MM05

MarketingofServices

AssignmentI
AssignmentCode:2014MM05A1LastDateofSubmission:15
th
April2014
MaximumMarks:100
Attemptallthequestions.Allthequestionsarecompulsoryandcarryequalmarks.
SectionA
1. Marketing of services is not different. Do you agree? Give examples to support your
arguments.

2. Consider one example of each of the four service processes people processing,
possession processing, mental stimuli processing, and information processing. Discuss
theirnature,withreferencetothedistinctivecharacteristics?

3. What constitutes service quality ina restaurant? Take example of a leading restaurant
inyourcityandevaluatethequalitygapbasedontheGapsmodel.

4. Whatisaservicestyle?Supportyouranswerswithexamples?

SectionB
CaseStudy

GulfGate,aleadingplayerinhairfixingsegmentinsouthIndia,belongstoMr.SakirHussain,
Gulf Gate commenced its primary operation in the year 2000 at Calicut. Mr. Sakir Hussain
started its operation with all latest technologies available in the market for hair fixing at that
time.Thatsmallbeginninggavehimagreatsuccess.Thissuccessencouragedhimtoexpandhis
business.Andnowithasmorethan14branchesalloverIndia.
Gulf Gate has a branch in Trivandrum in Vellyambalam. This branch started its
operations in 2003 with an initial capital of Rs. 10 lakhs. It is headed by Mr. Sudhir, a young
dynamicmanager.Thebuildingisabout1000sq.ft.andisfullyfurnishedwithallthenecessary
facilities.Ithas4employeesincluding2technicians.
TRIVANDRUMADVANTAGE
Trivandrum is the capital of Kerala, where more number of working class people reside. One
peculiarity of Trivandrum is that people are more beauty conscious. Because of high pressure
and stress on the working class, the problem of baldness has increased in Trivandrum. These
factorshavegivenGulfGateanopportunityinpositioningitsbrandamongitstargetedpeople.
GULFGATEEXPERIENCE
InGulfGate,onecangetbackhis/herlostbeauty.EachmomentinGulfCaseisthetransition
ofpersonality.Thepleasantsmilewillgreetthecustomeratthereceptionasatokenofwarm
welcome. They are offering a complete natural method using Canadian Technology and well
experiencedtechnologists.Thenatureandcolouroftheattachedhairis100%identicaltothe
natural hair. With this fixed hair one can travel in open vehicles, swim and comb in different
styles.
THEPROCESS
The hair fixing process is very simple in Gulf Gate. When they get a customer, first they will
make the customer aware about their product, its features, cost of fixing and their services.
After creating awareness they will examine the type of hair required and measure the area
wheretofixthehair.Thentheywillimportthesuitablehairfromtheheadoffice,i.e.,inDubai.
Afterthatthehairfixingprocessstarts.ForfixingthehairtheyareusingCanadianTechnology.
They have two experts for fixing the hair. They clip the hair patches to the existing hair which
givesthepersonanaturallookwithoutanysideeffect.
PRICING
ThepriceofthisprocessisRs.10000to15000.ThefeethatisnormallychargedisRs.10000.It
varies with the area. Comparatively they are charging a reasonable amount for their service.
Insteadofpricethecustomergetsanewlook,sotheyarealldelighted.
PROMOTIONALACTIVITIES
For the promotion of their service, they are advertising in almost all media, like visual print,
etc., and they are also using banners and hoardings for the same. The main promotion is
throughwordofmouthofthesatisfiedcustomers.
COMPETITORS
InsideTrivandrumcityitselftheyhavecompetitorsinthissamesegment,themajorplayersare
Hair Craft and Gate Way. But the goodwill that Gulf Gate has in this market gives it a
competitiveadvantage.
TARGETMARKET
GulfGateismainlytargetingthetraditionalbaldnesspeoplefortheirserviceandthisisbecause
the number of traditional baldness people is very high in Kerala. And in advertisements also
theyareusingthemiddleagedandtraditionalbaldnesspeopleasmodels.
HUMANRESOURCE
They have 4 efficient employees. There are two people who fix the hair, and they are trained
beauticiansand have finished their beauticiancourse. The training is carried out in the Calicut
centre.
FUTUREPLAN
Mr.Sudhirisverymuchconfidentaboutthefuturegrowthbecausetheyareusingworldsbest
technology (Canadian Technology) whereby the nature and colour of attached hair is 100%
identical to the natural hair. They are planning to open branches all over India. Even though
theyareperformingwellthesebranchesfacesomeproblems.Trivandrumbranchisalsofacing
thesameproblems.Themainproblembeinglackofawarenessamongthecustomers.
Mr.SudhirisstillthinkingwhypeoplehaveawrongnotionthatthesystemusedbyGulf
Gateiswigorplantationofhair.Butactuallytheyhaveonlyhairclippingfacility.

5. Case Question: In the future plan it is mentioned that Gulf Gate is expanding on All
India basis , but they are facing the problem of lack of awareness and customers have
wrong notion about what actually they are doing. Suggest what should Mr. Sudhir do
toovercomethissmallbutmajorproblemaffectinghisbusiness?

MM05

MarketingofServices

AssignmentII
AssignmentCode:2014MM05A2LastDateofSubmission:15
th
May2014
MaximumMarks:100
Attemptallthequestions.Allthequestionsarecompulsoryandcarryequalmarks.

SectionA

1. WhatisaTWOFACTORTHEORYofServiceQuality?

2. What are service expectations and how are they directly related to service
performance?

3. Whataredifferentapproachestosegmentingservicecustomers?

4. ExplaintheconceptofservicesmarketingTriangle?

SectionB
CaseStudy

In September 1997, a simulated classroom experiment was carried out at different student
groups at different levels of different faculties. The experiment included a survey of the
students perception of what they considered important in a classroom teaching experience.
What qualities do they consider important in a teacher? Surprisingly, the findings suggested
thatfriendlinessandempathyappearedtobemoreimportant.Competenceoftheteacherand
knowledge of the subject of the teacherappeared at a low priority. This generated an intense
debate: Shouldnt the competence of the teacher and his knowledge of the subject not be
consideredimportantbytheconsumer?Shouldanewmodelofteacherbeexploredinthelight
oftheabove?IntheIndianhighereducationscenario,whichcontinuestoexistwithshadesof
itscolonialpastandbureaucraticstructures,thiswasastartlingresult.Findingsappearedtobe
inconsonancewiththeresultsofParsuraman,Berry,Zeithamlmodel,inthattherearecertain
important determinants of quality of any service. Factors constituting empathy and
responsiveness took prominence over those that account for assurance and reliability. In light
oftheabovefindings,itwasbeingsuggestedthatnewlydiscoveredattributesofateacherneed
tobeemphasized.Asasequeltothis,astudywascarriedoutinthelatterhalfof1999,which
analysed the performance in a classroom. This study was carried on the lines of the Three
columnformat,suggestedbyParasuramanetal.TheSERVQUALdimensionswerenotused,yet
performance was evaluated in relation to the minimum service level and the desired level. It
was decided to carry out a comparative analysis of the evaluation for two groups, one that
categoricallyevaluatedtheperformanceasunsatisfactoryandtheothergroupthatevaluatedit
asgood.
Another important thing about Ajmer Experiments is that it approaches the service quality
problembyanalyzingthevariousfactors,andnottheentiredimensions,asabasicunit.Itmust
be noted that a dimension consists of a number of factors. Further, through a dimension may
give us an aggregate idea about the preferences and expectations of the consumer, it is the
factors that are individually responsible for consumer evaluation on service quality. In certain
situations,theconsumerevaluationofkeyfactorsissuchthatitdoesnotmatchtheevaluation
ofthedimensionasawhole.

5. Case Question: Analyse the Parasuraman, Berry, Zeithaml model in the light of the
Ajmerexperiments?