Characterizing International Services: An Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy

International services present a challenge for policy work. Their nature resists straightforward characterization, making it difficult to design effective and targeted policies. Research across international business, economic geography, and service management has also grappled with this complexity for years; yet a cohesive, unified, and actionable understanding of international service characteristics remains missing. Thus, this paper examines what the central characteristics of international services are and how they can be utilized in research and policy. We begin by identifying the core challenges in international services research and use these challenges to develop an integrative framework that enables the characterization of all international services for research and policy purposes. The framework consists of four interconnected components: the connectivity of international services to their environment, the configuration of service activities within international organizational setups, the collaborative international interaction between global service actors, and the value creation of international services. We then demonstrate how the framework serves as a conceptual tool for research and a practical guide for policy work. By developing an interdisciplinary framework that enables the characterization of international services, we advance international service management research and provide insights into shaping effective global service policies.