1. SERVICES Services do not generally produce an actual, tangible product. They include the range of services found in modern societies.

2. Specialized aspects of the service economy were given their own designation – the Quaternary sector.

3. The expanding service sector in the CORE economies a major aspect of a changing global economy. Increased mechanization of production, MNC’s, and the dispersal of production have played a part in a growing service industry.

4. The growth of the service industries coincides with the “post industrial” societies found in most MDC’s (age of deindustrialization.)

5. Service industries and information technologies affect the patterns of economic activity.

6. Most service industries are not tied to raw materials, only the market (customers.) How does this fit with Weber’s “least cost theory.” What were the most important factors according to Weber?

7. Make a list of companies which provide a “service.”

9. An important factor is knowing your market.

10. Many service industries are “footloose.” The location of customers is not the most important factor.

11. A footloose industry is not tied to resources, transportation, or consumer locations. Many services can be located anywhere executives desire. Customer service call centers. Name several “footloose” industries that we all deal with. Bill, claim, and records processing centers.

12. Software development centers

13. Business consulting service centers In reality, there are few completely footloose industries. A corporate executive looks for a “creative class” of service firms.

14. Every settlement in a MDC provides consumer services to people in the surrounding market area/hinterland. However, settlements of different sizes have varied types and numbers of services. Where are the Services?

15. Central Place Theory by Christallier explains how services are distributed and why there is a regular pattern, at least in MDC’s. To determine the market area of a service, geographers need two pieces of information about a service. Its range and its threshold. How far are you willing to drive for a pizza?

16. How far would you drive for a weekend getaway?

17. The RANGE is the maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service. How far will you travel for…

18. The second piece of information needed to compute the market area for a service is the “threshold.” The threshold can depend on the service being provided. A convenience store can appeal to a broad range of people and thus has a small threshold.

19. A grocery store like Kroger or HEB may have a high threshold since it may take an area of up to 30,000 people for the store to succeed.

20. The income of an area also affects the threshold.

21. Depending on the stores, mall developers must determine the threshold to maximize the profitabliity of the mall and the stores in the mall.

22. Where does the information come from that geogarphers use to determine threshold?

23. The market area analysis uses the range and threshold together to determine if a service will be profitable. If an ice cream store needs to sell $5,000 per week to be profitable, and the average customer spends $10 per visit, how many customers at a minimum will it require to make a profit? You can use the census to determine the average income for particular census tracts around your location.

24. How could an area support the number of Starbucks located on the map below?

25. According to geographers, the optimum location for a service is one that minimized the distance for the service for the largest number of customers. What type of service might you provide your community one day?

26. Most people live close to one another with the settlement surrounded by farms and fields. This is the basic unit developed at the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution and still exist in many LDC’s today.

27. Early History of Services Early settlements were rural because economies were based on agriculture. Within these rural communities, only a small group of personal, producer and public services were needed. These dispersed rural settlements are characteristic of the rural North American landscape.