Service Model migration

Dr. Madhukar Angur in a session with the faculty at Alliance demonstrated the importance of understanding changes in consumers' service 'evaluations and interpretations' across geographical boundaries.

Take the 'developed world' for example. Carrying your own bags at a first class hotel up to your rooms may not be frowned upon. The guest in this case thinks nothing about doing this himself. On the other hand, in India, having to carry one's own bags may not be appreciated. The act in this case has to be performed by the service deliverer, ie., the hotel. Any thing otherwise would be seen and interpreted as inadequate service.

The larger implication is the non-applicability of a service delivery model transplanted from the West and applied in India. In fact a verbatim application may result in the model failing. The act of letting customers board a Southwest airline flight and seat themselves may not work for a budget airline in India. Customers expect to be assigned seats. Therefore it becomes imperative to tweak/customise the 'model' so as to get it to be accepted within the cultural sensibilities of the new location.

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