For the past three years the world economy has suffered a recession. I
n contrast to earlier global, as well as national, recessions when man
ufacturing industries were most vulnerable, business services have bee
n significantly affected. Not surprisingly, this has revived old doubt
s about the role of services in modern economies. The papers in this s
ection re-examine the problematics associated with the efficiency and
productivity of service organisations. Even if the social division of
labour is a strong argument to support the growth of service industrie
s, attempts to understand better the connection between service firm l
ocation and different ways of internally organising and coordinating p
roduction might be one useful direction for future research.