Service and the Knowledge-Based Economy

Mark Boden and Ian Miles 288 pages October 2000 Continuum Publishers ISBN: 0826449522 (Hardback) £55.00 ISBN: 0826449530 (Paperback) £18.99 Buy the book - Hardback   Paperback

Over the past two decades, the service sectors have increased dramatically, and now occupy the largest share of the economy of advanced industrial societies. Certain business services are regularly cited as evidence for the emergence of a 'knowledge economy'. In this pioneering book, leading researchers in the fields of services industries research and innovation studies investigate the reasons for the growth of the service sectors and the emergent 'knowledge economy'. Drawing on material as diverse as macroeconomic statistics and firm-level case studies, the contributors demonstrate that services are often important innovators in their own right, as well as contributing to innovation and economic performance in their user industries. The question of how far services are special cases, and what specific processes and trajectories characterise their innovative activity, is treated systematically. Additionally, a variety of original analyses and information resources are presented. This book will be of value to the student of the modern industrial society, to those seeking to forge policies appropriate to the new context of economic development, and to researchers who are confronting the challenges of the 'knowledge economy'.

Contributors include: C Antonelli, J Bessant, R Bilderbeek, M Boden, P den Hertog, C Gallouj, J Hauknes, Y Katsoulacos, J Norvig Larsen, G Marklund, I Miles, B Preissel, H Rush, J Sundbo, M Tomlinson and N Tsounis