An empirical examination of the marketing problems experienced by New Zealand service organisations

Abstract

Services marketing in New Zealand remains in its infancy with little research examining even the most fundamental aspects of services marketing from a New Zealand perspective. This study takes a step towards addressing this deficiency by examining the extent that New Zealand service organisations experience a range of marketing problems stemming from the special characteristics of services. Silvestro, Fitxgerald, Johnston, and Voss (1992) classification scheme is used to test whether service organisations classified as either professional services, service shops, or mass services experience the range of commonly cited services marketing problems to significantly different extents.

The findings of this study are based on the analysis of a cross-sectional survey of 145 service organisations operating in New Zealand. The findings indicate that in general the marketing problems stemming from intangibility, heterogeneity, and lack of ownership are experienced to significantly different degrees across the three service types, thus providing some support for the contention that different service types experience significantly different marketing problems (Silvestro et al, 1992). Alternatively, the marketing problems stemming from inseparability and perishability are generally experienced by all New Zealand service organisations to a high extent.

This study makes a contribution to the services marketing literature by providing empirical support for Silvestro et al's (1992) service classification scheme, and to service marketers in New Zealand by providing insight into the types of marketing problems experienced by New Zealand service organisations. Such insights have important implications for service marketers in New Zealand regarding the sourcing, development and implementation of strategies to overcome the marketing problems they encounter.