Services in a Changing Economic Environment

Starting from the current trend towards the convergence of increasingly industrialised services and manufacturing sectors, this paper analyses the role which the environment plays in satisfying firms' new quality-based service requirements. In the neo-industrial age, the type of externalised service and the externalisation way can affect the relationship between firms and economic environment. The combination of these factors influences the nature and the characteristics of the service requirements of large-scale firms and small and medium enterprises in a different manner. While large firms using advanced services may not usually be associated with a well-defined geographical area, SMEs using standard services need to have recourse to new interorganisational solution.