1. Intangibility

Services are intangible and insubstantial: they cannot be touched, gripped, handled, looked at, smelled, tasted. Thus, there is neither potential nor need for transport, storage or stocking of services. Furthermore, a service can be (re)sold or owned by somebody, but it cannot be turned over from the service provider to the service consumer. Solely, the service delivery can be commissioned to a service provider who must generate and render the service at the distinct request of an authorized service consumer.

2. Perishability

Services are perishable in two regards

• The service relevant resources, processes and systems are assigned for service delivery during a definite period in time. If the designated or scheduled service consumer does not request and,l. An empty seat on a plane never can be utilized and charged after departure.

• When the service has been completely rendered to the requesting service consumer, this particular service irreversibly vanishes as it has been consumed by the service consumer. Example: the passenger has been transported to the destination and cannot be transported again to this location at this point in time.

3. Inseparability

The service provider is indispensable for service delivery as he must promptly generate and render the service to the requesting service consumer. In many cases the service delivery is executed automatically but the service provider must preparatorily assign resources and systems and actively keep up appropriate service delivery readiness and capabilities. Additionally, the service consumer is inseparable from service delivery because he is involved in it from requesting it up to consuming the rendered benefits. Examples: The service consumer must sit in the hair dresser's shop & chair or in the plane & seat; correspondingly, the hair dresser or the pilot must be in the same shop or plane, respectively, for delivering the service.

4. Simultaneity

Services are rendered and consumed during the same period of time. As soon as the service consumer has requested the service (delivery), the particular service must be generated from scratch without any delay and friction and the service consumer instantaneously consumes the rendered benefits for executing his upcoming activity or task.

5. Variability

Each service is unique. It is one-time generated, rendered and consumed and can never be exactly repeated as the point in time, location, circumstances, conditions, current configurations and/or assigned resources are different for the next delivery, even if the same service consumer requests the same service. Many services are regarded as heterogeneous or lacking homogeneity and are typically modified for each service consumer or each new situation (consumerised). Example: The taxi service which transports the service consumer from his home to the opera is different from the taxi service which transports the same service consumer from the opera to his home – another point in time, the other direction, maybe another route, probably another taxi driver and cab.

Each of these characteristics is retractable per se and their inevitable coincidence complicates the consistent service conception and make service delivery a challenge in each and every case. Proper service marketing requires creative visualization to effectively evoke a concrete image in the service consumer's mind. From the service consumer's point of view, these characteristics make it difficult, or even impossible, to evaluate or compare services prior to experiencing the service delivery.

Mass generation and delivery of services is very difficult. This can be seen as a problem of inconsistent service quality. Both inputs and outputs to the processes involved providing services are highly variable, as are the relationships between these processes, making it difficult to maintain consistent service quality. For many services there is labor intensity as services usually involve considerable human activity, rather than a precisely determined process; exceptions include utilities. Human resource management is important. The human factor is often the key success factor in service economies. It is difficult to achieve economies of scale or gain dominant market share. There are demand fluctuations and it can be difficult to forecast demand. Demand can vary by season, time of day, business cycle, etc. There is consumer involvement as most service provision requires a high degree of interaction between service consumer and service provider. There is a customer-based relationship based on creating long-term business relationships. Accountants, attorneys, and financial advisers maintain long-term relationships with their clientes for decades. These repeat consumers refer friends and family, helping to create a client-based relationship.

The generic clear-cut and complete, concise and consistent definition of the service term reads as follows:

A service is a set of one time consumable and perishable benefits

• delivered from the accountable service provider, mostly in close coaction with his internal and external service suppliers,

• effectuated by distinct functions of technical systems and by distinct activities of individuals, respectively,

• commissioned according to the needs of his service consumers by the service customer from the accountable service provider,

• rendered individually to an authorized service consumer at his/her dedicated trigger,

• and, finally, consumed and utilized by the triggering service consumer for executing his/her upcoming business activity or private activity.

Any service can be clearly and completely, consistently and concisely specified by means of the following 12 standard attributes which conform to the MECE principle (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)

1. Service consumer benefits – describe the (set of) benefits which are triggerable, consumable and effectively utilizable for any authorized service consumer and which are rendered to him as soon as he triggers one service. The description of these benefits must be phrased in the terms and wording of the intended service consumers.

2. Service-specific functional parameters – specify the functional parameters which are essential and unique to the respective service and which describe the most important dimension(s) of the servicescape, the service output or the service outcome, e.g. maximum e-mailbox capacity per registered and authorized e-mailing service consumer.

3. Service delivery point – describes the physical location and/or logical interface where the benefits of the service are triggered from and rendered to the authorized service consumer. At this point and/or interface, the preparedness for service delivery readiness can be assessed as well as the effective delivery of each triggered service can be monitored and controlled.

4. Service consumer count – specifies the number of intended, clearly identified, explicitly named, definitely registered and authorized service consumers which shall be and/or are allowed and enabled to trigger and consume the commissioned service for executing and/or supporting their business tasks or private activities.

5. Service delivering readiness times – specify the distinct agreed times of every day of the week when

• the described service consumer benefits are

• triggerable for the authorized service consumers at the defined service delivery point

• consumable and utilizable for the authorized service consumers at the respective agreed service level

• all the required service contributions are aggregated to the triggered service

• the specified service benefits are competely and terminally rendered to any authorized triggering service consumer without any delay or friction. The time data are specified in 24 h format per local working day and local time UTC, referring to the location of the intended and/or triggering service consumers.

6. Service consumer support times – specify the determined and agreed times of every day of the week when the triggering and consumption of commissioned services is supported by the service desk team for all identified, registered and authorized service consumers within the service customer's organizational unit or area. The service desk is/shall be the so-called the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for any authorized service consumer inquiry regarding the commissioned, triggered and/or rendered services, particularly in the event of service denial, i.e. an incident. During the defined service consumer support times, the service desk can be reached by phone, e-mail, web-based entries, and fax, respectively. The time data are specified in 24 h format per local working day and local time UTC, referring to the location of the intended service consumers.

7. Service consumer support language – specifies the national languages which are spoken by the service desk team(s) to the service consumers calling them.

8. Service fulfillment target – specifies the service provider's promise of effectively and seamlessly deliver the specified benefits to any authorized service consumer triggering a service within the specified service delivery readiness times. It is expressed as the promised minimum ratio of the count of successful individual service deliveries related to the count of triggered service deliveries. The effective service fulfillment ratio can be measured and calculated per single service consumer or per service consumer group and may be referred to different time periods (workhour, workday, calenderweek, workmonth, etc.)

9. Service impairment duration per incident – specifies the maximum allowable elapsing time [hh:mm] between

• the first occurrence of a service impairment, i.e. service quality degradation, service delivery disruption or service denial, whilst the service consumer consumes and utilizes the requested service,

• the full resumption and complete execution of the service delivery to the content of the affected service consumer.

10. Service delivering duration – specifies the promised and agreed maximum allowable period of time for effectively rendering all specified service consumer benefits to the triggering service consumer at his currently chosen service delivery point.

11. Service delivery unit – specifies the basic portion for rendering the defined service consumer benefits to the triggering service consumer. The service delivery unit is the reference and mapping object for the Service Delivering Price, for all service costs as well as for charging and billing the consumed service amounts to the service customer who has commissioned the service delivery.

12. Service delivering price – specifies the amount of money the commissioning service customer has to pay for a distinct service delivery unit or for a distinct amount of service delivery units. Normally, the service delivering price comprises two portions

• a fixed basic price portion for basic efforts and resources which provide accessibility and usability of the service delivery functions, i.e. service access price

• a price portion covering the service consumption based on

• fixed flat rate price per authorized service consumer and reference period for an unlimited amount of consumed services,

• staged prices per authorized service consumer and reference period for staged amounts of consumed services,

• fixed price per single consumed service delivering unit.

The following is a complete list of service industries, grouped into sectors. Parenthetical notations indicate how specific occupations and organizations can be regarded as service industries to the extent they provide an intangible service, as opposed to a tangible good.

• business functions (that apply to all organizations in general)

• consulting

• customer service

• human resources administrators (providing services like ensuring that employees are paid accurately)

• childcare

• cleaning, repair and maintenance services

• janitors (who provide cleaning services)

• gardeners

• mechanics

• construction

• carpentry

• electricians (offering the service of making wiring work properly)

• plumbing

• death care

• coroners (who provide the service of identifying cadavers and determining time and cause of death)

• funeral homes (who prepare corpses for public display, cremation or burial)

• dispute resolution and prevention services

• arbitration

• courts of law (who perform the service of dispute resolution backed by the power of the state)

• diplomacy

• incarceration (provides the service of keeping criminals out of society)

• law enforcement (provides the service of identifying and apprehending criminals)

• lawyers (who perform the services of advocacy and decisionmaking in many dispute resolution and prevention processes)

• mediation

• military (performs the service of protecting states in disputes with other states)

• negotiation (not really a service unless someone is negotiating on behalf of another)

• education (institutions offering the services of teaching and access to information)

• library

• museum

• school

• entertainment (when provided live or within a highly specialized facility)

• gambling

• movie theatres (providing the service of showing a movie on a big screen)

• performing arts productions

• sexual services

• sport

• television

• fabric care

• dry cleaning

• Self-service laundry (offering the service of automated fabric cleaning)

• financial services

• accountancy

• banks and building societies (offering lending services and safekeeping of money and valuables)

• real estate

• stock brokerages

• tax preparation

• foodservice industry

• personal grooming

• hairdressing

• manicurist / pedicurist

• body hair removal

• dental hygienist

• health care (all health care professions provide services)

• hospitality industry

• information services

• data processing

• database services

• Interpreting

• Translation

• risk management

• insurance

• security

• sex industry

• social services

• social work

• transport

• Public utility

• electric power

• natural gas

• telecommunications

• waste management

• water industry