Interactive Approach

Services Marketing

Interactive Approach

Understanding Services Marketing

True-False Questions

Ans:T / 1.TFCompared to physical goods, services are the dominant economic activity in developed countries around the world.
Ans:T / 2.TFA service is defined as a performance.
Ans:F / 3.TFServices marketing is identical to goods marketing.
Ans:T / 4.TFDistinguishing service and physical goods along a continuum from intangible dominant services to tangible dominant physical goods is a good way to differentiate services marketing from goods marketing.
Ans:T / 5.TFThe proportion of tangibles to intangibles in a product determines whether it is a good or a service.
Ans:F / 6.TFIt is not possible for services to have tangible characteristics.
Ans:F / 7.TFWhen distinguishing services marketing and physical goods marketing, marketers are encouraged to think of services and physical goods as an either-or dichotomy.
Ans:T / 8.TFSupplementary services augment the tangible good.
Ans:T / 9.TFServices are now proposed as the dominant logic in marketing.
Ans:F / 10.TFServices marketing is not relevant to physical goods manufacturers.
Ans:F / 11.TFServices do not typically rely on physical goods for their performance.
Ans:T / 12.TFA service cannot be seen, touched, or held.
Ans:T / 13.TFFor many services, the customers are considered co-producers of the service.
Ans:F / 14.TFDefective services can easily be corrected before they reach the customer.
Ans:F / 15.TFIt is easy to standardize service quality.
Ans:F / 16.TFLike physical goods, services can be inventoried.
Ans:F / 17.TFServices involve the transfer of ownership to the customer.
Ans:F / 18.TFAll services do not vary in the degree to which they possess the characteristics that distinguish services from physical goods.
Ans:F / 19.TFThere is one best way to classify services.
Ans:T / 20.TFInteractive marketing is where the organization proves its commitment to serving customers.

Multiple-Choice Questions

Ans:a / 21.The most easily recognizable service characteristic is
a.intangibility
b.simultaneity
c.heterogeneity
d.perishability
e.All of these service characteristics are easily recognizable.
Ans:c / 22.Which of the following conditions does NOT typically set services apart from physical goods?
a.Intangibility
b.Simultaneity
c.Cost
d.Heterogeneity
e.Perishability
Ans:e / 23.Which of the following statements does NOT describe a fundamental characteristic of a core service?
a.A service lacks a physical form.
b.The customer and service provider often interact to produce the service.
c.It is difficult to standardize the quality of a service performance.
d.A service only exists at the time of its production.
e.External environmental forces heavily influence a service organization.
Ans:e / 24.Which of the following statements about services is FALSE?
a.It is often not possible for customers to examine a service before it is performed.
b.Customers often help create the service that they are consuming.
c.The opportunity to generate revenue from a service performance disappears when some of the service provider’s production capacity is not used during the service encounter.
d.There is little chance to correct a faulty service before it reaches the customer.
e.Customers often tend to feel less risk when purchasing a service compared to a physical good.
Ans:a / 25.Which of the following statements comparing services with physical goods is FALSE?
a.Services may have tangible characteristics, whereas physical goods do not have any intangible characteristics.
b.Service organizations often require much closer contact with customers than is commonly found in manufacturing organizations.
c.It is often more difficult to standardize the quality of a service performance than it is to standardize the manufacturing of physical goods.
d.The marketing of services and physical goods can be greatly influenced by external environmental forces.
e.All of these comparisons between services and goods are false.
Ans:a / 26.Which of the following comparisons between physical goods marketing and services marketing is FALSE?
a.In contrast to physical goods marketing, the intangibility of services forces services marketers to be more creative in order to distinguish their products from competitors.
b.In contrast to physical goods marketing, service marketers must manage the timing of demand rather than simply building demand for their products.
c.In contrast to physical goods marketing, anything that a services marker does in relation to the customer becomes a marketing activity.
d.All of the comparisons between physical goods marketing and services marketing are false.
e.All of the comparisons between physical goods marketing and services marketing are true.
Ans:b / 27.Which of the following is NOT typically considered a supplementary service?
a.A medical service
b.An after-sales service agreement
c.A music concert
d.All of these services are typically considered supplementary services.
e.None of these services is typically considered a supplementary service.
Ans:e / 28.Which of the following approaches have not been used as a basis for classifying services?
a.The full range of specific service activities
b.The types of customers that are served
c.The type of service recipient and the nature of the service act
d.The linkages between organizations, providers, and customers.
e.All of the listed approaches have been used as a basis for classifying services.
Ans:c / 29.According to the Services Marketing Triangle, the ______form of marketing ______promises in services marketing.
a.Internal marketing, makes
b.External marketing, enables
c.Interactive marketing, keeps
d.Internal marketing, keeps
e.External marketing, keeps

Completion Questions

Deed, Performance, or Effort

Simultaneity

Intangible

Variability

Co-producer

Perishability

Rental/Access

Services

Supplementary

Business to business service organizations

Consumer service organizations

Services Marketing Triangle

Interactive marketing

Ans:Deed, Performance, or Effort
Page:7 / 30.A service is a(n) ______.
Ans:Intangible
Page:9 / 31.A service is ______when it lacks physical form.
Ans:Co-producer
Page:10 / 32. The services customer is often an important ______of the completed service.
Ans:Simultaneity
Page:10 / 33.The ______of production and consumption makes it difficult to separate a service from the service provider.
Ans:Variability
Page:11 / 34.The ______characteristic of the service makes it difficult to standardize the quality of a service performance.
Ans:Perishability
Page:11 / 35.The ______characteristic of a service means that services only exist at the time of their production.
Ans:Rental/Access
Page:11-12 / 36.The ______characteristic of a service means that services provide temporary possession or access instead of ownership.
Ans:Consumer service organizations
Page:13-14 / 37.______provide services to customers who are purchasing for their own personal needs.
Ans:Business to business service organizations
Page:14 / 38.______provide services to customers who are purchasing on behalf of their organizations.
Ans:Services
Page:9-10 / 39.Intangible dominant products are also called ______.
Ans:Supplementary
Page:6 / 40.______services are those services that are added to a physical product to enhance its appeal to potential customers.
Ans:Services Marketing Triangle
Page:15-16 / 41.The ______is based on three key components: organizations, employees, and customers.
Ans:Interactive marketing
Page:15-16 / 42.______is where the organization proves its commitment to serving customers.

Essay Questions

43.Why is it important to study services marketing?

44.You teach at a local university that does not offer a services marketing course. After attending a services marketing conference and reviewing Fisk, Grove, and John’s Services Marketing 4e, you decided to request that the course be taught. After hearing your request, your department chair asked, “Why is it important to study services marketing?” Prepare a convincing response to the question.

45.Services are described as possessing five key characteristics. Choose a service, and describe it in terms of these five characteristics.

46.How would you respond to the statement “All services are basically the same”?

47.Can services and physical goods be easily classified into separate categories (a goods category and a services category)? Please explain.

48.As a class exercise, students were given a list of products and asked to classify the products as goods or services. You overhear one of your classmates saying, “This is going to be easy!” How would you respond to this student?

49.Is services marketing really different from the marketing of physical goods? Explain your answer.

50.Your service organization is hiring a marketing person. One of the candidates has several years of experience marketing a physical good. During your interview, this candidate states that there is no difference between the marketing of a service and the marketing of a physical good. How would you respond to the candidate?

51.What is the fundamental difference between core services and supplemental services?

52.During a class exercise, students were asked to classify a list of services as either a core service or a supplemental service. To simplify the classification process, the instructor asked students to develop a decision rule for determining whether a service would be classified as a core service or as a supplemental service. What would your decision rule be?

53.Describe the Marketing Service Triangle, its components, and the links between the components.

54.Describe how the forms of services marketing outlined in the Services Marketing Triangle relate to the role of promises in services marketing.