Page 106 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Unit 6: Service Quality

This approach begins where product-based quality definition ends. Notes

Manufacturing-based

This is conformance based and quality is perceived as an outcome of production processes.
Output is considered to be of high quality if it conforms to design specifications. This factor is
controllable by the service firm but does not take into consideration customer satisfaction.

Value-based

This definition equates quality with value. The service provider will have to strike a balance
between conformance and performance, evaluating benefits and price to customer satisfaction.
Transcendental

Quality can only be experienced but can neither be described nor documented rendering it
impractical for quality managers. Tourism is one such area where quality can, to some extent, be
only experienced directly.

Task Give examples of some quality issues with some major service firms based
on product, user and value.

Quality in service has two-window viewpoints: internal and external to the service firm. Internal
quality is all about the entire service delivery process—from concept to encounter/experience/
transaction/consumption. While internal quality is all about conformance and compliance to
design standards, external quality is about the customer’s perception. While the former can be
controlled by the service firm, service quality is as perceived by the customers - and should be
measured from that perspective. All aspects of ‘marketing myopia’ rear their ugly heads again
when any service quality measurement is based on the manager’s opinions of the customer’s
expectations:
Service firms may not know the specific criteria for decision-making in service consumption.

Management may be myopic on the way customers evaluate performance of the competitive

products.
Marketing myopia might creep in and make management blind to the differing and

evolving needs of the consumers. The need evolution could be due to market and
environmental factors, competitive response and technological advances.

!
Caution We give below the formal definition of quality:
Quality is “the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on
its ability to satisfy given needs.”

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 101