Service Industry and Quality

Service can be defined as “any primary or complementary activity that does not directly produce a physical product, i.e. the non-goods part of the transaction between the buyer (customer) and seller (provider).” Quality has traditionally been related to the manufacturing industry. Due to the improvements in technology and automation over the last century, more

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Value in the Service Industry

Like their manufacturing counterparts, most successful service organizations have adopted a new model since the 1980s. They shifted the emphasis from financially optimizing assets to customer satisfaction. The emphasis has shifted from emulating old-design manufacturing to making the core technology flexible, highlighting the key role of the front-line employee to satisfy customers. Service standards

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Classification of Services

Schmenner3 categorized services into four categories in the service process matrix as shown in Figure 16.1. The four categories are named service factory, service shop, mass service and professional service. This matrix considers one variable, which is the degree of interaction and customization. The services categorized in service shop and professional services fall within

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Defining Service Quality

Quality is much easier to define when manufacturing tangible products. Manufacturing quality may simply involve conformance to specifications. A manufacturer can evaluate the level of a product’s quality based on what was produced relative to the design specifications. A defect occurs when a product fails to meet set specifications. The specifications come from product

The SERVQUAL Model

Measuring the quality of a service can be a very difficult exercise. Unlike products where there are particular specifications such as length, depth, width, weight, colour, a service can have numerous intangible or qualitative specifications. In addition, there is the expectation of the customer with regard to the service, which can vary considerably based

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Hospitality Sector

Hospitality is about serving the guests so that they experience a “feel-good-effect.” Today, the hospitality sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. It is expected to grow at the rate of 8 per cent between 2007 and 2016. Many renowned global players in the hospitality industry are coming to India to

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Improving the Service Quality

Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml maintain that the following nine lessons are essentials for improving service quality across service industries: Listening: Understand what customers really want through continuously listening to the expectation and perceptions of existing customers and potential customers. Reliability: Reliability is the single-most important dimensions of service quality and must be a service

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