Page 79 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management

Notes unsavoury and their desire for the service evaporates. The service or goods become
unwholesome, without any nutrition, resembling junk food.
Thus, the public enthusiasm for Narmada Dam evaporates when the abysmal treatment
and compensation to the ‘oustees’ are highlighted in the media. Cigarettes, liquor, drugs,
heavy usage of cell phones, are all unwholesome demands for which demarketing is
required. Obviously no marketer of such products would demarket his offers; he should
be adept enough to recognise the demand and address the anxiety of the sensitive
consumers’ request for more information.
Thus, social marketing comes to the fore. Organizations like the police, NGOs, the armed
forces, religious and educational institutions, etc. should use persuasion, fear high price
and – by preventing distribution and accessibility – discourage consumption.
Many westerners do not want to patronise Indian leather garments after People for Ethical
Treatment to Animals (PETA) highlighted the horrific and barbaric way in which animals
are slaughtered here.

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Caution Demand for certain services fluctuates with seasons or is irregular.

Managing Supply

A service marketer suffers from Perishability if he is not able to manage his supply. That is,
during demand the service provider is not in a position to deliver only because he is neither
prepared nor ready – due to supply bottlenecks. They range from goods to personnel:
Goods: Supply problems in respect of goods occur in those services that are highly tangible like
retailing, car rentals, restaurants, tourism, hotels, pubs, etc. If certain merchandise is not available
when a customer asks for it (stock out), he is free to go to another retailer. Thus, the service
marketer forever loses that revenue. To retain the customer, the retailer might offer rain checks
(a promise to stock the SKU especially for the customer whenever he comes next – which is an
expensive proposition anyway).
Souvenir sellers may lose customers because they may not have the particular merchandise;
similar would be the dilemma of a pub manager if he doesn’t stock certain brands asked for. If
a car rental company like Wheels-Rent-A-Car doesn’t have a four-wheel-drive in their pool
when asked for by an adventure tourist, he might lose the customer.

Systems and processes: Supply problems occur here when the systems and processes of service
delivery fail and the provider is not able to offer the service as he is entirely dependent on them.

Example: With the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, and the destruction of World Trade
Centre, many BPOs and banks based in USA could not continue their service. It was with great
difficulty that American Express restarted their operations only due to their Indian connection
via their BPO.

If there is any supply and quality problems in the ATMs from National Cash Register (NCR),
ICICI Bank may not be able to offer its unique services. Its entire strategy of having a high ATM-
to-manned branches ratio might come to naught.
Amazon.com and Rediff may not be able to offer their services if there are problems with Tata
Power, BEST, BSES (for electric supply), VSNL, the ISPs and MTNL (for connectivity) etc. Similarly,
a photocopier or telephone booth will not work if there is a power failure.

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