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KNOWLEDGE‐INTENSIVE BUSINESS SERVICES IN THE RHINE‐NECKAR AREA
Author(s) -
STRAMBACH SIMONE
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.766
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1467-9663
pISSN - 0040-747X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9663.1994.tb01346.x
Subject(s) - business , flexibility (engineering) , service (business) , key (lock) , quality (philosophy) , knowledge management , function (biology) , industrial organization , empirical research , process management , marketing , computer science , economics , computer security , management , philosophy , epistemology , evolutionary biology , biology
The article emphasizes the importance of network relationships for knowledge‐intensive service firms. Network relationships have a key function in the interaction between supplier and client. Clients take advantage of network relationships to find an adequate supplier, especially in the initial contact phase, as clients' uncertainty about the quality and suitability of the supplier's services is greatest at this time. The results of the empirical study also show that network structures within the corporate segment of the knowledge‐intensive services constitute a form of organization that enables the firms to adapt themselves more quickly and flexibly to the individual demands of the client by using interorganizational flexibility potential. Network structures thus provide a possibility for resolving the tension between specialization and complete, individual solutions to clients' problems.