FINAL VERSION

MKT 505 Services Marketing

EXAM 2

Due by Saturday, 7 DEC 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, charts, 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. In keeping our service encounter diaries and the associated class discussions, one particular sub shop seems to have set the standard against which we will forever compare bad service.  For a sub shop, draw a blueprint which flowcharts the customer experience above a dashed line and which flowcharts the backroom supporting activies below the dashed line.  Use this to identify fail points of the sort that many class members experienced.  Write a brief consulting report, based on your blueprint, which outlines tactics for minimizing service failures in a sub shop.

Your blueprint may be sketched by hand, or you may use a software application such as the trial version of Inspiration.  With your blueprint, include a legend to clearly identify the symbols that you are using.  Do not include your blueprint in the page count limit; include it as an appendix.

PART II: theory / concepts

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

2. In criticizing the assertions made in the Owen & Szul reading, one class member reminded us that a particular problem with services is that they are difficult to measure.  What are some of the key characteristics of services that make it difficult for us to set specifications for service production and to set standards for quality measurement?  Is it possible to overcome these difficulties such that we could provide warranty contracts with service offerings that would not be easily challenged by "jaycustomers" -- is it possible to create absolutely "bulletproof" service guarantees?

3. The Lovelock text defines yield as "the average revenue received per unit of capacity."  If we accept this definition, what are some generalizable tactics that can be used to manage (or increase) yield in a services setting?

4. How is it that "productivity" in services can be counter to "efficiency" and "effectiveness"?  How is it that you could re-define "productivity" so that it is indeed congruent with "efficiency" and "effectiveness"?