A 3,500 wordassignment. The goal of this assignment is to help you to understand and evaluate the service relationship that exists between you and a service provider with which you have a longer term relationship.

All of you would have a customer-provider relationship with various service providers but not many of you would have considered analysing that relationship from a services marketing perspective. You are to consider your interactions with one Service Company and undertake a services marketing analysis of the service.(One of the first tasks will be to select an appropriate service to analyse-discuss this with your group partner and come to a mutually acceptable solution.Speak to your lecturer if you need some help in selecting an appropriate service-but remember you need to have experienced the service from this provider).

Using the GAPS Model of Service Quality as the overarching framework along with other service models, you are to analyse the service and your expectations and perceptions of that service.Your group report should integrate theory to help explain and analyse the service experience.Do not simply describe what has happened to you-mere description is not analysis!

This assignment will require you to gain an understanding of the GAPS Model and to use multiple analytical tools to analyse your service.Do not just describe the service provider-find evidence, use analytical techniques to explore, try to identify why and how service gaps emerged or were dealt with.

As MBA students the expectation is that you explore issues in this report and show that you can think critically about aspects of services marketing.You are not expected to 'cover everything' in this assignment, but rather to use the GAPS Model as an overarching framework, and then explore particular aspects of services marketing in depth.Do not ask your lecturer for a 'boilerplate' pro format-take pleasure in the fact that you have some discretion to present a strong paper that reflects the analytic capabilities of your group.

You should start on this task right from week one-do not leave it until the last minute. Form your group early, and give your lecturer the names of the two group members.

Group Assignment Assessment Criteria:

Refer to the Assessment Criteria Sheet at the back of this document.

Your group assignment will be assessed against the following criteria:

• The selection of an appropriate, longer term service relationship
• Evidence of your appreciation of the complexity of the service being analysed
• Evidence of personal reflection and thought
• Your ability to collate data, think critically, and report on your experiences in a logical, analytic and systematic way
• A clear identification of appropriate and relevant services marketing concepts and theory
• Your use of concepts, constructs and analytical techniques to develop insights
• Evidence of research and reading beyond the set text to support your analysis and discussion
• The quality of your report, incl. presentation, use of diagrams, referencing, logical flow.