Services Marketing
MBA 843
Winter 2012
M/W, 3:30
Professor Leslie M. Fine, PhD
550 Fisher Hall
Office Hours: anytime by appointment
Fine_5@fisher.osu.edu (E-mail is the best way to reach me)
Objective: Services are a growing and important portion of the U.S. economy and the global
economy. This course will help you to understand the unique opportunities and challenges of
service offerings (e.g. consulting) as well as the service component of all businesses.
Course Materials: Packet of cases, available from XanEdu.com. Information on how to
access the course pack will be posted on Carmen.
Academic Standards:
Each student should carefully review the Code of Student Conduct, which is available at
http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp. Pay particular attention to the Academic
Misconduct section. Any instances of suspected academic misconduct will be handled in
accordance with section 3335-23-05: Initiation and investigation of code violations.
Ignorance of this code is NOT an excuse for violations.
Attendance and Participation:
Each student, either individually or in a team, has multiple responsibilities requiring you to
be in class with regularity. Please notify the instructor via e-mail if you will miss class. If you
have competing interests that require you to be out of class, you should be prepared to accept
any consequences of your absence. Emergencies or extreme circumstances should be
discussed with the instructor and with your team with as much advance notice as possible.
Participation is an important part of the learning process, as it is through discussion and
debate that knowledge is disseminated and that new knowledge is created.
Evaluation:
Team Case Analysis: 2 @ 25%
Service Diary
Participation, including complaint
letters, class exercises, class
discussion and peer evals.
50%
30%
20%
Each team will write up two of the cases for evaluation, though everyone in the class is
expected to be fully prepared to discuss each case. Instructions for writing up the cases are
included in a later section of the syllabus.
General Course Guidelines:








Please let me know if you are a client of Student Disability Services and need
accommodations to make the learning environment more effective.
You are responsible for everything that takes place in class, whether you are present
or not. Please do not call or e-mail the instructor to ask what you will miss on any
class day. The syllabus contains all relevant information. If you are absent you should
speak with a colleague about sharing notes or insights that you missed.
Class is far more interesting and enlightening when everyone is prepared, and when
everyone participates.
Team work is an important part of the learning model and is an important part of most
work environments.
If you must be late to class, or to leave early, please enter as unobtrusively as
possible. This behavior is not encouraged, however.
Turn off your electronic devices…music devices, phones, blackberries, etc. Do not
wear ear phones in class. Do not take calls in class. Do not send or receive text
messages during class. You may use iPads or laptops for note-taking, but if I see that
you are doing anything other than class work I will require you to shut it down.
E-mail is the most effective way to reach me. In your e-mail subject line, please use
the words "MBA Student" so I know the message is from a student.
Have fun!
What you can expect of the instructor:






Timely feedback on graded assignments.
Class is conducted in an organized fashion, instructor is prepared and class will begin
on time and end on time.
Timely response to e-mail.
Changes to the syllabus or to normal routine will occur only for very compelling
reasons.
Differences of opinion will be treated with respect – independent thinking based on
solid evidence is encouraged.
All attempts will be made to create a class that is challenging and interesting.
Course Schedule: Cases should be read and analyzed prior to each class
meeting
The required readings are listed in italics
Date
Wed., Jan. 4
Mon., Jan. 9
Wed., Jan. 11
Mon., Jan. 16
Wed., Jan. 18
Mon., Jan 23
Wed, Jan 25
Mon., Jan 30
Wed., Feb. 1
Tasks
Course Introduction, review of syllabus
An Introduction to Services
The Four Things a Service Business Must Get Right
Service Strategies
Charting Your Company’s Future
Can You Say What your Strategy Is?
Service Strategies: Branding
Building a Strong Services Brand: Lessons from the Mayo
Clinic
Understanding Brands
NO CLASS: University Holiday – MLK Day
Case Discussion: “Marketing” at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen
and Katz
Service Customers: Data Collection
Diamonds in the Data Mine
Turn Customer Input Into Innovation
Service Customers: Rationality and Emotion
Complaint/Complement Letter Assignment Due Today
How to Delight Your Customers
Review the website www.olsonzaltman.com to learn more
about the ZMET technique
Case Discussion: Air Miles Canada
Service Customers: Behaviors
Serving Unfair Customers
Influencing Customer Behavior in Service Operations
Case Discussion: ZipCar
Service Employees: People, good and bad
Creating the Living Brand
Manage your Human Sigma
Service Sabotage: The Dark Side of Service Dynamics
Mon., Feb. 6
Wed., Feb. 8
Mon., Feb. 13
Wed., Feb. 15
Mon., Feb. 20
Wed., Feb. 22
Mon., Feb. 27
Wed., Feb. 29
Mon., March 5
Wed., March 7
Service Employees #2: From people to profit
Putting the Service-Profit Chain To Work
Case Discussion: &Samhoud Service Management
Case Write-up #1 Due
Service Implementation and Operations
Creative Benchmarking
Clueing in Customers
Service Implementation and Operations
Lean Consumption
Process Completeness: Strategies for Aligning Service
Systems with Customers’ Service Needs
Case: Southwest Airlines
Failure and Recovery
Recovering and Learning from Service Failure
When Unhappy Customers Strike Back on the Internet
Failure and Recovery
Case Discussion: Chantale and Clinton Call for Service
NO CLASS TODAY
Selling Services: Micro-level issues
Case Discussion: Siebel Systems Parts 1, 2, 3
Major Sales: Who Really Does the Buying?
Selling Services: Macro-level issues
Case: Centra Software
Case Write-Up #2 due
Service Diaries Due
Discussion of Service Diaries
Discussion of complaint letters
Service Diary Instructions:
A service diary allows you to pay particular attention to the service you give, receive and
observe as you learn strategies for planning and managing services. By reflecting on how the
concepts and models you learn in class are evident (or NOT evident) in service encounters,
you are learning to apply these concepts and models, which is a useful managerial skill.
Starting with the week of Sunday, January 8, each student must provide at least TWO service
diary entries to the Carmen drop box each week. Each entry must be submitted as a separate
document. Do not combine two entries into one document. For purposes of this class, a
“week” is defined as Sunday at 12:01 a.m. through the following Saturday at midnight. You
must submit for 8 weeks, through the week of February 26. Each student will produce, then,
at least 16 separate entries. You should plan to complete your diary entries within 24 hours of
your actual observation/experience. Each week’s deadline is midnight on Saturday; if you
miss the deadline you will receive a grade decrement as described below.
The diary entry can be based on the following:
1. Service that you, personally, experience.
2. Service that you, personally, deliver.
3. Service that you observe being experienced or delivered to another person or entity.
4. A credible media report on service delivery, experience, failure, etc. (note, this is not a
preferred option but is allowable for students who have limited service encounters.)
No more than 4 of your total entries can be in category 4 above.
Your diary entry will describe the service you encountered, delivered or observed, with as
much specificity as possible. These documents are confidential so you should identify the
service provider, the recipient (if it is not you, and you do not personally know the recipient,
describe in as much detail as necessary for clarity) and the service setting. Note the timing of
the experience, the factors or variables that contributed to the experience, any mitigating
factors that might have been present (Categories 1, 2, 3). For Category 4 entries, please
include either a complete citation for the source of your material, or a link to the information
source. Failure to do so for an option 4 entry disqualifies that entry.
Then, explain how the concepts, models and examples you are learning in help to explain,
justify, resolve, etc. the service experience. Here you should be as specific and as detailed as
possible, even referencing specific articles from the course when that is appropriate.
A form for the submission of your entries is posted on Carmen. Please use this form for your
entries. There are no length limitations, but each entry must provide enough depth to fulfill
the letter and spirit of the assignment.
Your final entry, which is due by NOON on Wednesday, March 7, is a reflection on what, in
your experience/observations, truly differentiates good service from poor service based on
your 8 weeks of data collection.
Grading:
50%
25%
25%
Student has provided the minimum number of complete and relevant
submissions each week. This total will be reduced proportionately for the
number of missing submissions (e.g. if you fail to submit 2 entries your grade
on this portion will be reduced 2/16 = 12.5% reduction.
Overall application of course concepts to the diary entries.
Final report on distinguishing good from poor service.