Benchmarking quality implementation in a service context: A comparative analysis of financial services and institutions of higher education. Part I: Financial services sector

This paper examines the implementation of total quality management in a service sector context. It covers aspects of growth in the service industry, elements of service provision and the relevance of quality specifically to 'intangible' areas of service provision. The paper examines two contrasting service-based sectors, namely financial services and higher education. A benchmarking exercise using secondary data via three case studies from each sector was undertaken. This part covers the financial services sector.