Information society and knowledge economy

AuthorMihane Berisha-Namani; Myrvete Badivuku-Pantina
Pages555-559

Mihane Berisha-Namani. Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Pristina, Kosova (e-mail: mihane_berisha@yahoo.com)

Myrvete Badivuku-Pantina. Associate Professor, Ph.D., Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Pristina, Kosova (myrvetebadivuku@yahoo.com)

Page 555

Introduction

In 20th century, which was the century of industrial civilization, the global economy was characterized by transformation of physical products, massive production and domination of material factors (basic material, work object and labor force). Today, as a result of rapid development of information technology and its application, very fast came to a transformation of industrial society into an information society, thus the increase of importance and role of information and knowledge. In a information society, the information and knowledge have gained the role of “power” and “money” and become “the most precious merchandise” ever seen. The classic economy is transformed into knowledge economy, which is based on the use of computing networks and virtual spaces. In the knowledge economy the electronic business is offered as an alternative to classic business, which was based on paper work and direct and physical communication between individuals and enterprises. Working in information based business environment and aiming the internationalization of the business, enterprises are being provoked to develop a business policy based on the use of information and of new information technologies transforming their business from the classic to a digitalized business. These technologies will continue to play a key role in changing the society and economy in the 21st century.

Information society

During the last years, more and more is being used the expression “knowledge society” or “information society”. Development of knowledge society is a result of the development and application of new technologies, especially of the Internet technology. Various authors make the connection of this expression with the increase of the use of information and computers, especially of PC-s and Internet. While the sociologists claim that the information society is a society wherePage 556 people are connected to each other through network, and they are massively using the information and communication technology, the economists claim that information society is in fact a society where the information sector and computerized technology is massive and the number of employees who are doing knowledge based work is also increasing.

In a information society we see the increasing role and significance of information and knowledge, which are becoming producing factor like it was the case with materials and energy in the classic (industrial) economy, and for the first time the brain becomes the main “production power”. According to business professor Peter Drucker, the contemporary changes shouldn’t be understood only as technical and technological changes, but should be also seen as a complex of technical, economical and social changes [3]. In the information society and in knowledge economy, the non-material factors (information and knowledge) are seen as main resources, which are determining the direction of the development of society.

It is important to note that changes of our time can be compared with the changes that occurred when agrarian society was changed into industrial society [2]. But, while for previous technologies like: steam engine, electricity, telephone, electronic pipe, television, car industry etc, were needed decades to reach the critical point of their use, the Internet achieved this within a few years1.

In the information society, usage of information and communication technology affected the rules of society, human and business relations. Information becomes important source and gained the role of “power” and “money” [V. Milicevic:2002:12] and is seen as “precious merchandize” in the market [3], where the information technology become a factor of success and efficiency in business [M. Berisha-Namani: 2004:58]. Therefore, all the problems of knowledge and lack of knowledge have to do with information.

While in the industrial era the dominating factor was material and it was imperative to have...

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