Servitização territorial: os impactos da concentração de KIBS na produtividade de empresas de manufatura

Abstract

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) companies play an important role in knowledge generation and transfer. In addition, KIBS has supported the implementation of service-oriented business models in manufacturing companies. In this way, these companies benefit from connections with KIBS as they use these services to complement their capabilities and become more competitive. The connections between manufacturing companies and KIBS are also able to contribute to regional economic development through the generation of new jobs and new businesses. The symbiotic connections between KIBS and manufacturing companies and their effects on these companies and on the region in which they are located have been called territorial servitization. This dissertation aims to evaluate the impacts of KIBS concentration on productivity (Total Factor Productivity – TFP) of Brazilian manufacturing companies and determine the moderating role of absorptive capacity in this relationship. To achieve the objective, the research method was structured in two stages. The first was a scoping study in order to gain a better understanding of the connections between KIBS and manufacturing companies. The second stage corresponded to the development of an econometric model with variables of concentration of KIBS and productivity of manufacturing companies. The results show that only the concentration of KIBS is not capable of generating positive effects on the productivity of manufacturing companies. These companies must have sufficient absorptive capacity to transform the available knowledge into productivity gains. This dissertation contributes to the advancement of the literature on territorial servitization by providing a thematic analysis regarding the convergence of the literature between KIBS and manufacturing companies. It also points out that the benefits of territorial servitization depend, in addition to the concentration of KIBS, that manufacturing companies are able to exploit the knowledge of KIBS. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented in the dissertation.