Manufacturing-led development has provided the traditional model for creating jobs and prosperity. But in the past three decades the conventional pattern of structural transformation has changed, with the services sector growing faster than the manufacturing sector. This raises critical questions about the ability of developing economies to close productivity gaps with advanced economies and to create good jobs for more people. At Your Service? The Promise of Services-Led Development (www.worldbank.org/services-led-development) assesses the scope of a services-driven development model and policy directions that can maximize the model’s potential.

Comparison of the service sector in the USSR and abroad - maintains that the small share of the service sector in the soviet economy is due chiefly to the socialist economic system and to its economic growth strategy, covers theoretical aspects, industrial aspects, the industrial structure, service labour force, the service gap in commerce, etc., and relies primarily on data for the period up to 1968. Bibliography, references and statistical tables.

Society, globally, has entered into what might be called the “service economy.” Services now constitute the largest share of GDP in most countries and provide the major source of employment in both developed and developing countries. Services permeate all aspects of peoples’ lives and are becoming inseparable from most aspects of economic activity. “Quality management” has been a dominating managerial practice since World War II. With quality management initially associated with manufacturing industries, one might assume the relevance of quality management might decrease with the emergence of the service economy. To the contrary, the emergence of the service economy strengthened the importance of quality issues, which no longer are associated only with manufacturing industries but are increasingly applied in all service sectors, as well. Today, we talk not only about product or service quality but have even expanded the framework of quality to quality of life and quality of environment. Thus, quality and services have emerged in parallel as closely interrelated fields. The Encyclopedia of Quality and the Service Economy explores such relevant questions as: What are the characteristics, nature, and definitions of quality and services? How do we define quality of products, quality of services, or quality of life? How are services distinguished from goods? How do we measure various aspects of quality and services? How can products and service quality be managed most effectively and efficiently? What is the role of customers in creation of values? These questions and more are explored within the pages of this two-volume, A-to-Z reference work.

Report on economic research on the growth of service sectors in the USA - covers hours of work in such industries, wages, input output, labour productivity, economic implications, employment, cyclical unemployment, etc., and includes case studies. References and statistical tables.

The service sector in most advanced economies accounts for up to seventy percent of employment and GDP and, given its growing importance, has received much research attention over the last two decades. However, not very much attention has been paid to the relationship between this sector and both its territorial impact and regional effects. The main objective of this book is to offer a comprehensive approach to these aspects, focusing particularly on the location factors of service industries and the importance of some specific services, such as business services and knowledge and information services. The contributions have been prepared by well-known experts in the field from a wide number of countries. The focus of all contributions is not only on theoretical aspects, but also provides empirical analyses on specific countries and topics such as the geographical concentration, globalization impacts, foreign direct investments, and innovation.

This text seeks to raise the curtain on competitive pricing strategies and asserts that businesses often miss their best opportunity for providing consumers with what they want - an experience. It presents a strategy for companies to script and stage the experiences provided by their products.

The services economy is on the rise all around the world, and services now comprise the largest share of economic activity and employment in almost every country. This book presents the latest evidence demonstrating how technologies and globalization have transformed the services industry. Services are becoming increasingly tradable under World Trade Organization rules and regional trade agreements, and some services subsectors are also seeing rates of productivity growth comparable to that in manufacturing. At the same time, services are increasingly contributing to manufacturing success, and countries’ overall economic competitiveness now hinges crucially on the availability of high-quality and affordable services inputs. Furthermore, a well-functioning services sector can accelerate human development through better access to basic needs, such as education, energy, finance, health, water, and sanitation. Services can also be a source of good jobs with fewer negative environmental and social externalities. Overall, the ongoing structural transformation toward a services economy is a unique opportunity to achieve long-term income growth, which in turn promotes sustainable development. This book offers suggestions on how to achieve this, and is thus an indispensable read for researchers and policy makers alike.

An economic analysis of de-industrialization that considers the ongoing transformation of the industrial economies and the consequences for economic policy.

A frequent complaint in literature is that services have been previously largely overlooked by innovation researchers and technology policy makers. Given the unarguable growth in the importance of the service sectors, increasing numbers of researchers and policy makers have taken a fresh look at service activities. Innovation Systems in the Service Economy: Measurement and Case Study Analysis presents contributions which increase the understanding of the role of services in the development of the division of labor in modern economics. This volume is devoted to the elaboration and understanding of the following two themes. First, service firms can be innovative in their own right, even though the process of innovation and the kinds of innovation may be different from those traditionally associated with manufacturing and other primary activities. Second, service firms and associated activities play an important role in the evolving division of creative labor which is constituted by modern innovative systems.