Development Of Knowledge Intensive Business Services Research Articles

Sustainability Development of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Strategic Actions and Business Performance

The recognition of the relevance of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) is becoming especially acute in the European Union and even more important for many emerging economies. The objective of the present study is twofold: (1) to examine whether an empirically-based typology of sustainability development can be constructed for KIBS; (2) to identify whether different development patterns are associated with different business performance outcomes. The empirical evidence is based on quantitative and firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire which yielded 128 qualified responses from KIBS in the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on exploratory factor and cluster analysis to identify the cluster membership and to assess the relationship with performance outcomes it has been used the parametric test one-way ANOVA. Data analysis revealed that three distinct patterns types of KIBS exist, which were associated with different performance outcomes. With regard to the level of sustainable development, we found the conservative KIBS following market extension through a repositioning of existing and revised services, innovating KIBS following a new service development strategy focusing mainly on complements or line extension to existing services based on changes in technology and middle-ranged KIBS focusing on traditional strategy of comprehensiveness of services or “more services under one roof”. Innovating KIBS outperform other types of KIBS in all financial and non-financial parameters. The results have implications for practices involved in strategy development in services and useful for government efforts. The limitation of the research is done by focus on small companies, operating mainly in ICT and architectural and engineering services.

Asian varieties of service capitalism?

There is currently only limited empirical research and theoretical conceptualisation of the role of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in the economies of Asia within economic geography or elsewhere in the wider social scientific literature. This paper argues that existing theoretical understandings of KIBS are inadequate to conceptualise the nature of ongoing KIBS development in Asian economies – both emerging and mature – and seeks to address this absence by developing a theoretical framework that draws on a range of existing theoretical approaches within and beyond economic geography. To do this, it proposes the concept of ‘service capitalism’, developed from work concerned with varieties of capitalism (VoC), variegated capitalism and advanced service industries. The paper elaborates its theoretical argument by presenting research into two forms of Asian service capitalism through two case studies examining respectively the specific nature of Japanese KIBS and the development of KIBS in China. Using the case studies, it demonstrates how service industry development in both these Asian economies exhibits distinctive characteristics that are a consequence of both local institutional, corporate, and socio-cultural contexts but are also interconnected the wider global economy in complex ways. The paper thus presents a significant and disruptive challenge to existing theories of KIBS development as based on the western experience, and contemporary deployments of the varieties of capitalism and variegated capitalism approaches.

Endogenous growth and environmental policy: are the processes of growth and tertiarization in developed economies reversible?

The starting point for this article is the idea put forward by Gadrey (2008, 2010) that environmental problems and a policy of addressing them by introducing an environmental tax could trigger economic contraction and downscaling and a shrinking of the service sector in developed economies. The purpose of this article is to test these hypotheses using an evolutionary simulation model. To this end, we use a model of endogenous growth and structural change into which an environmental dimension is incorporated. The results of our simulations certainly reveal structural change within service industries but no change in the distribution of employment between services and manufacturing. Furthermore, we show that the environmentally desirable stagnation of labor productivity in the capital goods sector is compatible with a largely positive growth trend in the economy as a whole, with the development of knowledge-intensive business services apparently able partially to offset the stagnation of productivity in the capital goods sector. We conclude by emphasizing the need for environmental innovation in service activities and cast doubt on the long-term effectiveness of an environmental tax in the fight against pollution.

The Growth of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Innovation, Markets and Networks

The increasing economic focus on knowledge has spurred the growth and development of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). This paper seeks to further understand the evolution and growth of KIBS firms and the nature of their networks and markets. It is argued that changing competitiveness conditions are heightening the requirement for firms in most sectors to innovate and take advantage of their core competences and knowledge. This is resulting in a growing trend by firms to outsource KIBS. The paper draws on interview data from a sample of KIBS firms in London and Helsinki. It is concluded that the growth of KIBS is stretching the limits of globalization through the creation of new spaces of knowledge flow. However, regions continue to be key knowledge bases and remain the primary spatial architecture underlying the systems of innovation within which KIBS are positioned.

Innovation policy in services: The development of knowledge–intensive business services (KIBS) in Finland

SummaryThis paper starts from the observation that policy-oriented discussion and policy-oriented studies in the sector of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) have been rare despite the central role that this sector has been argued to play in innovation. Finland is one country where activities for the development of KIBS have recently been initiated both at the national and the regional level. This paper describes and analyses these activities. National and regional KIBS studies form an important starting point in all of them. In the practical conclusions, a common feature is the emphasis on the simultaneous development of both the demand and supply sides. The need to link KIBS to innovation systems has been identified particularly at the regional level.