Marketing

Service (business)

Financial services

Marketing mix

Perishability

Economics

Market economy

Services marketing

Business

Goods and services

Marketing management

Finance

IOSR Journal of Business and Management

and Lusch 2004) have challenged the uniqueness of service particularly with advancements in technology.However some authors are still having a strong belief that services are different than tangible goods and therefore require different marketing frameworks.This has resulted in a fresh 'services-marketing-is-different' debate.The present article tests the validity of basic assertion of services marketing theory that four specific characteristics-intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, and perishability-make services uniquely different from goods and also analyses the data for difference in perception across public and private sector financial firms.The data has been collected through structured questionnaire administered among 877 managers of financial service firms which is regarded as one of the pure service.Findings suggest the theory is pretty much valid till now, however the significance of each characteristic varies across services.The study concludes that the biggest challenge faced by services firms is heterogeneity and not intangibility as reported by most of the earlier studies.Marketing managers of service firms can use the study to identify the challenges that are unique to their services and therefore focus on the most critical issues facing them.

Services Marketing Theory Revisited: An Empirical Investigation into Financial Services Marketing