New service development in knowledge intensive business services: dynamic links between knowledge base, performance and innovation

Knowledge–Intensive Business Services (KIBS) rank among the most innovative sectors in the European Union’s Community Innovation Survey (CIS) (Miles et al., 2017). The growth of the sector is connected with the shifting of society to the ‘knowledge-based economy’, i.e. an economy which is directly based on the production, distribution and use of knowledge and information (OECD, 1996). Actually, for many years knowledge has been recognized as the driver of productivity and economic growth thus leading to a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance (OECD, 1996). \nDespite the growing importance of the sector, the research on KIBS is still fragmentary. Scholars underline that many gaps still exist starting from lack of agreement on basic definitions and finishing with a scarcity of empirical verification of the conceptual notions and interpretative models (Menor et al., 2002; Pina and Tether, 2014). \nThe purpose of this thesis is to try to understand through empirical research how companies that belong to the Knowledge-Intensive Business Service (KIBS) sector implement their New Service Development (NSD) processes. \nThe study adopted the case study method given the complexity and the exploratory aim of the research (Yin, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989). In particular, the NSD processes of twelve companies were analyzed collecting information through various sources, but especially by interviewing the companies’ managers. \nThe final choice of the specific topic, were drawn from the articles written by Pina and Tether from 2014 to 2016. The authors, in fact, were among the first ones who concentrated on KIBS companies at the individual level, and not at the sector and geographical level (Asheim, 2007, 2012), as the unit to analyze their knowledge base. \nHaving undertook a large review of the research on KIBS sector, especially concerning basic concepts and the connection between the knowledge base and the innovation produced by the companies, they underlined the lack of qualitative research on the issue, and suggested as a topic for future research the study of the dynamic links that exist between the knowledge base of a company and its performance and innovation. \nThe analysis of the NSD process started from studying the process of service development in the service sector, globally understood. The second goal was to understand if the companies try to look for new ideas or new knowledge to develop new service offerings and how they look for these ideas. The last goal was to understand if the differences in the companies that can be expressed in the differences of their knowledge bases can affect the NSD processes in the companies and their performance and innovation in general. \nThe research conducted for this study led to new concepts in the scholarship on the New Service Development process, including the following contributions: \n \n1.\tThe research systemized the existing literature devoted to NSD in KIBS companies and highlighted several related research streams. \n2.\tThe empirical investigation of companies from different KIBS sectors and geographic locations filled a gap in empirical studies of the subject. \n3.\tThe research proposed new methods for defining and evaluating knowledge bases in KIBS companies based on their NSD processes. \n4.\tThe research confirmed the proposed existence of a new type or subtype of knowledge base for legal firms, ‘interpretative’. Further research on a larger number of legal firms is needed to test this statement. \n5.\tThe research confirmed the results of previous research (Scarso, 2015; Pina and Tether, 2016) that broadening their range of services leads KIBS companies to convergence of their activity among the different sectors, and as a result to the application of several knowledge bases to their activity. \n6.\tThe research confirmed the connection between the knowledge base of a company, its NSD process, and the level of innovativeness of the final results. \n7.\tThe research investigated new sources of ideas in KIBS companies, a topic that has received scant scholarly attention. \n8.\tAnd finally, the research proposed a new model for the driving forces behind innovation in KIBS companies. \n \nFurther research, based on a larger number of companies in different geographic locations, is needed to confirm the results of this research. \nThis research can help KIBS companies understand how they can improve their NSD processes, and which models exist for the search and development of innovative ideas. \n \n \n \n