Introduction

It is generally agreed that 75 per cent of the workforce in the United Kingdom is engaged in service industries. This high percentage is not unique to the UK; it is representative of employment statistics for developed nations throughout the world. Indeed, the US Bureau of the Census shows that over 80 per cent of the workforce in the USA is employed in service industries. Although a shift back to manufacturing industries has been identified (Basu and Wright, 1998), nonetheless it is obvious that the larger percentage of the workforce of developed nations will continue to be employed in service-type activities.

There are several reasons for this. First, continual advances in technology mean that manufacturing is considerably less labour intensive than in previous times. Automation, robotics, advanced information technology, new materials and improved work methods all have led to the decimation of manual labour. Second, for larger organizations, manufacturing has become internationalized. Many companies (for example Nike) that began with a manufacturing base are now seen as primarily marketing and service companies, with manufacturing being supplied by contractors or allied companies situated all round the world. Additionally, organizations can no longer regard themselves as being purely in manufacturing and hope to survive. The market first and foremost now demands quality of product and service. Market expectations of the level of quality are driven by perceptions of what technology is promising, and of...