Services sector characteristics

The production of goods and services requires technical information, that is, the necessary knowledge for the production process. Information is an economic good in its own right with characteristics that differentiate it from other goods, and also a differential factor for businesses in an industrial sector. 

In the early 1990s, some specialty chemical segments were price sensitive and cyclical, with international producers focusing more on customer service than on research and development. Some producers had not raised prices in years. By the mid-1990s some specialty chemical segments displayed the characteristics of mature commodity sectors. Slowly prices were raised, and some... 

As can be seen from Table 1, summary characteristics of the case studies spanned a variety of business types, from micro businesses to large international organisations and covered a range of sectors including manufacturing, service organisations and retail. Two public sector organisations were included. 

Utility applications are found throughout the whole of the manufacturing and service industries, and their characteristics are dictated by the nature of the application, and more often than not are independent of the nature of the end-use sector, such as power generation, brewing or the production of pharmaceuticals, in which they are found. Utility applications are. on the whole, of similar levels of importance throughout industry and commerce. 

What does the future hold for this industry In the short term, the substantial overcapacity in long-distance fiber generated by the boom of the 1990s will be difficult to overcome. Future market potential likely rests in the provision of services to residences (e.g., cable television and high-speed Internet), if the last mile problem may be conquered effectively. The wireless revolution may also pose a competitive challenge to fiber optics. It is evident from these remarks that fiber exhibits the dynamism and fluidity characteristic of the telecommunications sector as a whole. 

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