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IM for Lovelock & Wirtz, Services Marketing 7/e Student Exercises and Projects

Section 2

Student Exercises and Projects

Students are often both service consumers and service employees, because there are many job opportunities in the service sector. As a result, experiential learning activities are particularly applicable for service-marketing classes. Such active learning helps students understand how their experiences relate to the course content, placing considerable responsibility for learning on class participants themselves. In essence, they become co-producers with instructors in actively creating and presenting their own knowledge through experiential activities.

Experiential assignments provide students with alternative ways to understand and synthesize the learning objectives listed at the beginning of each chapter. Such activities also break up the normal routine of reading the text, attending lectures, and note-taking. In fact, student feedback indicates that they often enjoy experiential learning assignments more than other aspects of a service marketing class.

In this section, we present 21 different learning exercises, some of which are individual in nature, whereas others involve teamwork. Many of them serve usefully as graded exercises. Your choice of which ones to use should relate to your teaching style, the learning objectives for students, course length and format, class size, nature of your students, and opportunities for real world research in your local environment. These exercises supplement the many “application exercises” listed at the end of each chapter, which are briefly described in Section 2.

CHOOSING APPROPRIATE EXERCISES

As you design your service marketing course, you should review the projects described in this section and ask yourself the following questions:

  • Which exercises are most relevant for my types of students? Which activities can realistically be done in my academic environment (e.g., urban versus residential rural campus; university versus community college; distance versus traditional learning method; North American location versus another continent)?
  • What are my students capable of doing well? What are their strengths and limitations? In what ways do I want to stretch and challenge them?
  • Which issues/concepts in services marketing do I most want to reinforce through these activities?
  • To what extent do I want to devote class time to student presentations and discussion of student-generated learning materials?
  • Do I prefer written assignments and term papers as alternatives to mid-term and final exams or as complements to them? (Are there any university or departmental requirements on exams?)
  • Do both my students and I have access to reasonable information resources (e.g., libraries, the Web, local, and national/international print media) and local service businesses?
  • By what date will each selected project need to be completed? Will this allow students enough lead time to complete the assignment? Are there any holidays or other major events that should be considered in scheduling these exercises?
  • Do I want all students to write on the same topic, or do I want to offer them a chance to select their own areas of interest for research?
  • What types of exercises have previously generated the greatest student enthusiasm and commitment (either in my classes or in those of colleagues)? Why?

You can integrate experiential exercises and projects into your class in many ways. The activities in this section are a collection of favorite assignments from a variety of services marketing instructors. Our experience with these exercises suggests that students’ enthusiasm and cooperation in participating in these activities greatly enhance their understanding of course concepts.

The box below lists two sets of exercises and projects. The first set is linked to specific chapters to help you decide where and when to use them in your course. The second set, described as comprehensive projects, can be assigned wherever they fit best with your overall course plan.

SUMMARY LIST OF SUGGESTED EXERCISES AND PROJECTS

Exercises Relevant Chapters

Part I – Understanding Service Markets, Products, and Customers

  1. Characteristics of Service Debate Ch. 1
  2. Scripts in ServicesCh. 2
  3. Customer Roles in Service DeliveryCh. 2 and 8

Part II – Applying the 4 Ps of Marketing to Services

  1. The Flower of ServiceCh. 4
  2. Web Site EvaluationCh. 4 and 5
  3. Mobile Phone Services Pricing PlansCh.6
  4. Recommend-a-Friend ProgramsCh.7

Part III – Managing the Customer Interface

  1. Service BlueprintingCh. 8
  2. Servicescape Evaluation and the Initial Customer ExperienceCh. 10
  3. Physical EvidenceCh. 10
  4. Frontline Employee InterviewCh. 11

Part IV – Implementing Profitable Service Strategies

  1. CRM Strategy and ImplementationCh. 12
  2. Complaint and Compliment LettersCh. 12 and 13
  3. Jaycustomer Incidents Ch. 13
  4. Mystery ShopperCh. 14
  5. Six Sigma Implementation in a Service FirmCh. 14

Comprehensive Projects (suitable for use with material throughout the text)

  1. Service Articles Assignment
  2. Service Encounter Diaries
  3. Cutting Edge Issues in Services
  4. Service Quality Gap Analysis
  5. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives by Service Firms

Note: All projects are described in detail on the following pages.

DESCRIPTION OF EXERCISES

Detailed descriptions of 21 different learning exercises are provided below. Many of these exercises are suitable for several different types of assignments—i.e., they can be used as individual writing assignments or as the basis for individual or group oral presentations. Some are designed specifically for groups, but the assignment content can typically be customized to meet the learning objectives of a specific course. As you read through the exercises, you will notice that some are general descriptions of activities. Others, which are indented and printed in italics, provide specific assignment instructions that can be modified and/or reproduced for use with your students. Material that is in regular type contains information for the instructor rather than the student and will need to be adapted for use in any handouts provided to students (or excluded altogether).

As you use these activities in your classes, remember that experiential learning is a messy process. Students are not professional presenters and these activities are by design not as tightly structured or controlled as your carefully prepared lectures. It is sometimes difficult for instructors to give up total control of the classroom environment and refocus their role from “boss” to “coach and facilitator.” Experiential learning requires a willingness to turn over a larger portion of the responsibility for learning to the students themselves. Business instructors often extol the benefits of empowerment, but many seldom practice it! Experiential learning exercises are a rewarding and challenging opportunity for us to practice what we preach.

Exercise 1: Characteristics of Services Debate

Students should be given the following instructions regarding this exercise:

The class will be divided into teams of four students each. From those teams, I will appoint two teams of four students each (proponents and opponents). These two teams are to prepare to debate the notion of “In today’s world, every firm is a service firm.” For the preparation of the debate, you should apply concepts like search, experience, and credence attributes, and other relevant concepts dealing with the characteristics of services as discussed in Chapter 1.

Teams not involved directly in the actual debate are also to prepare to either support or oppose the motion. You will be the judges of the debate and decide on the winning team, and select the best speaker. You have to justify your selection based on the arguments raised by the debating teams.

Grades will be awarded for the quality of the arguments provided by all teams.

Exercise 2: Scripts in Services

Scripts are the roadmaps of services, telling a customer where s/he is going, what steps to take and in what sequence, how to behave, and what to expect in a specific service setting. They are particularly useful for new customers who are unfamiliar with the process of purchasing a service offering.

Students should be given the following instructions regarding this exercise:

Devise a service script for a high-contact service. Possibilities include visiting a lawyer, staying in a hospital, getting a car repaired, taking a flight, eating a restaurant meal, renting a car, getting a haircut, visiting a fitness center or health club, attending a theatre performance, or going skiing. You may need to take notes during your visit so that you can remember the process accurately. After your visit, create a flowchart of your service.

Answer the following questions:

  1. How did you know the script for the service?
  2. What can the service provider do to help newcomers learn the script?
  3. What possible consequences could there be to yourself, other customers, or the service provider if you deviate from the script?
  4. Do you see any changes that are needed to the script to improve the service?

Exercise 3: Customer Roles in Service Delivery

This assignment facilitates students’ understanding of the complexities of managing a medium- or high-contact service operation. Everyone has a part to play in a service encounter. A person’s role in a service encounter is a set of behavior patterns to be performed by the players to achieve the goals of the encounter effectively and efficiently. Very often, we expect service providers to play their role well, in order for us to have a satisfactory service encounter. However, students should be sensitized to the fact that in services, customers are also required to play their parts well, to facilitate a smooth delivery of the service. Students are asked to select a service that requires a moderate or high level of customer participation and then to answer some or all of the following questions:

  1. What service have you selected?
  2. Describe your role as a customer in the service delivery process.
  3. How did you learn your “role”?
  4. How important is the customer to the service delivery process?
  5. How would you describe your level of participation (low/medium/high)? Explain.
  6. What influence do other customers have on your service experience?
  7. When might other customers enhance your experience?
  8. When might other customers diminish your experience?
  9. Could you be considered a “partial employee” of this organization? Explain.
  10. When might you, as the customer, be able to enhance your experience?
  11. When might you, as the customer, do something that diminishes your experience?
  12. Is this a service that you might be able to provide yourself (without the

service provider’s assistance)? Why or why not?

Exercise 4: The Flower of Service

Students should be given the following instructions regarding this exercise:

Select one high-contact and one low-contact service. Using the Flower of Service framework presented in Chapter 4, define the core product and then identify and categorize all the supplementary elements for each of the two services. Describe the results of your analysis.

Discuss how the petals can be used for service differentiation and competitive advantage.

The instructor may wish to ask students to present the results of their analysis in class. Useful insights can be gained by comparing and contrasting the supplementary elements for different types of services.

Exercise 5: Web Site Evaluation

This exercise requires students to access Web sites for service organizations. Instructors should provide students with the following instructions regarding this exercise:

Select Web sites for several different service businesses in different industries. Prepare an evaluation of each using the following criteria:

  1. User-friendliness (easy to access and use, speed, provides needed information and instructions).
  2. Applicability of contents and features to each of the five technology-dominated petals of the “Flower” (Information, Consultation, Order-Taking, Billing, and Payment).
  3. Overall effectiveness and suggestions for improvement on specific dimensions (missing or unnecessary content, layout and sequencing, eye-appeal—appropriate use of graphics and color, animation, audio options, presence or absence of all necessary service features, use of hypertext links, etc.).
  4. Compare and contrast the different Web sites in terms of what each is trying to achieve. Which is the most successful? The least? Why?
  5. How does the Web compare as an information medium relative to other media used by service marketers? What do you see as its potential for the future?

Exercise 6: Mobile Phone Services Pricing Plans

Students should be given the following instructions regarding this exercise:

Collect the comprehensive pricing plans of three mobile phone service providers. Answer the following questions:

  1. Identify which services are billed and which are offered free. What is the unit/basis for charges, and how much is billed for all services provided by each of the three mobile phone service providers?
  2. Build a usage profile (number of calls, call duration, distribution profile, profile of call distribution across the day and days of the week, incoming/ outgoing profile, usage of voicemail and other value-added services, etc. for a typical student. Then develop an Excel spreadsheet that computes the total monthly bill for this user segment for all three service providers using their most suitable subscription plan.
  3. Build a sensitivity model that shows the total bill difference for this segment across all three service providers on key pricing dimensions
  4. Design a questionnaire and conduct a survey on the awareness and sensitivity of your Services Marketing classmates.
  5. Based on your sensitivity analysis and user survey, what changes to the current pricing strategy do you recommend to the provider of your choice, to design a specific pricing plan for students?

Exercise 7: Recommend-a-Friend Programs: What Works and What Doesn’t?

Students should be given the following instructions regarding this exercise:

Design a questionnaire and conduct a survey asking about three different recommend-a-friend programs of real companies. Ask your respondents which they would definitely take advantage of, and which they dislike and why. Use open-ended questions, such as “Would you take advantage of the programs and recommend others?” “What are the three things you like best about this/these programs?” “Like least?” “Suggested improvements?” etc. Look into areas like the design of the programs, the types of incentives offered, the effort needed to obtain the incentive, and any other area that you find interesting.

Analyze what features make these recommend-a-friend programs successful, and what features do not achieve the desired results. Come up with suggestions of what the relevant companies can do to improve their programs.

Exercise 8: Service Blueprinting

This exercise should be assigned in conjunction with (or following) assignment of Chapter 8. It requires a field trip by student groups to observe a local service business. All or part of a class period may be allocated later for the presentations resulting from this exercise. Warn students they will need to obtain permission from management to view and discuss the backstage of the business. One option is to identify a service industry that has many local competitors so that each group studies a different provider (coffeehouses, automobile oil change services, and fast food restaurants are potential examples for this assignment). Student groups sign up in advance to visit a specific firm within the designated industry. Unless the class is very large, or your local town has only a limited number of service businesses, one industry will suffice for this exercise. Give students the following instructions:

With your group, visit the service business you have chosen. You will need to gather enough information to prepare a detailed blueprint showing how a specific service is created and delivered to the customer. In most instances, this will probably require interviewing one or more managers and employees.

Prepare a detailed blueprint of the service including all relevant elements both front stage and backstage. Add a written narrative and evaluation of the process in its present form, paying particular attention to service quality and productivity. Be sure to identify areas of strength and weakness (including potential fail points). If appropriate, compare this firm’s approach with the processes used by its major competitors. Add suggestions for any changes or improvements.

Your group may be asked to present its blueprint to the class. Don’t be afraid to be creative in your presentation—overhead transparencies, role playing, short videos, or even storytelling can make your blueprint “come to life!”

If you ask all teams to present, be careful to set a specific time limit for each presentation. If you wish, you can ask students to vote on the best presentation (as distinct from your evaluation of the formal blueprint and accompanying paper).

Exercise 9: Servicescape Evaluation and the Initial Customer Experience

This exercise puts students in the role of first-time users of a particular service facility (for example, a large train station, a hospital, or a big museum). The instructor forms students into groups of four to five members. Half the teams will visit the first designated facility and the second half of the teams will visit the second designated facility (a third facility could be added and the teams split three ways). Your instructions should specify that team members should confine themselves to public areas of the service facility. In the case of visits to a hospital, we recommend adding the following caveat: You must restrict yourselves to the public areas of the hospital and may NOT go into areas reserved for staff, inpatients, or patients with appointments in designated departments.