Todays developed economies made the journey from agrarian to industrial tocivil services exam to economies over a period of 150 years or more, first on the back of the Industrial Revolution, and then the Information Revolution. The Industrial Revolution started in England, later expanded to other European countries and the U.S., and eventually to Russia and Japanbut employment structure followed the same basic pattern everywhere. The current wave of up-and-coming economies is doing it far faster, however, because so much of the heavy lifting is already done. With the right social, educational, legal, and economic climate, developing economies can now come bounding into theCivil servicessector in just a couple decades.
Furthermore, developing economies are growing differently today. Until recently, economic development meant slow urbanization of small populations, but developing economies today are experiencing rapid urbanization of large populations, which stimulates demand forservicesas never before. Civil servicesexamination in India today is at about the same level as in the U.S. 100 years agoyet industrial employment in China and India today is about half what it was in the U.S. at that stage. Once the Industrial Revolution began in the U.S., it took nearly 100 years forservicesemployment to exceed industrial employment. In contrast, China, India, and other developing economies are already there.
Despite this rise ofservices, theservicesmanagement field is still based largely on foundations that can be traced back to the industrial era. Where there are clear parallels, such foundations are a natural fit. But as theservicessector has grown in size, it has also grown more diverse, more distributed, and considerably more complex. Enterprises in theservicessector now face challenges and opportunities that have no clear precedents in industry. Management foundations from the earlier era thus are showing their age.
In general terms, this book is about an updated approach toservicesmanagement that embraces diversity, distribution, and complexity. In specific terms, its about the adaptation of a highly regarded management approach from its roots in industry to the furthest corner of theservicessector. That management approach isTheory of Constraints. The furthest corner of theservicessector servicesleast like industry is Professional, Scientific, and TechnicalServices. Servicesare a rising if not dominant force in many economies today. In the U.S.,servicesare about 80 percent of employment. In Europe, its as high as 75 percent. In Australia, its 76 percent. And in Japan, its 67 percent. Overall, 65 percent of employment in developed countries is in some form ofservices.
Even in recently industrialized economies, where employment in agriculture is still large, theservicessector is significant. In China, servicesare 28 percent and growing rapidly because the burgeoning industrial sector and emerging consumer class demand better transportation and utilities. In India, its 26 percent and rising becauseservicesbased on information technology requires less infrastructure than industry does.