TABLE OF CONTENTS It can be useful to classify work organizations into four groups or sectors. We have the:
manufacturing sector, where goods are produced
transport sector, in which people or goods are transferred
supply sector, which supplies goods it does not manufacture
service sector, where services, rather than physical goods, are passed to the customer.
2 mins
Which sector or sectors do your employers fall into?
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Most organizations are not difficult to categorize. All manufacturers, of whatever commodity, are obviously in the first group. Apart from industrial companies, manufacturing includes agriculture, the construction industry, and the energy producers, i.e. generators of electricity and manufacturers of gas and oil products.
Airlines, bus companies and freight companies are all in the transportation business. Shops, distributors, car dealers and so on fall into the supply sector. The service sector includes such organizations as hairdressers, building societies, restaurants, etc.
Of course, some companies, especially the larger corporations, can claim to be represented in more than one sector. Marks and Spencer plc, for example, supplies clothes and food, and offers financial services. The Virgin group's enterprises include shops (supply), radio broadcasting (service), and an airline (transport). Also, some industries really straddle two sectors: holiday travel companies are not simply in the business of transporting people; their main aim is to offer a service.
Which of these four sectors is the largest?
In many countries, including the UK, the service sector has long since supplanted manufacturing as...
