Global Management of Knowledge Systems

What is presented here is a multidimensional view of how a nation might manage its knowledge resources to take an advantageous position in the global knowledge economy. In order to work within the above operational structure, policy-makers need to be aware of the differences between knowledge and information; and the differences between the economic dynamics of knowledge and those of goods in the tangible economy. In particular, we need to be aware of how those differences suggest that more open, collaborative, and trustworthy types of behavior are needed to exploit knowledge. What also needs recognition is that the diffusion of knowledge is the communication of meaning, and that because of the links between meaning, knowledge, and context, that knowledge is problematic, and, indeed, enigmatic. These conditions make knowledge risky and necessitates that some level of risk management be associated with knowledge policies. The operational framework for knowledge management presented here provides a template for focusing these behavioral characteristics across a nation’s external, internal, and individual knowledge structures. We can view these structures and behaviors as the intellectual infrastructure of a nation.