Service Marketing

Essay Instructions:

Topic is British Airways The aim of this assessment is to encourage you to examine a sector in the service industry and analyse the service marketing issues affecting one of the organisations in that sector. You may have already identified sectors and companies of interest through your service diary The sectors from which you should choose are: - Education - Financial Services - Leisure - Not for profit/charity - Professional Services - Retail - Telecomms - Travel Project Tasks If your selected service industry is a broad one, you may need to narrow it by defining one competitive sector or discrete market. The sector you select for study should be UK-based, and have a defined or definable competitive structure. For example, if you choose 'retail' as your industry you might select 'sporting goods' as your competitive sector; if you choose 'charities' as your industry you might select 'children's charities' as your competitive sector. The elements that form this assignment are 1 A definition your chosen sector by size and competitive structure. If applicable, identify the major strategic grouping(s) and the one you have selected for study. Assess the current marketing environment of this group. 2 Your assessment of the opportunities and threats facing the sector/grouping using original and coherent analysis based on properly referenced sources. 3 A summary of the commonalities and differences between the current service marketing strategies of your chosen sector's ‘major players'. 4 Select ONE of the existing players (major or otherwise) and a identify that organisation's key strategic service marketing issues for the next 5 years, drawing on your foregoing analysis. b briefly demonstrate the relationship between any one of these issues and some relevant theoretical principles of services marketing, taken from any appropriate and referenced source. READING LIST Core text: Kasper, H., van Helsdingen, P. and Gabbott, M. (2006) Services Marketing Management: A strategic perspective, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons Recommended texts: GrÖnroos, C.(2007), Service Management and Marketing, 3 rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. (2010) Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 7th Edition, Pearson. Lovelock,C., Wirtz, J., and Chew, P. (2009) Essentials of Services Marketing, Prentice Hall. Palmer, A. (2008) Principles of Services Marketing,5th Edition, McGraw-Hill. Zeithaml, V., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler (2009) Services Marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill. Background Reading Gabbott, M. and Hogg, M. (eds), (1997) Services Marketing Management – A Reader, Dryden Press. Lovelock, C., Vandermerwe, S. and Lewis, B. (1999) Services Marketing: A European perspective, Prentice Hall. McDonald, M. and Payne, A. (2006) Marketing Plans for Service Businesses, 2nd Edition, Elsevier. Mudie, P. & Cottam, A. (1999) The Management ad Marketing of Services, 2nd Edition, Butterworth- Heinemann. Murdick, R., Render, B. and Russell, R. (1990) Services Operations Management, Allyn & Bacon Articles from Academic Journals Alam, I. (2003) “Innovation strategy, process and performance in the commercial banking industry”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 19, pp.973-999. Ashill, N., Carruthers, J. and Krisjanous, J. (2005) “Antecedents and outcomes of service recovery performance in a public health-care environment”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.19, No.5,pp.293-308. Avlonitis, G. & Indounas K. (2005) “Pricing objectives and pricing methods in the service sector”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19, No.1, pp.47-57. Barrutia, J. and Echebarria, C. (2005) “The internet and consumer power: the case of Spanish retail banking”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, vol. 12, 255- 271. Bitner, M., Ostrom, A. and Morgan, F. (2008) “Service blueprinting: a practical technique for service innovation”, California Management Review, Vol. 50, No.3, pp.66-94. Bitner, M. (1992) “Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees”, Journal of Marketing, 56 (April), pp.57-71. Boshoff, C. (1997) “An experimental study of service recovery options”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp.110-130. Boulding, W., Kalara, A., Staelin, R. and Zeithaml, V.A. (1993) “A dynamic process model of service quality: from expectations to behavioural intentions”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.7-27. Boulding, W. Staelin, R.,Whret, M. and Johnston, W.J. (2005) “A customer relationship management roadmap: what is known, potential pitfalls, and where to go”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 69, No.4, pp. 155-166. Bebko, C.P. (2000) “Service intangibility and its impact on consumer expectations of service quality”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.14, No.1, pp.9-26. Brady, M.K. and Cronin, J.J.(2001) “Some new thoughts on conceptualising perceived service quality: a hierarchical approach”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp.34-49. Chesbrough, H. (2005) “Towards a new science for services”, Harvard Business Review, February, pp. 43-44. Clemes, M., Mollenkopf, D. and Burn, D. (2000) “An investigation of marketing problems across service typologies”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 573-594. De Jong, J. and Vermeulen, P. (2003) “Organising successful new service development: a literature review”, Management Decision, Vol. 41, No.9, pp.844- 858. Docters, R., Reopel, M., Sun,JM. and Tanny, S. (2004) “Capturing the unique value of services: why pricing of services is different”, Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 23-28. Ferguson, R. and Hlavinka, K. (2006) “The long tail of loyalty: How personalised dialogue and customised rewards will charge marketing forever”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23, No. 6, pp. 357-361. Forbes, L., Kelly, S. and Hoffman, K. (2005) “Typologies of e-commerce retail failures and recovery strategies”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19, No.5, pp.280-292. Grace, D. and O'Cass, A. (2004)”Examining service experiences and post- consumption evaluations”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.18, No. 6, pp.450- 461. GrÖnroos, C.(2001) “Guru's view: the perceived service quality concept- a mistake?”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 11, No.3, pp.150-152. Hoffman, K.D., Kelly, S.W. and Chung, B.C. (2003) “A CIT investigation of servicescape failures and associated recovery strategies”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 322-340. Johnston, R. and Michel, S. (2008) “Three outcomes of service recovery”, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 28, No.1, pp.79-99. Lagrosen, S. (2005) “Effects of the internet on the marketing communication of service companies”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19, No.2, pp.63-69. Liu, Y. (2007) “The long-term impact of loyalty programs on consumer purchase behaviour and loyalty”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 71, No. 4, (October), pp.19-35. Lovelock, C.H. & Gummesson, E. (2004) “Whither services marketing? In search of a new paradigm and fresh perspectives”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.20-41. Martin, C. and Horne, D. (1993) “Services innovation: Successful versus unsuccessful firms”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 4, No.1, pp.49- 65. Matthing, J., Kristensson, P., Gustafsson, A. and Parasuraman, A. (2006) “Developing successful technology-based services: the issue of identifying and involving innovative users”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 20, No.5, pp.288-297. Mattila, A.S., and Wirtz, J. (2001) “Congruency of scent and music as a driver of in- store evaluations and behaviour”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 77, pp.273-289. Mayer et al. (2003) “A proposed model of the descriptors of service process”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.17, No. 6, pp.621-639. McMellon, C. and Long, M. (2004) “Exploring the determinants of retail service quality on the internet”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 18, No.1, pp.76-90. Mortimer, K (2000) “Are services advertised differently? An analysis of the relationship between product and service types and the informational content of their advertisements”, Journal of Marketing Communications, 6, 121-134. Nadiri, H. and Hussian, K. (2005) “Diagnosing the zone of tolerance for hotel services”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 15, No.3, pp. 259-277. Ndubisi, N.O. (2007) “Relationship marketing and customer loyalty”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 25, No.1, pp. 98-106. Oakes, S. (2000) “The influence of the musicscape within service environments”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 14, No. 7, pp. 539-556. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., and Berry, L.L. (1985) “A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, No.4, pp.41-50. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., and Berry, L.L. (1988) “SERVQUAL: A multiple item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality”, Journal of Retailing,Vol. 64,No. 1, pp.12-40 Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Malhotra, A. (2005) “E-S-QUAL: A multiple- item scale for assessing electronic service quality”, Journal of Service Research, Vol.7, No. 3, pp. 213-233. Prins, R.O. and Verhoef, P.C.(2007) “Marketing communication drivers of adoption timing of a new e-service among existing customers”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp.169-183. Reichheld, F.F.and Schefter, P. (2002) “E-loyalty your secret weapon on the web”, Harvard Business Review, (July-August), pp. 105-113. Reimer, A. and Kuehn, R. (2005) “The impact of servicescape on quality perception”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, No.7/8, pp. 785-808. Riel, A. and Ouwersloot (2005) “Extending electronic portals with new services: exploring the usefulness of brand extension models”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 12, pp.245-254. Rosebaum, M.S. (2005) “Meet the cyberscape“, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 23, No.7, pp.636-647. Sabharwal, N., Soch, H. and Kaur, H. (2010)”Are we satisfied with incompetent services? A scale development approach for service recovery”, Journal of Services Research, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp.125-142. Schoefer, K. and Ennew, C. (2005) “ The impact of perceived justice on consumers' emotional responses to service complaint experience”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 261-270. Santos, J. (2003) “E-service quality: A model of virtual service quality dimensions, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp.233-246. Sergeant, A. and Frenkel, S. (2000) “When do customer contact employees satisfy customers?” Journal of Service Research, Vol. 3, No. 1 (August), pp.18-34. Stevens, E. and Dimitriadis, S. (2005) “Managing the new service development process”, European journal of marketing, Vol. 39, No. ½, pp. 175-198. Syson, F. and Perks, H. (2004) “New service development: a network perspective”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 18, No.4,pp.255-266. Tax, S. and Brown, S. (1998) “Recovering and learning from service failure”, Sloan Management Review, Fall 1998,pp. 75-88. Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004) “Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 68, No. 1, pp.1-17. William, R. and Dargel, M. (2004) “From servicescape to cyberscape”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp.310-320. Wirtz, J. (1998), “Development of a Service Guarantee Model,” Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 51–75. Yap, K.B. and Sweeney, J.C. (2007) “Zone-of-tolerance moderates the service quality –outcome relationship”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.21, No. 2, pp. 137-148. Zeithaml, V.A., Parasuraman, A. and Malhotra, A. (2002) “Service quality delivery through websites: a critical review of extant knowledge”, Academy of Marketing Science Journal, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 362-374. Journals (Available online via Athens/Emerald) Journal of Services Marketing Journal of Services Research Managing Service Quality International Journal of Service Industry Management Journal of Financial Services Marketing Services Marketing Quarterly Journal of Voluntary and Non Profit Marketing Journal of Database Marketing Journal of Marketing European Journal of Marketing Harvard Business Review Reports (Available online via Athens/ Emerald): Mintel Market Intelligence,Key Notes

Essay Sample Content Preview:

British Airways
Aviation industry is a pillar in the UK economy. It involves over 235million passengers annually and a freight of over 2.3 million tonnes. The UK air transport industry serves UK, Europe and the rest of the world. Being a major entry point in the Continent of Europe, the UK aviation industry is large and equally competitive. There has been a continuous growth in the industry for the past two decades. The forecasted demand of the air transport in UK is 465 million in 2030 from the present 236million. The Heathrow and London Gatwick airports are among the busiest airports of the world. The UK airline industry is composed of over 40 airlines. The major airlines in the UK aviation industry are the British Airways, EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic airways which account for nearly half of the 127 million passengers who travel in the UK airlines. Other major key players in the UK aviation industry includes the Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest airlines, America Airlines, Us airways and Continental Airlines of US. Others include Air France and Lufthansa Airlines. These are major world competitors and put the aviation market in UK very competitive.
EasyJet and British Airways are the major UK based airlines. British Airways is the largest of the Key players in UK in terms of capacity. Then Virgin Atlantic airways come second and Easy Jet follows. The British Airways was established in 1974 after the dissolution of four companies: Cardiff, Northeast Airlines among others. It was first a Public company but in 1987, it was privatized. To further its expansion plan, it acquired British Caledonia and Dan-Air in 1987 and 1992 respectively. In 1998, British Airways changed its model of Aircrafts. It left Boeing and acquired Airbus A320 family aircraft. In 2007 made a major fleet replacement. This made it the largest operator of Boeing and airbus aircrafts. Its major boost came with the much expected merger with Iberia carrier which is scheduled to take place early this year. This will make it the largest Airline revenue wise in the UK and world at large.
The advertising slogan "The Worlds Favorite Airline" and the musical theme "The Flower Duet" were used by British Airways since 1989 and were dropped in 2001 after British Airways was overtaken by Lufthansa Airways in passenger numbers. The musical theme resurfaced later in 2007 but with a new slogan "Upgrading the British Airways" The British Airways logo of speed bird is used on the entrance of Heathrow Airport in London. Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency created many of the advertisements of British Airways and as such made it market leader. It later terminated its agency with Saatchi & Saatchi agency. A major boost in the market dominance of British airways came when it was nominated to be the official airline of the Tennis tournament held in Wimbledon. It is also the official airline of 2012 Olympics and also Paralympics and of the possible world cup to be hosted by Britain in 2018 CITATION Zei09 \l 1033 (Zeithaml, 2009).

The Airline industry in UK is very volatile and competitive. The players in this market have thus invested a lot in research and development. Environmental scanning is as such indispensable in the aviation industry in UK. Marketing theorists provides arrange of tools to be used in such environments This includes: PESTE, SWOT, and ETOP CITATION Avl05 \l 1033 (Avlonitis, 2005). However, due to the competitive nature of the aviation industry in UK, SWOT analysis is preferred. I.e. Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and threats.
Opportunities available for the British Airways
The rise in tourism and spirit of adventure in the world presently is a major opportunity for the British Airways. This is especially on international destinations. UK being a major entry port to Europe and that many tourists are from Europe touring Africa and other continents gives British Airways a major opportunity for growth. As the number of tourists is forecasted to increase, a window of opportunity stands open for the British Airways to invest in it.
A rapid advancement in technology has been witnessed in the world recently. Technological advances have not left the Aircraft manufacturing sector unaffected.. Technology has and will in future result to cost saving aircrafts. Fuel efficient aircrafts will be made and services tailored towards customer satisfaction will be enhanced with the coming of new technologies. This will increase revenues for the company. The online booking and even in-flight internet access will present opportunities for British Airways CITATION Els99 \l 1033 (Elsevier. Mudie, 1999).
Linking up with other carriers is an open opportunity for British Airways. By linking up with other carriers British Airways will be in a position to increase passenger volumes. Through coordination of schedules, it can also offer services to destinations through code share concessions with partner carriers.
There has been an increasing demand for the transatlantic flights. This keeps the opportunity window open for British Airlines to exploit. The increasing number of travelers across the Atlantic ocean indicates that future increase in business for British Atlantic.
The past decade saw the collapse of major airlines. This was particularly true during the economic meltdown that ended recently. British Airways can acquire those failing airlines or even their assets and in so0 doing it will expand its business. As the industry expectations decrease, costs of operations for the major Airlines are falling and thus British Airways can take this open window. British airways can also innovate new seating arrangements that will increase their carriage capacity without increasing the size of the aircraft. This will involve standing and similar methods of seating in the aircrafts.
United Kingdom bid to host the Olympics in 2012 is opening an opportunity window for the British airways. It has already been nominated as the official airline of this Olympic champion and the Paralympics.
Globalization is taking effect rapidly CITATION Gro07 \l 1033 (Gronroos, 2007). The creation of many national markets and international markets without boundaries and trade is becoming smooth after many of the barriers are removed. The advent of globalization has as such seen the expansion of air travel. As the trend continues, opportunities for growth and development of the British airways will be opening up.
Threats
Global economic meltdowns adversely affect leisure and travels. As such a major threat that British Airways faces are the economic meltdowns which have become prevalent of late. The just ending economic meltdown adversely affected the airline industry including British Airways. As such future economic depressions will adversely affect the company.
Fuel prices in the world market are rising. The cost of fuel is becoming high making the travel fess rise hence discouraging many travelers. The skyrocketing prices of fuel can destabilize the aviation business CITATION Kas06 \l 1033 (Kasper, 2006).
Terrorism is on the rise and air transport has become the target of many terror groups. This has made many fear travelling in aircrafts. This has adverse effects in the aviation industry as a whole. Since the September 11th terror strikes in US, many have developed negative attitude towards air transport.
Many airline industries have thin operating profit margins. This acts in favour of thye low fare carries. The public has further worsened the situation by accepting the low fare carrier concept. They also have a perception that the quality of transport is non- issue as compared to the price. They therefore opt to use the cheaper airlines leaving the quality compromised.
The airline industry has be...

Updated on January 26, 2024

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