Final Assessment

Presidency University
MKT421/MKT605: Services Marketing
Final assessment
Spring 2021
Azmol Hossen /I’D-193046067
Date- 19.04.2021

Answer to the Question No-01(a)

Internet service provides a way for data to be transferred from Internet servers to your computer,
laptop or other device. An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet.
Some of the most common ways to connect to the Internet are dial-up, DSL, cable and wireless services.

Answer the pricing question given in table 1 for internet service providers: -

1) How much should be changed for this service?

Internet providers trying to achieve a specific profit margin by selling their service. Customers
are sensitive to various price because there have many competitors and they offer various price
to the customers sometimes they offer discount.
2) What should be the basis of pricing?
Internet providers set their price about the service size like 1mbps ,5mbps,10mbps etc. they
take a commission in first connection because they provide cable sometimes router etc.
sometimes a single price be charged for a bundled package.
3) Who should collect payment?
Every company have their specific person to collect their payment form their specific customers
because different internet provider has different customers. Basically company puts them on a
monthly salary basis.
4) Where should payment be made?
The purchaser’s home. After communication collection person come and give bill receipt and
take payment.
5) When should payment be made?
Some company their payment made after service and some company their payment made
before the service and basically it generates monthly basis.
6) How should payment be made?
Payment is made through cash.
7) How should prices be communicated to the target market?

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The prices should have communicated to the target market through advertising, salespeople,
posturing, customer service personnel. And customers need to be informed that we provide
best service or low price other competitors.

Answer to the Question No-01(b)

Home health care is a wide range of health care services that can be given in your home for an illness or
injury. Home health care is usually less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective as care you get
in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.

Answer the pricing question given in table 1 for home patient-care service providers: -

1) How much should be changed for this service?

Home patient-care service providers trying to achieve a specific profit margin by selling their
service. Customers are not much sensitive to various price because in our country this service
take manly richest people.
2) What should be the basis of pricing?
Home patient-care service providers set their price about the service category, quality, quantity,
time etc. Specific task admission to a service facility. the basis of pricing is units of time.
sometimes a single price be charged for a bundled package.
3) Who should collect payment?
Every company have their specific person to collect their payment or a specialist intermediary
like bank or viva digital banking sectors. They collect their payment

Answer to the question no- 2

Give a suitable example that uses each queuing system in Table 2.

The single queue with a single server and the single queue with multiple servers are two of the
most common types of queuing systems.
The single queue with a single server and the single queue with multiple servers are two of the
most common types of queuing systems. However, there are two other general categories of
queuing systems: the single queue with single servers in sequence and the single queue with
multiple servers in sequence. Figure 13.4 presents a schematic of each of these two systems.
Figure 13.4. Single queues with single and multiple servers in sequence
(This item is displayed on page 599 in the print version)

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An example of a queuing system that has a single queue leading into a sequence of single
servers is the personnel office of a company where job applicants line up to apply for a specific
job. All the applicants wait in one area and are called alphabetically. The application process
consists of moving from one interview to the next in a single sequence to take tests, answer
questions, fill out forms, and so on. Another example of this type of system is an assembly line,
in which products are queued up prior to being worked on by a sequenced line of machines.
If, in the personnel office example, an extra sequence of interviews was added, the result would
be a queuing system with a single queue and multiple servers in sequence. Likewise, if products
were lined up in a single queue prior to being worked on by machines in any one of three
assembly lines, the result would be a sequence of multiple servers.

[Page 599]
These are four general categories of queuing systems. Other items that can contribute to the
variety of possible queuing systems include the following:
o Queuing systems in which customers balk from entering the system or leave the line if it is too
long (i.e., renege )
o Servers who provide service on some basis other than first-come, first- served (such as
alphabetical order or appointment, as in a doctor's office)
o Service times that are not exponentially distributed or are undefined or constant
o Arrival rates that are not Poisson distributed
o Jockeying (i.e., movement between queues), which can often occur when there are multiple
servers, each preceded by a separate queue (such as in a bank with several tellers or in a grocery
store with several cash registers)

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Answer to the question no- 3

(Explain one of the employee cycles and the corresponding customer cycle with suitable
example)

Employee life cycle -- also spelled employee lifecycle -- is an HR model that identifies the
different stages a worker advances through in an organization in, as well as the role HR plays in
optimizing that progress. ... In short, the term refers to an employee's journey with the
company.

In terms of customer relationship management, the customer lifecycle describes the various
stages a consumer goes through before, during and after they complete a transaction. Simply
put, it's the Point A to Point B journey a customer takes until they make the final purchase.
The phases a customer passes through during the course of an ongoing relationship with a
brand vary on a case-by-case basis, but here are five basic stages of a customer lifecycle:
 Reach: Your marketing material and content needs to be in places where consumers will find it.
Reach is the first step in the lifecycle because it develops awareness right away.

 Acquire: Ecommerce acquisition is very important. Reaching potential customers won't mean

much if you can't offer relevant content or messaging. Understanding your brand, the products
you offer and what type of person will buy them will help with acquisition. Contacting them
directly with personalized communication improves the odds of a future conversion.

 Develop/nurture: Once that first purchase is made, your business needs to keep in contact with
the customer. This is where you develop a relationship with the buyer, ensuring they're fully
satisfied with their initial transaction. You can also use back-end analytics to predict what else
they may like base on what they bought the first time around. Asking for feedback also helps
develop the relationship; customers like that their opinion is valued.

 Retention: If you're able to continually send relevant and meaningful messaging to a customer,

the chances that they return and make another purchase are higher. Retention begins with
satisfying a consumer's needs, caring for them and cultivating the relationship. If you can take a
customer's feedback and use it to improve a product or service, you make them feel as if they
were a part of the process. Performing a customer feedback analysis is key in finding actionable
insights that can lead to a stronger customer relationship. This type of trust is valuable to
customer retention.

 Advocacy: Once the retention stage of the lifecycle is reached, you want these customers to
become a brand advocate for your business. If they are truly satisfied, they likely won't have
issues recommending your products or services to friends and family. Spreading awareness
amongst social circles is easy to do once a customer is loyal to a brand, and if they continually
spread positive recommendations, their extended network is more likely to convert as well.

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 Final Assessment

The Examination of the Life Cycle of Employee Engagement in HRD To examine the life cycle of
employee engagement theory, a literature search using the terms “employee engagement,”
“work engagement,” “job engagement,” “personal engagement,” “psychological engagement,”
and “organizational engagement” was conducted for each of the four Academy of Human
Resource Development (AHRD) publications (Human Resource Development Quarterly, Human
Resource Development Review, Human Resource Development International, and Advances in
Developing Human Resources). These journals were selected because they represent the work
of scholars dedicated to HRD research, theory, and practice. In addition, Performance
Improvement Quarterly and the European Journal of Training and Development were reviewed
using the same search terms. We collected and analyzed a total of 52 articles that took
employee engagement as a major research theme. We also reviewed three articles that had
been published in non-HRD journals (Human Resource Management, Group & Organization
Management, and Asia Pacific Education Review) but that explored employee engagement
within the HRD context. In reviewing employee engagement research within the HRD literature,
we identified three primary research streams: (a) studies seeking to refine the definition and
measurement of employee engagement in the context of HRD and to differentiate employee
engagement from analogous concepts such as job satisfaction, (b) literature reviews exploring
the relationship between employee engagement and its antecedents (e.g., career, leadership)
and consequences (e.g., performance, commitment) by revisiting the JD-R model, and (c)
empirical studies examining the relationship among employee engagement, job/personal
resources, job demands, and outcomes. Refining the Definition and Measurements As part of
their effort to advance the theory of employee engagement, scholars in the HRD field have
sought to refine the definition and measurement of employee engagement. Of the 52 articles
we reviewed, 16 were found to be related to the definition and measurement of the employee
engagement construct. Specifically, one of the mainstreams of research focuses on the
conceptual muddling of employee engagement and the identification of its distinct meanings
and characteristics, as seen in Table 1. For instance, in their historical review of definitions of
engagement, Shuck and Wollard (2010) conclusively identified engagement as an individual’s
cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state that leads to the achievement of organizational
outcomes. Shuck, Osam, Zigarmi, and Nimon (2017) also systematically examined the
engagement literature and distinguished employee engagement from analogous concepts, such
as organizational engagement, job engagement, and work engagement, as well as 6 Advances in
Developing Human Resources 00(0) Table 1. Definitions of Employee Engagement Within
Human Resource Development. Author Term Definition Elements Eldor (2016) Work
engagement “the experience of being ‘fully there’ at work and manifesting this involvement
physically, emotionally, and cognitively” (p. 328) Physical, emotional, cognitive Shuck and Rose
(2013) Employee engagement “the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral energy an employee
directs toward positive organizational outcomes” (p. 342) Behavioral, emotional, cognitive Shuck
and Wollard (2010) Employee engagement “an individual employee’s cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral state directed toward desired organizational outcomes” (p. 103) Behavioral,
emotional, cognitive Soane et al. (2012) Employee engagement “the extent to which one is
intellectually absorbed in work” “the extent to which one experiences a state of positive affect
relating to one’s work role” “the extent to which one is socially connected with the working
environment and shares common values with colleagues” (p. 532) Intellectual, affective, social

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Zigarmi, Nimon, Houson, Witt, and Diehl (2009) Work passion “an individual’s persistent,
emotionally positive, meaning-based, state of wellbeing stemming from reoccurring cognitive
and affective appraisals of various job and organizational situations that results in consistent,
constructive work intentions and behaviors” (p. 310) Emotional, cognitive, affective alternative
concepts, such as collective organizational engagement. HRD scholars have also pointed out a
lack of consensus regarding the meaning of employee engagement and have attempted to
suggest new refined terms. For example, employee work passion was suggested as an
overarching construct of employee engagement (Zigarmi, Nimon, Houson, Witt, & Diehl, 2009)
and an examination of employee engagement as a positive organizational behavior (POB)
construct was conducted (Jeung, 2011). However, as seen in Table 1, despite the differences in
terms, most of the employee engagement studies’ definitions and conceptualizations of
employee engagement, as well as the attributes they assign to engagement, seem to be
analogous. Another fascinating discussion among HRD scholars regarding the definition of
employee engagement centers on whether work engagement is its own unique construct or
simply a repackaging of similar constructs regarding work-related attitudes, such as job
satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment (Eldor, Kwon and Park 7 2016;
Shuck, 2011; Shuck et al., 2017). For instance, Shuck, Adelson, and Reio (2017) differentiated
employee engagement from three other concepts: Job satisfaction is a static state of fulfillment,
whereas employee engagement represents momentary expressions of cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral energies; job involvement is an employee’s cognitive judgment about his or her job,
whereas employee engagement is a psychological state that is subject to ebbs and flows; and
organizational commitment is an employee’s attachment or attitude toward his or her
organization, whereas employee engagement is the employee’s perception of his or her work or
role. In terms of measuring employee engagement, we found that there have been significant
attempts by HRD scholars to develop and validate measurements of the employee engagement
construct based on the construct’s conceptualization and definition. Although the Utrecht Work
Engagement Scale (UWES) developed by Schaufeli et al. (2006) is the scale most frequently used
in research on employee engagement, the robustness of the UWES has been challenged (Byrne,
Peters, & Weston, 2016; Saks & Gruman, 2014). Some HRD scholars tried to construct an
operationalized measure of employee engagement (Anthony-McMann, Ellinger, Astakhova, &
Halbesleben, 2017; Fletcher, 2016; Shuck, Zigarmi, & Owen, 2015). Other HRD scholars have also
sought to develop a new and valid measure of employee engagement. For instance, Shuck,
Adelson, and Reio (2017) developed the Employee Engagement Scale consists of three sub-
constructs (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral). Nimon, Zigarmi, Houson, Witt, and Diehl
(2011) pointed out the ambiguity of employee engagement’s conceptualization and developed
an alternative, the Work Cognition Inventory (WCI), by reframing the work engagement
construct as a multidimensional theoretical construct (i.e., autonomy, collaboration,
connectedness with colleagues and leaders, distributive fairness, growth, meaningful work,
feedback, and work cognition). Soane et al. (2012) similarly suggested and validated an
Intellectual, Social, and Affective (ISA) Engagement Scale. The scale, which assesses the ISA
aspects of employee engagement, was empirically tested and found to be a suitable and valid
scale for use in the HRD field.

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Answer to the question no- 4

Create a service guarantee based on Table 3 for the company you covered in your report

Single-attribute specific guarantee – one key attribute of the service is covered by the
guarantee.
Example: “Any pizza will be delivered to your door within 30 minutes of ordering or it’s free.

Multi-attribute specific guarantee – A few important attributes of the service are covered by the
guarantee.
Example: A hotel: “Our quality commitment to you is to provide: a friendly, efficient check-in; a
clean, comfortable room, where everything works; a friendly, efficient check-out. If this
commitment isn’t met, we will give you $20 in cash.”

Full-satisfaction guarantee – All aspects of the service are covered by the guarantee. There are
no exceptions.
Example: Lands’ End’s guarantee: “ If you are not completely satisfied with any item you buy
from us, at any time during your use of it, return it and we will refund your full purchase price.
We mean every word of it. Whenever always. But to make sure this is perfectly clear, we’ve
decided to simplify it further. GUARANTEED period.”

Combined Guarantee – All aspects of the service are covered by the full-satisfaction promise of
the guarantee. Explicit minimum performance standards on important attributes are included in
the guarantee to reduce uncertainty.
Example: Data-pro Information Services guarantees: “to deliver the report on time, to high
quality standards, and to the contents outlined in this proposal. Should we fail to deliver
according to this guarantee, or should you be dissatisfied with any aspect of our work, you can
deduct any amount from the final payment which is deemed as fair.”

As you can see guarantees #1 and #3 are more related to products, while #2 and #4 are more
service related.

But how common are money back guarantees for the selling of services?

I can’t speak for other service sellers, but we offer such a guarantee:

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE: We are so confident that we can save you money and make your
business more efficient that we offer an unprecedented MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. If after
using our services for 60 days you are not convinced that our unique approach is saving you
money and making your business more efficient we will refund 100% of your fees no questions
asked.

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 Final Assessment

THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF A SERVICE GUARANTEE:

Majority of hotel websites provides a "price guarantee‖ and not a service guarantee. Price
guarantee is a reassurance (supported by a price evaluation, extra concessions, free room
nights, and other pledges). Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) offers, ―The Starwood Best Rate
Guarantee‖ which is a guarantee with a 10% discount or 2,000 Star points. Find a lower price
elsewhere and your first night is free. Within the context of luxury hotels service plays a key role
in determining the total service experience, whereas determining price is clearly an antecedent
process to services. In essence, offering a price guarantee dilutes the brands equity whereas
service guarantee fortifies it. The issue of customer perception and expectations which can only
be addressed if a guarantee is initiated, an unlimited service guarantee. The cutthroat hotel
industry should not differentiate on price as a solitary element without product and services as
the industry offers a hybrid product. This being the case would put an excellent service
guarantee design in place which must possess high visibility on hotel websites. Awareness,
interest and desire levels at this stage must be in immensely drawn in. The guarantee must be
simple, comprehensible and convenient to invoke. Service guarantee must indicate that the
customers are at no risk if they stay with you; in fact they are making a low risk investment. This
can be put across to them when you clarify that service guarantees are made to reduce
customer risks by providing superior value. Guests must be made aware of their rights to service
guarantee as enshrined in the Consumer Protection Act (CPA 1999). Any service guarantee
would not be effective if the hotel just paid lip service to it. Above all guarantees made good by
the hotel should be provided straight up hassle-free. The aspect of reality and believability must
be made to ooze from such a guarantee 22 www.ssijmar.in to send a clear signal that the
providers are genuine and are in it for the long haul.
The purpose of enlightening the system of obligatory excellent standards in the supply of goods
and services was grounded on the interpretation that, by making the language of the law more
comprehensible, easy to use ,straight forward and affable ,consumers would be more
competent and adept to impose their rights and dealers or merchants would be capable to
understand their obligations. Conversely, it is crucial to concur that elucidating the
communicational morphology used to illustrate civil liberties unveils insignificant bearing lest
consumers and traders are mindful of the presence of those rights. Assuming that consumers
are made aware of their rights, then the expression used to define those privileges in all
probability presumes an insignificant role. Intriguingly, even though the CPA(1999) provides the
Minister with the possibility of requiring merchants to exhibit notices enlightening consumers
about their rights under the CPA, this power has not as yet been exercised. The Crowne Plaza
Niagara Falls hotel offers 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money refunded .They pledge that
― we want to make you feel welcome here at the Crowne Plaza, so we offer our 100%
satisfaction guarantee or your money refunded. We pledge to do everything we can to make
your stay pleasant. Their top priority is ensuring that they promptly address any concerns guests
may have. If the guests need anything during their stay, a special dedicated customer
satisfaction line is available 24 hours a day to handle any problems. That's how serious they are
about their 100% satisfaction guarantee! This creates higher brand value and equity to wards a

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 Final Assessment

well known brand. A service guarantee is a marketing tool that have increasingly been used to
reduce consumer risk, 23 www.ssijmar.in signal quality, differentiate a service offering, and to
institutionalize and professionalize their internal management of customer complaint and
service recovery.
Delivering service guarantees, companies entitles customers with one or more forms of
compensation, namely easy-to-claim replacement, refund or credit, under the circumstances of
service delivery failure. Conditions are often put on these compensations; however, some
companies provide them unconditionally. The presence of any guarantee makes a positive
statement about the property, brand, its employees and its commitment to exemplary guest
service. The promise of money-back is less compelling to consumers than a serious promise to
fix the problem on the first try. Guests does not desire to express dissatisfaction or request
monetary compensation. However, most travellers prefer a reasonable gesture when tangible
compensation is necessary. The objective of a service guarantee is to increase repeat business
(positive post purchase behavior) and positive word of mouth (company advocates),decrease
switching and complaints.

The next objectives are to reduce employee turnover, increase motivation, create vision,
increased utilization, and improved margins leading to higher profitability. The emphasis that
everyone is a link in the quality chain must be reinforced and emphasized constantly to create
―top of the head‖ awareness towards quality value service outputs integrating both core and
support departments. Studies suggest only four to ten percent or lower overall rates of
customer complaints of service failures among local and international segments. In the case of
luxury hotels these groups have higher aggregate education and income levels than other
segments.
The disparity with a higher 24 www.ssijmar.in likelihood of customers not receiving the
perceived and expected service, as well as receiving less adequate services than other segments
should be considered seriously by hoteliers. The need to reach out to dissatisfied customers is
paramount in the provisions of adequate care to customers. The other ninety to ninety-six 96
percent do complain but not to the organization that might be able to do something about it,
but to anyone who is willing to listen! Life in the fast lane is seriously becoming competitive, the
mantra for hoteliers is simply: ―Do it right the first time or face customer churn.‖ In today‘s
marketplace, providing services to specific populations and building a niche practice can help
hotels remain competitive. Gaining experience in providing services to members of certain
luxury segments can help a hotel become recognized as an expert in working with particular
segment. Many hoteliers also find it very gratifying that, beyond growing their business, they are
providing a valuable service by meeting community needs for high quality hospitality and
auxiliary services. Hofstede‘s (1980) survey process resulting in 117,000 responses from 88,000
employees in 66 countries work on cross-cultural differences between the East and the West.
Hofstede (1980) originally identified four dimensions on which Asian and American cultures
differ; a fifth dimension was added and elaborated on in Hofstede and Bond‘s (1988)work.
Termed ―Confucian dynamism,‖ this fifth dimension reflects Confucius‘s teachings on the
importance of perseverance, social hierarchy, thrift, and having a sense of shame. A high score
on this dimension is be lived to be consistent with ―a dynamic, future-oriented mentality‖
(Hosted and Bond 1988, p. 16). Among the top ten ranked countries on this scale, seven were

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 Final Assessment

Asian. In other words, Asian 25 www.ssijmar.in cultures probably value the future more than the
present, and thus they are likely to be more patient than their American counterparts.
Identifying community characteristics and needs is an important early step in planning the
outreach to ethnically and racially diverse segments, in this case the Asian and European
customers. Therefore we can conclude that Asians are less likely to get agitated in waiting for
services compared to their Europeans counterparts. This is paramount in establishing waiting
timelines for service guarantee. When it comes to delivering professional services, it is
important to assess the impact of language differences as well as reliance on family members in
help seeking. The fact that many guests do not speak English as a primary or even secondary
language has profound implications for the prospect of building strong client relationships that
rely on verbal communication. Front liners who are entrusted to deliver highly professional
services must be able to grasp the communicational barriers and execute with exceptional
confidence and tact. The customer is exasperated when a service pledge or vow has not been
honored. That vexation should not be intensified by a guarantee that necessitates time, exertion
and rage to invoke.

Workforce is proficient to deliver the service, they should also know what to do when there is a
failure; namely help the customer get his or her reward. Employees also must be able to deliver
the compensation. A long and winding collection process to can lead to customer aggravation
and subsequently loss of demand through switching or churn. This diminishes the goodwill that
service promises are supposed to reinforce. The minute the customer is disappointed about
poor services a fast payout relieves risk of customer switching by reducing the possibility of
switching. The implementation of service guaran tee requires devotion and dedication from the
top.

Typically, however, companies that 26 www.ssijmar.in guarantee their service have not been hit
disproportionately by payouts. Conversely, they have garnered substantial benefits in increased
efficiency, customer preservation and employee self-esteem.
The main goals of adding value is to develop a strong service guarantee which converts
customer dissatisfaction into customer loyalty through positive relationship between a brand
and its customer. The 100% Guest Satisfaction Guarantee provides every employee with an
opportunistic tool to help satisfy guests when problems can‘t be resolved. A dissatisfied
customer who is the recipient of a good recovery strategy is more loyal than one who has
always received good services or products. In the long run, we know this would translate into
guest advocates-those value able word-of-mouth advertisers-and increased revenue from loyal
customers. Hotels that are keen to succeed need to find ways to dramatically exceed the
industry norms.

The strategies and ― modus operandi‖ profiles embedded in this white paper highlight some
examples of how this can be achieved. F Figure
1.0: The four key components of an efficient, unconditional guarantee. The presence of any type
of guarantee makes positive statement about the property, brand, and its

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 Final Assessment

2. Risk Mitigation Enlightening and motivating customers Calculated risk to the organization
Exceptional from rivals declining financial burden 3. Relationship Marketing Emphasis on
urgency Efficiency Flexibility Allegiance and conviction Provides closure upon exit 
4. Marketing Orientation Emphasis on repeat patronage Ecological changes to delivery
Consistency Loyalty program Absolute Quality Domination 1. Value Scheme Product &service
superiority Unlimited Uncomplicated Easy to invoke Delightful Highly differentiated

These strategies may sound like simple steps, but being able to effectively manage your finances
and execute it, is hard. We recommend seeking assistance if you are unsure how to get started.
Our business coaches have the knowledge and experience to be able to help you develop and
implement your business goals.

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