Firm Foundations in the Knowledge Intensive Business Service Sector. Results from a Comparative Empirical Study in Three German Regions

A key feature of the knowledge-based economy is a remarkable increase in the number of knowledge intensive business service firms (KIBS). KIBS are based upon highly specialised knowledge and they acquire knowledge in the course of the interaction process that takes place whilst they provide their services. As knowledge and its organisation are tied to personal capabilities and information, spatial “proximity” to providers and users of knowledge appears to be crucial for the foundation and early development of KIBS. The quality of regional environments (e.g. configurations of incubator and intermediate organisations or a regional “entrepreneurial climate”) and the foundation and development of KIBS are obviously interrelated. Based upon a standardised survey, the present paper analyses regional differences in the foundation process and early development of KIBS in three German regions in a comparative way. The results of our descriptive analysis show strong regional ties of founders and KIBS firms during the founding process as a result of spatial proximity. With only slight differences, those ties could be observed in all three regions. They are primarily related to the former activities of the founder, the transfer of results and experiences into the new firm, and spatial proximity to the most important customers or other partners within the exchange of knowledge. Major differences can be derived with regard to the development of the firms (e.g. Munich KIBS firms show a much better development in employment), obstacles in accessing the regional market, and the general assessment of the regional framework conditions from the point-of-view of the KIBS founders.KIBS; firm foundations; interaction; spatial proximity; Germany

On the significance of economic structure and regional innovation systems for the foundation of knowledge-intensive business services

The shift to new forms of knowledge creation reflects a remarkable increase in the number of knowledge-intensive business service firms (KIBS). KIBS are believed to be one of the main drivers of technological change and economic progress and can be described as users, carriers and sources of innovation (Miles et al. 1995). In addi-tion to macroeconomic implications, newly founded KIBS are considered to play an important role within regional production and innovation systems. As firm founders in early stages of their firms development mostly draw on regional resources and as KIBS acquire knowledge in the course of the interactive process that takes place when the service is provided, an intense interdependency between the regional economic, technological and institutional set-up and newly founded KIBS can be supposed. Within these processes of inter-relationship, proximity between the different actors of the particular innovation and production system clearly matters.However, as entrepreneurship research has hardly ever investigated KIBS and re-search into the role of KIBS in processes of regional change has just begun, this con-tribution analyses the inter-relationships between KIBS foundations and actors within the respective innovation and production system. In a qualitative and conceptual way, in-depth studies of three German metropolitan regions with regard to the foundation of KIBS will be outlined. The results indicate that the necessity to adapt regional structures goes hand in hand with an exploitation of regional knowledge and the crea-tion of bridging institutions in the shape of KIBS foundations. --

The changing role of universities in the German research system: engagement in regional networks, clusters and beyond

In Germany, but in other countries as well, a trend towards a regionalisation in technology and innovation policy is clearly evident. This triggers the expectation towards universities to establish regional ties and networks and to exploit the advantages of spatial proximity to other research institutes, to industry and to policy and regional administration. It is the objective of this paper to analyse the changing role of universities as driving force in the development of new modes and models of collaboration both with industry and with other research organisations. Starting from the triple-helix and the entrepreneurial university approach, the role of universities in regional research and innovation policy will be discussed. On this background, three case studies will be presented in order to illustrate how German universities deal with the expectations of a stronger regional integration and embeddedness. --university governance,research policy,regional collaboration,new modes of cooperation,public-private partnerships

Cohesion policy at the interface between regional development and the promotion of innovation

Taking the implications of the cohesion policy framework for innovation governance as a starting point, it is the objective of this paper to discuss challenges for regional policy making with regard to a policy mix that is new to regional policy makers. Based on two German regions representing convergence and competitive and employment regions it will be discussed how regional policy makers can deal with this new policy approach and what could be appropriate strategies, programmes and learning tools. What can be seen from both the Bavarian and the Saxon case study is that the two regions apply a broad mix of different innovation policy measures, supporting all innovation policy tasks with relevance to regional development. In both regions innovation policy is not a new task, but Saxony as well as Bavaria can look back to a quite long tradition in the im-plementation of this policy. Differences exist with regard to policy learning in a way that due the longer innovation policy experiences of Bavaria more sophisticated structures and activities can be found in this federal state. --

The impact of regionalised RTDI policy measures in Germany: the Network RNA Technologies Berlin (RiNA) as an example

Taking the most popular regional RTDI policy concepts, particularly the network para-digm (Cooke/Morgan 1993) as a starting point, it is the objective of this paper to theo-retically and empirically discuss the necessity and impact of regional or regionalised RTDI policy measures within the context of multi-level governance. Based on the pro-motional measure Netzwerk RNA-Technologien Berlin, initiated by the German Minis-try of Education and Research (BMBF), we shall discuss what kinds of specific policy measures can be undertaken in order to activate and support regionally embedded scientific-technological potentials. In addition, attention will be paid to challenges re-garding the multi-level governance of the funding measure and regional and national effects, particularly within the context of research and networks aspects. What can be seen from the case study is that the coordination of the funding measure proved to be quite challenging. Due to the long-lasting andcomplicated process of setting up the funding measure and the implicit, diverging goals and interests of the key players BMBF, Senate and industry, the resulting network is characterised by unique structural elements which are intertwined or overlap with each other in complex ways. However, due to the policy measure - which supports network activities primarily within coopera-tion projects -, the cooperation intensity of scientific institutions with companies was increased significantly, thus contributing to the goal of fostering the commercial exploitation of research results. --

Cohesion policy in the light of place-based innovation support: New approaches in multi-actors, decentralised regional settings with bottom-up strategies?

According to the Barca report and the OECD, the place-based development approach is a new paradigm of regional policy. It underlines the necessity to distribute policy design and implementation among different policy levels in order to tailor policy measures to the specific local conditions. Place-based initiatives inherit a strong bottom-up element in public governance. Taking the innovation orientation in European cohesion policy as a starting point, it is the objective of this paper to analyse whether the recent implementation of structural and cohesion policy shows indications for place-based policy designs and governance. Germany is used as a case study, because it can be expected that in federal systems multi-level and bottom-up policy structures are already strongly evident. The major question the paper seeks to answer is whether the recent experiences from German cohesion policy formulation and implementation allow to identify starting points for the future design of European cohesion policy. --place-based approach,cohesion policy,multi-level governance,innovation policy,Germany

On the significance of geographical proximity for the structure and development of newly founded knowledge-intensive business service firms

A key feature of the knowledge-based economy is a remarkable increase in the number, foundation rates, and employees of knowledge-intensive business service firms (KIBS). KIBS are knowledge-intensive, in the sense that they are founded upon highly specialised knowledge. Based on the assumption, that knowledge and knowledge-organisation is tied to personal capabilities and information, spatial "proximity" to knowledge-providers and –users appears to be crucial in the development- and growth-process of KIBS. The idea, that a region matters to foundation activities primarily derives from a resource-based view. Different regional environments (e.g. configurations of incubator and intermediate organisations, regional "entrepreneurial social infrastructure") and the foundation pattern of KIBS are obviously interrelated. In addition to environmental factors affecting the development or growth of newly founded KIBS, factors related to the entrepreneur of KIBS as well as factors related to characteristics of the KIBS-firms have to be taken into consideration. Based upon a survey with founders of KIBS firms in three German regions, a selection of indicators will be used as determinants for new KIBS growth. Comparing the successful KIBS start-ups with those showing an employment decrease in the relevant time period, it has to be emphasized, that KIBS with employment in-crease are co-operating with other firms and institutions on all spatial levels, regardless of the function of the partner-firms for the KIBS activities. Keywords: KIBS – Region - Spatial proximity – Growth

On the significance of geographical proximity for the structure and development of newly founded knowledge-intensive business service firms

A key feature of the knowledge-based economy is a remarkable increase in the number, foundation rates, and employees of knowledge-intensive business service firms (KIBS). KIBS are knowledge-intensive, in the sense that they are founded upon highly specialised knowledge. Based on the assumption that knowledge and knowledge organisation are tied to personal capabilities and information, spatial proximity to knowledge-providers and users appears to be crucial in the development and growth process of KIBS. The idea that the region affects foundation activities primarily derives from a resource-based view. Different regional environments (e.g. configurations of incubator and intermediate organisations, regional entrepreneurial social infrastructure) and the foundation pattern of KIBS are obviously interrelated. In addition to environmental factors affecting the development or growth of newly founded KIBS, factors related to the entrepreneur of KIBS and to characteristics of the KIBS firms have to be taken into consideration. Based upon a survey with founders of KIBS firms in three German regions, a selection of indicators will be used as determinants for new KIBS growth. Comparing the successful KIBS start-ups with those showing an employment decrease in the relevant time period, it has to be emphasized that KIBS with employment increase co-operate with other firms and institutions on all spatial levels, regardless of the function of the partner firms for the KIBS activities. --KIBS,Region,Spatial proximity,Growth

Linear regression analysis using the relative squared error

AbstractIn order to determine estimators and predictors in a generalized linear regression model we apply a suitably defined relative squared error instead of the most frequently used absolute squared error. The general solution of a matrix problem is derived leading to minimax estimators and predictors. Furthermore, we consider an important special case, where an analogon to a well-known relation between estimators and predictors holds and where generalized least squares estimators as well as Kuks–Olman and ridge estimators play a prominent role

Automobilzulieferer in Baden-Württemberg unter Strom? Perspektiven der Automobilzulieferindustrie für den Übergang zur Elektromobilität

Der wachsende Stellenwert alternativer Antriebskonzepte stellt nicht nur die Automobilhersteller, sondern auch die Zulieferer vor Herausforderungen. Baden-Württembergs Zuliefererindustrie scheint für diese Aufgaben lediglich in der Spitze, nicht jedoch in der Breite der kleinen und mittleren Firmen gerüstet. Die im Vergleich zu anderen Bundesländern im Mittel eher geringen allgemeinen Innovationsanstrengungen führen dazu, dass alternative Antriebe nur für ein Drittel der Zulieferfirmen ein Thema darstellen, in das man Ressourcen investiert. Während die großen Automoblizulieferer in Baden-Württemberg vorbereitet sind, bei einem wachsenden Stellenwert neuer Antriebskonzepte wegfallende Zulieferteile für konventionelle Antriebe duch Komponenten für die Elektromobilität zu ersetzen, sind die kleinen und mittleren Firmen bislang weniger aktiv geworden. Lediglich ein Drittel der kleinen und knapp die Hälfte der mittleren Zulieferfirmen haben bereits damit begonnen, Produkte zu entwickeln, die als Komponenten für neue Antriebstechnologien Nachfrage finden können. --