Service Management: An Evaluation and the Future

Abstract

Deals with the future of service management in specific service management terms but also in broader, societal terms, from both a practitioner and a scholarly perspective. Claims that service management concerns not only what is traditionally known as service organizations, but also constitutes a future paradigm for organizations in general. The goods-services division in its traditional sense is outdated; it represents a myopic production view, while the service economy is an expression for customer-oriented and citizen-oriented, value-enhancing offering. Although service management has taken a giant step since the late 1970s, we are just beginning to see a new era of management that will fight the battle for economic survival in the future service society.