Book excerpt: Successful businesses recognize that the development of strong customer relationships through quality service (and services) as well as implementing service strategies for competitive advantage are key to their success. In its fourth European edition, Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across the Firm provides full coverage of the foundations of services marketing, placing the distinctive Gaps model at the center of this approach. The new edition draws on the most recent research, and using up-todate and topical examples, the book focuses on the development of customer relationships through service, outlining the core concepts and theories in services marketing today. New and updated material in this new edition includes: • New content related to human resource strategies, including coverage of the role of robots and chatbots for delivering customer-focused services. • New coverage on listening to customers through research, big data, netnography and monitoring user-generated content. • Increased technology, social media and digital coverage throughout the text, including the delivery of services using mobile and digital platforms, as well as through the Internet of Things. • Brand new examples and case studies added from global and innovative companies including Turkish Airlines, Volvo, EasyJet and McDonalds. Available with McGraw-Hill’s Connect®, the well-established online learning platform, which features our award-winning adaptive reading experience as well as resources to help faculty and institutions improve student outcomes and course delivery efficiency.