Service sector productivity

Abstract

Information technology, and especially the Internet, are exerting an increasingly large and broad influ- ence on industrial structures and measurement and evaluation ofsuch fundamental concepts as risk, the value and benefits ofintangibles such as intellectual capital, brand-related good- will, and service sector productivity. Identifying the key value- adding factors underpinning productivity in the service sector has always been a significant challenge but with the advent of the WWW and the broad diffusion of Internet-enabled tech- nologies and transacting modalities such as electronic com- merce, this challenge has become even harder. In this paper, we compile a number ofempirical case studies from industry where the use ofelectronic commerce has served as a strategic differentiator in pushing the service productivity envelop and in maximizing customer value added. Specifically, we exam- ine the impact ofelectronic commerce on the process and petroleum industries.We profile in detail the role ofelectronic commerce as a strategy-enabling, infrastructural, path-breaking and general-purpose technology that ifproperly leveraged, can lead to radical improvements in both quality and productivity in services, thus helping re-define and re-shape the core struc- ture and relationships in the industries it impacts. We end by identifying best practices in deploying electronic commerce as a strategic agent ofchange within and across firms and indus- tries in the pursuit ofincreasingly higher levels ofservice sector productivity and quality.