Introductory description

The Western economies are essentially dominated by service-sector businesses, contributing about 70% of GDP, and their importance is growing in emerging economies. Furthermore, goods manufacturers increasingly seek to differentiate their offers through service as their products become commoditised. Emergent thinking in marketing is that the entire approach to the subject is flawed: that the ‘goods-dominant’ thinking of the manufacturing era - along with its accompanying economic theory - has biased the fundamental concepts and approaches have guided both marketing theory and practice. It is now argued that all businesses are, ultimately, service businesses and that marketing must revise many of its basic premises. We should not think of service as an add-on to products, but as the core of what we do and how we create value for customers. If service is central to value creation, service marketing cannot be separated from operations, HR and other functions. All need to combine in focusing on the customer experience.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

This is a dynamic and expanding field and the syllabus will reflect that dynamism. Typically (but not exclusively) it would cover the following:
Creating service value propositions: how service contributes to customer experience and value creation;
Customer journeys: understanding them, optimising them;
Multichannel customer journeys: channel chain analysis;
Customer insight: gaining it, turning it into action;
Creating a culture for customers;
Great conversations: making customer relationship management work;
Solutions and performance-based pricing;
Employee engagement: the role of purpose and values.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understand the central and essential premises of service science and critically evaluate its role, usefulness and applicability in a marketing and business context. -
• Understand constructs such as "performance based pricing" constructs and demonstrate use of such constructs in practice
• Demonstrate an ability to understand new theoretical perspectives and their practical applications. -
• Demonstrate developed analytical skills through the evaluation of cases. -
• Demonstrate the ability to conduct effective research and synthesise logical arguments
• Critically evaluate any business from a service perspective and recognise the importance of viewing the business from a service perspective.

Indicative reading list

Wirtz, J., Lovelock, C. (2016), Services Marketing, 8th ed., World Scientific Publishing.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. & Berry, L.L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 41-50.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1-17.
Macdonald, E.K., Wilson, H., Martinez, V. & Toosi, A. (2011) Assessing value-in-use: A conceptual framework and exploratory study. Industrial Marketing Management. 40(5), 671-682.
Lemke, F., Clark, M. & Wilson, H. (2011) Customer experience quality: An exploration in business and consumer contexts using repertory grid technique. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39, 846-869.
Verhoef, P. C., Lemon, K. N., Parasuraman, A., Roggeveen, A., Tsiros, M., & Schlesinger, L. A. (2009). Customer experience creation: Determinants, dynamics and management strategies. Journal of retailing, 85(1), 31-41.
Bitner, M. J., Ostrom, A. L., & Morgan, F. N. (2008). Service blueprinting: a practical technique for service innovation. California Management Review, 50(3), 66-94.
Edelman, M. and Singer, D. C. (2015). “Competing on customer journeys.” Harvard Business Review, Nov, 88-100.
Dixon, M., Freeman, K., & Toman, N. (2010). Stop trying to delight your customers. Harvard Business Review, 88(7/8), 116-122.
Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96.
McDonald, M. & Wilson, H. (2016) Chapter 9: The Multichannel Plan. In: Marketing plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them, 8th Edition. Wiley, Chichester.
Wilson, H. and Daniel, E. (2007) The multi-channel challenge: a dynamic capabilities approach. Industrial Marketing Management, 36, 10-20.
Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing: introduction to the special issue on multi-channel retailing. Journal of retailing, 91(2), 174-181.
Macdonald, E.K., Wilson, H. & Konus, U. (2012) Better customer insight – in real time. Harvard Business Review, 90(9), 102-108.
Champniss, G., Wilson, H. & Macdonald, E. (2015). Why your customers’ social identities matter. Harvard Business Review, 93(1/2), 88-96.

Subject specific skills

Demonstrate an awareness of analytical frameworks and their application to strategic services marketing issues.

Transferable skills

Demonstrate developed written and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrate effective problem solving skills.
Work within a team to analyse issues and propose solution.