Chapter 1 Introduction To Services Marketing
Chapter 1 Introduction To Services Marketing
Chapter 1 Introduction To Services Marketing
Dedications About the Authors About the Contributors of the Cases Preface Acknowledgements v vi xi xxiii xxxiii
Part I:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
2
4 32 56
Part II:
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
82
84 110 134 168
Part III:
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
196
198 228 252 276
Part IV:
Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
Part V: Cases
Glossary Credits Name Index Subject Index
430
541 549 553 561
CHAPTER
introduction to
SERVICES MARKETING
LO 5 Identify the characteristics of
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
LO 1 Understand how services
contribute to a countrys economy. are transforming service markets. ownership service framework and understand how non-ownership affects services marketing strategies. of services.
LO 2 Identify the powerful forces that LO 3 Dene services using the non-
services and the distinctive marketing challenges they pose. of the expanded services marketing mix (the 7 Ps of services marketing).
OPENING VIGNETTE1
Every summer, millions of people travel across borders to visit foreign lands, looking for adventure or exotic experiences that will provide them with a welcome break from their daily routines. Today, a growing number of travelers combine their vacation with health treatment.
Figure 1.1 Thailand, famous for its temples, resorts and beaches, is now a booming destination for medical tourists as well.
Thailand, famous for its temples, resorts and beaches, is now a booming destination for medical tourists as well. Bumrungrad Hospital, Thailands premier hospital is located in Bangkok. Bumrungrad in the Thai language means care for the people. It has state-of-the art technology, rst class medical care and accommodation comparable to any ve-star hotel. This hospital is like a United Nations and boasts of having more foreign patients than any other hospital in the world. Its 900 physicians have been trained at the best Thai and international medical schools, and many have had international working experience, too. It is considered the No. 1 international hospital in the world, but its services are priced at about one-eighth of charges in the United States. In 1997, as a result of the Southeast Asian economic crisis, Bumrungrad had to change its strategy to draw in foreign patients in order to survive the crisis. To do that, Bumrungrad had to market itself aggressively as a hospital that meets all international standards. It obtained ISO certication for all its departments and systems in 1997. In 1999, it became the rst hospital in the world to receive ISO certication as a Comprehensive Tertiary Acute Medical Center. Bumrungrad also participated in road shows, and set up 17 representative ofces around the world to create awareness and promote its services. It has tie-ups with airlines and foreign healthcare companies. In 2001, it realized the potential of the Muslim market and launched a successful advertising campaign in Arabic newspapers. In mid-2003, it upgraded its website in such a manner that foreign patients could make travel arrangements, and purchase tour packages. Many of the facilities at the hospital could also be viewed online. Today, it has more than one million patients a year and almost 430,000 are foreign patients from 190 different countries.
Figure 1.2 Bumrungrad has grown beyond a typical brick-and-mortar health institution.
PART I
LO 1
Understand how services contribute to a countrys economy.
Services, 64%
Source
The World Factbook 2007, Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/elds/2012.html, accessed January 2008.
Cayman Islands (95%), Jersey (97%), Hong Kong (91%) Bahamas (90%), Bermuda (89%) Luxembourg (86%) USA (78%), Fiji (78%), Barbados (78%), Panama (77%) Belgium (75%), U.K. (75%), Japan (73%), Taiwan (72%) Australia (70%), Mexico (69%), Germany (69%), Israel (67%) Singapore (65%), Switzerland (65%), Poland (64%), Brazil (64%) Croatia (61%), Turkey (60%), S.Korea (57%) Argentina (56%), India (54%), Philippines (54%) Thailand (45%), Chile (45%), Malaysia (44%) China (40%), Indonesia (40%) UAE (35%), Laos (26%) 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Services as Percent of GDP
Source
The World Factbook 2007, Central Intelligence Agency, https://www.cia.gov/library/ publications/the-world-factbook/elds/2012. html, accessed January 2008
80
90
Which is the worlds most service-dominated economy? Probably, it is the Cayman Islands (95 percent)a group of small, British-administered islands in the western Caribbean, famous for both tourism and oshore nancial and insurance services. Panamas strong showing (78 percent) reects the fact that the Panama Canal (Figure 1.5) is widely used by both cruise ships and freight vessels. These ships are supported by container ports services, agship registry, repairs, provisioning, refueling and insurance. Financial services and tourism have also been booming. Close to the other extreme is Laos, where the service sector contributes only 26 percent to its GDP. Eighty percent of its workforce is in the agriculture sector, and agriculture contributes 50 percent to the GDP of Laos. China also has a large agricultural sector and booming manufacturing and construction industries. However, China is experiencing rapid economic growth, which is stimulating demand for business and consumer services. In future, services will account for a larger percentage of Chinas GDP than the current 40 percent.
Figure 1.4 Estimated size of service sector in selected countries as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product.
Figure 1.5 The Panama Canal forms the backbone of Panamas service economy.
PART I
In fact, many manufacturing rms have moved from just bundling supplementary services with their physical products, to marketing certain elements as stand-alone services. IBM, previously known mainly as a manufacturer of computers and business machines, oers four main groups of services today as part of IBM Global Services. They are strategic outsourcing, business consulting, integrated technology services and maintenance. (See Service Insights 1.1 on how they have achieved that transformation5).
Source
K. Subramanian, The Transformation of IBM, The Hindu, 24 July 2006, http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/24/ stories/2006072400291600.htm; Kevin Custis and Allan Henderson, Hiding in Plain Sight: Service Innovation, a New Priority for Chief Executive, white paper of IBM Global Business Services, IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM, 2006; http://www. ibm.com/investor, accessed January 2008.
LO 2
Identify the powerful forces that are transforming service markets.
Advances in Information Technology Growth of Internet Greater bandwidth Compact mobile equipment Wireless networking Faster, more powerful software Digitization of text, graphics, audio, and video
Globalization More companies operating on transnational basis Increased international travel International mergers and alliances Offshoring of customer service Foreign competitors invade domestic markets
New markets and product categories create increased demand for services in many existing markets, making it more competition intensive.
Innovation in service products and delivery systems, stimulated by application of new and improved technologies.
Success hinges on (1) understanding customers and competitors, (2) viable business models, and (3) creation of value for both customers and the rm. Increased focus on services marketing and management Figure 1.6 Factors stimulating the transformation of the service economy.
PART I
Table 1.1 shows specic examples of each of these forces and its impact on the service economy. Collectively, these forces are reshaping demand, supply, the competitive landscape and even the way customers buy and use services. Advancements in information technology allow much service work to be carried out far from where customers are located.
Table 1.1 Specic examples of forces that transform and impact the service economy.
Government Policies
Changes in regulations
Example
Ban on smoking in restaurants, and limitation of transfats in food preparation Privatization of infrastructure services like utilities and transportation
Privatization
New regulations to protect customers, employees, and the environment New agreements on trade in services
Companies from foreign countries can take over basic services like water, health, transportation and education
Social Changes
Rising consumer expectations More afuence
Example
Higher expectation of service quality and convenience Higher spending on tourism
Personal outsourcing Increased desire for buying experiences vs. things Rising consumer ownership of computers, cell phones, and high tech equipment Easier access to more information
Home cleaning services, baby and child care services Higher spending on luxury services like spa treatments Higher demand for laptops and 3G mobile phones Internet and podcasting
Migration
Many Indian nationals who have migrated to the USA now move back to home country Matured European countries
10
Business Trends
Push to increase shareholder value
Example
Shareholders pressure company boards to deliver higher returns
Emphasis on productivity and cost savings Manufacturers add value through service and sell services More strategic alliances
IBMs consulting and IT services for nancial markets Airlines form alliances such as Star Alliance and Oneworld
Hotels and motels at all levels dene standards more tightly and seek to meet them consistently
Growth of franchising
Museums seek to expand audiences and generate more frequent repeat visits
Example
Information at the ngertips of the customers, making them more knowledgeable and informed Allows for delivery of sophisticated and interactive educational content 3G mobile phones that integrate many high tech functions Public libraries, cafes, and hotels provide this service (free or at a price) to attract customers Customized software development by software consulting rms like Infosys Online download service providers
Faster, more powerful software Digitization of text, graphics, audio, and video
11
PART I
Globalization
More companies operating on transnational basis
Example
MNCs such as banks and Big 4 accounting rms have numerous operations around the world
More services offered to more places; new travel options for business and pleasure Merger between international airlines (e.g. KLM and Air France), banks, insurance companies, etc. Call center operations relocated to India, Philippines, etc.
A study by the international consulting rm McKinsey & Co. estimated that 11 percent of service jobs around the world could be carried out remotely (Figure 1.7). In practice however, McKinsey estimates that only 1 percent of all service employment in the developed countries is being oshored in 2008.6
Figure 1.7 Services today can be outsourced to cheaper destinations at the drop of a hatso keep your job and (and hat on) by remaining productive.
LO 3
Dene services using the nonownership service framework and understand how non-ownership affects services marketing strategies.
hus far, we have been discussing the growth of the service sector and factors that are transforming this sector. But what exactly is a service?
12
of the doctor. Service businesses do not normally transfer ownership of their products to customers. Instead, we can say that services represent a form of rental. Customers pay for the temporary right to use an object, hire the labor and expertise of personnel, or obtain access to facilities and networks.7 What customers value and are willing to pay for are desired experiences and solutions. The word rent here is a general term we use to describe a payment made for use of something or access to facilities or networks (usually for a dened period of time), instead of buying it outright (which is not even possible in many instances). We can identify ve broad categories within the non-ownership framework: u Rented goods services. These services allow customers to obtain the temporary right to use a physical object that they prefer not to own. Examples include: o Boats o Fancy dress costumes o Construction and excavation equipment u Dened space and place rentals. This is when customers obtain the use of a certain portion of a larger space in a building, vehicle or area. They usually share this space with other customers. Examples of this kind of rental include: o Seat in an aircraft o Suite in an oce building o Storage container in a warehouse Labor and expertise rentals. Here, other people are hired to perform work that customers either cannot or choose not to do themselves. Some of these include: o House cleaning o Car repair o Management consulting Access to shared physical environments. Customers rent the right to share the use of the environments. The locations may be indoors or outdoors, or a combination of both. Examples include: o Theme parks (Figure 1.8) o Trade shows o Toll roads Systems and networks: access and usage. Customers rent the right to participate in a specied network. Service providers use a variety of terms for access and use, depending on customer needs. Examples include: o Telecommunications o Utilities o Banking
Figure 1.8 Customers rent the right to use theme park facilities.
13
PART I
In many instances, two or more of these categories may be combined. For example, when you take a taxi, you are hiring the driver (labor) and a vehicle (space). The distinction between ownership and non-ownership aects the nature of marketing tasks and strategy. Service Insights 1.2 highlights six important marketing implications of renting versus owning.
There is a market for renting durable goods instead of selling them. Often, when a need is temporary, it makes more sense to rent than to own the product that meets that need. Even for longer term use, there may be nancial advantages in making rental/lease payments instead of capital investments. Therefore, marketers can add further value through services such as delivery and pickup, cleaning, insurance and maintenance. They can even supply trained personnel to operate rented equipment. Renting portions of a larger physical entity can form the basis for services. Renting my apartment or our oce suite signals the right to exclusive but temporary use of a unit within a larger building. Customers benet from economies of scale by sharing a large facility with many users, while enjoying various degrees of separation and privacy. Customers need to be more closely engaged with service suppliers. When buyers own something, they can use it in almost any way they like. In services however, rental means that service providers require some control over how customers use equipment and facilities. Customers must cooperate by learning and obeying the rules. Time plays a central role in most services. A key marketing challenge for service providers is to ensure that the objects, facilities or labor that
they oer, are rented out as fully as possible over time. They also need to ensure that the rates charged will maximize returns by being adjusted to reect varying levels of demand by dierent market segments. In that way, value can be created through higher revenues and prots. Since, many customers are time sensitive, service providers must improve the speed of delivery and convenience of service schedules, minimize waiting times and be sensitive to how people value and perceive time dierently.
Customer choice criteria may dier between rentals and outright purchases. For example, the choice of criteria for renting a car while on vacation in Hawaii is quite dierent from those for purchasing a car back home. Instead of worrying about physical characteristics such as color, upholstery and number of cup holders, customers will focus on the ease of making reservations, the rental location and hours, the attitudes and performance of service personnel, the cleanliness and maintenance of vehicles, and so forth. Services oer opportunities for resource sharing. In a world where many resources are believed to be nite, rental instead of ownership may be the best way to avoid waste (Figure 1.9).
Source
Adapted from Lovelock, C.& Event, G. (2004). Whither services marketing? In search of a paradigm and fresh perspectives. Journal of Service Research, 7 (August), pp. 20-41.
14
Figure 1.9 Shopping malls are usually shared spaces rented by many tenants.
LO 4
Identify the four broad categories of services.
ven if we accept that services do not transfer ownership, there are still major dierences among services. These dierences have important marketing implications. In services, people, physical objects, and data can be processed. The nature of the processing can be tangible or intangible. Tangible actions are performed on peoples bodies or to their physical possessions. Intangible actions are performed on peoples minds or to their intangible assets. This gives rise to the classication of services into four broad categories. They are people-processing, possession-processing, mental stimulus processing and information processing (Figure 1.10) with important marketing implications.8
Who or What is the Direct Recipient of the Service?
Nature of the Service Act Tangible Actions People People-processing (services directed at peoples bodies): Barbers Health care Mental stimulus processing (services directed at peoples mind): Education Advertising / PR Possessions Possession-processing (services directed at physical possessions): Refueling Disposal / recycling Information processing (services directed at intangible assets): Accounting Banking
Intangible Actions
15
PART I
People processing
These are services that are directed at the people themselves. They include being transported, fed or made more beautiful (Figure 1.11). Implications of people processing services include: u Customers have to be present in the physical location (service factory). This requires planning about the location of the service operation. Active cooperation of the customer is needed in the service delivery process. Need for managers to think about the process and output from the customers point of view. Apart from nancial costs, non-nancial costs like time, mental and physical eort, and even fear and pain need to be taken into account.
u u
Possession Processing
Customers may ask service organizations to provide treatment for some of their physical possessions. These physical possessions could include a house that is attacked by insects, dirty laundry (Figure 1.12), or a malfunctioning elevator for instance. The implications of such services are: u u There is no simultaneous production and consumption. Customer involvement tends to be limited to just dropping o or picking up the item (Figure 1.13).
Figure 1.11 A lady customer getting her hair washed and later styled in a salon, to look beautiful for a night out.
Figure 1.12 A laundry service is a possession-processing service. Figure 1.13 Customer involvement is limited to dropping off the car for maintenance.
16
These services touch peoples minds and have the power to shape attitudes and inuence behavior. These services include education, news and information, professional advice and certain religious activities. The core content of services in this category is information-based. Hence, it (whether music, voice, or visual images) can be converted to digital bits or analog signals and recorded (Figure 1.14). There are some implications that arise from these kinds of services: u u The customers do not have to be physically present in the service factory. They only need to be able to take in the information when it is being presented. Since the customers are in a position where they depend on the service provider, there is a potential for them to be given information that is untrue. Therefore, the service provider must maintain strong ethical standards. Services in this category can be inventoried for consumption at a later date, or even consumed repeatedly.
Figure 1.14 Orchestral concerts provide mental stimulation and pleasure.
17
PART I
Information processing
Information is the most intangible form of service output. However, it can be transformed into more permanent and tangible forms like letters, reports, books, CD-ROMs, or DVDs. Some of the services that are most highly dependent on the eective collection and processing of information are nancial and professional services like accounting (Figure 1.15), law, marketing research, management consulting and medical diagnosis.
Figure 1.15 An accountant helps an elderly couple sort out their tax ling.
It is sometimes dicult to tell the dierence between information processing and mental stimulus processing services. For example, if a stock broker performs an analysis of a clients brokerage transactions, it seems like information processing. However, when the results of the analysis are used to make a recommendation about the most appropriate type of investment strategy for the future, it would seem like mental stimulus processing. Therefore, for simplicity, mental stimulus processing services and information processing services are sometimes termed informationbased services.
Denitions of Service
Clearly, services cover a huge assortment of dierent and often complex activities across the four broad categories we just discussed, which makes them dicult to dene. Early denitions of services contrasted them against goods. One example is the denition that services are acts, deeds or performances. Goods on the other hand, were dened as devices, materials, objects or things. In these early denitions, intangibility and perishability were the two most universally-cited characteristics that critically distinguished services from goods.
18
We now recognize that intangibility can consist of both mental and physical dimensions. Mental intangibility is that which cannot be easily visualized and understood, while physical intangibility is that which cannot be touched or experienced by the other senses.9 A useful way to distinguish between goods and services is to place them on a continuum, ranging from tangible-dominant to intangible-dominant (see Figure 1.16 for a hypothesized scale presenting an array of examples).10
High
Salt Detergents CD Player Wine Golf Clubs New Car Tailored clothing Fast -Food Restaurant
PHYSICAL ELEMENTS
Plumbing Repair Health Club Airline Flight Landscape Maintenance Consulting Life Insurance Internet Banking
Low
INTANGIBLE ELEMENTS
High
Figure 1.16 Distinguishing between goods and services using the product-service continuum.
Source
Although economists, starting with Adam Smith in 1776, have long maintained that services are perishable and cannot be stored, many service performances are, in fact, designed to create durable value for their recipients (your own education being a case in point). As we noted earlier, rather than continuing to focus on the dierence between goods and services, Christopher Lovelock and Evert Gummesson recently advanced a more valid distinction between ownership and non-ownership (see Denition of Services) as ways of obtaining desired benets and solutions in the marketplace.11 When buying a service, customers rarely acquire ownership of the elements that create value for them (food in restaurants and spare parts needed for repairs are among the exceptions). This new way of thinking is reected in the denition of services presented below.
DEFINITION OF SERVICES
Services are economic activities offered by one party to another. Often, timebased performances are used to bring about desired results in recipients themselves or in objects or other assets for which purchasers have responsibility. In exchange for their money, time and effort, customers expect to obtain value from access to goods, labor, professional skills, facilities, networks and systems. However, they do not normally take ownership of any of the physical elements involved.12
19
PART I
LO 5
Identify the characteristics of services and the distinctive marketing challenges they pose.
Table 1.2 Marketing implications of eight common differences between services and goods. Difference Most service products cannot be inventoried Intangible elements usually dominate value creation Implications Customers may be turned away or have to wait Customers cannot taste, smell, or touch these elements and may not be able to see or hear them Harder to evaluate service and distinguish from competitors Customers perceive greater risk and uncertainty Customers interact with providers equipment, facilities, and systems Poor task execution by customers may hurt productivity, spoil service experience, curtail benets Appearance, attitude and behavior of service personnel and other customers can shape the experience and affect satisfaction Harder to maintain consistency, reliability, and service quality or to lower costs through higher productivity Difcult to shield customers from results of service failures Services are often difcult to visualize and understand Customers may be involved in co-production Marketing-Related Topics Smooth demand through promotions, dynamic pricing, and reservations Work with operations to adjust capacity Make services tangible through emphasis on physical clues Employ concrete metaphors and vivid images in advertising, branding Educate customers to make good choices, explain what to look for, document performance, offer guarantees Develop user-friendly equipment, facilities, and systems Train customers to perform effectively; provide customer support Recruit, train, and reward employees to reinforce the planned service concept Target the right customers at the right times, shape their behavior Set quality standards based on customer expectations; redesign product elements for simplicity and failure-proong Institute good service recovery procedures Automate customer-provider interactions; perform work while customers are absent Find ways to compete on speed of delivery, minimize burden of waiting, offer extended service hours Seek to create user-friendly, secure web sites and free access by telephone Ensure that all information-based service elements can be downloaded from site
Customers see time as a scarce resource to be spent wisely; dislike wasting time waiting, want service at times that are convenient Information-based services can be delivered through electronic channels such as the Internet or voice telecommunications, but core products involving physical activities or products cannot
20
Most services involve actions and performances. They are temporary and perishable. Thus, they cannot be stored away as inventory for future use. (Exceptions are found among those service activities that can be recorded for later use in electronic or printed form, such as a video of a concert or a lecture.) When there is no demand, unused capacity is wasted. During the periods when demand exceeds supply, customers may be disappointed if they are turned away. A key task for service marketers, is therefore to nd ways of smoothing demand levels to match available capacity.
Figure 1.17 Insurance services are intangible, but Nationwide illustrates their reliability with a dash of creative advertising.
It is often the intangible elements such as processes, Internet-based transactions and the expertise and attitudes of service personnel that create the most value in service performances. When customers cannot taste, smell, touch, see or hear these elements, it may be more dicult for them to assess these important service features before purchase. Marketers often employ physical images and metaphors to highlight service benets and demonstrate the rms competencies. These physical clues and strong brand associations help to make services more tangible13 (see Figure 1.17).
Many services can be described as mentally intangible. This means that it is dicult for customers to visualize the experience in advance of purchase and to understand what they will be getting. Pictures of the actual service oering can help make it easier for customers to know what to expect (see Figure 1.18). This situation can make service purchases seem risky. Service marketers can reduce perceived risk for customers by educating them on what to expect both during and after service delivery, documenting performance, explaining what was done and why, oering guarantees, and by emphasizing the rms credentials and experiences. The remaining key dierences listed in Table 1.2 are elaborated on in the expanded services marketing mix.
Figure 1.18 Vivid images can facilitate visualization of the service offering.
21
PART I
LO 6
Understand the components of the expanded services marketing mix.
22
Price and Other User Outlays. This component must be addressed from both the rms perspective, as well as the customers perspective. For rms, the pricing strategy determines income generation. This income is used to oset the cost of providing the service, and to create prots. From the customers perspective, price is a key part of the costs they must incur to obtain the wanted benets. To calculate whether a particular service is worth it, customers go beyond looking at money, to assessing whether it is worth their time and eort (Figure 1.20). Service marketers therefore, need to take into account customers nonmonetary costs when setting prices. Another important topic for pricing of services is revenue management that focuses on maximizing the revenue that can be generated from available capacity at any given time. Promotion and Education. What should we tell customers and prospects about our services? No marketing program can succeed without eective communications. This component plays three vital roles: It provides needed information and advice, persuades the target customers of the merits of a brand or service product, and encourages customers to take action at specic times. Customers may be involved in co-production (see Table 1.2). Some services require customers to participate actively in creating the service product. This is often described as co-production. Youre expected to co-operate with service personnel in settings such as hair salons, hotels, quick-service restaurants, libraries and even doing some of the work yourself rather than being waited on. In fact, service scholars argue that customers often function as partial employees.14 Since, customers are co-producers and contribute to how others experience service performances, proactive marketers try to shape customers roles and manage their behaviour. Therefore, in services marketing, much communication is educational in nature to teach customers how to eectively move through a service process.
Figure 1.20 Money is not the sole consideration when measuring the worth of a service.
The Extended Services Marketing Mix for Managing the Customer Interface
Process. Smart managers know that for services, how a rm does things is as important as what it does. This is particularly so if the product is a rather ordinary one that is also oered by many competitors. Thus, creating and delivering product elements require design and implementation of eective processes. Customers are often actively involved in the processes as co-producers. Thus, the impact of badly designed processes can become very dissatisfying, both for sta and customers alike. Operational inputs and outputs tend to vary more widely (see Table 1.2) and make customer service process management a challenge. When a service is delivered faceto-face, you have probably noticed that the quality and nature of service execution often varies among employees, between the same employee and dierent customers, and even from one time of the day to another. Attitudes, transactional speed and quality of performance can vary widely. These factors can make it dicult for service organizations to improve productivity, control quality and ensure reliable delivery.
Understanding Service Products, Consumers and Markets
23
PART I
As a former packaged goods marketer once observed after moving to a new position at Holiday Inn:
We cant control the quality of our product as well as a Procter and Gamble control engineer on a production line canWhen you buy a box of Tide, you can reasonably be 99 and 44/100ths percent sure that this stu will work to get your clothes clean. When you buy a Holiday Inn room, youre sure at some lesser percentage that it will work to give you a good nights sleep without any hassle, or people banging on the walls and all the bad things that can happen in a hotel.15
Nevertheless, the best service rms have made signicant progress in reducing variability by adopting standardized procedures, implementing rigorous management of service quality, training employees more carefully, and automating tasks previously performed by human beings. They also make sure that employees are well trained in service recovery procedures in case things do go wrong. Furthermore, rms have much to gain from helping customers to become more competent and productive when using services, especially self-services. This means that service marketers should work with specialists from dierent departments to develop customer service processes and related websites, equipment, facilities and systems that are user friendly. Finally, part of process design and management is also managing the ow of customers through service processes, which therefore also requires managing both capacity and demand. Both, customers waiting and idle capacity are bad news and eective services marketing aims to avoid such situations. Physical Environment. The appearance of visible cues such as buildings, landscapes, vehicles, interior furnishing, equipment, sta members uniforms, signs and printed materials, together with the use of colors, smells and sounds, all provide tangible evidence of a rms image and service quality. Service rms need to manage physical evidence carefully, because it can have a profound impact on customers impressions. People. People may be part of the service experience (see Table 1.2). You must have noticed many times how the dierence between one service supplier and another lies in the attitudes and skills of their employees. Well-managed rms devote special care to selecting, training and motivating those people who will be responsible for serving customers directly. When you encounter other customers at a service facility, you know that they, too, can aect your satisfaction. How they are dressed, how many are present, who they are and how they behave can all serve to reinforce or negate the image that a rm is trying to project and the experience it is trying to create (Figure 1.21).
Figure 1.21 Hospitality is shown through employees wearing smart outts and a ready smile.
24
LO 7
Know the framework for developing effective service marketing strategies.
he 7 Ps are integrated into the wider organizing framework of this book, combining it with the consumer and competitor analysis, as well as implementation.
Figure 1.22 presents the organizing framework for this book, which is divided into four parts: (1) Understanding service products, consumers and markets; (2) Applying the 4 Ps to services; (3) Managing the customer interface; (4) Implementing protable service strategies. The arrows in the model stress the link between the dierent parts. Decisions made in one area must be consistent with those taken in another, so that each strategic element will mutually reinforce the rest. PART I
PART II
PART III
25
PART I
PART I
PART II
PART III
26
managed demand and capacity leads to smooth processes with less waiting time for customers. Marketing strategies for managing demand involve smoothing demand uctuations and inventorying demand through reservation systems and formalized queuing. Understanding customer motivations in dierent segments is one of the keys to successful demand management. Chapter 10 Physical environment is very often what creates the rst impression on customers. This is also known as the servicescape, which needs to be engineered to create the right impression and facilitate eective service process delivery. Chapter 11 People play a very important role in services marketing. Many services require direct interaction between customers and contact personnel. The nature of these interactions strongly inuences customers perception of service quality. Hence, service rms devote a signicant amount of eort to recruiting, training and motivating employees.
PART IV
27
PART I
CHAPTER SUMMARY
LO 1 u Services represent an important and growing LO 6 u Due to the unique characteristics of services, the
contribution to most economies in the world. As economies develop, services form the largest part of the GDP of those economies. Globally, most new jobs are generated in the service sector. economies and making them more services heavy such as government policies, social changes, business trends, advances in information technology and globalization. Their impact on the service economy ranges from the creation of new services, and increasing competition to new measures to protect consumers. feature of services is that it is a form of rental rather than ownership. Service customers obtain the rights to use a physical object or space, hire the labor and expertise of personnel, or pay for access to shared physical environments, facilities and networks. Services are performances that bring about the desired results for the customer. broad categories of services. They are peopleprocessing, possession-processing, mental stimulus processing and information processing. Mental stimulus processing and information processing can be combined into what is called information-based services. Each of these has important implications for marketing. them different from products. These characteristics again have important implications for marketing. These distinct characteristics are: o Most service products cannot be inventoried o Intangible elements usually dominate value creation o Services are often difcult to visualize and understand o Customers may be involved in co-production o People may be part of the service experience o Operational inputs and outputs tend to vary more widely o Time factor often assumes great importance o Distribution may take non-physical channels place through traditional marketing mix of the 4 Ps needs to be amended. The 4 Ps are: (1) Product elements, (2) Place and time, (3) Price and other user outlays, (4) Promotion and education. Some important amendments are: o Product elements include more than the core elements. It also includes supplementary elements o Promotion is also viewed as a form of communication and education, rather than just advertising and promotions u In addition, services management requires three additional Ps covering the management of the customer interface. The three additional Ps of services marketing are: o Process design (including managing demand and capacity) o Physical environment, and o People
o Part I begins with the need for service rms to understand their business, customers and markets. o Part II shows us how to apply the traditional 4 Ps to services marketing. o Part III covers the 3 Ps of extended services marketing mix and provides an understanding of how to manage the customer interface. o Part IV shows how to implement protable service strategies and discusses how to achieve protability by creating relationships with customers using the Wheel of Loyalty, and how to build a foundation for loyalty through effective complaint handling and service recovery. This part also focuses on the need for both productivity and quality to ensure nancial success.
28
LO 1 1.
2. 3.
Service science Service dominated economy Supplementary services Advances in information technology Business trends Globalization Government policies Social change Rent
21. Intangible-dominant
42. Marketing 43. Operations 44. Quality gaps 45. Service capacity 46. Service guarantees 47. Service prot chain 48. Service recovery 49. Service strategies 50. Six Sigma 51. Total quality management 52. Value proposition 53. Wheel of Loyalty
LO 6
22. Convenience 23. 7Ps 24. People 25. Physical environment 26. Physical evidence 27. Place and time 28. Price and other outlays 29. Process 30. Promotion and education 31. Product
LO 2 4.
5. 6. 7. 8.
LO 3
9.
LO 7 32. Competition
33. Complaining behavior 34. Costs 35. Customer interface 36. Customer relationship management 37. Demand 38. Human resources 39. Integration 40. ISO 9000 Certication 41. Malcolm-Baldrige Model
LO 4 13. Acts
14. Deeds 15. Durable value 16. Mental intangibility 17. Performances 18. Physical intangibility 19. Product service continuum 20. Tangible-dominant
How well do you know the language of services marketing? Quiz yourself!
For each keyword you are able to recall without referring to earlier pages, give yourself a point (and a pat on the back). Tally your score at the end and see if you earned the right to be calleda services marketeer.
SCORE
01 10 11 20 21 30 31 40 41 50 51 53 Services Marketing is done a great disservice. The midnight oil needs to be lit, pronto. I know what you didnt do all semester. By George! Youre getting there. Now, go forth and market. There should be a marketing concept named after you.
Understanding Service Products, Consumers and Markets
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2.
6. 7.
3.
4.
8.
Visit the websites of the following national statistical bureaus: U. S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (www.bea.gov); Statistics Canada (www.statcan.ca); Eurostat (http://europa. eu.int/en/comm/eurostat/); Central Bureau of Statistics (Indonesia) (www.bps.go.id); Japanese Statistics Bureau (www.stat. go.jp); Statistics South Africa (www.statssa. gov.za); National Statistical Ofce Thailand (web.nso.go.th); and the respective website for your home country if it is not covered here. In each instance, obtain data on the latest trends in services as (a) percentage of GDP; (b) the percentage of employment accounted for by services; (c) breakdowns of these two statistics by type of industry; and (d) service exports and imports. Looking at these trends, what are your main conclusions for the main sectors of these economies, and within services, for specic service sectors?
2.
Legal and accounting rms now advertise their services in many countries. Search for a few advertisements and review the following: What do these rms do to cope with the intangibility of their services? What could they do better? How do they deal with consumer quality and risk perceptions, and how could they improve that aspect of their marketing? Give examples of how the Internet and telecommunications technologies (e.g. Interactive Voice Response Systems [IVRs] and mobile commerce [M-commerce]) have changed some of the services that you use. Choose a service company with which you are familiar and show how each of the seven elements (7 Ps) of services marketing applies to a specic service product.
3.
4.
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ENDNOTES
1 http://www.bumrungrad.com/; http://www. bumrungrad.com/overseas-medical-care/AboutUs/Factsheet.aspx; http://www.cbsnews.com/ stories/2005/04/21/60minutes/printable689998. html, accessed in February 2008 Chesbrough, H. (2005). Towards a new science for services, Harvard Business Review, (February), pp. 43-44. Weissenberger-Eibl, M. & Koch, D.J. (2007). Importance of industrial services and service innovations. Journal of Management and Organization, 13, pp. 88-101. The great jobs switch. The Economist, (October 1, 2005), 11, p. 14. http://www.ibm.com/investor/1q07/ 1q07earnings.phtml; http://www.ibm.com/ investor/2q07/2q07earnings.phtml; http://www03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22463. wss, accessed January 2008. Farrell, D., Laboissiere, M.A., & Rosenfeld, J. (2005). Sizing the emerging global labor market. The McKinsey Quarterly, 3, pp. 93-103. Lovelock, C.H. & Gummesson, E. (2004). Whither services marketing? In search of a new paradigm and fresh perspectives. Journal of Service Research, 7(August), pp. 20-41 These classications are derived from Christopher H. Lovelock. (1983). Classifying services to gain strategic marketing insights. Journal of Marketing, 47(Summer), pp. 9-20. Bateson, J.E.G. (1979). Why we need service marketing. In Conceptual and Theoretical Developments in Marketing. Ferrell, O.C., Brown, S.W., & Lamb Jr., C.W. eds. Chicago: American Marketing Association, pp. 131-146. Shostack, G.L. (1977). Breaking free from product marketing. Journal of Marketing, 41(April), pp. 73-80. 15. 14. 13. 11. 12. Lovelock, C.H., & and Gummesson, E. Whither services marketing? Op. Cit. Adapted from a denition by Christopher Lovelock (identied anonymously as Expert 6, Table II, p. 112). In Edvardsson, B., Gustafsson, A. & Roos, I. (2005). Service portraits in service research: A critical review. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 16(1), pp. 107-121. George, W.R. & Berry, L.L. (1981). Guidelines for the advertising of services. Business Horizons, (July-August); Mittal, B. & Baker, J. (2002). Advertising strategies for hospitality services. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 43(April), pp. 51-63. Mills, P.K. & Moberg, D.J. (1982). Perspectives on the technology of service operations. Academy of Managemnet Review 7(3), pp. 467-78; An-Tien Hsieh, Chang-Hua Yen, and Ko-Chien Chin. (2004). Participative customers as partial employees and service provider workload. International Journal of Service Industry Management,15(2), pp. 187-200. Knisely, G. (1979). Greater marketing emphasis by Holiday Inns breaks mold, Advertising Age, (January 15).
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