Services Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Services Marketing - Essay Example Besides, the industry continues to grow in leaps and bounds to a point that currently about one and a half of start ups are service oriented. One major stimulant to this growth is the long term economic growth of a majority of these economies which has led to particular emphasis on financial services, travel, entertainment, and personal care. These sectors form the bulk of service industry and the fact that far more businesses are starting on the same levels implying that there is eminent need for improved marketing concepts. These factors, as well as continued lifestyle changes, are coming as continuous pressures on the service industries. These are aspects and elements that Shostack had foreseen in the writing of his article breaking free from product marketing. At the time, product marketing was dominant as most industries and companies were bent on producing tangible products. In fact, any company which bordered on services was forced to adapt product marketing approaches. This w as bound to fail with time as consumers would, with time, adopt preferences and approaches that would clearly differentiate product and service aspects. At the time, marketers considered the difference between products and services as purely bordering on tangibility. However, Shostack sought to disagree with this assertion holding that there were multiple other factors which differentiated service marketing from product marketing. In this study, we implore on Shostack’s view on use of tangibility as the distinguishing factor. Beyond this, the study will look at modern assertions on the differences between product and service marketing. To further understand service marketing as different from product marketing this study will also look at two other contemporary studies and their positions as well assertions. First, we examine the views of Ruskin Brown as detailed in his book titled marketing your service business. Just as Shostack asserts, service marketing cannot be adopted to fit product marketing. Rather, there is need to develop new concepts which consider the various differences between products and services. Brown states that even though it might be possible to consider the marketing mix for a service as detailed under the 4Ps of products, there is great need to expand the mix in a way that it allows a more meticulous analysis of the ingredients essential for successful service marketing. The author further asserts that most businesses fail to attain their goals as they lack understanding of the workings of the various elements of the extended mix. This imminently means that they fail to come up with required action to address these factors. To this end, Brown provides a detailed analysis of the elements of extended mix that would offer businesses an opportunity to redress their failures. Failures are identified by Shostack as emanating from the uninformed treatment of services as products. Brown insists on the extended mix which incorporates such elements as process, people, physical evidence, time, and resource. Process relates to the fact that services are performed and consumed concurrently. They are neither created nor do they posses any shelf life. Rather, service is an experience and, therefore, the core of the process is to handle the

Critically examine the use of patient satisfaction as a measure of Essay

Critically examine the use of patient satisfaction as a measure of health care quality - Essay Example Patient satisfaction assessments are used to determine if the hospitals have accomplished the performance standards to qualify for Medicare reimbursements. Efforts are therefore focused on accomplishing the standards set in the VBP program and hence improved patient satisfaction. This essay critically examines the use of patient satisfaction as a measure of healthcare quality. It is aimed at developing a critical understanding of the political, professional and public dimensions of quality as well as an assessment of the relevance and validity of quality measures within the context of public services. Patient satisfaction is a multidimensional result that cannot easily be defined. The expectations of different patients for any healthcare setting are varied and significantly influence their satisfaction. The nature of ailment generates psychosocial aspects that may influence how a patient rates the level of satisfaction, such as pain, unhappiness and fear among others. For the healthcare professionals, patient satisfaction is characterized by the success of surgical procedures and the objective results. On the other hand, patients are likely to base their satisfaction on the inter-personal contact with the healthcare provider. This inconsistency between the parties involved is likely to weaken patient satisfaction as a measure of quality. Moreover, some of the survey questions are based on the communication between doctor and patient, focusing on doctor’s courtesy, esteem and attentiveness to the patient as well as simplicity with which a doctor explains issues to the patie nt (Neuner et al. 2014). There is a possibility of bias associated with individual perceptions of behavior and expectations. Doctors may not be focused on the interpersonal relationship as much as they do for the ailment, which makes efficient doctor-patient communication difficult. In most cases, inpatients are not aware of the doctor in charge of their treatment. This is