ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the definition of a service system and its two key elements, namely, service provider and users. People all over the world use a combination of goods and services. The unique characteristics of services—intangibility, perishability, proximity, and simultaneity—have posed special challenges in designing and controlling service systems. Service industries represent enterprises whose primary mission is to provide a particular type of service. There is a growing trend among companies to outsource some of the ancillary and support services so that they can concentrate on their core business. Classification of services by functional areas, in the chapter helps service industries benchmark their services against their peers who are in the same industry classification, so that they can improve their service operations. In most developed countries, the service sector employs more than half of the workforce and accounts for more than two-thirds of the economic output.
