Knowledge market

Last updated

A knowledge market is a mechanism for distributing knowledge resources. [1] There are two views on knowledge and how knowledge markets can function. [2] One view uses a legal construct of intellectual property to make knowledge a typical scarce resource, so the traditional commodity market mechanism can be applied directly to distribute it. [2] An alternative model is based on treating knowledge as a public good and hence encouraging free sharing of knowledge. [2] This is often referred to as attention economy. [2] Currently there is no consensus among researchers on relative merits of these two approaches. [2]

Contents

History

A knowledge economy include the concept of exchanging knowledge-based products and services. [1] However, as discussed by Stewart (1996) [3] knowledge is very different from physical products. For example, it can be in more than one place at one time, selling it does not diminish the supply, buyers only purchase it once, and once sold, it cannot be recalled. [3] Further, knowledge begets more knowledge in a never-ending cycle. [1] Understanding of knowledge markets is beginning to emerge. [1] As would be expected, they are very different in form from traditional markets. [1]

Knowledge markets have been variously described by Stewart (1996) [3] and Simard (2000) [4] as a mechanism for enabling, supporting, and facilitating the mobilization, sharing, or exchange of information and knowledge among providers and users. [5]

This transactional approach assumes that knowledge-based products or services are available for distribution, that someone wants to use them, and that the primary focus of the market is to connect the two. [5]

This perspective is appropriate when the market has limited or no interest or control over either the production or use of the content being exchanged, as is the case for most traditional markets. [6] A provider-user perspective is also appropriate for emerging social networking "ideagoras" (Tapscott and Williams, 2006), [6] in which the primary function of the market is to match existing solutions with problems and problems with those who can find solutions.

From a production perspective, processes for creating wealth through the use of intellectual capital are explained by Nonaka (1991) [7] [8] and Leonard (1998). [9] At the marketing end of the spectrum, a number of authors, including Bishop (1996), [10] May (2000), [11] and Tapscott et al. (2000) [12] describe the architecture and processes necessary to succeed in a digital economy.

Knowledge markets may also be sequential in nature. [13] Simard (2006) [4] describes a cyclic end-to-end knowledge-market model comprising nine stages that embed, advance, or extract value into knowledge products and services along a knowledge services value chain. The first five stages are internal to a knowledge organization (production and transfer) while the last four stages are external (intermediaries, clients, and citizens). [4] Because the value chain is cyclic, it can be used to model either a supply (post-production evaluation ) or a demand (pre-production evaluation) approach to knowledge markets. [4]

Knowledge services

Knowledge services is an emerging concept that integrates knowledge management, a knowledge organization, and knowledge markets. [1] Knowledge services are programs that provide content-based (data, information, knowledge) organizational outputs (e.g., advice, answers, facilitation), to meet external user wants or needs. [1] [5] Knowledge services are delivered through knowledge markets.

St. Clair and Reich (2002) describe internal knowledge services as a management approach that integrates information management, knowledge management, and strategic learning into an enterprise-wide function. [14] Kalakota and Robinson (2003) and Thomas (2005) developed service-oriented architectures for the private sector. [15] [16] Their focus was to transform traditional retail businesses by developing enterprise-wide platforms that support customer services. [15] [16] RocSearch (2006) takes a broader external view, referring to a nascent knowledge services industry that goes beyond traditional cost and time leveraging advantages of the traditional consulting sector.

Simard et al. (2007) developed a holistic systems model of knowledge services for government S&T organizations. [13] The model begins with generating new content and ends with sector outcomes and individual benefits. The model is independent of content, issues, or organizations. [13] It is designed at a departmental level, but is scalable both upwards and downwards. [13] The primary driver is a department’s legal mandate; a secondary driver is the needs of clients and residents. [13] The model can function from either a supply or demand approach to knowledge markets. There are two levels of resolution - performance measurement, and classifying service-related activities. [13]

There are four types of knowledge services: generate content, develop products, provide assistance, and share solutions. 24 Knowledge services are modeled as a circular value chain comprising nine stages that embed, advance, or extract value from knowledge-based products and services. [17] The stages are: generate, transform, manage, use internally, transfer, enhance, use professionally, use personally, and evaluate. [13] [17]

(Simard, 2007) described a rich to reach service delivery spectrum that is segmented into categories of recipients, with associated levels of distribution, interactions, content complexity, and channels. [13] The categories, from rich to reach, are: unique (once only), complex (science), technical (engineering), specialized (professional), simplified (popular), and mandatory (everyone). [13] [17]

From the perspective of knowledge markets, Mcgee and Prusak (1993) note that people barter for information, use it as an instrument of power, or trade it for information of greater value. [18] Davenport and Prusak (1998) used a knowledge marketplace analogy to describe the exchange of knowledge among individuals and groups. [19] However, Shapiro and Varian (1999) indicate that information markets will not resemble textbook competitive markets with many suppliers offering similar products but lacking the ability to influence prices. [20] Simard (2006) described knowledge markets as a group of related circular knowledge-service value chains that function collectively as a sector, to embed, advance, and extract value to yield sector outcomes and individual benefits. [4]

Examples

Fee-based knowledge markets commoditize knowledge by being based on traditional market mechanisms that work well for traditional goods. [1] The buyer posts a request, normally in the form of a question and sets a price for the valid answer. [1] Alternatively, the suppliers of knowledge (answerers) can post their bids to have the question answered. [1] [17]

Experts-Exchange is fee-based knowledge market which using a virtual currency where buyers can offer payment to have their questions answered. [21] Mahalo Answers, an extension of the search engine Mahalo.com, launched on December 15, 2008. The site also uses a virtual currency ("Mahalo Dollars"). [22]

Innocentive is a web-based open marketplace where firms post scientific problems and choose rewards. [23]

Sage Board is an active American company tackling the problem from a consumer perspective. The company vets experts through web sources, social media profiles, journals, and professional profiles. It connects consumers to the vetted experts who provide paid answers, audio, or video conferencing services. Sage [24] also provides an SEO software toolset that provides SEO analytics for digital content marketing for the experts.

Google Answers was another implementation of this idea. [25] This service allowed its users to offer bounties to expert researchers for answering their questions. [25] The Google site was closed in 2006. Two months later, fifty former Google Answers Researchers launched paid research/Q&A site Uclue. [25] Google also acquired Q&A website Vark.com, to shut it down a year later. [25]

Free knowledge markets use an alternative model treating knowledge as a public good. [1]

Quora, Stack Overflow (and the rest of the Stack Exchange network), Ask Metafilter, Yahoo! Answers, Windows Live QnA, Wikipedia's Reference Desk, 3form Free Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge iN, and several other websites currently use the free knowledge exchange model. [23] None of these offer more than an increase in reputation as payment for researchers. [23]

ChaCha.com and Answerly.com both offer subsidized knowledge markets where researchers are paid to generate answers despite the service remaining free to the question asker. Amazon.com's NowNow previously offered a subsidized knowledge market for questions asked through mobile phones and as an experimental feature in the company's ebook reader, the Amazon Kindle. The NowNow service was discontinued November 21, 2008 after an extended private beta period. [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network effect</span> Increasing value with increasing participation

In economics, a network effect is the phenomenon by which the value or utility a user derives from a good or service depends on the number of users of compatible products. Network effects are typically positive, resulting in a given user deriving more value from a product as more users join the same network. The adoption of a product by an additional user can be broken into two effects: an increase in the value to all other users and also the enhancement of other non-users' motivation for using the product.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marketing</span> Study and process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to customers

Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emphasize in advertising; operation of advertising campaigns; attendance at trade shows and public events; design of products and packaging attractive to buyers; defining the terms of sale, such as price, discounts, warranty, and return policy; product placement in media or with people believed to influence the buying habits of others; agreements with retailers, wholesale distributors, or resellers; and attempts to create awareness of, loyalty to, and positive feelings about a brand. Marketing is typically done by the seller, typically a retailer or manufacturer. Sometimes tasks are contracted to a dedicated marketing firm or advertising agency. More rarely, a trade association or government agency advertises on behalf of an entire industry or locality, often a specific type of food, food from a specific area, or a city or region as a tourism destination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Business model</span> Rationale of how an organization operates

A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts. The process of business model construction and modification is also called business model innovation and forms a part of business strategy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Information economy</span> Economy where information is calued as a capital good

Information economy is an economy with an increased emphasis on informational activities and information industry, where information is valued as a capital good. The term was coined by Marc Porat, a graduate student at Stanford University, who would later co-found General Magic.

In the field of management, strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization's managers on behalf of stakeholders, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization operates. Strategic management provides overall direction to an enterprise and involves specifying the organization's objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve those objectives, and then allocating resources to implement the plans. Academics and practicing managers have developed numerous models and frameworks to assist in strategic decision-making in the context of complex environments and competitive dynamics. Strategic management is not static in nature; the models can include a feedback loop to monitor execution and to inform the next round of planning.

Knowledge workers are workers whose main capital is knowledge. Examples include ICT Professionals, physicians, pharmacists, architects, engineers, scientists, design thinkers, public accountants, lawyers, editors, and academics, whose job is to "think for a living".

A value network is a graphical illustration of social and technical resources within/between organizations and how they are utilized. The nodes in a value network represent people or, more abstractly, roles. The nodes are connected by interactions that represent deliverables. These deliverables can be objects, knowledge or money. Value networks record interdependence. They account for the worth of products and services. Companies have both internal and external value networks.

The term information revolution describes the "radical changes wrought by computer technology on the storage of and access to information since the mid-1980s" or current economic, social and technological trends beyond the Industrial Revolution.

Open innovation is a term used to promote an information age mindset toward innovation that runs counter to the secrecy and silo mentality of traditional corporate research labs. The benefits and driving forces behind increased openness have been noted and discussed as far back as the 1960s, especially as it pertains to interfirm cooperation in R&D. Use of the term 'open innovation' in reference to the increasing embrace of external cooperation in a complex world has been promoted in particular by Henry Chesbrough, adjunct professor and faculty director of the Center for Open Innovation of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, and Maire Tecnimont Chair of Open Innovation at Luiss.

Co-creation, in the context of a business, refers to a product or service design process in which input from consumers plays a central role from beginning to end. Less specifically, the term is also used for any way in which a business allows consumers to submit ideas, designs or content. This way, the firm will not run out of ideas regarding the design to be created and at the same time, it will further strengthen the business relationship between the firm and its customers. Another meaning is the creation of value by ordinary people, whether for a company or not.

Thomas Hayes "Tom" Davenport, Jr. is an American academic and author specializing in analytics, business process innovation, knowledge management, and artificial intelligence. He is currently the President’s Distinguished Professor in Information Technology and Management at Babson College, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, Co-founder of the International Institute for Analytics, and a Senior Advisor to Deloitte Analytics.

<i>Wikinomics</i> Book by Don Tapscott

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything is a book by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, first published in December 2006. It explores how some companies in the early 21st century have used mass collaboration and open-source technology, such as wikis, to be successful.

Although information has been bought and sold since ancient times, the idea of an information marketplace is relatively recent. The nature of such markets is still evolving, which complicates development of sustainable business models. However, certain attributes of information markets are beginning to be understood, such as diminished participation costs, opportunities for customization, shifting customer relations, and a need for order.

The network economy is the emerging economic order within the information society. The name stems from a key attribute - products and services are created and value is added through social networks operating on large or global scales. This is in sharp contrast to industrial-era economies, in which ownership of physical or intellectual property stems from its development by a single enterprise. Business models for capturing ownership rights for value embedded in products and services created by social networks are being explored.

The idea that knowledge has value is ancient. In the 1st century AD, Juvenal (55-130) stated “All wish to know but none wish to pay the price". In 1775, Samuel Johnson wrote: “All knowledge is of itself of some value.”

Knowledge policies provide institutional foundations for creating, managing, and using organizational knowledge as well as social foundations for balancing global competitiveness with social order and cultural values. Knowledge policies can be viewed from a number of perspectives: the necessary linkage to technological evolution, relative rates of technological and institutional change, as a control or regulatory process, obstacles posed by cyberspace, and as an organizational policy instrument.

A knowledge organization is a management idea, describing an organization in which people use systems and processes to generate, transform, manage, use, and transfer knowledge-based products and services to achieve organizational goals.

Know-how trading is a web-based research and design phenomenon related to open innovation and crowdsourcing. It denotes fee-based knowledge markets that treat knowledge and expertise as commodities that can be traded for financial gain. It therefore differs from other information markets such as Yahoo! Answers in that solution providers are financially rewarded for their efforts. The challenges set therefore tend to be more focused, and solutions more detailed and lengthy.

Information capital is a concept which asserts that information has intrinsic value which can be shared and leveraged within and between organizations. Information capital connotes that sharing information is a means of sharing power, supporting personnel, and optimizing working processes. Information capital is the pieces of information which enables the exchange of Knowledge capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Barabba</span> American market researcher

Vincent Barabba is an American market researcher, author, former head of the United States Census Bureau, and the chairman and co-founder of Market Insight Corporation. He is known for his work in the field of market research and opinion polling.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hicks, Jennifer. "The Rise of the Knowledge Market". Forbes. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "A Synopsis of: Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know" (PDF). Organizational Change Program for the CGIAR Centers. Retrieved 19 April 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 Stewart, Thomas A. (1996). Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations. McGraw-Hill, 342 p.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Simard, Albert (2006). "Knowledge markets: More than Providers and Users". BGD Internet Research Society Transactions. 2 (2): 4–9.
  5. 1 2 3 Simard, Caroline. "Chapter 11: Knowledge networks and the geographic locus of innovation" (PDF). University of California at Berkeley. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  6. 1 2 Tapscott, Don; Williams, Anthony D. (2006). Wikinomics - How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York, 324 p.: Penguin Group.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. ↑ Nonaka, Ikujiro (1991). "The knowledge creating company". Harvard Business Review. 69 (6): 14–37.
  8. ↑ Edvinsson, Leif; Malone, Michael S. (1997). Intellectual Capital . New York, 225 p.: Harper Business. ISBN   9780887308413.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  9. ↑ Leonard, Dorothy (1998). Wellsprings of Knowledge. Boston, 334 p.: Harvard Business School Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  10. ↑ Bishop, Bill (1996). Strategic Marketing for the Digital Age. New York, 250 p.: Harper Business.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  11. ↑ May, Paul (2000). The Business of Ecommerce . Cambridge University Press, 270 p. ISBN   9780521776981.
  12. ↑ Tapscott, Don; Ticoll, David; Lowt, Alex (2000). Digital Capital . Boston, 270 p.: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN   9781578511938.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Kantola, Jussi; Karwowski, Waldemar (2012). Knowledge Service Engineering Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN   978-1439852941.
  14. ↑ St. Clair, Guy; Lauren, Albert (2010). Beyond Degrees: Professional Learning for Knowledge Services. Berlin: De Gruyter Publishing. ISBN   978-3598243691.
  15. 1 2 Kalakota, Ravi; Robinson, Marcia (2003). Services Blueprint: Roadmap for Execution. Boston: Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN   0321150392.
  16. 1 2 Davenport, Thomas H. (2005). Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press. ISBN   1591394236.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Xia, Haoxiang (January 2007). "Knowledge Services: A New Research Field between KM and SSME, Conference Paper". hdl:10119/4152 . Retrieved 19 April 2013– via Academia.edu.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ↑ Liu, Alan (2004). The Laws of Cool: Knowledge Work and the Culture of Information. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
  19. ↑ Prusak, Lawrence; Davenport, Thomas H. (1998). Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, 2nd Edition . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN   1-57851-301-4.
  20. ↑ Shapiro, Carl; Varian, Hal R. (1998). Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN   978-0875848631.
  21. ↑ "Experts-Exchange 3 million solutions". Experts Exchange. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  22. ↑ Needleman, Rafe. "Mahalo expands human-powered search with paid Answers service". CNET. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  23. 1 2 3 Diener, Kathleen. "The Market for Open Innovation: First study to compare the offerings, methods, and competences of intermediaries, consultancies, and brokers for open innovation". RWTH-TIM Blog. Archived from the original on 2013-07-01. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  24. ↑ "Sage". Sage.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Durbin, Bryce. "Google Has No Answers". TechCrunch. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  26. ↑ "The Kindle Will No Longer Answer Questions: No More NowNow". Amazon.com. Retrieved 19 April 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.