Service Marketing

Book excerpt: With the rise in deregulated service-based economies in developed countries over the last forty years, an understanding of the marketing of services is essential to the marketing student, researcher, and practitioner. This four-volume collection is structured around the evolution of services marketing scholarship from 1970 to the present, giving an unprecedented, detailed account of the relationship between the theory and practice of services marketing and the changing social, economic, and technical environments over time. Each volume takes a distinct time period and theme as its subject. Volumes one to three offer the last word on services marketing research of the 20th century, with volume four looking towards a unified marketing approach for the current century.