Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across the Firm [Paperback]

European economies are now dominated by services, and virtually all companies view service as critical to retaining their customers today and in the future.

This European edition provides students with a complete introduction to the unique marketing challenges that services present. Guiding students to recognize and understand these special characteristics, the text also explores frameworks for developing and implementing service strategies for competitive advantage across a wide array of industries.

European examples, cases and readings have been integrated throughout the chapters, and the material has also been updated and restructured to reflect the latest thinking in services marketing.

This book is ideal for services marketing modules at the undergraduate, postgraduate (both masters and doctoral courses), and executive education levels.

Greater emphasis on the topic of service quality than existing marketing and competing service marketing textbooks. The quality of the service and the ability to measure that quality is more important to companies today as they strive for a sustainable competitive advantage which will increase customer loyalty.
Increased focus on customer expectations and perceptions and what they imply for marketers. Companies are interested in what customers expect so that they can be sure to develop and deliver a service which the customer will value.
An entirely new chapter on service recovery that includes a conceptual framework for understanding the topic. This coverage was added in response to customer feedback .
An entirely new chapter on the financial and economic impact of service quality.
Coverage of new service development processes and a detailed and complete introduction to service blueprinting'a tool for describing, designing and positioning services
All new global feature in each chapter. This feature highlights a global services marketing example and demonstrates to the reader how the concepts addressed apply to situations world-wide.
New Internet exercises in each chapter help to illustrate the role and the impact the World Wide Web has on service marketing.
Cross-functional treatment of issues through integration of marketing with other disciplines such as operations and human resources. This coverage reinforces the strong role that teams play in the business world and specifically in developing and marketing a service.
An entire chapter that recognizes human resource challenges and human resource strategies for delivering customer-focused services.
A chapter on customer-defined service standards. This chapter is well-liked by our customers and is unique.
Fully updated technology spotlights in each chapter highlight the role technology plays in Services Marketing.
The text continues to offer coverage of consumer-based pricing and value pricing strategies. Our readers will learn how to price a service.
Introduction of three service Ps to the traditional marketing mix and increased focus on customer relationships and relationship marketing strategies. This coverage reinforces the role that relationship marketing plays in marketing a service.
Little repetition of principles of marketing; while some chapters include a concise overview of principles from basic marketing textbooks. In most cases, standard content on topics such as distribution, pricing, and promotion have been adjusted to account for service differences of intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability and perishability.
New marketing topics from the business world are introduced. This textbook introduces students to entirely new topics that include management and measurement of service quality, service recovery, the linking of customer measurement to performance measurement, and cross-functional treatment of issues through integration of marketing with disciplines such as operations and human resources. Each of these topics represents pivotal content for tomorrow's corporations as they structure around process rather than task, engage in one-to-one marketing, mass customize their offerings, and attempt to build strong relationships with their customers.
A new chapter on integrated services marketing communications. This chapter helps the students to see the role integrated marketing planning has when developing and marketing a service.
Marketing a service is similar to marketing a good product. Basic marketing techniques do apply. However, the authors recognize a need for additional tools and techniques, which are specific to marketing a service. This text will help the reader to develop skills that are specific to marketing a service. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.