Marketing Concepts and Service Audit Plan Paper

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Assignment Plan: Service Firm Selection Introduction

Many of us learn best when we apply theories and ideas to real life. As you work through the course, some of the activities and the five graded assignments will require you to put marketing concepts into action for a specific service firm.

At this time, you are expected to choose a service‐based firm and briefly justify your choice. As you work through the course, your chosen service firm will be the basis of your analysis. By applying the course concepts to this firm, you will develop a Services Audit Plan during the four assignments contained in Modules 2 to 5.

What Is a Services Audit Plan?

We use a Services Audit Plan to look at a service firm from many different perspectives and to analyze both the service product offered and the service firm itself. Centered on the 7 Ps, the Services Audit Plan is a comprehensive and independent review of the company’s marketing environment. Its purpose is to identify problem areas and opportunities enabling you, the marketing student, to develop recommendations for the firm on how to improve marketing performance in both the short‐ and long‐term.

Do not choose a firm that (in your opinion) is near “perfect” in their service offerings. It is hard to audit a firm that has no room for improvement.

Over Assignments 1 to 4, you will be asked to look at your chosen firm in some detail. With this in mind, it is important to pick a service firm from which you will be able to ethically collect information. For example, to create a Service Blueprint, a “behind the scenes” understanding of how the firm works is necessary. This might be obtained through physical site visits, interviews with key personnel, or a combination of these. It is strongly recommended that you pick a publicly held company versus a privately held company in order to have access to all types of information. And finally, having an interest in the service offered by the firm is much more motivating, so investigate a service that appeals to you.

Instructions

The purpose of your ungraded Assignment Plan is to select and receive approval of the service product and firm you will focus on in your later assignments. Review your journal to see if there are any service firms of particular interest to you and/or review the list of services below for inspiration.

Vacation travel Automotive repair Physical therapy treatment Car rental Restaurant Nursing Bed and breakfast stay Sports or music lessons series Weight‐loss program Adventure tour Day spa treatment Legal service Insurance service

House cleaning service Window washing service Hotel stay Tax preparation Dental service Fitness instruction program Movie theatre Live performance Dry cleaning service Daycare (for children or pets) Courier service Charity haircut

Although interesting, conducting a Services Audit on a fledgling firm or a new‐to‐ the‐world services company is not recommended, as access to existing information and experience is essential.

Try not to use your current place of employment for this project. It could potentially cause an ethical dilemma when accessing data. Remember, your company’s data were collected mainly for business purposes, not for a classroom project. It may violate Privacy Act.

In all of your interactions or communications with your chosen firm, it is important to keep all information shared with you confidential. Participating firms need to know critical information will not reach their competitors.

After choosing your service area of interest, prepare your Assignment Plan by completing the following:

1. Service Product Selected. Identify your chosen service and briefly describe it. If your service firm offers a number of service products and locations, select one service and one physical location you want to focus on. Indicate why this service is of particular interest to you.

1. Service Firm Selected. Provide the name of your company and your chosen location, indicating whether it is a privately or publicly held company (publicly held companies are strongly preferred to privately held firms). Include the name of the parent organization, if relevant.

As part of later assignments, you will be required to evaluate the global competitive environment in which the service firm competes. For now, identify two or three opportunities and threats, respectively, facing your chosen firm.

1. Customer Encounter. The Services Audit Plan evaluates a service firm by applying all 7 Ps of the marketing mix. Specifically, the three new Ps are applied to your firm to identify both customer service successes as well as opportunities for improvement. Outline who the typical consumer for this service is, and describe a typical service encounter a consumer has with this firm, mentioning any customer gaps which may be occurring.

Please take a few minutes to review these assignment guidelines:

• Answer all parts of each of the assigned questions.
• Create headings (and subheadings) in each section. (Do not repeat the questions in your paper.)
• Complete all assignments in MS Word using 12‐point Arial font, double line spacing, and use APA style.
• Name your file as follows: