Which of the following is NOT a risk associated with the use of yield management?
A. Incompatible incentive and reward systems
B. Overbooking
C. Customer alienation
D. Loss of competitive focus
E. All of the above are risks associated with the use of yield management.
Jamie desires a haircut that will look just as attractive when she awakens in the morning
as it does when she is going out on a date. With the desired haircut, all she has to do to
fix her hair is to shake her head. A haircut is adequate when it doesn’t have any stray
long hairs and it hides her cowlick. Jamie’s recent haircut was in her _________
because while it didn’t look great all the time, a quick brushing was all that was needed
to fix it.
A. Zone of tolerance
B. Area of acceptability
C. Area of impartiality
D. Zone of endurance
E. Zone of minimal variation
New owners of the Atlanta Falcons football team were concerned about declining
attendance figures. As a result, Falcons staff set up kiosks at arena exits and asked
attendees what would make the game day experience more fun. The management was
gathering _____ measurements.
A. Tangible
B. Basic
C. Formal
D. Soft
E. Informal
Customers’ tolerance zones vary for different service attributes or dimensions.
The_______________ the factor, the __________ the zone of tolerance is likely to be.
A. More important; wider
B. More important; narrower
C. Less important; wider
D. Less important; narrower
E. More important; less important
Zo was looking for a kennel to board her cocker spaniel for 2 weeks while she goes on
vacation. There are 2 kennels close to her home. One charges $50 per week and the
other charges $125 per week. Zo chose the higher priced service because her dog is like
a member of the family and she wanted it to have the best possible care while she was
away. Zo’s service expectation level was determined by a(n):
A. Explicit service promise
B. Perceived service alternative
C. Word-of-mouth communication
D. Implicit service promise
E. Marketing testimonial
All of the following examples are nonmonetary costs EXCEPT:
A. Time costs
B. Search costs
C. Convenience costs
D. Psychological costs
E. Utility costs
Betina had a group of checks that she needed to deposit and another that she needed to
cash for a trip she was leaving on the next day. When she got to her bank on Saturday,
she was very disappointed to see it was closed. There was one car in the parking lot and
a man was walking toward it. She pulled into a place to decide what to do. The man she
had seen walked up to her car and asked if he could help. When she explained her
problem, the man introduced himself as the bank’s vice president and offered to cash
her checks with the money he had in his wallet. Betina has since learned that this kind
of service is commonplace at her bank. She knows the bank focuses on the _____
dimension of service quality.
A. Reliability
B. Responsiveness
C. Assurance
D. Empathy
E. Tangibles
An attorney who charges a client for a missed appointment is taking into account the
_____ characteristic of services.
A. Heterogeneity
B. Simultaneous production and consumption
C. Incomparability
D. Perishability
E. Intangibility
Which of the following statements describes a problem with demand-based pricing for
services?
A. Prices may not reflect customer value
B. Costs are difficult to trace
C. Heterogeneity of services limits comparability
D. Monetary price must be adjusted to reflect the value of non-monetary costs
E. Labor is more difficult to price than materials
The most critical stage in the service marketing research process is when the marketing
researcher:
A. Implements the research program
B. Reports his or her findings
C. Defines the problem and research objectives
D. Collects and tabulates data
E. Develops a services measurement strategy
When a local Taco Bell extended its operating hours on Friday and Saturday nights to
24-hour service to satisfy its college market, it was instituting a(n):
A. Compliant standard
B. Concrete substitution
C. Internal anchor
D. One-time fix
E. Quick solution
Karen owns a cottage on Martha’s Vineyard, a popular island destination for tourists
from about April to October. When Karen visits the island in March to dine at her
favorite pizza restaurant, she expects great service because the tourists are not there.
Because she predicts she will receive great service, her _____ than it is during the
tourist season.
A. Level of desired service will be higher
B. Tolerance of situational factors will be higher
C. Level of adequate service will be higher
D. Zone of tolerance will be wider
E. Level of adequate service will be lower
_____ are personal and nonpersonal statements about a service made by an organization
to customers.
A. Marketing testimonials
B. Implicit service promises
C. Word-of-mouth communications
D. Past experience influencers
E. Explicit service promises
A major cause of _____ is the difference between what a firm promises about a service
and what it actually delivers.
A. Customer empowerment
B. Poorly perceived service
C. Service downsizing
D. Service autonomy
E. Originator ambiguity
A day after US Airways announced its new low fares for the autumn on travel from
New York (i.e., Newark and LaGuardia Airports) to selected cities in the United States
and Canada, American Airlines matched their fares. American Airlines is using a _____
strategy.
A. Value pricing
B. Price signaling
C. Demand-based pricing
D. Going-rate pricing
E. Price trimming
Vernon has a used Nordic Track he wants to sell. He has been told to take it to Play It
Again Sports. The retail outlet buys used athletic equipment and resells it. Vernon took
his Nordic Track to a store near his house and was given $60 for the machine. Later he
learned that other Play It Again Sports stores would have paid him at least $100 for the
exercise machine and as much as $120. Vernon’s dissatisfaction with Play It Again
Sports is the result of:
A. Inadequate management of service promises
B. Over-promising in advertising and personal selling
C. Inadequate customer education
D. Inadequate management of customer perceptions
E. Differences in policies and procedures across distribution outlets
_______ standards are operations standards set by a service firm to correspond to
customer expectations.
A. Company-driven
B. Competitor-driven
C. Contact employee-driven
D. Customer-driven
E. Management-defined
Which of the following is NOT a form of qualitative research?
A. Process checkpoint evaluations
B. Mystery shopping
C. Trailer calls
D. Requirements research
E. Relationship surveys
Every time Beth takes her three-year-old daughter shopping, the child complains about
unpleasant smells. A sharp olfactory sense makes _____ in retail situations extremely
important to Beth and her daughter.
A. Natural environments
B. Functional forms
C. Ambient conditions
D. Spatial formats
E. Sensory symbols
The research exploring the relative importance of service dimensions on overall service
quality or customer satisfaction has confirmed _____ as the most critical dimension.
A. Assurance
B. Tangibles
C. Empathy
D. Responsiveness
E. Reliability
When Sarah opened her savings and checking accounts at First National Bank of
Chicago, she was given a brochure entitled “How to Lose Wait” that gave her advice on
how to avoid delays at the bank and listed her branch’s busiest and slowest times. By
giving Sarah the “How to Lose Wait” brochure, First National Bank of Chicago is
________ to match service promises with delivery.
A. Offering a service guarantee
B. Leveraging social media
C. Managing customer education
D. Managing horizontal communications
E. Using viral marketing
American Airlines conducts ongoing in-flight surveys to assess passengers’ perceptions
of the ticket buying process, gate agents, flight attendants, food and beverage service,
condition/comfort of airplanes and adherence to departure/arrival schedules. American
Airlines’ research provides feedback on _____ measurements.
A. Hard
B. Basic
C. Formal
D. Soft
E. Informal
Enterprise Rent-A-Car closely ties customer service to employee success. With a
tracking system called the Enterprise Service Quality Index (ESQi), the company
routinely follows up with customers by phone to determine their level of satisfaction
with the company. Only completely satisfied customers count toward an employee
ESQi score, which is used to measure employee’s potential for promotion. Enterprise
closes provider _____ by using marketing research.
A. Gap 1
B. Gap 2
C. Gap 3
D. Gap 4
In the service marketing triangle, _____ marketing refers to the service promise being
delivered.
A. Internal
B. Interactive
C. Strategic
D. External
E. Integrated
_____ means transmitting information across functional boundaries in an organization
to align all functions with customer expectations.
A. Managing service promises
B. Resetting customer expectations
C. Communicating with customers
D. Managing horizontal communications
E. Exceeding customer expectations
When a customer enters John Robert’s Spa, which has a reputation for extraordinary
service, some of the _________ expected of employees are, “greet the client
enthusiastically within 8 to 10 seconds,” “confirm the client’s appointment,” and “offer
to provide a refreshment.”
A. Attitudes
B. Specific behaviors and actions
C. Value dimensions
D. Abstract requirements
E. General requirements
When Jessie wanted to talk to a therapist to learn how she could improve her
relationship with her mother, she went to Counseling Professionals, Inc., a counseling
service that charges $1 per minute of counseling by phone. By providing counseling
and advice by phone, the therapist Jessie spoke with is performing a(n):
A. Support process
B. Backstage contact employee action
C. Onstage contact employee action
D. Customer action
E. Audience action
Because they are viewed as _____________ by customers, natural disasters such as
tornadoes or hurricanes may lower service expectations for services such as insurance,
telephone, and the Internet.
A. Personal situational factors
B. Spontaneous negatives
C. Predictable nuisances
D. Uncontrollable situational factors
E. Temporary personal need hindrances
If Maeve has to go on a business trip, she will not fly out of the airport in Atlanta,
Georgia, because it is so large and has so many people who are in a hurry to get
somewhere. Instead she chooses one of the smaller airports a couple of hours away.
Maeve’s reaction to the airport in Atlanta is a(n) _____ behavior.
A. Social interaction
B. Elimination
C. Avoidance
D. Approach
E. Cognitive
In a service blueprint, the line of visibility separates:
A. Customer actions from onstage contact employee actions
B. Backstage contact employee actions from support processes
C. Onstage contact employee actions from backstage contact employee actions
D. Onstage contact employee actions from support processes
E. Customer actions from backstage contact employee actions
Each year representatives of college activities boards throughout the United States
gather at regional National Association of College Activities (NACA) conventions to
listen, talk to and hire acts for the upcoming school year. Auburn Moon, a talent agency
from Philadelphia, is one of the vendors at the NACA conventions. The owner of this
agency offers attendees at the conventions a free download of two or three songs by
each of the acts she represents. Students can listen to the songs at their leisure and share
the music with other decision makers on campus. With the free downloads, Auburn
Moon is _____ about its entertainers.
A. Motivating its customers
B. Positioning its customers
C. Managing the customer mix
D. Defining its customers’ jobs
E. Educating its customers
Which of the following is NOT a factor that contributes to service communication
challenges?
A. Servicescape omniscience
B. Management of service promises
C. Service intangibility
D. Management of customer expectations
E. Customer education
New Bedford College has a two-year masters degree program designed for special
education teachers. Thirty-five students enter the program each fall. The education
department requires that the 35 students take the same classes. Classes are made
available in sequence. If Beth wanted to take only one special education class to get her
a teaching certificate in learning disabilities (LD), she would be unable to because she
would not be able to participate in any carry-over projects from previous classes (This
is a common teaching tool for the New Bedford education department faculty.). New
Bedford College will avoid setting up a relationship with Beth because:
A. She is in the wrong segment
B. She and others like her are compatible
C. Her needs are homogeneous with many others
D. She would be a difficult customer
E. She would not be profitable in the short-run
What is the second step in the process for setting customer-defined standards?
may vary
List and define the four strategies of tangibilization. Give one example of each.
may vary
Gracie gets her haircut at a salon almost 20 miles from her house because the price is
low and because Gracie went to school with the woman who owns the salon. What kind
of retention strategy is being used in this example?
may vary
In which of the step in the process for setting customer-defined standards would a
company use a simple perception-action correlation matrix?
may vary
Many companies do not identify and act on the correct nonfinancial measures. List and
discuss the four major mistakes that companies make in this regard?
may vary
Describe what an organization needs to do first to develop strategies for addressing
customer involvement in service delivery.
may vary
Briefly define a “chase demand” strategy.
may vary
What are three types of customer relationships that may not be beneficial to the firm?
may vary
Barry is the program director at the Lakeside Amphitheater. It is his job to bring in
entertainers to the venue. Because of other demands on the center, he can only bring in
one act this quarter. Members of the city commission have told him to bring in a
country-western act. The school board wants him to bring in an inner-city children’s
choir. Other groups have requested a gospel show and a one-man show on the life of
Harry Truman. Barry is experiencing what kind of conflict?
may vary
What’s the difference between horizontal and vertical internal communications?
may vary
List the five dimensions U.S. customers use to determine service quality.
may vary
What should be the two primary objectives of the service provider as it enters the
commercialization stage of the new-service development process?
may vary
What are the three types of benefits firms enjoy through relationship marketing?
may vary
How are customers and employees responding to the proliferation of technology-based
services?
may vary
Virginia wanted to skydive from an airplane for her birthday. She paid $125 to attend a
30-minute ground school to learn the process and her role in the jump. She was then
taken up in an airplane, where she was strapped to a skydiving instructor and they did a
tandem dive. She enjoyed the view and the instructor pulled the cord to open the
parachute. Which customer roles did Virginia play in this service encounter?
may vary
List the four stages in the evolution of customer relationships.
may vary