According to JIS, Oroyo Ebanks (July 4, 2015) published that the President of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, Senator Norman Grant is attributing the recent growth in the Jamaican economy to the performance of the agricultural sector. At the JIS ‘Think Tank’ on July 1, Senator Grant noted that “the agricultural sector continues to play a significant role in helping the country to successfully pass quarterly performance tests under the International Monetary Fund (IMP) programme.”
Service can be defined as an intangible economic activity which cannot be stored and does not result in ownership. Economic activities can be divided under two broad categories, goods and services. Goods-producing industries are agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and construction; each of them creates some kind of tangible object. Service industries include everything else: banking, communications, wholesale and retail trade, all professional services such as engineering, computer software development, and medicine, nonprofit economic activity, all consumer services, and all government services, including defense and administration of justice. The service industry play an important role for the economic development of a country. According to economists like Colin Clark, Simon Kuznets etc., the development of a country depends on the performance of the service sector.
At present, the service sector contributes the maximum share in country’s net national product (the total value of goods produced and services provided in a country during one year, after depreciation of capital goods has been allowed for) at factor cost (national income).
The development of industries is dependent on the performance and improvement of transport, communication, electricity, banking etc. in a country. Transport system helps to carry raw materials, finished goods and laborers in their required destination. Communication helps to widen the market industrial goods. Electricity and banking services help to flourish the industries in remote areas.
Service sector helps to develop the agricultural production by providing better network facilities. It helps to carry raw materials and finished goods from one place to another. This sector provides a well-organized transport and communication service. It also provides sufficient banking services along with expansion of education and medical facilities in the backward regions of the country. Thus it helps to wipe out the problem of regional imbalances and disparities within the country.
This sector provides different types of services to both agriculture and industrial sectors. It helps to grow the proper markets for both agricultural and industrial goods finished goods as well as raw materials or semi-finished goods. Better services in the areas of transport and communication, banking and insurance, education and health etc must help a country to pave the path for economic development by increasing the quality of life or standard of living within the country. It also helps to improve the value of HDI (Human Development Index) of a country.
This sector helps the working force by giving sufficient technical education and proper medical facilities. Moreover, a well-organised network of transport and communication system increases the mobility and informations among the workers. All these make the labourer more skillful and efficient and thus the productivity (producing capacity of a laborer) will increase simultaneously.
Business to business: Business to business (B2B) services are provided by businesses for other businesses or organization. An example of business to business is the IBM Global Services which provides a range of services to its business customer, including computer installation and maintenance and a range of management consulting services. Other B2B services include outsourced catering services, buildings’ maintenance or leasing and supporting equipment, financial services and market research. B2B faces some challenges such as: Dealing with multiple contacts in the organization. Consultants may have to work with a wide range of employees in their client organizations and so maintain relationships at different levels in the organization. Working with a complex set of relationships. The users or recipients of a service will frequently not be the purchasers, and this purchasing group may in turn be different from those who commission or specify the service standards. B2B relationships may last for a long time. The challenge is for the relationship not to become too ‘cosy’, with the customer or supplier being taken for granted.
Business to customer: B2C services that are purchased by individuals for themselves or on behalf of another individual. They range through leisure services such as hotels, restaurants and sports provision, retail services such as shops and supermarkets, financial services such as banks and insurance providers, through to professional services such as lawyers and accountants. The challenges faced by most B2C include:
The organisation may deal with many different customers each day. Each have their own special needs and expectations of service delivery and, to make matters more difficult, these may change for the same individual from day to day. Because the operation serves so many customers, it faces a major challenge in keeping the experience fresh for the next new customer. It may be the first and only time the customer experiences this service, although the customer may be just one out of hundreds that an individual member of staff sees in a day. Many B2C service operations have the added complication of the need for consistency across many points of contact with customers, frequently spread nationally if not globally.
Government to customer: These services are provided by central or local government for the community at large. Funding comes through the various forms of business and individual taxation, which is then largely allocated by policies set by government. Examples include police, prisons, hospitals and education. Specific challenges for public sector services include:
The provision of ‘best-value’ services. Public services are under continual scrutiny. As a result, aspects of service operations that might be taken for granted by their private sector colleagues must be carefully justified in these organisations.
Rationing supply of service. Public sector organizations cannot use the pricing mechanism to regulate demand. With essential services, this can be a very sensitive issue. The health service must make policy decisions as to how much resource can be devoted to heart operations, to maternity services, and so on. Expenditure on intensive care units and accident and emergency provision are particularly sensitive since lives are at stake, but inevitably there will be times when demand outstrips supply.
Multiple stakeholders. Public services suffer from having many ‘customers’. With B2C services it is reasonably clear who the customers are, and if this group is satisfied, generally speaking the organisation should be successful. This is not the case with the public sector, where the recipients of the service, as individuals, have little power to influence. Politicians and service managers themselves may have far more power to decide current priorities.
A confused service concept. The service concept provides direction for the organisation. Some public services are provided for the good of society at large and are not necessarily greatly loved by those who have to deal with them. Prisons, police services and tax collectors may fall into this category.
Not- for- profit: Charities of various types form the majority of these services. Most engage in a mixture of fund raising, providing information about the cause or issue that concerns them, and in some form of social action. An organisation such as Oxfam must gather funds for famine relief and then organise to supply and distribute aid as required.
There are many services in large organisations that do not deal with the external customer, such as personnel, finance, purchasing and IT support. These service functions provide support services to the ‘value-adding’ parts of the organisation. A considerable number of people are often employed by organisations to provide these services. The particular challenges faced by these service operations include Demonstrating that the internal service provides at least as good ‘value for money’ as an external alternative. This is a challenge faced by many IT departments, for example, whose users often feel that they could obtain cheaper equipment more rapidly from the local computer store or via the internet. Adapting the service to the business need. If the service provision is effectively a commodity, it can be outsourced. Internal service providers must demonstrate their ability to tailor their offerings to the changing business needs in a way that external providers cannot. Gaining acceptance from their internal customers. Centrally funded services are frequently viewed with suspicion by local operating units and may not receive the co-operation required to carry out their tasks effectively.
