Work Assignments week 1 :

1. What distinguishes service offerings from customer service? Provide specific examples.

Answer :

These are primary deeds or performances offered by the organisation to fulfil customer needs.
The main offering is services and not physical products. The core benefit is service and is
intangible in nature. The customers pay for these services as they deliver value to them. Services
like banking, tourism, health and many more offer services as the principal offerings.

Service offerings are deeds, processes, and performances provided, coproduced, or cocreated by
one entity or person for and/or with another entity or person.

2. How is technology changing the nature of customer service and service offerings? 3. What are the
basic characteristics of services compared with goods? What are the implications of these
characteristics for Airbnb, GE, Southwest Airlines, or the company you work for?

Answer :

Together with globalization, the influence of technol- ogy is the most profound trend affecting
service marketing today. how dramatically different your world would be without these basic
technology services. More recently, people have seen the explosion of the Internet, resulting in a
host of new services. Internet-based companies like Amazon and Google/Alphabet offer services
previously unheard of and smart phones now offer innumerable service appli- cations that were
not even imaginable in the recent past.

For example, The Wall Street Journal offers an interactive edition that allows customers to
organize the newspaper’s content to suit their individual preferences and needs. And, universities
are now offering entire degree programs online, providing access to edu- cation for many who
would not have it otherwise.

What are the basic characteristics of services compared with goods?

Goods Services

Tangible Intangible

Standardized Heterogeneous
 Production separate from consumption Simultaneous production and consumption

What are the implications of these characteristics for Airbnb, GE, Southwest Airlines, or the
company you work for?

Services cannot be inventoried. Services cannot be easily patented. Services cannot be

readily displayed or communicated. Pricing is difficult.

Service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on employee and customer actions.
Service quality depends on many uncontrollable factors. There is no sure knowledge that
the service delivered matches what was planned and promoted.

Customers participate in and affect the transaction. Customers affect each other.
Employees affect the service outcome. Decentralization may be essential. Mass
production is difficult

3. One of the underlying frameworks for the text is the expanded marketing mix for services.
Discuss why each of the three new mix elements (process, people, and physical evidence) is
included. How might each of these communicate with or help to satisfy an organization’s
customers?

Answer :

People

People are a defining factor in a service delivery process, since a service is inseparable
from the person providing it. A restaurant is known as much for its food as for the service
provided by its staff.

Process

The process of service delivery is crucial since it ensures that the same standard of
service is repeatedly delivered to the customers. Most companies have a service blue
print which provides the details of the service delivery process

Physical Evidence
 Since services are intangible in nature, most service providers strive to incorporate
certain tangible elements into their offering to enhance customer experience. Many hair
salons have well designed waiting areas, often with magazines and plush sofas for
patrons to read and relax while they await their turn.

The marketing Mix of services has three additions (People, Physical Evidence and
Process) to the marketing mix of goods (Product, Price, Promotion and Distribution).
These three Ps are imperative in service context because of the very nature of services
(Simultaneous production and consumption, Intangibility, and heterogeneity). These
additional Ps communicate with customers to overcome quality and price uncertainty.
They help to better satisfy the customers.

How can quality service be used in a manufacturing context for competitive advantage? Think of your
answer to this question in the context of automobiles, computers, or some other manufactured product
you have purchased

Many companies take advantage of the opportunity to become a competitive advantage, making
consumer loyalty even higher. With the target of having a competitive advantage, it will motivate the
business for SMEs not to stop halfway. Competitive advantage must be possessed by every company in
order to dominate in the competition and be able to overcome stagnation in business. When a company
can do something a rival firm can't or has something a rival firm wants, it can represent it.