1.

As the manager responsible for quality, lessons to be learnt from how

the train staff and the company handled the incident. And processes to be
adopted in terms of service recovery to improve staff handling of any future
incidents.
: Eurostar has many years of reputation. It is been studied that there have been merely 2 to 3 such incidents.
The December 2009 incident however had a huge aftermath. Primarily, lets go through the problems faced
by the passengers, consumers and the company. We can list them down to make it simpler to analyze.
 The passengers were trapped for a long time inside the train without basic amenities, unaware of the
situation, no consideration from the staff, etc.
 The consumers for the following days faced cancellations, got affected monetarily, suffered by forming
long queues, etc.
 The company had to go through huge losses, face heavy criticism, reputation loss, etc.
So, at a managerial level there are a couple of inconsistencies that need to be focused on. As a manager, one
can take certain things into consideration before making a plan of action.
A. It can be analyzed that there were several inaccuracies in services. One can observe that in spite of the train
staff being present, passengers faced zero water supplies, no provision of food, toilets inaccessible, etc. This
shows that either the staff was not recruited well or panicked with the passengers or was ignorant to the
assigned duties.
B. So, as a manager one should know the exact reason behind such a performance of the staff and then
accordingly plan a solution to rectify the problem.
C. From the company angle, one can understand that the team responsible at the station failed to inform the
customers who were unaware about the progress of the scenario. So, there must be an investigation done for
such unprofessionalism.
D. It can be learned that the terrible response of the staff had cost the company the loss of goodwill from the
consumers. So, one can study the overall service failure in order to maintain certain absolute rules and
regulations. One can identify that the company needed strong alterations starting with service evaluations.

It is stated that, “Service recovery refers to the actions companies take when they have failed to provide the
service customers expected” (Michel, Bowen, Johnston, 2006). Applying service recovery efforts can help
reduce future service failures. Tracking and analyzing service failures and service recovery strategies is an
extremely useful management tool (Vavra, 1992). In order to conduct service recovery, one must gather
various failures and collect the magnitude of customer dissatisfaction.
The management must follow a certain plan of action to make it possible. They must set a benchmark to go
through the process. An experiment conducted by Ross (1992) suggests that “when consumers are offered
an apology or are provided with the opportunity to express their concerns to a service representative that
perceptions of satisfaction and fairness are enhanced”.
• One can observe from the given data that the company officials had taken a step towards service recovery
by personally apologizing to the customers and also by providing certain compensation for the loss and the
stress that the customers have gone through.
• But, it can argued that, “To simply say you’re sorry is nice, but it’s not very powerful” (Tschochl, 2005).
The company officials need to take a step forward in the process. The staff must be encouraged and taught
to respond and not react in this situation. They must empower the front-line staff in this situation by giving
them the authority to satisfy the customers at any cost in order to win back their loyalty“ (Tschochl, 2005).
• “Training reduces service failure” (Tehrani, 1995). The company should also consider arranging a training
and development program for the employees in order to prepare them for such mishaps in the future. In the
program, they can put forth live practical examples and ask them to rectify the problem. They should also
be adequately updated with the information of the service they are going to provide to the customers. It is
the duty of the managers and the concerned authorities to make each and every member of the staff
accurately informed about the services and the Do’s and Don’ts in circumstances to come.
• Service recovery can benefit the company in other different ways. It can bring in new customers if the
recovery is done strategically. So, after failure, the company can advertise itself guarantying quality service
to the existing customers, which might generate word-of-mouth publicity and pull new customers. So, we
can conclude by saying that “The more organized the service environment, the less the likelihood of
service failure” (Bitner, 1990). So, one can say that service recovery cannot occur overnight. It will require
committed efforts and this mainly is in the hands of the front-line employees.

o References

1. (Michael, Brown, Johnston 2006) SERVICE RECOVERY MANAGEMENT: CLOSING THE GAP
BETWEEN BEST PRACTICES AND ACTUAL PRACTICES {Online} (Updated on 10 Aug 2006)
Available at:
[Accessed on 27 Feb 2010]
2. (Varva, 1992) TRACKING SERVICE FAILURES AND EMPLOYEE RECOVERY EFFORTS by
K. Douglas Hoffman, Scott W. Kelley and Holly M. Rotalsky {Online}
Available at:
[Accessed on 26 Feb 2010]
3.
 2.Importanceof Total Quality Management and recommendations for a
TQM programme for Eurostar.
: First, lets understand the concept of Total Quality Management by saying that “it’s a people-focused
management system that aims at continual increase in customer satisfaction at continually lower real cost.
Total quality is a total system approach, and an integral part of high-level strategy. It works horizontally
across functions and departments, involving all employees, top to bottom” (Rampey and Roberts, 1992).
“Total quality management represents a movement which is revolutionizing the way business is done in the
industrialized world’’ (Miller, 1996). Total Quality Management is essential for the company because it
will benefit it in a way that will compliment its current position. The role of TQM for Eurostar can be
jotted down as follows:

 If the company undertakes it, they will improve their quality without affecting the cost. That is, if
everybody from all levels is dedicated, the method might not only reduce such possibilities but also the
overall cost.
 If the method is applied, they can be prepared for such hazards and even prevent them. So, it might just
save the trouble of fighting and coping up with the problem.

Total Quality
Management

Commitment
from All
levels

Preven
Consist Reduce Saves ts
-ency s Time Future
Overall
Mishap
Cost
s

 Flood (1993) has mentioned that, “Total quality means everyone should be involved in quality, ensuring
that quality is achieved according to the requirements in everything they do”. Which means that if
commitment is in place, the company, after failure, can stand on its feet faster than calculated
 Once the collective efforts start rising, it will automatically result into consistency of quality service by the
staff to the new and existing customers.
 Eurostar has a high flow of frequency .i.e., the inbound and outbound trains run constantly on daily basis.
Which means the number of commuters traveling regularly is huge or we can say that many a customers
rely on this rail services. The company has a goodwill carried on for years. So, in such instances, Eurostar
needs to cope up and stand on its feet as fast as it can so as to not lose as many customers as possible. For
that reason itself, the company needs to conduct a Total Quality Management programme. This will help
the organization to address the staff or especially to the front-line employees because the motive of this
approach is to educate people that, “Every job must add value” (Flood, 1993). If they are meticulous in
each and every level, it will result into quality improvement. Once the programme being held, the company
can then bring into the notice of the staff the advantages of TQM. There are many areas that can be covered
in the programme
• At first, one can point out the duties of the engineers responsible. This is because we can assume that if the
train had such an unusual breakdown, it can be assumed that the engineering team could be questioned for
not scrutinizing the train accurately before it departed from the station.
• The organization must also include Co-ordination as a part of the course. As it can be generalized, that a
lot of the inconvenience was due to lack of co-ordination within the entire staff. That is the people were
trapped inside without food and water, which means the train staff did not co-ordinate with the authorities
for sending a temporary back up.
• Another tool that can be added is building communication gap. It is clearly visible that there was lack of
communication, between the staff and the higher officials and the employees and the customers.
• One more area that should be covered is the time cycle. As the time cycle speeds up, the quality reduces. It
was seen that the employees were managing recovery in a hasty manner, which resulted in such a mess
ultimately questioning the quality.
So, saying that if the company goes ahead with the TQM programme covering the above-mentioned points,
there will be continual improvement in the organization can sum it up. Also we can say that by following
TQM, the company will not need to fear the obstacles to come.

oReferences

1. (Rampey and Robert, 1992)

2. (Flood, 1993)
3. (Miller, 1996)
3.Causes for the concern of the marketing department of
Eurostar due to the handling and wide reporting of the
incident. And how it might affect future sales.
: Eurostar has built a considerable amount of standard and has maintained an excellent history for over a
period in this field. So, the bigger the name of the company, the higher is the risk of getting bad publicity.
This is because the customers and the overall market hold high level of expectations from this organization.
People expect the company to be impeccable, and if they perceive that the company has had a fallout, then
it takes time and strategy from the marketing department to get back to the same image that the market is
holding for them. Rogers (2007) stated that, ”Good conflict resolution can strengthen perceptions of value.
Unsuccessful handling of conflicts almost always leads to the end of the business relationship” (p.154). So,
after studying the picture of the incident, one can assume that the following can be listed as a concern for
the marketing department.
 The major anxiety for the department will be bad publicity. It takes a lot of uphill struggle to reach the
level that the company has earlier reached. Now, the marketing team will need to reconcile their steps in
order to get over the negative publicity.
 If we talk about advertisement, it will be to some extent tricky initially to reach out to the customers and
address and sell them the services again because loyalty once lost is hard to achieve.

4Ps: Marketing Departments’ Concern

Passenger Publicity
Loss Unwanted

P.R.
Reconstruction Price Cut

 Another concern is that the passengers that use to travel with Eurostar initially will opt for alternate routes
for their destinations. As we know Eurostar is not on a small scale, there are a large number of commuters
using the services on daily basis.
 They will also be required to team up with the public relations department in order to have complete
reconstruction of the image of the organization. The team will be requiring a lot of creative minds at this
stage regain the image.
 Another possibility to be faced by the department is the price factor. The organization might have to face
the step of slashing the ticket fares, as the decrease in demand will result into price reduction too.

As discussed earlier, Eurostar is not a miniature company to escape with whatever happened. The sales are
bound to get affected as the company has a monopoly in the market. There are certain areas, which will
affect or should we say will have adverse effect on sales.
 ⇒ The impression of the company that the reporting has depicted is that the company was terrible at
handling such unforeseen and unfavorable events due to which the passengers suffered.. This will decrease
its value in the market leading to dip in sales.
⇒ This will reduce the number of commuters during the Christmas season, which will ultimately affect
the sales. This may also happen because the customers lost their trust and will assume that such a technical
problem might occur again. Rogers (2007) has argued that, “the length of a relationship may be some
indication of strength to both supplier and customer. But long relationships can also be long histories of
dissatisfaction and conflict” (p.153).
⇒ The company will now have to face some serious competition from other modes of transportation as
this incident has cost the company the loss of their brand positioning. Although other modes might be
expensive, the customers will choose safety over price.
⇒ Also, this is hit the company from tourism perspective. Tourists from all over the world, after getting
such news, will not consider Eurostar rail services as an option to travel and visit places, affecting sales
eventually.
So, the overview is that, the company might just loose onto the new customers along with the existing ones
due to the negative outcomes from the media and the unsatisfactory supervision of the marketing
department.

o References:

1. (Rogers, 2007), Rethinking Sales: A strategic guide for practitioners, chapter. 8-The end of Relationships,
p.153-154
 4.Role and Limitations of Relationship marketing as part
of the marketing strategy. And steps that the Marketing
manager could take to build a long-term
relationship with the customers and encourage repeat
sales.
: Relationship Marketing is a process that some analysts claim as tedious and risky. But one thing can be
assured that once followed will result into something that will provide a very high-level of satisfaction to
the company and its customers. Relationship Marketing is “a modern concept of marketing”, and can be
defined as a means of “attracting, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships” (Berry, 1983, p.25).
Relationship marketing can play a major role in retaining the trust of the existing customers and also
pulling in new customers. But, the process cannot be termed as flawless. So, foremost lets start with the
role that RM carries as part of the marketing strategy followed by its limitations.

ROLE of Relationship Marketing

↔ An important purpose or step of RM is risk taking. The team must come up with new ideas and creativity
in order to build and sustain a relationship with the customers. These ideas and innovations may be in non-
monetary terms too.
↔ Another objective of Relationship Marketing is to attract the customers keeping the companies interest in
mind. This refers to both new and existing customers as discussed earlier.

RISK
TAKING

ATTRACT/ENHANCE

PROVIDE SATISFACTION

SUSTAIN/MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIP

↔ Their next aim is to satisfy the customers, which ultimately leads to building strong business relations with
them. Because it san be said that customer satisfaction is directly proportional to company’s profitability.
↔ One of their main objectives now is to sustain the relationship that is created. For that, the department
needs to come up with value added services so that the customers do not end up considering other options
and are glued to their company.

LIMITATIONS
◊ Depending on the market and the type of service provided, it is difficult to have a one on one relationship
with the customer. Which means, the service provider cannot maintain a positive relationship with each
and every individual customer.
◊ In the same way, the company cannot give equal importance to all the customers. Which means that if one
 customer is given preferential treatment in front of the other loyal customers, then the company’s loyalty
could be at stake.
◊ Many a times, it is not that easy to attract new customers because of the company’s focus on meeting the
existing customer’s demand.
◊ The risk factor is high.i.e., the general idea of the programme is impressive, but it is determined that
majority of the time it has failed or a low success rate.
◊ Due to the risk factor and the low success rate, it can be agreed that, the process could turn out to be costly.
As in, if the programme does not fair well, for instance, it requires high level of interaction with the
customers from the employee side and If they might not able to connect then a communication gap takes
place., so, the consumer behavior is such that negative opinions will be formed faster than positive ones.
Thus, the expense that the company will incur will be uncalled for.

A marketing manager is the one who needs to come up with and supervise plans, proposals and strategies
in order to market the company’s products and services. So, as a manager it is essential to innovate ideas
and implement them in an accurate manner.
 As a marketing manager, one can offer benefits to the customers. We can provide discounts, which could
be non seasonal also. Or we can come up with a package deal for the entire family. Price can be major
factor in getting customer loyalty
 These benefits can be non-monetary also. For instance, free trips can be offered to them and membership
schemes can also be put forth.
 An advertisement can be worked on, which shows that the safety and security of the customers is assured.
This might help win back their trust and confidence in the company. Also, we will need to resell the
company image in a fresh way. So, joining the above-mentioned points, we will be able to gain new
customers too.
 As a manager, it is to be guaranteed that the staff is well managed perfectly so as to not disappoint the
customer from this end.
 It is also to be made sure that the front-line employees attitudes are change in facing or addressing the
passengers. High level of interaction and familiarity of the organization in the minds of the customers will
lead to sales growth.
So, it can be determined that all the above elements including the most important point of assurance of
customer safety and interest can gradually lead to long-term relationship with customers, achieving new
customers and evidently maximizing future sales.

(Berry, 1983, p.25), Relationship Marketing: Exploring relational strategies in marketing by John Egan
Chapter-2, Relationships in marketing, p.34