Introduction
Initial theoretical developments of the theoretical and procedures in service quality evaluation have long lagged behind in product quality evaluation with measurement of service quality experiencing varied problems (Van Raaij. et al. 580). There are also several difficulties in the evaluation of service quality as a presentation of the framework of evaluation that uses the overall systems theoretical approach. This is in addition to suggestions of perceiving the views of quality degrees within companies and organizations alike with service managers being required to put considerations into the service input perceptions as well as service processes and associated outcomes.
Services marketing deals with the sub division of the marketing field that covers aspects of marketing of services and good with good marketing comprising of fast moving consumer goods marketing as well as durables. This marketing type deals with both the business and consumers aspects as well as business to business services. Common service marketing references include telecommunication, financial services as well as other professional services. On the other hand services comprise of economic based activities instead of products that are tangible which parties offer each other as well as service rendering to recipients and other objects (Noble & Phillips, 300).
The concept of services marketing revolves around the seven points with the first four dealing with a mix of services marketing which bear similarity to the traditional marketing mix although in the unique perspective of things we can observe a variance in the varied service cases. The first point deals with the product in regards to services with the definition being the intangible and perishable as well as the understanding of production and consumption being inseparable; At this point the customization scope offer as per the requirements of the customer and actual customer rest on the assumption of the specific significance although excess consumption can lead to compromise of standardized service delivery which can have an adverse effect on the quality. As such care has to be show in the design of service offers (O'Malley, & Prothero, 1290).
The other point is pricing as it has been established that there is difficulty in service pricing compared to product pricing with the latter being easily priced in consideration of the costs of raw materials whereas with services several costs have to be factored in at which point the price is obtained after inclusion of mark is for the profit margin that is adequate. Placing is another point as delivery of services is concurrent with production since storage or transportation cannot be achieved which makes service product location a vital aspect with the call for service providers to have special consideration to the location of the service being provided. In addition promotion is another point of consideration as service offers cannot be replicated with ease which makes promotion a crucial factor in the differentiation of services being offered with the consumer in mind.
The other elements within the realm of service marketing are unique in natures which include people as a factor that is defining in the procedures of service delivery as the service cannot be separated from the person who provides it (Sheth & Parvatiyar, 12). For instance a restaurant is known for its food as much as the services provided by the staff with the same being true for other organizations such as banks and retail business which shows customer service training as an a essential priority in several organizations presently. Furthermore, the other point is the service delivery process being vital as it ensures standard service repetition that is delivered to the customer. As such several companies are guided by a service blue print that provides service delivery procedure details. The final point is physical evidence as services are intangible in their nature as several service providers aim to achieve incorporation of specific elements of tangibility in the offers of enhancement of customer experiences (Uncles. et al. 300).
Internet growth and mobile platforms have facilitated the continued evolving of relationship marketing as these technology forms push the thus marketing concept to be more open through channels of collaboration and social communication. This is with the inclusion of management relationship tools that exceed the singular demographic customer service data with relationship marketing extending to comprise of efforts in inbound marketing which is a combination of optimization in searching as well as content that is strategic with other aspects dealing with public relations, social media and development of applications (Van Raaij. et al. 580) . Relationship marketing needs to build and shape the journey of the customer so as to yield value to both the customer and the company as companies are required to design and manage relationship marketing programs that have a holistic approach as well as being recognizable to specific journeys of the customer which is not linear but however dynamic and always changing. Integrated discipline as an approach will gain over customers who are rigid in their traditional thinking. With technology and analytics companies need to develop longitudinal relations in the practical sense (Winsor. et al. 62 ).
In a social anthropological perspective this concept can be interpreted as commodity exchange practices which make features of gift exchange instruments as it has been observed that marketers make conscious and intuitive decisions in the recognition of power comprised in contemporary forms of exchange which have been used. The specific perspective in marketing creates a useful platform of future research as theories of marketing and practices can have a considerable benefit in the detailed research of governing principles that govern the exchange of gifts. In the initial step of implementing relationship marketing companies need to put this at the forefront of their operations through identification and conversion of prospects with the increased likelihood of transforming into relationships that will have long term and sustainability with increased value. Growth can also be tapped as an opportunity in the development of existing relationships with the customer.
Explanation of the link between quality and customer satisfaction and drawn conclusions about the two concepts
Service quality in definition entails the global evaluation as well as behavior of general service excellence with the global evaluation perception of service delivery by service companies. Service quality can also be defined in terms of achieving or exceeding the expectations of the customer or the variations in the expectations and perceptions of the services with the difference between expectation and perception of the service or product (Yau. et al. 1115). Measures of service quality can be understood in the four varied service types which comprise of financial services like banks with research outcomes of such service providers revealing service quality comprising of dimensions of reliance, response, competence, access, communication, credibility as well as understanding the customer among other factors.
Research into the measurement of customer satisfaction calls for a perspective in a multi-cultural dimensional construct with item measurement being generated with similar dimensions of service quality; The link between service quality and satisfaction of the customer has received substantial academic attention although the nature of the specific relation between the two concepts more so in the way the two concepts have been put into operation remains shrouded in uncertainty (Knemeyer & Murphy, 45). Several researchers have been made operational the satisfaction of the customers with the use of a single scaled item while others have applied multiple scaled items which have led to calls for adoption of a varied approach and perception of customer satisfaction as a construct of multiple dimensions in the same way as service quality. The argument has been of operation of customer satisfaction with similar factors and items of correspondence on which service quality operates. This approach and the linkage of service quality and satisfaction of the customer has been investigated with results providing an indication of the two constructs being independent with close relation of the implication of an increase of one concept will lead to the increase of the other (Kotler, 25).
Discussion and evaluation of the various approaches to the measurement of quality
Service quality entails the comparison of expectations in relation to performance as a business with an increased service quality needs to meet the needs of the customer while remaining in economic competition as with improvements in service quality there can be an increase in the completion on an economic scale (Kotler, 20). The objective of this concept is to attain an understanding and improvement of the processes of operations as well as problem identification with quickness and in a systematic manner with the establishment of valid and reliable performance of the service and its associated measures as well as customer satisfaction measurements in relation to the outcomes of other performances.
Overall customers can undertake service perception comparisons with the expectation of services with the former falling short of the latter when customers faced disappointment. Measurements of subjective concepts in customer service are dependent on the conformity of benefit expectations in the outcome perception. This results into dependency on the expectations of the customers in service terms with the possibility of receiving the service provider's capabilities and skills in the presentation of service expectations as it has been observed that successful companies include benefits to their offers not only for purposes of satisfaction of the customer by also to surprise and provide delight to them as customer delight is a matter of exceeding their expectations (Kraemer, 32).
As such we are introduced to the service quality model of GAP which identified the five gaps which result into deliveries that are unsuccessful as customers tend to have an overall comparison of the services they experience with their service expectations. In this case experience is not equaled to the expectation which produces a gap (Lacki, 15). These ten determinants posses a certain influence on the gap appearance as described in the theoretical background of the concept. The SERVQUAL model entails reliability, response, assurance of service and empathy as known as the RATER model as measurement of service quality involves both subjection and objectivity of processes with both cases having an aspect of satisfaction of under assessment although satisfaction of the customer being a measurement that is indirect of service quality.
The measurement of the subjective elements of service quality deal with the procedures of subjection that may be assessed in relation to the attributes which is observed in the SERVQUAL assessment model as well as within incidents which is observed in the assessment of the critical incident theory. This is in addition to challenges is the assessment of the Frequenz Relevanz analysis with the most crucial being the most applied methodology of measurement of service quality subjective elements as entailed in the SERVQUAL model (Lamb. et al. 370).
On the other hand the measurement of the objective elements of service quality may be categorized into major procedures and secondary procedures with the primary processes customers who are silenced formulate episodes of testing were the service and service episodes or normalized customers are under observation (Larson, 138). Whereas the secondary processes comprise of the factors that are quantified for instance the number of customer complaints or returned goods numbers which are analyzed so as to formulate inferences concerning service quality.
In the service quality perception there is lack of a universal understanding that is normally applied in the general terming in the coverage of varied impressions from customer in their dealings with vendors. As such measurement parameters are deployed to understand the quality of service being provided with one such parameter being SERVPERF also known as the performance aspect on the scale of service quality provides the five measurements that underlay the dimensions in correspondence of tangibles, reliance, response, assurance and empathy. In the measurement of service quality using this measurement form validation studies are undertaken with the deployment of varied datasets in shortened items with the exploration and confirmation factors in the techniques of analysis being applied in the exploration of the scaled dimension.
In conclusion of the service quality measurement parameters presented in the study we can establish the validation of item versions with the procedures being derived in shortened scales. These short versions achieve positive performance in comparison to longer versions. Internal consistence estimations in relation to the scale show an actual positive performance compared to longer scales as mentioned with initial datasets showing structured factorial aspects with more clarity that is distinctive from the short versions. However, they are concerns of these measurement parameters of considerable overlapping within the measurement types.
Performance approaches in service and relationship marketing
The performance approach to service and relationship marketing revolves around the concept of customer relationship management with the application of philosophical notions and tools in the operation of business marketing as the area is not immune to profound changes although it suffers from substance mutations with no altering of the core essence with respect to the maximization of the profit of an organization in meeting the superior needs of the customer. The orientation of the customers is uncontrollable with organizational marketers under the obligation of cooperating with colleagues in the influence of increased emphasis on customers to create negotiations that are more personalized. The performance oriented approach of customer relationship management ensures customer satisfaction with the purchase that is enjoyed in the helpful generation of sales with offers of service quality in line with customer expectations. On the other hand loyalty as another performance approach creates income security with continued revenue earning for the business organization with faithful customers being of more profit with less sensitivity to price as well as being beneficial in the promotion of the services and products of the business to their friends.
Application of the Six Sigma Model in service and relationship marketing
The Six Sigma model in service and relationship marketing provides several practical applications with the business organization requiring the management of process for improvement with benefits of great utilization of the Six Sigma with the inclusion of retail based business and the challenges they meet in the satisfaction of customers, the defects in their procedures as well as other concerns. The Six Sigma model can be applied in varied ways with application to specific organizations on the basis of its needs for the formulation of improved solutions for the benefit of the customers. In addition the Six Sigma models can also be used in the utilization of the most from marketing approaches for the improvement of sales in retail based business through advertisements and attracting more customers.
Conclusion
The environmental setting in which service delivery is undertaken as well as improvements in the process of interaction between the customer and providers of services in which case varied techniques can be utilized to formulate changes for instance quality function deployment, failsafe measures, shifting visibility line as well as the accessibility line and blueprinting (Law. et al. 57). From this point we are presented with the approach to the improvement of conformity in service quality as so as to ensure and raise the quality service conformance which is service delivery as it is designed varied methods can be availed. These employed approaches comprise of Guaranteeing, mystery shopping, recovery, establishment of standards and measurement as well as statistical procedure controls and involvement of the customer.
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