There is still a lack of empirical evidence prevalent about innovation in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), and more particular, about determinants of innovations in small firms to sustain their future development. Studies in this area suggest that different determinants will affect different forms of innovation outputs of KIBS. This paper investigates the direction and the significance of these influences on propensity to innovate. The empirical evidence is based on quantitative and firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire, which yielded 128 qualified responses from small KIBS in the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on binary logistic regression to identify the effects of determinants on the propensity to innovate. In addition to the consistent results produced by studies in this area, we found reverse relationships between innovation and selected determinants. Negatively evolving knowledge (especially lack of qualified employees) and market determinants (lack of information about the market), positively stimulated small KIBS towards the propensity to introduce organizational innovations (structural and human resources practices), followed by increasing intensity of competition positively related to introducing a new service to the firm (especially t-KIBS) and insufficient availability of business partners increasing the marketing efforts. It’s evident that some negatively evolving determinants perform as incentives or driving forces to specific types of innovations. The results of this study could also be useful for owners and managers in KIBS firms engaging in innovation activities and government support, or incentivize the propensity to innovate.
The recognition of the relevance of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) is becoming especially acute in the European Union and even more important for many emerging economies. The objective of the present study is twofold: (1) to examine whether an empirically-based typology of sustainability development can be constructed for KIBS; (2) to identify whether different development patterns are associated with different business performance outcomes. The empirical evidence is based on quantitative and firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire which yielded 128 qualified responses from KIBS in the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on exploratory factor and cluster analysis to identify the cluster membership and to assess the relationship with performance outcomes it has been used the parametric test one-way ANOVA. Data analysis revealed that three distinct patterns types of KIBS exist, which were associated with different performance outcomes. With regard to the level of sustainable development, we found the conservative KIBS following market extension through a repositioning of existing and revised services, innovating KIBS following a new service development strategy focusing mainly on complements or line extension to existing services based on changes in technology and middle-ranged KIBS focusing on traditional strategy of comprehensiveness of services or “more services under one roof”. Innovating KIBS outperform other types of KIBS in all financial and non-financial parameters. The results have implications for practices involved in strategy development in services and useful for government efforts. The limitation of the research is done by focus on small companies, operating mainly in ICT and architectural and engineering services.
The recognition of the relevance of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) is becoming especially acute in the European Union and even more important for many emerging economies. The objective of this paper is to explore what are the differences in marketing strategy to sustain the competitiveness of KIBS in the local and global markets in the last five years. In addition, this research compares what are the differences between the technology-based (t-KIBS) and professional-based (p-KIBS) business services. The empirical evidence is based on quantitative and firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire which yielded 128 qualified responses from the small enterprises in Czech Republic. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests to compare the differences between the two groups of enterprises. The empirical evidence displays a diversity between t-KIBS and p-KIBS in usage of marketing policy such as pricing policy, brand or company presentation as well as the markets they operate on in the last five years. The research contributions of this study are twofold. First, the results have implications for managers involved in business development of service industry and second, results could be useful for government efforts to support the development (export) activities of KIBS as a heterogeneous category.
BUMBEROVÁ VERONIKA, KORÁB VOJTĚCH: Empirical development taxanomy of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in South Moravian Region. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 7, pp. 2021-2031 This paper represents a pilot study examining entrepreneurial behavior patterns within the area of development of micro, small and medium-sized market active enterprises in South Moravian Region from the perspective of strategic management. The main aim of this article is to classify the enterprises by the character of development activities into relatively homogeneous groups and identify those activities that contribute to considerable diff erences between the individual groups. Empirical evidence is based on a quantitative survey in terms of a random choice of respondents obtained by means of an e-mail questionnaire. The major analytic procedure applied within this research comprises methods of Cluster Analysis and validation technique based on chi-square and G-square nonparametric tests for testing diff erences (independence) of variables between the clusters. By means of Cluster Analysis three relatively homogenous SME groups were identifi ed. The fi rst cluster, called "global", (approximately 6% of the respondents) prevails in most of the strategic development aspects of the researched enterprises. Global SMEs rely on development activities in the area of product innovations and risk diversifi cation into other activities. In terms of changes in functional strategies this involves primarily the area of new technology and human resources development, and the ability to benefi t from participation in networks of cooperating organizations. The second cluster, called "transition", (approximately 59% of the respondents) is developed mainly by means of investments in business specifi c knowledge, and/or in technical skills of their employees. They are more conservative in the area of product innovations and risk diversifi cation into other activities, which is then refl ected in a lower level of investments in technologies and marketing. In comparison with global enterprises the major diff erence lies in a much lower number of activities in the area of seeking cooperation with other enterprises. The third cluster, called "local", (approximately 35% of the respondents) chooses the way of product innovations whose supply is mostly composed of standardized products and services, especially in local or regional markets. Local enterprises, when compared to the former clusters, are typical for a lower level of business cooperation, and in fact for absence of utilizing the support programs. micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, development strategies, cluster analysis, empirical taxonomy, South Moravian Region, quantitative research SME development is, as a result of a socialeconomic role (Storey, 1994;Chládková, 2010) they have been playing approximately in the last three decades, a respected research issue (Chan et al., 2006), being signifi cant for many economies whi...
There is still a lack of empirical evidence about smart service in general, and more particularly, in small and medium sized firms (SMEs). For SMEs, where the implementation of smart technologies is more demanding, the importance of cooperation with other business partners and innovation flexibility increases dramatically. The purpose of this article is to determine how the cooperation and innovation flexibility of SMEs affect the propensity to provide smart services in the electrical engineering industry. This paper also contributes a deeper insight into the intensity scale of collaboration within SME providers of smart services regarding the types of smart services offered. The empirical evidence is based on quantitative and firm-level data gathered through an email questionnaire which yielded 112 SME companies from the electrical engineering industry in the Czech Republic. The analysis is based on factor analysis, non-parametric tests, and binary logistic regression to identify the differences and effects of collaboration and innovation flexibility. The results of the factors affected confirmed external cooperation flexibility with customers and innovative flexibility in relation to the products as significant with inverse relationships between external collaboration with customers and the propensity to provide smart services. It is evident that weak ties in external customer cooperation flexibility operate as incentives or driving forces in the provision of smart services to establish closer relationships. The deeper research insights as well as the theoretical and practical implications are discussed at the end of the paper.
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