Knowledge Intensive Business Services

Provides an updated view of knowledge management strategies of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) by focusing on how those firms manage innovation in their value chains and at the territorial level. Offers an original analysis of key processes of KIBS, specializing in design, professional firms and information technology.

The book provides convincing findings against the hypothesis of KIBS as a factor of cognitive convergence or loss of diversity within our economies. On the contrary, KIBS are active agents of divergence and there is no universal pattern of the nature and the evolution of KIBS, but national varieties. It also shows that in order to well understand the inter-organizational collaboration between KIBS and their clients and more generally KIBS dynamics and their performance, transaction cost economies and agent theory should be complemented by other perspectives such as knowledge-based approaches, network theories, modularity theories, etc. This book, which is strongly oriented towards both policy and theoretical questions, is a valuable addition to a body of literature which is still too scarce. No doubt that it will stimulate further research in this field. It is undoubtedly a high level, knowledge intensive service provision about knowledge intensive business services. Faïz Gallouj, University of Lille, France This book focuses on the development of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and the associated market characteristics and organisational forms. It brings together reputed scholars from a mix of disciplines to explore the nature and evolution of a range of Knowledge Intensive Business Services. Through an examination of KIBS sectors such as computer services, management consultancy and R&D services, the contributions in this book argue that the evolution of KIBS is strongly associated with new inter-organizational forms and that different country institutions shape the characteristics of these organisational forms. The book provides a strong contribution to theory and empirical evidence on fast-growing KIBS and their implications for innovation. The book will be of interest to final year undergraduates and postgraduate students and scholars in the field of innovation studies, organisation studies and comparative business systems, across Europe.

This book contributes to an improved understanding of knowledge-intensive business services and knowledge management issues. It offers a complex overview of literature devoted to these topics and introduces the concept of ‘knowledge flows’, which constitutes a missing link in the previous knowledge management theories. The book provides a detailed analysis of knowledge flows, with their types, relations and factors influencing them. It offers a novel approach to understand the aspects of knowledge and its management not only inside the organization, but also outside, in its environment.

Over the last decade, there has been an increasing amount of research on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and innovation. This book brings together current thinking on this subject from geographic and territorial perspectives. Researchers from across Europe and North America present contributions from a wide range of disciplinary approaches including management studies, innovation studies and geography. They explore areas such as innovation related cooperation between KIBS firms and their industrial partners, how KIBS firms mediate business knowledge and the impact that KIBS make in local, regional and international contexts. The book offers a timely exploration of the role played by the geographic and institutional environment in the processes that link KIBS, innovation and territory across different contexts.

Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are becoming more and more relevant both for their innovative content and as innovation boosters for manufacturing firms and, with this scenario in mind, this book first offers an in-depth analysis of what innovation in KIBS is and its performance outcomes, and then synthesizes what we know about KIBS firms' innovation models, as well as their specific peculiarities and limitations. This book examines the recent trends in innovation, service design and development in KIBS, starting from a review of the extant literature, explaining the role and specific traits of innovation in KIBS. Then, it progresses our knowledge about KIBS and about how new technologies are offering unique opportunities to use and share their knowledge, within and across boundaries. The book also includes several cases that show how, at the micro level, firms can effectively design their services and boost their innovation performance, by overcoming some of the traditional limits of innovation in services. While KIBS literature traditionally emphasizes that innovative and performing KIBS firms rely on tight client-provider interactions with service customization, recent research suggests that alternative modes of innovation are viable for performing KIBS firms: KIBS firms can develop mass customization strategies, ease interactions with clients via ICT interfaces and leverage on focused collaborations with expert clients. Particularly, the digitalization and ICT technologies are fostering platform and modular architectural designs of KIBS, as in the software and web design services. The book seeks a broader understanding of innovation in KIBS in the digital era and will be an essential guide for both academics and practitioners interested in KIBS innovation and design.

This is a study of innovation in Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and the impact innovation has on employment. The thesis relies on theories within the fields of "innovation in services", in particular KIBS, and "innovation and employment", taking as its point of departure the taxonomy of product and process innovation. The thesis is based on a discussion of innovation in services with a focus on how innovation in services may be understood and delineated. A long discussion is dedicated to the taxonomy of product and process innovation and the extent to which these concepts may be applicable to innovation in services. The thesis also scrutinises the concept of KIBS and how this can be defined. It further discusses features commonly associated with KIBS firms. The thesis is also rooted in the broader issue of innovation as a creator and destroyer of employment and makes a contribution in applying these issues to service sectors. The empirical part of the thesis builds on a database compiled for the research project, comprised of 967 Swedish KIBS firms. The database covers issues of innovation, employment and characteristics of the firm. The findings indicate that innovation was common in Swedish KIBS firms and that innovations often had an impact on employment. However, the thesis did not detect a straightforward relation between type of innovation (technological process innovation, organisational process innovation, goods product innovation and service product innovation) and the impact on employment. Explanations other than type of innovation have to be considered to analyse the impact of innovation on employment. The thesis further suggests that although innovation in KIBS is common, innovation itself is difficult to conceptualise and delineate.

Research interest in the service sector has boomed in recent years as deindustrialisation became entrenched. Instead of being regarded as merely supplementary to traditional industry and manufacturing, services have generated progressively rising levels of growth in developed economies while at the same time coming to be recognised as major drivers of innovation. Among the factors which have helped service companies notch up swifter growth rates than all other sectors are the outsourcing of such services by other sectors, including the development of information and communication technologies, and changes to the regulatory, legal and market frameworks as well as globalisation and internationalisation. The result is a cluster of highly innovative firms which can loosely be grouped under the heading of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS). Knowledge Intensive Business Services and Regional Competitiveness charts the development of these firms and explores their success through four mutually linked parts: KIBS and industrial dynamics; KIBS and their context; KIBS and their contribution to regional competitiveness and economic development; and finally, KIBS and public policy. This book is suitable for researchers and policy makers interested in the rise of these influential actors and their influence on regional competitiveness.