Uno actu principle

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In business administration , the Uno-actu principle (from Latin Uno: one, one, one (united) actus, actūs m .: action, unō actū: in a [single] company ; also incorrectly referred to as Uno-acto- Principle ) an essential characteristic with which a service can be distinguished from a service in kind : production and consumption coincide in time. The service can therefore usually not be preserved.

Effects

This results in difficulties when considering the service from an economic perspective: The simultaneity does not produce any added value. Furthermore, a service cannot be stored or transported and therefore offers little potential for rationalization. Services usually require a high degree of cooperation, interaction and communication, i.e. external factors of production , all of which cannot be properly assessed in terms of market economy.

The latter applies in particular to personal services, which also usually require the active participation of the customer in the process (the best hairdresser cannot cut hair if the customer is not sitting quietly in the chair, no doctor can cure if the patient does not say what he did, and refused an investigation).

Uno-actu principle in e-business

Relation to location and time can be weakened somewhat in digitalisable services (see also: e-business ) . H. the service is not consumed where it is produced.

Example: In online banking , the actual service, namely the transaction, takes place remotely from the consumer on the bank's mainframe.

criticism

In more recent business research, especially in the areas of service management , the classic separation of material and service is criticized as not being appropriate because it raises too many problems (every contribution in kind contains a service component, conversely, no service can be provided without a "material carrier" ). In this perspective, the uno-actu principle always comes to light when a high degree of integrativity on the part of those involved is required to create a service (i.e. in the process ); the result, on the other hand, can be material or immaterial without necessarily resulting in a simultaneity of production and consumption .

literature

  • Gross, P & Badura, B: Social Policy and Services: Drafting a Theory of Personal Services. In: Ferber, C. von & Kaufmann, FX (ed.), Sociology and Social Policy (special issue 19 of the KZfSS) , pp. 361–385. Opladen: West German publishing house