MKT 505 Services Marketing

EXAM 1

Due by Friday, 11 OCT 02, 12:00 noon

• OFFICE: room 215 - no excuses without a receipt
• STAFF SUPPORT: Loretta Williams - no excuses without a receipt
• EMAIL: robert.owen@tamut.edu - MS Word format only, no excuses without a reply
• FAX: 903-223-3121 - at your risk

On this take-home exam, you have a limit on length rather than a limit on time.  This is an MBA level exam for which MBA level knowledge, insights, and writing are expected.  This is not a research project: answer these questions in the context of our class discussions. 

Note that this is an individual project.  Although it is expected that students have been discussing the readings and other course related issues outside of class, the final written exam document should be your own individual work.  Your answers may reference personal experiences, news events, etc. in addition to the readings used in the course.  Do be sure to support and substantiate your answer.  You should not be attempting to "core dump" on an exam such as this.  That is, do not attempt to confuse your answer with everything that you have learned: just answer the question that is asked.  Your answer should, however, be based substantially on the sorts of issues that have been part of class discussions, student presentations and hand-outs, and assigned readings, and your answer will be marked on the depth of substance. 

In answering these exam questions, you MUST adhere to the following rules:

1. Do NOT submit your real name with the exam.  Instead, identify your exam with a fictitious name.  Your exam will be blind graded and you will sign your real name next to your fictitious name when the exam is returned for your review.

2. Your answer must be typed: double space, one-inch margins.  Use a standard size and style of font - e.g., 12-point Courier, Times, etc.

3. Use plain white paper with a staple in the top left corner; no report folders.

4. Scoring is based substantially on substance and clarity; printing with an old dot-matrix printer on fan-fold paper is acceptable.  Errors of grammar, spelling, typing, etc., however, are not acceptable and in almost all cases cause problems of clarity.

5. Type the question number and the first line of the question above each answer.

6. Start a new question on the page wherever the last one ends (i.e., do not leave any white space by starting a new question on a new page).

7. Limit the entire text of the exam to SIX pages in length; you may add additional pages as an appendix to footnote supporting calculations, spreadsheets, and such if necessary.  The length of each individual answer may vary, but the entire submission (excluding an appendix) must not exceed six pages of text in length. 

PART I: analysis

You MUST answer the following required question.  50% of the total exam score.

1. Assess the consumer comments that are posted for Professional Services: Doctors on VirtualRatings.com at:

    http://www.virtualratings.com/category.asp?cat=5613

Write a report, based on this data, which explains the causes of patient satisfaction or dissatisfaction a physician. 

PART II: theory / concepts

Choose TWO of the following questions.  25% each of the total exam score.

2. Discuss how each of the concepts of role, scripting, and attribution theory could explain issues of patient satisfaction / dissatisfaction in Question 1.

3. Discuss how the concept of "service as a theater performance" could explain how satisfaction or dissatisfaction results from a patient's visit to a physician.

4. Discuss the production of the core product and the augmented product associated with a physician's services.  What parts of the production process result in hygiene factors?  What parts could produce critical incidents that might result in either patient dissatisfaction or opportunities to create patient satisfaction?