Service competitiveness - An international benchmarking comparison of service practice and performance in Germany, UK and USA

This paper provides a cross-country examination of service management pract ice and performance of service organizations in the UK, USA and Germany. Th e findings reported are based on a sample of firms from the international s ervice study (TSS) from four service sectors: financial;al services, profes sional services, hotels, and utilities. The paper argues that generally the re are differences in services management practices and performance and mor e specifically, that service quality performance may be explained by the na ture and market dynamics of the service sector within the individual countr ies.