K. Douglas Hoffman earned his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Kentucky and his bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University. He has been formally recognized for teaching excellence and has served as past education coordinator for the Services Marketing Special Interest Group of the American Marketing Association. Dr. Hoffman currently is a professor of marketing and has taught such courses as Principles of Marketing, Services Marketing, E-Marketing, Retail Management, and Marketing Management. His primary teaching and research passion is services marketing. He launched the first services marketing classes at Mississippi State University, the University of North… Carolina at Wilmington, and Colorado State University. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Hoffman was actively involved in his family-owned golf course business, served as a distribution analyst for Volkswagen of America, and worked as a research analyst for the Parker Hannifin Corp. His current research and consulting activities are primarily in the areas of customer service/satisfaction and services marketing education. Dr. Hoffman has coauthored two other South-Western/Thomson Learning texts: Essentials of Services Marketing and Managing Services Marketing, both with John E. G. Bateson.