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Exam questions and answers services marketing
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FICHE 1: Exam Services Marketing – Prof. Dr. A. Lievens1. What are the most important service characteristics as well as the
internal and external marketing implications ? (H1)
Intangibility: Services are performances or actions rather than objects, they can not be
seen, felt, tasted or touched in the same manner as tangible goods.
Implications:
- Services cannot be inventoried
- Services cannot be easily patented
- Services cannot be readily displayed or communicated (so there is an increased risk
perception, external)
- Pricing is difficult (because there are no valid output measures, internal)
Heterogeneous: No two services will be exactly alike, because services are performances.
Also, the employees and the customers are never exactly alike. Services based on human
interactions (contrary to standardizing): vulnerable to change, to variation.
Implications:
- Service delivery and customer satisfaction depend on employee and customer
actions
- Service quality depends on many uncontrollable factors: uncertainty (external)
- There is no sure knowledge that the service delivered matches what was planned
and promoted
- technical and personal interdependencies (internal)
- increased functional interdependencies (internal)
Inseparability: Most services are sold first, and then produced (for objects it’s the other way
around). The consumption also takes place at the moment of production, so often the
customers take part in the production process, and customers influence each other's
experiences (people talk to each other in a taxi for example).
Implications:
- Customers participate in and affect the transaction
- Customers affect each other
- Employees affect the service outcome
- Decentralization may be essential
- Mass production is difficult
- Visibility of production (external)
- Managing client-organization interface (internal)
Perishability: When products don’t please you, you can return them, which is not the case
with services: this is a direct consequence of intangibility, you cannot keep the service or
capacity in stock. It can not be saved, stored, resold or returned.
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,Implications:
- It is difficult to synchronize supply and demand with services => because you can not
store the services
- Services cannot be returned or resold
- Capacity management (internal)
- Waiting lines/reservation system (external)
2. What different types of service expectations exist. Demonstrate with (an)
example(s) ! (H2)
Expectations are reference points against which service delivery is compared. Service
marketers need a thorough and clear definition of expectations if they are to comprehend,
measure and manage them. There are different types or levels of expectations:
- ideal expectations or desired expectations: this is the level of service the customer
hopes to receive. This is based on ideals. This is a mix of what a customer believes,
‘could’ and ‘should’ be.
- “Everyone says this is a very good restaurant and i want to go somewhere
very special for my birthday”
- dating site
- normative ‘should expectations: this is the level of service the customer thinks should
be received. This is based on norms.
- “the food has to be great because it is a very expensive restaurant”
- experience based norms: this is the level of service that the customer expects to
receive based on past experiences.
- “Most times this restaurant is very good, but when it gets busy the service is
slow”
- acceptable expectations: this is what the consumers see as acceptable.
- “I expect this restaurant to serve me in an adequate manner”
- minimum tolerable expectations: this is the bare minimum the customer expects, the
lowest level of service they will accept.
- “I expect a poor service in this restaurant because the prices are so low”
Everything between the lowest tolerable expectations and the desired expectations is the
‘tolerance gap’
3. In what way could an airline company manage capacity ? Give an
example and explain ! (H14)
The main constraint to capacity an airline faces is the limited facilities: they only have a
number of seats on their plane. They could manage their capacity in a way that they try to
match the customers demand, so by adjusting, stretching and aligning the capacity they
have. During the periods of peak demand the organization seeks to stretch or expand its
capacity as much as possible. During periods of slow demands it tries to shrink its capacity
to not waste resources.
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,The existing capacity can often be expanded temporarily to match demand. Or an airline can
align its capacity to match demand. This basic strategy is known as ‘chase demand’
strategy. By adjusting service resources creatively, organizations can in effect chase the
demand curves to match capacity with customer demand patterns.
An example of how the airline industry does this is by modifying or moving facilities and
equipment. This approach is known as the demand-driven dispatch, and they have begun to
experiment with methods that assign planes to flight schedules on the basis of fluctuating
market needs. The method depends on accurate knowledge of demand and the ability to
quickly move airplanes with different seating capacities to flights that match their capacity.
The Boeing 777 aircraft is so flexible that it can be reconfigured within hours to vary the
number of seats allocated to one, two or three classes. The aircraft can thus quickly be
modified to match demand from different market segments, essentially molding capacity to fit
demand.
Chat GPT answer:
An airline company can manage capacity in several ways within the context of services:
1. Flight scheduling: The airline can adjust its flight schedules based on demand
patterns. By analyzing historical data and forecasting future demand, the company
can add or reduce flights on specific routes or during certain periods to match
capacity with expected demand levels.
2. Fleet management: The airline can manage its fleet of aircraft to optimize capacity.
This includes determining the appropriate number and size of aircraft in the fleet,
considering factors such as passenger capacity, range, and operational efficiency.
The company can also lease or acquire additional aircraft during peak seasons or
high-demand periods to increase capacity temporarily.
3. Seat inventory control: Airlines can employ dynamic pricing and seat inventory
management techniques to optimize capacity utilization. By implementing revenue
management systems, they can adjust fares based on demand fluctuations and
allocate seat availability accordingly. This helps maximize revenue and fill the aircraft
to its optimal capacity.
4. Overbooking management: Airlines may use overbooking strategies to manage
capacity. By selling more tickets than the available seats, they account for the
possibility of no-shows or cancellations. However, it requires careful management to
avoid inconveniencing passengers and ensure a smooth customer experience.
5. Code-sharing and alliances: Airlines can enter into code-sharing agreements or
alliances with other carriers to enhance capacity management. This allows them to
expand their network and offer a wider range of destinations without having to
operate additional flights themselves. By leveraging the capacity of partner airlines,
they can increase their overall service capacity.
6. Flexible capacity options: Airlines can offer flexible capacity options to customers,
such as different fare classes with varying levels of service or ticket restrictions. This
allows customers to choose the capacity option that best suits their needs and
preferences while enabling the airline to maximize revenue and efficiently allocate
resources.
3
, Overall, effective capacity management in the airline industry involves a combination of
strategic scheduling, fleet management, inventory control, and partnerships to optimize
capacity utilization, meet demand, and achieve operational efficiency.
FICHE 2: Exam Services Marketing – Prof. Dr. A. Lievens
1. What variables influence expectations patterns within a services
context? Clearly distinguish between the different expectations levels
that exist for services ! (H4)
Everything between the lowest tolerable expectations (adequate service) and the desired
expectations (desired service) is the ‘zone of tolerance’. This zone varies from customer to
customer.
Desired expectations are relatively stable – doesn’t change that much, because it is related
to personal service philosophy. This is influenced by
- Personal needs: these are essential to the physical or psychological well-being of the
customer
- Lasting service identifiers: individual, stable factors that lead the customer to a
heightened sensitivity to the service. One of the most important of these factors can
be called derived service expectations: these are the expectations driven by another
person or group of people, expectations based on what your peers or community tells
you. Another important factor is the personal service philosophy: the customers'
underlying generic attitude about the meaning of service and the proper conduct of
service providers. Both factors elevate the level of desired service.
A different set of determinants affect the adequate service, the level of service the customer
finds acceptable. In general these influences are short term.
- Temporary service intensifiers: These are short-term, individual factors that make a
customer more aware of the need for the service. The higher the need, the higher the
adequate service needs to be, in emergency situations for example. The zone of
tolerance will get smaller; you need urgent help, so patients are limited due to the
sudden need.
- Perceived service alternatives: If there are multiple service providers to choose from,
or if they can provide the service for themselves, their level of adequate service will
be higher. The zone of tolerance will be smaller; the more choice, the more you have
the luxury to be selective and critical.
- Self-perceived service role: This is the customer perception on the degree to which
the customers exert an influence on the level of service they receive. The zone of
tolerance can go both ways. When you have the feeling that you have invested a lot,
your expectations are high so your zone of tolerance will get smaller. But on the other
hand, if you evaluate yourself as not having done too much (e.g., messed up due to
your own mistake – not having read the manual thoroughly), the zone of tolerance
will become bigger.
- Situational factors: service performance conditions that the consumers perceive as
beyond the control of the service provider. External factors over which you have no
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