The SAGE Encyclopedia of Quality and the Service Economy

Society, globally, has entered into what might be called the "service economy." Services now constitute the largest share of GDP in most countries and provide the major source of employment in both developed and developing countries. Services permeate all aspects of peoples’ lives and are becoming inseparable from most aspects of economic activity. "Quality management" has been a dominating managerial practice since World War II. With quality management initially associated with manufacturing industries, one might assume the relevance of quality management might decrease with the emergence of the service economy. To the contrary, the emergence of the service economy strengthened the importance of quality issues, which no longer are associated only with manufacturing industries but are increasingly applied in all service sectors, as well. Today, we talk not only about product or service quality but have even expanded the framework of quality to quality of life and quality of environment. Thus, quality and services have emerged in parallel as closely interrelated fields. The Encyclopedia of Quality and the Service Economy explores such relevant questions as: What are the characteristics, nature, and definitions of quality and services? How do we define quality of products, quality of services, or quality of life? How are services distinguished from goods? How do we measure various aspects of quality and services? How can products and service quality be managed most effectively and efficiently? What is the role of customers in creation of values? These questions and more are explored within the pages of this two-volume, A-to-Z reference work.

About the Author

Su Mi Dahlgaard-Park is currently a professor at the Institute of Service Management, Lund University, Sweden. She is co-founder and has been co-chair of the international QMOD-ICQSS conferences since 1997. She is one of the leading scholars within the research areas of quality and services management, knowledge management (KM), human resource management (HRM), and other related research areas, where she has published more than 150 scientific articles and books. Several of her papers are ranked as the top 10 most dwnlded or most cited articles. Elected as academician of IAQ (International Academy for Quality) since 2004, she also serves as chief editor for the International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. In addition, she is co-editor of the journal Quality, Innovation and Prosperity and associate editor for Total Quality and Business Excellence and The Asian Journal of Quality.