The manufacturing industry uses produces and sells more services today than previously, which is a sign that the Swedish economy is focused on”servicification”. In two new reports, the National Board of Trade analyses the relationship between services and industry. In one of the reports there is an analysis of this servicification of Swedish industry over the last 30 years. The other one exemplifies which services industrial companies use and sell, and it also takes up the consequences for trade policy.

In the report "Servicification of Swedish Manufacturing" the National Board of Trade analyses the use and sale of services within Swedish manufacturing and also their trade in services. With the term servicification, we mean that industry uses, produces and sells more services than before. The servicification is particularly evident when we consider the fact that companies today are more often included in company groups. This is because industrial company groups have a great deal of their operations in subsidiaries that mainly produce services.

The analysis shows that purchased services’ share of the production value more than doubled between 1975 and 2005. In addition, industrial companies sell and export more and more services. Almost half of the employees in the manufacturing industry have service-related jobs.

Finally, the study also modifies the image of industry’s decrease in importance for the Swedish economy. Certainly, industry’s stake in the Swedish economy is decreasing, but our analysis at the group level shows that the decrease is less than it appeared according to the previous picture.

In the other report, "At your service – the importance of services for the manufacturing industry and possible trade policy consequences" the National Board tries to answer the question concerning which services are used and sold by industrial companies. The case study in the report, Sandvik Tooling (a business area within the Sandvik group) shows that Sandvik need a large number of services in order to establish and maintain their delivery chain. This comprises around half of the services included in the WTO  General  Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

In the report the National Board argues that, since the manufacturing industry uses and sells more and more services, there is a risk of trade barriers entailing additional costs and loss of competitiveness. From a trade policy point of view, openness to trade, investments and people will continue to be important.


Download the report Servicification of Swedish Manufacturing in PDF here


Download the report At your service in PDF here 



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