Elsevier

Research Policy

Volume 34, Issue 4, May 2005, Pages 517-535
Research Policy

Innovation in the service sector: The demand for service-specific innovation measurement concepts and typologies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2005.03.002Get rights and content

Abstract

There is evidence that the notion of innovation, well established in the manufacturing sector, cannot simply be transposed to the service sector. This article deals critically with existing measurement concepts derived from manufacturing, and introduces a new typology with a view to obtaining a better understanding of innovation in services. Selected results from the German innovation survey are analysed in order to support the conceptual findings and to identify potential improvements. Special attention is directed towards the inclusion of knowledge-intensive business services that are of particular importance for innovation processes.

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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