Chapter

Dynamics of Day-Care Centn

‘NOURISHING THE BUDDING GENIUS’
 23

Day-care centres are in the business of providing day­

care service to pre-school children.' Unlike the
manufacturing companies, the day-care centres encounter
special problems of marketing their services. In the case
of a product, the quality is judged in terms of its
engineering specifications.1 But in the.case of a service,
like day-care, quality is judged by. the customers in terms
of their 'varied expectations'. Effectively managing
customer expectations sets the stage for surpassing them
which, is turn, contributes to cultivating a customer
franchise. Day-care centres will have to present a
realistic picture of their service to the parents. Day-care
staff must be trained and rewarded for delivering error-free
service. Day-care centres should periodically contact the
parents to ascertain their needs and expectations. Day-care
centre owners and the staff should regard service problems
as opportunities to impress customers (parents), not as
annoyances. Result-oriented day-care centres should
continuously evaluate and improve their performance
according to parents' expectations and perform consistently
above the adequate service level.

* This chapter provides a detailed account of the

organizational set up, type of day-care centres and their
philosophy, reasons for starting the day-care centres, fee
structure, socio-economic background of day-care centre
owners, staffing pattern, day-care centre activities and
facilities, and marketing strategies and experiences of the
day-care centre owners in providing day-care service to the
target market.

Day-care centres are small institutional establishments

offering day-care services (pre-school child care during day

1. See: Leonard L.Berry and A. Parasuraman: "Marketing Service: Competing Through

Quality"; (New York: Free Press, 1991).
 24

time) mainly targeted towards urban working parents. The

particulars of day-care centres in Mangalore Urban
Agglomeration and the year of their inception are given in
Table 2.1. Out of 28 day-care centres identified in this
area, 17.8 percent were started prior to 1980 and 25 percent
of them came into existence during 1980-1990 period. It
should be very clearly noted that more than 57 percent of
these day-care centres were started only after 1990. Hence,
it can be stated that the concept of day-care service is of
recent origin in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area.

TABLE 2.1
DAY-CARE CENTRES AND THE YEAR OF THEIR INCEPTION

Year of Inception Number Percentage

Prior to 1970 2 7.1

1970 - 1980 3 10.7
1980 - 1990 7 25.0
1990 onwards 16 57.2

Total 28 100.0

The data in respect of the initial amount of investment

of day-care centres (Table 2.2) reveal that slightly more
than 14 percent of the day-care centres made an initial
investment of less than Rs. 5000 and percentage of day-care
centres making an initial investment ranging between
Rs. 5000 - Rs. 25000 accounted for 21.4. Anothe r
30.4 percent made an investment of Rs. 25000 - Rs. 75000 to
start with. Nearly 18 percent stated that they committed an
amount ranging between Rs. 75000 - Rs. 1,00,000 as an
initial investment, while the day-care centres making an
initial investment of Rs. 1,00,000 and above accounted for
 25

DAY-CARE CENTRES AND THE YEAR

OF THEIR INCEPTION (in percentage)

Prior to 1970 1970-1980 1980-1990 1990 onwards

 26

25 percent. From this it follows that, at a minimum level,

a day-care centre needs to invest less than Rs. 5,000 to
start with and a highly sophisticated and comprehensive day­
care centre would require more than Rs. 1,00,000 as an
initial investment.

TABLE 2.2
PARTICULARS OF INITIAL INVESTMENT

Initial Investment Number Percentage

(in Rs)

Below 5, 000 '4 14.3

5,000 - 25,000 6 21.4
25,000 - 50,000 3 10.7
50,000 - 75,000 3 10.7
75,000 - 1,00,000 5 17.9
1, 00, 000 & above 7 25.0

Total 28 100.0

(Median Investment is Rs. 58333)

Table 2.3 shows the intake capacity of the day-care

centres operating in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration. Out of
28 day-care centres, 28.6 percent can accommodate a maximum
of 25 children. On the other hand, the percentages of day­
care centres with an intake capacity varying from 25-50 and
50-75 children account for 35.7 and 25 respectively.
However, only 10.7 percent of the day-care centres in
Mangalore Urban Agglomeration can accommodate more than 75
children.
 21

TABLE 2.3
INTAKE CAPACITY OF THE DAY-CARE CENTRES

Intake Capacity Number Percentage

(in Number of Children)

Below 25 8 28.6
25 - 50 10 35.7
50 - -75 7 25.0
75 & above • 3 10.7

Total 28 100.0

The relevant data and information pertaining to the

actual capacity utilisation of these day-care centres are
given in Table 2.4. Out of 28 centres/ 50 percent attract
less than 25 children, whereas the day-care centres
admitting 25-50 children account for- 28.6 percent.
Similarly, 10.7 percent admit 50-75 children. However, it
is worth noting that only the day-care centres having a
maximum intake capacity of 75 and more attract the same
number of children and reach their maximum capacity
utilisation. This may be probably due to the fact that
these centres are run not only on a large scale but also
render qualitative and professional day-care service to the
satisfaction of both the children and the parents. Hence,
it may be concluded that more than 89 percent of the day­
care centres in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area will have
to strive hard to attract and retain loyal customers to
attain maximum capacity utilisation.
 28

TABLE 2.4
PARTICULARS OF INTAKE CAPACITY UTILISATION

Capacity Utilisation Number Percentage

In Number of Children)

Below 25 14 50.0
25 - 50 8 28.6
50 - 75 3 10.7
75 & above 3 10.7

Total 28 100.0

(Median Intake of Children is 25)

In the course of the owners' survey, the researcher

could identify two broad categories of day-care centres in
Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area. They are centres
offering only day-care service and composite day-care
centres which also run Kindergarten classes in addition to
day-care service. The data (Table 2.5) show that more than
60 percent of the day-care centres in Mangalore Urban
Agglomeration belong to former category, exclusively
offering day-care service. Composite day-care centres
account for nearly 40% of the total day-care centres in the
area.

TABLE 2.5
TYPE OF DAY-CARE CENTRES

Type Number Percentage

Exclusively
Day-care Service 17 60.7
Composite Day-care
Centres with Kinder­
garten Classes 11 39.3

Total 28 100.0
 29

TYPE OF DAY-CARE CENTRES

Exclusive
61%
 30

It is interesting to note that all these day-care

centres are holding and nurturing various types of
'institutional philosophy' for offering day-care service.
The relevant details are furnished in Table 2.6. More than
28 percent strongly believe in the philosophy of imparting
'pre-school discipline and training' to the children in a
play-way method. Nearly 18 percent wished to be self-
employed and liked to offer employment opportunities for
unemployed, unmarried ladies as day-care staff. This
reflects entrepreneurial spirit coupled with a social
concern of these day-care centres 21.4 percent are nurturing
a, philosophy of providing a 'homely atmosphere for the
children' with love, care, attention and warmth. These
centres could be considered as "homely day-care centres".
Slightly more than 14 percent intend to assist middle class
working parents living in nuclear families in overcoming
their child day-care problem. Hence, they are nurturing
'need based day-care philosophy'. Finally, nearly
18 percent expressed their philosophy of developing a child
into an 'integrated personality' by bringing out its hidden
talents at an early age in a professional way. In this way,
the philosophy of a day-care centre is providing these
institutions a sense of purpose, pride, and direction in
conducting day-care centre activities and offering "value-
rich" day-care service to the target market.
 31

TABLE 2.6
PHILOSOPHY OF THE DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNER FOR
STARTING A DAY-CARE CENTRE

SI.No. Philosophy Number Percentage

1. To impart pre-school discipline

and training to the children in
a play-way method. 8 28.6

2. To be self-employed and to offer

employment mainly to unemployed,
unmarried ladies. 5 17.9

3. To provide a homely atmosphere

for the children with love, care
attention and warmth. 6 21.4

4. To help middle class working

parents living in nuclear families
in overcoming their child care
problem 4 14.2

5. To develop a child into an

integrated personality by bringing
out its hidden.talents at an
early age in a professional way , 5 17.9

Total 28 100.0

It is to be clearly noted that most of the owners of

the day-care centres had one or the other compelling reason
to start-a day-care centre much before developing 'a day­
care centre philosophy'. As far as ownership pattern of the
day-care centre is concerned, the researcher could identify
two types: individually-run and institutionally-managed.
Out of 28 day-care centres identified for the purpose of the
study, as many as 24 (85.7%) are individually.run and the
 32

remaining 4 (14.3%) are managed by the educational trusts.

35.7 percent of the total (Table 2.7) mentioned the
rendering day-care service to the needy parents in the
region as a motive behind starting the centre. 25% stated
that 'fascination for training children in their formative
years' was a major driving force for starting the centre.
It is worth noting that all the 4 institutionally-run day­
care centres stated one of the above two. motives behind
establishing day-care centres. The other reasons mentioned
by the individually run day-care centre owners were: "To
supplement family income"; "eagerness, to utilise teaching
experience obtained abroad"; and to "utilise idle time in a
constructive manner".

TABLE 2.7
MAJOR REASONS THAT PROMPTED TO START A DAY-CARE CENTRE
AS STATED BY THE DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

SI. Major Reasons Number Percentage

No.

1 . To supplement family income 4 14.3

2. To utilise idle time 3. 10.7

3. Fascination for training the

children in their formative years 7 25.0

4. Eagerness to utilise teaching

experience obtained abroad 4 14.3

5. To render day-care service to the

needy parents in the region 10 ' 35.7

Total 28 100.0
 33

Age-wise and sex-wise classification of children found

in day-care centres is given in Table 2.8. In total/ the
researcher could find 767 children (423 male and 344 female)
in 28 day-care centres based on their admission registers.
This provided a male-female ratio of 1.2:1. More than
32 percent of the children belonged to the age-group of
2.5 - 3 years and 45.4 percent belong to the age-group of
3 - 3.5 years. From this analysis, it could be stated that
77.5 percent of the children found in the day-care centres
of Mangalore Urban Agglomeration belonged to the age-group
of 2.5 - 3.5 years.

TABLE 2.8
AGE-WISE & SEX-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF CHILDREN FOUND
IN DAY-CARE CENTRES

Child's Male Percentage Female Percentage Total Percentage

Age to total
(in yrs.)

Below 1 3 0.7 2 0.6 5 0.6

1-1.5 8 1.9 5 1.4 13 1.7
1.5-2 20 4.7 16 4.6 36 4.7
2-2.5 40 9.4 32 9.3 72 9.4
2.5-3 134 31.7 112 32.6 246 32.1
3-3.5 192 45.4 156 45.3 348 45.4
3.5-4 14 3.3 ‘ 13 3.8 27 3.5
4-4.5 7 1.7 4 1.2 11 1.4 '
4.5 & above 5 1.2 4 1.2 9 1.2

Total 423 100.0 344 100.0 767 100.0

Male - Female-Ratio : 1.2:1

(Median age of male child and female child is 3.016 years)
 34

SEX-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF CHILDREN

FOUND IN DAY-CARE CENTRES (In Nos.)

Male
423

Female
344
 35

It is to be noted that there is no uniform fee

structure maintained by all the day-care centres mainly due
to two reasons. Firstly, these day-care centres are not yet
brought within the jurisdiction of any district governing
body. Secondly, they vary in terms of sophistication and
child care facilities. In the light of this study, fee
structure ranged between less than Rs. 75 per child per
month and Rs. 375 and above (Table 2.9). 28.6 percent
charged a monthly fee of Rs. 75-150 per child and another
25 percent charged a monthly fee of Rs. 150-225 per child.

TABLE 2.9
PARTICULARS OF FEES COLLECTED PER CHILD PER MONTH

Amount of monthly Number of Percentage

fees collected day-care
(in Rs.) centres

Below 75 2 7.1
75 - 150 8 28.6
150 - 225 7 25.0
225 - 300 5 17.9
300 - 375 3 10.7
375 & above 3 10.7

Total 28 100.0

Based on the type of child care facilities offered by

the day-care centres in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area,
the researcher could classify these centres into 3 groups,
viz; centres providing only minimum child care facilities,
minimum plus something more (average) and the centres
providing all possible (maximum) day-care amenities to the
children (Table 2.10).
 36

It could be noticed from the table that most of the

day-care centres offer child care facilities such as
drinking water, toilets, baby-chairs, blackboard, reading
and writing materials, toys, picture charts, sleeping-cum
rest room, tape-recorders, coloured chalk, tricycles,
separate room for keeping the belongings of the children and
first-aid facilities.

TABLE 2.10
PARTICULARS OF MINIMUM, AVERAGE AND MAXIMUM FACILITIES
PROVIDED TO THE CHILDREN BY THE DAY-CARE CENTRES

Level Description of Facilities

Minimum: Drinking water, toilets, baby-chairs,

blackboard, reading and writing materials, toys,
picture charts, sleeping-cum-rest room.

Average: .. Minimum facilities + tape-recorders, coloured

chalk, tricycles, separate rooms for keeping
belongings of the ^children, providing snacks and
meals, first-aid facilities.

Maximum: Minimum + average facilities + video, aquarium,

pet animals, birds, garden and swings, high tech
toys and other play materials, video games,
separate sleeping, dining and indoor game,
playing rooms, playground, holding periodic
competitions, separate facility for providing
physical exercise, dance and yoga classes and
imparting moral, cultural, environmental values,
• telephone, doctor.
 37

Normally, customers who are in need of a particular

service tend to go to such service providers who keep them
happy by providing a wide range of facilities. Day-care
centres also vary in providing facilities to their customers
depending upon the resources at their disposal. On the
basis of facilities provided, the various day-care centres
in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration could be divided into three
categories as stated in Table 2.10. Table 2.11 shows the
number of day-care centres providing only minimum
facilities, centres providing average facilities and centres
providing maximum facilities. Nearly 18 percent provide
only minimum facilities, while about 46 percent of them are
providing average facilities. The percentage of day-care
centres providing maximum facilities is 35.7.

TABLE 2.11
NUMBER OF DAY-CARE CENTRES PROVIDING MINIMUM AVERAGE
AND MAXIMUM FACILITIES

Facilities provided Number Percentage

Minimum 5 17.9
Average 13 46.4
Maximum 10 35.7

Total 28 100.0

Religion-wise classification of individually-run day­

care centre owners is given in Table 2.12. More than
58 percent of the owners are Christians, while the remaining
nearly 42 percent belong to Hindu religion. It is worth
 38

mentioning that not even a single Muslim is running a day­

care centre in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area.

TABLE 2.12
RELIGION-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF
DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

Religion Number Percentage

Hindu 10 41.7
Muslim 0 0.0
Christian 14 58.3

Total 24 100.0

Note: Out of 28 day-care centres, 4 are run by educational

trusts.

Age-wise classification of day-care centres owners is

presented in Table 2.13. Nearly 29 percent of the day-care
centre owners belong to the age-group of less than 40 years,
50 percent of them belong to the age-group ranging from 40-
45 years, about 13 percent belong to the age-group ranging
from 45-50 years and another 8,3 percent of them are in the
age-group of above 50 years. From this analysis, it follows
that more than half of the owners of the day-care centres
are fairly young and energetic people who can take good care
of the children as they have a long future ahead of them to
make appreciable advancement in their business career.
 39

RELIGION-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

(in percentage)

Hindu Muslim Christian

 40

TABLE 2.13
AGE-WISE CLASSIFICATION OF
DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

Age-group Number Percentage

(in years)

Below 40 7 29.2
40 - 45 12 50.0
45 - 50 3 12.5
50 and above 2 8.3

24 100.0

(Median•age is 42.083 years.)

Note: Out of 28 day-care centres, 4 centres are run by

educational trusts.

An attempt is also made to look into the occupational

background of these day-care centre owners. It should be
clearly noted that slightly more than 79 percent of the
individually-run day-care centres are owned by housewives
and the remaining nearly 21 percent are being run by retired
school teachers {Table 2.14). Hence, it could be concluded
that housewives dominate in running the individually-run
day-care centres in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area.
 41

TABLE 2.14
OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND OF
THE DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

Occupational Number Percentage

Background.

Retired School Teachers 5 20.8

Housewives ' 19 ,/ 79.2

Total 24 100.0

Note: Out of 28 day-care centres, 4 are run by the

educational trusts.

With regard to the educational profile of the day-care

centre owners (Table 2.15), it can be said that 41 percent
are graduates and 21 percent are matriculates.

TABLE 2.15
EDUCATIONAL PROFILE OF THE DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

Education Number Percentage

Primary 2 8.3
Matriculation 5 20.8
Pre-University 4 16.7
Graduation 10 41.7
Post-Graduation 3 12.5

Total 24 100.0

Note: Out of 28 day-care centres, 4 are run by the

educational trusts.
 42

OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND OF
THE DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS

Retired School Teachers

21%

Housewives
79%
 43

It should be clearly noted that these-day-care centres

in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area are not following a
uniform staffing pattern for obvious reasons. The
researcher could identify four varieties of staffing pattern
of these day-care centres (Table 2.16). In more than
14 percent centres, owner himself/herself teaches the small
number of children. In 7.1 percent of the cases, owner is
managing the day-care centre assisted by a trained teacher.
The owner is taking the assistance of a teacher and an aayah
in 42.9 percent of the cases. In nearly 36 percent of the
cases, a day-care centre is run by the owner by employing a
teacher, a helper and one or more aayahs. In this way, the
staffing pattern is normally governed by the nature, size
and philosophy of the day-care centres.

TABLE 2.16
PARTICULARS OF STAFFING PATTERN OF THE DAY-CARE CENTRES

SI. Staffing Pattern Number of Percentage

No. Centres

1. Exclusively managed by the owner 4 14.3

2. Owner + Teacher 2 7.1
3. Owner + Teacher + Aayah 12 42.9
4. Owner + Teacher + Helper + Aayah 10 35.7

Total 28 100.0

The job description (duties and responsibilities) of

the day-care staff is presented in Table 2.17. A 'teacher'
of a day-care centre is expected to perform certain
 44

activities and discharge responsibilities such as teaching,

interacting with the children, story-telling, singing
nursery rhymes, dancing and playing with the children..

A ■ 'helper' looks after the activities such as taking

charge of the children from their parents/guardians, keeping
the belongings of the children in the right places, making
the children sit in their respective places, showing charts,
books and other play materials and helping in feeding the
children.

An 'aayah' does the acts of sweeping and cleaning,

repositioning the scattered toys and play materials, taking
the children to the toilet, seeing to it that the children
sleep during their sleeping hours and cleaning the tiffin
boxes of the children. This suggests that each memeber of
staff in multi-staffed day care centres has got a set of
well-defined duties and responsibilities, and the day-care
centre owner/manager is accountable for the over-all
performance of the day-care centre concerned.

TABLE 2.17
JOB DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY-CARE CENTRE STAFF

SI. Nature of Job Job Description

No.

1. Teacher Teaching, interacting, story-telling,

singing nursery rhymes, action songs,
dancing and playing with the
children.
 45

2. Helper Taking charge of the children from

the parents/guardians, keeping the
belongings of the children in an
orderly manner, making them sit in
their respective places,, showing
charts, books and other play'"-
materials, helping in feeding the
children.

3. Aayah Sweeping and cleaning the floor, re­

positioning the scattered toys and
other play materials, taking the
children to the toilet, seeing to it
that the children sleep during their
sleeping hours, cleaning the tiffin
boxes of the children.

Day-care centres normally put certain conditions to the

parents at the time of admitting the children.. The most
prominent conditions made known to the parents by the day­
care centres are listed in Table 2.18. They include:
"regularity in sending the children"; "not sending the
children when they are sick"; "sending children with proper
food and clothes", "assuming the responsibility of dropping
and picking up of children"; and "not sending children with
cash and ornaments". If these conditions are properly and
adequately fulfilled by the parents, it would be mutually
beneficial for both the day-care centre and the parents.
 46

TABLE 2.18
NORMAL CONDITIONS PUT BY THE DAY-CARE CENTRE
TO THE PARENTS

SI. Nature of Conditions

No.

1. Regularity in sending the children to the day-care

centre.

2. Not to send the children when they are sick.

3. To send the children with necessary food and

clothes.

4. Assume the responsibility of dropping and picking up

the children.

5. Not to send the children with cash and ornaments.

An attempt is also made to understand the feelings of

the owners in running these centres and they are projected
in Table 2.19. Nearly 18 percent shared their "pleasurable
and rewarding experience" of running the day-care centres.
Of course, the remaining 82 percent of the owners/managers
expressed one or the other negative feelings in respect of
running their day-care centre. The most prominent among
them were: "lack of punctuality of the parents in dropping
and picking up the children"; and "irregularity of the
parents in attending the meetings conducted by the day-care
centres".
 47

TABLE 2.19
FEELINGS EXPRESSED BY THE OWNERS IN RUNNING THEIR
DAY-CARE CENTRES

SI. Feelings No. of Percentage

NO. Responses

1. Irregularity•of the parents in

attending the meetings 6 21.4

2. Lack of punctuality of the

parents in dropping and picking
up the children 8 28.5

3. Lack of promptness in the

payment of fees and other
service charges 5 17.9

4. Hesitation of the parents in

lodging complaints
and offering suggestions 4 14.3

5. Pleasurable and rewarding

experience 5 17.9

Total 28 100.0

As a matter of fact, day-care centre owners will have

to focus on two important marketing tasks: retaining the
existing customers, and attracting new customers by
employing suitable marketing strategies. It is to be noted
that day-care centres in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area
are employing more than one marketing strategy to woo the
customers (Table 2.20). Nearly 68 percent of the day-care
 48

centre owners/managers stated that they evolve their

marketing strategy around 'image building' by offering
'excellent day-care service'. 39.3 percent adopt a
marketing strategy of "celebrating children's birthday" and
"giving advertisements about their day-care service in the
form of pamphlets, brochures and handbills". Slightly more
than 57 percent adopt a powerful marketing strategy of
"persuading past and present customers to make positive
recommendations (if any !) to others by offering surprise
gifts". It is worth noting that more than 21 percent
conduct periodic "customer-satisfaction surveys" to keep
abreast of parents' changing needs and aspirations and
25 percent also conduct 'ideal-parent contest' at the day­
care centre once in a year. If these marketing strategies
are properly evolved and implemented, they would certainly
make a positive and powerful impact on the customers
sentiments, and as such improve the profitability of the
day-care centres on the one hand and enhance parental
satisfaction on the other.

TABLE 2.20
DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS’ MARKETING STRATEGIES TO
ATTRACT THE NEW CUSTOMERS

SI. No. of Percentage

NO. Strategy Responses to Total
(N=28)

1. Image building by offering

excellent day-care service 19 69.9

2. Conducting periodic customer-

satisfaction surveys 6 21.4
 49

3. Celebrating children's birthday

by inviting the parents 11 39.3

4. Conducting 'ideal-parent contest'

at the day-care centre 7 25.0

5. Advertisement s 11 39.3

6. Persuading the past and the

present customers to make positive
recommendations to others by
Offering surprise gifts 16 57.1 !

Total 52

Response Rate: 1.9

Note: Total percentage will not be equal to 100 due to

~multiple responses. -

j To sum up, day care centres are small institutional,

establishments specially run by the women folk to offer day­
care iservices to the needy customers. The number of such:
centres increased tremendously after 1980 due to the sharp
increase in the number of working parents in Mangalore Urban
Agglomeration. On an average, 25 children are found in
various day-care centres though actual number of children,
varies from 8 to 80. Day-care centres operating in
Mangalore Urban Agglomeration area are of two types: those
offering day-care services only and those which combine day­
care activities along with Kinder-garten classes (composite
day-care centres). Though children in the age-group of 1-
5.5 years are found in different day-care centres, the
 DAY-CARE CENTRE OWNERS’ MARKETING STRATEGIES TO
ATTRACT THE NEW CUSTOMERS (in percentage)

ooooooooo
Excellent service Surveys Birthdays Contests Ads Offering gifts
50
 51

number of children in the age-group of 2.,5-3.5 years is very

significant.

The owners of these day-care centres have given

several reasons for starting day-care centres, the most
important being rendering 'value-rich' day-care service to
the needy customers in the region. The owners running the
day-care centres in Mangalore Urban Agglomeration are either
Hindus or Christians. Barring a few, most of the day-care
centres have employed staff such as teachers, helpers and
aayahs in looking after the activities at the centre.
Majority of the day-care centre owners have high academic
qualifications. Most of them have expressed negative
feelings in respect of running their day-care centres though
some of them shared their pleasurable and rewarding
experience. To meet the changing requirements of the
market, the day-care centres have evolved different
marketing strategies in order to attract, motivate and
retain the customers.