Postgraduate Course: Marketing of Services (CMSE11554)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Services account for approximately 80% of GDP in most advanced economies. The Marketing of Services course equips students with the strategic and practical marketing tools to work in this dominant sector of the global economy. Going beyond retail or hospitality, services today encompass digital platforms, AI-driven experiences, professional services, and subscription models that have transformed how value is co-created. This course traces the evolution of marketing from product-centric thinking to service-dominant logic, and shows students how adopting a service lens unlocks market innovation across both service and product markets, in commercial and public sectors alike. |
| Course description |
The course expands students' marketing toolkit by providing a theoretical and applied understanding of how services are designed, delivered, experienced, and innovated. In an era where even traditional product companies compete primarily on service, the ability to think through a service lens is a foundational marketing competency. Students will engage with core frameworks in service marketing and service-dominant logic, applying these to contemporary challenges: designing service experiences, managing service quality and failure, leveraging technology and automation in service delivery, fostering loyalty, and innovating service offerings. The course gives particular attention to the role of frontline employees, digital touchpoints, and customer co-creation in shaping service experiences equipping students to contribute strategically in any marketing context.
Outline Content:
The course introduces students to the theory and practice of service marketing, tracing the evolution of marketing from a product-dominant to a service-dominant logic and examining what this shift means for innovation and design of market offerings. Topics span from designing service environments and offerings; the pivotal roles of employees and customers in service co-creation; managing service quality, failure, and recovery; building loyalty; and driving service innovation. Contemporary contexts including automation, AI-enabled services, digital platforms, and the experience economy are woven throughout, ensuring students connect established theory to the marketing challenges they are likely to encounter in their careers.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 4 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
87 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Report (individual) - 1500 words - Assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback will be provided throughout the course.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on assessments within agreed deadlines. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Appreciate the nature and importance of service sectors to economies and an understanding of the "state of the art" service management and marketing thinking.
- Understand and critically analyse the evolution of marketing from product to service dominant logic and the implications of this on marketing theory and practice.
- Demonstrate an understanding of key concepts and ideas of service marketing and their applicability in real life business contexts.
- Critically evaluate the nature and design of service experiences.
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Reading List
Core text: Jochen Wirtz and Christopher Lovelock (2021), Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 9th ed., World Scientific.
The course will make use of additional recommended readings in key journals accessible via the library. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Apply creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, sustainable and responsible business solutions to address social, economic and environmental global challenges
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
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| Keywords | Service,Service lens,Service marketing |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Teea Palo
Tel: (0131 6)51 1070
Email: Teea.Palo@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lucy Brady
Tel:
Email: lbrady3@ed.ac.uk |
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