Chapter 6 — Tertiary and Quaternary Activities

Tertiary activities involve the commercial output of services rather than the production of tangible goods. The main difference is that expertise in tertiary activities relies on specialised skills, experience, and knowledge of workers, rather than on production techniques, machinery, and factory processes as in secondary activities. Common examples include teachers, doctors, lawyers, barbers, shopkeepers, and drivers.

The output of tertiary activities is indirectly measured in terms of wages and salaries, since it is the 'provision' of services that is consumed rather than any tangible good.

Rural marketing centres are quasi-urban centres that serve nearby settlements as local collecting and distributing points, often with mandis (wholesale markets) and retailing areas, but personal and professional services are not well-developed. Urban marketing centres offer a wider range of specialised goods and services, including professional services from teachers, lawyers, consultants, physicians, dentists, and veterinary doctors.

Periodic markets are organised in rural areas where there are no regular markets. They are held on specified dates at weekly or bi-weekly intervals and move from one place to another, allowing shopkeepers to remain busy all days while a large area is served by them.

Transport distance is measured in three ways: km distance (actual distance of route length), time distance (time taken to travel on a route), and cost distance (expense of travelling on a route). Isochrone lines are drawn on a map to join places that are equal in terms of the time taken to reach them.

A node is the meeting point of two or more routes, a point of origin, a point of destination, or any sizeable town along a route. Every road that joins two nodes is called a link. A developed network has many links, meaning places are well-connected.

Tourism is described as the world's single largest tertiary activity in total registered jobs — 250 million — and in total revenue, which accounts for 40 per cent of the total GDP. It also fosters the growth of infrastructure industries, retail trading, and craft industries.

The chapter identifies four main tourist attractions: climate (warm, sunny weather for beach holidays or snow cover for skiing), landscape (mountains, lakes, and spectacular sea coasts not completely altered by man), history and art (ancient towns, archaeological sites, castles, palaces, and churches), and culture and economy (ethnic and local customs, and affordable cost for tourists).

Medical tourism is when medical treatment is combined with international tourism. India has emerged as a leading country of medical tourism; about 55,000 patients from the USA visited India in 2005 for treatment. World-class hospitals in metropolitan cities cater to patients from around the world. The chapter also mentions outsourcing of medical tests and data interpretation to hospitals in India, Switzerland, and Australia.

Quaternary activities involve the collection, production, and dissemination of information or even the production of information itself. They centre around research and development and are seen as an advanced form of services requiring specialised knowledge and technical skills. Examples include personnel in office buildings, elementary schools, universities, hospitals, and accounting and brokerage firms. Quaternary activities can be outsourced and are not tied to resources or necessarily localised by market.

Quinary activities are performed by the highest level of decision-makers and policy-makers. They focus on the creation, re-arrangement, and interpretation of new and existing ideas, data interpretation, and the use and evaluation of new technologies. Often called 'gold collar' professions, they include senior business executives, government officials, research scientists, and financial and legal consultants. Their importance in advanced economies far outweighs their numbers.

Outsourcing is giving work to an outside agency to improve efficiency and reduce costs. When it involves transferring work to overseas locations, it is called offshoring. Business activities outsourced include IT, human resources, customer support, call centre services, and sometimes manufacturing and engineering. Outsourcing has resulted in the opening of call centres in India, China, Eastern Europe, Israel, Philippines, and Costa Rica, creating new jobs in these countries.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) covers general outsourced business activities. Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is distinct in that it involves highly skilled workers and is information-driven knowledge outsourcing. KPO enables companies to create additional business opportunities; examples include research and development activities, e-learning, business research, intellectual property research, legal profession, and the banking sector.

The digital divide refers to the uneven distribution of opportunities emerging from ICT-based development across the globe, arising from wide-ranging economic, political, and social differences among countries. Developed countries have surged forward while developing countries have lagged behind. Digital divides also exist within countries — in large countries like India or Russia, metropolitan centres have better connectivity and access to the digital world than peripheral rural areas.

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