Services Marketing

Citation

FitzGerald, M. (1998), "Services Marketing", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 310-311. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijsim.1998.9.3.310.1

Zeithaml and Bitner preface their book by noting that the “economies of the world are now dominated by services”, but it is noted by this reviewer that few good texts on the subject of services marketing are presently available on the market. Few, if any, of the texts entitling themselves “services marketing” take a marketing‐oriented approach but instead recycle aspects of services management with marketing “bolted‐on”. This exciting new text, however, is founded on marketing fundamentals which precisely address the “special challenges” inherent in the successful marketing of services and introduces specific services‐related topics such as cross‐functional and cross‐disciplinary management, and which are usually ignored by standard marketing texts. In the process, the authors introduce pivotal customer‐driven strategies for tomorrow’s firms in their pursuit of excellence, profit and market share.

The text has 18 chapters organised in six sections. The first, “Introduction”, acquaints the reader with service essentials, including differences between services and goods, competitive essentials, and de‐bunks common service misconceptions. Part two focuses on expectations and perceptions of the service customer, and part three deals with techniques for understanding customers needs, including market research, and acquiring, retaining and developing relationships with customers using classic target marketing techniques. The fourth section integrates strategy, positioning and service design to create market‐driven service performance, with section five focusing on performance and delivery to create satisfied customers. Notably, the latter section emphasises the importance of successful customer management. Section 6 covers the creation and management of customer expectations, and which perhaps might have been better placed before section five ‐ sequentially, customers’ expectations are created before they consume the service.

Impeccably referenced, each chapter ends with a summary, discussion questions, and well thought‐out teaching exercises. Nine case studies of international origin are collected together at the end of the volume, and provide good variety of circumstance, market and issue. All cases are topical and relevant for the 1990s.

In summary, this superb new text from Zeithaml and Bitner takes a refreshing marketing‐oriented approach to the unique requirements and challenges of marketing services, holistically integrating essential aspects of service operations management into a text of sheer marketing excellence. As such, it should be positioned as the definitive services marketing text in the minds (and on the desk) of every business academic, businessman and woman in the English‐speaking world, and on the essential reading list of every student of business and management.