Lucia Cusmano

The 'KIBS Engine' of Regional Innovation Systems: Empirical Evidence from European Regions

Corrocher N. and Cusmano L. The ‘KIBS engine’ of regional innovation systems: empirical evidence from European regions, Regional Studies. Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) are key players in innovation systems, particularly in advanced regions where manufacturing competitiveness largely depends on knowledge contents provided by highly specialized suppliers. This paper investigates the relationship between KIBS and the structure and performance of regional innovation systems in Europe. It maps the co-evolution between KIBS and manufacturing in European regions, identifying emergent typologies of regional innovation systems. Results show that KIBS are a defining element of innovation-oriented regions, whereas their scarcity and slow growth distinctively characterize poor performing innovation systems. However, the analysis also identifies a set of core manufacturing regions in Europe, which are evolving along a different trajectory into knowledge-oriented service-manufacturing complexes.

Growth in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Evidence from Lombardy

This paper studies the growth patterns in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in Lombardy on the basis of original firm-level survey data. The aim is to investigate in particular the role of and interplay between age and size of firms and the modes of innovation in the process of growth. Our findings indicate that younger firms tend to outperform incumbents for sales growth and that larger firms tend to grow more than smaller companies. However, the effects of firm size and age vary substantially according to the firms specific pattern of innovation. In particular, highly innovative firms tend to outperform competitors regardless of their age or size, while for conservative KIBS, size is a prerequisite for growth. Investment in human capital and the service distribution network are important drivers of competition for growing KIBS.

Catching-up Trajectories in the Wine Sector

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the supremacy of ‘Old World’ countries (France and Italy) in the international wine market has been challenged by new players, such as Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, which are recording stunning performances in terms both of export volume and value. This book demonstrates that such a spectacular example of catch-up goes beyond simply copying new technologies; it entails creative adaptation and innovation, and introduces a new growth trajectory in which consistent investments in research and science play a key role.

Competitive Strategies in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Evidence from Lombardy

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) are the emergent players in the debate about innovation systems, knowledge-driven economic dynamics and competitiveness (Muller and Zenker, 2001; Miles, 2005a; Muller and Doloreux, 2007). A burgeoning literature stresses their role as co-producers of innovation and source of added value for regional systems, as well as network nodes and convertors of generic knowledge into specific one. KIBS are perceived as complementary to knowledge-based manufacturing sectors (Strambach, 1998; Czarnitzki and Spielkamp, 2000), contributing to its competitiveness especially in advanced regions, where the performance of manufacturing firms increasingly depends on the knowledge contents provided by highly specialized suppliers.

Access to Finance for SMEs and Entrepreneurs: Trends and Policies in OECD Countries

In many OECD countries, the 2008–2009 global financial crisis exacerbated the financial constraints typically experienced by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. Business loans and SME loans declined markedly during the recession, and, in some countries, half a decade after the crisis, the amount of SME financing had not yet returned to the precrisis level. The challenging mac-roeconomic environment, characterized by subdued growth and demand, severely affected profits for SMEs and reduced availability of internal funding. At the same time, the financial sector continued the deleveraging process started in the aftermath of the crisis, with banks endeavoring to meet Basel III capital and leverage ratio requirements through a combination of asset reduction and capital raising. In some countries, the sovereign debt crisis further increased the deficiencies in capital adequacy. This has squeezed credit availability for the entire banking system, but has impacted SMEs more than large firms.

SME and Entrepreneurship Policies After the Crisis

The 2008–2009 financial and economic crisis was the most severe in decades and its costs have been enormous. GDP contracted by about 3.5% in the OECD area as a whole in 2009 and unemployment reached a post-war high of close to 9% on average (OECD 2010a). The longer-term legacy of the crisis is also heavy. Public debt in OECD countries increased to about 100% of GDP at the end of 2011, some 30% points higher than before the crisis. OECD countries may have lost about 3% of potential output. The recovery that seemed to be underway in many OECD countries in 2010 has proved uneven. In several OECD economies, earlier improvements in the labour market have been fading in the course of 2011, and there appear to be greater risks that high unemployment could become entrenched. Economic growth slowed down also in non-OECD countries, including China, where manufacturing production weakened in the first half of 2011. In 2012, world GDP is projected to increase by 3.4%, whereas across OECD countries GDP is projected to rise by 1.6% (OECD 2011a).