Variety in the knowledge base of Knowledge Intensive Business Services

Abstract

Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are intermediary firms which specialize in knowledge screening, assessment and evaluation, and trade professional consultancy services. The remarkable rise of this broad class of activities is perceived by many as the natural by-product of modern knowledge economies within which increasing specialisation induces the need for professional agents in the markets for external knowledge. This paper addresses critically a conceptual flaw in the specialised literature which portrays KIBS as a homogeneous group of activities. Using official data on occupational information in the United States we observe and analyse high variety across KIBS sectors' occupational structures and skill requirements.

Causal relations between knowledge-intensive business services and regional employment growth

“…The right columns of Table 5 show that the manufacturing sector seems to profit with a 9 Such variety across KIBS sectors' occupational structures and skill requirements is in accordance with other contributions from the literature (Consoli and Elche-Hortelano, 2010).…”

Towards understanding variety in knowledge intensive business services by distinguishing their knowledge bases

“…However, because the primarily aim has been to differentiate KIBS from other types of firm or industry, most studies have either considered KIBS as a whole, divided them by 'industry' (as defined by standard industrial classifications), or applied broad categorisations such as P-KIBS (i.e., professional KIBS) and T-KIBS (technical KIBS). Few studies have considered the specifics of the various KIBS activities from a conceptual perspective, and how these specifics -including the nature of their knowledge bases -may influence their structure and behaviours (Von Nordenflycht, 2010, Malhotra and Morris, 2009, Tether et al, 2012, Consoli and Elche-Hortelano, 2010. As KIBS constitute a large and rapidly growing component of advanced economies, 2 we consider that there is a need to move on from understanding how KIBS differ from other types of firm, to understanding better how they themselves are differentiated.…”

“…In this paper, we develop the idea that KIBS vary substantially in their 'knowledge bases'; that is the 'type', 'form' or 'mode' of knowledge at the core of their activities (Strambach, 2008;Consoli and Elche-Hortelano, 2010;Tether et al, 2012; 1 For example, a recent UK Government report states that: Professional and business services are a source of UK comparative advantage and the sector has in the past made a very significant contribution to UK growth. ….…”

Especialización, concentración y aglomeración espacial de los servicios intensivos en conocimiento en España

“…La heterogeneidad de funciones y modos de producción es un rasgo peculiar de estos servicios. Más que un «sector» o un «clúster» de actividades, los KIS están presentes en casi todas las industrias (OECD, 2006: 31;Consoli y Elche, 2009) y, a menudo, conectan diversos sectores productivos entre sí y con el consumo. Entre estas funciones, destacan las de adaptación, difusión de innovaciones y organización de recursos para el desarrollo del conocimiento (Miles, 2003;Kemppilä y Mettänen, 2004;OECD, 2006;Wood, 2006;European Commisison, 2007;Albors-Garrigos et al, 2009;Doloreux et al, 2010;Rodríguez y Camacho, 2010), así como su contribución al desarrollo regional (Herstad y Eberbersger, 2015).…”