Deck 5: Distributing services through physical and electronic channels

Question 1

Advances in _________ and computer ????_________ have spurred many new approaches to ________ delivery.

A)telecommunications; technology; service
B)technology; service; telecommunications
C)service; technology; telecommunications
D)telecommunications; complexity; service
E)telecommunications; technology; international

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following best describes 'arm's length' transactions?

A)Transactions in which the customer meets the service personnel face-to-face
B)Transactions in which the customer never meets the service personnel face-to-face
C)Transactions in which the service personnel provide their services over the phone
D)Transactions in which the service personnel provide their services through an intermediary
E)Transactions in which the customer is not the user of the services

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following best describes the influence of how technology has created a major shift in the way products are provided in the service industries?

A)High-tech, high-touch
B)High-involvement, low-touch
C)High-tech, low-touch
D)Low-tech high-touch
E)Low-tech low-touch

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following are benefits that increase customer satisfaction when the service is provided by self-service technologies?

A)Consistent service quality
B)Customer transaction satisfaction
C)Customer choice
D)Customer overall satisfaction with the service
E)All of the above

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT based on a self-service based technology?

A)Airport check-in
B)Distance learning
C)Information hotline
D)Package tracking
E)None of the above

Question 6

An automated kiosk such as those offered by bank and building society ATMs is an example of:

A)a multipurpose facility
B)a ministore
C)a convenience store
D)a retail store
E)none of the above

Question 7

Which of the following are included in the typical sales cycle distribution flow for an intangible service?

A)Information and promotion flow
B)Negotiation flow
C)Product flow
D)All of the above
E)a and c

Question 8

Which of the following could be said to be a service delivery where the service organisation comes to the customer and has a single service outlet?

A)House cleaning services
B)A restaurant
C)An airline
D)Travel agency services
E)Bus service

Question 9

Which of the following services would it be most appropriate for the customer to go to at a central location?

A)General medical treatment
B)Specialist medical treatment
C)Invasive medical treatment
D)Complex inpatient treatment
E)c and d

Question 10

Which of the following is NOT a consideration when determining where to put a physical 'bricks and mortar' distribution centre?

A)Cost
B)Staff preference
C)Customer convenience
D)Customer preference
E)Easy access

Question 11

Airport terminals such as those in Singapore's Changi have increased their offerings from a straight airport facility to shopping and entertainment centres.This is an example of:

A)locational constraints
B)locating in multipurpose facilities
C)ministores
D)extended product
E)multinational facilities

Question 12

Which of the following is a product that could most effectively be delivered to consumers through the Internet?

A)Information-based products
B)International-based products
C)Customer-to-business products
D)Business-to-business products
E)Business-to-customer products

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT a method of service delivery?

A)Customer goes to service organisation
B)Customer goes to intermediaries
C)Service organisation comes to customer
D)Customer and service organisation interact electronically
E)Customer and service organisation transact at arm's length

Question 14

With the improvement in electronic methods and the greater understanding of the use of these methods, organisations can confidently predict that:

A)the incidence of face to face contact will be eliminated in the future
B)customers will find these methods too inconvenient
C)the payoff of these methods will ensure they continue to be used
D)these methods are slow in handling information-based services
E)none of the above

Question 15

Consumers who value the functional aspects of a transaction and more convenience will be more likely to use:

A)personal channels
B)impersonal channels
C)self-service channels
D)face to face channels
E)b and c

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a factor in the changing availability of services to the general public?

A)Changes in legislation
B)Economic pressure from the government
C)Economic pressure from the public
D)Automated self-service facilities
E)Economic incentives to improve asset utilisation

Question 17

Another finding is that self-service technology (SST) _________ are better predictors of SST _________ than individual _________.

A)characteristics; performance; differences
B)characteristics; adoption; differences
C)performances; adoption; differences
D)differences; adoption; differences
E)differences; adoption; characteristics

Question 18

Electronic channels can be used in a variety of service transactions alone.Which of the following is a service that could be maintained only through electronic channels?

A)Banking
B)Forward hotel reservations
C)ATMs
D)Airline bookings
E)None of the above

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a reason why, in the past, retail and professional services' traditional schedules were only available for between 40 and 50 hours a week?

A)Consumer preferences
B)Social norms
C)Legal requirements
D)Union agreements
E)All of the above

Question 20

Which of the following characteristics are most likely to apply to adopters of self-service technologies?

A)To be female
B)To be well educated
C)To be male
D)All of the above
E)b and c

Question 21

Wirtz and Mattila found the _________ is more important than _________ alone in achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

A)attitude of staff; apology
B)recovery process; compensation
C)recovery delivery; apology
D)attitude of staff; compensation
E)compensation offered; apology

Question 22

Franchising has become a popular way to expand delivery of an effective service concept which embraces all of the:

A)wheel of retailing
B)flower of service
C)five Ps of marketing
D)sevem Ps
E)incidence of intermediaries

Question 23

Which of the following products could be classified as having the characteristics which will meet a common customer need?

A)Pens
B)Electronic devices
C)Computer hardware
D)Cigarettes
E)All of the above

Question 24

Which of the following is not a possession-processing service?

A)Repair
B)Maintenance
C)Entertainment
D)Freight transport
E)Cleaning

Question 25

Which one of the following cannot be classified as a barrier for a service firm to enter the export market?

A)Firm size
B)Investment required
C)Country-of-origin bias
D)Restrictions in target company
E)None of the above

Question 26

In which of the following situations would a company have the most ability to protect its intellectual property through legal means?

A)Film production for international distribution
B)Providing animal care services
C)Management consulting
D)Human resource recruitment
E)Car rentals

Question 27

Many organisations are supplementing their 'bricks and mortar' venues with an online presence.Which of the following is a potential disadvantage to this practice?

A)It requires a high capital investment.
B)It could diminish the appeal of the 'bricks and mortar' venues.
C)It does not guarantee extra sales.
D)It may not lead to long-term growth.
E)All of the above

Question 28

Some basic requirements must be met for a service blueprint to be effective.Which one of the following may NOT be one of them?

A)The blueprint must show time dimensions in diagrammatic form.
B)The blueprint must identify and handle errors, bottlenecks, reiterations and so forth.
C)The blueprint, based on research and experience, must precisely define how much variation from standards can be allowed in execution.
D)The blueprint must show process dimensions in diagrammatic form.
E)None of the above is a basic requirement.

Question 29

When an organisation develops a franchisee arm, the advantage of delegating activities to franchisees is that:

A)the franchisee can personalise the service
B)the franchisee can adapt processes to meet needs
C)the franchisee can improve on company standards
D)franchisors can release some of the control
E)none of the above

Question 30

People-processing services need direct contact with their customers and the best methods of doing this are by:

A)developing a network of local sites
B)using electronic channels
C)using a centralised site
D)skipping the distribution step
E)physically shipping the services

Question 31

_________ developed and popularised service blueprinting after studying techniques for industrial process design and control of workflows.

A)Shostack
B)Zeithaml
C)Bitner
D)Kotler
E)Sviolka

Question 32

The process of diagrammatically considering every activity needed to create and deliver a service is called _________.

A)process printing
B)blueprinting
C)diagrammatic processing
D)flow printing
E)blue charting

Question 33

Which of the following factors is encouraging a move from conventional services toward Internet purchasing?

A)Ease of access to information
B)24/7 availability
C)Prompt delivery
D)Busier lifestyles
E)All of the above

Question 34

The force behind service-based operations success in the international market is influenced by:

A)market drivers
B)competition drivers
C)technology drivers
D)cost drivers
E)all of the above

Question 35

The use of globalised corporate banking, insurance and management consulting are examples of:

A)common customer needs drivers
B)cost drivers
C)market drivers
D)technology drivers
E)competition drivers

Question 36

Franchising is being used extensively in both consumer and B2B industries.The reason for this includes:

A)franchisees are highly motivated to succeed
B)it avoids over extending the parent company
C)the franchisee rarely fails to succeed
D)the parent company has greater control
E)standards are able to be strictly supervised

Question 37

Which one of the following countries could most readily be described as having a high context culture?

A)England
B)United States of America
C)China
D)Brazil
E)France

Question 38

Blueprinting identifies potential _________ points, where there is significant risk of things going wrong and diminishing service quality.

A)tactical error
B)strategic error
C)fail
D)operational error
E)inconsistent service

Question 39

More recently, entrepreneurs have taken advantage of the Internet to create new services.Which of the following is NOT one of the four innovations of particular interest?

A)Development of 'smart' mobile telephones
B)Wi-Fi high-speed Internet technology that can link users to the Internet wherever they may be
C)Usage of voice recognition technology
D)Commercialisation of 'smart cards'
E)None of the above

Question 40

Many service organisations find it cost-effective to use intermediaries to outsource some of their tasks.An example of this, with regard to hotel and airline bookings, is to:

A)develop a call centre at the site
B)increase part-time staffing levels
C)use a travel agent
D)increase awareness
E)none of the above

Question 41

E-commerce allows researchers to gather data on what customers are seeking and their search behaviours.

Question 42

Dealing with a service organisation at 'arm's length' means customers and service providers interact through telecommunications or physical channels of distribution, rather than face to face.

Question 43

The need for a customer to be present to receive a service makes which of the following considerations for distribution important?

A)Staffing a call centre
B)Arrangements for shipping products
C)Convenience of service schedules
D)Telecommunications technology
E)Self-service technologies (SSTs)

Question 44

When consumers are required to be physically present throughout service delivery, location and operational schedules are less important.

Question 45

ATMs are appearing in more and more places including inside supermarkets.This is an example of locational constraint.

Question 46

The choice of a venue to provide and distribute a service is dependent on the service being offered.

Question 47

How has the World Trade Organization been a driver of the internationalisation of services?

A)By regulating international trade
B)By creating a single market throughout the European Union
C)By encouraging the trend toward privatisation of industries
D)By spreading information about high-context and low-context cultures
E)By pushing governments to create more favourable regulatory environments

Question 48

Key determinants in a service delivered in a bricks and mortar situation are cost and access to labour.

Question 49

Saving money is a more important driver of channel choice than convenience for most service customers.

Question 50

Changes in legislation with regard to trading hours and the emergence of multicultural societies are some of the factors in the move toward 24/7 operations.

Question 51

Internet banking, online shopping and online bookings are all examples of the use of interactive kiosks.

Question 52

Although websites are becoming increasingly sophisticated, their biggest problem is that they lack user-friendliness.

Question 53

The role of distribution plays a minimal part in the provision of services compared to a physical product.

Question 54

Among customers from a high-context Asian culture, which expectation about service encounters would be most likely?

A)Emphasising the outcome of a service more than the process
B)Responsiveness to customer wishes above management directives
C)Being focused on goals
D)Giving little weight to tradition
E)Not having any expectations for the service encounter

Question 55

Not all organisations can see the value of 24-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week operation to provide the services that they offer.

Question 56

Websites for hotels are useful but for the most part customers prefer to deal with people rather than electronics when making their bookings.

Question 57

In which of the following situations would an organisation benefit most from exporting directly?

A)Low degree of customer interaction, low control over sources of value creation
B)Low degree of customer interaction, high control over sources of value creation
C)High degree of customer interaction, high control over sources of value creation
D)High degree of customer interaction, low control over sources of value creation
E)None; foreign direct investment is superior to exporting in each situation

Question 58

A difficulty with SSTs is that compared to the traditional personal service they are not always able to provide a consistent service.

Question 59

For services delivered face to face, why is the trend towards requiring consumers to come to the service provider, rather than the provider travelling to consumers?

A)Consumers usually appreciate not having to allow a service provider in their homes.
B)Service providers dislike travelling, so they are happier working in one location.
C)Consumers can travel at a lower cost than service providers can.
D)Sending service providers to consumers is more expensive and time consuming.
E)Sending service providers to consumers saves time, but it is more expensive.

Question 60

For complex or high perceived risk services, customers tend to rely on personal channels.

Question 61

A university is setting up new courses and hoping to attract international students.What issues need to be considered in developing a suitable international services distribution system?

Question 62

Assume you are running a very successful restaurant business in Sydney's CBD.What would be the most appropriate way of expanding this business using intermediaries in other parts of Sydney or further afield in Australia? How would you meet the challenge of maintaining consistency of quality?

Question 63

It is popularly believed that old people will not use information technology, preferring instead to stay with the ways they are familiar with.Do you agree with this statement? Justify your answer.

Question 64

A ski resort in New Zealand offering a special hotel skiing package to tourists from Asia is exporting the service.

Question 65

Using the Flower of Service Model and an organisation of your choice, demonstrate how this model is applied in practice.

Question 66

Cultural values and norms which differ from the parent company and the overseas market are really not an issue.

Question 67

'A good idea and a good plan plus a franchise operation is the answer to developing a successful business.' Discuss this statement in terms of both a successful and non-successful franchise operation.

Question 68

Blueprinting is a sophisticated version of flowcharting that considers every activity needed to create and deliver a service.

Question 69

Outsourcing service provisions has become increasingly popular with service organisations in recent years.What are the problems organisations are likely to encounter when following this approach?

Question 70

Decisions on where, when and how services are delivered have been influenced by the continuing changes in technology.When is it most appropriate to use bricks-and-mortar facilities rather than technology-based outlets? Illustrate with examples.

Question 71

An increasing number of service companies have an international presence and a global brand.

Question 72

When a franchisor delegates the responsibility for recruiting, training and supporting franchisees, this strategy is referred to as 'master franchising'.

Question 73

Discuss the decisions faced by management when planning and configuring the service delivery process.What role can blueprinting play in this process? How would you differentiate between a flowchart and a blueprint?

Question 74

Develop a service blueprint for a newly-opened full service restaurant.

Question 75

Discuss the ways in which a service company might manage consumer resistance to changes in their service delivery.Illustrate using a recent personal experience.