Deck 8: Service Marketing Strategies

Question 1

There are four readily accepted distinguishing characteristics of services that create unique strategic challenges. They are

A) inflexibility, heterogeneity, perishability, inseparability.
B) intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, inseparability.
C) intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, inscrutability.
D) intangibility, homogeneity, perishability, inseparability.

Answer 1

intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, inseparability.

Question 2

_______ implies that services cannot be touched and felt. It has to be experienced by the customers.

A) Inseparability
B) Heterogeneity
C) Intangibility
D) Perishability

Answer 2

Intangibility

Question 3

Even the most intangible services have certain _______ aspects.

A) intangible
B) tangible
C) emotional
D) fixed

Answer 3

tangible

Question 4

_________ means that it is difficult to be a low-cost provider or to differentiate for positioning purposes.

A) Heterogeneity
B) Perishability
C) Intangibility
D) Inseparability

Question 5

The inconsistencies brought about by changes in mood states and emotions of employees can provide differences in interactions. The key challenge is "consistency". Hence service companies must

A) standardize as much as possible.
B) at the same time allow enough flexibility.
C) standardize as much as possible and at the same time allow enough flexibility.
D) None of the options given are correct.

Question 6

________ implies that customers are co-producers / designers.

A) Perishability
B) Heterogeneity
C) Intangibility
D) Inseparability

Question 7

________ implies that it is essential to get cost and/or differentiation strategies right.

A) Perishability
B) Inseparability
C) Heterogeneity
D) Intangibility

Question 8

Besides Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, what are the remaining three marketing mix "P" elements associated with services?

A) People, philosophy, and process
B) People, practice and process
C) Politics, people, and process
D) People, physical evidence, and process

Question 9

Parasuraman et al. (1991) have found that service quality is a multi-faceted construct with ______ dimensions.

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five

Question 10

Parasuraman et al. (1991) have found that service quality is a multi-faceted construct with five dimensions. Which is not one of them?

A) Reliability
B) Responsiveness
C) Assurance
D) Warranty

Question 11

What do Parasuraman et al. (1991) mean by assurance when he talks of the different dimensions of service quality?

A) Employee competence
B) Courtesy
C) Trustworthiness
D) All of the options given are correct.

Question 12

A survey instrument used to assess customer perceptions of service quality is called ______

A) CETSCALE.
B) SERVQUAL.
C) SERVINSIST.
D) QUALMEAS.

Question 13

Which of the following is not one of Vargo and Lusch's (2004) foundational premises which show differences between goods-centred and service-centred logic?

A) Direct exchange masks the fundamental unit of exchange.
B) Knowledge in the fundamental source of competitive advantage
C) The enterprise can only make value propositions.
D) The service-centred view is customer oriented and relational.

Question 14

Removing certain tasks involving little customer contact from frontline or front office personnel, standardizing them, and moving them into remote back-office locations is called _______

A) coupling.
B) BPR.
C) cost saving.
D) decoupling.

Question 15

There are four different competitive approaches to decoupling. Which is not one of them?

A) Cost leaders
B) Stripped down service
C) Cheap convenience
D) Premium service

Question 16

A firm that decouples to support front office personnel, with cost reduction as a secondary concern is called ______

A) dedicated service.
B) stripped down service.
C) premium service.
D) cost leaders.

Question 17

Star Alliance is an example of

A) decoupling.
B) mergers.
C) creative strategic alliance.
D) coupling.

Question 18

There are two main types of strategic alliances for services; they are

A) brand sharing, sales sharing.
B) personnel sharing, sales sharing.
C) personnel sharing, asset sharing.
D) brand sharing, asset sharing.

Question 19

Citibank developed a relationship with American Airlines to offer its credit card users benefits in the form of frequent flyer miles. This is an example of

A) asset sharing alliance.
B) brand sharing alliance.
C) both of the above.
D) None of the options given are correct.

Question 20

7/11 has a relationship with Citgo petrol stations to share the cost of floor space. This is an example of

A) asset sharing alliance.
B) brand sharing alliance.
C) asset sharing alliance and brand sharing alliance.
D) None of the options given are correct.

Question 21

Which of the following is true about outsourcing?

A) A firm must stay away from outsourcing.
B) A firm must outsource all it can.
C) Whatever is not a part of the firm's core competence becomes a candidate for outsourcing.
D) Whatever is a part of the firm's core competence becomes a candidate for outsourcing.

Question 22

Outsourcing often involves the combination of contract workers with regular personnel. This has the following problem.

A) Contract workers are not efficient.
B) Contract workers are lazy.
C) There could be an employee role conflict.
D) Regular service personnel would not be loyal.

Question 23

Coopetition would appear to have the greatest promise for use by which kind of service firm?

A) Small service firms
B) Medium-sized service firms
C) Large service firms
D) Pure service firms

Question 24

Which of the below is not one of the steps suggested by Stuart (2006) in the seven steps model for use by service managers to offer not just a good, but an outstanding service experience?

A) Never to lose sight of the main stage
B) To communicate extensively with visual cues
C) To continuously strive for authenticity and integrity
D) Offer great prices all the time

Question 25

Which rule of employee management has worked well for Southwest Airlines, Walt Disney Corporation?

A) Pay the best salary in the industry.
B) Assure lifetime employment.
C) Follow the perform or fire policy.
D) Create an environment in which employees have treated each other in the same way as they would treat customers.

Question 26

________ appears to be the key ingredient in the concept of satisfaction of customers of service firms.

A) Satisfaction
B) Fullness of service
C) Value offering
D) Meeting customer's expectations

Question 27

Which is the right order?

A) Perceptions of service quality, customer satisfaction, positive purchase intentions, sales and profits
B) Customer satisfaction, positive purchase intentions, sales and profits, perceptions of service quality
C) Perceptions of service quality, positive purchase intentions, customer satisfaction, sales and profits
D) Perceptions of service quality, customer satisfaction, positive purchase intentions, profits, sales

Question 28

What is the important first step of Stuart's (2006) "great performance" model for service profitability?

A) Use experimentation to move towards excellence.
B) Strive continuously for authenticity and integrity.
C) Never lose sight of the main stage.
D) Communicate extensively with visual cues.

Question 29

According to Stuart (2006), the key to providing a great performance is so that the service firm can create _____________ the customer.

A) a financial relationship with
B) an emotional bond with
C) a fun experience for
D) a memorable experience for

Question 30

Which is not one of the four critical elements of interconnected technologies capabilities represented in Edelman and Singer (2015)?

A) Automation
B) Proactive personalization
C) The great performance
D) Contextual interactions

Question 31

Arnold et al (1999) found that global wireless communications were suffering from which problem?

A) They meant nothing to all people.
B) They meant few things to many people.
C) They meant few things to few people.
D) They meant all things to all people.

Question 32

Ford et al (2001) found that service companies must not only meet customer expectations, _____them.

A) manage
B) minimize
C) support
D) exceed

Question 33

Arnold et al (1999) found that firm success was facilitated by a four-pronged approach to segmentation. Which is not one of them?

A) Identify attractive customers.
B) Restructure business to cater to their needs.
C) Create sustainable perceptual differentiation.
D) None of the options given are correct.

Question 34

Zeithaml et al. (2001) found that a number of successful service firms have actually created customer______

A) prisms.
B) square.
C) circles.
D) pyramids.

Question 35

Firms like Fedex and Bank of America cater to the more ______ customers and downplay the efforts to reach the less_______ segments.

A) loss making, loss making
B) older, newer
C) profitable, profitable
D) rich, poorer