Abstract
Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is often defined as organised information, just as information is organised data. Data are usually organised by human classification and correlation of observations, but there is increasing capability to achieve this automatically. For example, sophisticated process control equipment can respond to changes in a set of parameters, or neural network based alarms can discriminate between, for instance, Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) images of intruders as opposed to those of windblown leaves. Knowledge attaches meaning to information. It demands a knower, with cognitive structures that can do this.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Giarini and Stahel (1993); see also W R Stahel (1998) and other articles in the same issue of The IPTS Report no 27, September 1998
Miles with others (1990); OECD ICCP (1993)
The continuing increases in familiarity, functionality and power of IT, together with the decreases in its price, mean that new generations of IT are liable to be adopted by many of these“laggards” For example, there has been high uptake of mobile communications by many SMEs.
Young (1996)
Cf data on UK services presented in Miles and Tomlinson (1999)
See Miles etal (1995), EC, Luxembourg, (DG13 SPRINT-EIMS), Bessant & Rush (1998).
See, for example, papers by Antonelli, Tsounis and Tomlinson in Miles and Boden (forthcoming), which demonstrate this using input-output data for various countries and periods.
On accounting for intangibles, See Jacquemain (forthcoming) and various papers available on the OECD website, e.g. http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/industry/indcomp/ prod/intang.htm, which provides a guide to the eralier papers there.
See Miles, Andersen et al (forthcoming).
See the studies by Richard Barras (1986; 1990).
For a detailed empirical critique of the reverse product cycle approach, see Uchupalanan (1998). This study provides a detailed analysis of the interplay between competition, strategy, innovation and regulation for a series of banking IT innovations.
Cf Silvestrou et al (1992), who define two extreme categories of service, differing along six dimensions. The extremes are Professional services: organisations with relatively few transactions, highly customised, process-oriented, with relatively long contact time, with most value added in the front office where considerable judgement is applied in meeting customer needs; and Mass services: organisations where there are many customer transactions, involving limited contact time and little customisation, and offerings that are predominantly product-oriented with most value being added in the back office and little judgement applied by the front office staff. A third category, service shops, fall between the two above on the six dimensions. Another approach, from de Jong (1994) distinguishes four groups of services: (1) Infrastructure services, such as telecommunication and transport services, which make use of fixed network facilities for standardised problems. This lacks a parallel in the Silvestrou approach. (2) Value added services, highly specialised business services used by different types of, like accountancy and wholesale trade. (3) Pre-specified services, which make use of a standard approach or method in order to satisfy a general demand, e.g., repair, maintenance and cleaning services. (4) Ad hoc services: for example management, consultancy and engineering services that are called in for specific, one-off problems. De Jong examines the potential for these different types of service to pursue’ economies of scope’ and’ economies of scale’, which are related to the possibilities for standardisation or variety in the services offered.
And, again, client-intensity is not restricted to services. Manufacturing firms too, vary on this dimension, with mass production being quite different from the creation of a one-off highly complex device for a single client. We merely suggest that it is a marked feature of services, and one that is liable to shape their innovation patterns, and roles in innovation systems.
Belleflamme et al (1986), Eiglier & Langeard (1987).
The following is drawn from Miles, (forthcoming, 1999).
Loveridge et al (1996).
CBI/Natwest(1996).
The sample consisted of 487 manufacturers and 200 non-manufacturers; it was drawn from CBI membership and the mailing list for NatWest’s newsletter Innovation Business.
The consumer equivalents to KIBS seem to fall into a few main categories. First are certain charitable bodies, providing advice, counselling, and other professional services. Second are services that are really oriented to microbusinesses (e.g. accountants and IT support), or to people in their roles as investors rather than as pure consumers (finanical advice services). Third are various voluntary associations, for hobbyists (these may involve technological knowledge, as in ham radio and computer clubs) and fans.
Communication From The Commission To The Council (1998).
NACE classes 70 (real estate services), and subclass 74.15 (holding companies) are also not included in this definition.
Vickery and Murphy (1998)
But some other service firms do play“orchestrator” role. Consider the large supermarket companies and chain stores, who can have a considerable influence over their suppliers products and even their processes. (e.g. some large UK food retailers have their own standards for their agricultural suppliers, and most have been influential in shifting their suppliers into using Electronic Data Interchange systems.)
I draw here on examples developed by my colleagues from Dialogic in the Netherlands, Rob Bilderbeek and Pirn den Hertog, as provided in their contribution to Workpackages 4 and 5 of the SI4S project. This material is available on CDROM from the STEP group in Oslo, Norway (http:Wstep.no).
The conference formed an input into Miles (i988), which makes interesting reading today, when much of the technology discussed is on the market.
Howells (1999) is a rare study of the emergence of external R&D services. It is useful to read this paper alongside the only specific survey of the sector and its clients that I am aware of, Rose (1997).
The literature on user-producer relationships — especially the work of Lundvall (1996). Lundvall and Johnson, (1994) — is thus highly relevant.
It has been suggested that this is the case for Sweden, at least (Marklund’ s contribution to the SI4S project-see endnote xxiv) but this remains arguable. The small size of most KIBS companies, coupled with what we know about the limited life-expectancy of many small firms and start-ups, would suggest that quite high levels of mobility across employer might be expected.
Tomlinson and Miles, 1999.
R&D services show a somewhat different pattern; their growth rate is generally slower (though it is particularly high in the UK case). The UK may or may not be the shape of things to come, but at present in most European countries R&D services operate predominantly in the public sphere)
See in particular the work of Mark Weiser, e.g. Weiser (1991) — for more bibliography consult the website http://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/UbiHome.html
We should qualify this a little. Some systems do have the capacity to retain search results for future re-use, and some use human selection of particularly relevant sources for specific common topics. Both of these may well be trends that will continue, though for different reasons; but they will be enhanced by“smarter” machine searching systems, as well.
One recent computer game features“characters” who act as if they can communicate among themselves about their experience of the player — so that, for example, a player will encounter different reactions as he or she proceeds with the game according to whether they are approaching situations belligerently or in a spirit of negotiation. Video games start to approach game theory, indeed.
Which is not to say that there is any sort of equality in it!
We concentrate on the mutually reinforcing effects here. Actually, the effects are highly complex, being selective in their own right. KIBS shape certain patterns of technology development, and vice versa. The full measure of this has only dimly been grasped, despite much work on“social shaping of and“social impacts of” technology.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Miles, I. (2000). Interactivity and Intangibility. In: De La Mothe, J., Paquet, G. (eds) Information, Innovation and Impacts. Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation, vol 17. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4617-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4617-7_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7087-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-4617-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive