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

Abstract

Knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) are known to play a significant role in innovation systems. Past research has however mostly treated KIBS as a homogenous group; it is now time to understand better the variety that exists among KIBS. In this study, we apply a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to examine a dataset of 362 UK-based KIBS firms active in three 'sectors': architecture and engineering consulting; specialist design; and software and IT consulting. By applying content analysis techniques to information drawn from firms' websites, we identify each firm's primary 'knowledge base', be that analytical, synthetic or symbolic knowledge. We then relate the firms' primary knowledge base to their engagement in R&D, design and innovation, and examine how the 'drivers' of innovation vary between firms with different primary knowledge bases. The paper thereby contributes to the literature, first by identifying empirically 'knowledge bases', then relating these to the variety that exists among KIBS. The paper concludes by highlighting issues for further conceptual, methodological and empirical research.

Pathways for knowledge exchange in SMEs in software‐driven knowledge‐intensive business services

“…Depending on the initial responses, how and why follow‐up questions were asked regarding each of the following topics: Structural, cognitive, relational dimensions (Grootaert and van Bastelaer ; McCann and Ortega‐Argiles ; Inkpen and Tsang ; Malecki ; Capello and Faggian ) Social and geographical proximity (Boschma ; Hansen ) Capital city environment (Herstad and Ebersberger ; Pina and Tether ; Doloreux et al ; Keeble and Nachum ; Scarso and Bolisani ) …”

“…The qualitative research further presented in this paper aims at complementing an emerging stream of ‘explorative’ quantitative research on the determinants of R&D and knowledge exchange in KIBS. On top of the classical determinants of size and sector, this literature focuses on internal capacity, variety in collaboration, and type of information source (Doloreux et al, ), combined with age and export (Rodriguez et al, ), and distinguishing by type of innovation (Pina and Tether, ) The qualitative research will focus on identifying and a better understanding of the underlying structural, cognitive, and relational enablers for knowledge exchange in innovation in R&D‐active SMEs in S‐KIBS in a capital city environment. Besides the contextual arguments included in the review above, Doloreux et al () draw attention to the particularities of urban areas in terms of more limited trade‐offs to be made between quality, relevance, and proximity of collaboration partners (Doloreux and Shearmur, ), and a higher probability (enhanced by higher absorptive capacity) for interregional interactions (Koschatzky, ) and knowledge spillovers (Herstad and Ebersberger, ).…”

“…S‐KIBS include software publishing; other software consultancy and supply; data processing; and database activities (Miles et al, ). R&D is highly recognized (though under‐researched in KIBS – Doloreux et al, ) as a driver for the discovery of new knowledge with a view to developing radically or incrementally new products or services (Doloreux et al, ; Pina and Tether, ). Compared to larger firms, SMEs operate in a more resource‐constrained environment.…”

“…The current stream of empirical studies on KIBS have a common aim of ‘exploring’ innovation in a quantitative way (Doloreux et al, ; Pina and Tether, ; Rodriguez et al, ). These studies are highly data‐availability driven and focus on a limited set of indicators, somewhat ignoring social capital enablers for knowledge exchange.…”

Leadership, knowledge and people in knowledge-intensive organisations: implications for HRM theory and practice

“…One of the key characteristics of knowledge-intensive organisations is the dynamic, heterogeneous and temporal nature of their services (Pina & Tether, 2016). Succeeding as a knowledge-intensive organisation requires a capacity to constantly evolve, to adapt, to be creative, innovative and entrepreneurial.…”