Innovation as Clusters in Knowledge Intensive Business Services: Taking Ict Services in Shanghai and Bavaria as an Example

Abstract

Due to the quick advancement of science and technology, the services sector which has a high content of knowledge and technology has experienced globally expeditious development in the past decade. Development in general and the growth of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) such as Information and Communication Technology services (ICT services) in particular are at the core of the major trends that are restructuring the economic landscape of not only German but also Chinese economies.In Germany, in the new era of service economy, more emphases are put on KIBS instead of the traditional giant clusters of steel manufacturing and auto manufacturing. Especially in Bavaria, high technology clusters are prospering. The ICT services in Bavaria accounts for 40% of all software companies in Germany. A lot of ICT services clusters can be found, including IT Speicher, FIWM, BICC-NET, etc. Similar cases can be found in Shanghai, where a number of government driving as well as market pulling ICT services cluster are also coming into being.Previous empirical evidence shows an asymmetric bipolarity in the location behavior of KIBS. There is a general predominance of low concentration due to equal diffusion of these services in many regions, and a high concentration in some regions located at the top of the spatial hierarchy, particularly capital cities. . Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX on 03/25/15. For personal use only.The current exploratory research, drawing upon cluster theory and network theory, aims at discovering the cluster features both from the perspective of the company executives in the cluster. Using the data collected through interviews and questionnaire surveys from company managers, incorporated with current theoretical framework and, through integration and analysis, important features of the cluster such as network mechanism are calculated both in Bavaria and Shanghai. We check the supply side as well as the demand side of the reasons why clusters are formulated in the first place, and they both have a positive effect on the network mechanism of the cluster. The network mechanism has a positive effect on innovation performance of the ICT service companies. The reasons are also discussed. Suggestions are provided for policy making about the KIBS cluster forming for both regions and the cooperation in these fields, especially in terms of service outsourcing relationship. Valuable implications for deciding the location for a KIBS company on the firm level are also provided.

Knowledge based development of innovative companies within the framework of innovation networks

“…Pittaway et al (2004) presented a systematic review of research linking the networks of firms with their exchange relationships and innovative capacities. Zheng, Zhang, Du, andDu (2011), Zhao, Zhou, andHuesig (2010), Yokakul and Zawdie (2010) analyzed development of knowledge based innovations within networked environments. Dilk et al (2008) explored the development of innovation networks in the automotive sector.…”

“…Porter (1990Porter ( , 2000 emphasized spatially bound "clusters", characterized as "geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated institutions (e.g., universities, standards agencies, trade associations) in a particular field that compete and also cooperate". Proximity facilitates an increased number of interactions between related firms, largely as a function of high spatial concentration, which in turn enhances the coordination and control of firm activities within the supply chain and facilitates frequent and repeated inter-firm knowledge, information sharing and collaboration (Zhao et al, 2010).…”

Technology Used in Knowledge Management by Global Professional Event Services

“…KIBS and ICT issues taken together in the field of knowledge management are much less frequently the subject of analysis, while there is virtually no research devoted to the new category of KIBS, which are professional event services. Existing research mainly concerns the relationship between KIBS and ICT as equal partners for cooperation and diffusion of knowledge (Kamp & Sisti, 2018;Ramadan, Dahiyat, Bontis, & Al-dalahmeh, 2017), the impact of ICT providers (as one of the types of KIBS) on the condition of companies (Vergara & Feldman, 2018;Kite, 2018) and/or on the whole economy (Broersma & Van Ark, 2007), and their influence on innovation performance (Audretsch & Belitski, 2018;Yan, Wen, & Huesig, 2010). While these studies have uncovered mutual relations between KIBS and ICT providers as entities cooperating with each other in knowledge transfer processes, the methods and techniques of using ICT among providers of professional business services still needs to be explored.…”

Towards a servitization of innovation networks: a mapping

“…Our review of the literature made it possible to identify the existence of such networks, particularly in the following sectors: tourism (Sundbo et al 2007;Kofler et al 2018;Høegh-Guldberg et al 2018;Brandão et al 2018;Zach and Hill 2017;Booyens and Rogerson 2017), retailing (Cox and Mowatt 2004;Hidalgo and D'Alvano 2014), financial services (for example, strategic alliance between banks and fintechs), mobile services (Heikkinen and Still 2008; De Reuver and Bouwman 2012), transportation/logistics (Steinicke et al 2011), ICT services (Zhao et al 2010;Kim et al 2015), engineering services (Burdon et al 2015), cultural industry (Lin 2014), restaurants (Cho et al 2018), exhibition industry (Dawson et al 2014), etc. It should be noted that knowledge intensive business services, which are support agents for manufacturing firms in TINs, can be the main players in MSINs (Zhao et al 2010;Burdon et al 2015).…”