R é s e a u E u r o p é e n S e r v i c e s E s p a c e

New Information and Communication Technologies Services and Space : Aspects of Interrelation A report on recent publications in Danemark Lars Fuglsang

Introduction
1. Public Services
2. Private sector
3. Henten 1994
4. Scupola 2000
5. Fussing jensen 2001
6. Media Research
Conclusion
Bibliography

The Danish literature produced in this area during the past years can perhaps be divided into three broad realms of ìsectorial specialisationî, namely studies of ICT in public services, studies of ICT in private services (including telecommunications) and studies of ICT in the media. The sectorial specialisation between public and private services may be seen as a consequence of a division of labour between political science and business administration research. Some attempts have been made to cross the border of these disciplines, focusing for example on ICT as an asset of production in public services (cf. Fuglsang, 2000 and Fuglsang, forthcoming). But such examples are rare. The research themes are therefore normally quite different between these two fields. Furthermore, media research in Denmark is by tradition generally anchored in the humanities (cf. e.g. http://www.media.ku.dk/). Social science research on media with a view to ICT are more seldom, but a few publications should be mentioned.

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Public services

Most studies of public services is, as already mentioned above, a genre within itself concerned with issues of public administration, such as public management and democracy. An edited book published in Danish language (Andersen et al. 1999) and a special issue of the Danish monthly journal, Samfunds¯konomen, on ìIT in the public sectorî (Samfunds¯konomen 2000) can be seen as representative of this approach. The edited book is divided into two general themes: organisation & administration and democracy. Under the heading organisation & administration we find articles on BPR and ICT, strategy-making and ICT, openness in public administration and ICT, digital cities and digital public administration. Under the heading democracy there are articles on Internetís role during a Danish local election, the use of Internet by political parties, decision-making during the introduction of ICT in public services and and the use of ICT for civil registration. These contributions are to a large extent based on qualitative empirical investigations. In the special issue of Samfunds¯konomen (2000), the most important topic appear to be ìdigital public administrationî (digital forvaltning), but the journal also includes papers on telework in the public sector and the use of Internet by Danish political parties. As of now, the most important research theme in this realm is probably ìdigital public administrationî (digital forvaltning) which is a broad term for the transformations public administration and public services are undergoing towards a paperless administration as a consequence of the application of ICT in all areas.

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Private sector (including telecommunications)

Within private sector research, some publications can be identified which have only a peripheral relation to service research (particularly research on e-commerce or learning) while others are more specifically concerned with service research.

Most of the research which is specifically dealing with services is produced around the Centre for Service Studies (http://www.ssc.ruc.dk/css/) at Roskilde University, Centre for Tele-Information (http://www.cti.dtu.dk/) at the Technical University of Denmark and a recent research project on ìService Development, Internationalisation, and Competence Developmentî (http://www.ssc.ruc.dk/css/sic/) originating from these two institutions.

This research can be divided into three main topics :

? The impacts of ICT at the macro-level on e.g. trade, internationalisation and division of labour (Henten 1994; Henten & Skouby 1999; Henten 1999),

? The firm strategy, innovation and ICT at the micro-level (Sundbo 1994, Sundbo 1996; Sundbo 1998; Sundbo et al. 1999)

? The various enabling aspects of ICT in service work (Larsen 1998, Larsen 2001, Illeris 2000, Fuglsang 2000).

Two PhD thesis could be mentioned as representative of the Danish macro-level research in this area.

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Henten (1994) studies the impacts of information and communication technologies on trade in services. The thesis includes a discussion of the ìtradabilityî of services, i.e. the potentials for realising trade in services, specifically cross-border trade. The thesis includes a discussion of the concept of services and the implication of ICT on the tradability of services. The hypothesis which is pursued during the thesis is that ICT will increase tradability in services. The thesis includes a case-study of banking and a study of telecommunication services as well as a statistical evidence of current trade-paterns in services in Denmark.

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Scupola (2000) studies the impact of Internet based electronic commerce in scientific publishing especially how the application of ICT affects industry structure and the firmsí value chain. It also seeks to investigate how electronic trade can improve the competitiveness of a firm. A complementarity theory model is developed to analyze this and the thesis also includes a detailed analysis of working processes in scientific publishing.

As for the micro-level research with an emphasis of strategy and innovation, most of the work is dealing with processes of innovation and ICT. Questions such as the following are examined: What kind of innovation is taking place in services and how is ICT applied for innovation (Sundbo et al 1999)? What innovations can be identified and how is ICT incorporated (Fussing-Jensen 2000; Sundbo 1994; Sundbo et al. 1999)? How does innovation come about through the use of ICT (Sundbo et al. 1999; Sundbo 1996; Sundbo & Fuglsang, forthcoming)?

The PhD of Fussing-Jensen may serve as an example of this area of research :

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Fussing Jensen (20001) studies innovation strategies in tourism firms. His research aim is to understand innovation in a strategic context, where innovation is seen as a strategic phenomenon. The study shows that tourism businesses face both destination-related and business-related impacts. The analysis points to events, market conditions, and marketing, including product development, as key destination-oriented impacts. Cooperative relations, networking, and the use of information and communications technology do not appear to be emphasized so much by the firms. However, in ìdivergent service enterprisesî which are business and consumer enterprises at the same time, the trend is rather in the direction of a polarization between a technology-intensive commercial service and a labor-intensive consumer service. It appears that tourist businesses try to standardize business tours, such as course and congress tourism, by using information technology as much as possible, while vacation tourism leans toward individual, high-quality service, adapted to the customersí needs.

Most of this research has a strong empirical orientation and is partly based on time series studies and case-studies, while part of the research also deals with definitions and theories of services. The work of Sundbo (1994) on ìmodularizationî as a term denoting a kind of ìflexible standardisationî in service production enabled by ICT has been important. Sundbo has also produced a very thorough overview over service literature with an emphasis on innovation (Sundbo 1998) that contains a chapter on technology and services. Here, the role of the entrepreneur is particularly discussed. Furthermore, in a forthcoming edited volume by Sundbo and Fuglsang (Sundbo & Fuglsang, forthcoming) attention is paid to the concept ìstrategic reflexivityî as a theoretical way to describe the process of innovation under the impact of ICT.

Finally, there is a literature seeking mostly through statistical analysis and case-studies to describe changes in working routines related to, among other things, ICT. Learning an knowledge are important concepts in part of this work (Larsen 1999; Larsen 2001), changing working ìrolesî in other parts (cf. Fuglsang 2000). Some also seek to analyse more broadly how peoples attitude to work is changing (cf. Illeris 2000).

Concerning the literature which is more indirectly concerned with services I will particularly wish to mention studies of the diffusion of e-commerce, particularly business-to-business e-commerce (cf. Andersen et al. 2000) but also EDI in the private and the public sector (Andersen et al. 1998a), and legal and political aspects of e-commerce (Andersen et al. 1998b). Another perhaps more peripheral line of research in relation to services research, is research on the application of ICT-supported education in firms, cf. e.g. ElkjÊr et al. (2001).

One may say generally that there are three overall perspectives in play in the Danish literature on ICT and services. One starts with the technology and examines mainly though time series studies its impact of trade in services, division of labour, or internationalisation at the macro-level. This literature is partly (though not self-declared) technology determinist. Another literature starts with the firm and examines, mainly though case-studies and surveys, the relationships between strategy innovation and ICT. This research is anchored in the field of innovation studies and business administration. And a third approach looks into labour processes and how ICT enables new forms of work through case-studies and statistical analysis.

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Media research

Most media research in Denmark grows out of the humanities, but during the past years there has been some research dealing with technology and the media. The PhD theses of Tadayoni may be representative of this work (cf. also Fuglsang & Tadayoni 2000).

The subject of Tadayoni (2001) is changes in the market for broadcasting services as a result of technological, political, and economic drivers. Broadcasting services are categorised as a part of the ICT-based information and knowledge intensive services that have gone through radical changes in the last couple of decades. There are, however, specific characteristics like deployment of advanced technologies on the supply as well as the demand side, scarcity of transmission resources, and historical aspects that make the development of the broadcasting service market different from other information and knowledge intensive services. The thesis seeks to give an in-depth analysis of the evolution of the broadcasting market from the traditional organisation models to the more market oriented modern organisation models.

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Conclusion

Danish research on ICT and services is sectorially specialised into at least three broad groups: Public services, private services (including telecommunication) and the media. Research on public services is anchored in public administration research and has no affiliation to service research. It is concerned with empirical studies of governance and democracy under the ongoing process of digitalisation of public administration. Within the field of private services, we can distinguish between three lines of investigation: One concerned with the impact of ICT on service trade, division of labour and internationalisation at the macro-level, another emphasising firm strategy, innovation and ICT. And a third dealing with new working processes enabled through ICT. Finally, in the much tinier field of media research and ICT, emphasis is on the impact of ICT on market structures.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andersen Kim V., Juul N. Christian; Henriksen H. Zinner; Bj¯rn-Andersen N. & Bunker D. (2000). Business-to-business e-commerce: Enterprise facing a turbulent world". Copenhagen: DJÿF.

Andersen, Kim V.; Friis, Christian S.; Hoff, Jens & Nicolajsen, Hanne W. (1999). Informationsteknologi, organisation og forandring. Copenhagen: DJÿF.

Andersen, Kim V.; Bj¯rn-Andersen, Niels & Juul, N. Chr. (1998a). Elektronisk Handel og dokumentudveksling: EDI-anvendelsen i den private og offentlige sektor, Samfunsdslitteratur.

Andersen, Kim V.; Bj¯rn-Andersen, Niels, & Juul, Niels Chr. (1998b). Electronic Commerce: A Battle on Regulation, Standards, Transportation Media, and Business Integration. Special issue: Australian Journal of Information Systems. pp 130 ? 144.

ElkjÊr, Bente & Olsen, Mads (2001). Virksomheders anvendelse af IT-st¯ttet uddannelse - muligheder og problemer. Institut for Informatik, Handelsh¯jskolen i K¯benhavn & Learning Lab Denmark.

Fuglsang Lars (2000). Handlingsrummet for en fleksibel og interaktiv arbejdsmodel i hjemmehjÊlpen - om mellemlederens Êndrede rolle. In Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv 2 (3).

Fuglsang, Lars (2001, forthcoming). Management problems in welfare services: the role of the ësocial entrepreneurí in home-help for the elderly, the Valby case. In Scandinavian Journal of Management.

Fuglsang, Lars & Tadayoni, Reza (2000). Udveksling og handel med TV-billeder. Et case-studie af TVAs udenrigsredaktion og brug af Eurovisionens Nyhedsudveksling. Report no. 5. Service Development, Internationalisation and Competence Development. ISSN 1399-1809.

Fussing-Jensen, Christjan (2000). The Innovative Behaviour in Experience-intensive Firms. A Strategic Perspective in Tourism. Ph.D thesis. Roskilde University.

Henten, Anders & Skouby, Knud Erik (1999). Internationalisation of Services - Implication of Information and Communication Technologies. Working paper no. 9. Servicedevelopment, internationalisation and competence development. ISSN: 1397-8357

Henten, Anders (1994). Impacts of information and communication technologies on trade in services. PhD. thesis. Center for Tele-information. Technical University of Denmark.

Henten, Anders (1999). Implication of Information and Communication Technologies for The International Distribution of Labour. Working paper no 8. Servicedevelopment, internationalisation and competence development. ISSN: 1397-8357

Illeris, Sven (2000). Skills in Services: A Study in Denmark. Working paper no. 12. Servicedevelopment, internationalisation and competence development. ISSN: 1397-8357

Larsen, Jacob Norvig (1998). Knowledge-intensive business Service in the Danish economy. Working paper no. 4. Servicedevelopment, internationalisation and competence development. ISSN: 1397-8357.

Larsen, Jacob Norvig (2001). Knowledge, human resources and social practice: The knowledge-intensive business service firm as a distributed knowledge system. The Service Industries Journal, 21(1) pp. 81-103 ?Samfunds¯konomen no 7 2000.

Scupola, Ada (2000). ìInternet-Based Electronic Commerce and Changing Industrial and Corporate Structuresî, PhD thesis Roskilde Universitet Center, 31 Maj 2000

Sundbo, Jon (1994). Modularization of service production and a thesis of convergence between service and manufacturing organizations. Scandinavian Journal of Management 10 (3) pp. 245-266.

Sundbo, Jon (1996). Development of the service system in a manual service firm. A case study of the Danishh ISS. Advances in Service Marketing and Management 5, pp. 169-191.

Sundbo, Jon (1998). The Organization of Innovation in Services. Roskilde: Roskilde University Press.

Sundbo, Jon; Henten, Anders; Fuglsang, Lars & Fussing-Jensen, Christjan (1999). Information and Communication Technologies Danish Servcie Firmsí innovation Activities and Use of ICT based on a survey. Report No. 2. Service Development, Internationalisation and Competence Development. ISSN 1399-1809.

Sundbo, Jon & Fuglsang, Lars (forthcoming). Innovation as strategic reflexivity. Routledge.

Tadayoni, Reza (2001). Technological, political and economic changes and their implications for the evolution of broadcasting services : A political economy of digital broadcasting PhD thesis. Center for Tele-Information. Technical University of Denmark.