a business research synopsis on the topic impact of brand awareness on consumers attitude towards counterfeited/fake brands.it is a model synopsis which can be used for your research purposes

1. Impact of Brand Awareness on Consumers
Attitude towards Counterfeited Brands.(With
Special Reference to Mobile brands in india).
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Submitted by
Shihab Ali.m
A Dissertation report submitted in partial fulfillment
of requirements for internal evaluation(B.Com 5th
semester).
PSMO College Tirurangadi, october-2013

2. Introduction
Counterfeiting is the practice of manufacturing
goods, often of inferior quality, and selling them
under a brand name without the brand owner’s
authorization. Generally, counterfeit goods are sold
under a trademark that is identical to or substantially
indistinguishable from the brand owner's
trademark for the same goods, without the approval
or oversight of the trademark owner. Many well-
known brands, spanning various industries, are
victims of counterfeiting. Brand awareness means the
awareness of the existence of the brand.

3. Statement of the problem
For centuries counterfeits have presented a serious
challenge for the consumer brands. Counterfeiting is not
just about losing money on illicit sales, but the public
safety and health is also put at risk, because the
counterfeiter is not really bothered about safety features.
In a detailed breakdown of the counterfeit goods industry,
the total loss faced by countries around the world is $600
billion, with the United States facing the most economic
impact.In India it self many famous brands are being
counterfeited. For example;in India it is found that Fake
medicines are estimated to occupy 15-20 % of the
totalmarket, 10% of major soft drinks sold are fake, Over
60 companies have their names starting with NIKE etc.

4. Due to these negative impacts companies are spending
crores of money for creating brand awareness among the
consumers, so that they will be able to distinguish fakes
from legitimates and stay away from them. But
unfortunately consumers buying decisions are not only
influenced by brand awareness, they are also attracted by
low price, convenience to purchase, quality etc. So in such
a situation what this research is trying to study is the
relationship between brand awareness and
consumers perception of counterfeited brands and
also to know, is their any meaning for the crores
spend by companies on creating brand awareness to
overcome the challenges of counterfeiting?.

5. Objectives:
Following are the research objectives
•To Analyze the relationship between Brand awareness
and consumer preference .
•To identify the factors influencing consumer buying
behavior.
•To find out the elements creating brand awareness.
•To review the customer purchasing habits against
quality and price attributes.
•To check the effectiveness of brand awareness programs in
overcoming the challenges of counterfeiting .

6. Hypothesis
H0 = There is no relationship between brand awareness and
consumer preference.
•Customers always look for price rather than quality and
popularity while choosing the product.
•Brand awareness and the purchase of fake brands have
no relation.
•Brand awareness programs are not effective in
preventing the challenges of counterfeiting.

7. Variables
1. Brand awareness.
2. purchase of fake brands.
Educational level.
Access to company advertising.
Sources of brand awareness.
Emergency purchase.
Price of fake brands.
Quality of fake brands.
Quantity purchase
In ability to purchase branded products.
Easy availability.

8. 3.Advertisement.
Access to advertisement.
Media.
Advertisement and brand awareness.
Attitude towards advertisement.
Price of products.
Quality of products.
Brand identity and popularity.
Luxury.
Imitation of others.
After sale service.
Discount.
Product availability.
4.Buying behaviour.

9. Research Methodology
1.Basic design of the study.
This research is Descriptive in nature. In descriptive
research the data needed for the study are collected
through observation, interview and mailed questionnaire.
That means the main sources of information are primary
sources. In order to collect information about company
advertisement and some product information the
researcher also needed to use secondary sources. The
primary data will be collected from the selected
respondents using a structured questionnaire.

10. 2.Nature of the sample.
In order to select the samples, researcher has to use
purposive sampling. This is because a proper sampling
frame is not available in this study and also the
researcher wanted to include proportionate samples
from various age groups which will be a proper
representation of the population. The number of
samples to be used is 100.

11. 3.The data collection techniques.
Primary source of information
Primary source of data required to proceed with this
research will be collected from selected consumers by
using a questionnaire .A sample size of 100 is choosen to
gather the required information about the customer
buying behavior for duplicates . opinion from the
selected respondents will be used as the primary source
of information. The researcher has to collect consumer
awareness details of 50 mobile brands in india
The real methods for collecting various kinds of data has
explained below in detail:-

12. Secondary source of information
Secondary source of information has to collect from
different Economic reviews and Books stating the
information about customer purchasing behavior and
details of brand awareness programs of companies.
Few websites are also needed to use to collect the
statistics regarding the impact of duplicates on the
branded companies.

13. 4.Statistical tools.
Since the research has involved a number of
comprehensive quantitative figures related to both
brand awareness and counterfeiting and also sales
details of both original brands and their fakes, variety of
charts and graphs has to use for the purpose of analysis.
The following are the tools used in this
research:--
A.Correlation(r)
correlation will be used to measure the relationship
between brandawareness and purchase of fake brands
by the consumers.

14. Formula for calculating correlation:--
B.Chi square test( )
in this research chi square will be used to measure
the effectiveness of brand awareness programs in
overcoming the challenges of counterfeiting.
formula for calculating chi-square:--

15. Literature Review
1.Counterfeiting Exposed: Protecting Your Brand and Customers
David M. Hopkins, Lewis T. Kontnik, Mark T. Turnage –willy 2013;
A clear and compelling guide to the complex world of counterfeiting
This book provides readers with an overview of the complex subject of
counterfeiting in the twenty-first century-not the traditional notion of
counterfeiting fake currency, but the counterfeiting of luxury goods.
2. The Economic Impact of Counterfeiting and Piracy-OECD
(organization for economic cooperation and development)-
2005;
Counterfeiting and piracy are illicit businesses in which criminal
network thrive.the report shows that the item that they and other
counterfeiters and pirates produce and distribute are often
substandard and can even be dangerous,posing health and safety
risks thatrange from mild to lifethreatening…the magnitude of
counterfeiting and piracy are of such significance that they copled
strong and sustained action from governments,business and
cosumers.

16. 3.Fighting brand counterfeiting in E-commerce: Nike as an
example ---Annika Kristin baker;
The term product piracy has developed in the end of the
seventies,as a high number of products entered the market,which
in fact were marked with a brand,but which did not derive from
the original manufacturer.It seemed that time that exclusively
luxury goods,high priced and very prestigious,were affected by
product counterfeiting.
4.Kasl Kollmannová, D. [2012],“Fake Product? Why Not!”
Attitudes Toward ,The Consumption Of Counterfeit Goods In Cee
As Shown On The Example Of Slovakia, Central European
Business Review Research Papers Volume 1, Number 2, October
2012 Accessed at www.ceeol.com., Accessed
5.Brands, trademarks, and advertising
Rodney D. Ryder-- LexisNexis Butterworths, 2003
On the legal protection of brands from copying, counterfeiting,
and unfair competition

17. Limitations
Limitations of sampling as the selection is not
randomly.
infinity of population.
Respondents reluctance .
Difficulty of combining all types of questions in
questionnaire.