Delivering Quality Service [Hardcover]

Valarie A. Zeithaml (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 1990

Excellence in customer service is the hallmark of success in service industries and among manufacturers of products that require reliable service. But what exactly is excellent service? It is the ability to deliver what you promise, say the authors, but first you must determine what you can promise. Building on seven years of research on service quality, they construct a model that, by balancing a customer's perceptions of the value of a particular service with the customer's need for that service, provides brilliant theoretical insight into customer expectations and service delivery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Christopher H. Lovelock Visiting Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management, MIT No one has done more than this energetic trio to insist that service quality must be defined from a customer-driven perspective. The research findings described in this book yield a practical, commonsense structure to help managers close the gaps that separate customers from the quality service experiences they seek. -- Review

About the Author

Valarie A. Zeithaml is associate professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. The recipient of three distinguished teaching awards, Dr. Zeithaml has written articles for the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and the Journal of Retailing. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (March 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029357012
• ISBN-13: 978-0029357019
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fundamental on service quality modelling, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Delivering Quality Service (Hardcover)

Although somewhat outdated in 1999, this is still a fundamental work on SERVQUAL, a measurement tool for service quality. Criticized and praised all over the world, this book provides the old model of the SERVQUAL tool. Very useful is the GAP analysis for hurdles on the way to excellent service quality and the chapters on how to get started. The authors draw on extensive research and promise no rose garden but hard work to get among the excellent businesses. The book is useful to understand and interpret the SERVQUAL tool. Limitations or expansions are suggested and allow to customize the tool for personal use.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, although a little too broad, June 7, 2000

By 

"mrlonesome" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delivering Quality Service (Hardcover)

A great book on SERVQUAL, nice layout of themes, plus a handy SERVQUAL test list to practice on your customers. Not just an academic book, but very down to earth. The only problem is that SERVQUAL is too broad to be applied in any service, you should take it with a grain of salt, but all-in-all, this book serve enough to be used as a basis for benchmarking service quality. Recommended not just for students, but to business practitioners too.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Timeless!, January 5, 2001

By 

Dan Michaluk ([e-mail]) (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delivering Quality Service (Hardcover)

The authors present the SERVQUAL model as a framework for understanding and measuring service quality and also offer practical advice on how to improve service quality.

Aside from the SERVQUAL model, readers craving practical business information will find Chapters 4 to 7, which communicate a four-part prescriptive model on how to improve service quality, most useful. In plain language and with many illustrative examples, the authors argue that customer service leaders must (1) know exactly what customers expect, (2) set proper service quality standards, (3) support employees in delivering quality service, and (4) never over-promise. Chapter 6 is excellent for drawing the critical link between human resources and customer service.

Delivering Quality Service remains relevant even though it was published before anyone talked about Customer Relationship Management. The language is slightly dated but the concepts are timeless. In addition, by not focussing on customer management technology (a rarity in works published today) the authors put a proper emphasis on strategy.