The increasing economic importance of knowledge is redefining firm-market boundaries, work arrangements and the links between education, work and learning. This article describes a framework for identifying organisational knowledge assets and learning needs, optimising knowledge supply and planning knowledge growth. The framework enables firms to improve their selection and deployment of internal and external knowledge resources and individuals to improve their career planning. It also assists learning institutions to tailor their products and services to the needs of individual and corporate knowledge consumers.

This book looks at how the shift to a knowledge-based economy is redefining firms, empowering individuals, and reshaping the links between learning and work using economic, management and knowledge-based theories, supported by empirical data, illustrations, and trends. The book argues that industrial-era models of firm-market boundaries, work arrangements, and ownership and control are inhibiting firms and individuals success in the emerging knowledge economy. New models are proposed based on knowledge-centred organisation, knowledge-led growth, and knowledge supply as distinct from labour supply or flexible employment. Continuous learning is shown to be critical to firms as integrators of disparate knowledge resources, and the only practical route for individuals to become free agents. The book illuminates the new business landscape and provides a practical tool-set for business practitioners and theorists to interpret and manage change in a rapidly deconstructing economic environment.

This handbook aims to show the importance of human capital (HC) for contemporary organizations: how it contributes to theories of the firm, how it affects organizational performance, and its role in the future economy. It identifies HC as the linchpin of social and other forms of capital. The article also shows how applying the notion of HC to organizations requires consideration of how human and other intangible intellectual forms of capital differ from more traditional forms, implying the need for a theory of the firm that accommodates a concept of dynamic, heterogeneous HC. It focuses on five aspects of HC: its conceptual underpinnings; its relevance to theories of the firm; its implications for organizational effectiveness; its interdependencies with other resources; and its role in the future economy.

Work and learning are becoming increasingly interrelated and interdependent and there is now this notion that education should be a preparation for work. The need for a new synthesis of education and industry arises as firms are now more inclined to employ highly-skilled individuals over low-skilled labour. Despite the largely and publicly funded infrastructure for schools, colleges, and universities, it is emphasized that individuals should be learning and practicing critical thought instead of merely being instructed. This chapter looks into past trends regarding the outdated educational models while exploring the potential for new learning technologies and the use of IT in educational processes. The chapter also examines the traditional suppliers of educational services and compares the risks and benefits of these with that of the new suppliers. Lastly, the interrelationships of learning with education and work are also analysed.

The increasing economic importance of knowledge is redefining firm‐market boundaries, work arrangements and the links between education work and learning. This article proposes a new framework: the knowledge supply model, which helps individuals, firms and learning institutions understand the dynamics of change and emerging patterns of knowledge demand and supply in different sectors of the economy. It also assists learning institutions to tailor their products and services to the needs of knowledge consumers. As working and learning become synonymous, firms, workers, educators and intermediaries will have to adopt new roles and develop new strategies. Understanding the dynamics of knowledge demand and supply should assist all actors in navigating knowledge markets of the new economy.