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Unit 9: The Service Encounter

fairly. For example, calls will be answered in order of arrival in a call center; or paychecks will Notes
be issued on the 15th of the month. When viewed this way, the concept of control can be
approached in a more sophisticated way in planning service encounters.

Caselet Case: UPS in 2006 – Customer Service and CRM
Initiatives

he $42.58 billion United Parcel Service (UPS) is the world’s largest package delivery
Tcompany. To maintain its market leadership, UPS depends on state of the art technology
and innovative Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices. UPS’ CRM strategy
focuses on developing one-to-one customer relationships, while maintaining an IT
infrastructure with ‘dial-tone reliability’.
UPS uses a sophisticated data warehouse to capture all of the transactions and customer
requirements throughout its system across the globe. Using business intelligence and
customer-focused analytical techniques it continues to exceed most customers’ expectations
and also provide services before its competitors. UPS has reaped numerous payoffs from
the millions of dollars it has spent on operations research to build the proprietary ground
and air supply-chain-optimisation technology, including saving hundreds of millions of
dollars on its air deliveries. In the next two years (2006-08), it expects more benefits, by
giving the drivers access to data from the supply-chain-optimisation models in real time
via wireless handheld devices.
Source: http://www.ibscdc.org/Case_Studies/Marketing/Services%20Marketing/SVM0004P.htm

9.3 Creation and Evaluation

The model of service encounter evaluation relies on the definition of the term service encounter
as a period of time during which a consumer directly interacts with a service. This definition
encompasses all aspects of the service firm with which the consumer may interact including its
personnel, its physical facilities, and other tangible elements during a given period of time.
A model of service encounters creation and evaluation as follows:

1. On the basis of above concepts, Figure 9.2 represents a general model of the antecedents
and outcomes of consumer satisfaction in service encounters. The first part of the model
suggests that a consumer’s preattitude will influence expectations about the outcome of a
particular service encounter.
2. The second stage of the process suggests that the customer’s immediate reaction after
consumption depends on a comparison of prior expectations and perceived performance,
resulting in confirmation of expectations or in positive/negative disconfirmation when
expectations and performance do not match.
3. The next part of the model implies that causal contributions for disconfirmation will
mediate customer satisfaction. That is before a customer determines his or her level of
dis/satisfaction and subsequent behaviours may be modified. The positioning of the
attribution construct is consistent with recent work in both consumer behaviours.
4. The final part of the model shows service encounter satisfaction as an input onto the more
general construct, perceived service quality which in turn leads to later behaviours towards
the service firm.

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