BK213 - Services Marketing

Credit Points: 15 credit points

Workload: 36 hours

Prerequisite: BB105 Marketing Principles

Co-requisite: N/A

Aims & Objectives

This is a second-year core unit in the Bachelor of Business, major in Marketing and offered as an elective unit in the Bachelor of Business majors in Management and Accounting. For Course Learning Outcomes and further information relating to Bachelor of Business programs please visit our website:  http://www.mit.edu.au/study-with-us/programs/bachelor-business.

In this increasingly competitive world of business it has never been more important to attain a greater understanding of services marketing. Indeed, service marketing now dominates the business landscape. Consequently, service marketing is not only a marketing tool for services organisations, but also a means of
 
competitive advantage for those companies that market products on the tangible dominant side of the continuum. To facilitate a thorough understanding of services marketing, we will explore models and frameworks of services strategies including service product and delivery, managing the organisation’s physical evidence, employees, and customers, and measuring customer satisfaction and service quality. This course focuses on the difficulties of marketing service products and on the differences with marketing goods. A solid foundation of theory is laid on which practical applications can be addressed. The importance of, and integration with, customer service and relationship marketing are also addressed.

Unit topics include:

  • An Introduction to Services
  • The Service Economy: Supersectors and Ethical Considerations Fundamental Differences between Goods and Services
  • Services Consumer Behaviour
  • Service Delivery Process
  • The Pricing of Services
  • Developing the Service Communication Strategy
  • People as Strategy: Managing Service Employees People as Strategy: Managing Service Consumers
  • Defining and Measuring Customer Satisfaction Defining and Measuring Service Quality
  • Complaint and Service Recovery Management
  • Customer Loyalty and Retention
  • Pulling the Pieces Together: Creating a World Class Service Culture

Learning Outcomes

The Course learning outcomes applicable to this unit are listed on the Melbourne Institute of Technology’s website: www.mit.edu.au
At the completion of this unit students should be able to:
a. Examine the nature of services, and distinguish between products and services.
b. Identify the major elements needed to improve the marketing of services.
c. Develop an understanding of the roles of relationship marketing and customer service in adding value to the customer's perception of a service.
d. Appraise the nature and development of a services marketing strategy.
e. Recognize how services marketing principles can be used as a conceptual framework to help managers identify and solve marketing problems.

Assessment

Assessment Task     Due Date A B Unit Learning Outcomes
1. Formative Assessment Week 3 - 5% a
2. Contribution in class [Individual] Weeks 1-12 - 5% a-e
3. Case Study Analysis [Individual] Week 5 10% - a-e
4. Specialist Service Report [Group] Week 8 20% - a-e
5. Specialist Service Report Presentation [Group] Week 8 - 10% a-e
6. Project[Individual]  (3 hours) TBA - 50% a-e
TOTALS   30% 70% 100%

Task Type: Type A: unsupervised, Type B: supervised.

Contribution and Participation (5%)

This unit has class participation as an assessment. The assessment task and marking rubric will follow the Guidelines on Assessing Class Participation (https://www.mit.edu.au/about-us/governance/institute-rules-policies-and-plans/policies-procedures-and-guidelines/Guidelines_on_Assessing_Class_Participation). Further details will be provided in the assessment specification on the type of assessment tasks and the marking rubrics.

Teaching Methods

NOTE: All School of Business units 3-hour workshops Flipped Classroom Mode. 

Textbook and Reference Materials

Note: Students are required to purchase the prescribed text book and have it available each week in class.

Prescribed Text Book

  • Wirts.J (2018). Essential of Services Marketing.Australia: Pearson. 

Other recommended references

  • Lovelock, C., Patterson, P., Wirtz, J., (2014). Services Marketing (6th ed.). Australia: Pearson.
  • Wirtz, J., Chew, P., Lovelock, C., (2012). Essentials of Services Marketing (2nd ed.). Australia: Pearson.
  • Hoffman, D., Bateson, J., Elliot, G., Birch, D. (2010). Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies and Cases. Australia: Cengage Learning.

The Referencing style for this using is APA: See the MIT Library Referencing webpage: https://library.mit.edu.au/referencing/APA and the Unit Moodle page for additional referencing support material and weblinks.

Graduate Attributes

MIT is committed to ensure the course is current, practical and relevant so that graduates are “work ready” and equipped for life-long learning. In order to accomplish this, the MIT Graduate Attributes identify the required knowledge, skills and attributes that prepare students for the industry.
The level to which Graduate Attributes covered in this unit are as follows:

Ability to communicate Independent and Lifelong Learning Ethics Analytical and Problem Solving Cultural and Global Awareness Team work Specialist knowledge of a field of study

Legend

Levels of attainment Extent covered
The attribute is covered by theory and practice, and addressed by assessed activities in which the students always play an active role, e.g. workshops, lab submissions, assignments, demonstrations, tests, examinations.
The attribute is covered by theory or practice, and addressed by assessed activities in which the students mostly play an active role, e.g. discussions, reading, intepreting documents, tests, examinations.
The attribute is discussed in theory or practice; it is addressed by assessed activities in which the students may play an active role, e.g. lectures and discussions, reading, interpretation, workshops, presentations.
The attribute is presented as a side issue in theory or practice; it is not specifically assessed, but it is addressed by activities such as lectures or tutorials.
The attribute is not considered, there is no theory or practice or activities associated with this attribute.