Product

A product is a somewhat more differentiated element of a service economy that can be separated fairly clearly from other products involved in the same service cycle. It is however not so easy to define as a set of services that it can be called a commodity. Typically a product involves some rather complex service guarantees and service expectations, e.g. a food product is expected to be inspected, not poisonous, and nutritious at least to the degree stated on that product's label, or normal for that type of food. If for instance someone genetically engineered a potato to taste wonderful but have no calories, one could argue that it is no longer a potato. While celery has no calories already, and no one says that it isn't food. This demonstrates the complexity of the expectations of service we have of most products, and why it's sometimes difficult to say that they can be compared.

Products are usually made of three things: material, energy and instructional capital (information). Most products are a combination of the three. Some instructions, which exist partially in the product label and service guarantees associated with it, e.g. by brand management, and partially in the law, e.g. implied warranty, are part of any product. If they define the product completely, we must say the product is actually a commodity, as only the price value varies from product to product.

A product has the following attributes:

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See Features for how these are handled.