Title: The KIBS and its role on innovation of manufacturing corporations in Japan

Authors: Shuo She; XueZhong Zhu; Akio Nagahira

Addresses: College of Public Administration, HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, 1037# Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. ' School of Management, HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, 1037# Luoyu Road, Wuhan city Hubei Province, China. ' Management of Science and Technology Department (MOST), Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-11-804, Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture 980-8579, Japan

Abstract: Dealing with knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) has become an important strategy for many firms. Services that heavily rely on professional knowledge are needed by Japanese manufacturing corporations (JMCs) for solving different problems. This article explores the impact of the utilisation of KIBS on the innovation of JMCs in Japan. The goal of the paper is threefold: first, we focus on the different divisions of JMCs that have dealt with KIBS and analyse the impact of KIBS on their innovation respectively; secondly, we separate the types of innovation into radical innovation and incremental innovation and then analyse what and how the service delivery method contributes to each type of innovation; finally we discuss in more depth the details of an efficient service delivery method. The results show that firstly, KIBS contribute more to the radical innovation of a client rather than incremental innovation; and secondly, face-to-face is the most efficient method of service delivery from KIBS to the JMCs.

Keywords: knowledge intensive business services; KIBS; manufacturing firms; innovation; Japan; radical innovation; incremental innovation; service delivery.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCI.2011.045555

International Journal of Services Sciences, 2011 Vol.4 No.2, pp.117 - 145

Accepted: 17 Jul 2011
Published online: 21 Feb 2015 *

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