Final service

SERVICE MARKETING

(M-02)CONTRIBUTOR:

Prof. N.J.Chavan Prof.Dr.Manohar Ingale

MIT-SOB PGDM- 28th Batch (Sem-I): Academic Year 2010-11 Page 1

MIT School of BusinessBatch 27th Sem. III

Session Plan

Subject: Services Marketing (Course M- 2) Faculty : Prof. Dr. M.K.Ingale & Prof.N.J.Chavan

Session no. Topic Chapter Book 1

1 Emerging opportunities /Environment 12 Characteristics of services. 1

3 Case No.1 ‘One Roof Services Store’ – -

4 Classification of services. 1

5 Customers’ perception , satisfaction & encounters 7

6 Case No 2 ‘Palace on Wheel’-

8 Market Research3

9 Designing customer centric service standards; Service Blueprint and TQM

16

10 Case No. 3 ‘J.D.Power Index’ -

11 Service market segmentation and Positioning of Services 5

12 7 Ps of services marketing mix. Revision

13 Case No 4‘HDFC Bank’ -

14 Product Life Cycle Strategies 2

15 Factors affecting cost of services; Fluctuating demand and differential pricing of services.

13

16 Case No 5 ‘Fair Deal Inns’ -

17 Distribution Channels in Services 11

18 Communication Mix for Services 14

19 Case No 6 ‘Hotel NRS Residency – The pricing Dilemma’ -

20 The process; Role and implication of relationship marketing in services marketing;

9


21 Managing Physical Evidence 8

22 Case No 7 Training at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel’ -

23 Managing people in Services 12

24 Handling of complaints and resolving problems to build customer loyalty;

12

25 Case No 8 ‘The Pidilite Logistics’ -

26 Tools and techniques of service recovery; Handling of negative customer behaviour and hostile customer.

10

27 Customer Delight & Loyalty 4

28 Case No 9 Virgin Atlantic Airways -

29 Servicescape; Gap model Servqual and servperf 6

30 Internal marketing. Revision

31 Case No 10 Servqual analysis for Hotel Comfort’ -

32 Service location decision; service layout; Franchising of services.

33 Relationship Marketing 4


Reference books and Journals

1. Services Marketing, Operations & Management by Vinnie Jauhari & Kirti Dutta

2. Services Marketing by Adrian Penn.

3. Emerald Journal of Services Marketing

4. American Marketing Association Journal of Services Marketing

Assignments:

1. Pick up two well known restaurants in your town. What were your expectations prior to the visit, your experience of the Services rendered by the restaurant & your perception after the visit.Discuss the perceptions of these restaurants & identify the points similarities & differences.What service quality improvements would you recommend to them ?

2. Identify two firms in developing & developed countries (giving explainations for your selection) that have been identified as the “best places to work”. Give your understanding as to why these firms deserve, if they do, these titles. What are the similarities & dissimilarities in them?

3. Prepare a Blue print & Service Map for –a. A hotelb. A Unisex Beauty Parlorc. A Bankd. A Post Graduate Management Institute and e. A Touring Service.

All the rules & regulations for submission @ APO.


Case No. 01 BRINGING MUSEUMS TO LIFE

Objective: To critically understand Museum as a service and to be able to apply Services

Marketing learning to the case.

She is credited with developing a modernization plan for Kolkata's Victoria Albert Museum.

She has also designed the Monetary Museum at Mumbai for the Reserve Bank of India. A

professor of museum studies at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Suranjana

Satwalekar heads the Rs. 100 crore Khalsa Heritage Museum project in Anandpur Sahib. The

Khalsa museum, she claims, will be India's first "storytelling" museum using contemporary

communication technology. Ms Satwalekar tells Nona Walia why Indian museums need to

adopt the latest principles of museology:

Why are museums in India passive warehouses of history, knowledge and material record?

Isn’t new museology all about interactive and narrative museums?

In the last few years, the number of visitors to India museums has been steadily decreasing.

The reasons are obvious. Our museums are inert and non- communicative. That’s because

they are administered rather than managed. Museum management is still an unfamiliar

concept in India. Though our museums are a huge knowledge resource, their management

remains trapped in a time warp. A museum not only preserves and interprets cultural history,

it also educates society, in fact how a museum fulfils its educational duty is a fair reflection

on its creativity or otherwise. Today, museums have to be more than simple repositories, they

need to be interactive. New museology is all about involving the visitor. But unlike in Europe

and America, our museums are dead. A museum must increase visual literacy. Sadly, in India

museology is not changing.

How can museums give practical knowledge to society?

Museums can be the most perfected tool of knowledge that can help a society advance. It

helps society visualize social change – in the past, present and future. A modern day museum

doesn't conserve for the sake of conservation, but acts as an interactive data bank that records

the natural and cultural inventory of the community. A museum can teach through a diversity

of experience helping the visitor to question the world. For instance, a science museum can

help develop scientific temper by developing imaginative skills.

Are our museums self sustaining? Which Indian museums need immediate attention?

About 90 per cent of Indian museums don't have a policy to guide them as they're funded by

the government. The Calico Museum in Ahmedabad is an example of a profit-making


museum. Sadly, there is no data even to tell us how many museums there are in India apart

from the ones that are government owned. The Salar-e-Jung Museum in Hyderabad needs

immediate attention although it falls under the jurisdiction of the Central government. New

Delhi's National Museum also needs to be more pro-active. Unlike in the West, we're still not

used to the idea of museums making money, but we need to move into the 21st century. We

must not waste any more opportunities. Museums must list their collections on websites and

exchange information, globally.

Will the modernization of the Victoria Albert Museum in Kolkata incorporate major

technological change?

Our museums have been shy of adopting technology. In India, technology in the most basic

sense would mean proper lighting and the use of environment – friendly materials. For

example the uses of UV free light in place of halogens. At a higher level technology would

mean, among other things, selling archival material on the Net. Then comes the use of

information technology on a more sophisticated level. In the Victoria Albert Museum, we're

reorganizing the gallery which does not have proper lighting. We're also modernizing the use

of space, making exhibits more communicative and visible.

In what sense is the RBI's Monetary Museum is like a model museum for India?

The RBI communicates with the people through the Monetary Museum. The museum

narrates the function and ideology of the RBI to visitors through interactive sessions. There is

a collection of old notes and currency, weights and measures. The note – printing process has

been explained in great detail. It's a modern interactive museum. It’s RBI's way of telling

people how it is relevant to their lives.

Will the Khalsa Heritage Museum project be the biggest cultural museum in the world?

The Khalsa Heritage Complex, Anandpur Sahib, has been designed by the internationally

acclaimed architect, Moshe Safdie, on a 100 acre site. Mr. Safdie has also designed the Yad

Vashem Children's Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem. We've conceived it on the lines of a

world class museum which tells stories using the most contemporary communication

technology. As the concept of heritage encompasses the visual, the material, the historical

and the spiritual worlds, the design integrates the vernacular aesthetic in a substantial way.

The museum transports the visitor into a different order of time and space. A multi – layered

communication strategy, appropriate for a multi-layered narrative, ensures that a visitor has

his interests and questions answered in a language and depth of his choice. Some of the


technologies proposed to be used at the museum are 3 D holograms, ventricular screens,

multi-image hi-res video/AV projection, plasmas, intelligent and special effects lighting and

digital audio.

QUESTIONS:

What is the learning for a service marketer from this case?

Give your suggestions to develop her program more effectively!

Discuss the technology element in the case.

(Karwak Case studies – Services Marketing and CRM learning)

Adopted from the Book “CRM in Service Industry” by Abhay Kardeguddi for

Symbiosis Centre for distance learning”


Case No. 02 SERVICE MALLService Mall is a multi services store providing sales and services in the following areas:

1. A cyber café2. Mobile phones sales and services.3. Mobile talk time service provider.4. Tea coffee vending through machine.5. Fast food joint.6. Bill payment service for telephone and electricity bills.7. Travel services like Railway/air booking and Hotel arrangement and passport

services.8. Car rental services.9. Courier services.10. A CD library11. Electrical repair services.12. Life and non-life insurance services.13. Investment advisory services.14. Photo copying, binding and lamination services.15. Family event management services like birthdays, family functions, etc.16. A book shop17. General/utilities store18. An information centre/kiosk centrally located.19. An internet cafe with difference.

Presently, there is only one manager who handles all these services with the help of four

clerks. No specific areas of services are assigned to these clerks and they work as per the

instructions given by the manager. As the demand for some of these services has started

increasing sharply, the Mall is not able to cope up with the expectations of the customers.

The management is planning to revamp the organization with specific service groups.

You are required to suggest an organizational structure for all the above services under The

Mall by grouping them. While grouping the services you shall take into consideration the

following classification criteria.

1. Service operations.2. Level of tangibility.3. Customer-employer presence during the service.4. Level of customization/empowerment5. Service delivery and processing focus.

State your assumptions clearly regarding volume of customers and focus on people,

process and equipments.

Activity : Develop a suitable structure and justify.


Case No. 03 CUSTOMER SATISFACTIO – J.D.POWER INDEX

For a seventh consecutive year, Maruti Suzuki ranks highest in customer satisfaction with

authorized dealership service, according to the J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2006 India

Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) StudySM released today.

The study, now in its 10th year, measures the overall satisfaction of vehicle owners who

visit their authorized dealer/service center for maintenance or repair work during the first

12 to 18 months of ownership. Overall satisfaction is determined by utilizing seven

measures. They are (in order of importance): problems experienced; service quality; user-

friendly service; service advisor; service initiation; service delivery; and in-service

experience.

The industry average CSI has increased to 776 index points on a 1,000-point scale in

2006—up 15 points from the 2005 study. Maruti Suzuki leads the industry in customer

satisfaction with a CSI score of 848 points and continues to set the industry benchmark on

all measures of the CSI. Maruti Suzuki also improves its performance in all measures

from 2005 results.

“Maruti Suzuki's performance in 2006 is a new industry high score, and raises the

expectations for other manufacturers in the industry,” said Mohit Arora, India director at

J.D. Power Asia Pacific. “Nearly 50 percent of Maruti Suzuki customer indicated that

their expectations were exceeded, which generally results in particularly high levels of

loyalty and advocacy intentions toward a vehicle make.”

Ford follows Maruti Suzuki in the rankings, and Mahindra and Toyota both rank third in a

tie. Tata, which shows significant improvements in six of the seven factors, emerges as

the most-improved nameplate in the study with an increase of 31 index points from its

2005 score.

The study finds that during the past 10 years there has been a consistent increase in the

number of customers who bring their vehicles into dealerships for regular service, which

includes routine maintenance and oil changes but excludes repairs. Among customers

who bring their vehicle in for regular service, a quick turnaround leads to higher

satisfaction levels, with scores nearly 100 points above the industry average when this

expectation is met. Maruti Suzuki again leads the industry in providing a quick service

turnaround with nearly one of seven customers reporting they receive their vehicle back

within three hours.


“While the concept of quick service is prevalent internationally, it is still relatively new to

India,” said Arora. “Vehicle owners in India appreciate a quick service turnaround if it is

done in a cost-effective and high-quality manner. Also, it is beneficial to dealers, as it

enables greater service-bay productivity and, therefore, higher overall service revenues.”

The study also examines the cost of operating new vehicles, both in terms of actual costs

and owner satisfaction with those costs. Operation costs of new vehicles have increased

from the 2005 study—up 12 percent for diesel and 17 percent for petrol vehicles. The

overall cost of operation is an aggregation of three components: fuel; repair and

maintenance; and tire expenses. While the Tata Indica, Indigo and Marina vehicle models

post strong performances in the diesel segment in terms of cost of operation, Maruti

models continue to dominate in the petrol segment.

The 2006 India Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) study is based on responses from more

than 4,500 owners of nearly 40 different vehicle models. The study was fielded from June

to August 2006.

Q.1.: Discuss the ‘service’ component in calculating CSI for automobiles. What way

CSI study for automobiles is useful in designing service strategy?

Q.2.: If a similar CSI is to be developed for a children’s hospital, what service

criteria you would suggest? What way these criteria are related to customer

satisfaction?



http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pdf/2006229.pdf


http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pdf/2006229.pdf

Case No. 04 FAIR DEAL INNS

The hotel glut has produced a tremendous windfall for business travellers. Service is up, but prices are not. Because of overbuilding, hotel chains are engaging in an all out service war to pamper the business traveller. Business persons spend about $ 34 billion a year at hotels and motels and account for nearly all the occupancy except at resorts.

The number of available rooms increased 40 % during the 1980s, resulting in an average occupancy rate in 1989 0f 63.8 percent. The break-even point for the industry is 65 percent. Thus, about 60 percent of America’s hotels lost money in 1990. To make matters worst for profit margin, corporate discounts have become increasingly popular and the size of the discount is going up. From 1985 to 1990 the average corporate discount rose from 18 percent off regular rates to 25 percent.

Yet despite this difficult environment, economy hotels are thriving. When corporations began tightening expense accounts for lower level employees, demand surged for rooms priced at $ 40 per night and under. The low-end segment of the market was once characterized by seedy independents offering run down facilities on roads long bypassed interstate high-ways. The big chains like Marriott, stymied by lower growth in their traditional markets, moved into the economy market segment and began upgrading its image.

Marriott’s entry into the economy market is Fairfield Inns. For $ 35 per night, the business traveller receives a king size or two double-size beds, a large work area, free cable TV, and a bathroom with a separate vanity area so the traveller will not fog up the mirror with steam from a shower.

When guests check out of a Fairfield Inns, they can rate their stay on two computers at either end of the reception desk.

The following four questions would pop up on the computer screen. The guest has to tick mark on the options according to his experience during the stay at the hotel.

Q.1. how do you find the cleanliness at the hotel?

(a) Excellent (b) Average (c) Poor

Q.2.How would you describe the service received during your stay at the hotel?


Q.3 How do you think is the value you get for the price for your stay at the hotel?


Q.4. what is your overall rating of your stay at the hotel?



Employee bonuses are pegged to the rating.

1. Would you say that the data gathered at the two computers at the reception desk was customer expectation survey? If yes, why? ; If not, why not?

2. Now that Fairfield Inns is a viable, ongoing operation, what additional information the hotel should gather to know customer expectations?


Case No. 05 DIBIZA RESORT

“Exotic and outrageous Dibiza (At heart!) is for beautiful people from all over the world.

Twenty’s are beautiful people, right?

If you are seeking a crazy holiday, you won’t be disappointed. We are talking totally barking!

Bars, Clubs, Cafe's, Discos, Casinos and Restaurants make the life-size experience complete.

Come enjoy one hell of a hardcore holiday with Dibiza on our exclusive beach”.

Read this Purple prose from the glossy Dibiza resort brochure and answer the

following.

1. Explain the ‘positioning’ of Dibiza. Help the owner to develop market segmentation for

Dibiza?

2. Develop copy and layout of a half-page advertisement to be placed in an In-flight magazine

of Alitalia for Dibiza?

(Karwak Case Studies – Services Marketing)


Case No. 06 HOTEL NRS RESIDENCY – THE PRICING DILEMMA

Hotel NRS Residency is located right at the sea shore at Murudeshwar in Coastal Karnataka.

Murudeshwar is a small village with beautiful temple of Lord Shiva located just at the

Arabian sea. Apart from the devotees, many visit the place as a week end spot.

NRS Residency is a three star comforts hotel built on a rock in such a way that an

unobstructed view of the see can be had from each room.

April to June and October to January are the peak seasons when maximum visitors come to

Murudeshwar.

Week end booking is normally full throughout the year.

The hotel also arranges for hired cars for visiting nearby places like Jog Falls, Mukambika

Temple, Udupi etc. The charges are Rs. 800 per day (8 hours, 100 kms.) Extra hours are

charged @ Rs.50 per hour and extra KM @ Rs.10 per Km.

The hotel has 40 rooms and the room charges are Rs. 1600/- per day for double occupancy.

There are no single occupancy charges and the check out is 24 hours. The room charges are

reduced by 50 % during the lean season.

The average occupancy during peak season is 98 % while that during lean season is 48 %. On

weekends occupancy is almost 100 %.

Average occupancy of 24 rooms is required for breaking even.

The Hotel management is planning to revise the tariff so as to increase the revenue as well as

present profitability of 8.50 %.

You are required to work out a new pricing strategy for the hotel. State your

assumptions clearly and justify your answer.


Case No. 07 VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS

“A brand name that is known internationally for innovation, quality and sense of fun – this is

what we always aspired with virgin.” – Richard Branson.

Richard Branson, first known for Virgin Records, that legendary record label that signed the

Rolling Stones, Jenet Jackson, and The Human League, surprised the world in 1984 when he

launched an upstart airline called Virgin Atlantic Airways. His vision was to create high

quality value-for-the-money airline to challenge the UK’s market leader the British Airways.

Twenty years later, Virgin Atlantic is the third largest European carrier over the North

Atlantic and includes destinations in United States, Caribbean, Far East, India, China, Hong

Kong and Africa.

Parent company Virgin group, with combine sales exceeding $ 2 bn. is known world wide as

an innovative global brand with megastore music retailing, books and software publishing ,

film and video editing facilities, clubs, trains and financial advising through more than 100

companies in 15 countries.

Virgin Atlantic Airways’ brand and marketing campaign epitomizes successful global

communication with universal marketing components that are integrated in theme and design

across the world as well as individual advertisements that adapt to geographies.

Virgin Atlantic Airways’ common global marketing elements include its brand values, logos

and its distinctive airplanes. The airline’s brand value – “caring, honest, value, fun,

innovative” – is executed in all communications and strategies. Virgin focuses on customer

service and low cost while also being the first to offer up unique services. For example,

Virgin was the first airline to install television screens in every seat, offer massages and

beauty services in first class and mount a gambling casino right in the plane ! The red and

white logo, in the shape of an airline tail fin, appears in all world wide advertising media

including television, press, magazines, price promotions, outdoor posters, and taxi sides.

Another common image is the company’s Flying Lady, a Vargas painting of a red-headed

scantily dressed woman holding a scarf. Distinctive airplanes feature the Flying Lady on the

fuselage and Union Jack on their wings in three core colours of red, purple and silver

metallic. Even the paint technology – Mica, a hard mineral that produces a pearl like shine –

is unique. When the iridescent glean combines with the plane’s vibrant colours, aircraft stirs

up memories of the 1930s, when flying was glamorous and romantic.


In international advertisements Virgin Atlantic Airways manages to translate its brand themes

in culturally specific ways while retaining its global image. Although the text and appeal

change to suit the culture, all international advertisements contain the same Virgin Atlantic

Airways logo and the same company colours.

Q.1: Discuss how Virgin Atlantic Airways have adopted ‘Glocal’ strategy to

communicate its value.

Q.2.: Suggest a few ideas to enhance Air-India’s value proposition to global flyers and

how these ideas can be effectively communicated.


Case No. 08 SERVICE QUALITY INDEX (SQI) FOR B- SCHOOL

Various steps in developing customer defined quality standards are given below.

You are required to develop SQI for the teaching learning process in a B-School by following the above steps. The service encounter shall start with the Foundation program and end at the final evaluation.

Clearly state your assumption and justify your answer.


Identify existing or desired service encounter sequence

Translate customer expectations into behaviors/actions

Select behaviors/actions for standards

Set hard or soft standards

Develop feedback mechanism SoftHard

Measure by audit or operations data

Measure by transaction based survey

Establish measures and target levels

Track measures against standards

Provide performance feed back to employees

Update target levels and measures

Case No. 09 DHAN LAXMI BANK

Dhan Laxmi Bank Ltd. was a scheduled bank in Madhya Pradesh with eighty branches in the state.

The bank was operating a pay office at an industrial estate, ten kilometres away from the head office of the Bank. The objective of the Bank in opening this office was to take the banking facilities to the very doors of the industries. The Bank management believed that there was a cause and effect relationship between banking facilities and volume of business.

Presently, the Bank management was considering a proposal for raising the pay office at the industrial estate to a fully fledged branch.

A pilot survey had revealed that the population of the area comprised industrial workers and others of low income group were about 9000. Based on the survey, the management prepared projected estimates of business income and expenses for the next three years and came to a conclusion that a bank office, if started at the estate, would secure deposits of ten lakhs of rupees during the period.

This industrial estate which started two years ago, planned to provide facilities for 25 small industrial units with the estimated capital investment of Rs. One Crore and a total business of about Rs. five crores per annum. Currently twenty units were in operation with total capital investment at Rs. Seventy lakhs. The government was providing necessary industrial facilities such as factory buildings, power and water at subsidised rates and a workshop for repair services.With such assistance from the government it was expected that the estate would have rapid development.

Entrepreneurs in the industrial estate were generally not in the know of scientific management. Some of them could not properly assess the future demand for their products with the result that stocks used to get accumulated. Generally they did not maintain proper accounts nor were the accounts audited.

However, to overcome some of these difficulties, the Reserve Bank of India guaranteed on an average sixty percent of the bank loans and advances given to the entrepreneurs in the industrial estate, provided they were given in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Small Scale Industries set up by the Central Government.On the basis of the pilot survey, a mobile office staffed only by two persons was opened at the estate eighteen months ago with its business confined to cash receipts and payment of cheques and the grant of limited credit facilities. The accounts of the constituents were maintained in the city branch office and their duplicates with the mobile office. For the daily transactions at the mobile office a sum of Rs. 20000- was brought from the branch office and the balance sum was returned to the branch at the end of the day. The hours of work for the mobile office were from 11.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m.In response to the entrepreneurs from the estate for additional banking facilities, bank management increased the facilities a bit further and also provided for sell of demand drafts up to Rs. 7500/- each. The staff of this office consisted of a sub-accountant, one cashier, one clerk and two guards. The office worked between 10.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.


At the end of the year’s working, the deposits at the pay office were Rs. 2,20,000/- and the loans and advances at Rs. 3,50,000/- The office still incurred small losses though it was observed that the losses narrowed down gradually.

The working of the pay office entailed difficulties to its constituents in the form of issue of demand drafts for limited amounts, maintenance of the main account at the city branch office and delays in sanctioning of loans by the applicants due to their prior reference in every case to the head office through the city branch office. Such difficulties became more acute with the increased demand on the pay office on account of growth of business at the estate.

With growth of industrial and business activities in the estate, some of the entrepreneurs from the city had moved their offices to the estate. New units of production were being put in to operations and applications for loans against the work in process gradually in number. Management also saw the likelihood of securing business in the form of small savings.

Question : Prepare a strategic Service Delivery plan for Dhan Laxmi Bank Ltd. for next five years. State your assumptions clearly.


Case No. 10 DEATHS IN THE SWIMMING POOL

‘Fitness Fun’ is a sports and fitness club. The club has the following departments.

1. Fitness – a well equipped gymnasiums with trainers.2. Sports – Indoor games like badminton, Table tennis and snooker and out door games

like hard court tennis and a cricket ground. 3. Swimming – a swimming pool of national standard.4. A card room

The club has a good membership and a reputation of good management.

The club offers a holiday membership packages wherein a member is entitled to use indoor games and/or swimming pool from April to June. The package is very well subscribed and from last two years, the club has put restriction on the total number of holiday members by admitting members on first cum first served basis.

However, last April one boy who was a holiday member for swimming died by drowning in the swimming pool. A lot of adverse publicity was given by the media and the press to this incident and it affected not only the holiday membership for swimming but even the regular members started avoiding the swimming pool.

The club management investigated the incident and found that the student who drowned was a learner and entered the deep water area ignoring the restrictions and the warning boards at the swimming pool. However, due to the sensitiveness of the issue, the club management could not aggressively counter the negative publicity by the media and press.

Q. . Prepare a service recovery plan for the club. State your assumptions clearly and justify your plan.


Case No. 11 SERVQUAL ANALYSIS FOR HOTEL ‘COMFORT – NATURALLY’

Hotel Comfort – Naturally is an ‘ecotel’ (eco-friendly hotel) situated near an industrial area in a city like Pune.

The main visitors to the hotel are the business travellers including female executives.

The hotel has one floor exclusively reserved for single female visitors where female staff is deployed for all services including security.

The hotel is in operation for one year and the management of the hotel wants to carry out customer perception and expectations of service quality offered by the hotel.

Prepare a survey plan to study the perception and expectations of service quality offered by the hotel using SERVQUAL research instrument.

Justify your plan.


Case No. 12 MAHINDRA – INGENIOUS DRIVE

Mr. Vikramjeet Ghosh while driving back home in Maruti Esteem VX got stuck up in heavy rain. Frantic calls to Maruti Helpline did not help. He dialed the India Garage Service Station, which services Mahindra vehicles, and within 10 minutes, Mr. Shyam Prasad from India Garage arrived on the scene with his team and fished out his car. For attending this distress call he did not accept any payment as a sweet gesture. This was reason enough for Mr. Vikramjeet to buy a Mahindra Bolero. For Mahindra it was a service culture that encompassed all its partners so passionately, where as for Maruti it was a service delivery failure that could provide insight for formulating future service recovery strategy.

Mahindra’s ingenious Drive means Inspired, Knowledgeable and Resourceful action, while being imaginative and inventive, so as to deliver a Smart service. Says the Ingenious Rishtey manual : “We have chosen to be a customer-centric organization. . Let us treat every customer like a relative and provide an experience beyond expectations.”

Echoing the customer-centric focus of the organization, M&M has designed a special logo, the triple C – Customer Centric Corporation.

During the Ganesh festival in Mumbai, hundreds of idols of Lord Ganesh were being carried out from vehicles to be immersed in the sea. Amid the din and clatter, some devotees were finding it hard to unload a particularly big idol of the Lord. ‘ It would be wonderful if the vehicle could open on all sides’, was the topic of their discussion. A few months later after extensive research, a new product took shape – the Maxx pik-Up Flatbed! It has gone on to prove itself one of the most popular vehicle in its segment, notching up impressive sales figures.

Occupying the leadership slot by keeping an ear to the ground, turning issues into opportunities, focusing on customer needs, fine tuning processes to ensure enhanced customer satisfaction and harnessing technology to craft ever more innovative products, at Mahindra, the essence of customer relationship management is not hardware or software, but heartware!

Q.1. “At Mahindra, the essence of customer relationship management is not hardware or software, but heartware!” Discuss with examples.

Q.2. What would you suggest to Maruti, if it wants to develop such a programme?


Case No. 13 TRAINING AT TOKYO IMPERIAL HOTEL

Tokyo Imperial Hotel provides an excellent example of training for both knowledge and

skills as well as interactive service quality. The hotel’s ‘Capability Development Programme’

consists of training in “Occupational ability and knowledge”(technical skills) as well as

“Service Manners Training” (interactive skills)The first type of training involves on the job

apprenticing, rotation through all the major departments within the hotel, visitations and

inspection tours of comparable hotels in other countries and focused study tours.( for example

Imperial Hotel’s senior waiters and sommeliers may tour famous wineries in California and

France every three years.) In addition employees get specialized skills through independent

educational organizations on needed topics ranging from management strategy decision

making to food hygiene to presentation know-how.

The ‘Service Manners Training’ focuses on the etiquettes and psychology of guest contact

and attitudes of service. Proper etiquette is taught via role playing and videotaping ( to

critique appearance, mannerisms and personal idiosyncrasies). The way the staff should

appear to the hotel guests is stressed and demonstrated, with emphasis placed on cleanliness,

a sense of understated elegance and good taste. Guest psychology is discussed emphasizing

the following main points.

1. Imperial Hotel patrons, given the rank and reputation of the hotel, expect that you will

consider them your most important priority, the centre of your attention.

2. Guests do not want to suffer losses of any kind while in the hotel.

3. Guests expect to be received in a warm, welcoming fashion.

4. A guest does not want to be extended a level of treatment that in any way inferior to

that provided to other guests of the hotel.

5. Guests wish to experience appropriate feeling of prestige or superiority , purely by

virtue of their using what is commonly evaluated as a deluxe enterprise.

6. Guests enjoy being possessive about hotel’s facilities and services and expect

exclusive attention.

Finally, the basic principle of non-verbal communication and body language are discussed.

Demonstrations and detailed explanations of appropriate behaviour are given, covering such

points as facial expressions, appearance, attractive ways of talking and posture when

standing; and courtesy while escorting guests within the hotel premises. Because the bow is

used regardless of national origin of the guest, considerable time is spent on the intricacies of


proper bowing. A bow of welcome involves a 15 degree angle, bow of gratitude is 30

degrees, and bow of apology full 45 degrees from the normal straight standing position. The

reminder of the service manners training concentrates on the complexities of the Japanese

language and the appropriate applications for the hotel service. Trainees are instructed in

some 25 common daily expressions, learning their politest norms as well as the English

equivalents.

Ongoing training and service improvement programs at all levels are part of hotel’s total

operations strategy.

Activity:

Comment on the above training program in view of the role of ‘People’ in service

marketing mix.

Develop a training program for retail shop on the similar lines.


Documents

Final service