Exam 11: Developing and Managing Goods and Services

As the owner of a services business, you are constantly challenged to maintain consistent quality in your services. This heterogeneity is both a challenge and an opportunity. The opportunity arises because __________________.

Services ____________ factors for the customer to evaluate as compared to goods.

Scenario 11.2 Use the following to answer the questions. Jonathan Moore, president of Polar Manufacturing Company, has just reviewed the performance reports for the previous year and sees that there are some areas in which the company needs to improve. He specifically feels they could do a better job in managing Polar's product mix. Jonathan calls a meeting of all the managers responsible for each of the product lines that Polar currently manufactures. The group decides that they need to eliminate the complete industrial product line of ice chests, and plan to do so by letting the product decline without any changes in the marketing strategy or product. The group also decides to delete Polar's line of personal thermal underwear, however this product is to be discontinued within the week due to its unprofitability. While discussing these strategies, the group has also uncovered several customer groups for which new products could be developed. The managers decide to assemble a group of people from all functional areas of the company and give them the responsibility for all aspects of the new-product development. Refer to Scenario 11.2. The decision to delete the industrial product line of ice chests is an example of deleting a product through a(n) ____, while the decision to drop the thermal underwear line is an example of a(n) ____.

Symbols such as the Travelers' Financial Services umbrella are designed to help customers overcome the ____ of services.

Hair stylists find it challenging to standardize their service because the customer must be involved in production (i.e., the haircut). This illustrates which of the following unique features of services?

Production and consumption of services must simultaneously occur due to the ____ characteristic of services.

Balancing the supply and demand of services can be done by keeping service prices the same regardless of the time of day, week, or year.

Functional modifications make an existing product more durable.

New-product development does not include planning for advertising.

Any service provider that offers time-sensitive services receives most of its revenue during

Which of the following service characteristics results in variability of service quality yet provides the opportunity for customizing services to match the specific needs of individual customers?

Your company is preparing to launch a new product next month. Since you are leading the launch effort, you called a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss how the product should be positioned in the market. You acknowledge that the product will carry a higher price than competing products, but all the independent rating agencies have concluded that the product has superior performance characteristics relative to its competing brands. Which of the following bases for positioning should you use for this product?

Kaitlynn is the owner of a local fast-food hamburger chain. She recently saw a magazine article featuring a new machine that could cook and assemble burgers without needing employees to handle the burgers. She is thinking of purchasing the new machine since it would help address problems associated with

Which of the following is the stage of the new-product development process where customers are first exposed to the new product idea?

The ability of a product to provide the same level of quality over time is called

Many services base their success on building a group of satisfied customers who use their services on a regular basis over long periods of time. This critical component of success is referred to as

Client-based relationships are interactions that result in satisfied customers who repeatedly use a service over time.

Which of the following statements about customer contact in services marketing is false ?

The members of a venture team come from

Compare and contrast line extensions and product modifications.