Service Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Service Marketing - Essay Example The company has been globally accepted and has a high visibility of their brand. (Source from website http://instruction.bus.wisc.edu/obdemo/may%20not%20need_2/starbucks.htm) Starbucks has been renowned for its customer service. A "service" is any act of performance that one party can offer to another, that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product. ( Kotler, 2000) By creating a unique atmosphere, Starbucks has differentiated themselves from their competitors and catered to their customer's preferences. A company's offering to the market place will include some kind of service. It may be a major or minor part of the product. It may be purely tangible goods that require no service, a mix of goods and services in varying proportions, or just pure service. Services can be equipment based or people based. Some services require the client's presence while some do not. Services may be a personal need or a business need. It could be for profit or non-profit and be private or public depending on ownership. ( Kotler, 2000) Intangibility- Services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelled. This makes evaluating service quality very difficult. Service quality is therefore ascertained by the potential consumers by perusal of other evidences like place, people, equipment communication etc. as indicators of quality. Inseparability- Services are produced and consumed at the same time and cannot be separated from their providers. There is no stocking or distribution. The provider and client must interact for the service to occur and therefore both parties become part of the service provided. Both of them influence the outcome of the service. Variability - As the consumer and producer are both part of the service, the quality of services depends largely on who, when, where and how they are provided. Therefore, service providers become the representative of the organization as a whole and service quality depends on the quality of the service providers themselves. Perishability- Services must be consumed as they are provided and cannot be stored for future use. Therefore, a missed opportunity will create a loss of service that needed to be rendered. The demand and supply needs to be carefully monitored and services offered as needed during the time period. Non-Transferability- Services cannot be owned by the user. An excellent service has good retentivity though and acts as an incentive to the customer to opt for the same service again. Starbucks has survived and grown in the new economy because of its innovative capability to adapt to a dynamically changing environment. Their customer-focused strategy has allowed them to garner sales selling the humble coffee at a premium value due to the perception of value inculcated in the customer. Quality of Service Providing the level of service to desired expectations is of prime importance. Quality management is a way of doing business that allows an organization to design products and services that meet or exceed customer needs and build operational processes that achieve high levels of performance and quality. A good service company understands the psychology of the consumer, adds in a qualitative

Questions wk5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Questions wk5 - Essay Example This policy would help companies to utilize local knowledge as much as possible so that the company’s business prospects in the host country can be enhanced. This policy gives more importance to host country norms. It also helps companies to reduce labour cost considerably since in most of the cases the labour cost in the host country would be lesser than that in the home country. Geocentric staffing approach is implemented in global and transnational companies. It helps companies to get the services of best personnel all the time irrespective of the country of origin of the employees. It gives lot of flexibility to the staffing policy. The major disadvantage of the ethnocentric approach is that it may produce anger and cultural conflicts in the business units in the host country. Moreover, this strategy is suitable only for international companies. The major disadvantage of polycentric staffing policy is lack of career growth and opportunities to the employees. It may also is olate the headquarter from subsidiaries. Geocentric staffing policy is highly expensive as far as implementation is concerned. Moreover, immigration policies in the host and home countries may limit the exchange of workforce. This strategy is not at all suitable for domestic firms. Link between an international business's strategy and its human resource management policies, particularly with regard to the use of expatriate employees and their pay scale The utilization of expatriate employee force is necessary for international companies to manage their business activities successfully in overseas countries. For example, it is impossible for Microsoft or Apple Inc to manage its activities in India with the help of Americans alone. Only the Indians know their market well and hence their service is vital for Microsoft or Apple to build their business strategies in India. Moreover, labour cost in India is extremely low compared to that in America. Under such circumstances, I would be su icidal for Microsoft or Apple to bring workforce from America to India to manage their business activities there. It should be noted that all the companies are currently trying to establish business units, especially manufacturing units in cheap labour oriented countries. This strategy would help such companies to stay competitive in international market. It should be noted that prominent Japanese and American companies have manufacturing units in China at present. For example majority of the Sony products are currently manufactured in China even though the origin of Sony is in Japan. While operating cross culturally, HR managers should make sure that the employees on deputation to the host country have adequate exposure to the cultural norms in the target country. HR Management of local work force is extremely different from the HR management of international or cross cultural workforce. Most of the international organizations are keen in keeping a diverse workforce. HR managers sh ould make sure that the interests of the diverse workforce never make any conflicts in the workplace. In what ways can organized labour constrain the strategic choices of an international business? How can an international business limit these constraints? â€Å"Organized labor has attempted to (i) set-up its own international