CHAPTER: - 13

THE NATURE OF SERVICES: - In 2004, the share of service sector in the GDP
of India and Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was 52%, 53% and 55%
respectively.

Service industries are everywhere: - The government sector, with its courts,
employments services, hospitality, loans agencies, military services, police and fire
department, postal services, regulatory agencies, and schools, is in the service
business.

1) Marketing strategies for service firms

2) Managing service quality

3) Managing service brands

4) Managing product- support services

SUMMARY: - A service is any act or performance that one party can offer to
another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of
anything. It may or not be tied to a physical product. Services are intangible,
inseparable, variable, and perishable. Each characteristic poses challenges and
requires certain strategies. Marketers must find ways to give tangibility to
intangibility to increase the productivity of service providers to increase the
standardize the quality of service provide and to match the supply of service with
market demands. Even product- based companies must provide post purchase
service. To provide the best support, a manufacturer must identify the service
customer value most and their relative importance. The service mix include both
pre sale service (facilitating and value- augmenting services) and post sale services
(customer service departments, repair and maintenance services). Customer
expectation plays a critical role in their service experience and evaluations.
Companies must manage services quality by understanding the effect of each
service encounter.

CHAPTER: - 14

UNDERSTANDING PRICING: - Price is not just a number on a tag. Price comes

in many forms and performs many functions. Rent, tuitions, fares, fees, rates, tolls,
retainers, wages, and commissions all many in some way be the price you pay for
some good or services. It’s also made up of many components.

SETTING THE PRICE: -

Step 1: - Selecting the pricing objective: - survival, maximum current profit,

maximum market share, maximum market skimming, product quality leadership,
other objectives.

Step 2: - Determining demands: - price sensitivity, estimating demand curves, price

elasticity of demand.

Step 3: - Estimating cost: - accumulated production, target costing.

Step 4: - Analyzing competitor’s costs, prices, and offers.

Step 5: - Selecting a pricing method: - markup pricing, target return pricing,

perceived value pricing, value pricing, going rate pricing, auction type pricing.

Step 6: - Selecting the final prices: - company pricing policies, gain and risk
sharing pricing, impact of price on other parties.

SUMMARY: - Despite the increased role of non price factors in modern

marketing, price remains a critical element of the marketing mix. Price is the only
elements that produce revenue, the other produce costs. After developing pricing
strategies, firms often face situation in which they need to change prices. A piece
decrease must be brought about by excess plants capacity, declining market share,
a desire to dominate the market through lower costs, or economic recession. A
price increase might be brought about by cost inflation or over demand. Companies
must carefully manage customer perceptions in raising prices.