Service Management and Marketing

Aim

After completing the course the student should be able to:

• describe the most common theoretical concepts, models and theories in the field of service management and marketing
• understand the role of service at the societal, business and customer level
• propose marketing actions by a firm to improve service quality
• analyse situations in firms from a service marketing perspective, identify patterns and problems, suggest well-argued solutions, and reflect upon the outcomes of suggested solutions
• critically analyse and integrate the knowledge of service management and markeing and express it orally and in writing

Content

At the introduction of the course the service management and marketing at the societal, business, and customer level are discussed. The course content, then, is organized to include a selection of perspectives on service management and marketing issues.The first part is about central models of service management and marketing, and includes:

• the gap model of service quality
• the servuction model
• service characteristics (IHIP)
• service logic

The second part is about understanding the service encounter. It includes:

• employees roles in service provision
• customers roles in service provision
• service quality and customer satisfaction
• customer expectations and perceptions of service

The third part is about how firms work with service development and provision and

• new service development and service innovation
• service infusion
• the servicescape
• listening to customers through research

One recurrent theme is to understand the service encounter and 'the moment of truth'.