European economies are now dominated by services, and virtually all companies view service as critical to retaining their customers today and in the future. Drawing on research and using examples, this book focuses on the development of customer relationships through quality service, out lining the core concepts and theories in services marketing.

Part 1: Foundations for servicesmarketingChapter 1 Introduction to servicesChapter 2 Consumer behaviourChapter 3 Customer expectations of serviceChapter 4 Customer perceptions serviceChapter 5 The gaps modelPart 2: Addressing provider gap 1:Understanding customer requirementsChapter 6 Listening to customersChapter 7 Building customer relationshipsPart 3: Addressing provider gap 2:Aligning service design and standardsChapter 8 Service development and designChapter 9 Customer-define service standardsChapter 10 The physical and virtual servicescapesPart 4: Addressing provider gap 3:Delivering and performing serviceChapter 11 Employees' role in service deliveryChapter 12 Customers' role in service deliveryChapter 13 Delivering service through electronic channels andintermediariesChapter 14 Managing demand and capacityChapter 15 Service recoveryPart 5: Addressing provider gap 4:Managing service promisesChapter 16 Managing external and internal communicationsChapter 17 Pricing of servicesPart 6: Services and the bottom lineChapter 18 The financial impact of service qualityCase Section1: Disney's magic bands: Enhancingcustomer experience2: Ryanair's digital strategy to drivegrowth3: Starbucks: Brewing more than justcoffee4: Uniqlo: The future of retailclothing: Will uniqlo turn the world Japanese?5: Employer branding at Mcdonald's: RedefiningMcJobs6: The Shangri-la Bosphorus Hotel:Extending the famed Shangri-la hospitality to turkey7: London Victoria: Achieving businessturn-around through employee engagement8: Redefining the AXA brand

Alan Wilson is Professor of Marketing and Head of the Marketing Department within the University of Strathclyde Business School. He specializes in the marketing of services, has a PhD in the subject, and has been invited to deliver lectures and seminars on both services marketing and marketing research in a variety of countries throughout the world, to both student and executive audiences. Valarie Zeithaml is an award-winning teacher and researcher, and an internationally recognized pioneer of services marketing. Dr. Zeithaml has researched customer expectations in more than 50 industries. She has consulted with service and product companies, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, GE, John Hancock Financial Services, Aetna, AT&T, Metropolitan Life Insurance, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, Allstate, and Procter and Gamble.For her work that is influencing the future direction of marketing, she was named a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher in the report on "The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds."The American Marketing Association (AMA) named her a Marketing Legend in 2016. She was selected for its inaugural cohort of AMA Fellows for her significant contributions to the research, theory and practice of marketing and service to the AMA in 2015.In 2008, the AMA awarded her with the Paul D. Converse Award, which is granted every four years to individuals who have made outstanding and enduring contributions to marketing through journal articles, books or a body of work. She received the AMAs Career Contributions to the Services Discipline Award in 2001.She received both the Innovative Contributor to Marketing Award from the Marketing Management Association and the Outstanding Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science in 2004.Dr. Zeithaml is the author or co-author of seven prized books, including Driving Customer Equity: How Customer Lifetime Value is Reshaping Corporate Strategy, Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, and this best-selling textbook. She received her PhD and MBA from the University of Maryland, and her BA from Gettysburg College. MARY JO BITNER serves as Academic Director for the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University. Dr. Bitner was a founding faculty member of the Center for Services Leadership created for the study of services marketing and management. Dr. Bitner has published more than 50 articles and has received a number of awards for her research in leading journals, including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Service Industry Management, and Academy of Management Executive. She has consulted with and presented seminars and workshops for numerous businesses. In 2003, Dr. Bitner was honored with the Career Contributions to the Services Discipline award by the American Marketing Associations Services Special Interest Group. DWAYNE D. GREMLER, Bowling Green State University, received his MBA and PhD degrees from Arizona State University. He is a passionate advocate for the research and instruction of services marketing issues. He has served as Chair of the American Marketing Associations Services Marketing Special Interest Group and has helped organize services marketing conferences in Australia, The Netherlands, France, and the United States. He has been the recipient of several research awards and while a professor at the University of Idaho, Dr. Gremler received the First Interstate Bank Student Excellence in Award for teaching, an award determined by students in the College of Business and Economics.