MBA 843N
Services Marketing
Spring 2010
Professor Neeli Bendapudi
Course Materials
Readings available from Carmen Website and case packet available from Uniprint.
Course Description and Objectives
Services are a growing and dominant portion of the global and the US economy. This course will emphasize three roles that knowledge of services can play. One, it will help you deliver better service to external and internal customers. Two, it will help you understand and address the unique challenges of marketing intangible services (e.g. consulting, education, financial, legal, medical) as the core product offering. Third, it will showcase why and how companies that have traditionally viewed themselves as purveyors of physical products (and any associated services as necessary evils) are transitioning to value-added services (e.g. Caterpillar, GE, IBM).
Course Conduct
The course is designed to encourage active learning by participants, within and outside the classroom setting. Preparation for the class sessions will include thorough reading of materials, preparation for class discussion, review of industry trends, and research on guest speakers and topics. The class sessions will encompass case discussion, student presentations, in-class exercises and lectures.
I am deeply committed to facilitating your learning process. If you need any special accommodations because of a disability, please do not hesitate to contact me. For optimal results, I encourage you to contact me within the first two weeks of classes.
Grading and Course Policies
The major grade components and their weights are listed below.
Component Weight
Midterm examination 35%
Services Audit Project 40%
Class Participation 25%
TOTAL 100%
The Fisher College faculty has adopted standardized grading policies. The target average grade for an elective class is 3.5. An ‘A’ translates to 4, ‘A-’ to 3.7, ‘B+’ to 3.3, ‘B’ to 3, ‘B-’ to 2.7 and so on.
I. Examinations
There will be one examination in the class. The exam will be open note and open book. The examination will focus on giving you an opportunity to apply what you have learned to practical business situations. We will discuss the format in class. The exam is worth 35% of your grade.
II. Services Audit Project.
1. Please choose a local service business in an industry of interest to the team. Management support and access to collect the information that will be needed to conduct a service audit is a critical success factor so I strongly encourage you to select a business to which you already have access. Please review with me your selected business in advance of making any commitments to the firm.
2. Limit the scope of your service audit to a well defined service for which you have access and can get the information needed.
3. You must obtain consent from the business that is documented by a note, email or letter. If you have agreed to provide a copy of the final report to management of the business then I expect you to provide that report in person either in a presentation or personal briefing on the contents of the report.
4. The tangible outcomes of the service audit are recommendations to improve the business in various service dimensions. It is essential that each recommendation be feasible to implement and have suggested implementation steps.
5. Organization of the written report
The written report should not exceed 20 pages (excluding tables, figures, and appendix)
a. Executive summary – this could be the only thing read so it needs to be complete, compelling and concise (maximum of 3 pages)
b. Situation analysis
i. A description of the industry selected and the reasons why it was chosen
ii. Current trends in the industry with an emphasis on those that directly impact service delivery and marketing
iii. The competitive situation – who are the major competitions, what are the major competitive issues, etc.
c. The customers -- a description of the current customers for the business
including:
i. Segmentation and its rationale (e.g. reason for use, frequency of use, psychographics, demographics, buying conditions/situations, nature of the service, etc.)
ii. Customer expectations and needs regarding the service performance
iii. Any difficulties or special issues in serving this market
d. The strategy canvas—your understanding of the company’s position in the marketplace
i. Specify the relevant customers and competitors in the current strategy canvas
ii. Suggest any modifications to the strategy canvas
iii. Be sure to follow through on the recommendations in your implementation
e. The marketing plan – describe the business using the traditional 4 P’s (summary description, not detailed as it is not the focus of this audit)
i. A description of the services and products
ii. The pricing of these services and products
iii. Promotional tactics
iv. Place (distribution, etc)
f. The people
i. A description of the frontline and professional service employees involved
ii. Characterize the internal marketing used to motivate the employees
iii. Characterize and evaluate the effectiveness of the internal marketing
g. The process
i. A description of the service delivery process
ii. Provide a service blueprint (map) of the process
iii. Evaluate the process and make specific recommendations to improve
h. The physical evidence
i. A description of the ServiceScape
ii. Describe the role of the ServiceScape in service delivery and how it compares to competitive offerings
iii. Evaluate the physical evidence and make specific recommendations to improve
i. Service quality analysis
i. Discuss the current level of customer satisfaction – provide recommendations to improve
ii. Discuss service quality – provide recommendations to improve
iii. Discuss service recovery programs – provide recommendations to improve
iv. Discuss customer retention programs – provide recommendations to improve
j. Conclusions
i. Discuss the value of this audit to the business and to you
ii. Summarize the findings and list the recommendations
6. Quality Standards.
a. Late or incomplete work is not acceptable
b. Avoid the “too many words, not enough thought,” syndrome
c. Make sure your recommendations are relevant, practical, and action-oriented
7. Presentation
Each team will have a short 20 minutes to give the class a sense of their project and key findings. Be interesting, creative, and compelling in your presentation!
III. Class Participation
A key tenet of services is the interaction between the service provider and the customer in the co-creation of value. Your participation in class contributes to the learning environment and to your own learning. Attendance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for good participation. In a departure from usual practice, you will evaluate your own class participation and recommend a grade. To do this, you will submit a one page self-assessment and a letter grade recommendation on the last day of class before exam week. I strongly recommend that you maintain a record of your participation so that your self-assessment will be complete and based on facts. I reserve the right to adjust the final participation grade if I deem it necessary. The one-page self-assessment of class participation is due on June 4th.
The one-page assessment should follow the following format.
Name:______
Number of classes missed with dates missed:______
I would rate myself among the top ______% in this class in terms of participation
Percentage grade I should get for class participation:______%
My rationale for the percentage grade I gave myself:______
Class Schedule
March 30: Introduction to Services
The Four Things a Service Business Must Get Right
April 01: Rational and Emotional Components of Services
Customer Expectations
Understanding Customer Delight
April 06: Knowing your customers and knowing about your customers
Turn customer input into innovation
CASE: Harvard Graduate Student Housing Survey
Exercise: Customer letters of complaints and compliments
April 08: Knowing about your customers
Customer Feedback Loop
April 13: Service Encounters
Behavioral Science
Blueprinting factsheet
Creative Benchmarking
April 15: Articulating a service strategy
Charting your company’s future
Strategy as plot line
April 20: Physical Evidence of a Service
Clueing in Customers
Can a Website be Social?
Assignment—Comparing congruence in retail sites and websites
April 22: The Service Profit Chain
Putting the SPC to work
CASE: &Samhoud
April 27: Setting Service Standards for Employees
The Living Brand
Setting Behavioral Standards
Assignment—Deciding what is great, good, and poor service
April 29: Delivering Service—The Service Process
Six sigma comes to services
CASE: Shouldice Hospital
Process Audit—Optional reading
May 04: Customer Coproduction
Tradeoff between efficiency and service
CASE: Harley Davidson Posse Ride
May 06: Selling Services
Star Performers
Knowing What to Sell, When, and to Whom—Optional Reading
CASE: Infosys Relationship Scorecard
May 11: Promoting Customer Loyalty
Your loyalty program is betraying you
CASE: Nectar
May 13:EXAMINATION
May 18: Pricing Services
The Economics of a People Business
CASE: Springfield Nor’easters
May 20: Non-profit services
Helping Behavior
Delivering on the promise of Non-profits
CASE: UNICEF
May 25: Service Failure and Recovery
CASE: Northwest Airlines
May 27: Managing yourself as a professional service provider
How leaders use networks
CASE: The Associate Challenge
June 01: Presentations of Service Audits—Written reports are due
June 03: Presentations of Service Audits and Wrap-up of Class