View source for Goods and services

{{Short description|Products and actions made and done to meet the wants and needs of people}}
{{More footnotes|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
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'''Goods''' are items that are usually (but not always) [[tangible]], such as [[pens]] or [[Apple|apples]]. '''Services''' are activities provided by other people, such as [[teacher]]s or [[barber]]s. Taken together, it is the [[Production (economics)|production]], [[distribution (economics)|distribution]], and [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]] of [[goods]] and [[Service (economics)|services]] which underpins all [[economic activity]] and [[trade]]. According to [[Economics|economic theory]], consumption of goods and services is assumed to provide [[utility]] (satisfaction) to the [[consumer]] or end-user, although [[business]]es also [[Distribution (marketing)#Channels and intermediaries|consume goods and services]] in the course of producing their own.

== History ==
{{Further|Productive and unproductive labour}}

[[Physiocracy|Physiocratic economists]] categorized production into productive labour and unproductive labour. [[Adam Smith]] expanded this thought by arguing that any economic activities directly related to material products (goods) were productive, and those activities which involved non-material production (services) were unproductive. This emphasis on material production was adapted by [[David Ricardo]], [[Thomas Robert Malthus]] and [[John Stuart Mill]], and influenced later [[Marxian economics]]. Other, mainly Italian, 18th-century economists maintained that all desired goods and services were productive.<ref name="Shubik2014">{{cite book|first=Martin|last=Shubik|title=Proceedings of the Conference Accounting and Economics: In Honour of the 500th Anniversary of the Publication of Luca Pacioli's Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportions et Propotionalita, Siena, 18-19 November 1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=69ngAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA234|date=23 June 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-60837-8|pages=236–237}}</ref>

== Service-goods continuum ==
[[File:Service-goods continuum.png|right|thumb|300px|Service-goods continuum]]

The division of [[consumables]] into services is a simplification: these are not discrete categories. Most [[business theorist]]s see a continuum with pure service at one endpoint and pure tangible [[commodity]] goods at the other. Most [[product (business)|products]] fall between these two extremes. For example, a [[restaurant]] provides a physical good (prepared food), but also provides services in the form of ambience, the setting and clearing of the table, etc. Although some utilities, such as [[electricity]] and [[communications service provider]]s, exclusively provide services, other utilities deliver physical goods, such as [[water industry|water utilities]]. For [[Government procurement|public sector contracting]] purposes, the [[electricity]] supply is defined among goods rather than services in the [[Government procurement in the European Union|European Union]],<ref>UK Legislation. [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/5/pdfs/uksi_20060005_en.pdf "The Public Contracts Regulations 2006"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211234007/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2006/5/pdfs/uksi_20060005_en.pdf |date=11 December 2014 }}. Regulation 2(1) ''s.v.'' "goods". Retrieved 25 June 2015</ref> whereas under United States [[Government procurement in the United States|federal procurement regulations]], it is treated as a service.<ref>[https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%2041_2.html Federal Acquisition Regulation, Subpart 41.2 — Acquiring Utility Services] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129112342/https://www.acquisition.gov/sites/default/files/current/far/html/Subpart%2041_2.html |date=29 January 2018 }}, accessed 12 May 2018</ref>

Goods are normally structural and can be transferred in an instant while services are delivered over a period of time. Goods can be returned while a service, once delivered cannot.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://inevitablesteps.com/marketing/difference-between-goods-and-services/ |title=Difference Between Goods and Services: Visual Guide |date=March 3, 2016 |publisher=Inevitable Steps |access-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-date=10 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190210134328/http://inevitablesteps.com/marketing/difference-between-goods-and-services |url-status=dead }}</ref> Goods are not always tangible and may be virtual e.g. a book may be paper or electronic.

[[Marketing]] theory makes use of the service-goods continuum as an important concept<ref>Indiaclass, [http://www.indiaclass.com/goods-service-continuum/ "Goods Service Continuum"]. Accessed 25 June 2015. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425135605/http://www.indiaclass.com/goods-service-continuum/ |date=25 April 2015 }}</ref> which "enables marketers to see the relative goods/services composition of total products".<ref>Bachelors of Management Students Portal (BMS.co.in). [http://www.bms.co.in/explain-the-goods-service-continuum/ "Explain the Goods-Service Continuum"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401013958/http://www.bms.co.in/explain-the-goods-service-continuum/ |date=1 April 2015 }}, accessed 25 June 2015</ref>

In a narrower sense, service refers to [[Quality (business)|quality]] of [[customer service]]: the measured appropriateness of assistance and support provided to a customer. This particular usage occurs frequently in [[retailing]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/6350/Mattsson_Katriina.pdf |title=Customer satisfaction in the retail market |last=Mattsson |first=Katriina |date=2009 |website=Theseus |pages=15–16 |access-date=18 November 2015 |archive-date=4 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804105853/http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/6350/Mattsson_Katriina.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

== In international law ==
{{Further|International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services}}

Distinctions are made between goods and services in the context of [[International trade law|international trade liberalization]]. For example, the [[World Trade Organization]]'s [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT) covers international trade in goods<ref>[[World Trade Organization|WTO]], [https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gatt_e/gatt_e.htm GATT and the Goods Council] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118010233/https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gatt_e/gatt_e.htm |date=18 November 2015 }} accessed 17 November 2015</ref> and the [[General Agreement on Trade in Services]] (GATS) covers the [[Tertiary sector of the economy|services sector]].<ref>WTO, [https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/serv_e.htm Services trade] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110061401/https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/serv_e.htm |date=10 January 2016 }}, accessed 17 November 2015</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Business and economics}}
{{cols}}
*[[Commodity (Marxism)]]
*[[Fast-moving consumer goods]]
*[[Value-added tax|Goods and services tax]]
*[[List of countries by GDP sector composition]]
*[[Tertiary sector of the economy]]
*[[Three-sector model]]
*[[Universal basic services]]
{{colend}}
{{clear}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book | last1=Hendrickson | first1=C.T. | last2=Lave | first2=L.B. | author2-link=Lester Lave | last3=Matthews | first3=H.S. | title=Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Goods and Services: An Input-Output Approach | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-136-52549-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZ2VUOX1gbAC }} 274 pages.
*{{cite book | last1=Murley | first1=L. | last2=Wilson | first2=A. | title=The Distribution of Goods and Services | publisher=Rosen Central | series=Dollars and sense: a guide to financial literacy | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-4488-4710-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FGgXZUm8BoC }} 64 pages.
*Smith, Adam. ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300 The Wealth of Nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027042942/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3300 |date=27 October 2015 }}'' at [[Project Gutenberg]]
{{refend}}

== External links ==
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*[http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/classifications/nice/en/pdf/8_list_class_order.pdf International Classification of Goods and Services] at [[World Intellectual Property Organization]]
*[http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=ed7c73f3a46c357b10a4a634550f311f&mc=true&node=se37.1.6_11&rgn=div8 Electronic Code of Federal Regulations] at [[Code of Federal Regulations]]
*[http://www.uspto.gov/trademark/trademark-updates-and-announcements/nice-agreement-tenth-edition-general-remarks-class Nice Agreement Tenth Edition – General Remarks, Class Headings and Explanatory Notes – Version 2012]

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[[Category:Goods (economics)]]
[[Category:Services (economics)]]