A service is a non-material good: for example, customer service.
Originating from the Latin term servitĭum , the word service defines the activity and consequence of serving (a verb used to give a name to the condition of someone who is at the disposal of another to do what he or she demands or orders).
This notion also offers the possibility of naming the offering of a religious celebration , a team of servants that works in a home, the money that is paid each year for livestock and the human service that allows us to cover social needs and that do not cover relationship with the production of material goods.
Starting from this meaning we could establish the following phrases as perfect examples of that: "María and Juan were the housekeeper and the chauffeur who were working at the service of the marquises"; or "The king arrived at his palace which was cared for by a service made up of more than fifteen people."
a non-material good
At an economic level and in the field of marketing , service is usually understood as a collection of tasks carried out by a company to satisfy the demands of its customers. In this way, the service could be presented as a non-material good .
Therefore, those who offer services do not usually use a large number of raw materials and have few physical restrictions. Likewise, it must be highlighted that its most important value is experience. On the other hand, it is necessary to highlight that those who provide services make up the so-called tertiary sector of the industrial scale.
Characteristics of a service
Among the intrinsic particularities of a service that allow it to be differentiated from a product, we can mention intangibility (a service cannot be seen, felt, smelled or heard before purchasing it), heterogeneity (two or more services may be similar but they will never be identical or equal) and perishability (a service cannot be stored).
Other qualities are inseparability (production and consumption develop partially or completely parallel) and the absence of ownership (those who contract a service obtain the right to receive a benefit, use, access or rental of a thing, but are not they become owners of it).
Catering is a food and drink service that is usually offered at events.
Classification according to type
In this sense, it would be necessary to establish that there are many types of services within the aforementioned economic sector. However, among the most significant are the so-called public services and private services.
The first type is one that is characterized because it encompasses a series of activities that are carried out by professionals who are working for the Public Administration of a city, region or country. Set of actions that aim to satisfy basic and fundamental needs of the citizen such as education, health or transportation.
The second type of services mentioned, the private one, however, is characterized because it defines the actions that are carried out by professionals who depend on private and private companies and industries. In this specific case, therefore, the citizen more than acts as a client or consumer of those.
Starting from all this, we could establish a differentiation such as the following between the two types of services mentioned. Thus, for example, the health care received in a hospital dependent on the city administration is a public service while the hiring of a catering service in a company is a private service.