Title: Achieving excellence in services marketing: roles in customer delight

Authors: Pratap Chandra Mandal

Addresses: Indian Institute of Management, Mayurbhanj Complex, Nongthymmai, Shillong, 793014, East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, India

Abstract: Companies need to innovate and differentiate themselves to sustain in the competition. Services marketing gain in importance because it is difficult to innovate and differentiate physical products. It is difficult to imitate differentiation and innovation incorporated in services. The paper discusses the strategic initiatives companies need to adopt for achieving excellence in services marketing. The initiatives include a strategic orientation, commitment from the top management, maintaining high standards, having profit tiers, monitoring service performance and prompt action on customer complaints. The paper also discusses the roles of differentiation and innovation in achieving excellence. The paper focuses on those companies which excel in providing services to customers and analyses the strategies followed by them. Proper implementation and execution of strategies provides a direction for service companies to excel, delight their customers and build relationships with their customers.

Keywords: customer delight; services marketing; excellence; differentiation; innovation; strategic orientation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2020.106366

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2020 Vol.20 No.3, pp.359 - 374

Received: 23 Jan 2018
Accepted: 14 Nov 2018
Published online: 03 Apr 2020 *

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