Toward a Core Typology of Service Organizations

Abstract

Typologies of organizations have generally failed to address the special character of service organizations. In this article we develop a core typology for service organizations based on the personal Interface between the client-customer and the service organization. Three types of service organizations are described utilizing seven dimensions of the interaction between a focal organization and its customer-clients. The typology developed and discussed is an attempt at providing more precision in the classification of organizations.