1984 after declining sales, the company decided not to compete
in the market any longer.

Timex Corporation transformed itself again in the mid-1980s

as it abandoned its development of various consumer products
and refocused efforts specifically on timepieces. Product quality
and fashionable design became essential to success in the mass
market. Although Timex had a solid reputation for durable
products, increased efforts were put behind quality improvement.
Longer battery life, more durable gold plating, greater accuracy
and more water resistant styles were some of the many
improvements that were implemented. New quartz analog
movements were created using fewer components, reducing
overall production time and costs.[10] Top athletes assisted in the
design of sports watches for specific sports which led to the
introduction of the Ironman Triathlon in 1986. Named for the
Hawaiian triathlon the company had sponsored since 1984, the
Ironman Triathlon became the most successful Timex watch in
the post-mechanical watch era. Within its first year, Timex
Ironman became the best-selling watch in the United States and
the world's largest selling sport watch for the next decade.
 Following on the success of the Ironman Traithlon line, Timex
introduced the Indiglo night light during the Christmas shopping
season in 1992. By January 1993 Indiglo had made headlines as a
result of the bombing of the World Trade Center in which an office
worker wearing a Timex with an Indiglo night light used its light to
guide a group of evacuees down 40 dark flights of stairs. Sales
immediately took off leading to an increase in Timex's American
market share.

Timex Corporation acquired Callanen International, the

producer of Guess? Watches, in 1991 as part of its "multi-brand
strategy". Timex and Disney reunited in 1993 to produce a new
line of character watches called Disney Classics Collection. In
1994, Timex acquired the Nautica Watches license and introduced
Timex Data Link. The Data Link PDA-type watch could receive
contact and scheduling information from a sequence in a
computer monitor's light using software developed with
Microsoft.1997 saw the introduction of the successful Timex
Expedition brand, designed for rugged outdoor sports. Timex and
Motorola introduced Beep wear in 1998, a watch with an
integrated pager.

The new millennium led to further growth of Timex Corporation

and its parent, Timex Group B.V., by way of brand acquisition,
brand introduction and licensing partnerships. In 2000, Timex
Corporation purchased the French fashion watch brand Opex.
Under its Callanen subsidiary, Timex acquired the watch license
for urban fashion designer Marc Ecko in 2002.

The company entered the luxury market in 2005 when Timex's

parent company acquired Swiss-based Vertime SA. Vertime is
responsible for the design, manufacturing and distribution of
Swiss-Made watches and jewelry for the Versace and Versus
brands.
 Timex launched a new brand In 2006 called TX, marketed
around innovative technology and affordable luxury. During the
same year, Timex Group B.V. acquired the ultra-luxury hand-
made Swiss brand Vincent Bérard.

In 2007, Timex Group B.V. established Sequel AG as a

separate company devoted to the design, manufacturing and
distribution of the Guess? and the Swiss-Made Gc watch brands.
The Sequel AG business is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland.
Timex Group B.V. purchased the Italian design studio Giorgio Galli
Design Lab in 2007.

Timex Group USA, Inc. (2008–current):

The company was restructured in early 2008, establishing the

Timex Business Unit as a separate business function for the Timex
brand with its own president. Until then, "past Timex Group ceo’s
have managed the Timex Group and brand, which has contributed
to the brand’s less-than-stellar earnings in the last five years.
While Timex Group’s Sequel division, which houses the Guess
collections, has grown tremendously to rival Timex as the firm’s
top earner, the signature brand has been flat." Since this change,
Timex has introduced GPS enabled watches, heart rate monitor
exercise watches and similar high tech devices.

In 2008, Timex Group USA signed a four-year agreement

making Timex the first official timekeeper of the ING New York
City Marathon. Meanwhile, parent company Timex Group B.V.
launched two new Swiss-Made luxury watch brands – Salvatore
Ferragamo Timepieces and Valentino Timeless – under the Timex
Group Luxury Watches business.

As the year closed, construction commenced on the second-

largest ground mounted solar array in the northeastern United
States at Timex Group USA's Middlebury, CT headquarters. The
800-panel solar array was inaugurated on February 5, 2009
during a press event held at the headquarters.[38] A few months
later Timex Group USA purchased ownership of the Marc Ecko
watch trademark it had licensed since 2002.At the same time, the
Callanen International business unit merged with the Timex
Business Unit bringing the Timex, Opex, TX, Nautica and Marc
Ecko brands all under one house.

In an agreement announced on June 16, 2009, Timex Group

USA became an official sponsor of the NFL's New York Football
Giants new headquarters and practice facility called the Timex
Performance Center. Further details of the sponsorship include
Timex being an official equipment provider to the Giants and
working closely with the team to develop new products.

In honor of Timex's 50th anniversary, the company re-

released their classic Timex 80 watch. The iconic retro design of
this basic digital watch made it a hit with both fashion lovers and
retro watch enthusiasts, and the range has since expanded to
jumbo sizes, silver and gold metallic finishes and calculator
watches.[citation needed]

Timex Group B.V.:

Timex Group B.V., a Dutch holding company, is the corporate

parent of several watch making companies around the globe
including Timex Group USA, Inc. Businesses and exclusive
worldwide licenses include the Timex Business Unit (Timex, Timex
Ironman, Opex, TX, Nautica, Marc Eckō), Timex Group Luxury
Watches (Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo), Sequel (Guess, Gc),
Vertime (Versace, Versus), Vincent Bérard and Giorgio Galli
Design Lab.Today, Timex Group B.V.'s products are manufactured
in the Far East and in Switzerland, often based on technology that
continues to be developed in the United States and in Germany.
The group has operations in a number of countries in Europe, the
Americas, and Asia.

1.2.1. COMPANY PERSPECTIVES:

Timex is a direct descendant of several important nineteenth-

century American clock and watch manufacturers. Like our
company today, they all specialized in durable yet affordable
timepieces.... Timex has maintained market superiority since that
time by introducing innovative designs and technology.

Company History:

Timex Corporation has manufactured the largest-selling watch

brand in the United States since the 1960s. Renowned for its
sturdy but inexpensive timepieces, Timex distributes its watches
through 100,000 outlets in the United States, as well as
throughout the world.

Noble Ancestors:

Timex evolved from three notable 19th-century clockmakers:

the Waterbury Clock Company, a manufacturing firm established
in 1857; the Waterbury Watch Company, founded in 1880, maker
and seller of pocket watches on an international scale; and Robert
H. Ingersoll and Brothers, also an international manufacturer and
marketer of pocket watches since 1881. During World War I, a
new timepiece--the wristwatch--became popular. Easier to use
than the pocket watch, wristwatches were in high demand with
soldiers for their convenience in battle. Both the Waterbury Watch
Company and Ingersoll and Brothers marketed wristwatches
during the war and afterwards when demand for the novel
timepiece remained strong.

Two Norwegian immigrants to the United States, shipbuilder

Thomas Olsen and engineer Joakim Lehmkuhl--both of whom fled
Norway after the German invasion of their country in 1940--
founded Timex Inc. in 1941. They purchased the nearly bankrupt
Waterbury Clock Company, seeking to aid the allied war effort by
producing bomb and artillery fuses that utilized clockwork
mechanisms.

When World War II ended in 1945, Olsen, the majority

shareholder, returned to Norway, while Lehmkuhl remained in the
United States to run the company. During this time, Lehmkuhl
decided to convert the Timex plant to mass produce inexpensive
timekeeping devices. Using the simplest and most standardized
production methods available, Lehmkuhl's plant incorporated a
high degree of mechanization in the manufacturing process.
Furthermore, the wristwatches Timex manufactured used hard
alloy bearings, producing a more rugged and less expensive
alternative to watches that used jewels. Timex's product and
production methods eventually won Lehmkuhl a reputation as
"the Henry Ford of the watch industry."

The first Timex watches rolled off the assembly line in 1949
and soon became known for their dependability. At the time, most
watches were sold by jewelers, who typically marked up prices by
50 percent. To keep its prices low, Timex insisted on only a 30
percent markup, and, consequently, most jewelers refused to sell
Timex watches. Robert Mohr, head of Timex's marketing
operation, opted to bypass the jewelers, instead selling the
watches directly to consumer outlets including drugstores,
hardware stores, and even tobacco stands. During the 1950s and
1960s Mohr built a distribution network that reached nearly
250,000 outlets. By 1961, sales were up to $71 million, with after
tax profits of $2.9 million.

Becoming a Market Leader in the 1960s :

Advertising heavily both to build its name and to sell the

dependability of its watches, Timex relied chiefly on the visual
impact of television. Commercials depicted Timex watches
remaining functional and accurate after being attached to
churning boat propellers and the hooves of galloping horses. The
phrase "takes a licking and keeps on ticking" became widely
known, and by the late 1960s Timex watches accounted for about
half of U.S. watch sales.

During this time, the company deliberately underproduced,

manufacturing only 85 percent of the watches it thought it could
sell. This practice created a scarcity that kept prices up and
dealers tractable. The company further secured its leadership
position in the market by using new designs and technology in the
years following the 1960s.

In addition to the manufacture of timepieces, Timex continued

to produce the clockwork mechanisms for the military that it had
begun during the war. Timex facilities were also used to assemble
cameras for Polaroid.

By 1970 Timex had record profits of $27 million on sales of

$200 million. Yet change lay just around the corner, as the firm
was facing intense competition in a changing market. Although
few companies producing watches in the same price range as
Timex could challenge the company for quality or popularity,
digital electronic watches were rapidly overtaking the
conventional watch. Timex began producing digital watches in
1972, but it had not moved as fast as its competition. In 1974 the
company's net income fell by one-third to $8.7 million on sales of
$348 million. By 1976 digital watch prices had fallen into the price
range of the company's mechanical watches, and Timex began
losing market share. Its major competitors in the electronic watch
market were Texas Instruments and Fairchild Camera and
Instrument Corp., both of which had more experience with
electronics. A price war ensued, and by 1977 Texas Instruments
had slashed the price of one of its most popular watches to $10.

Also during this time, Timex management was in turmoil.

Lehmkuhl had reportedly become increasingly eccentric and
difficult to work with, and in 1973 Olsen's son Fred had the 78-
year-old founder and chairperson removed from office.
Furthermore, the company's three presidents were constantly at
odds, and when electronics experts were brought in to help the
company fight for digital watch market share, the infighting
intensified and the company suffered. Timex was soon
restructured to reflect Fred Olsen's belief that making electronic
watches required a radically different approach than that of
mechanical watches. The mechanical watch operation was
thereafter isolated from the new electronic operations, a change
that eventually created resentment among the employees. The
restructuring also led to numerous mistakes as the isolated
electronic division was unable to take advantage of the
mechanical division's experience.

Consequently, Timex's electronic watches were awkwardly

large and 50 percent more expensive than those offered by
competing firms in the mid-1970s. Believing that sales of
mechanical watches were in an irreversible decline, management
planned to keep production capacity below the level of likely sales
in order to make as much money from the line as possible as the
market shrunk. Advertising for mechanical watches virtually
ceased, and, as spending decreased, the capital was shifted to
the manufacture and sale of digital watches.

The entire watch industry had a good year in 1977, and Timex
decided to slow the downsizing of mechanical watch production.
However, the company failed to reinstate its advertising budget,
and, as a result, its only profitable product began to decline in
popularity. Timex lost $4.7 million on sales of $600 million in
1979. Sister corporation TMX Ltd., a Bermuda-based company
that supplied watches and parts to Timex, also lost $5 million that
year.

Diversifying in the 1980s :

During this time, chief executive Robert Weltzien began

diversifying the company. He bought a clock and timer operation
from General Electric Co., and in early 1980 he held the
company's first ever press conference, announcing that as Timex
had gained experience from assembling Polaroid cameras--more
than 40 million between 1952 and 1979--the company would soon
begin manufacturing a new type of 35-millimeter camera.
However, these moves were not enough to offset Timex's
declining watch sales, and later that year Olsen flew in from
Norway, fired Weltzien, and took his place as CEO. Thereafter,
Olsen spent two weeks a month overseeing his businesses in
Norway and the other two weeks with Timex in Connecticut.

While Olsen was a brilliant long-term strategist with immense

energy, he had little experience with the day-to-day running of an
organization, and some managers became frustrated as he
interfered with the details of their projects. He began closing
factories, cutting wages, and selling off side businesses, as he
reshaped the company into a consumer electronics concern that
would sell watches, clocks, computers, and electronic products
geared toward home health care.

In 1980 Commodore Computers explored the possibility of a

merger or other working relationship with Timex, but Olsen
declined. Instead, Timex opted to attempt duplicating
Commodore's success by producing its own computer. Created by
British inventor Clive Sinclair, the Timex computer was brought
out at the end of 1982 and quickly sold 500,000 units. However,
critics noted that the Timex computer was extremely limited in its
capabilities and inferior to Commodore's product. After
Commodore engaged Timex in a price war, Timex made little
money from the venture.

In 1983 Timex brought its first home health care products to

market. The products, made by Singapore subcontractors,
included a $69.95 blood-pressure cuff, a $24.95 digital
thermometer, and a $49.95 digital scale. Timex relied on its
widely recognized name and large distribution base to give it an
advantage over companies already selling similar products. The
market was very competitive, however, and Timex was also
hampered by the breakup of its Silicon Valley computer
engineering staff due to continuing political infighting as well as
the slow start of its new lab in Connecticut.

Watches still accounted for 90 percent of Timex's business in

1983. The firm's digital watches had improved considerably, and
it introduced a new quartz calendar watch at $100 that was billed
as the world's thinnest. While the majority of its electronic
watches were more expensive than those of its competitors,
Timex had succeeded in bringing out one model that sold for only
$7.95.
 Also in 1983, Timex endured negative press from an employee
strike at its plant in Dundee, Scotland, which strikers occupied
after management fired 1,900 workers. Members of the British
parliament, and finally Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,
intervened before the six-week occupation was ended.

Refocusing on the Wristwatch :

Throughout the 1980s, inexpensive fashion watches rapidly

gained popularity and were released by a number of companies,
most notably the innovative Swatch Company. Timex's sales
needed bolstering as some industry analysts estimated that the
company only produced half as many watches as it had five years
earlier. Consequently, Timex began producing watches that were
more fashionable, sporty, and colorful, and invested money and
energy in advertising. In the spring of 1983 the company
launched a $20 million television advertising campaign focusing
on its new technological sophistication and style. The
commercials, by Gray Advertising, playfully exaggerated the
features of Timex watches. In one ad a group of joggers ran up
and down the contours of a Timex sports watch; in another, a
group of people climbed out of a boat and walked across a
waterproof Timex watch that served as a dock. Timex also
showed its ads in movie theaters, purchasing four weeks of ad
time at Screen vision Cinema Network's 4,500 theaters in 1986.

One of the firm's greatest successes during this time was its
sports watches. In 1984, an Olympic games year, the company
brought out the Triathlon watch, which was water resistant to 50
meters, could recall eight laps of running times, and had a 16-
hour stopwatch. In its first year, 400,000 of the watches were sold
at $34.95 each. Encouraged by this success, Timex brought out a
ski watch that included a thermometer as well as a racing watch
that could measure speeds of up to 999 miles an hour. The
company launched its Atlantis 100 water resistant sports watch in
1986 with a $1 million ad shown during football's Super Bowl. This
ad featured a group of divers discovering a 65-foot replica of the
watch on the bottom of the Red Sea. Five other "adventure"
commercials were also produced.

In 1988 Timex brought back its "takes a licking and keeps on

ticking" campaign, which had not been used in ten years. This
time, however, the ads were intentionally humorous and took the
premise of the old ads to extremes, one ad showing the watches
being thrown to ravenous piranha. Timex also stepped up
advertising for its new line of men's and women's fashion
watches, influenced by those being sold by Swatch. Having
formerly advertised mainly in such magazines as Time and Life,
Timex began buying space in sports and fashion magazines. The
ads were part of an effort to help Timex shake its staid image at a
time when watchmakers like Swatch were making inroads by
giving their watches a fun, quirky image. The firm spent $6 million
on ads during its Christmas ad campaign, representing 60 percent
of its $10 million annual ad budget.

Timex released new sport watches in 1988 that were aimed at

niche markets while also being designed to appeal to a broader
audience. One model, the Victory, included features useful in
sailboat racing and a design influenced by traditional nautical
instruments. While the Ironman watch was geared toward
triathlon participants, the watch's memory feature and rugged
styling proved so popular that Timex was soon able to claim that
it was the best-selling watch in the United States through 1997, if
not the leader among watch sales worldwide.

At the end of the 1980s the color plastic watch business

pioneered by Swatch was beginning to decline, but Timex
continued producing colorful watches with classic styling and
increased the distribution of its watches to upscale department
stores. Timex remained at the top of the U.S. mass market watch
sector with a share near 50 percent. Sales for 1988 topped $500
million, and Timex was still the largest company in the $1.5 billion
U.S. watch market, despite the fact that all of its watches were
priced at under $75.

In 1990, with its market share under continual pressure, Timex

spent $7 million on a unique two-month print ad campaign. Again
picking up on the "takes a licking" theme, the ads featured
portraits of people who, along with their Timex watches, had
survived serious mishaps. One woman, for example, had fallen 85
feet while rock climbing and suffered only minor injuries. The ads,
by the Minneapolis-based agency Fallon McElligott, appeared in
31 magazines and included several three-page spreads.

New Technologies in the 1990s :

Although the information age initiatives the company had

pursued in the early 1980s had been sharply scaled back, Timex
had not forgone new technologies altogether. The company
announced it would develop a wristwatch that would double as a
telephone pager in conjunction with Motorola Inc. Moreover, in
1992 Timex introduced a watch with a luminescent dial that
glowed like a full moon at the push of a button. The watch used a
dial made of zinc sulphide and copper that other companies had
used on clocks, though Timex was the first to adapt it to watch
size. Featuring patented electroluminescence technology, Timex's
Indiglo Night-Light set the standard for watch illumination. It
offered night workers, campers, sports players, and moviegoers a
safe, nontoxic, bright, even blue-green light superior to other
watches' shine. (Other manufacturers utilized incandescent bulbs,
which resulted in faint illumination, or sunlight-storing
phosphorescent substances, which faded, or potentially
dangerous radioactive substances such as radium or titanium.)

These innovations were well received by the public. Sales for

1992 totaled $400 million, giving Timex one-third of the U.S.
watch market. The company was now the largest watchmaker in
the United States. Both Business Week and Fortune named the
Indiglo Night-Light one of the best products of the year in 1993,
and high demand for the Indiglo Night-Light continued after its
introduction. Timex incorporated the innovation into 65 percent of
its watch styles and added further technological improvements;
for example, Night Mode, which provided a steady, three-second
light source. The powers of the Indiglo Night-Light came to the
nation's attention during the bombing of the World Trade Center
in New York. Amid the smoke and darkness after the bombing, a
man from Arizona used the light from his Indiglo Ironman
Triathlon to lead people from the ravaged building.

More recognition came for Timex products when the "first

family" of the United States donated President Bill Clinton's
Ironman Triathlon--the watch he wore during the 1993 inaugural
celebrations the National Museum of American History at the
Smithsonian Institution.

"Nevertheless, President Clinton is not this watch's first

presidential appointment," Timex revealed through an In the
News press release, observing that "Although the Ironman
Triathlon watch was designed to accommodate the needs of hard-
core triathletes, it has proven a winner inside the Beltway, most
notably on the wrists of the former presidential team of George
Bush and Dan Quayle."

Once again, however, a labor dispute at Timex UK sullied the

company's public image in 1993. Workers in the Dundee,
Scotland, plant initiated a strike against Timex when the company
announced impending layoff plans, wage freezes, and benefit
reductions. When Timex fired the strikers and hired 250
replacement workers, violence and ill-will between the workers
and company management ensued. At the time, a company
supervisor told New Statesman & Society: "I cannot imagine the
old workforce ever coming back to the factory. The rifts are so
great now. It's all too personal."

Despite its image problems in the United Kingdom, Timex

remained a favorite accessory brand in the United States,
according to Fairchild Publications. Placing ahead of Nike and
Levis, Timex ranked second in Fairchild Publications as the overall
favorite fashion brand in the country in 1995. Still, despite it
favorable position with the public, Timex launched ten marketing
campaigns that year to compete more effectively, in particular
challenging Swatch for market share.

Timex continued to develop technological innovations for its

watches throughout the 1990s. In 1995, for example, it
introduced the Timex Data Link, a watch employing wireless
transfer technology so that watch and personal computer could
communicate. Timex Data Link watches came equipped with a
Windows-based PC program allowing data to be entered or
imported into the program. A lens on the watch translated the
data from on-screen bar codes to the watch's memory. "

In 1997, Timex introduced a notebook adapter that connected

its Data Link watches with notebook, laptop, and portable PCs
with liquid crystal display viewing screens--the fastest growing PC
market segment. "The benefits of the Notebook Adapter are
twofold," Jan Mladik, marketing manager of Timex's Wrist
Instruments Group, explained in a press release. "First, it provides
a whole new group of consumers access to the Timex Data Link
information transfer technology. Secondly, it allows those 'road
warriors' who own both desktop PCs and portables to update
databases and send new functions when traveling." The Data Link
Notebook Adapter and the Timex Data Link 150S both won
Innovations '97 awards.

Timex also began manufacturing a watch presented as an

entry in the company's Bright Idea Contest in 1997. A contestant
suggested a pulse timing watch designed specifically for health-
care workers. Using the Indiglo Night-Light, Timex easily designed
a watch with the ability to check pulse rates in low-light
conditions.

In 1998, Timex introduced another new product--the Humvee.

Named after AM General's all-terrain vehicle, the Humvee watch
was water resistant and exceeded government standards for
shock resistance. Timex entered into a licensing agreement with
AM General to market a watch sharing the Humvee name. Lee
Woodward, manager of marketing communications for AM
General remarked in a press release: "We are proud to align
ourselves with a partner that can capture the essence and
qualities of the Humvee in a product such as a sports watch.
Timex has a tradition of producing durable, long lasting products
that can take abuse, just like the Humvee and Hummer."

Active in more than 90 countries since 1980, Timex maintained

its position as a world leader in watches in 1998. The company
also retained its hold on the U.S. market in particular through the
introduction of innovative products and the use of technology.
More of the same was expected from Timex as it approached a
new century in watch making.
1.3. COMPANY PROFILE:
TIMEX GROUP INDIA LIMITED
Timex Group designs, manufactures and markets innovative
timepieces and jewelry globally. Timex, founded in 1854, has
expanded to become Timex Group, a privately-held company,
with several operating units and over 5,000 employees
worldwide.
One of the largest watch makers in the world, Timex Group
companies include the Timex Business Unit (Timex, Timex
Ironman, Opex, TX, Nautica, Marc Ecko); Timex Group Luxury
Watches (Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo); Sequel (Guess, Gc);
Vertime (Versace, Versus); and Vincent Bérard.
 Timex Group built its reputation as the pioneer in timekeeping
by harnessing the power and possibility of time. From the first
clock and wristwatch we produced through data integration - from
classic, time-honored designs through exclusive, luxury collector's
pieces - Timex Group companies continue to deliver unparalleled
Quality to highly diverse and global customers.

Milan to Hong Kong, design sensibility and creativity inspire

multiple lifestyle brands. From the hallmark everyday watches on
which we built our reputation, to exclusive, high-end offerings, we
are equipped to meet the needs of our brand partners.

Timex Group India has one of the most powerful portfolios of

brands in the watch industry. With technological innovation and
cutting-edge design, we recognize the tremendous opportunity to
leverage the reach and appeal of each brand’s individual identity,
personality and customer base.

With our global organization and breadth of expertise, we

bring our partners from concept through design, manufacturing to
distribution, to meet and exceed the brands’ Criteria for success.

Our global resources give Timex Group India a true advantage

in a highly competitive marketplace. By thinking and acting both
locally and globally, we are constantly challenging ourselves to
look at the future.

Founded in 1854 as the clock-making subsidiary of

Waterbury, CT based brass manufacturer Benedict & Burnham.
Waterbury Clock Company was legally incorporated in 1857 as
an independent business.
• One of the world’s top watch companies
• Over 5,000 employees worldwide
• Manufacturing and distribution in 20 countries
• Watches sold in more than 100 countries
 Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation),
a subsidiary of Timex Group B.V., is headquartered in Middlebury,
Connecticut. The company is the current day successor to the
Waterbury Clock Company, founded in 1854 in nearby Waterbury,
Connecticut.

Timex Corporation manufactures watches. It offers

wristwatches and clocks for fashion, outdoors, and sports and
fitness purposes. The company's products include wristwatches
for men, women, and kids; audio; alarm clocks; eyewear;
thermostats; timers and night lights; weather instruments;
thermometers; straps; and pedometers. It offers its products
through stores.

The company has operations in Middlebury, Connecticut; Little

Rock, Arkansas; Manaus, Brazil; Besancon, France; Pforzheim,
Germany; Cebu, the Philippines; People's Republic of China;
Jerusalem, Israel; and Delhi, India.

Timex Corporation was founded in 1857 as Waterbury Clock

Company and changed its name to United States Time
Corporation in 1944. Later, the name was changed to Timex
Corporation in 1969. Timex Corporation is a subsidiary of Timex
Group B.V.

Branching out from its original "takes a licking" designs, Timex

is strapping on fresh faces so it can tap new markets worldwide.
The nation's largest watch manufacturer has expanded its lines
from simple, low-cost watches to include high-tech tickers
capable of paging or downloading computer data.

Its sports watches have gone upscale and gadgety with its
Expedition and Ironman lines. The company also makes and
markets thermostats, pedometers, and weather instruments.
Through a licensing agreement, Timex makes watches for Guess?
and Versace, among others. Founded in 1854, Timex is owned by
the family of Chairman Annette Olsen, whose grandfather bought
the company in 1942.

1.3.1. TIMEX GROUP PRECISION ENGINEERING

LIMITED:
TIMEX established its state-of-the-art precision Tool room and
Injection molding facility in 1992 to support production of plastic
parts for watch business.

The Tool room went commercial in 1998 and after 10 years of

success, the facility was established, as an independent business
unit in the year 2008, as Timex Group Precision Engineering Ltd.
By leveraging its vast experience in manufacturing of precision
injection molds and injection molded parts, TGPEL has, in a short
time, established itself as one of the leading commercial Tool
Rooms in the country.

Business Overview:

• Timex Group Precision Engineering Ltd (TGPEL) is ISO

9001:2000 certified by TUV Nord.

• The company provides a one stop solution to its customers

for mold design, manufacturing, tryout, injection molded part
production and sub assemblies.

• It specializes in manufacturing of High Precision Injection

Molds up to 300 Ton capacity, using the latest technology
Machines installed in a controlled environment.

• With quality at the core of the business, Premium quality

Tool Steels (like Stavax, Orvar Supreme, Calmax etc)
hardened through vacuum technology, are used to enhance
tool performance.

• TGPEL has on its team, qualified and experienced staff from

reputed institutes across the country backed by a strong
Design Team well-versed on the latest Design software
available in the industry.

• TGPEL offers internationally competitive and customized

products with high focus on quality, cost, lead time and
reliability.

• The customer portfolio boasts of major organizations in the

Electrical, Switchgear, Automotive, Medical, Consumer
Durables and FMCG segments in India and abroad.
 “TGPEL is committed to provide quality tools and components
worldwide with an emphasis on on-time delivery by understanding
the stated and implied needs of the customers.”

Timex Group India Limited, formerly Timex Watches Limited, is

an India-based company. The Company is engaged in
manufacturing and trading of watches. The Company operates in
three segments: watches segment, which is engaged in
manufacturing and trading of watches; tools and moulds segment
which is engaged in the manufacturing of tools, moulds and
plastic components, and Times Global Services, which is engaged
in providing information technology and finance related back
office support to other group companies.

1.4. PRODUCT PROFILE:

1.4.1. TIMEX:
Over half a century ago, Timex revolutionized watch making
by using cutting-edge technology in products in outdoor, sports
and style categories. Today, Timex is a household name
synonymous with design, durability and performance and it
continues to embrace its reason for being: undaunted innovation.

1.4.2. ECKO:
Throughout its history, the Ecko watch brand has evolved with
a renowned heritage in unlimited innovation and pioneering
fashion. It is the arbiter of trend-defining, dynamic brands and
products that continually excite and inspire their customer.

1.4.3. NAUTICA:
Nautica watches for men and women combine distinctive
styling, bold colors and unique design. Inspired by sailing and the
sea, the Nautica watches’ functionality reflects an energetic
lifestyle and fuses the best of classic American style with the
latest technical innovation.

1.4.4. OPEX:
Opex is a young, audacious brand that embodies
contemporary French sensibility. Designed in Paris for women and
by women, Opex timepieces are the ultimate expression of
trendy, stylish femininity. Inspired by the rhythm of the prêt-à-
porter collections, Opex reinvents itself each season.

1.4.5. TX:
Engineered in Germany, the TX movement platform was
developed over five years with zero compromises. Using the
finest materials – premium sapphire crystals, sculpted dials and
hands, the finest leather, and an etched case back – every TX
timepiece incorporates four independent motors, each driving a
specific function.

1.4.6. SALVATORE FERRAGAMO:

 The unique Ferragamo collections are a brilliant tribute to the
Italian tradition of design and craftsmanship. From the automatic
styles with sapphire crystal glass to the GMT chronograph and the
Automatic precious Tourbillon movement, this collection evokes
the iconic stature of Salvatore Ferragamo’s groundbreaking
designs.

1.4.7. VERSACE:
The combination of Swiss technology with distinctive Italian
style, Versace timepieces are the embodiment of international
glamour – sophisticated, elegant and refined. Versace’s watch
collections are designed in accordance with the Maison’s intrinsic
style and characterized by the iconic Versace logo.

1.4.8. VALENTINO:
An icon of Italian haute couture, designer Valentino Maison’s
design aesthetic is brought into modernity with the creation of
timepieces that express his values: exclusivity, elegance, flawless
craftsmanship, quality and beauty. Based on the culture of
couture, the Valentino watch collection encapsulates the concept
of time in a tangible way.

1.4.9. VERSUS:
Versus watches are urban and youthful, dynamic and
confident. The 2009 versus collection of timepieces emphasizes
the use of bold, edgy design. It embodies the novel combination
of fine materials and the insatiable attention to impressive
detailing.
1.5. INDUSTRIAL PROFILE:
Timex Group India Limited engages in the manufacture and
trading of watches in India and internationally. It offers various
collections of watches in fashion, sports, and outdoor lines for
men and women.

The company also manufactures tools, moulds, and plastic

components for other parties. In addition, it provides after sales
service to its customers. The company was incorporated in 1988
and is based in Noida, India. Timex Group India Limited is a
subsidiary of Timex Group Luxury Watches B.V.

Timex watches were first introduced in the 1950's, as the

company brand evolved from the Waterbury Clock company,
which produced the first affordable timepieces for Americans back
in the 1850's.

This company developed into the Waterbury Watch Company,

which specialized in affordable mechanical watches. Waterbury
became famous in the 1930's with their Mickey Mouse watches
and clocks that today are worth far more than the £1.50 they
cost. When the Great Depression hit America in the 1940's, this
company was bought out by the U.S. Time Company.

Production during World War II turned from timepieces to

artillery with mechanical timing, and anti-aircraft fuses. The first
Timex wristwatches had impeccable timing and reliability, and
were introduced in 1950. Record breaking sales were generated
by the excellence of the watches and by excellent advertising for
Timex in print and on television. Memorable ads include those
featuring John Cameron Swayze with various live on television
torture tests, such as watches taped to outboard motor
propellers, or watches taking giant leaps the Grand Coulee Dam.
The most famous ad line for Timex is "takes a licking and keep on
ticking®" which was a line still recognized today. By the end of
the decade, Timex comprised one of every three purchased in the
United States.

Timex remained a household word, and watch and clock leader

for the next three decades, selling over 500 million mechanical
watches. They adjusted to new Oriental competition in the 1980's
when the renamed Timex Corporation introduced new digital
watches with their "Ironman Triathlon®" line for serious athletes.
It soon became the country's best selling watch. Over the next
two decades, Timex continued their long history of excellence
through innovation. They introduced electroluminescent watch
faces. Three quarters of today's Timex feature their Indiglo night
light®. Other digital Timex watches were brought to market in
the mid-1990, including Data Link®, which is a mini data bank for
scheduling information and phone numbers. The company
teamed up with Microsoft and Motorola in joint ventures to
produce other complex watches and pagers.

Timex entered the 2000's strong and confident, remaining one

of the top brands known for excellence and reliability, and for
being fashionable accessories. The company has over 7500
employees on four continents.

Timex watches are featured in their company museum,

Timexpo where their history and technological developments are
showcased in Waterbury, CT. Timex watches are still popular for
use as presentation gifts, incentive awards, promotions, and gifts.
There are promotional imprint Timex watches that can also be
ordered, which are nice for recognition awards, and business
gifts. Timex watches remain the leading watch in America.

New Timex models include smart watches with multi-functions,

great for sports and workouts, fun watches in clip and necklace
styles, watches to help monitor health factors, and sports
statistics timepieces that include speed and distance calculations,
and e-Instruments watches that measure things like the
temperature of surf, and predict tide times. It is no secret that
Timex watches keep up with the times.

One of the largest manufacturers of high quality watches in

the world. A Timex watch is known for its dependability and
manufacturing quality.

Timex - One of the largest manufacturers of high quality

watches in the world. A Timex watch is known for its
dependability and manufacturing quality. Timex watches are the
pioneers of Indiglo technology, which lights the entire dial of the
watch with the push of a button.

With more than 150 years of history as a watchmaker, Timex

is one company that knows watches. As America's first
watchmaker Timex carved their name in the industry early, and
their brand is still a household name even now.

Timex watches began way back in 1850. At that point the

company was known as Waterbury Clock. They were the first
company in America to make clocks affordable to the common
people. Their shelf and mantel clocks were reliable and quickly
became very popular throughout America.

In the 1880's Waterbury began to market its first watch. The

product was known as the Yankee pocket watch. Between 1880
and 1920, working with mass marketer Robert H. Ingersoll,
Waterbury sold over 40,000,000 of their Yankee model watch
throughout the US and Europe.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Timex watches

can boast other big successes. They made America's first popular
wristwatch in 1917. The watch was designed and produced at the
request of the US army during WWI.

During the 1930's they found huge success with their Disney
branded Mickey Mouse watches. In the 40's the company was
renamed the US Time company and put all of their efforts into
manufacturing timing devices for artillery and anti-aircraft
devices.

It wasn't until the 1950's that Timex watches began to

produce the product that would make them one of the world's
largest watchmakers. In 1850 they produced one of the most
popular watches ever marketed in North America. The product
was simply known as Timex. With their hugely successful
marketing campaigns ("Timex takes a licking and keeps on
ticking”), they quickly grew the Timex brand into the largest
brand in the US. By the end of the 1950's one out of every three
watches sold in the US was a Timex.

Having completely taken over the low-price watch markets,

during the 1960's and 70's the company took the name Timex
Watches, and began to produce higher end products as well.
Today Timex Watches produces a full line of men's and ladies
watches in many styles. From fashion watches to the ultra-
elegant, Timex likely makes a watch that fits.
CHAPTER – 2
 DEVELOPMENT
OF THE MAIN
THEME

CHAPTER – 2

2.1. NEED FOR THE STUDY:

This study is based on the study of distributors roles played in
the company and how the distributor is important for a company.
 It also enables us to know what the benefits the distributor
gets are and what are the risks he bears.

The study aims at understanding the process carried out by

the distributor and how the distributor makes the product
available to all the people and customers.

2.2. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The main scope of this study is to ascertain the effectiveness of
channel of distribution and various methods to increase the sales
volume of the concern.

The methods include regular information to the buyers

creating a brand position in the market and taking measures to
make the brand remain in its position.
 One of the important aspects of this study is also to increase
the market segment for the product.

2.3. OBJECTIVE:

• Describe the nature of distribution channels, and tell why

marketing intermediaries are used.
• Understand the different marketing intermediaries available
to the hospitality industry and the benefits each of these
intermediaries’ offers.
• Know how the company uses the distribution channel.
 • Discuss channel behavior and organization, explaining
corporate, contractual, and vertical marketing systems,
including franchising.
• Illustrate the channel management decisions of selecting,
motivating, and evaluating channel members.
• Identify factors to consider when choosing a business
location.
• To know the importance of distributors in the company and
how they are considered as important in the company.

2.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

• Not creating awareness about the product is the one

of the limitations to the Timex Company.
 • Another is the distributor has to invest his own
money and the banks and other financial institutions
will not help them.

2.5. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

2.5.1. DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL:

 Distribution of products constitutes an important element of
marketing mix of a firm. After development of the product, the
entrepreneur has to decide channels or routes through which the
product will flow from the factory to the potential customers.
He has a number of alternatives available to him. The
entrepreneur may choose to distribute the product directly to
customers without using any intermediaries. Alternatively, he
may use one or more middlemen including wholesalers, selling
agents, and retailers.
Big firms have their zonal or regional authorized agents or
dealers spread over the entire country. The dealers, in turn, work
with distributors and retailers.
On the other hand, small firms cannot afford to have zonal
offices, but are devising their own ways of doing business. They
also receive regular orders for goods. Entry may be difficult for
the small firms.
It has been observed that many authorized dealers of known
brands also stock other unknown or new brands of goods. They
also insist on the customer buying the lesser known brand
because of higher margin of profit.
The small entrepreneur, with fewer overheads and low labor
costs along with better planning and management, may be able
to earn good profits.
2.5.2. MEANING OF CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION:

A channel of distribution or trade channel is the path or route

along which goods move from producers to ultimate consumers. It
is a distribution network through which a producer puts his
products in the hands of actual users.

A trade or marketing channel consists of the producer,

consumers or users and the various middlemen who intervene
between the two.

The channel serves as a connecting link between the producer

and consumers. By bridging the gap between the point of
production and the point of consumption, a channel creates time,
place and possession utilities.

A channel of distribution represents three types of flows:

 Goods flow from producer to consumers;

 Cash flow from consumers to producer as payment for
goods; and
 Marketing information flows in both directions, from
producers to consumers in the form of information on
new products, new uses of existing products, etc.

The flow of information from consumers to producers is the

feedback of the wants, suggestions, complaints, etc.
2.5.3. KINDS OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS:

Every small-scale entrepreneur requires a channel that can

distribute his product to the right customers at the right time and
at the right cost.
It consists of all the middlemen which participate in the
distribution of goods and which serve as a link between the
manufacturer and the consumer.
• Producer↔ Consumer
• Producer↔ Retailer↔ Consumer
• Producer↔ Wholesaler↔ Retailer↔ Consumer

1. Producer↔ Consumer:
This is also known as direct selling because no middlemen are
involved. A producer may sell directly through his own retail
stores, for example, Bata. This is the simplest and the shortest
channel. It is fast and economical.
Small producers and producers of perishable commodities also
sell directly to the local consumers.
Big firms adopt direct selling in order to cut distribution cost
and because they have sufficient facilities to sell directly to the
consumers. The producer or the entrepreneur himself performs all
the marketing activities.
 2. Producer↔ Retailer↔ Consumer:
This is one stage distribution channel having one middleman,
i.e., retailer.
In this channel, the producer sells to big retailers like
departmental stores and chain stores who in turn sell to
customer.
This channel is very popular in the distribution of consumer
durables such as refrigerators, T V sets, washing machines,
typewriters, etc.
This channel of distribution is very popular these days because
of emergence of departmental stores, super markets and other
big retail stores.
The retailers purchase in large quantities from the producer
and perform certain marketing activities in order to sell the
product to the ultimate consumers.
3. Producer↔ Wholesaler↔ Retailer↔ Consumer:
This is the traditional channel of distribution. There are two
middlemen in this channel of distribution, namely, wholesaler and
retailer.
This channel is most suitable for the products with widely
scattered market. It is used in the distribution of consumer
products like groceries, drugs,
Cosmetics, etc.
It is quite suitable for small scale producers whose product line
is narrow
And who require the expert services and promotional support of
wholesalers.

2.5.4. CHOICE OF CHANNEL OF DISTRIBUTION:

While selecting a distribution channel, the entrepreneur

should compare the costs, sales volume and profits expected
from alternative channels of distribution.
In order to select the right channel for distributing his
product, a small-scale manufacturer should keep in mind the
following considerations:
1. Market Considerations: The nature of the market is a
key factor influencing the choice of channels of distribution. The
following features of the market should be considered to
determine the channels:
a. Consumer or industrial market: If the product is meant for
industrial users, the channel of distribution will be a short one.
This is because industrial users buy in a large quantity and the
producer can easily establish a direct contact with them. But in
case for goods meant for consumers, retailers may have to be
included in the channels of distribution.
b. Number and location of buyers: When the number of
potential customers is small or the market is geographically
located in a limited area, direct selling is easy and economical. In
case of large number of customers, use of wholesalers and
retailers becomes necessary.
c. Size of order: Direct selling is convenient and economical
where customers place order in big lots as in case of industrial
goods. But where the product is sold in small quantities,
middlemen are used to distribute such products.
A manufacturer may use different channels for different types
of buyers. He may sell directly to big retail stores and may use
wholesalers to sell to small retailers.
d. Customers buying habits: The customer buying habits like
the time he is willing to spend, the desire for credit, the
preference of personal attention and one stop shopping
significantly affect the choice of distribution channels.

2. Product Considerations: The type and nature of the

product influence the number and type of middlemen to be
chosen for distributing the product. The important factors with
respect to the product are as follows:
a. Unit value: Products of low unit value and common use are
generally sold through middlemen, as they cannot bear the cost
of direct selling. On the other hand, expensive consumer goods
and industrial products are sold directly by the producers.
b. Perishability: Perishable products like vegetables, fruits and
bakery items have
relatively short channels, as they cannot withstand repeated
handling. Goods, which are subject to frequent changes in fashion
and style, are generally distributed through short channels, as the
producer has to maintain close and continuous touch with the
market.
c. Bulk and weight: Heavy and bulky products are distributed
directly to minimize
handling costs. Coal, bricks, stones, etc., are some examples.
d. Standardization: Custom-made and non-standardized
products usually pass through short channels due to the need for
direct contact between the producer and the consumers.
Standardized and mass-made goods can be distributed through
middlemen.
e. Technical nature: Industrial products requiring
demonstration, installation and
After sale service are often sold directly. The consumer products
of technical nature are generally sold through retailers.
f. Product line: An entrepreneur producing a wide range of
products may find it
Economical to set up its own retail outlets. On the other hand,
firms with one or two products find it profitable to distribute
through wholesalers and retailers.
g. Age of the product: A new product needs greater
promotional effort and few
middlemen may like to handle it. As the product gains acceptance
in the market, more middlemen may be employed for its
distribution.
3. Middlemen Considerations: The cost and efficiency of
distribution depend largely upon the nature and type of
middlemen as given in the following factors:
a. Availability: When middlemen as desired are not available, an
entrepreneur may have to establish his own distribution network.
Non-availability of middlemen may arise when they are handling
competitive products, as they do not like to handle more brands.
b. Attitudes: Middlemen who do not like a firm’s marketing
policies may refuse to
handle its products. For instance, some wholesalers and retailers
demand sole selling rights or a guarantee against fall in prices.
c. Services: Use of those middlemen is profitable who provide
financing, storage,
promotion and after sale services.
d.Sale Potential: An entrepreneur generally prefers a dealer
who offers the greatest potential volume of sales.
e. Costs: Choice of a channel should be made after comparing
the costs of distribution through alternative channels. After
deciding the number of middlemen, an entrepreneur has to select
the particular dealers through whom he will distribute his
products. While selecting a particular wholesaler or retailer, the
following factors should be taken into consideration:
a. Location of dealer’s business premises;
b. Financial position and credit standing of the dealer;
c. Knowledge and experience of the dealer;
d. Storage and showroom facilities of the dealer;
e. Ability of the dealer to secure adequate business and to cover
the market;
f. Capacity of the dealer to provide after sale service;
g. General reputation of the dealer and his sales force;
h. Willingness of the dealer to handle the entrepreneur’s
products;
i. Degree of co-operation and promotion service he is willing to
provide;
j. Nature of other products, if any handled by the dealer.

2.5.5. IMPORTANCE OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL:

The importance of channel of distribution is as follows:

· Cost Savings in Specialization - Members of the distribution

channel are specialists in what they do and can often perform
tasks better and at lower cost than companies who do not have
distribution experience.
Marketers attempting to handle too many aspects of
distribution may end up exhausting company resources as they
learn how to distribute.
· Reduce Exchange Time - Not only are channel members able
to reduce distribution costs by being experienced at what they do,
they often perform their job more rapidly resulting in faster
product delivery.
· Customers Want to Conveniently Shop for Variety -
Marketers have to understand what customers want in their
shopping experience.
Resellers within the channel of distribution serve two very
important needs:
1) They give customers the products they want by purchasing
from many suppliers (termed accumulating and assortment
services, and
2) They make it convenient to purchase by making products
available in single location.
 CHAPTER – 3
LEARNINGS IN
THE COMPANY

CHAPTER – 3
3.1. INTRODUCTION ABOUT CFA:

• CFA means Clearing and Forwarding Agency.

• CFA is an integral part of the company.
• They does the back – end process in the company.
• This process includes:
 Receiving the goods from the factories or
premises.
 Warehousing the goods.
 Receiving Dispatch orders from the agents.
 Arranging Dispatch of goods.
 Maintaining Records of the receipt and
Dispatch of goods and the stock available at
the warehouse.
 All the Bills are maintained and transactions
are updated.
• CFA process is carried out through style code and product
code.
• For NTO’s (Non-Traditional Outlets), Bar code is necessary
which are scanned thoroughly and taken inward at the
warehouse.
• Only when the bar code matches with the product code,
the stock is said to be saleable.
• CFA is the agents appointed to supply chain the stocks
from warehouse to the distributors or stockiest.
• As the manufacturer cannot do this process directly, they
appoint these CFA’s in order to make this process less
complicated by means of shifting the goods from
manufacturers to the dealers through these CFA’s.
• The number of CFA’s will be based upon tge volume of
production of the company.
• The credit limit of TIMEX is for 3 months i.e., 90 days.
• CFA’s will first bill the stocks i.e., Inventory is carried out
first for the stocks that comes in and then only he will do
other processes like shifting the stocks according to the
purchase order that they receive from the dealers.
• CFA’s will
 Takes the orders and bill them first, and
 Clear the stocks through shipment for the
same order to the respective distributors.
• The manufacturer will have the contact only with these
CFA’s, so that they can easily shift the goods from the
warehouse which leads to smooth running of business.
• CFA’s are those who gives the products to the wholesaler
from there it reaches to retailer and then to the end user
i.e., customer.
• All the bills, invoices are maintained properly and
updated.
3.2. CFA IN TIMEX:
• Timex Group India Limited has its manufacturing company at
Buddy in Himachal Pradesh.
• Manufacturing is done by two ways:
i. Trade, and
ii. Marketing.
• CFA for Timex maintains two types of invoices through which
they bill the stocks. They includes:
i. Trading Invoice, and
ii. Manufacturing Invoice.
• Trading consists of Buying or Importing from other countries.
• Manufacturing consists of Production from India.
• Timex Brand is in U.S.A.
• It also got its royalty from U.S.A.
• Invoices consists of
 Order Number
 Invoice Number
 Invoice Date
 CST Number
 VAT number
• It also consists of UCP, which means Unit Cost Price.
• UCP is the price of the products.
• Invoice is based upon the margin for the dealers.
• It more specifically talks about the margin for both dealers
and distributors.
• For dealers the margin is 15% and for the distributors it is
6.5%.
• Through this Invoice with different margin rate for different
dealers, distributors, showrooms and NTO’s will help us to
find the differences that
 When the margin rate is HIGH, it will lead to
LESSER amount to be paid by the dealers.
 When the margin rate is LOW, it will lead to HIGH
amount to be paid by the dealers.
• It means in simple terms,
 If the Percentage of margin rate is HIGH, Total
Payable Amount will be LESS.
 It the Percentage of margin rate is LOW, Total
Payable Amount will be HIGH.
• CFA’s should have
 Storing place called Warehouse, and
 Should be financially Sound.
3.3. CFA PROCESS:
• CFA consists of the following processes.

STOCK
IN

STOCK CHECK
PHYSICALLY

COURIER
OPERATIONS

FULLFLEDGED
(DAMAGED)
 MODEL WISE SEGREGATION
MAINTENANCE
FIFO (FIRST IN FIRST OUT)

3.4. FORECASTING IN CFA:

• In Timex the forecasting process will be carried out before 4
months itself.
• Forecasting is prepared based upon the Sales/Target that is
to be achieved in future.
• Forecasting is done mainly to make the stock to be available
at all the time in the CFA i.e., warehouse.
• As CFA knows how much stock they need to meet the next
month target, so this forecasting process is carried out by
them.
• Through forecasting the CFA ensures that there will be
always available of stocks in the warehouse and there will be
no scarcity at any sense.
• So forecasting plays a major role in CFA.
• CFA’s forecast for 90% and the remaining 10% is done by
NPD it means “New Product Development” by the
manufacturer.
 FORECASTING

FORECASTING BY PERCENTAGE
DONE

CFA 90%

NPD 10%

TOTAL 100%

• This forecasting when it is prepared it is sent to service

qualification, where the re – qualification report is prepared.
• Forecasting once prepared it will be sent to the
manufacturer.
CHAPTER – 4
DISTRIBUTORS
IN TIMEX
4.1. ROLES PLAYED BY THE DISTRIBUTORS:
• Distributors are the mediators between an Organization and
Dealers.
• Distributors should be;
 Experienced Persons,
 Financial Back ground should be Strong, and
 Dealer Relationship should be Effective.
• These distributors are recruited by means of an
advertisement.
• There are 8 distributors in Tamil Nadu.
• They work on margins, which are prescribed in terms of
percentage (%).
• They will get extra payouts from the targets that have been
already fixed which is yet to be achieved.
• These targets are fixed by the company in liason with the
distributor.
 • A Negotiation will take place while fixing the targets.
• If the product is not a fast moving product or if it is not
saleable, then the distributor will get back the product from
the dealers on credit note.
• They will first make the dealers to know or create awareness
about the product to them, so that they can sell the
product to their end user called the customers easily.
• Distributors are the first buyer from the warehouse.
• Every product gives 6.5% margin, when the product ranges
from lesser than or equal to Rs. 1495/-, and the product
gives 7.5% margin, when the product price ranges from
greater than or equal to Rs. 1500/-.
• They also get an additional payout as PI i.e., Performance
Incentive.

DISTRIBUTOR RETAILER
ENDCUSTOMER

• Target is fixed on monthly basis.

• Distributor will get limited credit as 90 days.
• Distributors will buy on “Cash and Carry” basis and sells at
“Credit” basis.
4.2. SCHEMES BY THE COMPANY:
• The Company provides two schemes to the distributors.

SCHEM
ES

DEALER
DEDDD CONSUMER
SCHEME SCHEME
• The Dealer scheme is benefited to distributors.
 • The Consumer scheme is benefited only to end user as the
scheme is being published in the advertisement.
• In figures normally 700 – 800 watches are saleable per
month.
• In dealer scheme, distributor will fix the margins on their
own decisions based upon their collection of stocks.
• Distributor should provide “Field Sale Report” (FSR) to the
company in a prescribed manner on monthly basis.
• Company will not question the distributor on their decisions
over dealers.

4.3. BENEFITS TO THE DISTRIBUTORS:

• Margin as 6.5%.
• Schemes called “Dealer Scheme”.
• Dealer scheme can be informed to dealers based on
relationship or it may not be informed. It is up to the
decisions of distributors.
• If the discount rate is more than the competitors
company, then the distributor will fix the discount rate
more than the competitor from their investment and not
from the company, and the company will never
compensate those money to the distributors.
• Distributor will get registration under sales tax and not
from any other government. They will register under VAT.
They will be mentioned as watch dealing and not as brand
name as TIMEX, TITAN, etc.
• Distributor can deal with any number of company based
upon his capacity. Only if the company restricts the
distributor to deal only with the particular company then
they can only deal with that company brand not any other
company or other brands.

4.4. ADVANTAGES OF DISTRIBUTORS:

• Distributor is necessary for “Cost Curtail”.
• They will reduce the work load of the company.
• They have more responsibility than the company.
• They will act as a “Buffer”.
• After sales also distributor will play as a coordinator
between customer and service centre.
 4.5. DISADVANTAGES OF DISTRIBUTORS:
• They have to work on their own money, bank will not
provide any financial assistance.
• They provide blank cheque to the company in case if
the distributor done any default in payment.
• They are the risk bearer whereas, company is always in
the safe zone.
• They have to work on credit limit (90 days).

4.6. CONCLUSION:
• From the above information I came to know that the TIMEX
Company is a brand – oriented company which I find that
customers prefer only branded products with new styles and
looks. The Timex Group has created an infrastructure and a
marketing network that's absolutely enviable.

• The company produces new styles and shows creativity in

the products which absolutely leads to coverage of more
customers in the market.
• Thus only through the distribution channel this company can
increase the sales volume as the product reaches all the
nook and corner of the world through effective distributors
at world wide.

• The only one suggestion which I want to give to the company

is nothing but creating awareness about the product through
effective advertisements through Medias.

BIBILIOGRAPHY:
WEBSITES VIEWED:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_%28business%29
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Group_USA
 http://www.pmwf.com/TimexOnlineMuseum/TimexHistory.ht
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 http://www.timex.com/
 http://www.linkedin.com/companies/timex
 http://www.timexindia.com/tgpel.aspx
 http://www.timexindia.com/brands.aspx
 http://www.watchshop.com/Timex-Watches.html