Business Services Sector Industry Profile

The US business services sector consists of about 340,000 companies with combined annual sales of about $580 billion. Major companies include staffing services providers Manpower and Kelly Services; facilities service companies ABM Industries and Rollins Inc; and solid waste handlers Waste Management and Republic Services. Other major companies in the sector include office administrative service firms such as Automatic Data Processing and Iron Mountain; ADT Security Services, and the travel division of American Express. The business services sector is highly fragmented: the 50 largest companies account for less than 25 percent of sector revenue.

Europe and the US are the world's largest business services markets. Major companies outside the US include staffing services provider Adecco (Switzerland); waste and remediation services provider Veolia Environnement (France); security services provider G4S (UK); travel agency service TUI Travel (UK); and facilities support services provider Serco Group (UK). Other large business services companies are Rentokil Initial (UK); and ISS (Denmark).

Companies in the sector provide support services to businesses in a variety of industries and, in some cases, to households. Offerings include office administration, hiring and placing of personnel, document preparation and similar clerical services, travel planning, solicitation, collection, security and surveillance services, cleaning, landscaping, pest control, and waste disposal.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand ultimately depends on the level of business spending, which is determined by the health of the overall economy. The profitability of individual companies depends ...