In social and economic activities, with the development of service industry and the increase of the proportion of service activities in product marketing, it is necessary to study service marketing independently from marketing. Service marketing is not only the derivative of marketing, but also the expansion of marketing. The specialized study of service marketing behavior is the need of the development of knowledge economy in the new century, and will certainly become the driving force and theoretical basis for promoting the development of the tertiary industry.
(A) service marketing in the era of knowledge economy
1. Knowledge economy is an economy dominated by service industry.
Knowledge economy is relative to agricultural economy and industrial economy. Knowledge economy is an economy based on the production, distribution, exchange and use of knowledge and information. Knowledge is used in economy, and knowledge becomes the main driving force of economic development.
The era of knowledge economy has the following characteristics:
● Knowledge becomes the dominant capital;
● Information becomes an important resource;
● The production and reproduction of knowledge become the core of economic activities;
● Information technology is the carrier and foundation of knowledge economy;
● The mode of economic growth presents the development trend of intangible assets investment, benign resources and environment, and knowledgeable economic decision-making.
On the one hand, knowledge economy has promoted the arrival of a new era in the world, accelerated the process of economic globalization, and replaced industrialization with knowledge; On the other hand, the world is facing a new international division of labor. Countries with developed knowledge economy will become "brain countries", while those countries that are backward in the development of knowledge economy will be regarded as "trunk countries" and driven by "brain countries". The direct change of the development of knowledge economy makes service industry become the leading industry of national economy. According to the report "Knowledge for Development" published by the World Bank 1998, the output value of knowledge-based industries in developed countries has accounted for 50% of GDP, of which the output value of high-tech industries accounts for 25%. In the new century, the development of knowledge-led service industry will rapidly become the main share of GDP with an irresistible trend of multiplication.
The era of knowledge economy will promote the great development of the following service industries:
● Information industry. With information technology becoming the main carrier and foundation of knowledge economy, the development of information hardware and software will advance by leaps and bounds. The development of information industry will drive a series of economic revolutions, such as paperless and electronic development of purchase and sale methods; Inventory management will implement information control under the condition of pursuing zero inventory; Production technology and control means will ensure the production of high-quality products; Enterprise decision-making is developing to be programmed, standardized and intelligent; Personnel management will be based on objective standards such as data control.
● Consulting service industry. Various consulting industries covering production, circulation, technology, law, environmental protection, health and other fields will be fully developed.
● Research and planning industries. Various market research, analysis, marketing planning and corporate image planning institutions will develop into dynamic forces in service with the demand for information and knowledge of enterprises in the era of knowledge economy.
● Tourism service industry. With the improvement of people's consumption level and quality of life in the era of knowledge economy, people's demand for domestic and foreign tourism will increase day by day, and the tourism industry that rises to meet this demand will develop rapidly and become an industry that accounts for a large proportion of GDP in various countries.
● Science, technology, education and health care. The development of science and technology in various fields will show a strong development trend, especially in aerospace, biomedicine, marine engineering and other fields. In order to meet the needs of scientific and technological development, education will enter the fast lane with the trend of industrial development. The development of medical, health and national health services will also open a new world.
● Environmental protection service industry. The sustainable development of global economy requires all countries in the world to attach importance to and strengthen their investment in environmental protection services. "Three wastes" treatment, pollution prevention and control, garbage disposal, greening and beautification, municipal management, resource development and control, air monitoring, disaster prevention and mitigation and other fields will become important components of social and economic development in various countries and achieve all-round development.
The era of knowledge economy is an era when the service industry develops greatly and rises to the leading industry of the national economy. The development of service industry calls for a new discipline, and service marketing will play a great role in a wider range of fields and industries.
2. Service Marketing and Economic Globalization
The era of knowledge economy is an era of accelerating the process of economic globalization. Under the condition of knowledge economy, the theory and practice of service marketing will inevitably break through the limitation of national boundaries and become a transnational, universal and universal discipline. Service marketing is not only an act in economic globalization, but also a factor to promote economic globalization.
One of the manifestations of economic globalization is the mutual penetration and interdependence of national economies, among which the rapid development of international trade is an important one, especially the development of service trade. In the past 30 years, in the gross domestic product (GDP) of developed countries, the service industry accounted for more than 50%, and the service industry output value of the United States accounted for about 75% of GDP, which means that the creation of national wealth mainly depends on the service industry.
Economic globalization is also manifested in the formation of financial globalization trend. Finance is the core of economic development. The financial industry is also a pillar industry of the service industry. The process of economic globalization is also the process of financial internationalization. Due to the emergence of a large number of stocks, futures and various securities, especially the emergence of various financial derivatives, the face value of monetary assets has expanded rapidly and the virtual components have doubled. This situation is highly uncertain or changeable. In order to meet the requirements of this era, a large number of financial services came into being. Among them, there are various services operated by finance itself, services on how to make monetary assets proliferate, and services on how to avoid financial risks. There are not only financial information services, but also financial laws and regulations services, as well as financial transmission mechanism, transmission means services and the training and training of senior financial talents. The financial service industry not only develops itself, but also drives and promotes the prosperity of other related service industries such as computer service industry and information service industry.
Economic globalization also contains the connotation of information globalization. The globalization of information makes high technology become the driving force to change the economic structure, which leads to the emergence of 44,000 international enterprises, and the emergence of virtual enterprises that only master key technologies, process design, brands and sales channels and entrust production to affiliated enterprises. With the emergence of international enterprises and virtual enterprises, service marketing has entered a new field. Service marketing should not only face customers, but also provide service marketing management for internal branches and employees.
Economic globalization has promoted the formation of international marketing network of manufacturing industry, and the perfection of international marketing network needs service marketing. The process of perfecting the marketing network is the process of gathering marketing talents, exchanging marketing information, promoting marketable goods and developing the market. Every link in this process is accompanied by service demand, and service marketing activities will run through the perfection of marketing network.
Economic globalization has promoted the development of service marketing in a wider range and more fields, and conversely, the prosperity and development of service marketing is also conducive to the realization of economic globalization.
Service marketing will guide the marketing practice of service industry with its scientific, systematic and complete marketing management theory, and promote the service industry from tradition to modernity, from domestic to international, and from spontaneity to consciousness. It provides a sufficient and clear theoretical basis for the growth and internationalization of service enterprises and for the service industry and service marketing activities in commodity marketing.
Service marketing will promote the optimal allocation of global resources and international coordinated development. Service marketing promotes the transfer of technology patents, the orderly integration of global finance and the benign and balanced development of information through the study of service marketing methods, strategic planning and strategic measures.
Service marketing promotes the management culture construction of service enterprises with its distinctive characteristics of marketing management culture.
(B) the characteristics of service marketing and its evolution
General characteristics of service marketing.
(1) dispersion of supply and demand
In service marketing activities, the supply and demand of service products are scattered. Not only does the supplier cover all departments and industries of the tertiary industry, but also the services provided by enterprises are widely dispersed, and the demand side involves various enterprises, social organizations and different types of consumers. Because service enterprises generally occupy a small area, have little capital and operate flexibly, they are often scattered in every corner of society. Even large mechanical service companies can only provide services where mechanical damage or failure occurs. The dispersion of service supply and demand requires that service outlets should be widely dispersed and as close as possible to consumers.
(2) single marketing method
The marketing methods of tangible products include distribution, agency and direct sales. Tangible products can be changed hands many times in the market, and products can reach consumers through wholesale, retail and other links. Because of the unity of production and consumption, service marketing can only adopt direct sales, and the intervention of middlemen is impossible, and it is impossible to store it for sale. The singleness and directness of service marketing mode, to a certain extent, limits the expansion of service market, and also limits the service industry to sell its own service products in many markets, which brings difficulties to the promotion of service products.
(3) The marketing objectives are complex and changeable.
Buyers in the service market are diverse, extensive and complex. Consumers who purchase services have different purchase motives and purposes. Buyers of a service product may involve different types of families and individuals with different identities from all walks of life. Even if you buy the same service products, some of them are used for daily consumption, and the other part is used for production and consumption, such as information consultation, post and telecommunications, etc.
(4) The demand elasticity of service consumers is high.
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, people's basic material needs are primary needs, which are easy to have commonalities, while people's spiritual and cultural consumption needs belong to secondary needs, and the demanders will form greater demand elasticity due to their different social environments and conditions. At the same time, the demand for services and tangible products are included in a certain organization and total expenditure, which is one of the reasons for the great demand elasticity. At the same time, the demand for services is greatly influenced by external conditions, such as seasonal changes, climate change and the rapid development of science and technology, which have a great impact on the demand for information services, environmental protection services, tourism services and shipping services. Demand elasticity is the biggest problem faced by service operators.
(5) Service personnel have high requirements for technology, skills and skills.
The technology, skills and skills of service providers are directly related to the quality of service. Consumers' requirements for the quality of various service products are also the requirements for the skills and skills of service personnel. There can't be a single unified standard for the service quality of service providers, only relative standards and buyers' feelings.
2. The evolution of service marketing
The marketing activities of mature service enterprises in developed countries have generally gone through seven stages.
(1) sales stage
● Competition appears, and the sales ability is gradually improved;
● Pay attention to sales plan rather than profit;
● Training employees in sales skills;
● Regardless of customer satisfaction, I hope to attract more new customers.
(2) advertising and communication stage
● Intentionally increase advertising investment;
● Specify multiple advertising agencies;
● Publish brochures and various materials at the point of sale;
● Customers have raised their expectations, and it is often difficult for enterprises to meet their expectations;
● The output is not easy to measure;
● Competitive imitation prevails.
(3) product development stage
● Aware of new customer needs;
● Many new products and services have been introduced and spread;
● Emphasize the new product development process;
● Market segmentation and establishment of strong brands.
(4) Differentiation stage
● Enterprise positioning through strategic analysis;
● Looking for differentiation and defining strategies;
● deeper market segmentation;
● Market research, marketing planning and marketing training;
● Strengthen brand operation.
(5) customer service stage
● Customer service training;
● Smile movement;
● Improve the external promotion behavior of services;
● The profit rate is affected or even unsustainable;
● Not supported by processes and systems.
(6) Service quality stage
● Confirmation of service quality gap;
● Customer letter analysis and customer behavior research;
● Design of service blueprint;
● Neglect to retain old customers.
(7) integration and relationship marketing stage
● Regularly study customers and competitors;
● Focus on all key markets;
● Strictly analyze the integrated marketing plan;
● Data-based marketing;
● Balanced marketing activities;
● Improve procedures and systems;
● Improvement measures to retain old customers.
In 1990s, relationship marketing became the focus of marketing enterprises and pushed service marketing to a new height.
(C) the rise and development of service marketing
1, the rise of service marketing
Service marketing rose in the west in 1960s. 1966 Professor John Rathmall of the United States distinguished intangible services from tangible products for the first time and proposed to study the marketing of services in a non-traditional way. From 65438 to 0974, the first service marketing monograph written by Rasmore appeared, which marked the emergence of service marketing. In this book, the author clearly points out that it is not feasible to apply the concept, mode and skills of marketing to the service field, but to establish a service-oriented theoretical framework. It is not enough to regard service marketing as a derivative of marketing. To make service marketing an independent discipline, we must recognize the obvious difference between service marketing and marketing. During the formation of service marketing, the Nordic School, represented by Christopher Grorus and james heskett, played a great role in promoting service marketing. Their service quality theory and service marketing management theory have become the important theoretical pillars of service marketing.
The rise of service marketing is due to the rapid development of service industry and the fact that service has increasingly become the focus of product marketing. With the development of economy, the proportion of service industry (or tertiary industry) in the national economy is increasing. The direct result of industrial upgrading and industrial structure optimization will inevitably lead to the strong development of service industry and the situation that service becomes the focus of product marketing competition. Specifically, the development of service industry is closely related to the following factors:
● The progress and development of science and technology is a prerequisite for the expansion of service industry.
Social division of labor and production specialization make the service industry independent of the primary industry and the secondary industry.
The change of market environment promotes the rise and development of new service industry.
The improvement of people's consumption level has promoted the development of life service industry.
At the same time, when enterprises are marketing tangible products, service has become an important means of sales, the focus of market competition among enterprises and the protagonist of product market competition. Enterprise marketing and market competition need not only marketing as a theoretical basis, but also service marketing as a guide to action. The rise and wide spread of service marketing in China will be another climax after the vigorous development of marketing.
2. The development of service marketing
Service marketing is beyond marketing, and it can thrive in its own space. Kotler once pointed out that service represents one of the main fields of marketing management and marketing research in the future. In Europe and America, service marketing is booming. Since the 1960s, the development of service marketing can be roughly divided into the following three stages:
The first stage (1960s-1970s): the birth stage of service marketing.
This stage is the period when service marketing has just emerged from marketing. The main problems in the research at this stage are:
Similarities and differences between services and tangible products;
● Features of service;
● Differences in research angles between service marketing and marketing.
The second stage (early 1980s-mid-1980s): the theoretical exploration stage of service marketing.
This stage mainly discusses how the characteristics of services affect consumers' purchasing behavior, especially the evaluation of consumers' characteristics, advantages and disadvantages and potential purchasing risks of services. The representative academic viewpoints at this stage mainly include:
● What is the difference between customer evaluation service and evaluation of tangible products?
● How to classify services into different categories according to their characteristics;
The theory of perceptual and imperceptible difference sequence;
Low customer participation in the service production process of high and low participation mode;
● How can service marketing jump out of the traditional category of marketing and adopt new marketing methods?
At this stage, Arizona State University established the "First Interstate Service Marketing Research Center", which marked the in-depth exploration of service marketing theory.
The third stage (late 1980s-): theoretical breakthrough and practical stage.
At this stage, on the basis of reaching a consensus on the basic characteristics of the second-stage service, marketing scholars focus on the question of what new combination variables should be added when the traditional 4P organization is not enough to promote the service. The representative academic viewpoints at this stage are:
Service marketing should include seven variable combinations, that is, in addition to the traditional product, price, distribution channel and promotion combination, three variables such as "people", "service process" and "tangible display" should be added to form a 7P combination;
● The role of "people" (including customers and employees) in the process of promoting services and producing services, from which two major research fields are derived, namely relationship marketing and service system design;
The new interpretation of service quality confirms that service quality consists of technical quality and functional quality, the former refers to the hardware elements of service, and the latter refers to the software elements of service.
This paper puts forward a series of views on service contact, including the behavior and psychological changes of service employees and customers when they communicate with each other, the influence of service contact on the whole service experience, and how to use the factors of "control desire", "role" and expectation of both service employees and customers to invest in the service production process to improve the service quality.
● From deepening the research of 7P to emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary research, service marketing emphasizes observing, analyzing and understanding various market relations in the service industry from the perspectives of personnel management, production management, sociology and psychology;
Special service marketing issues, such as how to determine the service price theory, the international marketing strategy of services, and the influence of information technology on the production, management and marketing process of services.
The development process of service marketing is also the process of cross-regional and cross-border communication of service marketing.
China has the conditions and necessity to promote the wide spread and application of service marketing.
(1) China's service industry needs to be accelerated, and there is a vast space for development. According to the statistics of the World Bank, the total output value of service industry in developed countries accounts for more than 70% of the gross national product, and the average output value of service industry in moderately developed countries accounts for about 50% of the gross national product. As mentioned above, China only accounts for 32.8%, with a big gap and a large room for development. It is necessary to promote the development of service industry through the spread of service marketing.
(2) China's surplus labor force urgently needs to open up more employment channels, and developing service industry is the most favorable way with less investment and quick results. At present, the employment of service industry in China is relatively backward, only about 20%, while the employment of service industry in developed countries accounts for 60% of the total employment of society, and some developing countries also reach 40%. The development of service marketing in China will also promote the increase of employment in service industry.
(3) The traditional service industry needs to be reformed urgently, and the new service industry needs new theoretical arms. Developing service marketing is the common need of the development of new and old service industries. The service industry has a wide range of business, involving many fields. In the new century, it is the right time for China to comprehensively promote service marketing, and all kinds of service industries need theoretical guidance.