Business Support Services: A Conceptual Framework and Some Interesting Practices

Nicola Bellini

Chapter 5 in High Technology, Productivity and Networks, 2008, pp 95-116 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In contemporary economies a large number of public and semi-public bodies are providing small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) with support services aimed at sustaining their competitiveness and growth strategies. Examples of business support services are: the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) in the US, Business Link — Small Business Service in England, Syntens in the Netherlands, ALMI in Sweden, the ‘real service’ centers in Italy, etc. The European Union itself has identified the creation of ‘top class business services’ as one of the main priorities in its policy for small and medium-sized enterprises. Also the economic literature has discussed this phenomenon for at least two decades now, with different approaches and sometimes opposed conclusions about its relevance. Nonetheless, a general consensus has emerged that such policies should be part of the toolbox of ‘structural industrial policies’ in those economies where the presence of SMEs is especially strong (see Parrilli’s introduction in this volume).

Keywords: Support Service; Private Actor; Industrial District; Real Service; Business Outcome (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-58372-6_5

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230583726_5

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