مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Today, knowledge assets play an important role in enhancing competitiveness and achieving growth for companies all over the world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has shown great interest in the knowledge-based economy since early on, and has discovered that the development gap between developed countries and developing countries can be attributed to Information and Communications Technology (ICT), R&D innovation which promotes ICT, and the presence or absence of a labor force that is skilled in working with ICT. The OECD has been taking the lead in sharing the development experiences and success stories of developed countries with developing countries. Companies in OECD countries have already invested as much in Knowledge-Based Capital (KBC) such as software, database, R&D, design, marketing, as in physical capital such as machinery, equipment, and buildings. In recent years, emerging developing countries, similarly to developed countries, are increasingly expanding their utilization of KBC (Martín-de Castro et al., 2013). For example, China is intensively investing in Intellectual Property (IP) and design sectors, and Thailand is also promoting IP capitalization projects (OECD, 2012). Knowledge assets have become an important barometer of competitiveness and growth for countries and companies alike (Conceição et al., 1998).

On the other hand, as Korea has until recently pursued manufacturing-based growth, its service industry has been given rather little weight compared to other OECD countries (OECD, 2009). In recent years, the potential growth rate in Korea has been falling due to a slump in investment and employment in the manufacturing sector. There has been rising interest in the role of knowledge service as a field that can provide a new engine for growth and job creation. Since the knowledge service industry leads to the creation of added value and a large number of jobs compared to the manufacturing industry, it is considered to be critical for the sustainable development of the Korean economy, which is going through a period of growth without new employment (Cooke and Leydesdorff, 2006). Against this backdrop, the Korean government, which recognizes the importance of the knowledge service industry, is striving to nurture and develop the knowledge service industry, but few analyses have been conducted on the current state of the industry, and sufficient policies have yet to be introduced.

This study aims to assess the competitiveness of the knowledge service industry in Korea through input-output analyses and comparative analyses on three countries – the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Japan, all of which are known to be advanced countries in the knowledge service industry sector – and to generate suggestions on policy for the purpose of sustainable growth in the knowledge service industry on this basis. The study did not use the endogenous models frequently used to analyze economic impact and attempted to more accurately estimate the economic impact of the knowledge service industry through exogenous models of the knowledge service industry subject to analyses. Exogenous models have the advantages of more accurately measuring the effects of output in specific sectors as well as the effects of the output on other industries instead of the total demand. In addition, previous studies on the economic impact of the knowledge service industry were mostly focused on analyses of the ripple effects on one country, but this study diagnoses the current state through an analytical comparison of the economic impact of the domestic knowledge service industry and the industrial structure in advanced countries, and suggests a direction for policy for the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of the knowledge service industry in the future.