Projects and Proposals in Business Services

Abstract

“Business services” are those services provided for business customers. History has indicated that this service sector has been the largest and most rapidly growing of all service sectors in the U.S. Of course projects, proposals and planning for projects are important in these services. In-depth interviews with managers thus have been completed in the eight segments that comprise approximately 80 percent of the revenues that are attributed to this sector. Results suggested that two elements were important in arriving at an understanding for a project in these services — the “nature” of the interaction and the “content” that these interactions tended to take. This two-element model is thought to be generally applicable across business services and may be a special case of the application of communication theory as developed for national cultures. Significant differences in detail appear to exist, however, in the eight segments and some of these differences are described. Qualitative association may be made with observations on profitability made in business service segments.