The Concept of Service

Abstract:     
The service sector covers a wide range of activities, with different product and different process characteristics, as well as that of market organisation. Seeking to better understand these differences, this paper puts forward a group of contributing elements that build a conceptual approach to services. The proposed approach is based on three assumptions: i) Service is work in it a broad and fundamental sense, which can be carried out by resources in general, be it by human resources (human work) as well as by machines and equipment (mechanical work); ii) Service is work in process, that is, service is work in the dynamic concept of the term, work in action; iii) All service is work, but not all work is service, that is, there is no two way relationship between service and work. In this conceptual perspective, the product to which the services are related may either be tangible or intangible, that is, they can be a physical or informational asset, since what really characterizes an activity such as a service is, solely and exclusively, doing work. Moreover, it is also possible to classify as service activities not only those that are labour intensive but also capital intensive ones, such as those used in some economic infrastructure activities. Finally, this perspective allows us to affirm that all the stages of economic processes where labour is carried out there is a potential service, but for this to fulfill its potential it is necessary that the work process in question be an autonomous economic activity, based on contractual arrangements (formal or informal), which is constituted by the provision of work

Number of Pages in PDF File: 25

Keywords: service, tertiary sector, theories of value, classification of service activities

JEL Classification: L800

Accepted Paper Series