Factores clave para la competitividad de las empresas tecnológicas de servicios avanzados, T- KIBS

Abstract

Nowadays, there is a global economic phenomenon known as tertiarisation, whereby the weight of services is increasingly greater than that of other economic sectors. Although the services sector has generally been considered to have little added value compared to industry, there is a type of advanced services, also known as KIBS (Knowledge Intensive Business Services) whose appearance is related to the competitiveness of companies and the cities or regions in which they are located and their recent development is interpreted as one of the indicators of the transition from an industrial economy to a knowledge-based economy. Numerous studies that have been reviewed within this dissertation, coincide in highlighting the expansion and growth of this type of services, not only from a quantitative point of view, being one of the fastest growing sectors in terms of its contribution to the GDP of the most advanced economies, but also from a qualitative and empirical perspective, taking into account the intrinsic characteristics of technological services companies, which significantly affect the creation and dissemination of knowledge in other economic sectors, especially industry. In this context, this doctoral thesis studies the most decisive factors for the competitiveness of advanced services companies, more specifically technological services companies (T-KIBS) in the Basque Country. To this end, the organisational variables, capacities and business management practices which favour the competitiveness of this type of company are analysed both from a qualitative point of view, exploring and characterising the organisational keys of companies in the sector, and from a quantitative point of view, through the analysis of economic-financial parameters relating to their competitiveness. For the study of the key factors, a model is proposed, based on the state of the art of the scientific literature on the competitiveness of advanced services companies (KIBS) and 67 technological services companies in the Basque Country are analysed by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. In order to complement the analysis, a quantitative approach to the data is carried out by cross-checking economic and financial profitability ratios with the results of the proposed model. Finally, the results, conclusions and future lines of research are drawn. The size of the company, belonging to collaboration networks, the capacity to personalise the offer, internationalisation and talent attraction are identified as the most determining factors in the competitiveness of the KIBS.