Innovation Features and Strategy of Knowledge Intensive Service Suppliers in Korea

지식집약서비스 공급업체의 혁신 특성과 전략

This paper explores the features, patterns and strategies of innovation in knowledge intensive service (KIS) suppliers in Korea. It was found that characteristics of service innovation and manufacturing innovation tend to converge. Also, diverging elements were found particularly in organizational dimension in the innovation of the service sector. Investigation into the case of information and communication technology (ICT) services revealed that KIS suppliers are active in innovation. They obtained ideas required for their innovations from their knowledge activities inside firms and in the process of interaction with user firms. Large KIS suppliers are to a great extent interested in R&D for innovation, while small and medium suppliers are interested in developmental work. Weak knowledge flow was found between KIS suppliers and the public sector like universities and public research institutes.