MBA Curriculum in Service: Course Descriptions

BUMK 736 Service Marketing

Service accounts for eighty percent of the U.S. gross national product. The marketing of service poses unique challenges because of the intangible, heterogeneous nature of the product, and the critical role of customer contact employees in service delivery. Strategies for meeting these challenges are addressed. Topics include 1) customer relationship management, 2) the design and execution of the service delivery process, 3) the development and implementation of employee customer service skills, 4) the measurement and management of critical “outcome” variables, such as customer satisfaction, customer equity, and customer lifetime value, and 5) the role of emerging technology in customer service. (formerly BUMK 758)

BUMK 758 Customer Equity Management

This course focuses on managing customers of a business – whether in B2B or B2C space – as a portfolio of “equity”, focusing on understanding the current and future value of customers to the business that can aid in selective acquisition, development, and retention of customers using latest developments in information technology. Course participants will examine the conceptual foundations of customer equity, its measurement, its strategic implications, its use for determining return on marketing investments and its implementations in different business contexts through a variety of cases spanning both B2C and B2B space. The objective of the course is to examine the strategic and analytical aspects of customer equity in equal measure so that participants will have a deeper understanding of the power of customer equity management and how to put it to work effectively in their business.

BUMK 758J Pricing Strategies for Sustainable Competitive Advantage

The course will focus on both economic and behavioral aspects of pricing, and evaluation of innovative pricing practices such as price matching, customized pricing, bundle pricing and product line pricing, covering both B2B, B2C, online and offline markets.

BUMK 758 Independent Study: Service Project

Students work individually or in teams on consulting projects for service organizations in the for-profit, non-profit, or government sector.

BUMK 720 e-Service

The two most important long-term trends in the business world are the shifting of the economy from goods to service, and the rapid expansion of the information economy and electronic networks. These two trends converge in the concept of e-Service, which is the provision of service over electronic networks such as the Internet. So far, too many companies have focused exclusively on the use of the Internet to increase efficiency and reduce costs. However, the true potential of the Internet lies in using the technology to improve service to customers and drive revenues. This course is organized into four main units – "Fundamentals of e-Service," including principles of how to best take advantage of the unique nature of the Internet to improve service, "The Customer-Technology Interface," dealing with the relationship between customers and the online environment, "Managing Online Relationships and Customer Equity," focusing on how strategically managing online relationships can increase customer lifetime value, and "Applications of e-Service," exploring how e-Service is being developed in a variety of contexts, including government and education. The course is a seminar, encouraging an active, give-and-take environment. Classes are a mixture of lecture/discussion, guest speakers, and student reports and presentations. All sessions are designed to be highly interactive. The course provides an up-to-date discussion of current issues in the management of e-Service. To facilitate this, there is a set of readings, both academic articles and articles from current issues of business magazines, to supplement the classroom experience. The textbook is the recently published book, e-Service. (formerly BUMK 758)