The Performance of Business-Service Firms in Peripheral Regions: An International Comparison between Scotland and Nova Scotia

1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1627-1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
P N O'Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Research Management ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Business Service ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Management Consultancy ◽  
Consistent Picture ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Peripheral Regions

In this paper a comparative analysis of the competitiveness and performance of business-service companies in two peripheral regions, Nova Scotia and Scotland, is presented. Several dimensions of performance are investigated for four industries: market research, management consultancy, advertising, and graphic design. Value added per person is one third higher in Scotland compared with Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotian offices derive a much higher proportion of their turnover from government and public-sector contracts. In general, however, a very consistent picture emerges of the relative position of business services in the two regions. Possible demand-side and supply-side causes of such differences are reviewed and potential policy responses considered.

scholarly journals Mapping interaction patterns of German IT and engineering services for automotive applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Julian Schwabe ◽  
Markus Hassler
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Interaction Patterns ◽  
Automotive Applications ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Organizational Outcome ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

Abstract. This study explores how technical services for automotive applications organize their value-added activities. It does so from the background of a market transition towards electric vehicles and vehicle connectivity. Conceptually, the article combines the literature stream of global value chains and global production networks (GVC–GPN) and knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). This paper puts a specific focus on the temporality of client–vendor relationships and argues that interfirm relationships often last longer than their project-based mode suggests they would. Despite ongoing fundamental transitions of industry structures towards electric vehicles and vehicle connectivity, the relationships of incumbent OEMs and technical service firms continues to be hierarchical. Analyzing these dynamics on the level of value-added inputs, the concepts of GVC–GPN and KIBS meaningfully complement each other for outlining the mutual dependencies of market dynamics, the characteristics of a service input and the organizational outcome of the client–vendor relationship.

An Approach to Deploying SOA in Technological Information Integration

2012 ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Zhuofeng Zhao ◽  
Haifang Fu ◽  
Jun Fang
Keyword(s):  
Information Integration ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Business Service ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Technological Information ◽  
Information Category ◽  
Different Sources

The growing need for the integrated usage of information from different sources has led to the requirement for information integration. This paper proposes a business-oriented SOA deployment approach, which is derived from a real world project, for the agencies of technology to provide value-added services through integrating the existing information resources. In the approach, information services, which are supposed to be identified in accordance with information category standard, are created and used in a resource-centric way, and the concept of business service is brought out for domain users to ease the usage of information services by modeling business context and IT information coherently. Based on business services, a domain-specific service mash-up language is provided to “program” information integration applications, and the corresponding run-time support is built to parse the applications and execute business services in mediation-style architecture. The system implementation and the application of our approach are also given.

scholarly journals The role of county competitiveness and manufacturing activity on the development of business service sectors: A precursor to territorial servitization

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 19-35
Author(s):  
Krisztina Horváth ◽  
Manuel Araya ◽  
Juan Carlos Leiva
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Business Service ◽  
Regional Competitiveness ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Manufacturing Activity ◽  
Fixed Effects Regression

This study evaluates how regional competitiveness and relevant properties of the manufacturing industry—i.e., size and rate of manufacturing firms—impact changes in the rate of business service firms. By employing fixed-effects regression models on a sample of 81 Costa Rican counties during 2010-2016, the findings reveal that the quality of the local environment positively affects business service specialization. Besides, manufacturing businesses contribute to increase in rate of business services; however, this effect is only significant in counties with a greater manufacturing base, that is, in counties with a critical mass of manufacturers, in terms of number of manufacturers.

Business-Service Activities in British Provincial Conurbations

1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 1343-1359 ◽  
Author(s):  
J N Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Regional Policy ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Employment Growth ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
External Control ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Business Service ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Service Activities

Business-service activities are poorly represented in provincial areas of the British economy, and this acts as a constraint on the economic growth of these locations. This argument is developed in a survey investigation of business-service offices in the conurbations of Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham. It is argued that external control is an important feature of the business-service sector, and that the organisational structure of multisite service firms influences the supply of business services. The importance of indigenous employment growth and industrial movement in provincial cities is examined. It is suggested that some business services generate regional exports, and should therefore, be given regional policy support.

The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Professional Service Firm ◽  
And Performance

Over the past three decades the Professional Service Firm (PSF) sector has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing, profitable, and significant in the global economy. In 2013 the accountancy, management consulting, legal, and architectural sectors alone generated revenues of US$1.6 trillion and employed 14 million people. PSFs play an important role in developing human capital, creating innovative business services, reshaping government institutions, establishing and interpreting the rules of financial markets, and setting legal, accounting, and other professional standards. The study of PSFs can offer insights into the contemporary challenges facing organizations within the knowledge economy, and deepen understanding of more conventional organizations. Despite their significance, however, PSFs have until recently remained very much in the shadows of organizational and management research. The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms marks the coming of age of PSF scholarship with a comprehensive and integrative exploration of current research and thinking on PSFs, featuring contributions from internationally renowned scholars in the fields of organizational and management studies. It examines the professions, the firms, and the professionals that work within them and covers subjects from governance and leadership to regulation, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Bringing together a broad range of empirical and theoretical perspectives, the Handbook offers many important insights into the contemporary challenges of organizations in the knowledge economy and suggests new lines of inquiry that may shed further light on the activities and performance of PSFs and the professionals who work within them.

Small Busingess Service Firms and the 1990s Recession in the United Kingdom

1996 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Bryson
Keyword(s):  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Business Service ◽  
Management Consultancy ◽  
Local Companies ◽  
The Uk

During the 1990s recession, the UK experienced a dramatic growth in employment in information-intensive business firms. This paper explores this growth with reference to small management consultancy and market research firms. Business service firms continued to be established and to grow during the recession because of three related attributes: professional expertise, an existing reputation and a network of client contacts. These attributes are related to the theoretical work of Granovetter (1973; 1982; 1985) who argues that "weak ties" operate to connect different groups of people together. The implications of these attributes for local economic development are considered. Success for all companies at the level of the local economy will be partially dependent on efficient and effective use of available business service expertise. The three attributes make it impossible to develop successful mechanisms to encourage the formation of business service companies in areas with underdeveloped service infrastructure. Mechanisms, however, may be developed at the local level to encourage the establishment of “weak ties” between local companies and regional and national providers of business service expertise.

An Approach to Deploying SOA in Technological Information Integration

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuofeng Zhao ◽  
Haifang Fu ◽  
Jun Fang
Keyword(s):  
Information Integration ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Information Services ◽  
Business Service ◽  
Specific Service ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Information Category ◽  
Different Sources

The growing need for the integrated usage of information from different sources has led to the requirement for information integration. This paper proposes a business-oriented SOA deployment approach, which is derived from a real world project, for the agencies of technology to provide value-added services through integrating the existing information resources. In the approach, information services, which are supposed to be identified in accordance with information category standard, are created and used in a resource-centric way, and the concept of business service is brought out for domain users to ease the usage of information services by modeling business context and IT information coherently. Based on business services, a domain-specific service mash-up language is provided to “program” information integration applications, and the corresponding run-time support is built to parse the applications and execute business services in mediation-style architecture. The system implementation and the application of our approach are also given.

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