Characteristics of types of services and forms of consumer service. Consulting, information and legal services provided by third parties
The efficiency of organizing the consumer service process, increasing the level and culture of service depend on the types and range of services provided by the enterprise or organization in the service sector.
The characteristics of services based on the nature and final results of the work of employees of service enterprises are widely used. Depending on what needs they satisfy and what the work is aimed at in their provision, services can be divided into two large groups: production (material) and non-production (intangible).
Manufacturing services are aimed at satisfying consumer requests for the production of new or repair of the customer's inventory (durable items) in accordance with the requirements and wishes of the latter. Such services include tailoring of clothes, shoes, hats, production of knitwear, metal, leather goods, furniture, production of photographs, repair of clothing, shoes, furniture, vehicles, household machines and appliances, radio and television equipment, metal products, repair and construction work , dry cleaning, dyeing products, washing clothes, etc.
Non-production services include the services of hairdressing and beauty salons, baths, showers, swimming pools and sports facilities, rental services, reference and information services, recreational and animation services, pawnshop services, funeral services, and transport and forwarding services.
It should be noted that the composition of services due to the continuous expansion of needs for lately has been significantly updated and is characterized by heterogeneity. In this regard, services can be characterized and grouped according to industry.
An industry group of services is a set of specific types of services characterized by the commonality of the process of organizing production, technology and methods of organizing service.
On this basis, in accordance with the all-Russian classifier of services to the population, the following types can be distinguished:
Sewing garments for outerwear, outer dresses, sportswear, toiletries, children's clothing, work clothes, fur products, hats, and other products;
Manufacturing of knitwear;
Sewing products from knitted fabric, manufacturing various finishing details, embroidery, artistic weaving products;
Sewing footwear (fur, dress, casual, lightweight, rubber, felted); production of leather goods;
Manufacturing of furniture (upholstered, lattice, cabinet), non-standard products, furniture elements, household items made of wood, mirrors;
Manufacturing of metal products for vehicles - trailers, cradles, strollers, etc.; tools, utensils, various containers, stands, etc.; nets, fences, monuments, metal haberdashery, jewelry;
Photo film work (production of all kinds of black and white photographs, all kinds of color, artistic photographs, various portraits, photographs and portraits on various materials, albums, amateur films, sound recording);
Manufacturing of other products (wigs, braids, hairpieces, various types of jewelry, ceramics, etc.); the complex of these services cannot be attributed to one industry group; they are grouped conditionally;
Construction work (construction of brick houses, wooden houses, dachas, garden houses, construction of outbuildings, production of building parts, construction of car garages, earthworks, etc.);
Clothing repair (refacing, updating, large, medium, minor repairs of all kinds of clothing from various fabrics and fur); artistic darning and piecing of clothing (repair of table and bed linen, repair of corsetry, repair and renovation of all kinds of hats made of various fabrics and fur);
Repair of knitted products (refacing, updating, large, medium, minor repairs of all kinds of products from various yarns and fabrics);
Shoe repair (small, medium, large repair of all kinds of shoes, including rubber; shoe renewal);
Repair and maintenance of radio and television equipment (TVs, radios, tape recorders, other radio and television equipment, radio and television antennas, amplifiers);
Repair and maintenance of household machines, appliances and metal products (refrigerators, various electrical equipment, washing machines and vibration devices, electric floor polishing machines, electric vacuum cleaners, watches of all brands and systems, cinema equipment, measuring instruments, calculating and writing machines, water heating units and pumps, boat motors, other household machines, instruments and metal products, microprocessor equipment);
Repair and maintenance of vehicles (passenger cars, sidecars, mopeds, motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, boats of various units and components for vehicles);
Repair of furniture (upholstered, lattice, cabinet, other furniture), household items made of wood, mirrors;
Dry cleaning and dyeing of products (all kinds of clothes from various fabrics, fur products, hats from various fabrics, knitwear, blankets of all types, cleaning of upholstered furniture, down and feather products, other products);
Washing products (linen, workwear, down and feather products, other types of products);
Repair of apartments and household facilities (apartments, houses, garages, outbuildings, other types of repairs);
Other types of services of a material nature (processing of agricultural products and raw materials, production and restoration of artistic products, other types of repair and restoration work);
Rental of cultural and household items ( musical instruments, radio television equipment, film and photographic equipment, sports and tourism items, household and household items, linen, wedding accessories, other items);
Freight forwarding services;
Pawnshop services (storage of items belonging to the public);
Hairdressing services ( various works women's and men's rooms, manicure, pedicure, hygiene work);
Reference and information service (issuing certificates to the population on issues of interest, posting advertisements, subscribing telephones for issuing various certificates, providing newspaper and magazine information to the population, providing services for filling out various documents, etc.);
Baths and showers services (washing, massage, sale of brooms, hydrotherapy procedures);
Services related to civil status acts;
Recreational services (services of sanatoriums, dispensaries, boarding houses, rest homes);
Tourist services;
Hotel services;
Catering services (restaurants, cafes, bars, cafeterias), fast food services;
Animation services (entertainment industry);
Funeral services;
Other non-productive services (various types of consultations, childcare, organization and holding of family celebrations, cleaning of apartments, delivery of various purchases, walking pets and grazing).
Some types of services can be divided according to the form of payment into the following groups:
Services by warranty repairs consumer goods, when the payment is made not by the customer, but by the manufacturer;
Paid repair services, when the full payment is made by the customer.
Services also differ according to the nature of demand for:
Services of constant demand (shoe repair, hairdressing services, photography, laundry, baths). These services are characterized by being the most frequently consumed;
Services of periodic demand, the need for which arises relatively rarely (custom tailoring of clothes and shoes, knitting of knitwear, furniture manufacturing, etc.);
Occasional services (repair of durable items, funeral services, etc.); the need for such services is determined by a case or an episode (a well-made refrigerator, for example, long time does not require repair).
Depending on many socio-economic, climatic, natural and other factors, the demand for almost all services is characterized by regularly recurring changes throughout the year, and these fluctuations in dynamics have a relatively stable form. From the point of view of their intensity within the annual consumption, services are distinguished:
Seasonally sustainable (repair of household machines and appliances, photography services, repair radio-electronic equipment and microprocessor technology);
With repeated annual fluctuations (dry cleaning of clothes, repair and tailoring of garments and knitwear, shoes, services of bathhouses, hairdressers and beauty salons);
With a pronounced seasonal rise and fall (repair and construction work on consumer orders, tourism services, recreational services);
Regarding uniform consumption (furniture manufacturing and repair, medical services, educational services, repair and maintenance of vehicles, etc.)
One of the most important areas for improving the quality of service is the introduction of its progressive forms.
Under form of service refers to a certain system of organizing the provision of services to the consumer.
Progressivity forms of service are characterized by reducing the time spent on receiving services and creating the greatest convenience for the consumer.
The forms of service used in service enterprises are presented in Fig. 5.1.
One of the most traditional and widespread forms of service involves receiving and issuing orders directly at the place of production and use of services (ateliers, workshops, hairdressers, baths, restaurants, etc.). This form of service is used by all service enterprises to a greater or lesser extent.
With this form of service, the customer has additional time spent traveling to the location of the enterprise. For services that require repeated and frequent contact by the consumer with service companies, this form of service will not be convenient due to the additional time spent; here, on-site service will be the most rational.
The mobile form of service is understood as a method of delivering services to the consumer, in which employees get as close as possible to customers and provide services directly at their place of residence or work. There are two main types of outreach services to the population: with the help of mobile workshops and reception points, as well as at home.
Mobile workshops and receiving points are mounted on the chassis of off-road trucks. The van compactly houses universal equipment and everything you need to carry out work on site. Comprehensive service team of up to 6 people (driver, universal receiver, cutter, repairman household appliances, hairdresser, photographer) works according to a pre-arranged schedule of visiting populated areas.
Rice. 5.1. Classification of forms of customer service
The main advantage of such a form of service as accepting orders at home, fulfilling them in enterprise conditions and delivering the completed order to your home, is that there is no need for the customer to visit a service enterprise. The receptionist is called to receive and place an order at home by telephone. The time of the receptionist's visit must be agreed upon with the customer and convenient for him. The waiting time for the receptionist should not exceed three hours.
This form services for a number of services is still poorly used, and for some types it has not found application at all. It can be recommended for such types of services as repair of furniture, clothing, shoes and knitwear, dry cleaning, laundry, repair of household, electronic equipment, microprocessor equipment.
On-site service involves the creation on the territory or at the entrances of large industrial enterprises of complex or specialized service departments with the functions of receiving and issuing orders for services, performing minor and some urgent work in the presence of customers. If there are no permanent service departments at the place of work, then services can be provided by mobile workers using mobile workshops and reception centers. This is especially important in rural areas.
Service in hostels and hotels is associated with the organization at the place of temporary residence of people to receive and fulfill in an accelerated time orders for the most necessary services (rental of refrigerators and televisions, ironing and stain removal, mending of products, repair of leather goods, etc.).
By phone As a rule, requests for on-site service are accepted. This method of accepting applications requires a developed telephone network in the region, and in repair services - also targeted troubleshooting systems, which includes a set of questions asked to the customer in a certain sequence and the corresponding answers “yes” or “no”.
By mail Both applications and orders for services can be accepted. Orders received by mail are completed in the form of manufactured or repaired products and sent back to the consumer of the service by cash on delivery.
The traditional and most common method of service is the acceptance of applications and orders for services directly at the reception point in the process of direct dialogue between the receiver and the customer.
To effectively conduct such a dialogue, rational planning and proper equipment of the order taker’s workplace are extremely important.
Significant savings in the population’s time on placing orders can be achieved by introducing at specialized and comprehensive collection points contactless service method, based on mutual trust between the customer and the contractor.
This method of serving the population can be extended to the following types of services:
Shoe repair;
Washing clothes;
Washing shirts;
Developing photographic films.
The fundamental feature of this method is the mandatory presence of an element of self-service on the part of the customer when placing, delivering, and in some cases when receiving an order, i.e., acceptance and partial delivery of the order are carried out without the direct participation of the receiver. In this case, the salon is equipped with special racks with cells. Each cell, intended for receiving and storing only one order for a service, contains a packaging container (paper or plastic bag) for the product and a token. The customer independently fills out the order form, packs his product and releases it into a cell of the rack, takes a token from there, removes the locking device safety device and closes the cell. Having specified the order execution time using operational information in the salon, he leaves. The order is considered accepted for execution. The master completes the order for the service within the scheduled time frame and issues a receipt for payment in advance. When the customer comes for a finished order, he presents a token to the master, receives the product, checks the volume and quality of the work performed, and then pays for the service.
Thus, the non-contact method allows rational use working hours receptionist, creates the opportunity to serve simultaneously large number visitors, reduces the time spent waiting in line to see the receptionist and placing an order.
The contactless service method requires payment of the cost of the order after its completion.
Workshops and reception centers must provide detailed information about the rules for servicing customers using the contactless method.
Orders and requests for services can be fulfilled in both regular and accelerated terms. At the same time, urgent and express execution of orders requires the allocation of special flows of movement of products in production, the use of intensive technologies and modern equipment for the provision of services. The additional costs arising in this case are covered by applying surcharges to the prices of services.
Self-service - a very favorable, from a psychological point of view, form of delivering a service to the consumer, which is currently used in many types of services. Self-service becomes possible thanks to the use of complex mechanized and automated equipment with program controlled technological cycle of work execution. The customer, for a set fee, acquires the right to use the enterprise’s equipment, has qualified advice from workers in the service sector, and receives the necessary service himself.
When self-service, it is effective to use tokens for performing a certain type of work and services.
This form of service is widespread in dry cleaners and laundries, car repair and maintenance enterprises, clothing repair and tailoring enterprises, and catering establishments.
Subscription service gives the consumer the right to priority receipt of services. The queue can only arise among season ticket holders. When repairing household radio-electronic equipment, household electrical machines and appliances, the subscription service agreement is concluded for a period of one year and then automatically extended at the request of the customer until the end of the service life of the item.
According to the current rules of subscription service, the enterprise, subject to operating rules, bears full responsibility for the trouble-free operation of the item during the validity period of the subscription and all necessary work to restore it and maintain it in working condition, it is carried out for the customer free of charge. The customer pays the cost of the subscription, which should be equally beneficial to the consumer and the service provider.
Subscription services can also be used in other industry groups of services (dry cleaning and laundries, hairdressing salons, etc.).
Subscription services are widespread in enterprises of a recreational nature (swimming pools, fitness clubs, sports sections) and entertainment and educational enterprises (exhibitions, libraries, cinemas, theaters, etc.)
Another recently widespread form is contractual service. In this case, the consumer agrees with a certain employee of a service enterprise for a specific type of service (for example, the consumer usually visits the same master - a hairdresser, the owner of a car prefers to have it repaired and serviced by a specialist whom he trusts). When using this form of service, it is advisable to conclude an agreement between the consumer and the employee (master) to perform certain works and services. The consumer is confident that the service will be provided quickly and efficiently, and the master has a regular customer and a certain circle and volume of work.
Rental for the period of repair creates additional convenience for the customer when using the services. The organization of this standard of service to the population involves the creation of a special rental stock of items. In exchange for an item that has failed and needs to be repaired under stationary conditions, the customer is offered a similar item to rent for a set fee. The customer uses the item for a set period of time for a fee, and then for free. Due to the difficulties that have arisen with the creation of a rental stock of items, this form of service has not received proper development in practice, however, at present, producers of many types of services are increasingly resorting to it.
The creation of a special fund of items requires such a form of service as exchange defective items in advance refurbished. Currently, it is used in the repair of watches, repair of motor vehicles (i.e., its individual components and assemblies), and in the future it may be developed in the repair of other household items.
Service by appointment is not progressive, however, when the population’s demand for services significantly exceeds supply, pre-registration becomes effective - it gives a certain socio-economic effect. The positive result of its implementation is the uniform loading of the enterprise and the elimination of queues among customers.
Service based on customer samples, drawings and sketches acceptable for the manufacture of non-standard products (furniture, various items household items and economic purposes). This form of service meets the specifics of the activities of enterprises and involves the use of negotiated prices for services established on the basis of one-time calculations compiled and agreed with the customer.
Of no small importance for the consumer of services is calculation form for their implementation. It is most appropriate to pay for services after they are received, but for some types of services such forms of payment may be used when the customer pays for them before completion or in two terms, for example, services of baths, showers, intermediary services, sewing and knitting of products, repair and maintenance of vehicles . Payment before receiving the service applies to self-service. For some types of services (construction, renovation of houses, apartments, garages), the customer can pay the service company non-cash through post offices or banks.
One of the most promising forms of service currently is comprehensive service. With this form, the consumer receives several types of services in one place, which significantly reduces the time for receiving them. Comprehensive services include such forms as turnkey construction, the creation of condominiums in residential buildings, which represent a certain range of services (parking, kindergarten, gym, dry cleaning, laundry, shoe repair and cleaning, all types of utilities, etc.).
Comprehensive services are widely represented in such service enterprises, where in addition to basic services there are also additional services. Such enterprises include hotels, tour companies, auto repair shops, construction organizations, health resort enterprises, etc.
At many service enterprises, the range of services provided is very wide. In this case, there is a situation in which the consumer himself determines the set of services, limiting the manufacturer.
Each service enterprise, guided by the economic situation, supply and demand for services, its capacity and the technologies used, independently determines their composition, methods of delivering services to the consumer, as well as forms of customer service. The main thing is to find the optimal balance between consumer requirements and enterprise capabilities.
1. What is the role of the consumer service organization in the service delivery system?
2. What factors influence the organization of customer service?
3. What are the consumer's requirements for the service?
4. What are the principles of rational placement of service enterprises?
5.What indicators can characterize the level of organization of customer service?
6. How are the types of services performed classified?
7. What characterizes the services industry group?
8. What is meant by a form of customer service?
9. What forms of service are used in service enterprises?
10.By what criteria are forms of public service classified?
for services. This applies, in particular, to the processes of leasing tangible or intangible assets of organizations.
Along with the indicated features, in certain cases, features such as the impact on the quality of the service of third-party consumers, the time of its provision, asymmetry of information about the content of the service between producers and consumers, etc. are noted.
The level of manifestation of the above properties of a service depends on its content, as well as other characteristics reflected, in particular, in the classification of services.
Questions to consider:
1. Provide examples of services that confirm each of the highlighted properties. Think about how in each of the examples you give you can reduce negative impact individual properties of the service on consumer demand and the profitability of the service.
2. Does a service have to have all the properties at the same time, or are different combinations of properties possible? Give examples.
3. Why are services becoming an increasingly important means of satisfying human needs, despite the fact that they do not lead to the acquisition of material values?
1.4. Classification of services
The formation of a service management system in conditions of their multiplicity and diversity necessitates the classification of services according to criteria that take into account their essence and specificity. The importance of the classification of services lies in the fact that it allows us to highlight the distinctive features of each type of service and determine the specifics of management methods for organizations operating in the service sector.
There are several criteria for classifying services, the main ones include the following.
By the degree of materiality (by the degree of involvement of material products with the transfer of ownership rights to these products)
meadows are divided into:
intangible services. A useful result is achieved solely as a result of the actions of the service provider. These include: knife sharpening, dry cleaning, consulting, education, insurance, hotel services, transport;
partially material services – services delivered through material goods ( retail, fast food, mobile communications, public utilities: gas, water, energy supply; custom production of clothing, furniture, etc.) or related materials
new product (maintenance, delivery, assembly). A useful result is achieved through the actions of the service producer, while the consumer is or becomes the owner of a material product.
According to the degree of contact between the consumer and the manufacturer:
"clean" services. All useful results are achieved solely as a result of the actions of the service provider, but in this case it is important that this occurs through direct contact between the manufacturer and the client. Here the property of simultaneous production and consumption of a service is manifested to the highest degree;
mixed services, which involve “two-stage” satisfaction of needs, including direct contact between the manufacturer’s personnel and the client and the performance of the manufacturer’s actions in the absence of the client. Please note that individual stages of service production can be undertaken by the client himself, for example in a self-service laundry, then part of the service production will be carried out by the consumer in the absence of staff (contactless);
quasi-production services that practically exclude direct contact between the manufacturer and the client and the presence of the latter at the place of production of services. Their production is largely mass and unified. These include: radio and television broadcast repeater services (radio and television broadcasting), telephone network services.
According to the degree of regularity of provision:
once in a lifetime– funeral services, some medical (for example, removal of the appendix);
rarely – higher education services, facial plastic surgery;
periodically - purchasing housing, buying a car, advanced training;
systematically - fluorographic examination, dental services;
regularly – services of urban transport, trade, public catering;
daily - utility services.
According to the degree of mass clientele services are divided into:
individual – provided to an individual client. These are the services of a psychoanalyst, dentist, massage therapist, hairdresser;
collective (group) – can be provided to a whole group of consumers, united randomly, simultaneously, for
example of passenger transport services, installation of metal doors in houses, excursion services;
corporate, provided for consumers united on a professional basis, and the customer of these services is not the individual consumer, but the organization where he works. Such services include training of enterprise personnel and the provision of medical services in a departmental clinic.
By the nature of the impact on the consumer services are divided into:
tangible operations that directly affect consumers
body (dentist service);
tangible transactions affecting tangible property
(car repair);
intangible actions aimed at the feelings and intellect of the consumer (symphony concert, school lesson);
intangible actions aimed at the intangible property of the consumer (banking transactions).
According to the degree of standardization services are divided into:
unique are services that cannot be repeated due to the characteristics of the client, situation, and other characteristics of the service production process. These may include organ transplant operations, McCartney's performance in Moscow, the launch of a tourist into a space orbital station;
non-standardizable- these are services that, when provided again, will differ from each other, albeit slightly, each time. Such services may include sports competitions, concerts, consulting services;
partially standardized services require standards when performing certain procedures in technological process for the provision of services. For example, these services include the services of hairdressers, dentists, massage therapists;
standardizable services involve performing predetermined actions to provide the service. Such services include such as air passenger services, utilities, banking services;
provision strictly standardized services is determined by the nature of the object to which the service is directed. Such services include car repair, maintenance of complex household appliances, and dry cleaning of clothes.
By degree of mechanization and automation:
non-mechanized services are, for example, collective worship, various kinds of religious rites, most intimate services;
mechanized with loss of service quality for the client - include,
for example, mechanical shoe cleaning, massage using various devices;
mechanized without loss of quality, but with loss of prestige – this is lunch at a fast food restaurant, not at an expensive one; buying and fitting clothes in a store, rather than ordering from a famous fashion designer;
mechanized without loss of quality for the client – include gambling services and information services.
In relation to other products:
complementary services, when a product (material product or other service) corresponds to the consumption of this service. For example, the presence of complex household appliances determines the use of repair services; trips for tourism purposes involve the consumption of hospitality services and excursion services;
interchangeable(substituted) services, when the consumption of goods
ra (material or service) can be replaced by a given service.
By remoteness of the producer and consumer of services (or delivery method):
services allowing territorial removal of the producer and consumer of the service, delivered using technical means;
services that combine the production of a service and its consumption at the place of production;
services, combining the production of a service and its consumption at the place of consumption;
services that combine the performance of functions by the service provider with the transfer of some functions to the consumer himself, including
understanding a number of operations (stages) of work.
Along with this, there are a number of approaches to the classification of
meadow according to industry.
In Russia, there are currently several classifiers that characterize the service sector from one point or another. In statistics, according to the All-Russian Classifier of Technical, Economic and social information, all services are divided into services to the population, designated in the All-Russian Classifier
services to the population, and services grouped by types of activities included in the All-Russian Classifier of Types of Economic Activities.
Thus, in international practice, the Classifier of sectors and subsectors of services used within the GATT/WTO is used. This classifier combines more than 160 types of services that classified into 12 sectors as follows:
business (including professional and computer) services;
communications services;
construction and related engineering services;
distribution services, including wholesale and retail trade services;
educational services;
services related to environmental protection;
financial (insurance and banking) services;
health and social care services;
tourism and travel-related services;
services for organizing leisure, cultural and sports events;
transport services;
other services not included in the list (for example, household services).
The All-Russian Classification of Services to the Population (OKUN), introduced on January 1, 1994, contains 13 higher groups and more than 1,500 names of specific services, among which the following stand out:
household services;
passenger transport services;
communication services;
housing and communal services;
services of cultural institutions;
tourist and excursion services;
physical education and sports services;
medical services;
legal services;
banking services;
services in the education system;
trade and catering services, market services;
other services to the population.
for the modern Russian economy (audit, freight, trust, etc.), as well as production services and works. In addition, this classification is weakly interconnected with the international classification of services.
The All-Russian Classifier of Types of Economic Activities (OKVED) contains 17 sections, including those that differentiate the service sector according to industry characteristics. Within the framework of OKVED, the following types of activities in the service sector are identified:
construction;
wholesale and retail trade; repair of vehicles, motorcycles, household products and personal items;
hotels and restaurants;
transport and communications;
financial activities;
real estate transactions, rental and provision of services;
public administration and provision of military duties; compulsory social security;
education;
health and social service provision;
provision of other utilities and social services;
provision of housekeeping services.
IN Within each section, subsections are identified that determine the specifics of the activities of economic entities.
Questions to consider:
1. What practical benefits can classification of services bring?
2. Give examples of services with varying degrees of possible standardization.
3. What services, in terms of their importance, would you highlight for OKUN in the “other services to the population” section?
Self-test questions for Chapter 1
1. Is a service an activity or its result?
2. List the main features of services as goods.
3. What is the relationship between a service and a materialized product?
4. What are the main criteria for classifying services? Give examples different types services within each criterion.
5. List the main groups (sectors) of services.
Questions for discussion
1. What types of services will be squeezed out of the market by the consumption of material goods in the foreseeable future?
2. What service sectors can be key in the economy of individual cities and regions, and what are the prerequisites for this?
3. Select any service and classify it according to different criteria.
4. Show with an example of any product, the role of services in ensuring its competitiveness.
5. What are the disadvantages of servicing the economy from an economic point of view?
Services are a complex of various types of activities, including entrepreneurial ones, related to meeting the totality of people’s needs. Because it's very general definition, distinguish between the concept of “service” in the broad and narrow sense of the word.
In a broad sense, services are a complex of diverse activities and various commercial activities of a person through which he communicates with other people. In a narrow sense, services mean specific promotions and activities that one party (partner) can offer to the other party.
Services constitute the so-called tertiary sector of the economy, which accounts for 2/3 of world GDP. Their predominance in the economy of the United States and other industrialized countries, as well as in most developing countries and countries with economies in transition, is absolute. In 2002, the share of services in GDP Russian Federation was 52%.
Most services are bought and sold, therefore a service is a product. At the same time, services have a number of significant differences from goods in their material form:
they are usually intangible. This intangibility and “invisibility” of most services is often the basis for calling foreign trade in services “invisible” exports and imports;
services are inseparable from their source;
their production and consumption usually occur simultaneously;
They are characterized by inconsistent quality, variability, and impossibility of storage.
The role of services in global and national economies and trade is growing rapidly.
This is explained for the following reasons:
scientific and technological progress, including the development of technology in general and, in particular, rapid growth information technology, which significantly expands the offer various types services;
development of international economic relations in the process of transnationalization and globalization of the world economy, expanding international exchange services;
increasing incomes and solvency of the population in many countries of the world. This applies not only to industrialized countries, but also to many developing countries.
The number of services is very large. For example, during international negotiations within the GATT/WTO, more than 160 types of services, divided into 12 sectors, are taken into account. The UN Classification of Services includes more than 500 positions and subpositions, grouped into 6 industry groups.
Services can be classified not only by industry, but also by the method of provision, connection with the movement of factors of production and other criteria.
Some services are produced and consumed within a particular country. This applies in particular to governmental and mandatory social services which are financed from national budgets.
Most types of services can be traded internationally. Trade in services is non-commodity commercial transactions. If the transaction is concluded between companies or individuals different countries, it is considered international. Unlike trade in goods, exporting or importing services does not necessarily mean movement across a customs border. For example, if a foreigner rents a hotel room or pays for travel within another country, this is considered an international non-commodity transaction for the purchase (sale) of a service.
Cross-border trade in services predominates, when the producer and consumer of the service are separated territorially. At the same time, there is a widespread presence of foreign service providers in the country where these services are provided. For this purpose, branches of banks and insurance companies, representative offices of trade, construction, and consulting firms are organized.
Options are possible when the consumer of a service goes to the country of its production (tourism, treatment) or, conversely, the person who provides the service comes to the country of its consumer.
Almost all types of services can be divided into two large categories: 1)
personalized services that meet your needs individuals; 2)
business services for servicing legal entities.
International financial statistics published by the IMF,
groups services into three sections: 1)
transport services; 2)
tourism; 3)
other private services.
In the sectoral structure of exports of services until the 80s.
XX century Transport services prevailed, but in subsequent decades they gave way to other private services and tourism, which developed much faster. In the 90s XX century other private services took first place in the export of services (about 45%), since they include business services, including financial services (banking, insurance, etc.), information ( software, databases, etc.), consulting, trade and intermediary and a number of others.
The volume of international exports of services is growing faster than international trade as a whole. Exports of services amounted to $402 billion in 1980, in 2003 it already exceeded $1.5 trillion, and in 2005 it amounted to $2.4 trillion, more than 3.7 times. The share of exports of services in total international trade in goods and services is about 20%. However, this figure is growing and by 2015, it is estimated that it could reach 25 - 30%.
All new types of services are included in international trade. It increases the role of services that were previously limited to national boundaries (education, healthcare). However, it is often difficult to distinguish between the export of goods and the export of related services in large and long-term transactions.
International exchange of services is carried out primarily within the group of developed (industrial) countries. Their share in international export services reaches 70%. However, it is trending downward as newly industrialized countries and other developing countries become more active in this sector of the world economy.
In terms of volumes of trade in services, the United States leads by a significant margin from other countries (about 16% of world exports and about 12.5% of world imports of services in 2003), which accounts for the maximum volume of trade in services through TNC channels. The top ten exporters of services at the beginning of 2003 (excluding the USA) included the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, China and Hong Kong, and the top ten importers were the USA, Germany, Japan, UK, Italy, France, Netherlands, China, Canada, Ireland.
In the international services market in 2003, Russia ranked 24th in the world in exports (0.9%) and 18th in imports (1.5%). Russia is a net importer of commercial services. According to the WTO, Russia's negative balance in trade in commercial services in 2003 amounted to $10.8 billion; according to the Russian Federation Balance of Payments for 2005, the country's negative balance in trade in services amounted to $14.7 billion.
We can talk about the specialization of national economies in the export of services in the system of international division of labor. In developed (industrial) countries, such specialization is represented primarily by business services (financial, telecommunications, information) and the export of advanced technologies, as well as education, healthcare and tourism services. Some developing countries also specialize in services production. Thus, Türkiye, Egypt, Thailand, Cyprus specialize in tourism services; Panama, Liberia, Singapore, Hong Kong - on sea transport services; offshore centers of the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean- on financial services.
The role in international trade in services of new industrial states, China, etc. is increasing. Russia is a net exporter of transport services and has advantages here in using its Eurasian position to organize international transit. It is also promising for Russia to develop services in the field of high technology and international tourism. In the export structure Russian services 33% comes from transport, 42% from tourism and 25% from other private services. 5.2.