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Services Marketing

The objective of this course is to prepare students for advanced careers in marketing management by enabling them to understand and ultimately being able to influence consumers' behavior by means of advertising and other marketing communications, while maintaining high ethical standards. In doing so, students will first be introduced to important key concepts and theories of consumer psychology. Next, students will be exposed to the concept of integrated marketing communications as well as the planning, creation, and capturing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
Course code
MKT431
Course type
BSc Course
Weekly Hours
2,0
ECTS
3.0
Term
FS 2019
Language
Englisch
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Matthias Gouthier
Please note that exchange students obtain a higher number of credits in the BSc-program at WHU than listed here. For further information please contact directly the International Relations Office.
Introduction to services marketing
  • Definition of services and their characteristics
  • Importance of services and service industries
  • Specialties of services marketing

Managing customer relationships

  • Relationship vs. transactional marketing
  • Service attributes, expectations and experiences
  • Customer satisfaction, delight and loyalty
  • Customer value

Service design

  • Service Design Thinking
  • Service environments
  • Blueprinting

Service delivery

  • Service profit chain
  • Service orientation
  • Service culture
  • Emotional labor

Service outcomes and implementation

  • Service quality
  • Complaint handling and service recovery
  • Service excellence


The course is limited to 42 participants!

Date Time
Thursday, 14.03.2019 11:30 - 15:15
Friday, 15.03.2019 08:00 - 11:15
Thursday, 28.03.2019 11:30 - 15:15
Friday, 29.03.2019 08:00 - 11:15
Monday, 08.04.2019 08:00 - 11:15
Monday, 15.04.2019 11:30 - 15:15
The objective of this class lies in enabling students to comprehend and apply key marketing management paradigms and tools aiming at establishing profitable and lasting customer relationships by means of designing and delivering effective services to customers. Successful participants of this class should be able to:
  • Acknowledge the critical roles of perceived service quality, experienced customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.
  • Reflect on the value of a customer.
  • Outline the key properties and managerial implications of a contemporary relationship marketing approach.
  • Analyze the processes, structures, and mechanisms that shape perceived service outcomes.
  • Design efficient and effective customer services.
  • Implement mechanisms to recover successfully from service failures.
  • Measure the service quality provided by a firm.
  • Implement a management system of service excellence.
Essential reading: Jochen Wirtz and Christopher H. Lovelock (2018). Essentials of Services Marketing, 3rd edition, Pearson.Additional literature:Jochen Wirtz and Christopher H. Lovelock (2016). Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy, 8th edition, World Scientific.3 Case Studies (tba)
Lecturing, in-class discussions, case studies
Final exam 70%
Case studies and student presentations 30%
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