Recognizing knowledge as economic factor: A typology

While knowledge has been recognized as a major source of competitive advantage long ago, this paper contends that knowledge should be treated and managed as an economic factor of production on par with land, labor, and capital. Previous knowledge typologies have indeed shed light on the many characteristics and context of knowledge, but they remain difficult to apply for practitioners. This paper assesses whether knowledge is a public good, examines the interplay of tacit and explicit knowledge as complements, and explores knowledge price elasticity of demand and supply. The proposed model of knowledge based on breadth and depth can be applied for the firm to assess existing stock of knowledge, spot knowledge gaps and the cost to fill them, and identify core knowledge worth safeguarding. This research argues that conventional knowledge management is missing this process of knowledge assessment which should be added upstream when considering adding or creating knowledge, or downstream when evaluating existing organizational knowledge. Knowledge assessment can only take place once the economic characteristics of knowledge as factor of production have been identified.