Strategic Management And Marketing In The Service Sector

The Western economies are in the midst of an on-going service revolution. The service sector’s proportion of both gross national product and total employment is growing, and will continue to grow. It has, for example, been suggested that as much 80% of the total labour force in the USA will be employed by firms and institutions in the service sector in 1990, and Europe is not far behind. In spite of this trend there is very little literature on management and marketing of services. This book presents a service-oriented view of strategic management and marketing in service firms and institutions. It is based on a notion that the customer relation of service organizations has characteristics of its own. The models and concepts put forward are geared to the view held by the so-called Nordic School of services, according to which strategic management and strategic marketing have to be integrated and cannot be kept apart. The approach is profit-oriented and market-oriented. A model of service quality and how to develop the quality of services is discussed. The concept of the customer life cycle concept is introduced as an instrument for the long range marketing planning for service firms. The concept of internal marketing is also discussed as a management instrument. Internal marketing seems to be a powerful means of motivating the employees to be more market-oriented and sales-minded.