The RESER conference has become the annual platform and meeting place for European researchers and policy makers working on services. RESER is an interdisciplinary European network of social scientists linked by a common interest in service industries and their territorial expression. The annual RESER research conference provides a unique opportunity for the exchange of ideas concerning the cutting edge of service research and is open to all researchers interested in these topics.

As in the past, we expect participation by the representatives of the European Commission and other policy makers. Businessmen and professional associations representing services sectors are also invited to attend.

This year the RESER conference will be a special event marked with the presentation of first awards for life-time achievements in the field of services research.

The key-note speakers of the conference are Professor William Baumol and Professor Jean Gadrey

Objective and main themes of the 2007 conference:

Service Competitiveness and Cohesion – Balancing Dynamics in the Knowledge Society

Services and service industries are becoming increasingly more important as private and public decision-makers search for new sources of growth and competitiveness. High expectations are set on a diverse collection of services to enhance efficiency, provide complementary competences, and open up new businesses thus potentially improving welfare and providing quality jobs that have been acknowledged also within the Lisbon strategy of the EU. Globally, services have recently become the most important sector for employment.

The heterogeneity of services means that there are considerable differences between service sub-sectors and even within a single industry or national economy in a range of factors including competitiveness, level of wages, productivity and growth rates, and patterns of geographical distribution and internationalization.

The internationalization of services and their production and consumption have been augmented by information and communication technologies, and have led to often rapid and unexpected changes in competitive positions. New technologies enable many service operations to overcome restrictions placed on their activities by the friction of distance and yet there are also indications and tendencies towards geographical agglomerations, often occurring in large metropolitan areas that are facilitated by developed infrastructure. On the one hand, the globalization of service production chains weakens national and regional cohesion while, on the other hand, providing new competitive advantages to firms that are able to operate on a multinational scale. This wider landscape with developing international (de-)regulation is setting new rules of competition as well as demanding new competences from firms. Policies at the regional and national level also have a role to play in fostering and/or balancing these dynamics.

One of the key tensions in the development of services and service sectors is between competitiveness and cohesion. This issue reflects differences between the European social model and economic strategies deployed in the US and to a lesser extent the UK. The development of a service economy can enhance social polarisation and reduce societal cohesion. In this context different forms of service and economic competitiveness need to be explored and juxtaposed with an analysis of social cohesion. Is the present development leading towards increasing gaps in productivity, innovativeness and wage levels and between service occupations, firms, industries and regions? Is it possible to develop national and regional policies that foster development but also ensure that socially undesirable disparities are balanced out? How can these kinds of tensions be governed at the European as well as international levels?

In the European context social cohesion in the knowledge society between social groups, occupations, industries and regions is considered desirable for two reasons. First, to avoid large gaps that are likely to emerge that could lead to high social costs. Second, cohesion is required to foster connectivity between different segments of society and to increase the number of interfaces that provide new platforms for learning and innovation.

The relationship between national/regional competitiveness and the wider process of social cohesion provides the overall conference theme. There are many different ways to address these complex issues. Since its establishment in 1987 the RESER research community has sought to identify and explore new service trends in a multidisciplinary context. At the moment, the first service-centred research programmes are developing in some countries and also within the EU FP7.

The RESER conference is interested in studies ranging from the micro to macro level. There is also interest in studies focusing on regional and local dynamics of service development as well as the internationalization of service provision and consumption and increasing service FDI and emerging global service production systems. Productivity and innovativeness in services can be explored at the level of the firm or at regional and national level. Therefore, papers that explore the following and related themes are welcomed:

Main theme 1: Service competitiveness, growth and globalization

• Constitution of service competitiveness
• Commodification and industrialization in service production
• Quality and customer-orientation in service competitiveness
• Technology-based service competitiveness
• Low cost strategy in services
• Service competitiveness in the manufacturing sector
• Services and creative industries
• Services as interplay between public and private sector
• Internationalization of services, global service production and consumption
• Firm-level and sector studies on service competitiveness and growth
• Studies on national and regional policies to foster service development

• Characteristics of service innovation
• Co-production of service innovations
• Services and innovation systems
• Productivity challenge in services
• Service engineering and "service science"
• Innovation and R&D policies fostering service development
• Industrial design and innovation*

• Cohesion and services: geographical, occupational and industrial disparities and polarization in services
• Firm-level studies on social polarization in services
• Sector studies on cohesion and the sustainability of services
• Regional studies on balancing service competitiveness and cohesion
• Analysis into high vs. low road strategies to service/knowledge economy
• Studies on policies to sustain cohesiveness among service and other industries

Papers on all other aspects of research on services are also welcome. Papers can be conceptual, empirical or methodological. We welcome studies from social, geographical, business, economic, policy and management sciences, and particularly interdisciplinary approaches. Doctoral studies are also welcome. A selection of papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in "Economies et Societes" serie "Economie et Gestion des Services" (EGS), and in "The Service Industries Journal" (SIJ).

Important deadlines:

• Submission of abstracts: 16th April 2007
• Notification to authors of acceptance: 15th May 2007
• Submission of final texts: 15th August 2007

Official languages: The official languages of the conference are English and French

Conference venue: Tampere Hall (http://www.tampere-talo.fi/english/)

The Scientific Committee:

William B. BEYERS, University of Washington, USA
Joël BONAMY, CNRS -GATE, Lyon, France
John BRYSON, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
José A. CAMACHO, University of Granada, Spain
Pedro COSTA, ISCTE, Lisbon, Portugal
Peter DANIELS, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Faiz GALLOUJ, University of Lille 1, France
Pim Den HERTOG, Dialogic, the Netherlands
Sven ILLERIS, University of Roskilde, Denmark
Mika KAUTONEN, University of Tampere, Finland
Jari KOLEHMAINEN, University of Tampere, Finland
Jari KUUSISTO, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland
Marjatta MAULA, Tampere University of Technology, Finland
Marie Christine MONNOYER, University of Toulouse 1, France
José L. NAVARRO, University of Granada, Spain
Mika RAUNIO, University of Tampere, Finland
Luis RUBALCABA, University of Alcala/Madrid, Spain
Grete RUSTEN, University of Bergen, Norway
Markus SCHEUER, RWI, Germany
Markku SOTARAUTA, University of Tampere, Finland
Metka STARE, Faculty of Social Sciences, Slovenia
Marja TOIVONEN, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Anne TUHKUNEN, University of Tampere, Finland