Dr Marco Paiola (Padova University) – 28th of October 2011
Relational innovation in Knowledge Intensive Business Services: the
case of complex software systems.
Abstract:
The seminar will describe preliminary results of an empirical research
exploring the importance of inter-organizational relations in the
technological and marketing development of complex software systems.
It deals with service-based relationships in an information-intensive
industry, in which individualized solutions call for the exchange of
complex information among suppliers, partners and customers.
The empirical section is based on an in-depth study of service relations
involving different national and international producers of ERP software
(T-KIBS) based in Italy and their national and international customers.
Primary data are collected through interviews to managers directly
involved in the implementation and development of the software systems.
Main findings confirm the importance of carefully designed and
structured relationships in a process that can be easily defined of coproduction of innovation. Different knowledge management strategies
can be acted on the base of different recourse to external knowledge
and capabilities. Unexpectedly, in spite of their acknowledged
intermediary role in knowledge transfer, T-KIBS’ upstream relations
seem to be outweighed by the importance of downstream relations with
lead users or selected customers, also as a source of technological
competences. In particular, case studies show how crucial local
customers co-production activities can be in order to gather the
knowledge necessary to address national and international markets.
Bio:
Marco Paiola is Assistant Professor in Business Management, University
of Padova, Department of Economics and Management, Padova (Italy).
His current research interests are in the areas of service management
and innovation, servitization of manufacturing, innovation in Knowledge
Intensive Business Services. His research has been published in
Industrial Marketing Management, Industry & Innovation, International
Journal of Quality and Service Science, Managing Service Quality.