MSc Marketing / Course details

Service management, the service(s) marketing mix and service quality. Consumer behaviour issues in services. Service design. Management of relationships and customer experience. Use of AI and service robots. Service inclusion and access.
• Evolution of the services sector and theories pertaining to services marketing: Research evidence from service industries.
• Emphasis is placed on the critical evaluation of theoretical literature and key texts, and both primary and secondary data available from service organisations.

    Students intending to collaborate with service firms, work in the service sector or for an organisation with a strong commitment to customer service will find this course relevant.
 

BMAN70252 Programme Req: BMAN70252 is only available as an elective to students on MSc Marketing

To provide an appreciation of the challenges inherent in managing and delivering services, the fastest growing sector in most economies.

To provide an understanding of some of the state-of-the-art tools (theoretical and practical) that help address these challenges; key aspects of strategy in the services sector to include: customer experience, elements of the marketing mix, service quality, service design, management of customer relationships and digital interactions  in service design and delivery.

To sensitise students to a customer-oriented and service logic thinking.

At the end of the module, students should be able to:
Explain how the characteristics of services differ from tangible goods, and how this impacts on design and execution of marketing strategies for services.

Define and illustrate the main components of service(s) marketing and management theory/frameworks.

Apply this theory to critically analyse services marketing problems and develop realistic solutions.

Explain the challenges faced by service managers as well as tools managers might employ to improve customer satisfaction, service quality and customer experience.

Present material relating to the topics digitally, verbally and in written form

Formal Contact Methods

Minimum Contact hours: 20 

Delivery format: Lecture and Workshops 

• Submit ONE group presentation (worth 60% of the overall course mark)
• Submit ONE individual reflection (worth 40% of the overall course mark)

 

Students can contact the course coordinator in class, by email, via Blackboard, or by dropping in during the Office Hours which are notified in advance.

Core text: Wirtz, J. and Lovelock, C. (2016), Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 8th Global Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Supplementary Textbooks:

Bordoloi, S., Fitzsimmons, J. and Fitzsimmons, M. (2018) ISE Service Management-Operations, Strategy, Information Technology, 9th edition, London: Mc Graw Hill

Buttle, F. and Maklan, S. (2019) Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technologies, 4th edition, Abingdon, Routledge.

Palmer, A. (2014) Principles of Services Marketing,7th edition, London: McGraw Hill

Wilson, A.; Zeithaml, A.; Bitner, M.J.; and Gremler, D.G. (2016) Services Marketing, Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, 3rd European edition, London: Mc Graw Hill

Recommended Journals:

• The Journal of Service Research
• The Journal of Services Management
• The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
• The Journal of Services Marketing
• Journal of Marketing

Informal Contact Method

Students can contact the course coordinator by email, or by dropping in during the Office Hours which are notified in advance