Opinion / You Nuo
Time to redefine 'service'
By You Nuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-28 06:49
What Beijing and all of China could benefit from in hosting the 2008
Olympics is how to run an economy based no longer on production but on
service - service with international standards.
That was exactly what a top municipal official said last Friday at a
seminar during Beijing High-Tech Week. Beijing, the official said, has
the brightest chance, and indeed is under pressure from a nationwide
surge in demand, to develop its service industry.
Reportedly 70 percent of Beijing's economy is now in the service sector,
not manufacturing. Compared with the rest of China, the capital has
particularly large capacities in financial and telecommunication services.
Beijing deserves to be proud of its progress in building the service
infrastructure - made possible with resources from all over the country.
But more advanced infrastructure does not automatically mean better
service. Infrastructure in itself does not generate service.
Since the beginning of the year, for instance, there have been widespread
complaints about the slowdown in customer service at all banks. Banks
have been using many service windows and bank tellers to sell mutual
funds.
The domestic stock market has been having its best time in years and
business was too brisk to miss. As a result, banking customers had to
wait longer than ever.
There were so many complaints that the banks finally reacted, mainly by
raising the maximum ATM (automatic teller machine) withdrawal from 5,000
yuan to 20,000 yuan.
There is a personal risk tied to the decision to increase four-fold the
amount of cash that a customer may withdraw from a machine outside a bank
building. Will there be a corresponding increase in security measures?
The fact is, despite Beijing's claim of extensive development of its
service industry, most of it - the official figure is 80 percent - is
service for production and only a merger 20 percent service for consumers.
Such a division still smacks of the planned economy, where production -
however the word was defined - was always regarded as a loftier pursuit
than consumption or consumer spending. If this division still dominates
the service industry, the inherent human value of service will be
neglected.
Every individual deserves the same level of service as a government
office or other individuals. This can be defined as the quality or the
thoughtfulness of the service providers. For instance, a retail banking
customer is no less important than a mutual fund investor.
By placing too much emphasis on service to production (and this doesn't
include sports), Beijing may have an imbalance in the development of its
service industry.
If priority is given to all people who need service, rather than dividing
the so-called productive demand from the consumer demand, or group demand
from individual demand, Beijing can turn itself into a much more
user-friendly city.
The city's service industry can be much more colorful with more
cooperation between specialized private contractors and government
offices and large institutions.
In fact, at the Beijing High-Tech Week conference where the municipal
official was talking about service, some foreign visitors were having
trouble getting interpreters.
Beijing has no lack of trained interpreters. The only explanation is that
the event organizer had no experience in individual services.
E-mail: younuo@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/28/2007 page4)
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