Innovation and Co-Production in Computer Services: The Case of Complex Software Solutions in the Fashion and Retail Industry in Italy

Abstract

It is widely accepted among scholars that knowledge has become a fundamental source of competitive advantage for firms. Learning and innovation are therefore among the main factors of global competitiveness for firms and industries. Quoting Lundvall and Borrás (1997, p. 28): “globalisation has not only increased market competition, but also transformed it into market competition based increasingly on knowledge and learning”. The competitive position of firms, in particular, therefore depends on the firm’s ability to learn and innovate, and to focus its innovative commitment on promising markets. That is the reason why post-industrial economies (and not only in the west) are increasingly denoted as learning economies (Lundvall and Johnson, 1994), or knowledge-based economies (e.g. OECD, 2001).