GROUP-5

SERVICE MARKETING

Managing Service Quality

Service quality is a business administration term used to describe achievement in service. It reflects at each service encounter. Customers form service expectations from past experiences, word of mouth and advertisement. In general Customers compare perceived service with expected service in which if the former falls short of the latter the customers are disappointed.

For example, in the case of TAJ Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, where in TAJ remaining the old world, luxury brand in the five-star category, the umbrella branding was diluting the image of the TAJ brand because although the different hotels such as Vivanta by Taj- the four star category, Gateway in the three star category and Ginger the two star economy brand, were positioned and categorised differently, customers still expected the high quality of Taj from all their properties.

What is Service Quality?

"The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs." (Kotler) Quality must provide goods and services that completely satisfy the needs of both internal and external customers. Quality serves as the "bridge" between the producer of goods or services and its customer. (Johnson & Weinstein)

Why Quality Matters

The global market is becoming more competitive every day Companies continually search for new ways to gain an edge over their competitors around the globe Global competition and deregulation in a number of industries is forcing companies to turn to quality in order to survive

GROWTH OF CONSUMERISM IN SERVICE SECTOR

CONSUMERISM
Consumerism is the belief that personal wellbeing and happiness depends to a very large extent on the level of personal consumption, particularly on the purchase of material goods.

BENEFITS OF CONSUMERISM
If consumerism is prominent,business man will not go for unethical and unfair dealings. Consumerism makes the government to become more allert. Consumerism provides feedback to the business.

RIGHTS OF CONSUMERS
Right to safety Right to inform Right to choose Right to heard Right to redress Right to consumer education

 Consumerism attempts to redress the imbalance of power that exists between those who produce goods and services, and those for whom they are provided. Consumerism is a movement or policies aimed at regulating the products or services, methods or standards of manufacturers, sellers and advertisers in the interest of buyers, such regulation may be institutional, statutory or embodied in a voluntary code occupied by a particular industry or it may result more indirectly from the influence of consumers organizations

The principle of Caveat emptor relieved the seller of the obligation to make disclosure about the quality of the product

 In addition, the personal relation between the buyer and seller was one of the major factors in their relations.

It is now impossible for the buyer to examine the goods before hand and most of the transactions are concluded by correspondence.
Further on account of complex structure of the modern goods, it is only the producer/seller who can assure the quality of goods. With manufacturing activity becoming more organized, the producers/sellers are becoming stronger and organized whereas the buyers are still weak and unorganized. In the age of revolutionized information technology, Internet and with the emergence of e-commerce & m-commerce related innovations the consumers are further deprived to a great extent.

As a result buyer is being misled, duped and deceived day in and day out. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, very rightly held that A Consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us we are on him. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favour to a consumer by giving him an opportunity . He is doing us a favour by giving an opportunity to serve him. In spite of these views consumerism is still in its infancy in our country, thanks to the sellers market and the government monopoly in most services. Consumer awareness is low due to the apathy and lack of education among the masses.

No one has told them about their rights- to be informed about product quality, price, protection against unsafe products, access to variety of goods at competitive prices, consumer education etc. What consumers lack here are education and information resources, testing facilities, competent leadership, price control mechanism, and adequate quasi-judicial machinery. The providers of goods and services have been reluctant to give due consideration to consumer interest protection.

Some business in India have come together to adopt a code of conduct for regulating their own activities. Regulation of business through legislation is one of the important means of protecting the consumers. Consumerism has over the time developed into a sound force designed to aid and protect the consumer by exerting legal, moral and economic pressure on producers and providers in some of the developed countries. The success of consumerism lies in the realization of the business that there is no substitute for voluntary self-regulations. Little attention from the business will not only serve consumers interest but will also benefit them. The best possible solution is that the Consumers must be aware of their rights, join voluntary Consumer organizations, raise voice against exploitation and seek redress of their grievances in time.

Consumerism is becoming the hallmark of most world economies. In the West, it is a common phenomenon, but now even developing countries in the world are resorting to it. Consumerism refers to the consumption of goods at a higher rate. The economy is judged by the production and selling of goods. The gross national product is the sum total of goods and services produced for a specific period at a specific time.

The more goods produced and consumed by society the higher the growth rate of the economy.
The prosperity of a nation is judged by the per capita income of individuals residing in it. The economy is considered to be doing well if the purchasing power of the people is high.

In consumer society, people replace their goods with newer ones. They purchase goods, use them and throw them away. New goods when they become old are replaced by newer ones. The question of repair does not arise People have money to purchase goods in plenty.

In case, they do not do so as it leads to recession and depression and also results in unemployment.

CONSUMERISM IN SERVICE SECTOR

In the year 1986-consumer protection act was enacted Whether services are covered by the act or not? Consumerism in west is different from that of ours Consumer has every right to be protected in terms of services availed by him.

Designing and Managing services

Managing Service Brands

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 may not be tied to a physical product To brand a service organization effectively, the company must 1. Differentiate its brand through: Primary service features e.g. the bankers mention its low loan-interest rates, excellent services, financial counselor Secondary service features as e.g. the client is using a package of bank offerings credit card, car leasing plans, auto insurance etc

2. Develop appropriate brand strategies through:

Choosing brand element: such as logo, symbol, slogan and characters to build brand awareness or brand name
Establishing image dimensions: such as the expertise, trustworthiness, and likeability from the workers who provide the service. service firms must design marketing communication Devising branding strategy: finally services also must consider developing a brand portfolios that permits positioning and targeting of different market segments. Eg: airlines to business class, economic class etc

Managing Product Support Services

How products can be augmented with key service differentiators such as ordering ease, delivery, installation, customer training, customer consulting, and maintenance and repair. To provide the best support, a manufacturer must identify the services customer value most and their relative importance. There are three specific worries for customers:
Reliability :- failure frequency or break down (for machine) Downtime :- (the longer the downtime, the higher the cost). Thus they count on the sellers service dependability to fix the machine quickly out of pocket costs. How much does the customer have to spend on regular maintenance and repair cost

Managing Product Support Services

Thus the service mix include both
a.Presale services by facilitating service (such as installation, staff training, maintenance and repair service) and adding value augmenting services (such as warranty, free quality inspection for certain times, trade in allowance) b.Post sale services by providing customer service departments such as receive customer requests, suggestions, and even complaints so that these departments need to handle them carefully

MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE SERVICE SECTOR

The Concept of Productivity in the Service Sector

Productivity measures the efficiency and effectiveness with which resources are used in economic activity. Efficiency comprises two components: technical efficiency which reflects the ability of a firm to obtain maximal output from a given set of inputs, and allocate efficiency which is a reflection of how a firm uses the inputs in optimal proportion given their respective prices and the production technology. Productivity needs to address both efficiency and effectiveness because an economic activity will not be productive if it is only efficient but not effective, or vice versa.

Productivity measurement

If we cannot measure performance, we cannot manage and improve it. But measuring performance, especially in the service industry, is far from easy. Despite this, we should measure what is measurable; if something is not measurable, we should try to make it so. Efficiency measures based on the output/input ratio can be supplemented with effectiveness measures in index form.

Basically, there are two main approaches to productivity measurement: partial factor productivity measurement and multifactor productivity measurement. The former is a ratio of the output to one of the factor inputs, such as labor productivity or capital productivity. However, partial productivity measures are not comprehensive and, if used alone, can be misleading. Multifactor productivity measurement, on the other hand, considers output in relation to multifactor inputs. A good example is total factor productivity, which measures the synergy and efficiency of utilizing both labor and capital inputs.

To supplement the above efficiency measures, the balanced scorecard approach provides additional measurement perspectives by focusing on the reliability and effectiveness aspects. It evaluates business performance in four areas: financial, customers, internal business processes, and learning and growing.

 The origin of productivity management is deeply rooted in the context of mass production therefore issues of productivity are mainly analyzed in this sphere.
This may be the main reason for the prolonged neglect of the productivity issues in the sphere of service. Service organizations are recognized as the largest and fastest-growing segment of the economy in the world

Developing countries in their early stages of development depend largely on the agricultural sector for economic development and employment generation. As a country advances economically, the manufacturing and service sectors become the new growth areas. In developed countries, the service sector is the major (more than 60%) contributor to GDP. It also accounts for the major share of employment.

Since the service sector is essential to a nations economic growth, it must continuously enhance its productivity and sustain its competitiveness, especially in view of the global challenges of a more open market. For this reason, productivity- and knowledge-driven strategies, a customer-focused management philosophy, and effective applications of information and communications technology (ICT) are critical to building a productive service sector.

Service productivity

Quantity

Quality

Output

Input Labour; Raw materials Capital.

Output Customer percieved quality.

Service volume.

Input Tangible elements Intangible elements.

GROUP-5 TEAM MEMBERS

APARNA JANET SAMUEL EBIN.C.JOHN RESMILA.K SREEKALA RAMACHANDRAN SREENATH