The Experience Economy - Criticisms

Criticisms

Pine and Gilmore's thesis has been criticized as an example of an over-hyped business philosophy arising from or in the dot-com boom and a rising economy in the U.S. that was tolerant of high prices, inflated claims, and no limitations of supply or investment. Detractors contrast it with other service economy theses such as Natural Capitalism, in which there is a clear focus on making measurably better use of scarce resources, usually considered to be the basis of economics. They claim service management should stress efficiency more than effectiveness.

The thesis has also been criticized from within the fields of tourism, leisure and hospitality studies where theories as to the role of experiences in the economy were already well established prior to the work of Pine and Gilmore but were not acknowledged by Pine and Gilmore in their work. Although continuing to influence business thinking the concept has already been superseded within much service marketing and management literature by the argument that the value of all goods and services are co-created or co-produced through the interaction of consumers and producers. Therefore, at one level of abstraction all consumption can be understood in experiential terms.