OM Forum—The Service and Information Economy: Research Opportunities

The U.S. economy is already dominated by service and information-intensive industries in terms of both gross national product and jobs, and these trends are visible in all major world economies. These economic shifts are driven by productivity changes, which today often depend on new information and communication technologies. These changes can be thought of as service industrialization, which underlies productivity improvements. Industrialization is, in turn, closely related to the design and operation of service processes at the level of firms and sectors. Some of the implications for process economics, operations strategy, and process management are outlined, and the opportunities for research in operations and technology management related to these trends are discussed.