Abstract
Although the computer services industry1 is seen as an increasingly significant sector of activity in terms of technological development and competitive advantage, its strategic and policy value within Europe has always been underplayed. This may have been for a number of reasons relating to preconceptions about the industry: it was seen as following technological developments in the wider information technology (IT) industry. As a ‘service’ activity, its locational distribution was also seen to closely reflect the distribution of demand via the need for close customer contact, language and cultural factors: local demand was met by local supply. In turn, as a reflection, trade in computer services was low, with one estimate in the mid-1980s putting domestic demand accounting for 90 per cent or more of the market2.
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Notes
There are considerable variations in the definition of computer services; however this chapter will use the definition used by the OECD (1989) which has gained general acceptance and allows comparability between countries. It covers: Computer Software: provision of stored programs for computer operating systems for applications, either customised for individual clients or packaged to suit multiple clients. Software may be transmitted to the customer via a telecommunications network, via a transportable medium such as a computer tape, disc or CD-Rom, or as part of a complete hardware and software system (turnkey system). Computer Services and Consultancy: provision of services from supplier to customer which may involve the supplier carrying out data processing activities using the supplier’s own facilities (bureaux services), or using a customer’s facilities (facilities management). Alternatively the supplier may assist the customer to carry out his own data processing by helping with systems design (systems analysis and consultancy) by providing staff to work on the customer’s site (“bodyshopping”), or by providing training and education services. The OECD also includes computerised information services in its definition of computer-based services. See: OECD (1985) Software: An Emerging Industry ICCP Report 9. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Paris.
OECD (1989) Working Party on Telecommunication and Information Services Policy. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Paris (DSTI/ICCP/TISP/88.9), 18 pp.
J. Howells (1989) Trade in Software, Computer Services and Computerised Information Services. Report to the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Paris (DST/ICCP/TISP/89.16), 172 pp.
Peat Marwick McLintock (1988) The Cost of Non-Europe for Business Services. CEC. Luxembourg. P. 19.
See also A. Knight and D. Silk (1990) Managing Information. McGraw Hill. London.
CEC (1991) Panorama of EC Industries, 1991–1992. CEC. Luxembourg, pp. 16–29.
Pierre Audoin Conseil, Namos Ricerca and Richard Holway (1992) Software and Computing Services Industry in Europe: Volume 1 Markets and Strategies 1992–1996. PAC/NR/Richard Holway. Paris/London/Milan.
M. A. Cusumano (1991) Japan’s Software Factories: A Challenge to US Management. Oxford University Press. New York. See also The Economist (1993) Japan’s software wars. 25 September 1994.
Andersen Consulting (1992) Trends in Information Technology. Sunday Times/McGraw Hill. London.
M. R. Irwin and M. Merenda (1987) The network as corporate strategy Transnational Data and Communications Report 10, 17–20.
Yankee Group Europe (1991) ‘Outsourcing in Europe’, The Yankee Group Europe, Watford, 11.3, pp. 1–14.
See also J. Howells (1989b) Externalisation and the formation of new industrial operations Area 21, 289–299.
J. Hagedoorn and J. Schakenraad (1991) ‘The Role of Inter-Firm Cooperation Agreements in the Globalisation of Economy and Technology’, Fast Occasional Paper 280, DGXII, CEC. Brussels, p. 95.
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© 1996 Christopher J. S. Gentle
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Gentle, C.J.S. (1996). European Computer Services. In: After Liberalisation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24843-8_4
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