Services Marketing
Fall 2004
Professor: Dr. Lauren Wright Office:
471 Tehama
lkwright@csuchico.edu (for emergencies
only)
Office
Hours: Tuesday
Thursday
(Plus by appointment or email)
Service
businesses are an increasingly dominant force in world economics. In fact, the
“To know the world, one
must construct it.” (Giovanni Batista Vico)
“Education is not
preparation for life; education is life itself.” (origin unknown)
Businesses
in today's competitive environment expect you to have a variety of skills when
you graduate. Employers consistently say
that they are looking for employees with the following abilities: 1) good
problem-solving and critical-thinking skills; 2) excellent communication skills
(both written and oral); 3) the ability to work well in teams; 4) listening
skills and a willingness to understand the opinions of others; and 5) information
literacy. This course is designed to
help you develop these skills in the context of services marketing so that you
will be more prepared to meet the needs (and hopefully even exceed the
expectations!) of your future employers.
We'll use lectures, class discussions, group activities, films,
presentations and guest speakers to explore services marketing concepts and to
create a unique service experience of our own throughout the semester.
Specific Learning Goals
After
completing this course, you should be able to:
Lovelock
and Wright, Principles of Service
Marketing and Management, Prentice-Hall, 2nd edition, 2002.
WebCT
WebCT
will be an important communication tool for this class. You will be able to email other people in the
class via WebCT, and you should use it to communicate with me. I check my WebCT account frequently, so you
should email me there regarding any class-related issues. You will need to access your grades for
exams, quizzes, team presentations etc. online using the “My Grades” link.
All
of the course material (including the syllabus) will be available under the
WebCT link called “Course Information.”
You should be able to open and print the MS Word files (e.g., the
syllabus and other assignment descriptions) in WebCT. However, depending on your computer setup,
you may need to download the PowerPoint files to your computer to open and
print them. You may want to create a
folder on your computer titled “Marketing 278” so that you can download the
files into a place where you can locate them easily.
If
you need help with anything related to WebCT, you can stop by the help desk in
the first floor computer lab in Meriam Library or call the Student Computing
Help Line. You can also access help
through the Student Resources link on the WebCT homepage for this course.
If you are a Business
major, you must have completed Marketing 170 and Marketing 171 prior to taking
this course. Students who miss the first class meeting without prior
notification may be disenrolled to create space for students who are trying to
add the course.
Academic
Honesty
Honesty and integrity are critical attributes in both our professional
and personal lives. As recent events in
the corporate world have shown, unethical behaviors have high societal and
individual costs. I expect you to
maintain a very high standard of academic honesty (as discussed on pages 154
and 595 of The 1999-2001 University Catalog.) This means doing your own work on quizzes,
exams and written assignments, contributing your fair share of work to the team
projects, and signing only your own name on the sign in sheets. Dishonesty may result in a grade reduction or
other penalties described in Section IV-A of the University Code.
In-Class Behavior
Most
of you will be graduating soon and taking a job in a corporate setting. It may be helpful in preparing you for that
experience to think of class as a business meeting. If you needed to miss a business meeting,
you’d inform your manager (or boss) in a courteous manner and make arrangements
with a colleague to fill you in on what you missed. You wouldn’t ask if anything important were
likely to happen at the meeting you are not attending. To do so implies that you believe meetings
with your manager and colleagues are generally unimportant. You would use the bathroom before the
meeting. You would avoid being late,
walking out in the middle of the meeting for any reason, or leaving early. You would avoid whispering and laughing with
the person sitting next to you. You
would listen attentively, probably take notes, and manage your face and posture
to convey interest and competence. You
would turn off your cell phone, beeper or pager to avoid disturbing the
meeting. You would not read a newspaper
or work on tasks unrelated to the meeting.
You would avoid interrupting people or being rude in any way. You would wait until after the meeting to
discuss special accommodations for your personal situation. Why?
Because doing any of these things reflects badly on you.
As a member of this class, you
are invited to think, question, disagree, and offer alternatives. However, my expectation is that you will behave
professionally. Failure to do so may
result in disenrollment from the class. Your
enrollment in this course indicates your agreement to follow the class rules,
which are based on Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers’ motto for success: “Treat
people like you like to be treated yourself.”
This means specifically:
·
Be
on time to class and don’t leave early
·
Be
quiet when someone else is “officially” speaking
·
Don’t
read newspapers or do outside work in class
· Leave the classroom (our work environment) as
clean -- or cleaner-- than you found it
Grading Criteria
CSU,
A =
B = Very Good Work: A high level of achievement
clearly better than adequate competence in the subject matter, but not as good
as the unusual, superior achievement of students earning an A.
C = Adequate Work: A level of achievement
indicating adequate competence in the subject matter. This level will usually be met by a majority
of students in the course.
D = Minimally Acceptable
Work: A
level of achievement which meets the minimum requirements of the course.
F = Unacceptable Work: A level of achievement
that fails to meet the minimum requirements of the course.
Your
final grade in Marketing 278 will be a function of:
Class Attendance 50 points
Team Project 100 points
Service Encounter Paper 150 points
Service Manager Paper 200 points
Exams 400 points
Quizzes/Short Assignments
100 points
1000
points
Attendance
You will need to sign in
for each day that you attend class. Your attendance points will be calculated
based on the number of classes you attend throughout the semester. Please do
not have someone else sign in for you or sign someone else’s name for them.
This will be considered cheating and will negatively affect your course grade.
If you have a valid
reason for missing a class (e.g., illness, job interview) you will need to
complete the “Request for Excused Absence Form” that is available on
WebCT. You must submit this form to me
no later than the next class day after your absence (you can submit it earlier
if you know about the absence in advance). If you turn in the form and your
excuse is legitimate, the missed day will not be counted against your
attendance grade. (However, you can’t
get credit for perfect attendance if you miss more than one class even if the
absences are excused.)
Perfect attendance = 50
points
1 absence = 47 points
2 absences = 42 points
3 absences = 37 points
4 or more absences = 0
points
**Note that if you are
late to class, your attendance grade may be decreased accordingly.
Quizzes
All
quizzes must be taken in your scheduled section. There are no make-up quizzes.
All assignments are due
on the date assigned and must be typed and
professionally presented. No late
work will be accepted without a valid excuse.
In general, the maximum credit for an assignment turned in 1 day late =
80%, 2 days late = 70%, etc.
Final grades will be determined by the following distribution:
|
A = 926-1000 |
B+ = 875-899 |
C+ = 775-799 |
D+ = 675-699 |
|
A- = 900-925
|
B = 825-874 |
C =
725-774 |
D = 600-674
|
|
|
B- = 800-824 |
C- = 700-724 |
F = Below
600 |
There
is in every part of life a distinction between effort and achievement. This is true in sports events (like the
Olympics), musical and theatrical settings, academics, the business world and
virtually every setting where performance is evaluated. It is very hard to assess effort, so your
grade in this class will be based entirely on the outcomes of your work (i.e., your
actual achievements). However, it is
typically true that increased effort leads to higher achievement!
On the last day of class, we'll have an awards ceremony to recognize
the following accomplishments: (1) the
best team projects; (2) the best service manager papers; (3) the best service
encounter papers; (4) the best exam performances; and (5) any other achievements
worthy of recognition!
Services Marketing
Course Outline
** Assignment Due
Required Texts: Principles of Service Marketing and
Management by Lovelock and Wright (SM)
Discovering the
Soul of Service by
8/24 Course
Overview
8/26 Why
Study Services? Chapter
1 (SM) (Week 1)
8/31 Chapters
1 & 2
Pictures Taken
9/2 Understanding
Processes Chapter 2 (SM) (Week 2)
9/7 Service Encounters Video: Passion for Customers
9/9 Team
Project Discussion
Chapter
1 (DS) (Week
3)
9/14 Chapter
3 (SM)
Service
Encounter Paper Discussion
9/16 Exam
1** (Week 4)
9/21 Customer
Behavior Chapter 4
(SM)
Service Encounters 1 & 2 Due**
9/23 Productivity
& Quality Chapter 12
(SM) (Week 5)
9/28 Relationship Marketing Chapter
5 (SM)
Service Encounters 3 & 4 Due**
9/30
Video: What’s Your
Gripe? (Week 6)
10/5 Complaint
Handling Chapter 6
(SM)
&
Service Recovery
10/7 Assignment
to be Announced
(Week 7)
10/12
Service
Encounter Papers Due**
Exam
2**
10/14 Service Product Chapter 7 (SM)
& Chapter 16 pp. 350-354 (SM) (Week 8)
10/19 Team
Presentations 1**
Chapters
2 & 3 (DS)
10/21 Blueprinting Exercise** (Week 9)
10/26 Service Positioning & Design Chapter 10 (SM)
10/28 Pricing Chapter
8 (SM) (Week 10)
11/2 Team Presentations 2**
Chapters
4 & 5 (DS)
11/4 Exam
3** (Week 11)
11/9 Creating Delivery Systems Chapter 11 (SM)
11/11 Team
Presentations 3**
Chapters
6 & 7 (DS)
Service
Manager Paper Discussion (Week 12)
11/16 Demand & Capacity Chapter 13 (SM)
11/18 Waiting
Lines & Reservations Chapter 14
(SM) (Week 13)
11/23 Thanksgiving Break No Class
11/25 Thanksgiving Break No Class
11/30 Team
Presentations 4**
Chapters
8 & 9 (DS)
12/2 Chapters
15 & 16 (SM)
Service
Manager Papers Due** (Week 14)
12/7 Team
Presentations 5**
Chapters
10 & 11 (DS)
12/9 Course
Summary and Awards (Week 15)
12/13- Finals
Week Exam
4
12/17