The importance of the services sector can not be overstated; it employs a large and growing proportion of workers in the industrialized nations. The services sector includes a number of large industries; indeed, services employment in the U.S. is at 82.1 percent, while the remaining four economic sectors (i.e., manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and mining), which together can be considered to be the “goods” sector, employ the remaining 17.9 percent. Yet, university research and education have not followed suit. The majority of research is still manufacturing- or hardware-related and degree programs are still in those traditional disciplines that were established in the early 1900s. Clearly, services research and education deserve our critical attention and support in this 21st Century when the computer chip, the information technology, the Internet and the flattening of the world have all combined to make services – and services innovation – an indispensable engine for global economic growth.

Of course, the manufacturing sector provides critical products (e.g., autos, computers, aircrafts, telecommunications equipment, etc.) that enable the delivery of effective and high-quality services; equally clear, the services sector provides critical services (e.g., financial, transportation, design, supply chain, etc.) that enable the production, distribution and consumption of efficient and high-quality products. Moreover, such traditional manufacturing powerhouses like GE and IBM have become more vertically integrated and are now earning an increasingly larger share of their income and profit through their services operation.

We can and should build services research and education on what has occurred in manufacturing research (especially in regard to customization and intellectual property) and education; indeed, services and manufactured goods become indistinguishable as they are jointly co-produced in real-time. Fortunately, inasmuch as manufacturing concepts, methodologies and technologies have been developed and refined over a long period of time (i.e., since the 1800s), the complementary set of concepts, methodologies and technologies for services are more obvious. However, while new technologies (e.g., the Internet) and globalization trends have served to enable, if not facilitate, services innovation, the same technologies (e.g., the Internet) and 21st Century realities (e.g., terrorism) are making services innovation a far more complex problem and, in fact, may be undermining previous innovations in both services and manufacturing.

Finally, there is a need to define a “knowledge-adjusted” GDP metric that can more adequately measure the growing knowledge economy, one driven by intangible ideas and services innovation.

Established in 1990 – the Center for Services Research and Education (CSRE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - has been responsible for our substantial activities in furthering services research and services education. The center's goal is to increase the understanding of the service sector and it’s functioning, and to educate a stream of students, managers and leaders, who will seek careers in the services industries.

For More information on the Center of Services Research and Education, contact:

Dr. Daniel Berg
Building CII, Room 5017
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180
Phone: (518) 276-2895
Email: bergd@rpi.edu