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MM05 Marketing of Services Assignment No. I Assignment Code: 2011MM05B1Last Date of Submission: 30th Sept 2011 Maximum Marks:100 Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and carry equal marks. Section-A Ques. 1List five ways in which investment in hiring and selection, training and ongoing motivation of employees will pay dividends in customer satisfaction for (a) a restaurant (b) a hospital (c) a consulting firm Ques. 2Identify firms from three different service sectors in which the service environment is crucial part of the overall value proposition.
Analyze and explain in detail the value that is being delivered by the service environment. Ques. 3How can customers contribute to value and satisfaction enhancement of services? Ques. 4How does the intangible nature of service merit a different marketing treatment? Section-B Case Study. CNN – IBN Differentiating from the market leader In a competitive market, journalism has to be a collective enterprise. Stories that are in the public interest are overlooked by and large by the media because of stiff competition, which is also reflective of lack of good editorial judgement.
TV news channels cannot be so competitive with each other that they overlook stories, broken by rivals, of national importance. CNN-IBN is trying to bring in a certain passion and joy to news and newsgathering. It claims to be a channel that is committed to news. The worst thing news channel can do is be smug or complacent. It is not just about breaking stories, it is also about the entire package. Packaging is important, but ultimately it is all about editorial content. At CNN-IBN, everything else flows from making the content as good as it can be.
The easy and soft option for CNN-IBN is to say that the channel has been relatively well received and people more or less have responded positively. But it needs to keep enhancing and keep innovating. There is a format to the 24 hour news channel that CNN-IBN cannot really break out of beyond a point. To that extent, there will always be similarities between CNN-IBN and NDTV. NDTV has been there for 10 years. News channels always look at NDTV as a benchmark for excellence. Certain things are similar to the competitor NDTV because of the 24 hour format of news television, but there are many things that are different at CNN-IBN.
NDTV may do a good story one day and CNN-IBN put together another good story the next day. It is a constant process of evolution. But people notice the differences between CNN-IBN and other news channels. Every news channel is going to say that news is its core value. A news channel’s USP depends on how the channel treats the news and what impact the news has. News channels will ultimately be judged on news. At times. News channels forget their basic purpose. They get so carried way by the new celebrity cult or gimmicks that they forget that what people actually want is news. People turn to news channels ultimately for news.
It is nice to have news-plus programs as they give profile. CNN-IBN did one with Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, and got a huge response. But on a day-today basis, those are cherry on the top. But the cake has to be built by news and by journalists. Anyone who speaks English language in this country is an audience for CNN-IBN. It is Aaj Tak in English. It has achieved a certain pace and energy. One of the goals for the channel is to combine the aggression of Hindi Journalism with the solidity of English. It is important that journalists have aggression. One of its goals is to break these barriers between Hindi and English (journalism).
CNN-IBN believes that for much too long, English language journalism has been imprisoned within an elitist cage and it is time to break free. English language journalists cannot talk down to viewers anymore. There is a need to break the barriers between Hindi and English language journalism. There is a need for robustness and passion for news, which is reflected by Hindi journalism. Such passions are lacking in English language journalism by and large. CNN-IBN believes that the time has come to blend the strengths of Hindi and English language journalism. English language journalism has its strengths.
CNN-IBN wants to combine the advantages of Hindi and English language journalism. IBN would like to move into the Hindi news space. It is the only way forward, though the Hindi market is an extremely competitive one. IBN got instant credibility form the co-branding deal with CNN. That the world’s largest news network decided to tie-up with a fresh channel only enhanced its credibility. But ultimately the channel will be judged on day-to-day performance. Ratings will be high if the news channel is good. The first battle that has to be won is that people have to see CNN-IBN as a serious news channel, which people do.
CNN-IBN does not want too many ads in the beginning. It wants to provide its viewers with lots of news. Eventually, it will have ads as it wants to generate revenues too. A journalist-driven channel is here to make revenues and CNN-IBN is confident of that. Questions 1. What do you assess is the reason of success of CNN – IBN inspite of a tough competition from NDTV 24 x 7? What are its main attributes, which can lead to its future success? 2. What in your opinion should CNN-IBN do to come at number one? Should it diversify into Hindi News channel or not, where competition is more tough. Comment. MM05 Marketing of Services
Assignment No. II Assignment Code: 2011MM05B2Last Date of Submission: 15th Nov 2011 Maximum Marks:100 Attempt all the questions. All the questions are compulsory and carry equal marks. Section-A Ques. 1a)What techniques of marketing and sales you will use in marketing of a Mutual Fund? b)What are the physical attributes in hospitality industry, which are necessary in enhancing the marketing and sales of their services? Support your answer with examples. Ques. 2(a)What are the considerations in choice of place for a service? (b)Investigate the reasons that prompted the location of the following at a particular site in your neighbourhood.
Evaluate the decision (i)A fast food restaurant (ii)Cinema Hall Ques. 3Develop service process blueprints for the following services: (a)Travel Agent (b)Restaurant Ques. 4Managing service quality is more difficult as services are inherently inconsistent. Do you agree? Give reasons to support your stand. Section-B Case Study The BPO Industry in India Moving up the value chain IT outsourcing and offshoring has become a mainstream activity across industry sectors and geographies. In the more mature outsourcing market of today, it is not simply the numbers of English-speaking engineers that has resulted in India being the destination of choice.
Indian IT companies are offering more to customers, a wider range of services, more quality, more R&D talent – and all of this at a lower price. Indian IT companies have started offering BPO, consulting, testing, engineering services, infrastructure management etc. For those companies still preferring to set up captive units, there is the fact of the large pool of talent that leads them to India, and Bangalore. Aerospace major Honeywell recently announced that it was expanding its operations in India by 1,200 people, up from the 3,300 it employs here already.
Service globalization is an irreversible process and India will continue to dominate the scene if it meets the challenges in the current environment. It is not simply about doing it cheaply but about doing it differently. For instance, companies need to acquire the ability to align with customer requirements and scale to gain market share. Indian companies really need to develop the CFO and CEO-type of contacts to get a larger share of BPO offshoring market. Currently, nearly a quarter of India’s total exports come from the top three companies – Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Infosys Technologies Ltd. , and Wipro Ltd. Indian suppliers must develop to offer high-value outsourcing proposition to existing and potential customers to retain edge. High value would not necessarily be in terms of the value of the total deal, but in being integral to the customers’ business. BPOs must move up the value chain. Indian companies must look at new markets, and develop new offerings. BPO service providers must develop capabilities to handle multiple processes or fulfill many functions, develop integration capabilities and offer web-enabled automation.
With the trend of cross-functional or vertically oriented business processes moving offshore gaining ground, rather than function-specific processes so far, there is a need for suppliers to acquire such capabilities too. Increasingly, regulatory and data privacy, and security compliance will be the driver in the choice of vendor and choice of geography. Emerging BPO segments are in HR, procurement and training. Companies offering vertical activities such as credit and risk processing, treasury operations and underwriting are likely get larger and better offshoring deals.
Captive centres account for two-third of the industry in India, and third-party providers are planning to offer newer services such as technical help desk, finance and accounting services, engineering services, equity research etc. Indian IT companies will have to build global delivery capabilities, innovative and integrate technologies to deliver value, and establish local presence in the emerging ITES destinations. In India, a number of smaller cities and non-metros are emerging as BPO hotspots, not only in response to cost and infrastructure pressures in the metros, but also to tap the talent base in these cities.
Gurgaon, Pune, Jaipur, Mysore, Mangalore, Manipal, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, etc. are some of the emerging destinations. Attrition is a major issue with the ITES sector in India. Some companies face an attrition rate of as much as 6 percent a week. But the problem continues, because the industry it tapping youngsters fresh out of college who are attracted to join up because of the above average salaries, but are often unable to adjust to the pressures of performance targets or the work hours. A BPO company cannot expect to retain a competitive advantage I India if the annual 100 percent rise in salaries in the IT sector continues.
The average profit per employee of an Indian service company is $12,000 as against $23,000-25,000 for multinational vendors such as IBM or Accenture. Since the average profit is quite low, Indian vendors will be able to enhance it to protect their margins. As long as India continues to offer only labor arbitrage, its competitive position is not sustainable vis-a-vis other lowcost IT destinations, which may even have the advantage of proximity. Indian companies too need to set up shop in some of these competing locations and build a global delivery model.
Companies are looking to offshore not only for cost advantage, but also develop service models that will let them remain competitive and successful 10 years hence. Unless Indian companies realize this and offer services that will let them continue to bring unique value to their customers’ business in future, they cannot compete. Questions 1. Why India as of today is an attractive destination for BPO’s & KPO’s. Why? 2. Comment on the Quality and efficiency of these services and their expansion and association with various sectors in Indian economy?