Business Services and Their Users: A Literature Review

This chapter reviews the literature regarding the relationship between business service (BSS) firms and their clients, especially in terms of the ways in which BSS contribute to client performance. The literature is very widely scattered, and unevenly developed — some BSS have received little attention, others a great deal, and various aspects of performance receive different amounts of emphasis. The literature contains much evidence and argument as to the positive contributions of BSS to client performance. With the caveats mentioned before about differential focus, there have been many studies that attempt to provide solid evidence for BSS contributions, and some analysis of how they are effected. There has been relatively little attention to the conditions which help — or hinder — the realization of these positive outcomes: a wealth of practical experience on this matter has not been complemented by much systematic research. Issues such as the capacity of clients to make effective use of BSS, and the dangers associated with outsourcing of core functions, have received some attention, and further research needs to explore the determinants of more and less successful BSS use in more depth. This is highly policy-relevant, given the important role that BSS play in national and local innovation systems.