Marketing and Services Management: Gap Model and Customer Relations

This report provides a critical evaluation of the evolution of research based on the gap model of service quality and its usefulness in understanding customer relationships with organizations. The report begins with an introduction to marketing and service management, emphasizing the importance of customer satisfaction. It then delves into the gap model of service quality, outlining its framework and how it is used to study customer satisfaction by identifying five major satisfaction gaps. The report reviews academic literature on the gap model, discussing its application in various industries, including tourism and hotels, and highlights the importance of addressing gaps such as customer expectations vs. management perception and service delivery vs. management perception. Furthermore, the report explores the connections between the gap model and customer relationships, emphasizing customer satisfaction as a key factor in maintaining effective relationships. It discusses customer relationship management strategies, including the importance of management commitment, employee motivation, and customer engagement. Real-life examples are used to illustrate how organizations can utilize the gap model to improve service quality, enhance customer satisfaction, and build stronger customer relationships. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the ongoing relevance of the gap model in the context of customer relationship management.

Running head: MARKETING AND SERVICES MANAGEMENT
Marketing and Services Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Gap Model of Service Quality:........................................................................................................2
Customer Relationships:..................................................................................................................5
Connections between the Gap Model and Customer Relationships:...............................................7
Theory of Customer Relationship and Gap Model by using the Examples:...................................9
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................10
References:....................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction:
Marketing and service management is considered as something that is intangible in
nature. This is also considered as marketing of promises. Organization launches their marketing
and service management with having the aim of providing appropriate satisfaction to the
consumers (Subramony et al. 2017). For the organizations, if they want to be successful in this
section, they need to identify the basic needs of the customers, and it also should be done in
advance.
From various of aspects is has been assessed that gap model analysis plays a crucial part
in the determination of service quality offered by various organizations (Franceschini and
Mastrogiacomo 2018). Also, the gap model is quite useful for understanding the relationship of
customers with organizations. Considering this, in this report, how gap model research of the
service quality has been progressed over time will be critically reviewed. Also, how it is
beneficial for understanding the customer relationship with the organizations will be illustrated.
Gap Model of Service Quality:
The gap model of service quality is considered as a framework which can be utilized for
studying the satisfaction of the customer. Through this framework, five major satisfaction gaps
are evaluated, which must be addressed for meeting the expectations of the customers.
According to the authors Lee et al. (2016), all over the world, the tourism industry is
increasing rapidly as the number of overall tourists are increasing. In this case, the authors have
proposed a revised gap model for the evaluation and service quality improvement in hotel
industries of Taiwan. So, the service quality can be measured easily by performing a gap
analysis. Gap analysis is quite effective for the development and improvement of service quality.

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From this study, the authors have found that there is a total of five gaps which impacted the
evaluation of the service quality for the tourists. There was a total of two gaps which affected
the service quality for the tourists heavily. These two gaps were customer expectations vs
management perception and service delivery vs management perception. Thus, these two areas
are the main area that needs to be improved.
As per the authors Tran, Arneault and Clark (2019), an appropriate understanding of the
gap model is crucial to provide proper service quality to the consumers. It has been assessed that
the gap model of service quality mainly includes four type of gaps which are service design and
standard gap, listening gap, performance gap, and communication gap. The service quality is
demonstrated by the authors in the aspect of hotel businesses. In this scenario, the attitude of
customers towards a service quality depends on the location of the hotel, service value,
cleanliness of the room and standards and design of the hotel. As per the authors, the listening
gap can occur when the service provider is unaware of the fact that what needs to be done for the
customers. The service design and standard gap occur if the provider of service fails to meet the
expectation of the customers. Performance gap occurs if the provider of service fails to provide
appropriate service to the customers. The last gap is the communication gap. It arises if service
providers fail to fulfil their promises to the customers. For this reason, the implementing the gap
model of service quality is important in the business perspective.
The authors Mauri, Minazzi and Muccio (2013), has performed research on the service
quality by performing an analysis on the gap model on quality of service. As per the authors, the
gap model is dependent on the theory of expectation confirmation which illustrates how the
consumers examine the quality and how they consider those factors which contribute for the
determination of the quality factor. The gap model actually aims to recognize the potential

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reasons for a gap that occurs in between the perceived quality and quality that is expected. This
model conceptualizes strategies, the key concept, decisions and strategies that are essential to
provide a quality offer to the consumers according to a specific sequence. The authors have
demonstrated the service quality as a concept of multidimensional. It is perceived by the
consumers as per some essential set of components which are having five levels. The first level
is a tangible aspect. The tangible aspect is the aspects of physical facilities, equipment and
personnel. Reliability is the second level which is the capability of the firm in performing the
service that is promised in an efficient manner. Responsiveness is the third level in this aspect
which is considered as the willingness of the organization regarding providing support to the
customers and providing services as fast as possible. The fourth level is the assurance. The
assurance is the politeness and competence of the personnel and the capability of inspiring
confidence. Empathy is the last level that is considered as personalized assistance that the
organization provides to its customers. As per the authors, the gap model structure has been
updated several times in past. The first update was done by performing changes to the part that is
related to the expectation of the customers. Again it was revised depending on the criticisms of
different authors. As per the authors, there are a total of five gaps that have been identified. From
these five gaps, customer gap is the crucial one as it assesses discrepancy within actual insight
and anticipation of the service quality by the customer. In a particular aspect, this model defines
that such type of deviation occurs due to four possible gaps. The first gap occurs when the
management improperly determines the quality expectation of the customers due to lack of
market research. The gap two occurs when the discrepancy occurs among the settlement of
appropriate standards and management insight of the belief of the customers of the service
quality. The gap three occurs due to discrepancy among firm personal performance and the

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service quality standards in the aspect of service quality. The gap four occurs if the
characteristics provided to the customers is not matching with the service delivered to them.
Customer Relationships:
The customer relationship is one of the significant aspects of the business. It is actually
considered as connection development in between the customers and the company. The customer
relationship includes sales support, marketing communications, customer service and technical
help. The customer relationship can be dignified by customer satisfaction degree.
According to the author Tseng (2016), the gap model is quite useful for the understanding
of the customer relationship with the organizations. Actually, there is a deep relationship
between the gap model evaluation and customer relationship. It defines that customer satisfaction
is achieved if the customer enjoys the services provided by the organizations. From the analysis
of the linkage model, it has been assessed that there is a relationship in between customer
relationship and gap model in the aspect of the behaviour of leadership and management,
employee attitude, financial performance results and customer satisfaction. From the research, it
has been also assessed that organizations need to assume an orientation program regarding how
customer management will be done, and it also needs to be considered how the operations of the
organization will be impacting the connections with the customers. The linkage model has also
elaborated important steps that must be undertaken to ensure an effective customer relationship.
In this aspect, the first step that must be undertaken is the commitment of management. This will
ensure more motivated, and committed employees and in this way, proper service can be
provided to the customers, which will strengthen the customer relationship as it provides
satisfaction and loyalty. In this way, more customers can be added to the with the organizations
which will increase the sales and ultimately it will profitable for the organization. Also, for

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establishing a proper connection between customer relationship and gap model of service
quality, the statement for the managerial service mission can be established by collaborating with
all the organizational stakeholders. From the analysis, it has been assessed that the organizations
must always give priority to the customers and the role of the marketing department should be
shifted to real involvement with the customers from influencing the customers.
The author Arman (2014), customer relationship is a marketing strategy used by the
organizations to and by the marketers as a marketing strategy. The author has actually described
it as a process which is used by the businesses for developing, establishing and maintaining the
relationship with the customers. For the businesses, it is very much essential that they create an
effective relationship with their customers. From the practical perspective, customer relationship
can be considered as effective communication with the customers through which concerns of the
customers will be addressed as soon as possible. Thus, listening to the customers is important to
establish an effective relationship with the customers.
According to the authors So et al. (2016), the landscape of the retail sector has changed a
lot with the time. In this aspect, the customer relationship is very much important but, it can also
become problematic due to these changes as currently, the customers are having the option of
purchasing online in with a cheap price tag. To compete with online marketing, retail service
brands needs to take some action. Otherwise, they will lose their position in the market. As per
the authors, enhancement of the relationship with the customers is one of the great options for
the retail service brands so that they can compete against the online market. Here, the authors
have performed a study to extend the current understanding of customer engagement by
assessing the role of it for developing brand-customer relationship quality. From this study, the
authors have found that engagement of the customers is important for building the customer-

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brand relationship quality. Thus, from an overall perspective, it has been assessed that
appropriate engagement of the customer plays an important role to improve the overall customer
relationships.
As per the authors Haas and Stuebiger (2017), the relationship between the customer and
the organizations is important for the proper functionality of the business processes. The authors
have demonstrated that organizations should mature their ability to managing the relationship as
strategic assets. Here, the authors have briefly analysed the firm’s success factor, which can lead
the firm towards a competitive advantage. Previously, the authors have assessed that there were
five distinct factors related to the relationship between customer and firm. From the research, the
authors have found that from those five factors, only two was important drivers regarding the
effectiveness of the customer relationship. As per the authors, self-enforcement and sharing of
knowledge among the firms are capable of increasing the effectiveness of the relationship. From
the findings of this research, the authors have assessed that the effectiveness of the relationship is
capable of determining the competitive advantage of the organization.
Connections between the Gap Model and Customer Relationships:
The gap model plays an important in the aspect of customer satisfaction which is
important to maintain an effective relationship with the customers. The gap analysis is actually a
part of SERVQUAL, which is one of the popular methodologies utilized for the evaluation and
management of service quality (Rezaei et al. 2018). In a specific way, the gap analysis is an
analytical tool that is proposed by SERVQUAL so that it can be determined why customer faces
low services service quality (Al-Neyadi, Abdallah and Malik 2018). The gap analysis is very
much useful for the identification and management of the service quality and for this reason it is
an effective solution for managing the satisfaction of the customers which will be ultimately

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affecting the organization’s relationship with the customers. The satisfaction of the customers is
actually a broader area which includes the quality of the service and other important areas which
are related to the satisfaction of the customers. As the gap analysis is capable of identifying the
main causes of customer dissatisfaction, it can help to enhance the relationship with the
customers (Dabestani, Shahin and Saljoughian 2017). In this way, the gap model is linked to the
relationship of the customers with the organizations.
As per the author Guerguis (2018), various studies have shown that it is quite easy and
cheap to retain the already existing customers than adding new to the organization. However,
most of the organizations are focused on getting new customers than retaining the existing ones
by providing good quality of service. As the business environment is becoming more and more
competitive, service quality has become an important aspect which is helping the brands to stay
competitive in present market situation, and that is helping organizations to remain profitable. In
this aspect, the author has found that there is a strong association among customer satisfaction,
customer value and service quality. By using the gap model, good value can be provided to the
customers, which plays an significant role in the post-purchase decision making of the
customers. If the proper value is provided to the customers, then the customer will also become a
loyal customer for the organization, which will be helpful for customer retention.
The loyalty of the customers is actually a deep commitment of the consumers that they
always purchase a product from the same brand without being influenced by any of the situations
arrives in the market (Wolter et al. 2017). A loyal customer not just always purchase the product
from the same brand, but also they influence others to purchase from that brand. In the aspect of
digital marketing, the brand does not get a physical interaction with the customers. So, in this
type of situation, e-loyalty can be crucial for the customer relationship requirement (Pearson

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2016). The gap analysis plays an important role to make a customer loyal, which improves the
customer relationship and in this way, actually, the gap model of service quality improves the
customer relationship within a digital marketing context.
Theory of Customer Relationship and Gap Model by using the Examples:
In theoretical aspects, the level of customer satisfaction is determined from customer
relationship and the gap model, which are actually vital for the retention of the customers and a
higher amount of profit and sales. Most of the firms do not want to spend an extra amount of
resources to serve the customers unless it becomes very much essential (Cook 2017). In this
aspect, the satisfaction of the customers can decrease when there is a huge gap between the
expectation of the customers and what they actually receive. The more an organization will be
able to cover this gap, the more customer satisfaction will be achieved by the organization.
For providing an example, the telecommunication sector can be presented here.
Currently, in each of the telecommunication sector, there is rapid development which are
amending infrastructural structures how the organizations and customers interact within a
network (Akram et al. 2017). This can be considered a perfect example of the gap model and
relationship among the customer and the organizations. Specifically, for the telecommunication
sector products and services offered by the organization are indistinguishable, the main focus of
organizations in this sector is developing a proper connection with the subscribers or the
customers of them. This connection with the subscribers must be controlled in an effective and
productive way.
In the telecommunication sector, there is a huge amount of customers, and the scale of
the operations is also large, and due to this customer relationship and gap model in

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telecommunication is supported (Rahimi 2017). Here, it is technological strategies with strong
market orientation while having a proper focus on the customers. The e-commerce giant Amazon
has also realized the same thing by improving the relationship with the customers. Here, Amazon
used distinctive greetings, collaborative filtering and many other ways to improve the
relationship with the customers. Also, customer relationship education is implemented by
Amazon for their staffs to improve the relationship with the existing customers.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the gap model of service quality is
important for organizations to analyse the gap, which can be helpful to determine the satisfaction
of the customers. In this paper, a brief discussion has been done over the gap model of service
quality. In this aspect, first, a review has been done on the gap model of service quality. Some
important literature has been reviewed for the analysis of the gap model. In the following part of
this report, the customer relationship has been defined. Here, it has been reviewed that what is
defined by the customer relationship. Following that, the connection between the customer
relationship and the gap model has been evaluated. Lastly, in the further section of this report,
the theory of the gap model and relationship with the customer has been illustrated by providing
appropriate examples. Mainly, the telecommunication sector has been represented as an example
in this paper.

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References:
Akram, T., Lei, S., Haider, M.J., Hussain, S.T. and Puig, L.C.M., 2017. The effect of
organizational justice on knowledge sharing: Empirical evidence from the Chinese
telecommunications sector. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 2(3), pp.134-145.
Al-Neyadi, H.S., Abdallah, S. and Malik, M., 2018. Measuring patient's satisfaction of
healthcare services in the UAE hospitals: Using SERVQUAL. International Journal of
Healthcare Management, 11(2), pp.96-105.
Arman, S.M., 2014. Integrated model of social media and customer relationship management: A
literature review. International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 6(3), p.118.
Cook, S., 2017. Measuring customer service effectiveness. Routledge.
Dabestani, R., Shahin, A. and Saljoughian, M., 2017. Evaluation and prioritization of service
quality dimensions based on gap analysis with analytic network process. International journal of
quality & reliability management.
Franceschini, F. and Mastrogiacomo, L., 2018. Service gap deployment: a framework to link
quality gaps to service activities. International Journal of Services and Operations
Management, 29(1), pp.85-99.
Guerguis, A., 2018. The Gaps Model of Service Quality and Customer Relationships in A Digital
Marketing Context. 10.13140/RG.2.2.34118.22087.
Haas, A. and Stuebiger, N., 2017. Why and When Do Firm–Customer Relationships Lead to
Competitive Advantage? An Abstract. In Marketing at the Confluence between Entertainment
and Analytics (pp. 1209-1210). Springer, Cham.