Main topics of study:

The Nature of Services:

• The Growing Importance of Services
• Services: What Makes Them Special?
• A Closer Look at Services
• The Role of Service Classifications

Defining the Service Concept:

• Why Do We Need a Service Concept?
• How to Define the Service Concept
• Implementing the Service Concept
• The Service Concept as a Guiding Framework: an Overview of its Main Ingredients
• Why Not All Service Concepts are Alike

Servitisation: Or Why Services Management is Relevant for Manufacturing Environments.

• From Goods to Services
• Why Servitisation?
• Making the Transition

Relationship Marketing:

• Relationship Marketing: New Words to an Old Tune?
• Linking Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and Profitability
• Lifetime Value: the Link with Profitability
• How to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty
• Setting Objectives in Service Marketing

Promoting Services:

• What is so Different about Promoting Services?
• The Basic Building Blocks of Promotion
• Designing a Marketing Communications Strategy for Services
• Drawing up a Promotion Plan

Pricing Services:

• Developing a Framework for Pricing Decisions
• Pricing Objectives
• Pricing Strategies
• How to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty
• Pricing Structure
• Pricing Levels and Tactics

Customer Satisfaction and Complaint Management:

• Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
• A Service Satisfaction Framework
• Measuring Customer Satisfaction
• Complaint Management

Service Guarantees and Service-level Agreements:

• Service Guarantees
• Service-level Agreements
• Internal Service Guarantees and Service-level Agreements

The Role of Human Resource Practices in Service OrganiSations:

• The Nature of Services
• Human Resource Management for Services

Competencies and Service Organisations:

• Designing Competency-based HR Practices
• Linking Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and Profitability
• Competencies for Service Organisations

Collaboration: Integrating Work and Learning:

• The Benefits of Collaboration in the Workplace
• The Broader Relevance of Collaboration to Services
• The Role of Collaboration in Learning
• Collaboration as the Central Theme
• Establishing Collaborative Relationships

The Role of Empowerment in Service Organisations:

• The Relevance of Empowerment for Service Environments
• Empowerment: the Employee and the Supervisor
• Empowerment: the Organisation

Role Stress Among Front-line Employees:

• Relevance of Role Stress for the Service Encounter
• Linking Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and Profitability
• Role Stress Defined
• Handling Role Stress for Front-line Employees

Service Process Design and Management:

• Process Choice
• Process Design
• Process Monitoring
• Process Evaluation
• Process Re-engineering

Capacity Management:

• Capacity and Capacity Management
• Capacity Planning
• Scheduling Capacity
• Managing the Demand Side
• The Psychology and Managerial Consequences of Waiting

Facilities Management:

• The Nature of Facilities Management in Services
• The Nature of Facilities Management in Services
• Location
• How to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty
• Designing the Servicescape

IT Developments and their Impact on Services:

• The Network Era – Where Do We Stand?
• The Impact of IT Developments on Service Encounters
• Action Strategies for the New Media

Performance Measurement Systems in Service Firms:

• Designing Performance Measurement Systems for Services
• Implementing an Integrated Performance Measurement System

Managing Innovation in a Service Environment:

• Innovations as Spiral Processes: the Value-constellation Approach
• Innovation Portfolio Management
• Organising the Innovation Portfolio: the Make-or-Buy Decision
• The Operational Management of Innovation

Managing Services across National Boundaries:

• Why Internationalise?
• Drivers Towards Internationalisation
• Culture and Cultural Differences
• Internationalisation Strategies

Defining a Service Strategy:

• The Nature of Strategic Management
• The Challenges of Strategic Management for Services

Reading List

Main Text:

Services Management – An Integrated Approach (2nd edition) – B. Van Looy, P. Gemmel & R. Van Dierdonck (Prentice Hall)