Defense of the Thesis of Estibaliz Hernandez
Defense of the Thesis of Estibaliz Hernandez
Defense of the Thesis of Estibaliz Hernandez
Thesis title: Key factors for the competitiveness of advanced services technology companies, T-KIBS. Obtained the qualification SOBRESALIENTE.
On November 21, the doctoral student Estibaliz Hernández Eleno made the reading of the Doctoral Thesis entitled: Key factors for the competitiveness of technological companies of advanced services, T-KIBS.
Directors: Dr. Eduardo Castellano Fernández (MU - Enpresagintza) and Dr. David Sánchez Bote (Eroski S.Coop.).
Tribunal:
President: Dr. Luis Rubalcaba Bermejo (Universidad Alcalá de Henares).
Secretary: Dr. Aitor Urzelai Inza (SPRI).
Member: Dr. María Saiz Santos (EHU/UPV).
Summary of the thesis:
Nowadays, there is a global economic phenomenon, called tertiarization, by which the weight of services is increasingly greater with respect to the rest of the economic sectors. Although in general the service sector has been considered of little added value with respect to industry, there is a type of advanced service companies or KIBS (Knowledge Intensive Business Services) whose appearance is related to the competitiveness of companies and of 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 analyzed in the document 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, the present doctoral thesis studies the most determining factors for the competitiveness of advanced services companies, more specifically technological services companies (T-KIBS) in the Basque Autonomous Community. For this purpose, the organizational variables, capacities and business management practices that favor the competitiveness of this type of companies are analyzed both from a qualitative point of view, exploring and characterizing the organizational keys of the companies in the sector; as well as from a quantitative point of view, through the analysis of economic-financial parameters related to their competitiveness.
For the study of the key factors, a proprietary analysis 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 analyzed by means of a series of surveys.
In order to complement the analysis, a quantitative approach to the data is made by cross-checking economic and financial profitability ratios with the results of the proposed model.
Finally, the results, conclusions and future lines of the research work are drawn. The size of the company, belonging to collaboration networks, the capacity to personalize the offer, internationalization and talent attraction are identified as the most determining factors in the competitiveness of KIBS.