Assignments

Services Marketing and Management: Sep - Oct 2017

There are six assignments given here. Do any ONE from Section 1, and any ONE from Section 2.
All assignments carry equal marks (25).
 Submissions may be made ONLY in the form of Word documents, sent as attachments by email
[printouts neither necessary nor accepted].
 Please note that there is a WORD LIMIT of 1000 words on all assignments.
 Due dates are given for each assignment – midnight of that date is the deadline.
 Points will be cut for (a) exceeding word limit, and/ or (b) missing the due date.
Plagiarism will be immediately notified to EPGP office, no discussion will be entertained.

Section 1
Assignment 1: due 30 Sep 2017
Interview 10 customers of any service/ business and report on their key determinants of
satisfaction with respect to that business. Please note, this is about expectations or determinants
of satisfaction, NOT a satisfaction survey.
You need to identify a suitable business, locate customers and develop a relevant interview guide
(include your guide as an appendix). You could take the IIM Nagpur as a whole, PGP, High Octane,
the library, ... or select a business outside of the IIM Nagpur context too. Your choice.

Assignment 2: due 30 Sep 2017

Recall one incident of “poor” service that you have received/ experienced in the recent past.
Briefly describe the incident (not more than 80 words).
Do an analysis of that incident:
1. What do you think were the probably causes?
2. What could be the solutions?

Assignment 3: 30 Sep 2017

Describe briefly any feedback system or process that you are familiar with – at IIM Nagpur, or in an
organisation you worked in earlier to the PGP course, or one that you have engaged with as a
customer somewhere.
3. Analyse the pros and cons of the feedback process.
4. How can it be made more effective?

1
 Section 2
Assignment 4: due 07 Oct 2017
As a student, take any one aspect of the PGP process that you engage(d) in as a 'customer'
(e.g. the application process, the selection/ admissions process, etc). Using the 'moments of truth'
approach, analyse the customer experience, and identify ways to improve.
Alternatively, consider any process that your customers experienced with your function/
organisation (in the past) - and do the same analysis, and identify ways to manage the experience
better.

Assignment 5: due 07 Oct 2017

As a customer, you could be a 'member' of loyalty programmes - for example, with airlines
you fly, credit cards you use, restaurants you visit, stores you shop at, and so on.
Consider any one such programme, and
1. Assess the current effectiveness of the programme
2. If the organisation wants to improve the loyalty effect, what else could they be doing
with you?

Assignment 6: due 07 Oct 2017

At XYZ corporation, customers have been complaining that the service is very slow, and that they
need to frequently escalate to get anything done. You are asked to help that organisation reduce the
escalations, and “invert the pyramid”.
Submit a write-up on your plan - a proposal to the organisation on how you intend to help them
invert the pyramid.
{Please make whatever assumptions you need to … list them separately in an appendix}