Services Marketing

Services Marketing Minor Assessment Project Guidelines AY 2015 2016 Term 2 BSc in Business Administration Course Services Marketing UG6014 Module Leader Jesús Boix Percentage of Final Grade Given 40% Assessment 1 Duration/Length Weighting Timing Group Project (2-4) people 4-6000 words 10% Week 6 Group Presentation 20 minutes 5% Week 6 Individual Content of Group Report 1000 words 25% Week 6 Objectives The assignment has been designed to marry the theoretical analysis and practical application of the concepts of ‘SERVICES MARKETING’. Project Description Each group will undertake the design of a service concept for a new company (Newco). Please choose any sector, Fashion, Sports, IT, Healthcare, Supermarkets etc… The successful completion of this project requires collection of primary data, by visiting real services of the chosen sector. This will aid the student in understanding the different aspects to take in consideration at the time of developing the service plan. Direct references should be shown and related to the positioning strategy of the brand. Please use the structure below to construct the content of your report. BRAND AND BRAND POSITIONING: The students must define the USP (Unique selling proposition). Brand positioning should be developed and compared with selected real market competitors. In order to defend the chosen positioning, students should develop a competitor analysis and client segmentation. a. Identify and define chosen service and its USP, explain what problems it resolves for the clients. b. Develop a competitor analysis and client segmentation in order to defend Newco´s positioning c. Develop a positioning graph against competitors. SERVICE ENVIRONMENT: This section should be used to clearly define how the service environment will be constructed. Students should be base their decisions following the positioning, competitor analysis and client segmentation exercise in previous section. d. Clearly define the service and how the service will be developed. e. Special focus on quality control and client satisfaction strategies f. Compare and contrast 4Ps of porter for the service provided. SERVICE ANALYSIS: Develop Business Plan Canvas (see annex 1) for the chosen service plan. Please answer all the questions within each quadrant. (See online references). Put special focus on the following topics; a. How does the brand promote its value proposition through core and supplementary services? b. Identify what are the key services that take relevance at the time of promoting satisfactory user experience. c. How does operations in service marketing enhance productivity and improve customer satisfaction. d. Define strategies for management to implement innovation within the service. Individual reports should focus on the adaptation of the chosen service to online channel. The student should define an online strategy and should identify and analyse the critical aspects the Newco should take in consideration at the time of promoting its UPS and positioning through the online channels. Format of the Project: This is a group project. Groups should be made up of 2 to 4 participants. Groups can be chosen at your convenience and should be submitted to the course lecturer with the subject of your project. In the event that groups cannot be amicably selected the course lecturer will select groups, even amongst those groups already decided. The course lecturer reserves the right to select groups without recourse or debate. The project should be prepared as a neatly typed Word document (Times New Roman 12 points), with double spacing and page numbering, and it should be presented in a folder. The written project are expected to consist of approximately 1000 words per student (not counting tables or inserts, introduction and conclusions). The individual work should consist of one service evaluation and should cover sections numbered 1 to 3 from the above. The individual work should be clearly indicated. Tables or work/data taken from other sources maybe included in an appendix. All sources must be referenced in the text and a full bibliography must be provided (including visited websites) in the Harvard style. Students are reminded to use valid and peer-reviewed references to support their work. Websites should only be used if they represent an established source and only for facts and figures. Students should make the most of academic and practitioner books and articles. All projects will be discussed in class in a power point presentation of no more than 20 minutes. The presentation should be a summary of your work. Deadline(s): Written work: 28 February 2016 Oral presentations: WEEK 6 Submission details will be posted on your local Portal Reference Books: ? Lovelock, Christopher & Jocken Wirtz. (2009) Services marketing: people, technology, strategy ? (Latest Edition), Publisher: Prentice Hall Sixth Edition ? Bruhn, Manfred and Georgi, Domink, (2006) Services Marketing: Managing the Service Value Chain. (2006) Pearson Education Limited, Essex ? Gilmore, Audrey (203) Services Marketing and Management. (2003) Sage Publications Limited, London ? Hoffman, Douglas K & Bateson, John E G Mason, (2006) Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies and Cases (2006) 3rd edition. Thomson South-Western Higher Education, ? Palmer, Adrian (2005) Principles of Services Marketing4th Edition. McGraw-Hill education, Maidenhead ? Zeithaml V and Bitner M, (2008) Services Marketing, McGraw Hill ? Roger Kerin, Robert Peterson, Strategic Marketing Problems: Cases and Comments (11th Edition) Publisher: Prentice Hall; 11 edition (September 30, 2006), Online References ? Business Model Generation: https://archive.org/stream/bplans_Business_Model_Generation/Business_Model_Generation GENERAL MARKING CRITERIA (UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES) Excellent work: 70% Above satisfactory work: 60% - 69% Satisfactory: 50 - 59% Below satisfactory work: 40% - 49% Failure: Below 40% Relevance Excellent knowledge and understanding of material and an imaginative sense of its relevance across a range of issues, and context or policy situation; excellent use of course material and other relevant information to support argument Very good use of course material and other information; well-chosen to support arguments relevant to question Competent use of course materials and other information to support most arguments Some use of appropriate course materials and experience to support arguments; capacity to identify relevance, but may be rather narrowly focused and miss out important areas Little or no sign of relevance Content Independent and creative, and demonstrates clear thinking; ability to analyse and critically evaluate material Good knowledge and understanding of the material, across a broad spectrum, combined with an ability to evaluate, analyse and reflect on key issues Reasonable knowledge of the material and ability to draw upon more than one source for ideas; uses key themes well. Adequate understanding and use of course and other relevant material; mostly descriptive, but with some grasp of key course themes and issues and a capacity to discuss these in context Very limited knowledge and understanding and the issues involved Depth A sensitive awareness of conflicting arguments and ideas and of their provenance. Clear grasp of implications. Well organised use of most of the major points with an ability to draw upon them creatively and critically; awareness of conflicting arguments and ideas and attempt to address them in context Capacity to grapple with conflicting arguments and ideas; beginning to draw together and synthesise ideas and perspectives from a range of theory Some attempt to address the conflicting arguments and ideas from the course, some signs of an attempt to take an evaluative, analytical and critical stance; some appropriate use of concepts, but with only limited evidence of independent thinking Lack of awareness of conflicting arguments and ides Structure Excellent organisation of material; clear, logical flow of argument; good sign-posting throughout Good, clear framework and reasoned argument with evidence of careful thought Sensible use of major points integrated into the answer; logical flow of ideas is apparent Framework is apparent with an introduction, argument and conclusion, but the logical flow and coherence is not always consistent and may be difficult to follow Little or no evidence of planned structure and organisation ? ANNEX 1