COURSE SYLLABUS
Service Management and Marketing, 7.5 credits
Service Management and Marketing, 7,5 högskolepoäng
Course Syllabus for students Autumn 2025
Course Code: MLFN13
Confirmed by: Council for Undergraduate and Masters Education Jul 1, 2013
Revised by: Council for Undergraduate and Masters Education Sep 5, 2022
Valid From: Aug 21, 2023
Version: 7
Education Cycle: First-cycle level
Disciplinary domain: Social sciences
Subject group: FE1
Specialised in: G2F
Main field of study: Business Administration

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

On completion of the course the students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

1. explain and evaluate the phenomenon of services from a management perspective.
2. describe, explain and evaluate the service process and its particularity compared to product systems
3. classify, explain and analyse concepts, models, and theories of service management and marketing.

Skills and abilities

4. apply a mix of practical and theoretical features applicable when managing and marketing services in different contexts.
5. analyse problems in the management and marketing of services, evaluate alternatives to solve these problems and argue for best service practices.

Judgement and approach

6. display a service mindset essential to customer relationships in a service context.
7. analyze and critically reason about the fundamentals of service management and marketing.

Contents

The course builds on general theories in marketing and management, which are further applied in a service context. The students are invited to the field essentially through classical models and concepts of Service Management and Marketing. The focus of the course is on services in different contexts and not on the 'pure' service sector. The different contexts emphasized are for example: services in the business-to-business sector, in knowledge intensive firms, and in traditional service firms.

Connection to Research and Practice
The course provides with cutting-edge theories, domains and perspectives in services marketing including (but not limited to) service management, service logics and customer logics. It also connects students with internal and external faculty who are research focused through lectures and seminars were the researchers make available to students their own published research, insights and expertise in form of teaching material. It thereby connects students to a range of JIBS’ focus areas such as service innovation, renewal and ethics to mention a few.
The above research focused approach provides students with a reflective mindset to observe and analyze real-world services marketing practice with a platform of methods and tools. In addition, the practical connections brought into the course are lectures from Service Companies Executives about their challenges with the above concepts and real live problem-solving cases with these companies.

Type of instruction

Lectures, seminars, discussions and group work.

The teaching is conducted in English.

Prerequisites

60 credits in Business Administration or Economics including at least 7.5 credits in basic marketing and management courses (or the equivalent).

Examination and grades

The course is graded A, B, C, D, E, FX or F.

Individual written exam (ILOs: 1, 2, 3 & 5) representing 4,5 credits.
Group assignment (ILOs: 3, 4, 5) representing 3 credits

Registration of examination:
Name of the TestValueGrading
Individual written exam14.5 creditsA/B/C/D/E/FX/F
Group assignment13 creditsA/B/C/D/E/FX/F
1 All parts of compulsory examination in the course must be passed with a passing grade before a final grade can be set. The final grade of the course is determined by the sum total of points for all parts of examination in the course (0-100 points). Grade is set in accordance to JIBS grading policy.

Course evaluation

It is the responsibility of the examiner to ensure that each course is evaluated. At the outset of the course, the programme evaluators in the course must be contacted. In the middle of the course, the examiner should meet the programme evaluators to identify strengths/weaknesses in the first half of the course.
At the end of the course, the examiner should remind students to fill in the survey. The examiner should also call a meeting with the programme evaluators to debrief the course, based on course evaluation data and comments. The next time the course runs, students should be informed of any measures taken to improve the course based on the previous course evaluations.

At the end of each study period, JIBS’ Director of Quality and Accreditation crafts a “Course Evaluation Quarter Report”, presenting the quantitative results from course evaluation surveys. The Associate Dean of Education, The Associate Deans of Faculty, Programme Directors, and JSA President and Quality receive the report.

Other information

Academic integrity
JIBS students are expected to maintain a strong academic integrity. This implies to behave within the boundaries of academic rules and expectations relating to all types of teaching and examination.
Copying someone else’s work is a particularly serious offence and can lead to disciplinary action. When you copy someone else’s work, you are plagiarizing. You must not copy sections of work (such as paragraphs, diagrams, tables and words) from any other person, including another student or any other author. Cutting and pasting is a clear example of plagiarism. There is a workshop and online resources to assist you in not plagiarizing called the Interactive Anti-Plagiarism Guide.
Other forms of breaking academic integrity include (but are not limited to) adding your name to a project you did not work on (or allowing someone to add their name), cheating on an examination, helping other students to cheat and submitting other students work as your own, and using non-allowed electronic equipment during an examination. All of these make you liable to disciplinary action.

Course literature

Literature

Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V, Bitner, M-J. and Gremler, D. 2020. Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm. Latest edition. McGraw-Hill.

Case studies
Complementary academic literature based both on few classic readings and contemporary research from service management and marketing related academic publications.