Creating Wealth From Knowledge

This book illustrates that, although innovation has always mattered in economic development, simply increasing expenditure in creating knowledge may not be the answer: we need to look at the whole system through which such knowledge translates to value creation. The contributors explore the implications of the changing twenty-first century context of networked, global and increasingly open innovation a world in which knowledge flows become as important as knowledge creation. In so doing, they address four key questions: what is the context within which innovation occurs in the UK? How do new firms form on the basis of knowledge and its deployment? How do established firms access and use knowledge to improve their current activities and generate new directions? What technical and organizational infrastructures enable these activities? Drawing out lessons for future research, this book will be of great interest to academics concerned with science and innovation policy and its implementation. Managers and policy makers involved in innovation and technology strategy, and with developing responses to new challenges such as open innovation , will also find much to interest them within this book.

Lester Thurow addresses the critical issue of wealth creation.The result is an essential road map for navigating the new routes to success in a knowledge-based global economy.

This book is based on a study of 84 technological innovations that won Queen's Awards in 1966 and 1967. Nearly 40 of these are presented as well-documented but readable case histories. The topics range from new antibiotics to fast patrol boats, from an improved way of making bread to aircraft equipment, from new building materials and techniques to scientific instruments, from automatic gearboxes to guided missiles. Many points of interest are covered in the discussion. Is innovation more often 'pushed' by scientific or technological discoveries or more often 'pulled' by the needs of the market or of management? Is is true that outstanding individuals are necessary for success? Is it true that the time-lag between discovery and exploitations is shortening? Can one specify optimum sizes for research teams? What is the role of basic reseach? These are some of the issues raised in the course of a wide-ranging discussion of factors affecting technological innovation.

In Thomas A. Stewart’s bestselling first book, Intellectual Capital, he redefined the priorities of businesses around the world, demonstrating that the most important assets companies own today are often not tangible goods, equipment, financial capital, or market share, but the intangibles: patents, the knowledge of workers, and the information about customers and channels and past experience that a company has in its institutional memory. Now in his new book, The Wealth of Knowledge, Stewart--widely acknowledged as the world’s leading expert on working with intellectual capital in today’s knowledge economy--reveals how today’s companies are applying the concept of intellectual capital into day-to-day operations to dramatically increase their success in the marketplace. Arguing that companies can make untold millions of dollars by managing knowledge more effectively--and save millions more--Stewart offers executives and managers compelling accounts of how leading companies around the world are successfully tackling the practical issues involved in today’s knowledge economy. The heart of the book is a revolutionary 4-step preocess that shows how to put intellectual capital to work to improve performance and profitablity, as well as manage knowledge processes. He goes on to discuss how companies can better utilize their current assets and enhance their knowledge resources for the future. Questioning many of the assumptions that have ruled business in the twentieth century, he addresses such critical and fundamental issues as why companies exist, how they should be organized and how people should be compensated. With his customary fearlessness and foresight, he plunges into the thick of the controversial arena of measuring and accounting, as well-an increasingly difficult task when a corporation’s assets are intangible. The Wealth of Knowledge not only sets out the latest thinking in creating and managing knowledge assets, but provides a detailed course of action for corporations trying to navigate their way in the world of knowledge economy.

With advances in information technology people are being empowered to connect, collaborate, create wealth and self-order without bureaucracy or representative government. Infinite Wealth shows how the frantic change within organizations is part of a process of creating a new type of wealth creation enterprise enabled through the Internet. Infinite Wealth illuminates our environment, allowing us to clearly see the big picture and how the individual pieces of today's activity fit into a coherent new worldview, thus making sense of today's chaos. This revolutionary synthesis empowers you to understand what is occurring and to make effective personal choices regarding your work and life.

There is no doubt that we are in the middle of a transition to a knowledge-based economy. Breakthrough technologies in microelectronics, biotechnology, new materials, telecommunications, robotics, and computers are fundamentally changing the game of creating wealth. While these new industries are growing explosively, existing industries such as banking and retail are being transformed beyond recognition. As a result, a new global economy is emerging to replace existing national economies. What will it take for individuals, companies, and entire countries to succeed in the new economics of the twenty-first century? Rather than focusing on spending, Lester C. Thurow argues that we must emphasize investment in basic knowledge, education, and infrastructure. Only by committing ourselves to building communal wealth can we maximize opportunities for building personal wealth as well. Building Wealth is an indispensable guide to surviving -- and thriving -- in the economies of the twenty-first century.

Sveiby offers practical advice on how to manage knowledge companies - such as accounting firms, management consulting firms, advertising agencies and computer consultants - and their employees