The Role of Cluster Intermediaries for KIBS' Resources and Innovation

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) help manufacturing firms boost their innovation activities, yet the question of which kinds of resources and intermediaries KIBS need for their own innovation activities remains largely unstudied. The current article investigates whether clustered KIBS might need an intermediary to access innovation resources, by studying the effects of network administrative organizations (NAOs) on KIBS' resources for innovation. Using a survey of 53 KIBS in a French cluster, the authors find that NAOs directly affect both KIBS' internal and external resources for innovation. They also study the intermediary effect of NAOs on KIBS' absorptive capacity and provide recommendations for public policy to boost clustered KIBS' innovation intensity.