Tribhuvan University
Faculty of Management
Office of the Dean
Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS)
Course Objective
:This course aims to impart fundamental knowledge about marketing of services and service industries. In addition, this course also makes an attempt to acquaint knowledge to them regarding service marketing practices in Nepal.
Course Description
:This course contains introdu ction; marketing segmentation; targeting and positioning for services firm, customer perception and expectations of services, buyer behavior and relationship marketing, service product and quality management, pricing strategies for services, promotion str ategies for services, distribution strategies for services, and emerging service sectors in Nepal.
Learning Outcomes:
On the completion of this course, students will be able to:
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identify the basic knowledge of marketing goods and services, and importance of services marketing in the 21st century;
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understand the market segmentation, targeting and positioning of service market;
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develop understanding of various levels of service expectation and factors influencing customer’s expectations;
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identify the key differences in customer behavior in buying products and services;
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describe the new service development process, understand the various approaches for service pricing, components of promotion mix, strategic choice of distribution and understand the nature of growth of service sector in Nepal.
Course Contents:
Lecture hours show the approximate classroom time allocated to each unit.
Unit 1.Introduction
- Meaning;Characteristics and classification of services
- Fundamental difference be tween goods and services
- Emerging key services
- Reasons for the growth of services sector
- Challenges in service sector
- Concept and importance of services marketing
- and Marketing mix for services.
Unit 2.Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning for a Services Firm
- Concept and process of market segmentation for service product
- Market segment strategies for service product
- Concept and process of service positioning in the target market
- and Servicepositioning strategies.
Unit 3.Customer Perceptions and Expectations of Services
- Customer perception on service product
- Customer satisfaction and service quality
- Gap model of service quality
- Concept of customer expectations and factors influenc ing customer expectations
- Service encounter and moment of truth
- and Management of customer service expectation.
Unit 4.Buyer Behaviour and Relationship Marketing
- Understanding buyer behavior
- Factors influencing buyer behavior
- Meaning and importance of relationship marketing
- Difference between transactional selling and relationship marketing
- Customer relationship development strategies
- and Customer value building approaches.
Unit 5.ServiceProduct and Quality Management
- Concept and nature of service product
- New service product and service product development
- Life -cycle strategies for service products
- Branding the service product
- Maintaining service quality and model of service quality
- Service -profit chain strategy
- Researching service quality and setting quality standard.
Unit 6.PricingStrategies for Services
- Pricing objectives and buyers’ perception of value
- Considerations of services pricing - demand considerations, cost considerations, competition considerations, legal considerations
- Satisfaction based pricing, relationship pricing, and efficiency pricing.
Unit 7.Promotion Strategies for Services
- Meaning and objective of promotion for service product
- Communication process for service product
- Promotion mix for service product
- Selection strategies for selecting the promotion mix
- Integrated marketing communication for service product - service promised, communicated message, integrated communication and guarantees
- and Social ethics in service promotion.
Unit 8.Distribution Strategies for Services
- Nature of distribution for service product
- Factors affecting the choice of distribution channels
- Distribution strategies - intensive, selective and exclusive
- Managing dis tribution channels- selection, motivation, training, evaluation, managing conflict
- and Role of Internet in global distribution system.
Unit 9.Emerging Services Sectors in Nepal
- Introduction
- Healthcare sector
- Banking sector
- Insurance sector
- Tourism sector
- Communication and networking sector
- and Hydro power sector. Project Work 10 LHs After the completion of fourth year concentration classes the students shall have to prepare and submit a project work in the area they have specialized. The subject teachers have to discuss with students on possible topics of the project work, availabilit y and sources of literature, availability of data, data collection methods, appropriate tools of data analysis, etc. relevant to the subject within 10 lecture hours.
Suggested Readings:
Jauhari, Vinnie &Dutta, Kirti, Services marketing, operations and man agement,New Delhi, Oxford University Press. Lovelock, Christopher, Services marketing, New Delhi, Pearson Education Asia. Apte, Govind, Services marketing, New York, Oxford University Press. Balaji, B., Services marketing and management, New Delhi, School and Co. Ltd. Palmer, Adrian, Principles of services marketing, London, McGraw-Hill International Edition. Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J,Gremler, D.D., and Pandit, A. (2011), Services marketing , New Delhi, Tata McGraw-Hill.