Business services are activities that benefit companies without producing or delivering physical products. They support marketing, production, safety and cost, and convenience purposes in businesses of all sizes.

They include information technology which assists numerous other business services like procurement, shipping and finance. They are essential in maintaining a company’s operations.

The industry provides business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) service to companies in the manufacturing, retailing, and wholesale industries. They also provide other services, such as warehousing, transportation, banking, marketing, inter and intra-departmental communication, and staffing.

A business-to-business service is a form of transaction between trade organizations that is separate from business-to-consumer and business-to-government transactions. It involves a manufacturer supplying products to a retailer or a wholesaler.

Business-to-business services are gaining popularity, especially among firms in emerging markets. These companies are looking for efficient warehousing, distribution and shipping processes to get their goods delivered to their customers.

A good service business will develop a reputation in the market place and rely on it to serve as a barrier to entry. This reputation will be based on the value of the service, which will be determined by customers and to some extent by competition. It is therefore important to create a value proposition for the service that will attract and retain customers. This is done through the design of the offering. It is also crucial to integrate the four critical elements of service design, which we have discussed in the previous sections.