Competing in the Knowledge Economy

The development of modern knowledge economies reflects a move from an economy based on land, labour and capital to one which the main component of production is information and knowledge. The most effective economies are those with the largest production of information and knowledge and in which they are easily accessible to the greatest number of individuals and enterprises.

To succeed in today's knowledge economy, organisations should tranform themselves into network-centric organisations in which space and time are not bound by four walls and the traditional nine-to-five schedule. These organisations are more flexible, more efficient, more productive in terms of both labour and capital, and more adept at both using knowledge, and producing knowledge and services as outcomes.

Network-centric organisations represent the decentralisation of power and authority in companies, and the creation of networks of information which enable localised decision-making and responses. These responses are adaptive responses to an unpredictable and rapidly changing external environment.

Those organisations that learn how to operate in the knowledge economy will gain significant competitive advantage over their peers. These organisations will be flexible and agile, adapting to an environment where the basis of business competition shifts from cost and value to imagination. Success in such an environment is determined by the speed at which new creative ideas are generated, synthesised and then implemented with entrepreneurial zeal and dynamism.

Competing based on these principles in the knowledge economy demands the development and deployment of some key social software technologies...the subject of my next blog.