The beginning of the 21-st century has brought about profound and lasting changes in the architecture of the global economy. One of the symptoms is the growing pressure on the part of investors/shareholders for a regular, high return of cash to company owners. At least five important causes of this situation may be listed:
Apart from macroeconomic and global factors, microeconomic conditions play an important part within these deep structural changes, compelling us to review various theoretical and practical issues related to enterprise competitiveness and enterprise development strategies.
New types of services have a key meaning in the knowledge-based economy. The new services are characterized by a new form of delivery to the recipient as well as by different ways of service management. What is also new here is the degree of intangibility. These services are heterogenic in nature. Literature in this field lists many different, ofter conflicting or controversial methods of classification.