SERVICES MARKETING TEST I

Section A Answer any five questions

1. One of the underlying frameworks for the text is the services marketing mix. Discuss why each of the three new mix elements (process, people, and physical evidence) is included. How might each of these communicate with or help to satisfy an organizations customers? What distinguishes service offerings from customer service? Provide specific examples.

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3. Explain why services tend to be harder for customers to evaluate than goods. 4. For what types of services might consumers depend on mass communication (nonpersonal sources of information, including the Internet) in the purchase decision? 5. Choose a service company with which you are familiar and show how each of the seven elements (7Ps) of integrated service management applies. 6. Explain why services tend to be harder for customers to evaluate than goods. 7. Identify three service businesses that you patronize on a regular basis. Then, for each business, complete the following sentence: I am loyal to this business because... 8. Explain the relationship between service quality, productivity, and marketing.

Section B Answer any five questions

1. Why does consumer perception of risk constitute an important aspect in selecting, purchasing, and using services? How can firms reduce consumer risk perceptions? 2. Choose a service with which you are familiar and create a diagram that represents the servuction system. Define the front-stage and backstage activities. 3. What are the backstage elements of (a) a car repair facility, (b) an airline, (c) a university, and (d) a consulting firm. Under what circumstances would it be appropriate to allow customers to see some of these backstage elements and how would you do it?

4. What actions could a bank take to encourage more customers to bank by phone, mail, the Internet, or through ATMs rather than visiting a branch? 5. What risk and opportunities are entailed for a retail service firm in adding electronic channels of delivery by (a) paralleling an existing channel involving physical stores, or (b) replacing the physical stores with a combined Internet and call center channel? Give examples. 6. Choose an industry you are familiar with (such as fast food restaurants, TV networks, or grocery stores) and create a perceptual map, showing the competitive positions of different companies in the industry using attributes, and using attributes that you consider represent key consumer choice criteria. 7. Identify one web site that is exceptionally user friendly and another that is not. What factor makes for a satisfying user experience in the first instance and a frustrating one in the second? Specify recommendations for the improvement in the second web site. 8. An airline runs a recruiting advertisement for cabin crew that shows a picture of a small boy sitting in an airline seat and clutching a teddy bear. The headline reads: His mom told him not to talk to strangers. So whats he having for lunch? Describe the types of personalities that you think would be (a) attracted to apply for the job by that ad and (b) discouraged from applying. 9. As a human resources manager, which issues do you see as most likely to create boundary-spanning problems for customer-contact employees in a customer call center at a major Internet service provider? Select four issues and indicate how you would mediate between operations and marketing to create a satisfactory outcome for all three groups. 10. Review the five dimensions of service quality. What do they mean in the context of (a) an industrial repair shop, (b) a retail bank, (c) a Big 4 accounting firm?