Marketing theory and practice developed initially in connection with physical products such as toothpaste, cars, and steel. Yet one of the major megatrends has been the phenomenal growth of services. In the United States, for example, service jobs now account for 79% of all jobs and 74% of gross domestic product. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, service occupations will be responsible for all net job growyh through the year 2005. These numbers have led to a growing interest in the special problems of marketing services.
Service is increasingly important because the informat…
