Innovation in the service sector: The demand for service-specific innovation measurement concepts and typologies
Section snippets
Introduction and starting hypothesis
During the past years efforts have increasingly been made to push the service sector and its peculiarities concerning innovation into the centre of economic policy research.1 The roles of
The knowledge-intensive economy: human capital and innovation in the service sector
Data, information, and knowledge are intangible goods that are produced and traded especially by the service sector (Miozzo and Miles, 2003). David and Foray (1995) emphasise, for example, that the efficient distribution and utilisation of knowledge is not an automatic procedure but requires supporting functions. Knowledge-intensive services,3 in particular, are responsible for the
German innovation survey—data, sector and size distribution
In the following descriptive statistical findings, insights and a general overview of the innovation activities within the German service sector are given. An innovation survey of the service sector has been carried out since 1995 (Licht et al., 1997, Janz and Licht, 2003)—which became part of the community innovation survey (CIS) in 1997. The sample is taken from the database of the Verein für Kreditreform (VVC), an organisation that gathers data on the credit history and credit ratings of the
Typology of services
The analysis so far has emphasised the role of services in the knowledge-intensive economy. The different character of services and the implications for the innovation process as well as the innovation process of the service sector itself are based on some partly developed indicators. In evolutionary economics when considering manufacturing a typology has proved useful for reducing the complexity of the innovation issue. The Freeman–Pavitt–Dosi model is particularly well established in the
Knowledge-intensive service innovators
Service companies that are of particularly interest regarding innovation processes are firms that claim to depend on innovation-relevant knowledge sources. The role knowledge and information play in companies’ competitiveness has been increasingly studied from various perspectives in recent years (cf., e.g. Grupp, 1998). For the US, Machlup in the 1960s identified knowledge-intensive service companies and their importance for efficient knowledge distribution within an economy (Machlup, 1962).
Prospects for future research
This paper has, albeit briefly, identified considerable limitations in research concerning innovation processes in the service sector. At the same time, thanks to service innovation surveys and new indicator concepts, new empirical approaches have been outlined, which could supply empirical and theoretical research with new instruments. The paper has shown that the existing innovation typology for the service sector is most suitable for all those companies and industries that demonstrate a
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