Doroshenko M., Miles I., Vinogradov D. (2014) Knowledge Intensive Business Services: The Russian Experience. Foresight-Russia, vol. 8, no 4, pp. 24–39.

Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are seen to be a core sector of the so-called ‘knowledge economy’, and already play an important role in developed economies. The KIBS providers are both innovate themselves and provide their clients with knowledge and learning opportunities.
This paper examines the status of KIBS in Russia, and explores some key issues in their role in innovation using data from surveys of KIBS firms and their clients.

...

Conclusions
The evidence from this study on Russia confirms and extends the thesis advanced mainly from studies in Western European countries: that the KIBS sector possesses a high innovative potential. KIBS sectors can generate service innovation of two types: commoditization and personalization of services. In Russia, the KIBS sector’s share of innovative outputs is comparable with the most advanced industrial sectors. Importantly, KIBS also supports innovation among its users, and this support is a self-sustaining mechanism. The sector deserves more attention in statistical reporting and studies, and more consideration from policymakers and other potentially interested stakeholders, including management training schools and industry associations. KIBS can be significant sources of export earning and — according to our analyses — make a significant contribution to innovation in the economy as a whole.
Our study explores the issue of asymmetric perceptions of standardized / customized KIBS by providers and consumers, which partly explains the insufficient engagement in co-production by inexperienced customers. As if looking through an opaque glass, inexperienced clients see all services as essentially similar and do not see the benefits of co-production. A lack of co-production, due to customers’ failure to understand why it is needed, means that services are not always fully absorbed by the customers. They may be inadequately tuned to the needs of the customer, or customers may be under-equipped to absorb them; both problems can be addressed through meaningful co-production of KIBS. The results of our study support the idea that customers with prior experience in KIBS consumption better understand why they need KIBS and the benefits from co-production. This could be an issue to address in awareness-raising initiatives for KIBS firms as well as other organizations.

Cass and Cambrifgr have research groups  on Professional Services - here are Cass outputs: