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Identification of determinants and development of a model of productivity in the services sector
(2011)
Identification of determinants and development of a productivity framework in the services sector
(2013)
The service industry significantly contributes to gross value added and employment. However, it is difficult to make generic statements about service productivity because of the distinct nature and heterogeneity of services. The present work will address productivity improvements being subject to multiple causes. Through a structured literature review of relevant empirical studies, the drivers of service productivity are identified in the context of a meta-study. All complex interactions of the determinants are presented in an illustration and a dynamic productivity loop framework is generated, taking into account the many possible factors and the heterogeneous characteristics of the services sector.
We present an empirical approach to measuring service innovation on the company level
through the analysis of trademarks. Prior empirical investigations in several industries have
shown that a trademark may be used as an innovation indicator. This article explores the
use and relevance of trademarks by conducting a survey in the knowledge-intensive business
services (KIBS) industries with 278 participating companies. Our survey results explain
the use of trademarks as a way to protect innovation and intellectual property for KIBS. In
sum, we show that trademarks can be described as adequate and useful indicators to measure
new service innovations in the KIBS industries. Additionally, we show that trademarks
have the potential to overcome weaknesses of traditional measurement concepts towards
KIBS innovation and might make special surveys redundant in the future.