The Service Economy
The world economy is increasingly characterized as a service economy. This is primarily due to the increasing importance and share of the service sector in the economies of most developed and developing countries. In fact, the growth of the service sector has long been considered as an indicator of a country’s economic progress.
The Role Of the Service Economy In Development
As of 2008, services constituted over 50% of GDP in low income countries. As their economies continue to develop, the importance of the service sector continues to grow. For instance, services accounted for 47% of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2000–2005, while industry only contributed 37% and agriculture only 16% in that same period. This means that recent economic growth in Africa relied as much on services as on natural resources or textiles, despite many of those countries benefiting from trade preferences in primary and secondary goods.
Services as Solutions
Firms need to understand their service and their customers to ensure that their services will be viewed as solutions to consumer needs.
If you want customers to buy your services, you need offer them a solution that costs less than the problem is costing them. Your solution might:
- Save your customer money;
- Save your customer time: or
- Improve your customer’s productivity
Selling Services AS Solutions
An illustration called "Honoré Daumier" that's displayed at the Brooklyn Museum. A man is pushing a large bag labeled "budget" up a hill.
Budgets: Services have to be priced fairly in order to attract customers. People aren’t willing to pay for services that are too expensive or that they do not need.