An Exploration on the Servicescape Problem of Chinese Oriental City Restaurant in Britain Context

楊薇 佟敏霞

【Abstract】the purpose of this study is to evaluate the influences that sevicescape exerts on Chinese Oriental City Restaurant in Britain. The study acts as a guide to managers to improve its sevicescape and make it more attractive and effective to their customers.

【Key words】sevicescape； customers service； management

【作者簡介】楊薇，佟敏霞，廣東海洋大學(xué)寸金學(xué)院。

1. Introduction

Customer satisfaction on restaurants service is low in UK. （BBC News， 2011）.According to the BBC News report （2011）， ‘the UK came a disappointing 14th in the 2010 international customer service rankings from the Nation Brand Index and was ranked 13th for its “welcome” by visitors. Top is Canada， followed by Italy and Australia. Since the quality of care that a company provides to its customers greatly influence the satisfaction level of the customers， （Zeithaml， 2009） this paper tries to explore and access the service customer care of a selected Chinese restaurant in Leeds， UK—The Oriental City Restaurant， an outlet of Sing-Ying Group from a cross- culture perspective.

Company background

The Oriental City Restaurant in UK has a variety of customer base consist of local British people and Chinese overseas etc. （Key Note，2008）Because of the culture mix among the customers， it would bring some problems in service delivering and evaluation if not is not handled appropriately.

2. Literature review

2.1 Service in the restaurant industry

Customer service is a crucial and obvious aspect of service in marketing It can happen on-site when an employee helps the customer with problems or answer their questions or over phones and online. The interaction occurs between the customers and employees in this process. But from Vargo and Bobs of view， service also has an abstract aspect—the value that is derived from physical goods. （Zeithaml， 2009）

2.2 Gaps in Service and solutions

Gaps occur during the process when a company delivers its service to its customers. There are four key gaps in the gap model：1 listening gap，2 service design and standard gap，3 service performance gap， 4 communication gap. It is a helpful framework to understand a companys service quality. Gap 2 occurs because of wrong service designs and standards. Therefore， the management should make service standard match with customers expectation and priorities. As in service design， effective design of physical evidence designed for customer service can help to close gap 2. （Zeithaml， 2009）

Physical evidence

Physical evidence affects customers experience mainly via servicescape which will also affect the nature and quality of the social interaction between customers and employees.

2.3 Consumer behavior in the service

2.3.1 Behavior in the servicescape

Marketing focus on the effects physical setting， physical space and design bring to customers. Consumer behavior in servicescape can be divided into two aspects： individual behavior and social interactions between customers and employees. （ Zeithaml， 2009）

2.3.1.1 Individual behavior

Individual behavior in the servicescape means the influence physical setting exert on customers and employee inside which would lead to positive outcome or negative.

（Zeithaml， 2009）

2.3.1.2 Social interaction

It refers to interactions between and among customers and employees. It is ‘defined partially is the configuration of the servicescape. （Zeithaml， 2009）

2.3.1.3 Compatibility

Compatibility is also an influential factor during the process of social interaction and customers expected services.（Zeithaml， 2009）

2.3.2 Internal response to the servicescape

2.3.2.1 Emotional and cognition

Customers and employees have a cognitive， emotion and physiological respond to the physical environment. （Zeithaml， 2009）

2.3.2.2 Environment and emotion

From the emotional aspect， it refers to emotional response to the environment. （Pleasure or displeasure， degree of arousal decided by the level of excitement or simulation） （Zeithaml， 2009）

2.4 Consumer behavior and servicescape in China and UK

According to Hofstedes （1991） analysis in culture dimensions， China belongs to an oriental country with long term Confucian philosophy. Therefore nonverbal clues are preferred. Chinese people also value ‘Manzi. So they always choose physical environment which can present itself most directly.

In terms of the comparison between China and UK， first， China is a highly homogeneous and collectivist society while UK society is multicultural. （Mackenzie，2011）. Second， the working languages in UK and China are English and Chinese， respectively. Language is important for the process of cognition such as how to judge and choose. （Schmitt and Zhang，1998）. Third， compared with UK， the development level of service industry in China is low because it has only been opened to foreign business recently which was followed by its entry into WTO.（World Trade Organization） （ Hunter and Sexton，2005）

Besides， with the countrys development， new generation adopt ‘hedonism rather than ‘work hard and get rich. （MeEWen and Fang et al， 2006）They like to experience novel element and thing related with fashion. They value creativity a lot. （Giddens， 1991）

3. Analyses and discussion

3.1 Problems identification

Incompatible customer mix and interaction between different ethnic within the same restaurant have brought many problem to this restaurant. But this paper mainly focuses on anglicizing the service design and standard gap in order to find some clues for the problem solving.

3.2 Methodology

A Central Intercept Test （CIT） of Street survey has been used for the primary data collection because of its high efficiency and cost effective. （Market Guide Online， 2009）These five interviews were conducted in the city center and the respondents have mix cultural backgrounds consist of British， Chinese.

3.3 Mapping of customers perception

Biter （1992） used the Mehrabian-Russell Stimulated Response Model and the Russell Model of Affect to develop the servicecape model. The two models have demonstrated how people response to the servicescape in psychology and provided us a way to understand consumers perception thoroughly.

4. Implement and suggestion

In this case， the Oriental City Restaurant should blueprint its service the same prompt service， rather than some consumers experiencing inconvenience because of the systems ‘bottle-neck. The quality of employees should be improved because of the poor communication ability and unsatisfactory manners. In addition， its core service should offer a competitive advantage or whether by using technology to meet those seeking quicker service. Moreover， the companys brand image should be molded effectively by using servicescape elements to ‘create imagery and invoke feelings in its patrons. （Debra and Aron， 2004）

In terms of the incompatibility occurs between customers， the company should assess compatibility of segments and isolate incompatible segments if possible and provide private rooms for customers who value individual space and time very much. It should enhance segment compatibility in order to increase customers satisfaction of their experience. （Meuter and Bitner，1998 ）

5. Conclusions

Customer service care is important for a company to build and strengthen its brand. The customers satisfaction of their experience contributes largely to their loyalty of the brand. （Grace et al， .2004） Servicescape plays a pilot role in deciding customers cognitive and evaluation of a company while compatibility contributes to the harmony of an environment， especially for those who are at a multi-cultural environment. Compatibility can decide whether a global business investment succeed or not to a large extend. （Zeithaml， 2009） This being the case， the Oriental City Restaurant should endeavor to improve its servicesacpe and customers compatibility. Hopefully， through the service improvement and effective service delivering， the Oriental City Restaurant can adapt itself successfully and remain competitive.

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