The Concepts and Characteristics of Knowledge Intensive Business Services

Abstract

In the knowledge-based economy, the development of a particular type of services, knowledge intensive business services (KIBS), become one of the marking trends in economic evolution. The KIBS sector constitutes one of the characteristics of the contemporary economic (Muller E, Zenker A (2001) Business services as actors of knowledge transformation: the role of KIBS in regional and national innovation systems. Res Policy 30(9):1501–1516), and become one of the most dynamic components of the services sector in most industrialized countries (Strambach S (2001) Innovation process and the role of knowledge-intensive business services. In: Kulicke KM, Zenker A (eds) Innovation networks—concepts and challenges in the European perspective. Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg, New York, pp 53–68). According to the findings of the innovation survey on the Dutch service industry (Brouwer E, Kleinecht A (1995) An innovation survey in services: the experience with the cis questionnaire in the Netherlands. STI Review 16:141), service suppliers are commonly innovating. It has become clear that KIBS do innovate and hold an increasingly dynamic and pivotal role in innovation system (Gallouj F, Weinstein O (1997) Innovation in services. Res Policy 26(4/5):537–556), and a large share of innovative efforts in KIBS are related to the development of new services (Den Hertog P (2000) Knowledge-intensive business services as co-producers of innovation. Int J Innov Manag 4(4):491–528, Muller E, Zenker A (2001) Business services as actors of knowledge transformation: the role of KIBS in regional and national innovation systems. Res Policy 30(9):1501–1516).