Innovation policy in services: The development of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in Finland.

The implementation of the 'Serve' programme and most regional programmes are at an early stage. Thus, our analysis illustrates mainly how such programmes may be planned and what they may consist of. The evaluation of the successfulness of the activities as well as of the problems arising has to be postponed to a later occasion. The preliminary results from the regions which were first in initiating policy operations are encouraging, however. Even though answering the current and future challenges is mainly a task of KIBS and their clients, it seems that public bodies can create the prerequisites for favourable development, and also support it.

Received 18 December 2006 Accepted 7 July 2007

References

Bessant J and Rush H (1995) Building bridges for innovation: the role of consultants in technology transfer. Research Policy 24: 97-114.

Bragg SM (1998) Outsourcing. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.

Coffey W and Bailly A (1991) Producer Services and Flexible Production: an Exploratory Analysis. Growth and Change 22(4): 95-117.

Cooper D, Hinings CR, Greenwood R and Brown J (1996) Sedimentation and transformation in organizational change: the case of Canadian law firms. Organization Studies 17(4): 623-647.

Elfring T and Baven G (1994) Outsourcing Technical Services: Stages of Development. Long Range Planning 27(5): 42-51.

Eurostat (2004a) Innovation in Europe: Results for the EU, Iceland and Norway, Data 1998-2001, Theme 9: Science and technology.

Eurostat (2004b) Business services--an analysis of structural, foreign affiliates and business demography statistics, Theme 4: Industry, Trade and Services.

Gallouj F (2002) Knowledge-intensive business services: processing knowledge and producing innovation. In: Gadrey J and Gallouj F (Eds) Productivity, Innovation and Knowledge in Services: New Economic and Socio-Economic Approaches. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton.

Goe WR (1990) Producer Services, Trade and Social Division of Labour. Regional Studies 24(4): 327-342.

Hermelin B (1997) Professional Business Services: Conceptual Framework and a Swedish Case Study. Uppsala Universitet, Geografiska regionstudier nr. 30.

den Hertog P and Bilderbeek R (2000) The New Knowledge-Infrastructure: The Role of Technology-Based Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in National Innovation Systems. In: Boden M and Miles I (Eds) Services and the Knowledge-Based Economy. Continuum, London and New York.

Hirvonen P and Helander N (2001) Towards joint value creation processes in professional services. The TQM Magazine 13(4): 281-291.

Howells J and Green AE (1986) Location, Technology and Industrial Organisation in U.K. Services. Progress in Planning 26(Part 2): 83-184.

Illeris S (1989) Services and Regions in Europe. Gower, Aldershot.

Illeris S (1991) Location of services in a service society. In: PW Daniels and F Moulaert eds, The Changing Geography of Advanced Producer Services. Belhaven Press, London and New York.

Kautonen M, Schienstock G, Sjoholm H and Huuhka P (1998) Knowledge-intensive business services in the Tampere region. The University of Tampere. (In Finnish.)

Kautonen M, Hyypia M, Mulari R and Penttila L (2004) KIBS' future in the Tampere region. Employment and Economic Development Centre for Pirkanmaa, Publications No. 4. (In Finnish.)

Koberg CS, Detienne DR and Heppard KA (2003): An empirical test of environmental, organizational, and process factors affecting incremental and radical innovation. Journal of High Technology Management Research 14: 21-45.

Kox H (2002) Growth challenges for the Dutch business services industry: International comparison and policy issues. CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

Lith P, Kautonen M, Hyypia M and Kuusisto J (2005) Uusimaa as a centre of knowledge-intensive business services. Culminatum--Helsinki Region Centre of Expertise. (In Finnish.)

Lowendahl, BR (1997) Strategic Management in Professional Service Firms. Copenhagen Business School Press.

Martinelli F (1991) Producer services' location and regional development. In: Daniels PW and

Moulaert F (Eds) The Changing Geography of Advanced Producer Services. Belhaven Press, London and New York.

Miles I, Kastrinos N, Flanagan K, Bilderbeek R, Hertog B, Huntink W and Bouman M (1995) Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Users, Carriers and Sources of Innovation. European Innovation Monitoring System (EIMS), EIMS Publication No. 15, Luxembourg.

Miles I (1999) Services in National Innovation Systems: from Traditional Services to Knowledge Intensive Business Services. In: Schienstock G and Kuusi (Eds) Transformation Towards a Learning Economy. The Finnish National Fund for Research and Development--Sitra, Report no. 213, Helsinki.

Miozzo M and Miles I (2003) Introduction. In: Miozzo M and Miles I (Eds) Internationalization, Technology and Services. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham and Northampton.

OECD (1999) Business Services: Trends and Issues.

OECD (2006) Innovation and Knowledge-Intensive Service Activities.

Pietikainen P, Siikonen J and Pellikka J (2006) Innovation in the micro and small KIBS firms: an empirical analysis. Presentation in RENT XX--Research in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Conference, Brussels, November 23-24 2006.

Roberts J (1998) Multinational Business Service Firms: The Development of Multinational Organisational Structures in the UK Business Services Sector. Ashgate, Aldershot.

Ronkko P (2001) Growth and Internationalization of Technology-based New Companies: Case study of 8 Finnish Companies. In: Paija L (Ed.) Finnish ICT Cluster in the Digital Economy. ETLA--The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, B 176 Series, Helsinki.

Saarivirta T, Viljamaa A, Paallysaho S, Vanska J, Kotala S and Kuusisto J (2007, forthcoming) Strengthening the impacts of regional innovation systems: the use and production of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). SC-Research, Lapua. (In Finnish.)

Statistics Finland: National accounts, Input-output statistics from the year 2003. http://tilastokeskus .fi/til/pt/tau_en.html

Strambach S (2001) Innovation Processes and the Role of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS). In: Koschatzky K, Kulicke M and Zenker A (Eds) Innovation Networks: Concepts and Challenges in the European Perspective. Technology, Innovation and Policy 12, Series of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Heidelberg, Physica-Verlag.

Suddaby R and Greenwood R (2001) Colonizing knowledge: commodification as a dynamic of jurisdictional expansion in professional service firms. Human Relations 54(7): 933-953.

Sundbo J and Gallouj F (2000) Innovation as a Loosely Coupled System in Services. In: Metcalfe JS and Miles I (Eds) Innovation Systems in the Service Economy: Measurement and Case Study Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Dordrecht and London.

Thorburn L (2005) Knowledge Management and Innovation in Service Companies--Case Studies from Tourism, Software and Mining Technologies. Study for the Department of Industry, Tourism & Resources. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58 /39/34698722.pdf

Toivonen M (2004) Expertise as business: Long-term development and future prospects of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Espoo.

MARJA TOIVONEN

Research Director

Innovation Management Institute (IMI)

Helsinki University of Technology

Espoo, Finland

Endnotes

(1) This personal experience is used as supplementary material for this paper.

(2) Manufacturing includes here also the mining industry and the supply of electricity, gas and water, but not the construction sector. If the supply of electricity, gas and water is calculated among services, the share of manufacturing as the user of business services was 47.8% and its share of the total production 23.0%.

(3) There is only one polytechnic in the region of Southern Ostrobothnia as well as in the region of Northern Savo. TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF THE REGIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF KIBS IN FINLAND

Executive Source of Policy Region organisation funding framework Tampere The company The city, the Local (city) and

established for regional council, regional

KIBS' develop- the regional innovation

ment employment and strategies

economic develop-

ment centre,

Tekes and some

ministries Helsinki The regional Urban programme, National

centre of the regional Centre of

expertise and a council and the Expertise-

regional regional programme,

polytechnic employment and urban pro-

economic develop- gramme,

ment centre and regional

innovation

strategy Southern The company Tekes, the Regional Ostro- established for regional council innovation bothnia KIBS' develop- and the company strategy

ment and the established for

research KIBS' development