Service concept, characteristic and classification
13 likes4,391 views
Services have four key characteristics according to researchers: intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. Services are performances rather than physical objects and cannot be touched, seen or stored. They are simultaneously created and consumed, making standardized mass production difficult. The quality of services can vary between providers and customers and even from day to day due to human interactions. Finally, services cannot be stored and their value declines rapidly, creating pressure to sell services immediately.
Service concept, characteristic and classification
- 1. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service What are Services • Gronoos (1990) Service is an activity or a series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally , but not necessarily, – take place in interactions between the customer and service employees and /or – physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as a solution to customer problems. Kotler (1991) Service is an act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may not be tied to a physical product. .
- 2. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service Nature/ characterstics of Services Researchers have proposed four basic traits of services. Intangibility Services are performances rather than objects, they cannot be seen, felt, tasted or touched like goods. Inseparability Services are created and consumed simultaneously; they cannot be stored like goods. Variability Quality and essence of service vary from producer to producer, customer to customer, and from day to day; it is largely the result of human interaction and all the vagaries that accompany it. Perishability Services once produced cannot be stored for future use.
- 3. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service Intangibility At times services are further classified into:- Physical intangibility that which cannot be touched. Mental intangibility that which is difficult for the consumer to grasp or measure even mentally. Services cannot be stored They cannot be patented legally, hence can easily be copied by competitors. They cannot be readily displayed or communicated leading to difficulty in assessing its quality.
- 4. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service Inseparability This stands for the inseparability of production and consumption. Customer has to be present during the service production. Customers frequently interact with service providers, influence them and may even act as co-producers. Service producers themselves play an important role as part of the product itself, as well as an essential ingredient in the service experience for consumer. And thus, – Centralized mass production is difficult if not impossible. – Customer experiences depend upon the interactions – Operations need to be decentralized so that services can be delivered directly to consumers at convenient locations. – Involvement of customers in production process is important.
- 5. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service Variability Services face the difficulty of achieving uniform outputs, especially in labour- intensive services. – Performance and behaviour vary among service workers. – It may even vary for the same worker dealing with different customers or on different days of work. Thus, there is – Difficulty in achieving standardization – Difficulty in setting quality controls. – Determination of quality is possible only after performance of service. – Difficulty in communicating to the clients what exactly they would get. Perish-ability Services cannot be stored and then sold at a later date as they perish. And thus, – Services have short lived value. – Services cannot be inventoried. – Time pressure for sale of service is extremely high. – Capacity of services is finite.
- 6. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service
- 7. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service
- 8. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service
- 9. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service
- 10. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service
- 11. Service Concept, Characteristic and Classification of Service