Service (economics)

A service is an act or use for which a consumer, firm, or government is willing to pay.^[1] Examples include work done by barbers, doctors, lawyers, mechanics, banks, insurance companies, and so on. Public services are those that society (nation state, fiscal union or region) as a whole pays for. Using resources, skill, ingenuity, and experience, service provider's benefit service consumers. Services may be defined as intangible acts or performances whereby the service provider provides value to the customer.

Service-relevant resources, processes, and systems are assigned for service delivery during a specific period in time. If the service consumer does not request and consume the service during this period, the related resources may go unused. From the perspective of the service provider, this is a lost business opportunity if no other use for those resources is available. Examples: A hairdresser serves another client. An empty seat on an airplane cannot be filled after departure.

When the service has been completely rendered to the consumer, this particular service irreversibly vanishes. Example: a passenger has been transported to the destination.

Service consumer benefits – (set of) benefits that are triggerable, consumable and effectively utilizable for any authorized service consumer and that are rendered upon request. These benefits must be described in terms that are meaningful to consumers.

Service-specific functional parameters – parameters that are essential to the respective service and that describe the important dimension(s) of the , the service output or the service outcome, e.g. whether the passenger sits in an aisle or window seat.

servicescape

Service delivery point – the physical location and/or logical interface where the benefits of the service are rendered to the consumer. At this point the service delivery preparation can be assessed and delivery can be monitored and controlled.

Service consumer count – the number of consumers that are enabled to consume a service.

Service delivery readiness time – the moments when the service is available and all the specified service elements are available at the delivery point

Service consumer support times – the moments when the support team ("service desk") is available. The service desk is the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for service inquiries. At those times, the service desk can be reached via commonly available communication methods (phone, web, etc.)

Service consumer support language – the language(s) spoken by the service desk.

Service fulfillment target – the provider's promise to deliver the service, expressed as the ratio of the count of successful service deliveries to the count of service requests by a single consumer or consumer group over some time period.

Service impairment duration – the maximum allowable interval between the first occurrence of a service impairment and the full resumption and completion of the service delivery.

Service delivery duration – the maximum allowable period for effectively rendering all service benefits to the consumer.

Service delivery unit – the scope/number of action(s) that constitute a delivered service. Serves as the reference object for the Service Delivering Price, for all service costs as well as for charging and billing.

Service delivery price – the amount of money the customer pays to receive a service. Typically, the price includes a service access price that qualifies the consumer to request the service and a service consumption price for each delivered service.

Any service can be clearly and completely, consistently and concisely specified by means of standard attributes that conform to the MECE principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive).

Service provider (workers and managers)

Equipment used to provide the service (e.g. vehicles, cash registers, technical systems, computer systems)

Physical facilities (e.g. buildings, parking, waiting rooms)

Service consumer

Other customers at the service delivery location

Customer contact

The delivery of a service typically involves six factors:

The service encounter is defined as all activities involved in the service delivery process. Some service managers use the term "moment of truth" to indicate that point in a service encounter where interactions are most intense.

Many business theorists view service provision as a performance or act (sometimes humorously referred to as dramalurgy, perhaps in reference to dramaturgy). The location of the service delivery is referred to as the stage and the objects that facilitate the service process are called props. A script is a sequence of behaviors followed by those involved, including the client(s). Some service dramas are tightly scripted, others are more ad lib. Role congruence occurs when each actor follows a script that harmonizes with the roles played by the other actors.

In some service industries, especially health care, dispute resolution and social services, a popular concept is the idea of the caseload, which refers to the total number of patients, clients, litigants, or claimants for which a given employee is responsible. Employees must balance the needs of each individual case against the needs of all other current cases as well as their own needs.

Under English law, if a service provider is induced to deliver services to a dishonest client by a deception, this is an offence under the Theft Act 1978.

Lovelock used the number of delivery sites (whether single or multiple) and the method of delivery to classify services in a 2 x 3 matrix. Then implications are that the convenience of receiving the service is the lowest when the customer has to come to the service and must use a single or specific outlet. Convenience increases (to a point) as the number of service points increase.

Consulting

Cleaning

Gardeners

Construction

Carpentry

Death care

Coroners

Dispute resolution

Arbitration

Education

Library

Entertainment

Gambling

Dry cleaning

Financial services

Accountancy

industry

Foodservice

(all health care professions provide services)

Health care

Hospitality industry

Information services

Database

Logistics

Transport

Personal grooming

Body hair removal

Public utility

Electric power

Risk management

Insurance

Social services

Social work

The following is a list of service industries, grouped into sectors. Parenthetical notations indicate how specific occupations and organizations can be regarded as service industries to the extent they provide an intangible service, as opposed to a tangible good.