Market extension and knowledge management strategies of knowledge-intensive business services

The paper aims at analysing the relationship between the market extension of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) and their knowledge management strategies. The literature emphasizes the strong relationship existing between KIBS and their customers in terms of innovation process and knowledge creation. We argue that the knowledge management strategies - in terms of knowledge codification, personalization, and knowledge creation - implemented by a KIBS is related to their geographical market extension. A quantitative approach is developed based on more than 150 Italian KIBS specializing in design and communication. The paper enriches the research framework concerning KIBS by emphasizing also the role of partners other than customers in KIBS' knowledge management strategies