The Service industries (More formally termed: 'tertiary sector of industry' by economists)

involve the provision of services to businesses as well as final consumers. Such, therefore,
include accounting, tradesman ship (like mechanic or plumber services), computer services,
restaurants, tourism, etc.

Hence, a Service Industry is one where no goods are produced whereas primary industries are
those that extract minerals, oil etc. from the ground and secondary industries are those that
manufacture products, including builders, but not remodeling contractors.

service industry, an industry in that part of the economy that creates services rather than
tangible objects. Economists divide all economic activity into two broad categories, goods and
services. Goods-producing industries are agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and construction;
each of them creates some kind of tangible object. Service industries include everything else:
banking, communications, wholesale and retail trade, all professional services such as
engineering, computer software development, and medicine, nonprofit economic activity, all
consumer services, and all government services, including defense and administration of justice..

SERVICE BUSINESSES

Service businesses are enterprises that are established and maintained for the purpose
of providing services (rather than or in addition to products) to private and/or
commercial customers. The American Marketing Association defined services as
"activities, benefits, or satisfactions which are offered for sale or are provided in
connection with the sale of goods."

The overall service industry is regarded as an already robust one that should enjoy
considerable healthy growth rates in the future as the United States and other nations
continue to move from manufacturing-based economies to technologically advanced
service economies. "The service sector is a most attractive arena for the aspiring
entrepreneur," confirmed Irving Burstiner in Start & Run Your Own Profitable Service
Business. "Many service enterprises can be launched with far less money than the
amount of capital typically needed to open a manufacturing, wholesale, or retail
business. Many new service operators are able to begin at home, thus avoiding the
expense of renting, buying, or constructing business premises. Moreover, end-of-year
earnings in the service sector compare favorably with the profit margins enjoyed by
most other types of enterprise." In addition, service businesses enjoy several other
advantages over their brethren in other business areas. For one thing, they tend to be
local, and they often do not have to contend with the national or international corporate
giants that roam across the manufacturing, retail, and wholesale industries. Moreover,
they generally do not have to make the same levels of investment in inventory, raw
materials, finished goods, operations, or production management as do firms engaged
in manufacturing, wholesaling, or retailing.

Of course, initial investment requirements can vary significantly from sector to sector.
While some service businesses, like bookkeeping, house painting, child care, lawn care,
housekeeping, and tutoring, can all be launched with a modest investment by
individuals with special skills or knowledge in those areas, other service businesses
require a far greater investment of money. Attorneys, doctors, and other professionals
who make their living by providing their services to clients make heavy up-front
expenditures (tuition), while entrepreneurs interested in launching service businesses
that require extensive investments in facilities and/or equipment (hotels, laundromats,
car rental agencies, nursing care facilities, medical offices, etc.) have to make big up-
front expenditures of their own, albeit in different form.

FACTORS IN SERVICE INDUSTRY GROWTH

following as major reasons for service industry expansion in North America:

1. Increased affluence—As consumers have raised their standard of living, they have
increasingly chosen to purchase services such as lawn maintenance and carpet
cleaning that they previously took care of themselves.
2. Increased leisure time—Some segments of the population have been able to
garner larger chunks of free time; this trend, coupled with increased wealth, has
spurred a higher demand for certain service businesses such as travel agencies
and resorts, adult education courses, guide services, golf courses, health clubs,
etc.
3. Changing work force demographics—Over the past few decades, increasing
numbers of women have entered the work force. This has spurred greater
demand for services in such realms as child care, housekeeping, drycleaning, etc.
4. Greater life expectancy—Another development that has had a particular impact
on certain service sectors, particularly in the health care industries.
 5. Increased complexity of products/technological advancement—High-tech
products have created a corresponding increase in demand for specialists who
can fix and maintain those products (computers, cars, electronic equipment,
etc.).
6. Increased complexity of life—Many service sectors have enjoyed tremendous
growth because of their orientation toward helping individuals and businesses
stay on top of the many facets of today's fast-paced society. Tax preparers,
psychiatrists and counselors, and legal advisors are good examples.
7. Increased environmental awareness—General trends toward increased ecological
sensitivity and enlightened natural resource management practices have spurred
growth in environmental service sectors (waste management, recycling,
environmental advocacy).
8. Increased number of available products—Technological advances have spurred
development of service industries in such areas as programming.

TYPES OF SERVICE INDUSTRIES

Following is a representative listing of service businesses in a range of commercial

sectors that could conceivably be launched by an enterprising entrepreneur:

 Professional services (physicians, pharmacists, dentists, attorneys, architects,

civil engineers)
 Business services (advertising, financial planning, mailing services, computer and
data processing, consulting, training, recruiting)
 Counseling services (marriage, weight loss, career planning, pastoral, psychiatric)
 Transportation services (trucking, busing, taxicab service, limousine service, car
rental)
 Personal services (pet grooming, health clubs, catering, beauticians, barbers,
hairdressers, tailors and seamstresses, photography studios, realtors, funeral
parlors, wedding planning)
 Restaurants and lodging (diners, family restaurants, taverns, hotels, cottages)
 Social services (individual and family services, child day care, residential care)
  Maintenance services (landscaping, plumbing and electrical, appliance,
equipment, automobile, bicycle)

In addition, many service-oriented businesses are, by their very nature, slanted toward
meeting the needs of one of two markets: individual consumers or other
businesses/organizations. Of course, some service establishments, like carpet cleaning
companies, can market their services to both client categories. But the majority of
service businesses place their emphasis on meeting the needs of one market segment or
the other. For example, a pet grooming establishment will not waste its advertising
dollars trying to reach other businesses; its primary clients are going to be individual
consumers simply because of the nature of the services they offer. Conversely, the
primary target of a company that provides security personnel is going to be commercial
establishments. Entrepreneurs that hope to market their services primarily to
organizations rather than individuals should note that, on the whole, such businesses
require greater capital investment at the outset.

KEYS TO SERVICE BUSINESS SUCCESS

"Service supplier skill should be distinguished on at least two levels," wrote Glenn
Bassett, author of Operations Management for Service Industries. "The first is the
technical product/service knowledge level. The service giver is expected to know the
offering in depth and detail so that information about its utility and application can be
provided on demand. He or she must also be technically competent to deliver the service
expected, adapting as needed to varied or changing customer need. The second level of
skill pertains to customer relationship. Here it is often as simple as whether the service-
giver treats the customer as an object to be controlled and used, or as a unique,
important individual to be served."

Entrepreneurs engaged in service businesses also need to recognize how service

marketing differs from product marketing. "Service marketing," said Burstiner, "can
be far more challenging than the marketing of products because of these three
distinctive characteristics of service offerings: 1) Services are intangible; 2) Services
are perishable; 3) Services cannot be separated from the service providers." Finally,
service businesses need to consider the way in which they distribute their services.
Most service businesses can be grouped according to the methodology with which
they deliver their services. In other words, does the company bring its service to the
customer, or does the customer go to the firm to receive the service? "In some cases,"
wrote Bateman and Zeithaml in Management: Function and Strategy, "there is no
choice. The plumber or house painter has to go to the work. Conversely, the
customer goes to the restaurant, and the patient has to go to the hospital for the
operation. Some services have options. Either the TV repairperson can go to the
customer or the customer delivers the TV to the back room (the repair shop). A
service that has traditionally required the customer to come to its facility has a
strategic advantage in changing that tradition." Indeed, owners of service businesses
should examine this facet of their business closely to look for ways of realizing an
advantage over competitors. In fact, customer convenience is—next to quality of
service rendered—perhaps the single most important factor in securing and retaining
new customers.

 Business services
 Consulting
 Health care like hospitals
 Real estate valuation
 Personal services
 Franchising services
 Legal practice like lawyers

Disposal of waste