On Features and Development of Service Economy

摘要：本文首先討論了服務經濟的新特點，接著分析了個性化服務：現代服務經濟發展的突出特征，最后研究了服務經濟就業問題。因此本文具有深刻的理論意義和廣泛的實際應用。Abstract: The article discusses the new features of service economy， analyzes personalized service， which is the prominent feature of modern service economy， and makes a research on employment of service economy. This article has a profound theoretical meaning and extensive practical application.關鍵詞：服務經濟; 現代服務經濟; 服務經濟就業; 個性化服務Keywords: service economy; Modern service economy; employment of service economy; personalized serviceIntroductionIn the research of service industry， there are concepts like tertiary industry， service industry and service economy， as there is no clear or unified definition till now. This article summarizes the concepts， based on the understanding: service industry is divided into tradi- tional service industry (narrow sense) and modern service industry (broad sense)， if not specified， service industry often refers to modern service industry. Traditional service industry basically equals to tertiary industry in industrial classification， while modern service industry has a much broader connotation， including the so-called fourth industry of industrial classification in developed countries， such as design and production sector of electronics and computer software， application sector of microcomputer， optical fiber， laser， gene engineering， and other new technologies， high electronic and automatic industrial departments; independent industries that are separated from ag- riculture， manufacturing and other productive industries and specialized in product design， process design， processing， equipment maintenance， auxiliary services， process control， programming and so on; independent industries that are separated from logistics and specialized in product packaging， storage， transport， marketing， advertising， wholesale， retail， after-sales service and so on; service industries for governments， society and people.New features of service economyTechnical advances narrow the gap between service economy and other economic activities. The development of information and communication technology (ICT) gives more space for service relevant industrial activities. And service related products， such as movie copy， can be copied and mass produced like manufactured products， and software can be developed and packaged as manufactured goods. Now， service economic activities are featuring the property of commodities: service providers supply mass produced goods for consumers， and benefit from economies of scale.The relation between service providers and customers changes， and affects the economy. With the development of science and technology， the connotation of service economy has expanded to include the transaction activities without physical contact between service providers and the receivers. Service can be provided through the Internet or communication technologies， such as satellite communication， technical consultation， online banking， real estate， retail， financial services， etc.The integration of service industry and many sectors in manufacturing industry makes the nature of enterprises more difficult to distinguish. Many manufacturers have expanded the business into service industry， with service economic activities embodied in the production and products. This productive service is the embodiment of high technology， high added value， high knowledge intensity and high management level. Productive service is not confined to manufacturing indus- try， and also covers industries such as management consulting， research and development， construction engineering design， engineering and product maintenance， transportation， logistics， real estate， environmental services， finance， telecommunications， accounting， etc.Strategic business services grow rapidly and become a major contributor to the employment improvement. Strategic business services include computer software， information technology services， RD， technical services， marketing service， enterprise management service and human resources development service. In recent years， 21 OECD countries had a growth rate of 10% per year for strategic business service， and a employment rate of 2.4%， two times larger than the employed population absorbed by automobile manufacturing industry.International service outsourcing industry develops rapidly， bringing great business opportunities. Multinational companies focus on improving the core competitiveness， and they try to reduce costs through outsourcing， and to make effective use of external human and knowledge resources， while secure the delivery and quality of service via unified management.The development of information and communication technology has profound influences on service economy. E-commerce has become a new business area， and positively affects the economic growth， productivity， employment and the customer choice. As to service industry， E-commerce not only affects communication， finance and retail sectors that make up 30% of GDP， but also has potential in education， medical and health and governmental service departments that take 20% of GDP.Personalized service: an outstanding feature of modern service economyThe so-called personalized service refers to the service mode that applies different service strategies and provides different services to specific customers. Teaching in accordance of students’aptitude and cutting out garments to fit the body， the two can be seen personalized services in education and dress-making. Personalized service is a comparison to standard service. Standard service refers to a service mode that service provider fully displays the ability and skills in the whole process following certain service standards and procedures. Different from standard service that focuses on standards and procedures and values overall figure and efficiency， personalized service attaches importance to service pertinence and flexibility， advocates the subjective initiative of service provider， and asks for emotional input and humanistic care， thus it has rich ethical connotation and moral value， and it is an outstanding feature for the ethics development of modern service economy.In the development of service economy， personalized service has a very important significance and value. First， personalized service represents the trend for service economy. In a new era of individuality and creativity， personalized service boost the service activities of economic entity to conform to human nature， provide space for humanity development， and encourage free and overall development of individuals. Second， personalized service is a powerful driving force for service economy， and it can meet the different needs of consumers， and cultivate personality. Only personalized service can truly satisfy the demand of consumers， especially the need of people in new era for all-round development， and only such service can adapt to modern service economic development. Third， service economy places individual customers and their personalized value as the core of service， which in turn can win customers’ loyalty and their trust. As consumers are different， their demands are also diverse.Employment problem in Service economyThe employment problem in service economy in China should be analyzed in following aspects:The competitiveness of service industry is a comprehensive system that covers service industry itself and the relevant elements， relations， behavior and other aspects， including scale competitiveness， structure competitiveness， management competitiveness， etc. The competitiveness evaluation of service industry should be done in a systematic and comprehensive way. In order to adapt to the increasingly fierce competition environment， service economy should gradually be knowledge intensive， while improve labor productivity and international competitiveness. One of the targets for China economic structure adjustment is to optimize the industrial structure， which includes competitiveness improvement of service industry. During the transformation from traditional service industry to modern service industry， the rising of knowledge intensive services will definitely affect the employment. How can we solve this contradiction?In the process of economic globalization and regional economic integration， multinational companies play a role of media in spreading knowledge and technologies. Often， these companies lead the innovation in technology， management and service. Accordingly， FDI has a great impact on the industrial changes in a country. Increases in investments in service industry tend to promote the productivity improvement in service industry， commodity trade being replaced by service trade， and then the employment of a country’s service economy.It should say， developed western countries have labor market policies and product market regulations for service economic development that align to the social system， and the influences of these policies and regulations on the employment in service economy are different according to countries. As a developing country， during the construction of socialist market economic system， what role should the government play? As to policy making and system regulation， which aspects should we focus? Insisting on “people-oriented”principle， how to guide and promote the healthy development of service economy， to realize the stable increase in the employment?SummaryAt present， “service oriented”research methods are getting mature， and a new so-called “comprehensive” method emerges， which was influenced by two factors. One is the broader definition of innovation. According to this new method， Joseph Schumpeter had a more extensive definition in his original works， namely he defined innovation as a new combination of existing elements. Based on Schumpeter’s definition， Dorsey defined innovation as the activities to solve problems. Therefore， besides the technical sector， innovation can be carried out in all aspects. For example， service innovation can include service relationship， interactive process， management， organization and marketing mode， which will be helpful for a comprehensive understanding of the development of service economy. The other factor is that in real economic activities more enterprises are considering the combination of goods and services. For example， car manufacturers need a lot of service activities， and computer manufacturers promote sales with services. All these make studies on service innovation hard to understand how the innovation is organized， if the studies are carried out against service industry or service enterprises. So， goods and services bifurcated approach in innovation research is not suitable， and it be replaced by the concept of continuous service and commodity system. The “comprehensive” method of service innovation research tries to do comprehensive study on commodity and service innovation in an integrated way at the very beginning， so this method may provide further help to understand the innovation in overall economy far beyond service industry.(Author: Huizhou HuaTong Advertisement Decoration Engineering Co.， Ltd.)