Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in nonknowledge services Thomas Hempell, ZEW Mannheim, G

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany
Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge services Thomas Hempell (ZEW
Mannheim)
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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 1. Motivation

Overall background

• Growing importance of (business) services

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 1. Motivation (cont.)

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 1. Motivation

Overall background

• Growing importance of (business) services
• services are main investors in ICT

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 1. Motivation (cont.)

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 1. Motivation

Overall background

• Growing importance of (business) services
• services are main investors in ICT
• crucial role of knowledge creation in services
• small size of services firms (mainly SMEs)

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 2. Effects of ICT usage in Services

Empirical Analysis for German business-related
and distribution services Data base Mannheim
Innovation Panel in Services (MIP-S) MIP-S
forms part of Community Innovation Survey (CIS)
in 1997 and 2001 (Janz et al. 2001)

• Results 1. ICT usage in services strongly
  affects quality aspects
• more flexible adjustment to customer needs
• user-friendliness
• temporal availability
• delivery speed (Licht and Moch 1999)

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 2. Effects of ICT usage in Services (cont.)

• 2. ICT is a general purpose technology
• ICT investments increase labour productivity
  (Bertschek and Kaiser 2001 Hempell 2002a)
• productive usage of ICT requires various
  complementary efforts
• - innovations and organizational changes in
  adapting firms (Licht and Moch 1999 Falk
  2001 Hempell 2002b)
• - high share of educated employees (Falk 2002)
• - training expenses

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 2. Effects of ICT usage in Services (cont.)

• 3. The firms knowledge base matters (Hempell
  2002b)
• Firms with innovative experience benefit more
  from ICT
• Experience from process innovations particularly
  important
• the close link to innovation efforts makes ICT a
  special kind of investment (Digital Economy)
• Firms are not equally prepared for efficient ICT
  usage
• training of employees raises productivity
  potentials of ICT

Results find further support from an
international studybased on firm-level data for
Germany and the Netherlands (Hempell, van
Leeuwen, van der Wiel 2002)
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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 3. Knowledge-intensive business services

• Focus on knowledge intensive business services
  (KIBS) by industries
• Computer services hardware consultancy,
  software consultancy, data processing, database
  activities, maintainance
• Technical services RD, architecture and
  engineering, technical testing and analysis
• Consultants Legal, accounting, book keeping and
  auditing activities tax consultancy market
  research business and management consultancy

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

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3. Knowledge-intensive business services (cont.)
KIBS are key agents in adoption, creation and
transfer of knowledge
particularly important for enhancement and
diffusion of information and communication
technologies (ICT) (Czarnitzki and Spielkamp 2000)

• high ICT intensity (ICT capital per employee)
• high share of educated or trained employees
• strong innovation activities
• high export activity
• strong engagement in innovation cooperations

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Knowledge creation process in knowledge and in
non-knowledge servicesThomas Hempell, ZEW
Mannheim, Germany

• 4. Summary and Conclusions

Main findings - ICT usage is particularly
advanced in services - ICT usage requires a
sound knowledge base and various
complementary efforts to become productive -
Knowledge-intensive services are active
contributors to creation of ICT-related
knowledge
Policy implications - create business
environment favouring competition and
innovation incentives in services - removing
barriers restricting ICT-enabled innovations
and re-organizations in firms (labour market
regulation) - improve education systems