Assignment 2 brief: individual report and reflective commentary Think about the new service you proposed in assignment 1. Write a 2300 word report, making effective use of appendices that answers the following questions and prompts. 1. How would the features of services affect the design and delivery of the service you proposed and what could managers do to limit the effects of these? To answer this you will need to refer to the features of services (intangibility, perishability, variability, inseparability and rental/access) and consider, for example, how managers can make intangible services feel more tangible and how changes to the way services are delivered can make customers feel more satisfied. 2. Analyse the proposed new service using either the services theatre model or servuction. Here you must apply either services theatre or servuction to your new service and use the framework to describe the new service. You may like to anticipate potential problem areas or give some detail about operation of the service with some life-like scenarios. 3. Explain how you will promote the new service using the extended marketing mix (7Ps) and a Promotional Plan. You should consider how and when the new service will be promoted to customers. In particular you should consider what sort of marketing will make the right sort of impact so that customers are fully aware of the changes to the service and more importantly how the changes will add value to their service encounters. Applying models within this such as Kotler’s five product levels should help identify the core purpose of the service but also its potential. You should also develop a promotional plan which recognises the rest of the organisation’s marketing activities and works in conjunction with the other promotional events taking place. 4. What skills and knowledge would you need if you were to become the manager of a service provider? You should consider the skills and knowledge needed by service managers and think honestly about whether you have those skills and that knowledge. You may like to comment on whether the course has helped you to develop skills or to develop an awareness of skills gaps. For this part of the assignment, it is acceptable to write in the first person, e.g. ‘I know that I need to develop this skill…’ but the overall tone should be scholarly. You should use a range of academic sources and refer to real examples and to the proposed new service that you developed in assignment 1. The assignment is worth 50% of the marks for the module and assesses these learning outcomes: 3. critically apply theoretical models for services marketing and for improving service encounters to communicate brand values 4. adopt a critical approach to their own developmental needs as likely providers and developers of new services. The deadline for this assignment is 25th April 2017.