Paper Type: Case Study

Topic: Mike Evans Corporation (Service Failure, Recovery and Guarantee)

No# of Pages: 10 pages (2,500 words)

Subject Area: Business Management

Paper Style: Harvard

No# of Sources Required: 32

Details: Mike Evans Corporation does not exist, all information can be found on the assignment brief that I sent you. Read carefully what the assignment needs and do not include other things that are not necessary. I have made with red color some points to take into consideration. What exactly the assignments asks for, assessment criteria and grade descriptions.

Requirement: - 

• Critically evaluate and analyse the relationship between marketing management and strategic management.
• Critically evaluate and analyse the application of theories and concepts of services marketing in a range of different situations.
• Critically analyse the impact of relationship marketing in developing a cohesive and effective strategy to create an effective service.

Key Skiils Required:

• Cognitive and intellectual skills
• Locate, analyse and synthesise information
• Capacity for independent and self-managed learning
• Personal responsibility and  decision-making

Details of the task

Service delivery is prone to people making mistakes or in some cases systems going wrong which may impact on customers’ satisfaction and expectation of service. However, organisations must use these service failures as learning curves and design operational strategies to improve upon the standards of their service.

If service firms are to be managed effectively to delight their customers, they would have to deal with their problems and drive improvements in their operations. Organisations should learn from their inability to provide high level of service and not to cover-up service problems. 

You are asked to: 

1. Provide a researched literature review of the theory of customer service provision with reference to: (a) service failure; (b) service recovery strategies; (c) service guarantee with the potential costs and benefits; and (d) complaint handling techniques. Provide examples of how these strategies and techniques could be effectively applied in the services industry.

2. With reference to the attached Case Study (Mike Evans Corporation) you are to (a) critically evaluate the service failures in the case study; (b) apply the theory in question 1 above to discuss how the service breakdown could have been prevented;(c) provide a critical analysis of the holistic costs of the service failure associated with customer service delivery in this situation; and (d) how could the hotel improve its relationship with Mike as a result of this service failure in this case.   

Case Study: Mike Evans Corporation 

Over a period of three years, Laura Hollings rose through the ranks of the Front Desk area and Sales Division of the distinguished Cameron Hotel to attain the position of Sales Manager. She worked very hard to achieve this position and had demonstrated an ability to deal effectively with clients and secure new accounts. She had been working as a Sales Manager for approximately a year when the Sales Manager in charges of the Mike Evans account was promoted and transferred to other of the chain's hotels. Laura took over the account. 

The Mike Evans Corporation is basically a motivational and instructional institute that holds seminars at the Cameron Hotel. Mike Evans started the corporation many years ago, and it is a very important client for the hotel accounting for approximately £500,000 per year in rooms, restaurant, and meeting space revenues. The self-development seminars focus on improving managerial and interpersonal skills and time management. The usual size of those seminars is more than 100 people, and all of the staff know when the account is 'in house'. The clients of Mike Evans are managers from various corporations located in the south-west of England. These guests are considered very important to the hotel, not only during the seminar but after it, as they represent possible future hotel revenues when they are travelling for their own business or pleasure. Mike Evans himself is extremely meticulous and expects those individuals with whom he conducts business to be like minded, with a focus on every detail of a stay or of a request. The level of service is expected to be exceptional, and special effort is made for these meetings to ensure a smooth stay for everyone associated with Mike Evans.

The situation that was now bothering Mr. Evans was cumulative, having built over the period of several months. He first noticed that there were errors being made with some of the specifications of his meeting rooms and with the food items that he had requested. Initially, he did not protest, because the service of the hotel had been so good in the past, and he viewed the problems as abnormalities that did not demand his involvement. However, the errors did not stop, and what was at a minor irritation became a serious issue for Mr Evans. He was not satisfied with the service he was being provided and blamed the hotel. Laura Hollings was the contact for Mr. Evans, and she talked to him some of the problems he was having.  He mentioned that the room listings were often incorrect and that the conference room requests he made had not been fulfilled. Laura promised to correct these problems and assured him that they would happen again. Unfortunately, Laura was negligent with her follow-up and the problems continued with the same frequency.

Angered by the lack of attention being given to his seminars, Mr. Evans cancelled his next meeting with the hotel. A shock alarm went throughout the Redbones, as all departments of the hotel would be affected. The Director of Sales became involved at this point and gathered an assortment of managers to work through the problem. Representatives from every department were assembled, and they all went bearing cookies and apologises to the office of Mr. Evans on a sales call to try win back his business. He was impressed with this new attitude, happily accepting the apology, and rescheduled his seminar.

As part of his agreement to return to the hotel, Mr. Evans wanted a guarantee that the recent problems wouldn't happen again. Laura scheduled a meeting with Mr. Evans to address any specific concerns that he might still have. Laura had to miss that meeting, but she did inform Mr. Evans beforehand and reschedule for a later date, promising at the time that she was interested in hearing his feedback. The rescheduled meeting never took place. Laura had taken the day off the day it was scheduled and completely missed the meeting, not bothering to call Mr. Evans or inform anyone else of the meeting. That was the final straw for Mr. Evans. He vowed never to return and cancelled all future meetings at the hotel.

The General Manager, who had previously been monitoring the situation through the Director of Sales, now took over. He had relied on the Director of Sales to ensure that the situation was under control. With the cancellation of the future seminars, he fired Laura on the spot, reprimanded the Director of Sales, and then prepared himself for a 'grovel call.' He personally went to apologize to Mr. Evans and beg him for his business. The General Manager, Bruce Adams, informed Mr. Evans of Laura's immediate termination and committed himself to be personally responsible for all future contact if Mr. Evans would agree to return. Bruce invoked the hotel's philosophy of intolerance to service deficiencies, reiterated his desire to exceed customer expectations, stated how important Mr. Evans was to him, and offered major concessions in terms of discounts on room rates and dining. Finally, Bruce begged Mr. Evans for the opportunity to make up for past mistakes and to hole him personally responsible if things went wrong. Bruce was persuasive, and Mr. Evans did relent and return his business to the hotel. The General Manager is still handling the Mike Evans account and will be for some times until Mr. Evans's respect and confidence are renewed. 

Source: Adapted from Hinkin, T.R. (2006, p.155)