Case12

Chapter 2

1) First we need to know what is Service Culture. It’s “a shared purposed where everyone is
focused in creating value inside and outside the organization. The Manager of Grand Targhee
created a service culture by understands the customer’s satisfaction. They target in what the
customer want not what the customer need. According to the 4P of Marketing (Product, Price,
Place and Promotion) we could see that Grand Targhee had a lot of problems and disadvantages.
Their first disadvantage is they have 3000 acres but they just have 4 fill-size lifts and a snow
card, not like the Jackson Hole they only have 2500 acres but they 8 lifts, a gondola, and a tram
(page 622). Second is their location does not allow them to build the real estate to attract the
costumer like Mary McKhann said: “Real estate has become a huge part of the business plans for
all the major ski operations”(page 622).

But they had solutions to turn their disadvantages into their unique signatures that their
opponent didn’t have. By having their own unique program which brings their customer back.
Why? We could understand a customer could use and try a lot of service from everywhere. But
the reason they keep come back is because the service make them feel special, feel
comfortable,… And we already saw the ski school could develop the friendship between the
customers and the resort. But the true is customers they don’t want to have any lesson during
their vacation they want to immediately know how to ski so Targhee focus in that point and let
the customers decide what they want to receive during the vacation. That’s how Targhee creat
their service culture

2) Like what Williamson concluded: “It was more about how much fun the guest had.
People don’t like to pay for classes on vacation unless it’s something fun. Fun became my focus
for the industry.” But why fun relate to establishing a service culture? First they focus in their
little customers “kids” because like what Hanson figured out from a superb program: “ If little
kids don’t have fun, mom’s not going to bring them back again.” (page 623) So their first
focusing is kids’ feeling. If the kids from school enjoy the program Targhee will use that as a
sponsored and let their parents know, and their parents would tell their friends too.

3) The product Grand Taghee focus on to create interaction between the guests and
employees is their private skiing program. This service succeeds because they create the
connection and had responsibility between the staff and the customers. They paid their staff base
on the customer’s behavior and comment, which will motivate their staff to accomplish the work
with their best strongly.

Chapter 10
 They made their staff did as they expected. They made customers kept coming back for
them. The ski schools from other resorts run as loss leader but not for Targhee. They are more
concentrate into their private lessons programs with the good leadership therefore their ski
school brought 4.5% of revenue and their net earnings is 30.1%, double to national average.
(page 624) Also they can push the rating of skiing patrol from 44% in five years to 88% in last
year.(page 624)