The University of Hong Kong

School of Business
BUSI0038 Services Marketing
MKTG3525 Services Marketing
First Semester 2014-2015
Dr. Helen Wang
Class A: Mon 11:30AM - 12:20PM. (KKLG103)
Thur 10:30AM - 12:20PM. (KKLG103)
Class B: Mon 3:30PM - 5:20PM (MB237)
Thur 3:30PM - 4:20PM (MB237)
Office Location: 709 KK Leung Building
Phone: (852) 3917- 1614

Office Hours: by appt.

E-mail: helensw@hku.hk

Pre-requisite: BUSI1004 (MKTG2501)

Background:
Services dominate the Hong Kong economy, and most other developed economies,
and are becoming critical for competitive advantage in companies across the globe and in all
industry sectors. For manufacturers like General Electric services represent their primary
growth and profitability strategies in the 21st century. Over 60% percent of GEs current
profits come from services. Superior service quality drives the competitive advantage of
excellent companies like Li and Fung, The Peninsula hotel chain, Starbucks, and FedEx
traditional service businesses. In fact, recent award-winning publications espouse the view
that all businesses are service businesses.
The course focuses on challenges of managing service brands and delivering quality
service to customers across industry sectors. The attraction, retention, and building of strong
customer relationships through quality service (and services) are all at the heart of the
course content. The course is equally applicable to organizations whose core product is
service (e.g., banks, transportation companies, hotels, hospitals, educational institutions,
professional services, telecommunication, etc.) and to organizations that depend on services
for competitive advantage (e.g., high technology manufacturers, automotive, industrial
products, etc.).
In this course you will learn critical skills and gain knowledge needed to implement
quality and service strategies for competitive advantage across industries. You will learn
frameworks for customer-focused management, and how to increase customer satisfaction
retention through service strategies. You will learn about the strong linkages between
service quality, customer lifetime value and profitability. You will learn to map services,
understand customer expectations and develop service and customer-focused relationship
marketing strategies that lead to strong service brands.

Course Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the
marketing of services and to teach them how to make service-related decisions in the
workplace. The classes and text provides an organizing framework for making these
decisions.
Specific course objectives are:
Teaching and Learning Activities:
An underlying assumption of this course is that students learn best and retain the
most through active participation in the learning process. Therefore, classroom sessions will
consist of a mixture of lectures, student discussions of material and assignments, case
discussions, media presentations, and a few active learning exercises. My goals are that
you will learn from me, learn from each other, and that I will learn from you too.
Course Materials:
Textbook: Zeithaml, Valarie A. Mary Jo Bitner, and Dwayne Gremler (2012), Services
Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill
Any cases or materials not in the book will be distributed either to you in class or will be put
on the class website.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

Develop skills in performing customer analyses (including analysis of customers service

expectations & requirements, analyzing a service process, including making a blueprint
of it. (CLO1)
Apply services marketing tools such as service quality & customer satisfaction surveys to
address service problems. (CLO2)
Develop managerial leadership and competency in managing a service operation.
(CLO3)
Develop skills in case analysis and writing, presentation, and team work. (CLO4)

Alignment of Program and Course Learning Outcomes:

Program Learning Outcomes

Course LOs

1. Acquisition and internalization of business knowledge and skills in key

functional areas.

CLO1, CLO2,
CLO3

2. Application of business knowledge to solve business problems.

CLO2, CLO3,
CLO4

3. Develop managerial leadership and inculcate professional ethics and

competency in business.

CLO3

4. Developing global outlook.

CLO1, CLO3,
CLO4

5. Mastering communication skills.

CLO4

Grading:

Group Project:
Case Presentation &
Discussion
Written Report
Oral Presentation

Subtotal CLO1
40%

CLO3

CLO4

10%
15%
15%

Tests
Final Exam
Service Encounter Journal

CLO2

40%

10%

10%
100%

40%

Class participation
TOTAL
Grading Activities

Points

GROUP PROJECTS (Total 400 points)

I. Case Presentation & Discussion
II. New Service Design
# Oral Presentation
# Written Report
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS (Total 600 points)
I. Exams
Final Exam
II. Service Encounter Report
III. Class Participation
TOTAL

100
150
150

400
100
100
1,000

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

97%-100%
A+
80%-82.99% B93%-96.99% A
77%-79.99% C+
90%-92.99% A70%-76.99% C
87%-89.99% B+
60%-69.99% D
83%-86.99% B
Below 60%
F
GROUP PROJECTS
Teamwork is critical for any business success. The group projects aim to create teamwork
opportunities and help students to apply marketing concepts in practice. The students will work
in a team to complete the following two projects during the semester.
I. Case Presentation and Discussion
In the class, we will have dedicated time for more interactive case studies. For each case
study, one group will be responsible for presenting the case, preparing interesting questions for
discussion, and facilitating the class discussion. The rest of the groups will also need to
prepare the case and actively participate in the discussion and complete the discussion
assignments.
When your group is presenting and leading the case study, the Presentation grade will be
evaluated based on:
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1. introduce clearly what the case about

2. how we learn in the class integrate into the case?
3. What new issue or new strategy further improve the case which the case havent
mentioned, any similar case apply in hk? How does this case relevant to hk if the
company come to hk, asia market?
a. how clear and organized the case presentation is (both oral and written powerpoint forms),
b. how well and creatively your group leads, facilitates, or stimulates the whole class discussion
to address all required case questions (See Appendix I) and create an enjoyable and
meaningful discussion.
c. the creativity and thoughtfulness in coming up discussion questions, going beyond the
assigned case questions.
When your group is participating in the case study discussion, the Discussion Participation
grade will be evaluated based on:
a. how well your group participates in the discussion and co-create an enjoyable and
meaningful discussion with the presenting group, and
b. how much additional insights your group offers to the overall case study discussion.
II. New Service Design
Throughout the semester, as a group, you will develop a new service design or redesign an
existing service which will include your development of a service blueprint of the service to gain
expertise with using that tool. The total grade for this group project will be based a final group
presentation as well as a written proposal (worth 150 points). I will provide more details about
the assignment step by step in the class.
Group Project Grading: In real-world working environment, you rarely can get work done
alone. You will often find yourself working in a project team with people from the same
department or even across functions. A can-do attitude and teamwork ability are critical for
todays business leader. To encourage a constructive team work culture, each group member
will be evaluated based on two scores: (1) a group performance score (worth 70% of the total
score in each group project assignment). This score will be the same for each group member
based on the overall group performance; (2) an individual contribution score (worth 30% of the
total score in each group project assignment). This score will be given based on the peer
evaluation from the group members (see Appendix II).
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS
I. Service Encounter Report
Service Encounter Report is an individual assignment. It consists of 5 written reports (each
worth 20 points).
You will complete 5 service encounter reports. One blank copy of report form is in Appendix III.
Each entry will correspond to one service encounter. Your report may be written (if you have
neat, legible handwriting) or typed. Be sure to completely answer the questions on the journal
entry form. You may write on the back of the form or attach an additional page if you need
more room. Please try to record an assortment of encounters from a variety of service
industries (i.e., don't do all restaurants), as well as some that you found satisfying and some
that were very dissatisfying. The best way to complete your journal is to fill out a form
immediately following a particular incident.
II. Quiz & Exams
There will be one mid-term quiz (worth 200 points) and one final exam (worth 200 points)
during the semester. The quiz and exams will contain multiple choice questions, short, essaytype questions as well as case-based questions. Exams must be taken during the scheduled
period.
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III. Class Participation

Attendance is a n e c e ss a r y condition for p ar t ic i p at io n . There is a minimum
requirement of 70% attendance to pass any marketing course.
You are expected to have read the assigned reading materials and completed all
assignments before coming to the class.
Students who come in late to a class distract the attention of the class and are
effectively robbing other students of their learning opportunity. Therefore, the following criteria
are important in determining your class participation score:
*attending class on time,
*willingness to participate in class discussion and exercises.
*relevance and insightfulness of comments made, and evidence of prior preparation and
analysis.
Please note again that punctuality in class attendance is importance. Coming late to
class always leads to people eyes wandering towards the door and ruins both their
concentration and mine, so it is important that you come on time to class. Of course,
all mobiles must be turned off.
Academic Dishonesty
The University Regulations on academic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.
Please check the University Statement on plagiarism on the web:
http://www.hku.hk/plagiarism/
Academic dishonesty is behavior in which a deliberately fraudulent misrepresentation is
employed in an attempt to gain undeserved intellectual credit, either for oneself or for
another. It includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following types of cases:
1. Plagiarism - The representation of someone elses ideas as if they are ones own.
Where the arguments, data, designs, etc., of someone else are being used in a paper,
report, oral presentation, or similar academic project, this fact must be made explicitly
clear by citing the appropriate references. The references must fully indicate the extent
to which any parts of the project are not one's own work. Paraphrasing someone elses
ideas is still using someone elses ideas; therefore, must be acknowledged.
2. Unauthorized Collaboration on Out-of-Class Projects - The representation of work as
solely ones own when in fact it is the result of a joint effort.
3. Cheating on In-Class Exams - The covert gathering of information from other students,
the use of unauthorized notes, unauthorized aids, etc.
4. Unauthorized Advance Access to an Exam - The representation of materials prepared at
leisure, as a result of unauthorized advance access (however obtained), as if it were
prepared under the rigors of the exam setting. This misrepresentation is dishonest in
itself even if there are not compounding factors, such as unauthorized uses of books or
notes.
Where a candidate for a degree or other award uses the work of another person or
persons without due acknowledgement:
1. The relevant Board of Examiners may impose a penalty in relation to the seriousness
of the offence;

2. The relevant Board of Examiners may report the candidate to the Senate, where
there is prima facie evidence of an intention to deceive and where sanctions beyond
those in (1) might be invoked.

*The Instructor will reserve the rights of changing the syllabus as needed
COURSE SYLLABUS *
Wk

Date

Reading
Assignments

Topic

Group
Project
Due

Introduction
1

1, 4-Sep

Why study services? The Gaps Model of Service Quality

Chapter 1&2

Understanding the Customer

2

8, 11-Sep

Customer Expectations and Perceptions of Service

Chapter 3,4 &

Case 1 (Page
495)

15-Sep

Customer Research and Building Customer Loyalty

Chapter 5.6 &

Case 3 (Page
537)

Case
Study 1

18, 22-Sep

(Work on Group Project New Service Design 18-Sep)

Building Customer Loyalty

Chapter 7

Case
Study 3

25, 29-Sep

Service Recovery
Creating Lifetime Customers - Chris Zane (Video)

Case 6 (P573)

Designing Services

6,9-Oct

Service Recovery continued

13, 16-Oct

University Reading Week

20, 23-Oct

Servicescape and Physical Evidence of Service

Chapter 9 & 10

Case
Study 6

Chapter 8 &
Case 5 (Page
563)

Service
Encounter
Reports
Due

Chapter 11, 12 &

Case Handouts

Case 5

Delivering Services
9

27, 30-Oct

Service Design and Blueprinting

10

3, 6-Nov

Employees' and Customers' Roles in Effective Service Delivery

11

10, 13-Nov

Managing Demand and Capacity

Chapter 13

Case
Study
Handouts

Managing Service Promise

12

17, 20-Nov

Integrated Communication and Service Branding

Chapter 14

New
Service
Design
Update

13

24-Nov

14

27- Nov

15

5-Dec

Pricing and Financial Impact of Service and Quality

Chapter 15 &16

*** NEW SERVICE DEISGN FINAL ***

PRESNETATION DUE

*** FINAL EXAM ***

WRITTEN PROPOSAL DUE

Peer
Evaluation
Due

Appendix I
CASE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Case 1: Zappos.com 2009
1. Why was Zappos so successful in its first 10 years from 1999-2009? What evidence is
presented in the case of the companys success? What general, high-level strategies can you
identify that lead to their success?
2. What challenges or changes in strategy would you anticipate for Zappos following its
acquisition by Amazon? Can the company continue with the same strategy why or why not?
3. Go the Zappos website and check it out. What is one cool thing on the website that you
think reinforces a concept or strategy connected directly with Service Marketing and
Management fundamentals?
2. Case 3: United Breaks Guitars
1. Evaluate Uniteds response to Dave Carrolls video. What did the company do right? What
did the company do wrong?
2. Why was Dave Carrolls video seen by so many people in just a short time?
3. Describe a better approach that United could have used in this situation to recover from the
poor service they provided to Dave Carroll.
3. Case 6: Jyske Bank
1. What is Jyske Banks new positioning or competitive differentiation strategy?
2. What changes did the bank make to get to its new position? What effect did these changes
have?
3. In your opinion can Jyske Bank sustain its growth and success? Would you invest in Jyske
Bank?
4. Case 5: ISS Iceland
1. How did ISS Iceland change after it was acquired by ISS? What specific changes were
made and
why? What (or who) caused the changes?
2. What do you think of the praise initiative? What was the purpose and did it work? If it
worked, why? Do you think it would it work in other companies or countries?
3. Should ISS Corporate roll out the praise program throughout ISS either regionally
or globally? Why? How?
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5. Case Handouts: Hong Kong Disneyland

1. Hong Kong Disneyland had mechanisms in place to adapt to local Hong Kong culture, yet
these means appeared to be ineffective. Why?
2. Identify two issues challenging Hong Kong Disneylands current operations, and propose
corresponding solutions.
3. What would be some of the foreseeable challenges for the Walt Disney Company if it
chooses to enter the China market?

Appendix II
Peer Evaluation Form

Please rate yourself and your team members on the relative contributions that were made in
the group projects. Your ratings will not be disclosed to other students. Be honest in this
evaluation!
In rating yourself and your peers, use a one to five point scale, where
5 = Superior;
4 = Above Average;
3 = Average;
2 = below average; and
1 = weak.
Insert your name in the first column and your peers names in the remaining spaces. (One
name at the top of each column).
Names
Participated in group discussions or meetings
Helped keep the group focused on the task
Contributed useful ideas
Quantity of work done
Quality of work done
+ + + + +
Enter total scores here

Resource: Thomas G. Thompson, Director of Undergraduate General Business and Human

Resource Management Programs, University of Maryland University College

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Appendix III
Service Encounter Report Form
Your Name:
Name of Firm:
Type of Service (industry):
Date of Encounter:
Time of Encounter:
How did the encounter take place (e.g., in person, by phone, via a self-service
technology)?

What specific circumstances led to this encounter?

Exactly what did the firm/employee say or do?

How would you rate your level of satisfaction with this encounter? (Circle the most
appropriate number).
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Extremely
Extremely
Dissatisfied
Satisfied

What exactly made you feel this way?

What could the employee/firm have done to increase your level of satisfaction with the
encounter? What improvements need to be made to this service system?

How likely is it that you will go back to this service firm?

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1
Extremely
Unlikely

7
Extremely
Likely

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

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