within industrial societies is as a series of shifts from a material to a monetary and
ultimately to a symbolic economy (Stehr 1994).
Historically, as Stehr (1994) observes, most commentators from the early writings of
Adam Smith and Karl Marx onwards have accepted that industrial economies have
primarily been ‘material’ economies. In other words, economic activity was primarily
based on the use of land, tools and labour. Stehr argues, however, that as industrial
economies became more mature or advanced they became ‘monetary’ economies.
Thus, they increasingly required access to capital, in addition to land, tools and labour,
in order to support further economic growth and increases in productivity. Stehr further
argues, however, that in the modern era industrial economies have become ‘symbolic’
economies, since the new sources of wealth are based upon the creative capacity of
individuals and organisations to use scientific (i.e. codified) knowledge innovatively.
Stehr argues, therefore, that, with the exception of the most standardised commodities
and services, codified knowledge has become increasingly central to the production of
goods and services and is now the primary condition for its further expansion as well
as for the limits to growth in the economic world. Thus, according to Stehr, we now
live in both a knowledge society and a knowledge economy.
The idea that knowledge now represents the primary source of wealth for industrial
economies as well as business and corporate success has become a key tenet of the
literature in business economics (Boisot 1998), management science (Drucker 1986;
1993), organisational strategy (Hamel and Prahalad 1994), organisational behaviour
(Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995). It is now claimed in these literatures that a new
economic and organisational imperative has emerged that is placing firms under
increased pressure to use their intangible assets (i.e. the knowledge and skills of their
workforce) in order to innovate and create value for shareholders and customers (Kim
and Mauborgne 1999; Nonaka and Teece 2001).