Confirming Pages

44 Part One Foundations for Services Marketing

Strategy Insight Using the Gaps Model to Assess an Organizations

Service Strategy

The gaps model featured in this chapter and used
as a framework for this textbook is a useful way to
audit the service performance and capabilities of
an organization. The model has been used by many
companies as an assessment or service audit tool
because it is comprehensive and offers a way for
companies to examine all the factors that influence
service quality. To use the tool, a company docu-
ments what it knows about each gap and the factors
that affect the size of the gap. Although you will
learn much more about each of these gaps through-
out the book, we provide here a basic gaps audit.
In Exercise 1 at the end of the chapter, we propose
that you use this audit with a company to determine
its service quality gaps. As practice, you could evalu-
ate the Island Hotel, the inn featured in the opening
vignette, to see how its approaches work to close
each of the gaps.

Service Quality Gaps Model Audit

For each of the following factors in the gaps, indicate the effectiveness of the organization on that factor. Use
a 1 to 10 scale where l is poor and 10 is excellent.

Customer Gap 1 = Poor

10 = Excellent
1. How well does the company understand customer expectations of service quality?
2. How well does the company understand customer perceptions of service?
Provider Gap l, the Listening Gap
1. Market Research Orientation
Is the amount and type of market research adequate to understand customer expecta-
tions of service?
Does the company use this information in decisions about service provision?
2. Upward Communication
Do managers and customers interact enough for management to know what customers
expect?
Do contact people tell management what customers expect?
3. Relationship Focus
To what extent does the company understand the expectations of different customer
segments?
To what extent does the company focus on relationships with customers rather than
transactions?
4. Service Recovery
How effective are the service recovery efforts of the organization?
How well does the organization plan for service failures?
Score for Provider Gap 1
Provider Gap 2, the Service Design and Standards Gap
5. Systematic Service Design
How effective is the companys service development process?
How well are new services defined for customers and employees?
6. Presence of Customer-Defined Standards
How effective are the companys service standards?
Are they defined to correspond to customer expectations?
How effective is the process for setting and tracking service quality goals?

Marketing dei servizi 3/ed

Valarie A. Zeithaml, Mary Jo Bitner, Dwayne D. Gremler, Enrico Bonetti
2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies srl

zei80938_ch02_031-046.indd 44 2/22/08 9:52:17 AM

 Confirming Pages

Chapter 2 Conceptual Framework of the Book: The Gaps Model of Service Quality 45

Poor (1) to
Excellent (10)
7. Appropriate Physical Evidence and Servicescape
Are the companys physical facilities, equipment, and other tangibles appropriate to the
service offering?
Are the companys physical facilities, equipment, and other tangibles attractive and
effective?
Score for Provider Gap 2
Provider Gap 3, the Service Performance Gap
8. Effective Human Resource Policies
How effectively does the company recruit, hire, train, compensate, and empower
employees?
Is service quality delivery consistent across employees, teams, units, and branches?
9. Effective Role Fulfillment by Customers
Do customers understand their roles and responsibilities?
Does the company manage customers to fulfill their roles, especially customers that are
incompatible?
10. Effective Alignment with Service Intermediaries
How well are service intermediaries aligned with the company?
Is there conflict over objectives and performance, costs and rewards?
Is service quality delivery consistent across the outlets?
11. Alignment of Demand and Capacity
How well is the company able to match supply with demand fluctuations?
Score for Provider Gap 3
Provider Gap 4, the Communication Gap
12. Integrated Services Marketing Communications
How well do all company communicationsincluding the interactions between com-
pany employees and customersexpress the same message and level of service quality?
How well does the company communicate to customers about what will be provided
to them?
Does the company avoid overpromising and overselling?
How well do different parts of the organization communicate with each other so that
service quality equals what is promised?
13. Pricing
Is the company careful not to price so high that customer expectations are raised?
Does the company price in line with customer perceptions of value?
Score for Provider Gap 4

The score for each gap should be compared to the As you go through the rest of the book, we will pro-
maximum score possible. Are particular gaps weaker vide more detail about how to improve the factors
than others? Which areas in each gap need attention? in each of the gaps.

Marketing dei servizi 3/ed

Valarie A. Zeithaml, Mary Jo Bitner, Dwayne D. Gremler, Enrico Bonetti
2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies srl

zei80938_ch02_031-046.indd 45 2/22/08 9:52:17 AM