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Ms-65 question Bank

Ms-65 question Bank (7)

Ms-65 question Bank

Wednesday, 09 December 2015 10:37

MS 65 JUNE 2015

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MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME I
Term-End Examination
June, 2015
MS-65 : MARKETING OF SERVICES
 1. (a) What are the basic characteristics of services vis-a-vis goods ? What are the implications of these characteristics for a passenger airline ? (b) Distinguish between the following giving suitable examples : (i) Search and experience qualities (ii) Internal and external marketing
2. (a) What do you understand by the term 'Service Quality' ? Explain the 'Grouroos Model of Service Quality' taking the example of a full service family restaurant. (b) What are the benefits to a service organisation in retaining its customers ? Discuss with the help of examples.
MS-65 1 P.T.O.
3. (a) Identify and explain the product support services which automobile manufacturers
can offer to its customers.
(b) Explain the importance of branding of financial services, giving suitable examples.
4. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Yield management
(b) Pricing of health services
(c) Modes of service delivery in internationaltrade
(d) Word of mouth communication
(e) Importance of physical evidence for aneducational institute

December, 2009

Ms-65 : Marketing of Services

SECTION – A

1. (a) What is so distinctive about services marketing that it requires a special approach and body of knowledge ?

(b) "Growth in services is at the expense of manufacturing sector of the economy." Do you agree with the statement ? Justify  your answer.

2(a) Explain why services tend to be more difficult for customers to evaluate than goods.

(b) Explain the role of non-monetary costs in pricing of services by taking the example of

a hospital or a tour operator.

3. (a) What gaps can occur in service quality, and what steps can service marketers take to prevent them ?

(b) Identify and explain the product support services which a computer manufacturer

can offer for gaining competitive advantage.

4. Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a) Yield management.

(b) Cycle of success and cycle of failure.

(c) Service guarantees.

(e) Channels of distribution for banks.

(f) Physical evidence.

SECTION – B

5. Study the following case and answer the questions given at the end.

Mrs. F arrives 15 minutes early for a 1:30 PM appointment with her Austin, Texas, ophthalmologist, Dr. X. The waiting room is empty and all the prior names on the sign-in-sheet are crossed out. The receptionist looks up but does not acknowledge her presence. Mrs. F, unaware  of the drama about to unfold, happily anticipates that she may not have to wait long beyond her scheduled time and settles into a chair to read the book she has brought with her. Large windows completely surround three sides of the waiting room. The receptionist sits behind a large opening in the remaining wall. Attractive artwork decorates the available wall space, and trailing plants rest on a shelf above the receptionist's opening. It is an appealing, comfortable waiting MOM. At 1:25 PM, another patient, Jack arrives. Mrs. F knows his name must be Jack, because the receptionist addresses him by first name and the two share some light-hearted pleasantries. Jack takes a seat and starts looking through a magazine. At 1:40 PM, a very agitated woman enters and approaches the receptionist. She explains that she MS-65 3 P.T.O. is very sorry she missed her 1 o'clock appointment and asks if it would be possible for Dr. X to see her anyway. The receptionist replies very coldly, "You're wrong. Your appointment was for 11." "But I have 1 o'clock written down !" responds the patient, whose agitation now has changed to distress. "Well, you're wrong" "Oh dear, is there any way I can be worked in ?" pleads the patient. "We'll see. Sit down." Mrs. F and her two "companions" wait until 1:50 PM, when staff person number 2 (SP2) opens the door between the waiting room and the hallway leading to the various treatment areas. She summons Jack, and they laugh together as she leads him to the back. Mrs. F thinks to herself, "I was here first, but maybe he just arrived late for an earlier appointment," then goes back to her book. Five minutes later, Ms. SP2 appears at the door and summons the distressed patient. At this point, Mrs. F walks to the back area (She's a long-time patient  and knows the territory), seeks out Ms. SP2 and says, " I wonder if I've been forgotten. I  was here before those two people who have just been taken in ahead of me." Ms. SP2 replies very brusquely, "Your file's been pulled. Go sit down." Once again occupying an empty waiting room, Mrs. F returns to her reading. At 2:15 PM (no patient has yet  emerged from a treatment area),. Ms. SP2 finally summons Mrs. F and takes her t oroom 1, where she uses two instruments to make some preliminary measurements of Mrs. F's eyes. This is standard procedure in Dr. X's practice. Also standard is measuring the patient's present eyeglass prescription on a third instrument in room 1. Mrs. F extends her eyeglasses to Ms. SP2, but Ms. SP2 brushes past her and says curtly, "This way." Mrs. F then is led to a seat in the "dilating area," although no drops have been put in her eyes to start dilation. The light in the dilating area is dimmed to protect dilating eyes, but Mrs. F is able to continue reading her book. No one else is seated in the dilating area. At 2:45 PM, Ms. SP2 reappears, says, "this way" (a woman of very few words, our Ms. SP2), and marches off to examining room 3. "Wait here," she commands, leaving Mrs. F to seat herself in the darkened room. Mrs. F can hear Dr. X and Jack laughing in the next examining room. At 2:55 PM, she hears the two men say good-bye and leave the room. Mrs. F expect Dr. X to enter her room shortly. At 3:15 PM, however, when he still has not appeared, she walks forward and interrupts Ms. SP2, the receptionist, the bookkeeper, and Ms. SP3, who are socializing. "Excuse me, but have  I been forgotten?" She asks. Ms. SP2 turns her head from her companions and replies, "No, he's in the line. Go sit down."

Mrs. F wonders what that means but returns to her assigned place. She is here, after all, for a particular visual problem, not just for a routine check-up. All good things, however, including Mrs. F's patience and endurance of abusive treatment, eventually end. At 4:00 PM, Mrs. F does some marching of her own-to the front desk, where she announces to the assembled Mss. SP1 through SP4 that she has been waiting since 1:30 PM, that she has been sitting in the back for 21/2 hours, and that not once during that time has one member of the staff come to let her know what the problem is, how much longer she can expect to wait, or, indeed, that she has not been forgotten. She adds that she will wait no longer, and she feels forced to seek the services of a physician who chooses to deliver health care. There are several patients seated in the waiting room at the time. There is an epilogue to this case. Mrs. F went directly home and wrote the following letter to Dr. X informing him of the treatment she had (not) received at his office and stating that she and her family would seek care elsewhere.

January 5, 2005,

Dear Dr.

It is with very real regret that I am transferring our eye care to another physician, and I want you to know the reason for my decision. It is 4:22 PM, and I have just returned home from a 1:30 PM appointment with (out) you. The appointment was made because I had received an adverse report from Seton Hospital's recent home vision test. I was kept waiting in the dilation area and in examining room 3 for more than two-and-one-half hours, during which time not one single member of your staff gave me any explanation for the delay or assured me I had not been forgotten. When I finally asked if I were forgotten , I was treated with a very bad attitude  ("how dare I even ask") and still was given no reason for the delay or any estimate of how much longer I would have to wait. Consequently,  I left without seeing you. As I stated above,  I make this change with very real regret, because I value your expertise and the treatment you personally have given the four of us during these past many years. But I will not tolerate the callous treatment of your staff.

Questions :

(a) What features of a good waiting process are evident in Dr. X's practice ? List the shortcomings that you see.

(b) If Dr. X were concerned with keeping the F family as patients, how could he have

responded to Mrs. F's letter ? Write a letter on Dr. X's behalf to Mrs. F.

(c) How could Dr. X prevent such incidents in the future ?

(d) What are the benefits to an health care service organisation in retaining its customers ?

June, 2010

Ms-65 : Marketing of Services

SECTION – A

1(a) What is so distinctive about services marketing that it requires a special approach, set of concepts and body of knowledge ?

(b) Give examples of services that are high in credence qualities. How do high credence qualities affect consumer behaviour for these services ?

2(a) Taking the example of a business hotel differentiate between core, facilitating and supporting services. Would your answer differ for an economy tourist hotel ? Explain.

(b) What do you understand by the term Service Quality ? Is good service quality a cost or a revenue provider ? Discuss with the help of examples.

3. (a) Why do customers switch service  providers ? As a marketer can you do anything to prevent the customers from switching ?

(b) What are the various kinds of product support services which a consumer durable manufacturer can provide ? Explain.

4. Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a) Methods of distribution for services

(b) Factors governing tourism demand

(c) Services marketing triangle

(d) Service guarantee

(e) Modes of service delivery in international trade

SECTION – B

5. Study the following case situations and answer the questions given at the end :

Case Situation : The amusement park with a successful history was now facing problems. It had its first money losing last year followed by another one now. The park had three ways to bring in more revenues : increase visit per customer, increase average spending per visit or attract new customers. Because of a mature industry all three were hard to do. As pulling in people from broader geographical area seemed an unlikely proposition due to the wide availability of such parks, attracting new customers required new value proposition. With this background, it was proposed to offer a "preferred guest card" to win more business from moneyed and time pressed group of people. Under this plan, visitors could pay an additional fee to get free rein of the park: Card Holders would enter the ride through separate lines which would give them first crack and they would be seated immediately at any in-park restaurant. It was hoped that this plan will help to up-sell the people who are already coming to the park. And by making it possible to spend less time in queues, the guest card will also attract a different type of customer - time starved, high-income professionals and their families, who might otherwise avoid the whole experience. However, certain objections were raised against such a scheme. "I don't even think it's a great experience for the preferred guests. Who want to feel all that animosity diverted at them? The key to this business is the customers feeling good while they are here. With this scheme neither side's coming back" commented an executive. A possible solution given to this was to separate the lines and limiting the percentage of special tickets issued on any given day. If the 'preferred guest card' scheme was not implemented the park might be forced to raise price across the board.

Questions :

(a) Evaluate the 'preferred guest card' scheme and give your recommendations to the management.

(b) Describe the demand patterns that you would expect at an amusement park and the underlying causes.

(c) Suggest some ways of managing waiting lines at amusement parks.

June, 2011

Ms-65 : Marketing of Services

SECTION – A

1.  (a) How is information search behaviour different in case of services as compared to goods ? Explain with the help of suitable examples.

(b) Discuss the importance of physical evidence for the following :

(i)  Banks

(ii)  Educational institutes

2.  (a) What are the benefits of a good service guarantee ? Is service guarantee equally beneficial for all service firms ? Discuss with the help of examples.

(b) Explain why it is important for service organisations to match demand and capacity. What are the implications of a mismatch between the two ?

3.  (a) Discuss some of consumer sales promotion schemes used by hotels.

(b) Identify and explain the product support services which a personal computer manufacturer can offer to remain competitive or for gaining competitive advantage.

4.  Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a)  Factors governing tourism demand.

(b)  Modes of service delivery in international trade

(c)  Internal marketing

(d)  Grouroos model of service quality

(e)  Reasons for growth of service sector.

SECTION – B

5.  Study the case given below and answer the questions given at the end.

Marketing of Health Services Pulin Kayastha was simply amazed. He had seen all forms of hostility and marketing warfare in the consumer goods industry, but to see similar warfare in the health industry fascinated him. Clearly, he told himself, doctors had found consumers in their patients. At least, that's what the concept note sent by Dr. Ajit Varman, country manager of Recovery Clinics and Hospitals, seemed to indicate. Varman and seven other senior doctors had left Karuna Nursing Home and Hospital to set up Recovery, which, as the note said.".... would be entirely devoted and dedicated to customer responsiveness." Pulin was a management consultant and was recommended to Recovery by the marketing director of Regrow Pharma, a large pharmaceuticals company in Mumbai. In fact, the suggestion to set up Recovery came from a non - resident patient, Dinesh Shah, who was undergoing treatment at Karuna's large speciality hospital in Central India. It was in the course of his interaction with the doctors that Shah sensed their unhappiness with the system. This prompted him to suggest the idea of Recovery. Varman had joined Karuna 10 years ago, assured of a challenging career in a hospital that was promising to be different. But over time, disillusionment set in as Karuna's image and response to the environment diluted its equity. "Now that we have decided to do this, we do not want to repeat old mistakes," Varman had told Pulin during their first meeting. "Having worked at Karuna, we can see its weaknesses and why it's losing saline. Ten years ago, when it was established, we believed it was going to add value to our careers. We became a part of it because we were told that we are specialists who would bring exclusivity to the hospital. But soon, the focus shifted to fetching business and revenues.

The management started hiring specialists and private practitioners, offering them cabins and consultancy arrangements at Karuna. The strategy was that these doctors would bring in their patients and use the infrastructure so that the hospital would start earning money."

The Karuna management wanted to derive short - term benefits, rather than gradually build up clientele. But the strategy, it appeared, did not pay off. As Varman said : "Because there were many doctors and the business was not large enough in the first few months. Consequently, competition for business became cut - throat between doctors." marketing plan. What we want you to do is to help us build this brand, help ordinary doctors like us understand what brand-building entails and how it is managed in a service industry."

Questions :

(a)  Suggest a positioning strategy for Recovery Clinics and Hospitals.

(b)  Explain why it is necessary for doctors as well as nursing staff to be marketing oriented.

(c)  What steps might Recovery Clinics and Hospitals take to demonstrate reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy ?

(d)  Explain the role of non-monetary costs in pricing of health services. 

December, 2011

Ms-65 : Marketing of Services

SECTION – A

1. (a) Differentiate between the following giving suitable examples :

(i) Search, experience and credence qualities.

(ii) Core, facilitating and supporting services.

(b) What is the significance of non-monetary costs in pricing decision for services ? Discuss taking the example of health care services.

2. (a) Explain the term yield Management. Discuss the importance of yield management for a hotel.

(b) Why do customers switch service providers ? Can you do anything as a marketer to prevent the customers from switching ?

3.  (a) What are the various modes of service delivery in international trade ? Discuss with the help of examples.

(b) Do you agree with the following statements ? Justify your answer.

(i) A complaint is a gift and the customer who complains is your friend.

(ii) Growth in services is at the expense of manufacturing sector of the economy.

4.  Write short notes on any  three  of the following :

(a) Classification of product support services

(b) The services marketing triangle

(c) Cycle of success and cycle of failure

(d) Channels of distribution for retail banking services

(e) Promotional strategies for educational services.

SECTION – B

5. Study the case given below and answer the questions given at the end.

AARP Uses New Name To Reach Broader Target Market AARP is the name, and baby boomers (A baby boomer is a person who was born during the post-world war II baby boom) are the target of its new marketing efforts in the United states. Formerly known as American Association of Retired Persons, AARP is a membership and advocacy organisation for people in the 50-and-over age group. The organisation offers group discount programmes, consumer education, and other services, in addition to lobbying on behalf of its 34 million members. However, AARP isn't just for retired people anymore, which is why the organisation has changed its name and is in the process of completing a major make-over. The  decision to give special attention to baby boomers has led to AARP's two challenges. First is to show this new generation of seniors that its services are relevant and valuable. Second challenge is to balance its outream to 50-year-olds with commitment to older members. Before making any changes, AARP conducted extensive marketing research to learn what baby boomers thought of the organisation. Data collected indicated that "Boomers think of AARP as more for their parents", says one AARP official, "but we think we can change this". In fact, when AARP researchers explained the organisation's services, potential members responded positively. "So we don't need to reinvent AARP and come out with a bunch of new programme," Concluded AARP's executive director. With this background, AARP started its makeover by adopting the association's acronym as its name. This softened any negative relations baby,boomers might have to joining a group for "refined persons" then management launched a 100 million. Five year advertising campaign to position AARP as the organisation for active boomers and older seniors using the tag line "Today's AARP. Your choice, your voice, Your Attitude". Next. AARP revamped its publication in  line with the new target segments. So AARP split its 'Modern Maturity" magazine into two separate editions: one with articles for members ages 56 to 65 and one for member over 65. In addition, the association created a new magazine, My generation', for members under 55 - the new boomer target. AARP is also giving out into the community to reach its target market. Its magazines are sponsoring summer time mall tours featuring dance and yoga exhibitions by seniors, golf games, give aways, and family entertainments. AARP's long-term marketing objective is to attract half of all Americans age 50 and older as members. 

Questions :

(a) Critically examine the repositioning effort undertaken by AARP.

(b) How is AARP coping with the challenges of marketing an intangible service ?

(c) What steps might AARP take to demonstrate reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy ? 

December, 2012

Ms-65 : Marketing of Services

SECTION – A

1.  (a)  With the help of suitable examples, explain the concept of 'Services Marketing Triangle'. (b)  Explain the four modes of service delivery in international trade of services, giving examples of each.

2.  (a)  Identify a particular service organisation for which you believe 'physical evidence' is particularly important in communicating with customers. Prepare the text of a presentation as a manager of that organisation highlighting the importance of physical evidence in the organisation's marketing strategy.

(b)  In what specific ways does the distribution of services differ from the distribution of goods? List some benefits the companies can get in electronic distribution of services.

3.  (a)  Choose a local restaurant or some other type of service with fluctuating demand. What is the likely underlying pattern of demand ? What causes the pattern ? Is it predictable or random ?

(b)  What is Service Quality? Why do customers experience difficulty in judging service Quality ?

4.  Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a)  Family Life Cycle and need for financial services.

(b)  Promotional strategies for educational services.

(c)  Reasons for growth of the service sector.

(d)  Service guarantees.

(e)  Yield Management.

SECTION – B

5.  Do you agree with the following statements ? Justify your answer.

(a)  Reasons for customer switching are not controllable from a service Organisation's point of view.

(b)  Service waiting (customer waiting) can be controlled only by 'operations management'.

(c)  Pricing strategy for services includes much more than determining what to charge.

(d)  In case of services, consumers rely more on personal sources of information for pre-purchase evaluation. 

June, 2013

Ms-65 : Marketing of Services

SECTION - A

1. (a) Discuss 'Inseparability' and 'Perishability' as characteristics of services. Also describe their marketing implications for a hospital.

(b) What are the additional three 'Ps' of service Marketing Mix ? Discuss each . Also discuss the relevance of 'Services Marketing Triangle' for a consultancy company.

2. (a) "One of the most significant differences between goods and services is that in goods search qualities dominate while services are dominated by experience and credence qualities." Discuss the above statement with suitable examples.

(b) Describe the 'Psychological Factors' influencing the buyer behaviour of services,

with suitable examples.

3. (a) What are the major methods of distribution in services ? Discuss with suitable examples.

(b) Discuss the importance of 'Internal Marketing' for a service organisation.

4. Write short notes on any three :

(a) Segmentation in the Tourism Market

(b) Measuring Service Quality

(c) Strategies for Managing Demand

(d) Classification of Product Support Services

(e) Service Recovery Strategies.

SECTION - B

5. Rockland Group has entered into the health care during the last decade, during the time when large health care companies like Apollo, Forties, Max and many others were already established. Rockland decided not to go for very large size hospitals but to have a network of relatively smaller size properties.

(a) What could be possible 'Distribution' related strategies Rockland has adopted, which

might give them an advantage over its competitors ?

(b) What are the various non-monetary costs relating to Health Care Services ? Explain.

(c) Suggest a suitable promotion mix for the Rockland Hospitals

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