PRODUCT MODIFICATION AND ITS IMPACT ON COMPANY PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF GUINESS NIGERIA PLC.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Right from time immemorial, product has wants. Though consumers buy different kinds of goods or product by manufacturing companies to satisfy their needs but it reached a time due to rapid advancement in technology when they start demanding for changes in a particular product (existing products) they have been using for a long time. Consumers demand for new style, model, colour, package, taste etc that is, just to see the product wear new look.
Modification relates to effectiveness, convenience and safety of product (e.g washing machine that uses less heat).product modification means changing one or more of the product’s features and may involve reformulation and re-packaging to enhance its customers appeal. Modification can give a competitive advantage e.g, a company may be able to charge a higher price and enhance customer’s loyalty. Product modification strategy is normally aimed at existing markets, therefore manufacturing a product or modifying the existing is determined by the market or end users requirement, so company must pay keen attention to competitor’s product, customer’s requirement, and ability to design and prototype, full in-house manufacturing capability and a potential marketing plan.BRASSINGTON and PETIT (2003) classify modification into three distinct types; quality, design and performance.
Quality modification relate to the product dependability and durability.
Design modification alters the aesthetic and sensory appeal of the product (such as its taste, texture, sound and appearance) such modification can act to differentiate product in different market place.
Performance modification relate to effectiveness, convenience and safety of product (eg washing machine that uses less heat and water).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
 In contemporary organizations, be it small scale and large firms; have begun to realize the relevance of product modification that enables it to have competitive advantage in the industry. The springing up of the new companies that produces similar goods and high increase in technological knowhow has lead to consistent product modification.   Also the life cycle of the product which a product passes through from the introduction stage, the growth state, maturity stage to decline stage has lead to product modification to increase the life span of the product and on turn to increase company’s competitive performance (KOYLER 2002).Despite its importance, certain issues are craving to be resolved and attended to, hence the form the foundation of this research and they include;
To find out if consumers are aware of the product?
To ascertain if product modification enhances competitive advantage?
To know the extent with which product modification increases turnover?
To know the extent to which product modification increases consumer satisfaction?
1.3RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Organization does not exist in a vacuum but rather in a complex environment which determine strategy or degree of diversification employed by organization.Many manufacturing firms have developed over the years, however GUINNESS NIGERIA Plc remained among the top. The purposes of this study are;
To find out if consumers are aware of the product.
To find out if product modification has given a competitive edge over its competitor.
To ascertain if product modification has increased the company’s profit turnover.
To find out if product modification did  lead to consumer satisfaction
1.4 RESEACH HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis is a tentative answer to a research question. It is often stated in the form of a relationship between a dependent variable and independent variable. The following hypotheses have been used in this research.
Ho: Null hypothesis
Hi: Alternative hypothesis
Hypothesis 1
Ho: There is no significant relationship between Product modification and competitive advantage.
Hi: There is a significant relationship between product modification and competitive advantage.
Hypothesis 11
Ho: There is no significant relationship between product modification and profit turnover.
Hi: There is a significant relationship between product modification and profit turnover
Hypothesis III
Ho: product modification does not influence consumer satisfaction.
Hi: Product modification influences consumer satisfaction.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Knowledge possibilities are expansive. In order to ensure that a research investigation is directed and focused, every study must have its own boundary otherwise the study may require eternity to complete. This work focus on determining if product modification has promoted company performance, as it concerns GUINENESS NIGERIA plc. Consequently, there are other type of modification that may exist in marketing and their impact on the company’s performance. The scope of data collection will be restricted to questionnaire and personal interview.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The importance of this research work can be viewed from the principal objectives that were set to achieve. That is, to say that, this research work would serve as source not only for the present time but vital material for those who are interested in future to know what product modification. Some of the significances are;
How to make an academic research for student is included
An advantage for any student willing to have knowledge on product modification.
Enabling the manufacturing companies to know what extent should they apply modification technique into their product
To promote the awareness that the adoption of modification continuously will lead to better competitive performance of the organization.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The realization of set goals is the desire of any research paper. Although business and social sciences investigations strive to employ scientific method and tools, even the very attempt is faced by different kinds of problems. Such problems limit the level of accuracy and reliability that the social scientist can achieve in any research work.
In as much as product modification process recognizes the impact of its environment and internal activities, certain issues act as constrain to the research work. Some of which are:
poor data base organization’s environment
Time; the research work was combined with academic work and submitted within a short period of time and this place a restriction on the scope.
Finance; this aspect limited the study a great deal as the cost of carrying out the research was high.
Respondents differs interpretation of questions administered which is a major challenge of primary data.