BSNL AS A KNOWLEDGE CORPORATION

In the “third wave” civilization today, information is more important than physical capital to any business. Intellectual capital is embedded more deeply in the ethos of organizations.
It is increasingly being acknowledged that the value of a product or service is hidden in its knowledge components. The ultimate component of a computer chip is sand. But the value of the chip lies in its design and the design of the complex machines that make it. Even manufacturing concerns constantly upgrade the intellectual content of their product. For instant, to compete, a motorcycle has to made be intelligently, economizing on weight, engine design, etc. We are in a knowledge economy made up of knowledge corporations with knowledge workers.
Knowledge is not discovered like oil or gold. It is constructed through concepts that have observation of objects and events as its basis. Swanstorm, in his book, what is knowledge management states that knowledge is created through the reconstruction of older concept as well as invention of new ones. It becomes knowledge only when a particular group or society validates the concept. Knowledge is therefore a social and organization construct.
Established principles of management do not accurately measure the intellectual assets of a company. For instance, companies are sold many times more than their book value based on the perceived value of their intangible assets. To call this, “Goodwill” is rather simplicity.
Thomas Steward states that there are three kind of intellectual capital (in his book Intellectual Capital).
1) Human capital, which is the value of knowledge held by the company’s employees. This is tacit knowledge, which must be tapped.
2) Structural capital, which is the physical means by which knowledge and experience can be shared. Various information technology tools such as Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Lotus Notes, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Data Visualization, Intelligent Client Serve, etc. fall under this category.
3) Customer capital, which is the value of the company’s on going relationships with its customers and vendors. Understanding Knowledge from all the three angles mentioned above is the first step in managing it effectively. There is a perceptible change in the knowledge today.

In the past, Knowledge = Power, so hoard it.
Now, Knowledge = Power, so share it and it will multiply.

Knowledge Management (KM) may be defined as an amalgamation of management strategies, methods and technologies for leveraging capital and know how to achieve gains in human performance and competitiveness. It involves the metamorphosis of activity-based data into meaningful, strategic and tactical information. It directs people, processes and culture to common goals and aligns information technology with corporate bottom line.

SERVICE QUALITY

The important of quality assurance in service marketing can never be over-emphasized, k service must be performed right the first time and every time. The damage done on any one occasion leaves a permanent scar and the effect of a badly rendered service cannot be mitigated by any sops.
Ironically, while quality assurance is of utmost important in services, it is utmost difficult to assure quality here. Even measuring quality is difficult in services. In the first place, quality characteristics in respect of a service are more difficult to define. Second, quality here includes many subjective elements.
We can state that service quality is ensured when the service does what the customer expects of it. This means that quality assurance in services calls for : (i) a device for understanding customer expectations of quality in the service, (ii) a mechanism for ensuring that the service is performed matching customer expectations, and (iii) a device for measuring the service quality perceived by the customer as the service goes along and on completion of the service.
Since quality assurance in services becomes difficult mainly because of the difficulty in measuring service quality, the later becomes the crux in managing service quality.

SPECIAL ELEMENTS OF SEVICE MARKETING

People, physical evidence and process are the three special elements of service marketing. Harnessing these special elements is a vital part of the marketing strategy in service business.

i. People
Let us start with people. The fact that people matter the utmost in service marketing does not need much elaboration. In the first place in services, quality depends on people. Actually, the service customer rarely distinguishes or separates the service from the person who performs it. Second, services are also highly people intensive unlike physical products, which are material intensive. Third, while in the case of physical products, a bad product can be taken back or replaced, a bad service cannot be taken back or replaced. So it has to be performed right the first time and every time. This obviously means that people matter a great deal in service business.

ii. Physical Evidence
Often, in a situation the customer is present while the service is actually produced / delivered. Because of this, the surroundings in which the customer is actually served becomes important in a service situation. The surrounding constitutes the physical evidence of the service. For example, the appearance/décor and cleanliness of a restaurant influence a customer’s perception of the service. They constitute the physical evidence of the service. They are tangible and controllable aspects of the service provider must effectively manager such physical evidence.

iii. Process
The arrangement by which the customer actually receives delivery of the service constitutes the process. For example, in a fast-food outlet, the service process comprises buying of coupon/ token at the counter and picking up the items against them at the delivery desk. Service marketers must handle the process properly.
These three special elements of service marketing will come handy in differentiating a service, which a discussed in the section below.

ORGANISING DELIVERY SYSTEM

Organizing the delivery system and channel/intermediaries is the next important task. Issues in this regard spring from the service offer. The delivery system must fulfill the service offer and generate the expected satisfaction! Location decision and decision on use of channels/inter-mediaries are the two main issues here

Location decision

Location decision, i.e. where to locate the service performance is the first issue. Actually, many services are ‘fixed’ location-wise and service providers are able to serve only a limited number of customers located in the area. Thus, choosing the location appropriately and attracting the right kind of and maximum number of consumers is of special importance in service marketing.

Using Channels/Intermediaries

Decision on use of channel/intermediaries is a part of organizing the delivery system. Here, the service marketer should first decide whether he should use intermediaries at all or should reach out to the customers directly. There are actually two aspects to be considered in the decision:
i. Does the service lend for marketing through intermediaries?
ii. Whether in the given context, intermediaries will be able to provide the service more effectively and economically than the principle?

Franchising

Franchising can be an answer to the distribution problem in service marketing. Franchising seems to work particularly well in services like hotels, restaurants, car rentals, fast-food outlets, beauty parlours, computer education, travel agencies, office services, packers and movers couriers and business centres).

PRICING STRATEGY

The Perishability of service is the main factor that creates a problem in pricing in services. In services, the fluctuation in demand cannot be met through inventory. Hence, variation in price depending on time/season of demand/consumption becomes the natural strategy. Hotels offering lower tariffs in off-season and telephone service providers offering lower tariffs for after peak hour calls are examples of how service marketers can offset the perishable characteristic of services through a pricing strategy.

GIVING A SHAPE TO THE SERVICE

Giving a shape to the service is the next task. In order to carry it out, the service marketer must have a good grasp of the following ideas.

Service benefits:
Earlier, we mentioned that service marketers must thoroughly understand the nature of the service. What we mean is that the service marketer must be clear about the service benefits involved in the concerned case. Service benefit simply means customer benefit resulting from the service. It is bedrock of any service product.

Service Expectation:
Service expectations refer to the service benefits, which customers seek from the service. Service marketers must be clear about the benefits customers seek from the service. The whole service concept has to be based on the benefits customers seek and which the marketers is willing to provide.

Service offer:
Service offer means the bunch of benefits that is offered by the firm in the service. The service marketer has to decide what benefits should be put into the service package. Obviously, this decision has to stem from the customer service expectation (what benefit do customers seek from the service?). The success of a service depends on how closely the services offer matches the service expectation.

Service elements are just an elaboration of service offer. Conversely, service elements collectively constitute the service offer. The term service offer denotes the various service benefits that are to be passed on to customers. Usually, service elements in a service offer will consist of tangible as well as intangible components.

Service form explains in what way (or how) the service is to be provided.

Service level/quality/standard explains what quality and how much of service is to be provided. Deciding unambiguously the service level/quality standard which the firm would commit in its service offer is an important part of giving a shape to the service.