Abstract
The present paper investigates the sectoral variety and common patterns across different typologies of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). We examine this issue by considering the case of Lombardy, a highly developed manufacturing area the industrial activities of which are experiencing a pervasive transformation towards higher knowledge content, demanding stronger and more pervasive support by advanced services. Drawing on an original survey-based firm-level dataset, we analyze innovation patterns across KIBS, evaluating the explanatory power of traditional classifications of the service sector, as well as the heterogeneity driven by firm and market specific characteristics. Our findings highlight four profiles of KIBS: interactive innovation mode, product innovation mode, conservative innovation mode and techno-organizational innovation mode. When examining in more depth the variables that are associated with cluster membership, we find that firm strategy is the most significant determinant, with size, customer location, and training also playing a role in defining cluster specificities.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
According to Tether (2003), the emphasis on the ‘interaction’ side is also to be understood in relation to the aim of reversing the traditional view of supplier-dominated services.
Recent evidence supports this claim. For example, Freel (2006) shows that KIBS tend to employ high skill workers, and technical KIBS in particular hire high profile technicians.
Data collection and sampling were carried out as part of the project “Survey sulle imprese e sulla struttura economica lombarda—Settore dei servizi” sponsored by the Istituto Regionale di Ricerca della Lombardia (IRER) in 2006.
The second segment (R&D services) is rather sparse (four units only in the stratified sample), as a result of the relatively low number of dedicated businesses in the regional universe. For this reason, in our descriptive analysis we consider a higher level of sector aggregation, by distinguishing between p-KIBS and t-KIBS.
The telephone interviews were conducted by a specialized survey company with the assistance of the CATI procedure.
This trend has been further encouraged by the recent reforms in the Italian labour market, which introduced a large variety of flexible labour contracts.
We have to take into consideration the relevance of small firms in our sample. The size class skewed distribution might introduce some bias in the analysis. Nevertheless, as the KIBS sector is indeed characterized by a population of small businesses, we believe investigating alternative modes of innovation contributes to understanding the sector’s overall dynamics.
We extract 4 factors by means of a principal component analysis with Varimax rotation. The percentage of variance explained is 76.8. For the scope of the present analysis, within each component, we focus on the variables that display a factor loading greater than 0.40.
References
Barras R (1990) Interactive innovation in financial and business services: the vanguard of the service revolution. Res Policy 19:215–237
Bresnahan T, Brynjolfsson E, Hitt LM (2002) Information technology, workplace organization and the demand for skilled labor: firm-level evidence. Q J Econ 67:339–376
Bryson JR, Monnoyer MC (2004) Understanding the relationship between services and innovation: the RESER review of the European service literature on innovation, 2002. Serv Ind J 24(1):205–222
Camacho J, Rodriguez M (2005) How innovative are services? An empirical analysis for Spain. Serv Ind J 25(2):253–271
Coombs R, Miles I (2000) Innovation, measurement and services: the new problematique. In: Metcalfe JS, Miles I (eds) Innovation systems in the service economy - measurement and case study analysis. Kluwer Academic, Boston
Czarnitzki D, Spielkamp A (2000) Business services in Germany: bridges for innovation. ZEW discussion paper, No. 00–52. Mannheim
Doloreux D, Muller E (2007) The key dimensions of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) analysis. A decade of evolution, Working Paper Firms and Regions No. U1/2007, Fraunhofer-Institut für System-und Innovationsforschung-ISI, Karlsruhe
Evangelista R, Savona M (2003) Innovation, employment and skills in services. Firm and sectoral evidence. Struct Chang Econ Dyn 14:449–474
Freel M (2006) Patterns of technological innovation in knowledge-intensive business services. Ind Innov 13(3):335–358
Gadrey J, Gallouj F (1998) The provider-customer interface in business and professional services. Serv Ind J 18(2):1–15
Gallouj F (2002) Knowledge intensive business services: processing knowledge and producing innovation. In: Gadrey J, Gallouj F (eds) Productivity, innovation and knowledge in services. Edward Elgar
Gallouj F, Weinstein O (1997) Innovation in services. Res Policy 26:537–556
den Hertog P (2000) Knowledge intensive business services as co-producers of innovation. Int J Innov Manag 4(4):491–528
Hipp C, Tether B, Miles I (2000) The incidence and effects of innovation in services: evidence from Germany. Int J Innov Manag 4:417–453
Hollenstein H (2003) Innovation modes in the Swiss service sector: a cluster analysis based on firm-level data. Res Policy 32:845–863
Howells J (2000) The nature of innovation in services. Report presented to the OECD “Innovation and Productivity in Services Workshop”, Sidney, Australia. (http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/industry/indcomp)
Howells J, Tether B (2004) Innovation in services: issues at stake and trends. European Commission, Contract No. INNO-03-01
Jensen MB, Johnson B, Lorenz E, Lundvall BA (2007) Forms of knowledge and modes of innovation. Res Policy 36:680–693
de Jong JPJ, Bruins A, Dolfsma W, Meijaard J (2003) Innovation in service firms explored: what, how and why?. Strategic Study B200205, EIM Business and Policy Research (http://www.ondernemerschap.nl/pdf-ez/B200205.pdf)
Koschatzky K, Zenker A (1999) The regional embeddedness of small manufacturing and service firms: regional networking as knowledge source for innovation. Working papers firms and region R2/1999. ISI, Karlsruhe
Kuusisto J, Viljamaa A (2004) Knowledge intensive business services ad co-production of knowledge—the role of public sector? Frontiers of E-Business Research, Conference proceedings of eBRF 2004. Tampere University of Technology and University of Tampere
Larsen JN (2001) Knowledge, human resources and social practice: the knowledge-intensive business service firm as a distributed knowledge system. Serv Ind J 21(1):81–102
Leiponen A (2001) Knowledge services in the innovation system. Helsinki: Taloustieto
Licht G, Moch D (1999) Innovation and information technology in services. Can J Econ - Revue Canadienne d’Economique 32:363–383
Miles I (1995) Services innovation: statistical and conceptual issues. PREST Working Paper, PREST, University of Manchester
Miles I (2005) Knowledge intensive business services: prospects and policies. Foresight 7(6):39–63
Miles I, Kastrinos N, Flanagan K, Bilderbee R, den Hertog P, Huitink W, Bouman M (1995) Knowledge intensive business services: their role as users, carriers and sources of innovation, EIMS Publication No 15, Innovation Programme, DGXIII, Luxembourg
Muller E, Zenker A (2001) Business services as actors of knowledge transformation: the role of KIBS in regional and national innovation systems. Res Policy 30:1501–1516
Nählinder J (2002) Innovation in knowledge intensive business services: state of the art and conceptualisation, Tema T WP 244. Linköping
Pavitt K (1984) Sectoral patterns of technical change: towards a taxonomy and a theory. Res Policy 13:343–73
Simmie J, Strambach S (2005) The contribution of KIBS to innovation in cities: an evolutionary and institutional perspective. J Knowl Manag 10(5):26–40
Sirilli G, Evangelista R (1998) Technological innovation in services and manufacturing: results from Italian surveys. Res Policy 27:881–899
Strambach S (1998) Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) as an element of learning regions—the case of Baden Württenberg. Paper presented to the 38th Congress of the European Regional Science Association, Vienna
Sundbo J, Gallouj F (2000) Innovation as a loosely coupled system in services. In: Metcalfe JS, Miles I (eds) Innovation systems in the service economy—measurement and case study analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston
Toivonen M (2004) Expertise as business: long-term development and future prospects of knowledge-intensive business services. Doctoral Dissertation Series, Helsinki University of Technology. Available at: http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2004/isbn9512273152/
Thomi W, Böhn (2003) Knowledge intensive business services in regional systems of innovation—initial results from the case of Southeast-Finland. 43rd European congress of the regional science association
Tether BS (2003) The sources and aims of innovation in services: variety between and within sectors. Econ Innov New Technol 12(6):481–505
Tether BS (2005) Do services innovate (differently)? Insights from the European innobarometer survey. Ind Innov 12(2):153–184
Tether BS, Hipp C (2002) Knowledge intensive technical and other services: patterns of competitiveness and innovation compared. Technol Anal Strategic Manag 14(2):163–182
Tether BS, Hipp C, Miles I (2001) Standardisation and particularisation in services: evidence from Germany. Res Policy 30:1115–1138
Tether BS, Metcalfe JS (2004) Services and systems of innovation. In: Malerba F (ed) Sectoral systems of innovation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Wood PA, Bryson J, Keeble D (1993) Regional patterns of small firm development in the business services: evidence from the UK. Environ Plan A 25:677–700
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge funding from Istituto Regionale di Ricerca della Lombardia (IRER), and to thank the participants at the 5th International EMAEE conference held in Manchester on 17–19 May 2007, and in the seminar held at Universitá del Piemonte Orientale (Novara) on 30 January 2008 for their useful comments and suggestions. Nicoletta Corrocher acknowledges the financial support of the Research Council of Norway (Project n˚172603/V10: “The Knowledge-based society”).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Corrocher, N., Cusmano, L. & Morrison, A. Modes of innovation in knowledge-intensive business services evidence from Lombardy. J Evol Econ 19, 173–196 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-008-0128-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-008-0128-2