INNOVATION IN THE SERVICE SECTOR - RESULTS FROM THE ITALIAN STATISTICAL-SURVEY

This acticle provides fresh empirical evidence on the relevance and na ture of innovation activities in the service sector. The evidence can be summarized as follows: Technological innovation is quite a diffused phenomenon in market services: more than one-third of surveyed firms have introduced technological innovations during the period 1993-95. T he amount of financial resources devoted to innovation varies widely a cross service sectors. Financial, computing and software, engineering, and telecommunication services are the most innovative service sector s. Most service firms can distinguish between innovations in services and in processes. Process innovation emerges as the most diffused typo logy. Service firms rely on a wide range of innovation sources. The ac quisition and development of software and investment in machinery are the most cited. Investment, R&D, and software are the major components of firms' innovation expenditure. Major obstacles for introducing tec hnological innovation are of an economic nature, that is, cost and ris k too high. The two most important objectives of firms' innovation str ategies consist of improving service quality and reducing cost. Techno logical information is drawn mainly from in-house production departmen ts as well as from outside suppliers of equipment, materials, and comp onents. Public and private research institutions as well as patents an d licenses play a very marginal role. Finally, in the near future the importance of technology for firms' performance is expected to increas e in service industries. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.