ABSTRACT
Introduction The nature of a number of services means that many of the activities in a service firm's value chain must be performed at or near the buyer. As a result, many service industries are highly fragmented, with numerous small firms providing services on a localized basis. However, globalization of markets and the introduction of new technology are causing major changes in industry structures and the sources of competitive advantage in many service industries. An increasingly global market, efficient logistics and telecommunications systems, combined with new generation information technology, mean that many service industries are rapidly consolidating and large, multi-unit firms are emerging. This, in turn, has accelerated the internationalization of service competition.
