Meaning of services:

Intangible products such as accounting, banking, cleaning, consultancy, education, insurance, expertise, medical treatment, or transportation. Sometimes services are difficult to identify because they are closely associated with a good; such as the combination of a diagnosis with the administration of a medicine. No transfer of possession or ownership takes place when services are sold, and they (1) cannot be stored or transported, (2) are instantly perishable, and (3) come into existence at the time they are bought and consumed. A type of economic activity that is intangible, is not stored and does not result in ownership. A service is consumed at the point of sale. Services are one of the two key components of economics, the other being goods. Examples of services include the transfer of goods, such as the postal service delivering mail, and the use of expertise or experience, such as a person visiting a doctor. Services are actions or an action that someone does for you. Services are intangible property since you dont receive anything solid and you dont obtain ownership of the actions taken. The purchaser of a services gets something needed but does not own any tangible, solid or fixed property.

Difference between goods and services

There are five essential differences between services and goods. 1. intangible process that cannot be weighed or measured, whereas a good is a tangible output of a process that has physical dimensions. This distinction has important business implications since a service innovation, unlike a product innovation, cannot be patented. Thus, a company with a new concept must expand rapidly before competitors copy its procedures. Service intangibility also presents a problem for customers since, unlike with a physical product, they cannot try it out and test it before purchase. 2. Service requires some degree of interaction with the customer for it to be a service. The interaction may be brief, but it must exist for the service to be complete. Where face-to-face service is required, the service facility must be designed to handle the customer's presence. Goods, on the other hand, are generally produced in a facility separate from the customer. They can be made according to a production schedule that is efficient for the company. 3. Services, with the big exception of hard technologies such as ATMs and information technologies such as answering machines and automated Internet exchanges, are inherently heterogeneousthey vary from day to day and even hour by hour as a function of the attitudes of the customer and the servers. Thus, even highly scripted work such as found in call centers can produce unpredictable outcomes. Goods, in contrast, can be produced to meet very tight specifications day-in and day-out with essentially zero variability. In those cases where a defective good is produced, it can be reworked or scrapped. 4. Services as a process are perishable and time dependent, and unlike goods, they can't be stored. You cannot come back last week for an air flight or a day on campus.

5. The specifications of a service are defined and evaluated as a package of features that affect the five senses. These features are Supporting facility (location, decoration, layout, architectural appropriateness, supporting equipment). Facilitating goods (variety, consistency, quantity of the physical goods that go with the service; for example, the food items that accompany a meal service). Explicit services (training of service personnel, consistency of service performance, availability and access to the service, and comprehensiveness of the service). Implicit services (attitude of the servers, atmosphere, waiting time, status, privacy and security, and convenience).

Service marketing environment

Political environment legal environment:

Political Environment This includes the political system, the government policies and attitude towards the business community and the unionism. All these aspects have a bearing on the strategies adopted by the business firms. The stability of the government also influences business and related activities to a great extent. It sends a signal of strength, confidence to various interest groups and investors. Further, ideology of the political party also influences the business organisation and its operations. You may be aware that Coca-Cola, a cold drink widely used even now, had to wind up operations in India in late seventies. Again the trade union activities also influence the operation of business enterprises. Most of the labour unions in India are affiliated to various political parties. Strikes, lockouts and labour disputes etc. also adversely affect the business operations. However, with the competitive business environment, trade unions are now showing great maturity and started contributing positively to the success of the business organisation and its operations through workers participation in management.

Legal Environment This refers to set of laws, regulations, which influence the business organisations and their operations. Every business organisation has to obey, and work within, the framework of the law. The important legislations that concern the business enterprises include :

1. Companies Act, 1956 2. Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 3. The Factories Act, 1948 4. Industrial Disputes Act, 1972 5. Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 6. Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 7. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 8. Essential Commodities Act, 2002 9. The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1956 10. Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 11. Trade Marks Act, 1999 12. Bureau of indian Standards Act, 1986 13. Consumer Protection Act, 1986 14. Environment Protection Act 15. Competition Act, 2002

Economic Environment
The survival and success of each and every business enterprise depend fully on its economic environment. The main factors that affect the economic environment are: (a) Economic Conditions: The economic conditions of a nation refer to a set of economic factors that have great influence on business organisations and their operations. These include gross domestic product, per capita income, markets for goods and services, availability of capital, foreign exchange reserve, growth of foreign trade, strength of capital market etc. All these help in improving the pace of economic growth. (b) Economic Policies: All business activities and operations are directly influenced by the economic policies framed by the government from time to time. Some of the important economic policies are: (i) Industrial policy (ii) (iii) Fiscal policy Monetary policy

(iv) Foreign investment policy (v) Export Import policy (Exim policy)

The government keeps on changing these policies from time to time in view of the developments taking place in the economic scenario, political expediency and the changing requirement. Every business firm has to function strictly within the policy framework and respond to the changes therein. Social and culture Environment It refers to peoples attitude to work and wealth; role of family, marriage, religion and education; ethical issues and social responsiveness of business. The social environment of business includes social factors like customs, traditions, values, beliefs, poverty, literacy, life expectancy rate etc. The social structure and the values that a society cherishes have a considerable influence on the functioning of business firms. For example, during festive seasons there is an increase in the demand for new clothes, sweets, fruits, flower, etc. Due to increase in literacy rate the consumers are becoming more conscious of the quality of the products. Due to change in family composition, more nuclear families with single child concepts have come up. This increases the demand for the different types of household goods. It may be noted that the consumption patterns, the dressing and living styles of people belonging to different social structures and culture vary significantly.

Growth of service marketing