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Knowledge Economy: The Indian Challenge A timely study of one of the key raw materials, or inputs, of modern economies —knowledge, this book is a compilation of 27 papers written by leading academicians and practitioners. It has been edited by Ashok Chandra, scientist, educationist and administrator and M. K. Khanijo, management consultant and academician.
"Effective organisational knowledge creation best occurs through the spiral process where knowledge is converted from tacit to explicit in a continuous and dynamic cycle. It is when tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge interact that innovation occurs. Knowledge creation is facilitated by deliberately managing the cycle." Further, the authors state, "knowledge societies have the characteristic that knowledge constitutes a major input of any activity, particularly economic activities", and "knowledge in a knowledgeable society, becomes a major product as also a significant raw material". The title of this book lays out very clearly that the authors are setting out to examine knowledge in relation to its impact on the economy, and specifically on the Indian economy. This approach is indicative of the razor sharp focus that has been deployed throughout the book. The editors maintain tight control over the subject matter and have divided the book into six parts, each of which studies a different facet of the knowledge economy. After being introduced to the concept of knowledge in the Overview, we are led into an examination of the change from an industrial to a knowledge economy, and the management of knowledge. In this part, the chapter on the "Structure and Behaviour of IT firms in India" is particularly insightful. The author correctly stresses that Indian IT firms do "not seem to be using much of in-house R&D for achieving further technological sophistication that is so essential for their sustainability in the long run." The focus is on the formulation of policy initiatives and developing strategies for change management. India’s transition to a knowledge economy, with variations across states is discussed in Part 2, and different regions are compared. Human resource development for the knowledge economy is dealt with in Part 3 and it focuses on identifying new knowledge streams. This part is more in the nature of a quick overview. The areas of technology, R&D, and innovation management for the emerging knowledge economy make up Part 4. A telling section here deals with the importance of innovation for a country like India. "Innovation is not merely technological innovation. It is about technology information, product information, process information`85 and so on. Innovation leads to creation of intellectual property", and "intellectual property is going to be the hallmark of competitiveness." The focus on creating a network of knowledge institutions and the key role played by international networking and partnering are also dealt with and in the last part of the book, the preceding areas of study are all drawn together and made to bear upon the challenge of applying knowledge management for the achievement of social objectives. This book is bound to attract students and academicians, as also curious reader who would like to understand how our economy tics and how it handles knowledge.
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Knowledge is "the
fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through
experience or association", according to a dictionary definition.
This is only a partial definition, but it will suffice here as it
contains the key phrase "condition of knowing something".
This condition of knowing something can be explicit (stated in detail,
formal and recordable), or tacit (implied, existing without being
stated).
