Knowledge Economy: Definition & Concept

Have you ever heard of the knowledge economy? It has brought, and will continue to bring,
changes to the way we work and live and how businesses operate. A short quiz follows the
lesson.

Definition of Knowledge Economy

A knowledge economy is an economy in which the production of goods and services is based
primarily upon knowledge-intensive activities. In knowledge economy, a large portion of
economic growth and employment is a result of knowledge-intensive activities. A knowledge-
intensive activity involves the collection, analysis, and synthesis of information.

Success in a knowledge economy requires a commitment of both workers and firms to

continually learn and to increase their skills and expertise, which will foster innovation.
Examples of knowledge-based organizations include education institutions; media; professional
firms providing information-based services like medicine, accounting, finance, engineering, and
law; and scientific and technological research companies.

The increasing growth of the knowledge economy is part of a larger shift away from production
of tangible goods in developed countries towards intangible or informational goods as well as
services. An example of an informational good is the app on your smart phone or new video
game for your gaming console.

Disadvantages of Knowledge Economy

Our evolving knowledge economy is not without its problems. The knowledge economy
presents issues regarding employment, job security and wage inequality. There is arguably a
significant mismatch between the skills of a large number of workers in the United States and
the skills required for success in a knowledge economy. These differences in skills contribute to
the growing wage inequality in the U.S. job market, since demand for low-skilled labor is much
less in comparison with demand for high-skilled workers.

Low demand equates to stagnate or decreasing wages, while high demand will lead to
increasing wages as employers compete for the short supply of skilled workers. Since a
knowledge economy requires firms and employees to continually learn and update skills,
failure to do so may risk job security and firm survival. Increases in technology and innovation
may continue to increase productivity, requiring fewer workers, leading to lower employment.

The Argument for Government Incentives

Some have argued for an active government policy to invest in the knowledge economy. This
can be accomplished through tax incentives and subsidies for emerging knowledge-based
industries. For example, the alternative energy industry is a knowledge-based industry because
it requires a great deal of scientific research and development undertaken by a scientific,
engineering and technical workforce. Start-up expenses can be very high and the investment
risk may dissuade traditional investors. Government subsidies through grants or tax breaks
may help with the start-up costs and reduce some of the risks, which may induce more private
investment.

Additionally, investment in the development of worker skills through education and training is
important for creation of knowledge workers. Knowledge workers are essential for further
development of the knowledge economy, either through contributing to the expansion or
development of new markets. An example of an expansion of an existing market would be
development of smart phones in the telecommunications industry and computer tablets in the
personal computing market. An example of new markets include Facebook and Twitter, both of
which are part of the new industry of social media. These industries require employees with
skills sets that are common with properly educated and trained knowledge workers, including
knowledge of math, science, and engineering as well as proficient use of information
technologies such as databases, computer networking, graphic design and computer
programming.

Lesson Summary
A knowledge economy is based upon the creation of goods and services that require
knowledge-intensive activities, such as collection, analysis, and synthesis of information.
Common examples of a knowledge-intensive activity, which involves the collection, analysis,
and synthesis of information, include health, financial and legal services and development of
intangible and information goods such as news, music, entertainment and software
applications.

Firms and workers in a knowledge economy must constantly learn and develop their skills and
expertise. A growing knowledge economy does present problems regarding employment, job
security and wage inequality. Some argue for government policies to advance the knowledge
economy, such as subsidies and tax incentives for firms, and education and training programs
for workers.
 What is Knowledge Management? - Definition, Process & Examples

Knowledge is an important asset to any company, and what a company does with this
knowledge can be a critical component in their success. In this lesson, we'll learn all about
knowledge management and the process it entails.

Knowledge Management Introduced

Meet Haley! Haley works for a company that specializes in selling toys. With the Christmas
holiday right around the corner, Haley realizes that her company is about to get really busy. The
company will be inventing, designing, and producing brand new toys to introduce this year.
While this is a fun time of year, Haley has always realized that getting important information to
all of the employees, such as new ideas for toys, the progress of toys already in the making,
inventory numbers, and sales numbers, has always been a struggle.

Sometimes information does not get to the right employee, and sometimes, employees are left
confused about what is happening in the company. After researching the problem, Haley came
across the concept of knowledge management, which she realized would be perfect in helping
her company gather and distribute information across the company.

Knowledge Management Defined

So what is meant by the term, knowledge management? Well, knowledge management is the
concept of finding, gathering, assessing, organizing, and sharing information or knowledge. The
information and knowledge consists of documents, procedures, resources, and worker skills.
Knowledge management is a useful tool to help companies gather and organize important
information so that tasks and projects can be completed efficiently. It is also a helpful tool in
helping to find the individuals that have the desired skills necessary to complete those tasks
and projects. So, knowledge management is essentially a map that outlines the flow of
information so that a company can successfully fulfill their duties, tasks, and projects.

Knowledge Management Process

Now that we know that knowledge management is a map of how information moves through a
company, let's take a look at what happens during each of the four steps of the knowledge
management process:

Step 1: Gather and generate

Information comes from a variety of places. Sometimes it comes from researching or gathering
from outside sources, and other times it is actually generated within the company itself.
Whatever the source, it is important for a company to be able to obtain this information in
order to help them with future endeavors or to solve problems. For example, many of the toys
that Haley's company sells, get rated by customers. By gathering that information, the company
is able to see what customers like and do not like, so that they can develop new toys that
address the desires of the customers.

Step 2: Classify
Once a company has gathered information, it needs to be classified. Classifying is the process
of organizing information in a manner which is useful. Information can be filtered, cataloged,
and even linked to other pieces of information. For example, once the reviews are in, Haley's
company can break them down into useful categories. Perhaps she can create one file that
contains reviews for gaming toys, another for dolls, and another one for blocks. By classifying
the toys, the company will be able to access the information in a more efficient manner. They
will be able to find it more quickly and keep their reviews nicely organized.

Step 3: Analyze
Once the information is gathered and classified, a company can then analyze it. This is the step
where a company assesses the value of the information. A company can collaborate on the
information and use it to make projections. Basically, this step helps a company understand
what to do with the information, why it is important, and who within the company can benefit
from knowing the information. So, if we take Haley again, we can analyze the toy reviews.
Perhaps, the reviews on the dolls help her company realize that customers prefer a doll that
talks. Knowing this information can help Haley's company realize to whom they need to pass
that information along, so that new dolls that talk can be created. This is important for her
company because creating dolls that customers want, help create repeat customers, more
sales, and aid in the future success of the company.

Step 4: Share
This is the step when the information is transferred or shared through the company. It is a way
to get the information to those who would benefit the most from it. For example, Haley's
company has already realized that customers want dolls that talk. So, in order to make use of
that important information, the company needs to fulfill the final step in knowledge
management and actually pass the information along to the part of the company that will
benefit the most from it - the design department. Knowing that customers want dolls that talk,
the design department can then get started making new dolls that possess that quality.

Lesson Summary
Knowledge management is the process of finding, gathering, assessing, organizing, and
sharing information or knowledge, such as documents, procedures, resources, and worker
skills. The four major steps in the process of knowledge management are gathering, classifying,
analyzing, and sharing the information.
 Knowledge Management: Capture, Store & Share Information with KM

Knowledge management (KM) makes it possible to capture, store, share and utilize the
knowledge and experience of an organization to improve processes and decisions. Discover the
differences between data, information, and knowledge; learn about the different types of
knowledge, including tacit and explicit; and check the different processes of KM, including
capturing, storing, and sharing information, and the software tools designed to help with those
tasks.

Data, Information and Knowledge

Let's say you are running a consulting company, and your business consists of a number of
projects for clients, each with a particular budget. Most of the budget for each project is for
your employees' salaries. Staying within the allocated budget is critical since clients don't like to
hear the project is going to cost them more than you previously estimated. You're going to
collect some data in order to better serve your clients for future projects. As you go about doing
this, it is useful to distinguish between data, information and knowledge.

Data consist of basic facts or values. Examples of data are the number of employees in an
organization, how many hours they worked each week and their hourly wage.

Information is a collection of facts organized so they have additional value. Information

provides the context of the data and helps you answer questions. For example, the data on
employees and their earnings could be organized so that they show how much time each
employee spent on each project. This makes it possible to see which projects are still under
budget and which ones are not.

Knowledge represents the awareness and understanding of information and the ways the
information can be made useful to support a task or make a decision. For example, you could
use the information on the time spent by each employee on particular projects to revise
budgets for future projects of a similar nature. Understanding how to best budget for projects
is an example of knowledge.

So you collect data, you turn this into information, and over time, this allows you to develop
knowledge.

Knowledge Management
Now let's say your consulting company is a major international firm with around 3,000 projects
every year. That is way too many projects for you to take a close look at individually. However,
you have about a dozen senior project managers in your firm, and, collectively, they have a lot
of experience in managing project budgets.

Several of these managers are going to be retiring soon, and you want to try to capture their
experience in some way for the benefit of the rest of the organization. What you need for this is
a knowledge management system. A knowledge management system, or KMS, is an
organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases and devices to create, store,
share and utilize the knowledge and experience of an organization.

Knowledge management can involve various types of knowledge. Explicit knowledge is

objective and can be measured and documented. For example, by analyzing the original
budgets and actual expenditures of a variety of projects, it is possible to identify which types of
projects are more likely to go over budget.

Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is not so easy to measure and is more difficult to formalize.
For example, let's say that the earlier analysis shows that many international projects go over
budget relative to similar projects without an international component. This explicit knowledge
does not tell you why this happened and how it can be avoided.

Project managers can probably tell you from their own experience that factors such as currency
exchange rates, language barriers and communication challenges played a role. This represents
the tacit knowledge of the organization. One of the challenges of knowledge management is to
try to formalize tacit knowledge. In other words, making tacit knowledge explicit.

Capture, Store and Share Knowledge

Capturing, storing and sharing knowledge is critical to any KMS. This starts with identifying
where the organization's knowledge is located. This procedure is sometimes referred to as a
knowledge map.

Creating a knowledge map typically involves documenting the workflows and decision-making
processes to identify key knowledge workers in the organization. Simply put, knowledge
workers are people who create, use and disseminate knowledge. This typically includes
scientists, engineers, writers, educators, designers and other professionals.

Knowledge workers are often part of a professional organization. However, knowledge can also
reside elsewhere in the organization. For example, experienced managers often have a wealth
of knowledge even if they don't fall in the typical categories of a knowledge worker.

Once the location of the knowledge has been identified in the form of specific individuals or
groups, it needs to be captured. Capturing knowledge includes collecting all the relevant
documents and organizing them in a meaningful manner. However, many aspects of
knowledge are not recorded in formal documents. Capturing knowledge may, therefore, also
require more proactive methods, such as conducting interviews with selected individuals or
groups.

Knowledge is typically stored in the form of a knowledge repository, which includes documents,
reports and databases. Specialized software tools are available to organize this material in an
effective and usable manner.

Sharing knowledge can take place in several forms. Typically, more formal knowledge is written
down in terms of policies, procedures or guidelines. These documents may get revised over
time as employees use them and see opportunities for improvements. Knowledge can be
shared person-to-person during presentations or meetings. Knowledge can also be shared
electronically using collaborative software, meeting software and other collaboration tools.
One commonly employed approach in sharing knowledge is the use of communities of practice.
These consist of groups of people dedicated to a common discipline or practice. Individuals can
share and exchange ideas outside the more formal structures of the organization. For example,
in a large organization, there might be a number of design professionals spread out over
different departments. Perhaps there is a graphic designer in the marketing department, a
website designer in the information technology department and a video editor in the public
relations department.

These design professionals might get together and share information, perhaps during a weekly
lunch meeting. Such a community of practice contributes to knowledge management in the
organization. A new graphic designer who joins the groups can quickly learn from the more
experienced professionals in the organization.

Let's return to the example of your consulting firm with international projects going over
budget. One approach to knowledge management could be to set up a working group of senior
project managers. During a series of facilitated meetings, they can discuss some of the specific
reasons why certain projects went over budget and how this might have been avoided. The
group can develop a consensus document with recommendations for how to develop budgets
for international projects and measures to be put in place to control budgets. This captures the
experience of some of the senior staff, making it available to others in the firm.

Software
Specialized software has been developed to assist in the capture, storage and sharing of
knowledge within an organization. Since the nature of knowledge can vary greatly from one
type of organization to the next, there is no single approach that defines knowledge
management software. Most use a combination of approaches, which can include:

• Tagging - documents are tagged with keywords so that the collection of documents
becomes searchable
• Graphical representation - knowledge is represented as information flows and linkages
between sets of documents
• Taxonomies - content is organized by key topics that logically relate to each other
• Content management system - content is created in an electronic repository that can be
viewed and edited by multiple users

Companies such as Microsoft and IBM have developed knowledge management software.

Lesson Summary
A knowledge management system, or KMS, is an organized collection of people, procedures,
software, databases and devices to create, store, share and utilize the knowledge and
experience of an organization. Knowledge management involves both explicit and tacit
knowledge. Capturing, storing and sharing knowledge is critical to any KMS. Knowledge is
typically stored in the form of a knowledge repository, which includes documents, reports and
databases. Specialized software tools are available to organize this material in an effective and
usable manner.

Learning Outcomes
Studying this video lesson might result in your ability to:

• Remember what a knowledge management system (KMS) is and assess its purpose
• Provide details about the types of explicit and tacit knowledge that a KMS seeks to
capture
• Name some typical approaches that define knowledge management software
 Knowledge Management: Best Practices & Tools

Knowledge management helps organize, store, and share information across an organization.
In this lesson, we discuss the tools that are used in an efficient knowledge management system.

Knowledge Management
The Thumbs Up advertising company has many departments, including marketing, advertising,
social media, graphic design, and customer service. In order to be able to communicate
efficiently in their big office, they use a knowledge management database system. This system
allows for all employees to view information, and management has the ability to go back and
see which workers performed a specific task. The company is able to pass along information
and view when work materials are complete and ready to be printed or go to the consumer.

A company uses knowledge management to improve innovations by organizing, storing, and

sharing information in a transparent manner. Knowledge management usually incorporates
the use of technology to store information. Databases are created with all of the company
documents so the employees can access them. That way, members can share information
effortlessly and access the information on the knowledge management system whenever they
want.

Knowledge management is particularly useful when an organization has many different

departments, like Thumbs Up, because it allows each department to view the information and
work on a project if needed. Most organizations use knowledge management these days
because it is useful to the whole organization.

Knowledge Management Tools

There are some essential tools that are used in a knowledge management system.

A content management system (CMS) helps users create, manage, and distribute content on
the intranet and extranet and on websites. A CMS can make it easy for multiple users to edit
content and allows for multiple employees to work on content. For instance, if a company is
working on an article, the graphic design team can work on the picture for the article while the
marketing team is writing the article. Using a CMS helps a company save time and allows a
company to complete jobs quicker and run operations more efficiently.

Of course, a CMS may require some training to implement, but it should eventually be easy to
use for all employees. Also, it will be shared throughout the organization, so care should be
taken that it is able to handle multiple computers.

Another tool used for knowledge management is groupware. Groupware is used in an

organization for communication purposes, conferencing, and for collaborative management.
Groupware allows a company to send files, use video conferencing to have meetings with
employees that may be traveling, and manage project management systems and other group
activities. Groupware allows knowledge to be shared among employees, even while they are
traveling on business.
A document management system is another important part of knowledge management.
A document management system can help a company index, save, publish, and retrieve
documents. When using a document management system, the company has the opportunity to
scan all documents and put them into the system for all to view.

For example, George works at an admissions office as an admissions counselor. He regularly

scans in all information pertinent to a prospective college student into the school's document
management system, including applications, student essays, and student SAT scores. Once he
does this, he and anyone else who needs to make a decision on the student's acceptance can
view all the documents on the computer.

Security features and administration features may be put in place on a document management
system if some information should not be shared with all employees. For instance, George
placed a security feature into his system so student workers cannot see all the information
about their fellow students. However, all of the information is still indexed in the system, so all
admissions counselors can still easily find the information.

All of these tools put together help create an efficient knowledge management system. There
are various tools available for companies, but it is essential to choose the best ones for your
company.

Lesson Summary
Knowledge management can be used by a company to organize, store, and share information
for members to access at any time. There are some essential tools that are used for knowledge
management such as content management systems, groupware, and document
management systems. All of the tools work together in a knowledge management system to
help improve efficiency.
 Knowledge Management: Theory & Strategies

This lesson offers an overview of knowledge, knowledge management (KM) and the theories
and strategies an organization can adopt to organize information. After, take the quiz to check
on your new knowledge.

What Is Knowledge?
Before we explore knowledge management theories and strategies, let's start with an overview
of the meaning of knowledge. Knowledge comes in three forms: explicit, implicit and tacit.

Explicit is information in tangible forms, such as books, newspapers or scholarly

articles. Implicit is information that does not originate in a tangible form but can be transferred
into tangible form; for example, a dictation of a doctor's notes on a video recorder, or a
verbatim copy of an observation or account of an experience captured in a news article or
documentary. Tacit is information that is hard to capture in a tangible form; for example, a
person's perception of an experience or someone's feelings after an earthquake may be
difficult to express adequately in words.

Information about an organization does not come from what is captured in a news story or
written in a history book. However, it can originate from implicit and tacit knowledge sources
like employees, previous and current leaders, and customers.

What Is Knowledge Management?

Knowledge management is a series of steps that include identifying, collecting, storing, and
sharing explicit, implicit, and tacit information to individuals throughout an organization. An
example of a tool used in knowledge management is a corporation's intranet website. The
intranet is an internal site with stored information about virtually anything related to the
organization. The intranet can include a blog spot, new articles, videos, and corporate
announcements. The tool is the intranet itself. However, the process of compiling, storing, and
making the information available to company employees is knowledge management.

Knowledge Management Theories

In the early 1990s, knowledge management emerged as a formal scientific discipline supported
by scholars in academia, practitioners in corporate environments, and consultants. There are
several methods and applications of knowledge management, and each approach varies by the
scholar, author, or practitioner. The central knowledge management theories are categorized
as organizational, ecological, and techno-centric.

Organizational KM theory primarily focuses on organizational structures and how an

organization is designed culturally and hierarchically to manage knowledge and knowledge
processes. Ecological KM theory focuses on people, relationships, and learning communities,
including interactions among individuals and organizations and the internal and external
factors that draw people together to share knowledge. Techno-centric theory focuses on
technology and the process of designing technology enablers to help facilitate the flow of
knowledge and the storage of information. Regardless of which theory of practice is deployed,
knowledge management includes the impacts of people, process, and technology on
knowledge sharing.

Knowledge Management Strategies

Knowledge management strategies represent an organization's choices for investing in specific
methods to drive change. The change many organizations seek is increased revenue and profits
and retention of highly talented employees. There are many knowledge management strategies
a company can select to facilitate the efficient flow of knowledge and foster a culture of
knowledge sharing. Some of these strategies are:

Lessons Learned Databases

A lessons learned database is a storage place used to capture knowledge that has been
obtained from employees that would not usually be in an explicit or written form. Much of this
information originates from observations, personal or professional experiences, perceptions
and feelings about a process or operation.

After Action Reviews

After action reviews are sessions that include team members, a facilitator, and a scribe. The
purpose of the review session is to capture the verbal information and experiences of team
members after they have completed a task or project with a definite end. After the project is
complete, the team gathers in a room or by conference call to review and analyze successes
and opportunities for improvements. The intent is not to provide immediate solutions from the
feedback received, but rather to assess and analyze the information and brainstorm solutions
at a later date.

Storytelling
More commonly known as interviewing or job shadowing, storytelling is the process by which a
person or team of people attempt to gather tacit knowledge (information not in written form)
and transfer that knowledge into explicit knowledge (written form).

Cross-Project Learning
Cross-project learning is a strategy many consultants and project managers use to transfer
knowledge gained from one project to another project. Many projects within an organization
align with other projects and are interrelated. By sharing lessons learned and information
gathered from after action reviews with other project teams, the new project team does not
need to start with a clean slate in an attempt to learn the information gathered from the
previous project.

Knowledge Mapping
Knowledge mapping is typically a map or guide used by all employees within a company to
direct them to areas where there are pockets of information. An example of a tool used in
knowledge mapping is a SharePoint website that can store large amounts of information and
documents in one place audible to all employees.

Lesson Summary
Knowledge management is a methodology that is incorporated throughout an entire
organization. Information exists in the minds of employees, organizational charts, Internet and
intranet websites, and in other forms. Knowledge can exist in an explicit, implicit and
tacit form (written, verbal or conceptual). The process by which information is compiled,
retrieved, shared, and gathered is called knowledge management. Various scholars and
practitioners have adopted theories of which type of strategy is most useful. Leaders of
organizations create knowledge management strategies to seek transparency within an
organization and facilitate the flow of communication between all employees across the entire
company.
 Communication Skills Needed in a Knowledge Economy

Communication skills in today's work environment are a combination of advanced

technologies, the introduction of a knowledge economy and worker understanding of a global
village.

Advancing Technologies
Tim Technology is a recent college graduate who has begun a job search for a marketing
position. He is extremely arrogant and believes that his education and training will easily secure
him a great job. Tim believes it will be very easy to find a job since he spends all his free time on
social media sites and texting. He thinks he will outshine even a manager with his technology
skill set.

Tim's first interview was with a human resource manager of a large multinational company who
asked Tim some basic questions during a preliminary meeting. Interviewer Hernandez asked
Tim what he could offer the company in terms of his knowledge of advanced technologies.
Tim quickly explained that he's spent hours on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and could text
faster than any person alive.

Hernandez told Tim that he would not be moving ahead to the main interview. Tim was
shocked! He asked Hernandez why he failed the interview. Hernandez explained that the
company needed a college graduate that was trained in advanced technologies, such as
software coding, website design, online e-commerce, maintaining electronic calendars,
coordinating cyber-meetings via video sites and desktop publishing to make brochures and
flyers.

Tim was so caught off guard that he quickly left the meeting. Tim did not realize that he just had
a basic knowledge of the communication skills that were needed in today's work environment.
He signed up for online classes to learn Microsoft Office products, basic website development
and desktop publishing. He hoped that he would be more prepared as he continued to
interview. He next visited his old college advisor for some advice on his job search.

Knowledge Economy
Dr. Davis was Tim's college advisor and very helpful to all college graduates. Dr. Davis explained
that Tim's job search was very different from many other graduates in the last ten years.
Companies now had to participate in a knowledge economy in which success was determined
not just by production, but instead by intellectual capital and technology development. He
mentioned Apple smartphones, Samsung and Microsoft as some examples.

Tim also had to be prepared to understand the four tenets of a knowledge

economy. Education and training is the first pillar as workers must understand that they will
constantly need continuing education and training to remain competitive in the workplace. Dr.
Davis gave praise to Tim for taking his classes in website design in order to make himself more
attractive to employers.
The second pillar is information infrastructure, where companies must have the best
technology framework, such as high-speed computers, Internet, etc. in order to disseminate
information quickly. Dr. Davis suggested that Tim invest money in upgrading his home
computer and cell phone so that he will be able to communicate quickly in any job he takes.

The third pillar is economic incentive and deals with how governments encourage the free
flow of information and entrepreneurship. Tim needs to understand that companies are
demanding highly trained workers to stay competitive.

The last pillar is innovation systems, which deals with a knowledge economy being supported
by venture capitalists, think tanks and research centers. Tim was very happy that he met with
his old advisor as now he felt like he had a better understanding of the workplace dynamics.
Tim's last stop was for a quick lunch with his friend Steve who had secured a new job already.

Global/Cultural Diversity
Tim was happy to be able to grab lunch with his friend Steve. He also was looking forward to
hearing about his new job. Steve was hired by a consumer packaged cookie company called
YumCakes. They made world-famous sandwich and sugar cookies. Tim thought Steve would be
spending his days in the office pushing papers.

Steve quickly explained that his company is part of the global village, where businesses from
all over the world are easily connected by technology such as videoconferencing, emails and
the Internet. Steve explained to Tim that even though he works in the United States, his
knowledge of Spanish allows him to communicate daily via videoconferencing with their
Mexican headquarters. He felt that he had a big future at YumCakes due to his multi-language
background and understanding of many different cultures. He had traveled and studied
overseas and was valued to be a cross-cultural employee.

Lesson Summary
Tim realized that his education was just a building block for his career. He needed to
understand advancing technologies, such as software coding, website design, online e-
commerce, maintaining electronic calendars, coordinating cyber-meetings via video sites and
desktop publishing to make brochures and flyers.

He also had to realize that this new world was based on a knowledge economy in which
success was determined not just by production, but instead by intellectual capital and
technology development. Lastly, Tim promised himself he would become more valuable to
companies by learning a second language so that he could participate in the global
village where companies from all over the world are easily connected by technology, such as
videoconferencing, emails and the Internet. Tim's arrogance has been quickly tempered by the
new reality of technology's importance in global commerce.

Learning Outcomes
After you've completed this lesson, you'll be able to:
• Describe types of advancing technologies and their importance in the workplace
• Explain what a knowledge economy is and its four tenets
• Summarize how a global village of companies relies on advancing technologies