Undergraduate Course: Services Marketing (BUST10114)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The Services Marketing course is designed for those who recognise the crucial role that services play in the economy. The economy of developed nations (e.g. the UK, US, Canada and Australia) have shifted from being largely manufacturing to service based. Though services' contribution to GDP and employment in these countries accounts for more than 60%, business school courses traditionally have focused on the manufacturing sector of the economy. This course, therefore, is designed to address this problem. |
| Course description |
Interestingly, product-dominant firms are now turning into service companies; for example, services represent the primary growth for manufacturers like GE and IBM. Over half of IBM' s current revenues and over 60% of GE' s current profits come from services. The study of the marketing of services is important, as services marketing plays an important role in achieving competitive advantage. This relatively new Marketing Group course is being offered firstly to reflect the current trends in the services economy, in terms of how services contribute to more than half of our Gross Domestic Product, and secondly, to be considered as a platform for students who wish to pursue a career in the services industry (e.g. health, banking and hospitality).
Syllabus
Course Overview and Introduction to Services Marketing
The Service Customer and Buying Processes
Defining and Measuring Service Quality
Service products and Processes
Defining and Measuring Service Loyalty
The Service Environment
Services Delivery Channels and Service Employees
Individual essays to be submitted on 11/11/2014
Customer Satisfaction, Service failure and Recovery
Promoting of services in competitive markets
& revision lecture
Student Learning Experience
This course aims to advance students' knowledge of services marketing and to complement financial services marketing courses. It is designed to broaden students' view of services marketing, and to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of the unique characteristics of services and how services marketers and managers adopt marketing theory in practice. This understanding will be achieved by introducing, discussing, and analysing several topics important to service firms to ensure the achievement of customer satisfaction and the long-term success of the service organisation through the delivery of service excellence. Therefore, strategies used by successful services marketers to deal with issues such as service failure, inconsistent service quality, managing customer expectations, service innovation and services loyalty will be discussed.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Marketing (BUST08004)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Year 3 only. Business Studies Honours Entry. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Business Studies courses (including at least one Marketing course)at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses.
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 55 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Individual essay 30%
Group presentation 20% (20% of which will be moderated from peer assessment marks using WebPA)
Exam 50%
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| Feedback |
Generic feedback on your essay, together with individual marks, will be available on Learn.
Generic feedback on group presentations together with group marks (anonymous by examination number) will be available on Learn. You can also look at your group feedback from the same day.
Your examination marks will be posted on Learn (together with generic feedback and examination statistics) as soon as possible after the Boards of Examiners' meeting (normally early-mid June). During the summer months (i.e. mid/end June - end August), you may come into the Business Studies Office (Room 1.11, Business School, 29 Buccleuch Place) to look at your examination scripts. Note that you will not be able to remove any examination scripts from the UG Office as they may be required by the Board of Examiners.
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and discuss critically key issues involved in services marketing, such as, the distinctive characteristics of services, the key differences between manufacturing and service firms, service quality, customer satisfaction and services loyalty.
- Critically evaluate the nature and importance of service sectors to economies at national and international levels and an understanding of the 'state of the art' of service management thinking.
- Critically evaluate the role of employees (and often customers) in service delivery, explain the main challenges involved in the marketing of services and learn how to manage issues related to service failure and recovery
- Understand and discuss the nature of the Services Marketing Mix (7Ps), how it expands upon the traditional Marketing Mix (4Ps) and how it is applied in service and manufacturing firms to achieve a competitive advantage.
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Reading List
Textbooks
Baron, S. and Harris, K. (2003), Services Marketing, 2nd Ed., Palgrave.
Grönroos, C. (2000) Service Management and Marketing : A Customer Relationship Management Approach, Second Edition, London: John Wiley.
Hoffman, K. and Bateson, J. (2002), Essentials of Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies and Cases, 2nd Ed., Harcourt College Publishers.
Kurtz, D. and Clow, K. (1998), Services Marketing, N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons.
Leonard L. Berry (1995), On Great Service - A Framework for Action, Free Press.
Leonard L. Berry (1999), Discovering the Soul of Service: The Nine Drivers of Sustainable Business Success, Free Press.
Lovelock, C. (2001), Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 4th Ed., Prentice-Hall.
Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. (2004), Services Marketing, 5th ed., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Journals
Students are required to read relevant articles from various journals such as:
Journal of Service Research
Journal of Services Marketing
Journal of Retailing & Consumer Services
Services Marketing Quarterly
The Service Industries Journal
Journal of Service Management
Journal of Consumer Research
Journal of Marketing
Journal of Retailing
Journal of International Consumer Marketing
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Students are also encouraged to use other resources as references to support their learning in this subject. Students should follow current developments in the field through various media, including the World Wide Web.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Key intellectual, practical and transferable skills
a) Reflect on key concepts in the marketing of services and apply them to real life business contexts by developing effective marketing programmes within service firms to achieve competitive advantage.
b) Utilise appropriate set of analytical frameworks, concepts and tools for critical thinking about service and service related activities.
c) Use a variety of information sources, including but not limited to online information, teaching materials and academic journals.
d) Develop further their graduate skills in terms of effective communication, excellent problem solving, critical thinking and interpersonal skills.
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| Keywords | SeM |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Dahlia El-Manstrly
Tel: (0131 6)51 5321
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Paul Kydd
Tel: (0131 6)50 3824
Email: |
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