Classification of Services

Classification of services:
There are a number of ways in which services can be classified. Some of them are mentioned here.

1. On the basis of the END USER the services can be classified into following categories:
• Consumer : leisure, hairdressing, personal finance and package holidays
• Business to Business: advertising agencies, printing, accountancy, Consultancy
• Industrial: Plant Maintenance and repair, workwear and hygiene, installation and project management.


2. The DEGREE OF TANGIBILITY can be used to classify a service.
• Highly tangible: car rental, vending machines, telecommunications
• Service linked to tangible goods: domestic appliance repair, car service.
• Highly tangible: psychotherapy, Consultancy , legal services.


3. Services can be broken down into LABOR INTENSIVE (PEOPLE based) and EQUIPMENT based services. This can also be represented by degree of contact.
• People based services: high contact : education, dental care, restaurants and medical services
• Equipment based: low contact: automatic car wash, launderette, vending machine, cinema.


4. The EXPERTISE and SKILLS of the service provider can be broken down into the following categories:
• Professional: medical services, legal services, accountancy, tutoring.
• Non Professional: baby sitting, care taking, and casual labor.


5. The overall BUSINESS ORIENTATION ( PROFIT) is a recognized means of classifications:
• Not for profit: The Scouts Association, charities, and public sector leisure facilities.
• Commercial: banks, airlines, tour operators, hotel and catering services



Christopher Lovelock gives another classification of services based on the customer involvement in production process:


 People processing: tangible actions to people’s bodies, such as airline transportation, haircutting and surgery. Customers need to be physically present throughout service delivery in order to receive the desired benefits of such services. It is important to figure the process and output to identify the benefits created. Also some non- financial costs are to be identified – such as time, mental and physical effort and even tear and pain – that customers incur in obtaining these benefits.

 Possession Processing: Tangible actions to goods and other physical possessions, such as air freight, lawn mowing, and janitorial services. In these instances, the object requiring processing must be present, but the customer need not be.


 Mental Stimulus Processing: intangible actions directed at people’s mind, such as broadcasting and education. In this instance the customers must be present mentally but can be located either in specific service facility or in a remote location connected by broadcast signals or telecommunication linkages. Services that interact with people’s mind have the power to shape attitudes and influence behavior. So when the customer is in a position of dependency or there is a potential for manipulation, strong ethical standards and careful oversight is required. This type of service can easily be converted to digital bits or analog signals, recorded for prosperity, and transformed into a manufactured product, such as a compact disc, videotape, or audio cassette, which may then be packaged and marketed much like any other physical good


 Information Processing: Intangible actions directed at intangible assets, such as insurance, investment banking, and Consulting. For these services, no direct involvement with the customer may be needed, once the request for the service is initiated. Services highly dependent on effective collection and processing of information include financial services, accounting, law, marketing research, management consulting, medical diagnosis and a variety of other professional services. Tradition and a personal desire to meet the supplier than often determine the extent of customer involvement in such services more by the needs of operation process.

Rural management

According to the report on rural management education in India by Prof M S Sriram, IIM Ahmedabad , one of the pioneering initiatives that has fuelled the demand for qualified professionals in the agri sector is the e-choupal experiment of ITC. which is a quiet digital revolution that has been reforming the lives of farmers in remote Indian villages. E- choupals are village Internet kiosks managed by farmers, which enable the agricultural community to access ready information on the weather and market prices.
In his report, Prof Sriram says that it was with the introduction of such a concept in the rural market place, that the demand for rural managers started moving from the theoretical co-operative space to structured corporate buying.Thus a typical rural manager would have the satisfaction of working with farmers, earning a decent pay package and enjoy the prestige attached to working with a reputed corporate. On the retailing front, starting with RPG's entry into the retail segment through its erstwhile partnership with Foodworld and later with the entry of players like Big Bazaar, Reliance, Bharti and Subhiksha, there has been a demand for managers who possibly comprehended this type of business better.


According to the same report, the failure of the co-operative banking system led to the private sector banks foraying into the rural territory. As these banks usually do not have a branch network in rural India, they had to come up with innovative solutions to reach the small and remote customer. The knowledge of rural management graduates can thus be very handy in this sector.

Today, the focus in agricultural studies is on developing the entrepreneurial skills of the students in areas such as agri-business management, post-harvest technologies and marketing.There is also an increasing appreciation of the need for greater synergy between general and agricultural education.With intensive agriculture raking up environmental problems, environmental protection and management have also started receiving increased attention.
Although it is possible to have a career in this sector without any formal training, given the range and scope of career in the agriculture sector it is essential to obtain formal training to become successful particularly in the areas of research and agro-industry. When questioned about the essential skill sets that one needs to have to join the sector, Pranav Prashad, Head - Rural & Agriculture Business Group, ICICI Lombard says, ""The only requirement is a willingness to work in rural areas. There are special products that our organisation has developed for the rural areas which one needs to understand. An understanding and familiarity with the local geography does help in selling products to the local masses.""