Christiane Hipp

Knowledge intensive, technical and other services: Patterns of competitiveness and innovation compared

Drawing on empirical evidence from a wide-scale survey, this paper examines patterns of innovation and sources of competitiveness amongst German service firms. The purpose is to investigate how these patterns differ across services, and in particular how knowledge intensive and technical service firms differ from services more generally. The analysis finds a high degree of customization in the output of service firms, especially amongst the knowledge intensive and technical service firms, the innovation activities of which are also relatively more oriented to product innovation. Knowledge intensive and technical service firms also invest more heavily in information communication technologies, whilst other services invest heavily in non-ICTs. Thus significant diversity is found between the groups of firms examined, but much diversity also exists within the groups. A serious challenge for research on services is to improve our understanding of this diversity.

Standardisation and particularisation in services: Evidence from Germany

Abstract Services have been widely neglected by economists and analysts of innovation, who have instead focused on manufacturing. One of the widely supposed features of services outputs is that they are often highly tailored to their clients. In practice, however, services are sometimes mass-produced and sometimes customised versions of standard products, but can also be produced on a one-off basis. This paper examines the pattern of service activities using German evidence with respect to the structure of service firms’ income from ‘standardised’, ‘partially customised’ and ‘bespoke’ services. The analysis then relates the revealed patterns of ‘standardisation–particularisation’ in the output of the firms to their size and broad sector of activity, and considers the relationship with innovation. Our analysis lends support to previous theoretical studies which provide useful taxonomies of service activities and innovation processes in services. However, our analysis also confirms that services are tremendously diverse both between and within sectors. Mapping and understanding this diversity is a major challenge for future research on service firms and their (innovative) activities.

Knowledge-intensive business services in the new mode of knowledge production

The new mode of knowledge production is seen as a distinct form of economic organisation used for exchanging and creating knowledge. The emphasis is laid on the role of business services in innovative networks as carriers of knowledge and intermediates between science (knowledge creator) and their customers (knowledge user). The empirical analysis shows that knowledge-intensive business services are able to make existing knowledge useful for, their customers, improving the customers performance and productivity and contributing to technological and structural change.

Organizational innovation in small European firms: A multidimensional approach

Organizational innovations are often neglected in innovation theory. However, organizational change does have an impact on firm output, first directly and second, through its interrelationship with technical innovation. This article focuses on the second aspect. By means of a multidimensional approach, the results show that organizational innovation is of particular relevance in the case of small firms. New empirical evidence is provided at the European level: the data is taken from 18 countries of the CIS4. The results suggest that, in contrast with large enterprises, small firms show an innovation pattern that complements organizational innovation with expenditure on in-house R&D activities and an intensive use of external knowledge. In contrast with earlier research, a broader analysis of countries and industries has been undertaken to show the transferability of previous country and industry-focused results.

The role of quality standards in innovative service companies: An empirical analysis for Germany

Abstract Proceeding from theoretical hypotheses, driving forces for the introduction of the ISO 9000ff series in innovative service companies are analysed. Based on the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS), a probit model is estimated with different explanatory variables based on a sample of innovative German service companies. The first analysis of the role of the quality standard ISO 9000ff in German innovative service companies, based on general hypotheses concerning the role of quality standards, produced elucidating results. Besides sector- and size-specific differences, the use of “risky” technologies positively influences the probability of introducing ISO 9000ff. This quality standard has another twofold impact: First, as expected, it is a quality seal for the customers of the service company, especially in markets with homogeneous products and average qualities. Second, the introduction of ISO 9000ff has impacts on the internal processes of the service companies. In contrast to a conventional product standard, it supports the management in being flexible, especially towards the preferences of the customers and in reaching project deadlines. However, the introduction may also increase the pressure on the employees who are therefore evidently more reluctant about its introduction. Consequently, the empirical results underpin most of the theoretical hypotheses on the role of quality standards in service companies.

Information Flows and Knowledge Creation in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Scheme for a Conceptualization

In recent years the contribution of knowledge and information to the competitiveness of nations was analysed from different perspectives and on different levels1. Hertog and Bilderbeek (1997) argue that knowledge is a key resource in the economy today for two reasons. Firstly, the competitiveness of most industries depends on the innovative knowledge creation and transforming process, and secondly, knowledge-intensive industries contribute to the economic growth and competitiveness of countries. Guinet (1997, pp.173–174) summarises first results of a project on “Knowledge Flows in National Innovation Systems” currently undertaken by the OECD (selection): (1) There is a clear trend towards higher knowledge intensity in all economic sectors, and there are indicators that higher knowledge intensity leads to better performance at the firm, sectoral and aggregate level. (2) Flows of tacit knowledge have an important positive effect on innovation performance, and particularly on the ability of firms to detect, adapt, and use new knowledge and technologies. (3) In most countries ‘clusters’ exist, in which firms interact through closely linked knowledge networks and which show above-average performance in terms of international competitiveness, growth and employment. These clusters are not necessarily high-technology or R&D-intensive, but they are — without exception — knowledgeintensive, when one takes into account the intensity of knowledge interactions among sectors.

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.

Does the ageing workforce hamper the innovativeness of firms? (No) evidence from Germany

Due to demographic changes, the personnel structure of the workforce in countries like Germany and Japan will change considerably in the next few years. At the same time, companies need creative and skilled human resources to innovate. We analysed data from the 2001 German Community Innovation Survey to explore the impact of personnel structure (share of older employees, skills shortages, share of highly skilled employees) on innovation input and output. Overall, we did not find support for a negative effect of a high share of older employees in a company on innovation output. However, companies with a high share of older employees tended to invest less in further training (considered innovation input). This contradicts the call for lifelong learning. In accordance with our propositions, a high share of highly skilled employees had a positive effect on innovation input and output. Companies which experienced skills shortages were more likely to invest in further training. However, they were, somewhat surprisingly, more innovative than companies which did not suffer from skills shortages.

The disruptive potential of Wi-Fi in the German hotspot market

The disruptive potential of Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is investigated in an empirical study of the German public hotspot market in 2003-2006. The results of our study suggest that primarily the incumbent Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have taken advantage of the opportunity provided by Wi-Fi and the commercial hotspot market and dominated this submarket of wireless/mobile data services in Germany. Therefore, we categorise Wi-Fi as a sustaining technology based on the disruptive technology theory by Christensen (1997). These findings contradict the earlier predictions of Christensen et al. (2004) and others regarding Wi-Fi and suggest that the business model of stand-alone Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) will not be sustainable given the trend in the German commercial public hotspot market.

Besonderheiten von Dienstleistungsinnovationen — eine fallstudiengestützte Untersuchung der frühen Innovationsphasen

Die Bertelsmann AG ist heute ein internationales Medien unternehmen. Vor allem in den vergangenen 15 bis 20 Jahren ist das Unternehmen uberproportional expandiert. Wesentlicher Treiber fur dieses Wachstum war eine innovations- und kundengetriebene Erschliesung neuer Markte im Medien- und Dienstleistungsbereich. Auch klassische produzierende Unternehmen wie die Automobilhersteller haben ihr Produktspektrum in den vergangenen Jahren durch Services wie etwa Finanzdienstleistungen oder Telematikdienste erweitert.