Postgraduate Course: Marketing of Services (BUST11225)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | The Marketing of Services course is designed for those who are keen to recognise the crucial role that services play in the national and global economy. This course aims to advance students' knowledge of services marketing and to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of the unique characteristics of services. Further, this course will help students understand how service managers can achieve competitive advantage through marketing of services and implementing marketing theory in practice. |
| Course description |
The Marketing of Services course is designed to broaden students' view of marketing, provide them with a comprehensive understanding of the unique characteristics of services and the challenges associated with designing, distributing, promoting and pricing of services. This understanding will be achieved by introducing, discussing, and analysing several topics important to service firms to ensure the achievement of customer satisfaction, loyalty and long-term success of service organization through the delivery of excellent service. Therefore, strategies used by successful services marketers to deal with issues such as service failure, inconsistent service quality, managing customer expectations, service innovation and loyalty will be discussed.
Syllabus
- Course Overview and Introduction to Services Marketing
- The Service Customer and Buying Processes
- Defining and Measuring Service Quality
- Service products and Processes
- Defining and Measuring Service Loyalty
- The Service Environment
- Services Delivery Channels and Service Employees
- Customer Satisfaction, Service failure and Recovery
- Promoting of services in competitive markets & revision lecture
Student Learning Experience
Students will:
- Participate in lectures where they will be introduced to key concepts and real life examples relevant to the study of services marketing.
- Participate in discussion both inside and outside of the classroom.
- Undertake assigned individual and group assignments and independent study tasks that reflect concepts discussed in class.
- Engage in assessed individual work relevant to the study of services marketing.
- Assimilate knowledge through independent reading and research.
- Learn to access and search material relevant to the course.
- Undertake critical reflection on their independent learning.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
| Course Start Date |
09/01/2017 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 30,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
97 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The assessment methods for the course and the contribution of each towards the final mark are as follows: Group presentation 20%; Individual essays 30%; Exam 50%
1) Individual essay: The individual essay accounts for 30% of the final grade and takes the form of a 2000 word individual essay (excluding references list and appendices. Students must adhere to the word limit of the essay). Essay question can be found in the Appendix. The essay deadline is 12.00 noon on Thursday 10/03/2016. You are required to submit all essay-based coursework in both hardcopy and electronic form.
2) Group presentations: Group presentations accounts for 20% of the final grade. A maximum of 20 marks will be obtained by presenting and submitting a final group presentation. Innovative presentation of work, presentation skills, evidence of teamwork and the level of interest developed in class will be rewarded. The key is to present an interesting and thought provoking blueprint of a selected service firm. Details of the group presentations and assessment criteria can be found in the Appendix. An electronic copy of the PowerPoint slides used in group presentation must be e-mailed to the course organiser by Thursday 18/02/2016. Arrangements with the course organiser must also be made to submit videos and other supplementary material.
3) Degree Examination: There will be an individual written examination at the end of the course, which will constitute 50% of the overall course grade. The degree examination will take place between April and May 2016 (with the exact date to be determined by the University during the first Semester) Students will be required to answer two exam questions out of six. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Marketing of Services | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of key issues involved in services marketing, such as, the distinctive characteristics of services, the key differences between manufacturing and service firms, service quality, customer satisfaction and services loyalty. Students will also develop an insight into the nature and importance of service sectors to economies at national and international levels and an understanding of the "state of the art" service management thinking.
- Appreciate the role of employees (and often customers) in service delivery, explain the main challenges involved in the marketing of services and learn how to manage issues related to service failure and recovery.
- This course will allow students to understand the nature of the Services Marketing Mix (7Ps), how it expands upon the traditional Marketing Mix (4Ps) and how it is applied in service and manufacturing firms to achieve a competitive advantage.
- Reflect on key concepts in the marketing of services and apply them to real life business contexts by developing effective marketing programmes within service firms to achieve competitive advantage. Students will utilise appropriate set of analytical frameworks, concepts and tools for critical thinking about service and service related activities.
- Use a variety of information sources, including but not limited to, online information, teaching materials and academic journals. Students will develop further their graduate skills in terms of effective communication, excellent problem solving, critical thinking and interpersonal skills.
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Reading List
Recommended Text:
Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. (2011), Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 7th Edition, Pearson.
A lecture outline, including lecture-specific essential and recommended readings is available as a separate document on the course Learn page. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
None |
| Keywords | MoS |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Dahlia El-Manstrly
Tel: (0131 6)51 5321
Email: Dahlia.El-Manstrly@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Ashley Harper
Tel: (0131 6)51 5671
Email: Ashley.Harper@ed.ac.uk |
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