The Knowledge Economy [Paperback]

Dale Neef (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 1997 | Series: Knowledge Reader

What is this knowledge-based economy? Is it really new or unique? What are its effects, and what does it mean to us? In order to help answer those questions, this anthology has been compiled as a means of providing answers for anyone in business or the public policy-making fields who would like to know what academics and economists are talking about when they refer to the knowledge-based economy.

It is a collection of articles dealing with the most important developing themes in this area:
*The shift in employment from "brawn to brains" *The effect that "knowledge elitism" may have on public policy concerning education and training, wealth disparity and social exclusion *Organizational changes brought about by the new breed of "knowledge workers" functioning in the new high-performance workplace *Computing, telecommunications, globalization, and the interconnected economy

Using seminal articles from a variety of sources, this volume is intended to be a primer for introducing the reader to all aspects of the knowledge-based economy.

Dale Neef is a political economist and a knowledge management specialist with extensive academic and commercial experience in both North America and Europe. He earned his Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Cambridge, was a Research Fellow at Harvard University, and currently works with Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation researching issues surrounding knowledge management and the knowledge-based economy. He divides his time between writing, lecturing, and consultancy.

Part of the series Resources for the Knowledge-Based Economy
Introduces the reader to all aspects of the knowledge-based economy
Uses seminal articles from a variety of sources

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

It is a collection of articles dealing with the most important developing themes in this area:*The shift in employment from "brawn to brains" *The effect that "knowledge elitism" may have on public policy concerning education and training, wealth disparity and social exclusion *Organizational changes brought about by the new breed of "knowledge workers" functioning in the new high-performance workplace *Computing, telecommunications, globalization, and the interconnected economyUsing seminal articles from a variety of sources, this volume is intended to be a primer for introducing the reader to all aspects of the knowledge-based economy.Dale Neef is a political economist and a knowledge management specialist with extensive academic and commercial experience in both North America and Europe. He earned his Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Cambridge, was a Research Fellow at Harvard University, and currently works with Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation researching issues surrounding knowledge management and the knowledge-based economy. He divides his time between writing, lecturing, and consultancy.

About the Author

Dale Neef is an author and management consultant specializing in strategic corporate policy and knowledge management, and is currently researching the subject of corporate integrity as a Visiting Fellow at The Center for Global Change and Governance at Rutgers University. He has worked for IBM and CSC, and was a fellow at Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation, where he helped the firm to develop their knowledge management service line and wrote or edited several books on knowledge management and globalization. Over the past fifteen years he has worked with executives from more than forty companies on strategy development, corporate assessments, and strategic change initiatives. He earned his doctorate from Cambridge University, was a research fellow at Harvard, and along with radio commentary, speaker tours, and frequent contributions to journals, has written or edited numerous books on business, globalization and the changing economy, including: * E-Procurement: From Strategy to Implementation, (New York: Prentice Hall, May, 2001) - the Financial Times/Prentice Hall's 3rd best-selling business book in 2001; * A Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing: Understanding the Global, Knowledge-based Economy, (Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999); * The Economic Impact of Knowledge, Co-editor, (Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998); * The Knowledge-Based Economy, Editor, (Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997); * Enterprise Value in the Knowledge Economy: Measuring Performance in the Age of Intangibles, Co-editor, (OECD/Ernst & Young, 1997) These books have been recommended by the Harvard Business School and have been used as texts for courses at MIT, Birbeck/University of London, the University of Northern Texas, the University of Tennessee and George Mason University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann (December 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750699361
• ISBN-13: 978-0750699365
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,913,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent mix of articles on the new economy, July 5, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Fresno, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Knowledge Economy (Paperback)

This reader includes basics by Drucker and Reich regarding a world economy based on knowledge rather than tangible assets. Some readings point to how competitive advantage will be created. They raise questions about the ability of many countries to cope with the future without adequate higher education. The legal and social implications are profound, expecially if the divide widens between those that have and those that have not. Most articles are non-technical; only one requires a professional economic background. I have used it in an MBA class, and the students enjoyed it. (It seems British authors are included.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great articles make this book worth its while, January 28, 2002

By 

Dan E. Ross "Dan Ross" (Frisco, Tx USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Knowledge Economy (Paperback)

This book is a collection of articles by different authors dealing with the knowledge economy. I began reading this book hoping to find some answers to some of my thoughts on the changing economy and the first article by Mr. Drucker blew my mind away. I LOVED IT.

The book is separated into different sections:

1. The Changing Economic Landscape
2. Knowledge as the Economic Force of Growth and Change
3. Measuring and Managing the Intangibles of Knowledge
4. Learning Organizations in the Global Knowledge-Based
Economy
5. Society and Public Policy: Government, Education, and
Training in the Knowledge-Based Economy

Some authors included Robert Reich, Peter Drucker and Lester Thurow. I found another article by Stan Davis and Jim Botkin to be very interesting also.

I found that the first article in each section tended to be the most interesting within each section. I don't know if it was intentionally designed this way or not but, at the end of the day, I found at least 3 articles in this book or about 90-100 pages total that completely stimulated my mind.

I believe every educated person should take an economics course, more specifically one that teaches them the importance of their career path on the impact to the society in which they live in. We are moving into a world where economic distribution is becoming more skewed towards the knowledge worker and one where societies based on knowledge will increasingly generate greater wealth than other countries.

We are moving into a world where wealth creation is biased towards the creation of knowledge and how that knowledge is manipulated to create additional knowledge. Nations that continue to dominate their economic agenda based on natural resources and industrialization may do decent but they will continually fall behind the fastest growing countries. Why is it that the CRB has DECLINED over the past 20 years and not risen? After all, is demand for such products not greater than ever? Why is it then that such countries aren't the economic powerhouses? If you seek answers to such questions this should be an interesting read for you. Don't expect every article to excite you...But what few nuggets you find will truly enrich your knowledge.