Show
Under a Creative Commons license Open access Highlights• Increased university presence can lead to superior KIBS formation in the region. •A greater weight of public universities can facilitate regional KIBS formation. •A substitution effect exists between universities and industry specialization. •In regions with lower industry share, universities drive KIBS business creation. In industrialized regions, industry businesses foster KIBS formation processes. AbstractThis study evaluates how features related to the regional configuration of universities—i.e., the number of universities in a region and the proportion of public universities—influence the regional formation rate of knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) firms. Using a sample of 47 Spanish regions (provinces) during 2009–2013, the results of the spatial econometric panel analysis give support to the argument that regions with a greater concentration of universities and with higher proportion of public universities attract more new KIBS firms. However, the findings also indicate a substitution effect between these university-based variables and the region's industry specialization. Thus, new KIBS businesses tend to locate in regions where they expect either stronger knowledge inputs from universities or higher demand from potential industrial customers. We also reveal the presence of interregional spillover effects. The paper offers insights on how territories may attract more knowledge-based businesses by encouraging the development of the local higher education system. KeywordsKnowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) University Public university Territorial servitization Spatial econometrics Spain Cited by (0)Krisztina Horváth (PhD) is research fellow in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Pécs, Hungary. Her research interests focus on the economic analysis of organizations. Also, she is interested in entrepreneurship and its economic benefits from a territorial perspective. Her research work has been published in, among others, Regional Studies, Strategic Change and International Journal of Business Environment. Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent (PhD) is Associate Professor at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC), Spain. She is a member of the editorial board of several journals, including the Journal of Business Research, Management Decision, Journal of Technology and Science Education, Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, and Intangible Capital. Her research interests are in the areas of strategic planning and management of higher education institutions, academic entrepreneurship and knowledge and technology transfer. Her research has been published in, among others, Journal of Technology Transfer, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Research, and European Management Journal. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Firms with a competitive advantage over others typically have access to special resources that others do not or are able to use resources more efficiently, resulting in higher revenue growth, profitability, or productivity growth (efficiency), all of which ultimately in the long run translate into higher stock market valuations than their competitors. Michael Porter's competitive forces model describes five competitive forces that shape the fate of the firm.
Figure 3-10
There are four generic strategies used to manage competitive forces, each of which often is enabled by using information technology and systems:
You can use the business value chain model to identify areas where information systems will improve business processes. You can also benchmark your business processes against your competitors or others in related industries, and identify and implement industry best practices.
A firm's value chain is linked to the value chains of its suppliers, distributors, and customers. Information systems can be used to achieve strategic advantage at the industry level by working with other firms to develop industry-wide standards for exchanging information or business transactions electronically, which force all market participants to subscribe to similar standards. Such efforts increase efficiency, making product substitution less likely and perhaps raising entry costs., Internet technology has made it possible to create highly synchronized industry value chains called value webs. A value web is a collection of independent firms that use information technology to coordinate their value chains to produce a product or service for a market collectively. It is more customer-driven and operates in a less linear fashion than the traditional value chain. Figure 3-12
A large corporation is typically a collection of businesses. Information systems can improve the overall performance of these business units by promoting synergies and core competencies.
Business models based on a network may help firms strategically by taking advantage of network economics. In network economics, the marginal costs of adding another participant or creating another product are negligible, whereas the marginal gain is much larger. For example, the more people offering products on eBay, the more valuable the eBay site is to everyone because more products are listed, and more competition among suppliers lowers prices. Another network-based strategy is the virtual company, or virtual organization, which uses networks to link people, assets, and ideas, enabling it to ally with other companies to create and distribute products and services without being limited by traditional organizational boundaries or physical locations. One company can use the capabilities of another company without being physically tied to that company. The traditional Porter model of competitive forces assumes a relatively static industry environment; relatively clear-cut industry boundaries; and a relatively stable set of suppliers, substitutes, and customers. With the emergence of the digital firm and the Internet, some modifications to the original competitive forces model are needed. Some of today's firms are much more aware that they participate in business ecosystems, loosely coupled but interdependent networks of suppliers, distributors, outsourcing firms, transportation service firms, and technology manufacturers. In a business ecosystem, cooperation takes place across many industries rather than many firms. Figure 3-13
Business ecosystems can be characterized as having one or a few keystone firms that dominate the ecosystem and create the platforms used by other niche firms. Keystone firms in the Microsoft ecosystem include Microsoft and technology producers such as Intel and IBM. Niche firms include thousands of software application firms, software developers, service firms, networking firms, and consulting firms that both support and rely on the Microsoft products. Which of the following is a difference between knowledge intensive firms and firms in more traditional industry sectors?Which of the following is a difference between knowledge-intensive firms and firms in more traditional industry sectors? Knowledge-intensive firms have very high market-to-book value ratios, and traditional firms have low market-to-book ratios.
Which of the following is a benefit of bridging relationships?Which of the following is a benefit of bridging relationships? It can provide timely and diverse information. Information that is readily available to everyone from various sources such as the Internet is known as ______ information.
|