Knowledge-exchange strategies between KIBS firms and their clients

Based on a survey of 1124 knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) firms, this paper explores the extent and determinants of knowledge exchange between KIBS and their clients. An ordered logistic regression was estimated. The results show that the propensity of KIBS firms to rely more on a commoditization strategy and less on a personalization strategy increases with the variety of research sources of information, the number of knowledge employees, the variety of knowledge management practices, the firm's size, the business age, and being a KIBS firm operating in a technology-based industry rather than a traditional professional industry, while it decreases with R&D investments, the variety of advanced technologies, and the strength of ties.     

Peculiarities of public sector clients in service innovations

This paper analyses knowledge-intensive business service firms and their innovation activities in the context of federal government procurement with empirical evidence from Swiss information technology firms. The paper contributes to the growing literature on knowledge-intensive business services by expanding the concept to also capture public sector clients. It focuses in particular on the ways in which having a public sector client influences a knowledge-intensive business service firm’s ability to innovate, opportunities for interactive learning with their clients, and ways in which having a public sector client allows a firm to diversify. The paper shows that having a federal agency as a client is quite different from a private sector client particularly with regard to multi-party systems on the client side, the importance of informal interactions, and the role of public reputation.     

Learning for environmental adaptation and knowledge-intensive services: the role of public networks for SMEs

Small and medium-sized firms are suffering increasing pressure related to environmental adaptation because they cannot create the required technological and organizational competences and there is not a sufficient and appropriate supply of advanced business services for green management in their surroundings. Research results illustrate the usefulness of a cooperative platform based on information technologies, with public support, in providing knowledge-intensive services correcting the inefficiency of the environmental consultancy market and its failure to provide public goods. This research also establishes a relationship between the operation of a reticular model and firm environmental learning by illustrating the improvements in environmental and economic performance that the dissemination and absorption of knowledge can create. We are focusing our attention on an environmental website developed by a Spanish regional network, a project in which good green practices come through virtual inter-organizational cooperation. Empirical analysis is based on the study of the network case and a survey of 348 partner firms over a period of 4 years (2002–2005). An analysis of quantitative and qualitative information tested the validity of the measurements and results with data triangulation.     

Innovation,network services and the restructuring of work organisation in customer services

The information and communication technology revolution has had important qualitative effects on the manner in which the output of new products and services is managed. This is in part associated with leveraging the knowledge of a broader group of employees. Through a case study of customer services in a major telecommunications firm, it is shown that integrating broader groups of employees into the innovation process can be vital. However a case is made that transforming work-related institutions in the firm has proved a challenging process, particularly when management are required to broaden the powers of decision making granted to employees, allowing greater discretion at the workplace and changing the manner in which work tasks are enforced.     

Key capabilities in knowledge-intensive service business

The purpose of this study is to identify key capabilities in knowledge-intensive service business. Current service research lacks evidence on this topic, since knowledge-intensive services constitute a very heterogeneous group, making the identification of key capabilities challenging. To bridge this gap, a conceptual framework is developed, integrating discussion on knowledge intensity with the classical service features. Empirical data are collected from two case firms with the help of focus groups, theme interviews and a survey. Based on the developed framework and analyzed data, we identify four specific capability categories of knowledge management, service productization, project management, and relationship orchestration.     

Domestic Activity and Knowledge Development in the Internationalization Process of Firms

This paper is based on behavioral theory on internationalization, examining the effect of firms operations in the domestic market on experiential knowledge development in the internationalization of the firm. Five hypotheses are developed on the effects of business operations in the domestic market on: internationalization knowledge, business knowledge and institutional knowledge. The LISREL analysis of 206 firms shows that domestic operations effect the accumulation of experiential knowledge in internationalizing firms. We found that it is harder for a firm with long domestic experience to change their mental models and processes in the internationalization process.     

湖北省地级市KIBS发展现状及预测

KIBS是国家创新系统的重要部分,担负着知识的交流、整合、创新的循环过程。近几年,湖北省地级市KIBS从业人员总数增加,KIBS增加值增加,问题是KIBS增加值的增长速度低于从业人数增长速度。其根本原因是KIBS从业人员的行业技能、专业知识不能满足KIBS发展的需求。提升知识密集型服务业的质量,湖北省政府不仅要创造环境和条件,及时出台促进KIBS行业发展的法律法规,鼓励龙头企业大力发展KIBS行业起模范带头作用,完善计算机软硬件设施,也要有对教育事业进行改革的决心,提升学生的素质和专业技术知识能力,为KIBS更好发展提供人才支撑。     

Knowledge intensive business services and client innovation

Innovative activities, driven by a knowledge economy era, globalization, and pressure of global competition, have profoundly impacted local economies since the late 1980s. Relevant studies in the recent decade have gradually emphasized the increasing importance and continuous expansion of knowledge intensive business services in current economic development. This topic represents a major trend impacting industrialized economies. Therefore, this study elucidates the roles and functions of knowledge intensive business services as an area innovation system evolves. Exactly how technology-based firms and knowledge intensive business services interact with each other, as well as the roles of knowledge intensive business services, is also analyzed by examining how the area innovation system centered in Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park in Taiwan has evolved. Results of this study demonstrate that knowledge intensive business services function in an intermediary role in the innovation system. These services enhance their customers’ capacity for specialization, subsequently improving their evolutionary capabilities and producing tangible innovative cycles.     

‘Do versus Buy’ Decisions in the Demand for Knowledge Intensive Business Services

The search for the maximum use of scale and agglomeration economies and the need to operate firms in the most flexible way have provided a strong impulse for companies to increase their use of external intermediate services. Because of their strategic role, the use of business services that are intensive both in labour qualification and in technological requirements is key for these policies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the patterns followed by companies in the two relevant decisions on this issue: firstly, whether to use knowledge intensive business services or not and, secondly, whether (and to what extent) to buy these services from another firm or to provide them inside the organisation. In both cases, we intend to identify the factors that affect the ‘do versus buy’ decision with respect to total KIBS as well as particular categories. A specific feature in our study is that it focuses on the behaviour of firms working in a region without a well-developed supply of KIBS. Applying discrete response models to the data obtained in a survey elaborated by the authors, the most relevant variables for the use of KIBS are satisfaction with previous outsourcing experiences and location of the firm in a large urban centre, but they do not affect their external provision. The size of the firm, its export orientation and its technological complexity have opposite effects on use and outsourcing.     

企业信息化、知识共享与企业绩效

本文通过问卷调查的方式收集企业信息化、知识共享和企业绩效的相关数据,检验了企业信息化对企业绩效的影响以及知识共享在二者关系中的作用。研究表明,企业信息化不仅与企业绩效的提升显著正相关,而且还可通过知识共享的中介作用间接影响企业绩效的提升。本文研究对理解企业信息化建设和应用过程中的知识管理行为提供了一个新的视角。     

Knowledge and internationalization of returnee entrepreneurial firms

This study aims to answer whether and how returnee entrepreneurs’ international experience and returnee entrepreneurial firms’ international market knowledge influence these firms’ internationalization. Anchored in a framework combining an entrepreneurial and knowledge-based view, we develop a model and four hypotheses on the relations between returnee entrepreneurs’ international experience, international market knowledge, international market commitment, and level of internationalization of the returnee entrepreneurial firm. Empirical evidence of the proposed model is derived from a recent sample of Chinese returnee SMEs in knowledge-intensive and high-technology industries. The main finding is that returnee entrepreneurs’ international experience nurtures international market knowledge of returnee entrepreneurial firms, which in turn has a positive effect on these firms’ international market commitment and level of internationalization. In terms of theory, the study extends our understanding of returnee entrepreneurial firms by uncovering the role of returnee entrepreneurs’ international experience and returnee firms’ international market knowledge during their initial and early international expansion.     

Emergence of innovations in services

Along with the ‘servicisation’ of society, innovation in services has become a topical issue. However, analytical and detailed discussion about the nature of service innovations and their emergence is only beginning. This article aims to contribute to this discussion through a theoretical analysis supplemented with findings from two empirical case studies. The theories examined are multi-disciplinary including general service theories, general innovation theories and theories linked to new service development and innovation management. The empirical studies have been carried out in Finland in the fields of real estate and construction services and of knowledge-intensive business services.     

Dynamics of Firm Profitability and Growth: Do Knowledge-Intensive (Business) Services Persistently Outperform?

This paper explores the persistence of profitability and growth for firms operating in the Greek service sector, paying special attention to knowledge-intensive services (KIS) and knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). The generalized method of moments is used on a rich panel of firms over a recent nine-year period. Quantile regressions are complementarily applied for KIS and KIBS industries. The key results from both growth and profit dynamics suggest that firms in KIS and KIBS industries persistently outperform firms in less knowledge-intensive service industries, pointing to strategic advantages of the former. Importantly, KIS and KIBS seem to be able to sustain their growth and profitability persistent trends even in times of crisis. Further insight into these issues is provided by the quantile analysis, the exploration of the profitability and growth inter-linkages, and the investigation of differences among various size groups in KIS and KIBS.     

To Share or Not to Share: Assessing Knowledge Sharing, Interemployee Helping, and Their Antecedents Among Online Knowledge Workers

Sharing and helping are important issues in ethical research. This study proposes a model based on flow theory by postulating key antecedents as the critical drivers of knowledge sharing and interemployee helping. Flow is the holistic sensation that employees feel when they act with total immersion and engagement, facilitating individuals’ reciprocal activities such as knowledge sharing and interemployee helping. In the proposed model, knowledge sharing is influenced by flow experience directly and also indirectly via the mediation of interemployee helping. Accordingly, the flow experience is influenced simultaneously by four exogenous factors related to individuals’ perception about their work: work skills, self-fulfillment in challenges, perceived control, and vividness. This study contributes to the knowledge management literature by extending flow theory to the area of knowledge sharing and interemployee helping, by validating idiosyncratic antecedent drivers of the flow theory, and by performing a practical operationalization of the flow experience. This research also provides managerial implications for business leaders to boost their employees’ ethical behavior in terms of sharing and helping.     

Measurement of innovation activities in the knowledge-intensive services industry: a trademark approach

Innovation measurement in the knowledge-intensive services (KIS) industry is very complex, due to a lack of adequate innovation indicators. A rather new empirical approach involves the analysis of trademarks for the measurement. This paper aims to explore the use and relevance of trademarks for service firms. Data from the German section of the ‘Community Innovation Survey’ are used, and a survey with 278 participating firms is conducted. The results of the two independent empirical studies demonstrate that a trademark can be used as an innovation indicator, at least for knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and product innovations. The results also illustrate which firm-inside and environmental features explain the use of trademarks as an intellectual property protection measure.     

The Importance of Sectoral Differences in the Application of Complementary HRM Practices for Innovation Performance

Recent theoretical and empirical analysis in the field of economic organization has focused almost exclusively on identifying organizational practices and complementarities between such practices, without regard for the type of activity in question. However, organizational theory suggests that more knowledge-intensive production activities often involve higher degrees of strategic uncertainty for firms and performance ambiguity in relation to individual employees. Therefore, the 'organic' or 'clan' form of organization - involving the application of 'new' HRM practices - is expected to perform better within knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy, as compared to other sectors. A sample of 726 Danish firms with more than 50 employees in manufacturing and private services is studied. The results show that HRM practices are more effective in influencing innovation performance when applied together, as compared with situations in which individual practices are applied alone. In other words, organizational complementarities obtain. Moreover, the application of complementary HRM practices is more effective for firms in knowledge-intensive industries ('high' and 'medium' knowledge-intensive industries).     

生产者服务业发展的知识化问题——基于上海投入产出表的实证分析

制造业服务化是生产者服务业知识化的前提,生产者服务的蓬勃发展促进了服务业的知识化。上海经济发展对知识密集型服务业的推动作用比较大,其中商务服务业、专业技术服务业和物流业对经济有一定的拉动作用,信息、金融、研发等生产者服务业在上海的产业发展中作用逐渐增大,但尚未起到支撑作用。提升上海乃至全国产业在微笑曲线的地位,可行的办法是大力发展"微笑曲线"右上端与销售及售后服务相关的生产者服务业,如金融业、信息服务业等。     

Firm Resources and Host‐Country Factors Impacting Internationalization of Knowledge‐Intensive Service Firms

In the era of the global economy, knowledge‐based services are becoming important sectors of the service industry. Services offered by a university are knowledge‐based services. Universities are in the service business, and they play a key role in creating and disseminating knowledge through teaching, research, and related services that cross domestic borders. The current research focuses on the internationalization of US MBA programs. The internationalization of US MBA programs refers to the delivery of knowledge‐based services beyond the domestic borders. The main objective of our research is to examine the effect of an organization's (e.g., a US business school) resources and a host country's attractiveness on the internationalization of knowledge‐based services offered by a firm (a US business school). Using data gathered from MBA programs of US colleges and universities, theÊstudy findings show that internationalization is influenced by human capital, prestige and reputation, management's willingness, and foreign market attractiveness. The results of this study offer practical insights for US business school leaders. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Identifying and Differentiating Key Employees from Owners and Other Employees in SMEs

This research examines how to identify and differentiate key employees from small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) owners and other employees and how their characteristics influence firm success factors. Interviews are conducted with 14 matched pairs of entrepreneurs and key employees operating Canadian SMEs. The study develops a profile whereby the key employee typically (1) corresponds to the key success factors of the SME, (2) is willing to undertake a moderate amount of risk, and (3) differs in education and experience from the entrepreneur/owner. Although employees are important to firm strategy and culture, this is one of the first to examine key employees in small business.