Final answer:
Customer service is defined as the ability of knowledgeable and capable employees to deliver products and services to their external customers. It is directly influenced by business decisions on outsourcing and production technology choices.
Step-by-step explanation:
Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Among the options provided, Option 1 is the correct answer: Customer service is the ability of knowledgeable and capable employees to deliver products and services to their external customers. Customer service plays a critical role in a company's ability to maintain ongoing customer relationships and can be affected by various factors such as outsourcing and production technology. Outsourcing to countries with a large number of educated young people fluent in English, like India, has become common for customer services and other services, while technological advances provide companies with choices on how to balance the mix of labor and capital in production, whether through automation or human resources.