Employing data from a sample of 1,161 small firms, the paper draws broad comparisons between patterns of innovation expenditure and output, innovation networking, knowledge intensity and competition within Knowledge‐Intensive Business Services (KIBS; N = 563) and manufacturing firms (N = 598). In so doing, KIBS are further disaggregated along lines proposed by Miles et al. (199536.
Miles , I. ,
Kastrinos , N. ,
Flanagan , K. ,
Bilderbeek , R. ,
den Hertog , P. ,
Huitink , W. and
Bouman , M. 1995. Knowledge Intensive Business Services: Their Role as Users, Carriers and Sources of Innovation EIMS Publication No. 15, Innovation Programme, DGXIII, Luxembourg View all references). That is, as technology‐based KIBS (t‐KIBS; N = 264) and professional KIBS (p‐KIBS; N = 299). However, detailing such broad patterns is preliminary. The principal interest of the paper is in identifying the factors associated with higher levels of innovativeness, within each sector, and the extent to which such “success” factors vary across sectors. The results of the analysis appear to offer support for some widely held beliefs about the relative roles of “softer” and “harder” sources of knowledge and technology within services and manufacturing (Tether, 200446.
Tether , B. 2004. Do Services Innovate (Differently)?, Manchester: University of Manchester. CRIC Discussion Paper 66 View all references). However, some important qualifications are also apparent.