Knowledge Economy

Knowledge economy according to Drucker, P , "is a term that refers either to an economy of knowledge focused on the production and management of knowledge in the frame of economic constraints, or to a knowledge-based economy."The result of knowledge technologies is economic and leads to job creation.
It is further argued that in the knowledge economy, expertise and know-how are both critical and that in the Knowledge economy; knowledge is the product and in the knowledge-based; economy Knowledge is the tool. These are both described as interdisciplinary based on a concept that knowledge and education (human capital) can be treated either as a business product or a productive asset. This concept is further defined in the Wikipedia article as:

" The concept that supports creation of knowledge by organizational employees and helps and encourages them to transfer and better utilize their knowledge that is in line with company/organization goals "

This is a feature that I think most successful companies have adopted and motivate their employees through different kinds of incentives such as good salary packages,holiday offers etc.to achieve goals set by the companies. In some cases organizations approach the public requesting them for useful information-knowledge that would lead to better production which results in a company achieving their goals.

The driving force in a knowledge economy is mainly globalization and information technology. According to Houghton & Sheehan,p.2(2000) "the increase in knowledge intensity has been driven by sharp falls in the cost of computing and communications per unit of performance and by rapid development of applications relevant to the needs of the users." I totally agree with these statement in that my education to date resembles the 'modern way of doing things', based around the skills required for the 21st century though not advanced. The availability of electronic gadgets such as computers,mobile phones for example has made knowledge accessible to all- both to the 'contributor' and 'receivers'. Globalization has led to deregulation allowing the consumer to shop anywhere in the world just by a 'click of the mouse'. The accessibility and availability means there is no stopping the information age that is rapidly becoming a knowledge economy.

References.

Knowledge Economy;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_economy

A Primer on the Knowledge Economy, Houghton & Sheehan, Victoria University, 2000.