Question

Using the concepts of the knowledge model, explain why corporate ownership of a medium (2nd hand source) is more complex than saying it it is owned by a corporation it cannot increase our knowledge and awareness. After you have done so, offer your own opinion.

Answer 1

Knowledge economy is an economic system under which the production of all goods and services are based on technical and scientific innovation. That means knowledge based economies always focused on intellectual capital, rather than physical inputs.  

As we know the traditional models of economic activites are always based on four factors of production - land, labour, capital and organization. A knowledge based economy on the other hand is focused on widening the scope of labour from producing goods on an assembly line, to greater flexibility in design, manufacture and implementation of business ideas.  

In a knowledge based economy, knowledge can be divided into two. They are:

i. Explicit knowledge

This type of fact based knowledge can be attained  from collecting informations and datas from reliable sources of required subjects.

ii. Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge can be acquired by observing and understanding how things work, years of experience a person is having in a particular field, ability of judgement, intuition, the way of dealing with people, etc.

Education qualification of a person is closely related to the explicit knowledge of a person, and to a certain extent, tacit knowledge also is related to his educational background.  

Under corporation owned entities, traditional method of production / service units are running. Instead of innovations and implementation of most modern technology, it is mostly labour intensive. More units of man power will be there. But the output will not get  the expected level and variation in productivity also can be noticed. In most of the production units under the corporation the payment also is not much. It creates a dissatisfed labour force.  

In corporates, the things are entirely different. Most of the corporates have their own research and development wing, who occupies the highest market share for each of their product by conducting a prior marketing study before the products gets launched.  

Those who are having educational qualification and tacit knowldge will be attracted to the corporates by providing rewards and high- paid jobs. At the same time people with low educational background and having limited knowledge about the current labour market will have to face a lot of challenges.

In short the arrival of corporates can increase the quality of products / services available in the market with more advanced technologies and innovation. It can provide more job opportnities to the educated and skilled youths. It can also contribte more gross domestic production (GDP).  

But on the other hand there is a chance for the local workforce, who are having only traditional knowledge, who may have lost their job in the long run, most of them  are the only bread winners of their families.  

Hence it is clear that the traditional models of firms are getting increasingly less relevant, unless the firms have to become more dynamic in responding to the changing nature of the economic progress and the technological advancement.