Russian services sector: current state and main development trends

The development of services, whose share in the GDP of most countries is steadily growing, is a hallmark of the world economy, putting this sector in a leading position. Nor is the Russian Federation an exception, in which the share of services in GDP grew at a faster rate than in other areas of the domestic economy. However, the Russian service market is subject to fierce competition not only from domestic organizations, but also the outside world, which poses new challenges to the Russian service sector, which can be overcome through the use of modern technologies not only in the field of management, but also widespread digitalization, which implies greater use of technology platforms and big data in the organization of service delivery and management processes. Domestic companies that have been engaged in the service sector over the past twenty years have been developing quite dynamically: the number of employees in this sector of the economy is growing, the structure of services provided is improving, innovations are being introduced that increase the competitive advantages of the Russian service. However, despite positive trends in the strategy being implemented, the Russian services sector is currently inferior to the same sphere of the economies of developed countries, which indicates, among other things, the presence of untapped opportunities. The article reveals the key characteristics of the service sector, as well as the areas of interaction of a number of factors that determined positive changes in the service sector of the Russian economy. The authors scrutinize the main development trends of the subject of the study, including international relations in the modern structure of the service sector. The systematization of the main problems impeding the increase in the level of Russian service organizations competitiveness made it possible to formulate possible directions for increasing the efficiency of their business. The authors compare the main performance indicators of two travel companies of the Russian "PEGAS Touristik" and the American - "Expendia Group".