Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and Their Role in the Knowledge-Based Economy

The development of knowledge-intensive business services in recent decades can be interpreted as one of the indicators of a transformation from an industrial economy into a knowledge-based one. Not only do quantitative measures, whether in the form of sales or employment figures (e. g. Chadwick, Glasson and Lawton Smith, 2008), undoubtedly show the expansion of these services; but also their characteristics make it clear that they significantly affect the formation and spread of knowledge throughout the economy. The importance of the knowledge-intensive business services sector for the development of the economy is growing. In the 80s and 90s this sector became the fastest growing sector in the OECD countries (OECD, 2001). Many publications stress its close relationship to the levels of innovation and performance of the whole economy (e. g. Hipp, 1999; Tomlinson, 1999; Aslesen and Isaksen, 2007). It is an increasingly common belief that KIBS not only perform innovation activities at the service of the manufacturing sector, but they are also "bridges of knowledge" or "innovation bridges" connecting the manufacturing sector, science and customers (Czarnitzki and Spielkamp, 2003). The reasons for this phenomenon include the fact that KIBS play an active role in creating and spreading knowledge and increasing production capacity. In addition, KIBS provide access to the scientific and technological information distributed within a system. They act as holders of proprietary, quasi-generic knowledge, implemented by interacting with customers and the scientific community. They also act as an active transmitter between the codified knowledge stored in universities and research laboratories and its hidden counterpart, located in the practices of companies (den Hertog, 2000). In other words, companies offering KIBS are the point of contact between the more general scientific and technological information distributed in the economy and the local requirements and problems of their clients (Muller and Doloreux, 2009). By creating an appropriate infrastructure, KIBS affect the ability of the economy to innovate activities that are of much importance for the development of a competitive knowledge-based economy. This article presents an analysis of the KIBS sector based on a literature review. In the first section, it presents the issues connected with defining and categorizing KIBS. In the second one, it shows the significance of this type of service, highlighting its influence on the innovativeness of the companies which it serves. The third section consists of a detailed review of the literature devoted to research on KIBS.