Service Marketing in Emirates Airlines - Areas for Improvement and Constraints - Case Study Example

Service Marketing Executive Summary In the present market set up, companies and organizations need to be very creative and innovative so as to set up the best service marketing module. This is because the market has become a very complex place to operate in and compete with other competitors who are offering similar services. if a company offers the best service, then it markets itself directly to its customers and to potential customers while setting itself up as a market leader or among the market leaders in the said field of service provision. The appropriate structures and service model has to be set up in order to market the company best through the service or services offered. Service marketing can be very effective and at the same time very ineffective to the company offering the service if the services offered are the best or are poor. Table of Contents Introduction 4 Marketing Issues 5 Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses 6 Areas for Improvements and Constraints 7 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Service Marketing Introduction Service marketing as defined by Hoffman & Bateson (2010) as the gain, contentment or doing that is offered for trade or is provided with the purchase of a good as a means to sell a company to the consumers. The case study is about a customer who is not satisfied with the services offered by Emirates Airlines. Looking at the case study, in the course of the customer’s use of the airline as a means of travel, the customer experiences several shortcomings which were not expected as he was using first class in his trip with the airline. The customer is upset by the airline due to several reasons. One is that there is lack of proper and appropriate communication from the airline. This is depicted by the information pack provided by Arabian adventures on the transfer time which contradicts that which the driver sent to pick him up says. The timing of the airline’s schedules is also a cause of upset as shown by delays in departure time. In some cases the airline does not give customers time to stretch and relax on a stopover. The airline’s website which the customer visited is also faulty as it does not provide a submit button. On receiving the customer’s complaint, the airline sends the writer a gold member card which really upsets the writer. The 3 dimensions of justice which are interactional, procedural and distributive justice when related to service recovery provides a means through which the airline can respond to the customers experience and recover the customer by improving their services. The lessons that any service marketer can learn from this case study is that the services provided by the company been marketed must meet the expectations of the customer. Also, the service marketer should respond to any shortcomings of the service been provided appropriately. The best way through which Emirates would recover the customer would be to correct all the areas affected by the complaints and then contact the customer and offer him a free trip to a destination of his choice and get the feedback. This report looks at marketing issues, analyses the case study, the areas for improvement and gives recommendations. Marketing Issues Marketing issues consists of both touchable and untouchable things. The word things here imply services and goods. To a certain extent, the marketing mix includes goods which are considered touchable and to a lesser degree untouchable while services are regarded as untouchable and to a lesser degree touchable. In our case study, it is dominantly service oriented in terms of the services offered by Emirates airline. In this case the service offered by this airline is one which is supposed to be felt and experienced and not the ownership of a product offered by the airline. However, to a certain degree, the service offered by the airline is in itself a product which to a greater degree is more of an untouchable thing which could be named as a first class product. By naming it first class, it is a means of marketing the product which puts into the mind of the customer the expectations of the best offering of services that the customer would actually receive while on a trip with the airline. So, the airline offers transport to its customers, but they in reality, they do not own the plane they use nor the product that they choose to use in the course of their trip which in the case study is first class (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). In this marketing mix, the airline offers a service which the customer is supposed to experience. This service is dominated by the untouchable with aspects of touchable constituents in it. It is a case study which depicts that there can be no service without a product or a product without a service and also that both the touchable and untouchable elements provide a vital means to distinguish between a product and a service while been a source of income for the company (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses It can be inferred from the definition of service marketing that it is utilised to market a company or an organization through the services offered by the said company or organization. This mode of marketing when analysed provides strengths and weaknesses from which a company can learn and use in provision of services in future. From the case study, one of the strengths is that the managers of the airline can be able to recognize the wants of their customers. The customer in the case study has sent a letter of complaints ranging from the terminals used the communication to the observation of time by the airline’s employees. From these complaints, the airline’s managers can learn the needs of their customers hence rectify the noted problems (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). Service marketing also provides the company with the means to distinguish their services from those of their competitors. The customer notes that he has used several airlines such as gulf air, Malaysian airlines, American west and British airlines. The customer notes that these airlines have nothing to worry about as their services are poor. This is a wakeup call to Emirates airline. It also provides the company with the chance to reconstruct the way it offers its services and the services it offers. In the case study, the customer has taken the opportunity to write to the company to complain about their services. This gives the company an opportunity to look at the way its services and the way they are offered. It also provides the airline with the means to monitor their employees conduct and work ethics. The customer notes that during a stopover at Bangkok airport, the cleaning crew started vacuuming and cleaning the cabin even before the aeroplane stopped. This is strength to the company in that the employees are kept on their toes to be at their best and if they do not work in an appropriate manner, then the company can take the appropriate actions with evidence in hand without fear of accusations of breaking the employees’ rights. However, service marketing is not all about strengths. It also has weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that it provides an avenue by which a company can easily lose its customers. From the experience of the customer in the case study, it is evident that the customer may never use the airline again. Also, its other weakness is that in a way it is similar to trial and error method. The company cannot make out if the services it is offering are all right or not. Its major reference is the experience of its customers which if the services are not all right and the company’s main aim was to offer the best services may send out the wrong message to the customers. It also gives an upper hand to its competitors who may offer better services. As the customer clearly noted, the competitors of Emirates airlines have nothing to worry about (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). Areas for Improvement and Constraints One of the areas that the Emirates airline needs to improve in is that of the designated terminals from which passengers can alight during a stopover or on reaching their destination. Terminals like those in Bangkok airport and Dubai give their customers a negative image of the airline. Whereas it is not the duty of the airline to build their own terminals at airports, the airline can conduct a survey and recommend the terminal it would like to use or recommend an improvement to the terminals that it uses. However this may face constraints such as failure of airport management to improve the services at terminals. Also the employees of the airline need to be taught on the importance of observing strict work ethics and guidelines. Guidelines such as when to begin vacuuming and cleaning when the aeroplane stops should be clearly set out and emphasis put in observing them. The employee can also be called contact persons as they are the people who are intermingle with the customers. This means that they are the main suppliers of the service hence the effect they have on the service been provided is big. The part where employees are shouting for passengers heading to Islamabad needs to be checked. The employees have shown that they do not care much about what the customers want. The company needs to check on this and ensure the employees learn the importance of showing care to its customers. The airline also passes on its customers to different providers of its services. The company should also change this and may be reduce the number of service providers that its customers come into contact with. The timing also needs improvement as the airline has shown that the times stated or told to its customers are not observed. The customer even goes ahead and turns into an advisor in the letter. He talks about the importance of the company getting its priorities right. By doing so, the area of servicing the customers is reflected upon. The customer notes that the airline has embarked on an expansion project that has led to the neglecting of customer servicing. (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010). Recommendations From the case study, it is evident that there are many issues that the airline needs to improve on. One of the most important things that distinguish an airline from other airlines that offer similar services is the type of employees that it has. It would be recommended that the airline formulate strict rules that are to be followed in the recruitment of employees. It should also conduct a survey on how other airlines offer their services and use the survey as a means of learning and rectifying the problems with the services offered. The company should also set up clear guidelines on how to respond to customer complaints so as to reassure customers of its commitment towards offering the best services. Lovelock and Wirtz (2004) state that for a company to position itself as a recognized brand in its area of competition, then it is important that it makes use of location maps that help it design a tactic that challenges its competitors. In the case study, the airline would come up with such a map that considers all the other airlines that the customer has mentioned to enable it to effectively challenge them. According to Curran and Meuter (2005), technology has become an essential tool in today’s world. It has advanced and made progress especially in the area of information technology. The customer notes in the letter that employees at the Dubai airport are shouting and calling out for anyone heading to Islamabad. This is not ethical; the airline should take advantage of the technology at hand especially in information technology and use it to inform customers on their flights and where employees who may guide them on the flights are stationed in an airport rather than shouting out for the passengers. The employees of the airline are also the indirect marketers of the airline and service. Gronroos (2006) notes that there should be a focus on interactions which means that the people who interact with the customers are the contact personnel, the airline has to impart new skills and ways through which its employees can redefine themselves and be adaptive in the ever changing market. This shall enable the airline to be ahead of other competitors in terms of customer – employee relationship. Conclusion It can be concluded that service marketing enables companies to get in touch with their customers directly and to get feedback from them. However it is quite tricky as the company has to offer the best service so that it stands out from its customers. From the case study, it is important to ensure that all loopholes that may cause dissatisfaction in the process of offering the service to the customer are checked and sealed. This way, service marketing shall offer the best experience to the customer hence assure the company the availability of customers. References Curran, J. M., & Meuter, M. L. (2005). Emerald Article: Self-service technology adoption: comparing three technologies. Journal of Services Marketing, 19(2), 103-113. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from . Gronroos, C. (2006). Adopting a service logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing Theory, 6(3), 317-333. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from . Hoffman, K. D., & Bateson, J. E. G. (2010). Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, & Cases. (4th ed.). Cengage Learning. Lovelock, C., & Wirtz, J. (2004). SERVICES MARKETING: People, Technology, Strategy 5/e, 1-28. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from itworkss Web site: . Read More