FOREWORD
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Some years back, the Asian
Productivity Organization (APO) realized that
the knowledge-based economy would gather momentum
and become a reality. We therefore made it one
of the key areas for the attention of national
productivity organizations.
The knowledge-based economy is characterized
by change and a turbulent business environment.
Productivity and competitiveness now depend on
nations being ready for the knowledge-based economy.
Advances in telecommunications, information technology,
and the Internet have transformed the global business
environment. The bases of economic life and business
have been extended to the realm of knowledge.
Knowledge assets, knowledge workers, and knowledge
ventures have become the foci of attention. This
new environment brings new challenges to entrepreneurship
both at the individual (new start-up) and corporate
(internal corporate venture) levels. The e-business
environment, as it is referred to, creates opportunities
for new business models, new ways to create value,
and access to new markets on a global stage. Knowledge
has become one of the most important forms of
intellectual capital in starting and running a
business today. R&D and innovation will naturally
become the primary focus of an enterprise in the
process of value creation.
These developments have generated vibrancy in
most economies, although there are accompanying
challenges. An entrepreneur will need to know
how to utilize the technological elite responsible
for such efforts and tap the financial resources
available to meet the challenges of knowledge-based
business. To survive in the knowledge age, entrepreneurs
must rethink how they operate, foster a new innovative
culture within their organizations, and at the
same time form knowledge networks or strategic
alliances with others for mutual gain and competitive
advantage. Policy makers also need to examine
ways to prepare their countries for the knowledge-based
economy and how best to foster entrepreneurship
in knowledge-based industry.
To explore these challenges, the APO organized
a forum of experts chaired by Professor Tan Wee
Liang from the Singapore Management University
to discuss the following themes at a symposium:
- e-business trends and new venture initiation
in knowledge-based industry;
- entrepreneurs' role in knowledge-based
industry;
- appropriate business models, management
strategy, and tactics including value creation
methods, marketing, and branding that harness
the possibilities that abound in knowledge-based
business;
- the role of venture capital in knowledge-based
industry;
- entrepreneurship and innovation; and
- initiating ventures within corporations
by motivating and retaining knowledge assets.
This present volume is a compilation of the papers
and views presented at the symposium. The APO
greatly appreciates the efforts of Professor Tan
in editing this volume. We hope that it will aid
policy-makers, entrepreneurs, and enterprises
in identifying ways to move from capital-based
industry to industry that is based on knowledge
in the new globalized arena, determining the knowledge
in available in companies, utilizing the knowledge
in new ways, and introducing mechanisms to harness
knowledge in their enterprises.
– TAKASHI TAJIMA, APO Secretary-General,
Tokyo, July 2003
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