The computer services industry: restructuring for a single market

The size and strategic importance of computer services, in advanced industrial economies, including the European Community, continues to grow. As a reflection of its growth and deepening strategic importance, computer services have increasingly taken on a more international dimension, in turn losing its former national orientation. This article looks at recent developments in the European computer services industry, in particular at the restructuring taking place in response to the creation of the Single European Market. It attempts to reveal a number of major factors which will influence the reorganisation of the industry in the late 1990s and beyond.