This course aims to teach students about marketing of services in India. It is relevant for students interested in careers in the large services sector as well as industries with significant service components. The course will provide a more comprehensive overview of services marketing than a standard marketing course. It covers key topics like the nature of services, customer behavior and expectations, service quality, employee roles, pricing strategies, and more. Students will analyze case studies in class and complete a live project in a growing services industry as a group. Evaluation includes case discussions, a group project, tests and exams.

1. MARKETING OF SERVICES
Course Code: MBAMK 20303 Credit Units: 03
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course is for students who recognize the vital role that services play in the
Indian economy and its future. A broad cross section of students is drawn to
learning about services marketing. Students with career interest in services
industries as well as goods industries with high service components (such as
industrial products, high-tech products, and durable products) want and need to
understand the covered topics in this course curriculum. It is likely to be useful to
a large number of enrollees from different discipline. While, the marketing
students seek to broaden their knowledge and career opportunities in the
services marketing, the same is applicable to the others majoring in finance,
human resource, information technology, and operations management.
Students need only a basic marketing course as a prerequisite for this course,
which will provide more comprehensive teaching of services than is possible with
a standard marketing management course.
COURSE CONTENTS
Module: 1
Introduction to Services and Customer Behaviour in Services
1. Nature of Services; Service and Technology; Tangibility Spectrum; Goods
vs. Service Marketing.
2. Classifying Services. Segmenting the Service Market. The extended P’s
for services: People, Process, and Physical Evidence.
Case:
 Kadavu Resorts. (7 P’s of Services Marketing)
Module: 2
Focus on Customers
1. Customers’ expectations of service. Desired and Adequate service, Zone
of Tolerance. Managing customer expectations.
1

2. 2. Customer perception of services. Service Quality Dimensions. Customer
Satisfaction vs. Service Quality.
Module: 3
Listening to Customer Requirements
The impact of service failure and recovery. Service Recovery, Recovery
Paradox. Types of Customer Complaint Actions. Types of Complainers. Service
Guarantees. Service Recovery Strategies.
Case:
 The Starbucks Coffee Terrorist
Module: 4
Aligning Strategy, Design and Physical Evidence
 Service Blueprinting. Operational service product designing and adding
value.
 Evidence of service and Servicescape.
Case:
 Southwest Airlines.
Module: 5
Employees’ Roles in Service Delivery
 The Service Triangle. Boundary–Spanning Roles. Strategies for closing
the delivery gap.
Case:
 SAS Institute
Module: 6
Delivering Services through Intermediaries. Managing Demand and
Capacity. Pricing Services
 Role of Distribution in Services. Channel Conflicts and other key
problems. Key Intermediaries for Service Delivery.
2

3.  Understanding Demand and Capacity constraints. Strategies for matching
Capacity and Demand.
 Approaches to Pricing Services
Module: 7
Service Sector Study (Group Project)
 Exposure to various growing Service Sectors, viz.: Banking, Insurance,
Hospitality, Education, Telecom, and Health Care etc.
 Live-Project by each group, on any of the above growing sectors of
services; Group Presentations / Viva on assigned date.
PEDAGOGY:
Besides Lectures, the concepts shall be reinforced through class discussions of
the assigned Cases. All students are required to read them in advance and come
prepared for active participation and constant evaluation in the class.
The assigned case analysis to a group (Problems identification and
proposed solution) of 1-2 pages only should be submitted one session in
advance of the presentation for discussions in the class.
Teaching shall be supplemented by Individual / Group assignments.
Live project shall be assigned to each group to experience real life situation.
Students are expected to pay regular visits to the service organization assigned
and link the learning of each module to the real life situation. The report has to be
submitted on the assigned date.
Evaluation:
Case Discussions / Class Participation 10
Group Project 05
Class Test 10
Attendance 05
Final Exams 70
3

4. LEARNING RESOURCES:
1. Recommended Text Books:
 Services Marketing, Integrating customer focus across the firm,
Valarie A Zeithaml and Mary Jo Bitner, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co.
 Services Marketing, Cristopher Lovelock, Pearson Education Asia
2. Recommended additional readings:
 Services Marketing, Text and Cases, Harsh V. Verma, Pearson
Education.
 Services Marketing, Text and Cases, Rajendra Nargundkar, Tata
McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Ltd.
 Service Management: Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology,
James Fitzsimmons, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co.
 Services Marketing, David L. Kurtz / Kenneth E. Clow, John Wiley & Sons,
 Services Marketing, 2e, Operation, Management and Strategy, Kenneth E
Clow & David L Kurtz, Biztantra Pub.
 Service Management and Operations, Haksever, Render, Russell and
Murdick
 Essentials of Services Marketing, Concepts, Strategies and Cases, K
Douglas Hoffman and John E G Bateson, Harcourt College Pub.
3. Lecture ppts and other reading materials, if any, can be accessed from
the Amizone or will be provided as and when required.
4. List of cases:
 Kadavu Resorts.
 The Starbucks Coffee Terrorist
 Southwest Airlines.
 SAS Institute
(The above cases can be accessed on Amizone or shall be provided in the
class)
4