Innovative Infrastructure;
In the traditional economy, we have products that may degrade over a discrete time period, can be costly to resupply to the market place, take up physical space and inventory, prices are limited by production costs, and when sold passes ownership completely. The traditional economy has strengths in goods that we will always need, and there will always be a market for. Currently the price of corn in the US is staggeringly profitable for farmers, and is a product we each use almost everyday even if we don't know it. To bring this good to the market though, takes months of vegetative growth in costly fields requiring watering, and very particular weather conditions. When the corn is brought to sale, those kernels are washed from the farmers hands, he won't see them again, and isn't expected to have anything else to do with them. The traditional economy favors hard manual working.
A knowledge based economy provides products that are usable as long as they remain relevant, has limitless reproduction capabilities at almost zero cost, even after sale owner still has either ownership or has given nothing up, but doesn't have a physical location to be recalled from, and is valued based on it's use to the customer. Another important attribute of a this type of economy are updates. The customer expects you to continue to hone the program or product though updates for the foreseeable future. Only after becoming obsolete or no longer relevant is a product discarded. There are also fewer barriers in entering a knowledge based market. Angry Birds is a great game that was developed by professionals but despite it's one dollar price tag, is amazingly profitable. But it is great not just because it came with a few dozen levels, but because it is continuously growing, now it has over 150 levels and many spin off games. A knowledge based economy favors, above all else, an innovative way of thinking. When Angry Birds took to space, it changed the game up completely, and the dollars did come.
These two are intimately related in today's economy. A global market place facilitated by limitless communication spawn by the growth of the internet and proliferation of industrial methods to under developed countries. An innovative economy has allowed our farmer to know what the most profitable grain for him will be. It has given him the competitive advantage over the rice farmers in south Asia.
In the business world it means that you simply aren't employable without basic computer skills. This is especially challenging for the generation before my own. The baby boomers who saw the rise of this global communication, but may have not required it's use. Economic turmoils in recent times have pushed these able traditional economic workers into a new playing field that forces them to acquire these skills.
The above video is a meeting of English business leaders discussing the development of the knowledge economy in England.
These challenges though, as in times of immense economic shifts, exists limitless opportunity. By investing in a technology infrastructure even the most basic business can extend it's market across the world and can reap benefits far beyond it's humble expectations. From a simple website to a more advanced online market place, competition is the name of the game, and anyone can get in on it.
Interesting comparisons between farming and angry birds. I like the idea that farming is a part of the physical economy, yet farmers also take part in the knowledge economy through better farming methods.
ReplyDeleteThanks, we still have some land owning farmers in the area, even around the campus. But i don't believe they are in the majority of our food/textile supply. One day perhaps, we can get more grass roots. Look out for texting and plowing.
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