The World is Flat (not really though)

Contrary to popular belief, the saying the world is flat does not mean that you will fall off after walking to the edge. According to Friedman, a flat world is a world in which the playing field has been leveled. This means that instead of competing globally through ones countries or company, people are now competing globally as an individual. With the invention of the PC and the internet, people all across the world can now communicate with one another and publish their own creative content.

In a flat world, competition is more fierce than ever and if it can be done, then someone will inevitably do it. It is now more important than ever to capitalize on new ideas, because someone else will have the same idea a second later, or maybe they had it a second before (who knows with these kinds of things?). People are now only limited in their capacity for success by their imagination. It is possible now to create and distribute ones own content throughout the entire world with the click of a few buttons (maybe more than a few, it's not an exact science).

This brings me to my next point, hash brown casserole. The term casserole added at the end of hash brown implies, to me at least, that it is some sort of salad-related food. I find it very confusing then, when I order hash brown casserole and am instead brought a side dish of what, at first glance, appears to be a mound of especially rigid rice. I believe a product description should be placed beside any food items of a questionable nature, such as hash brown casserole. Another thing that irks me is the fact that hash browns are not exactly brown. They are more of a yellowish color and I find it highly offensive that I am being lied to about not just one, but two things regarding the description of hash brown casserole. When hash brown casserole is brought to a party, nobody is even happy about it... just bring chips or something next time (I'm talking to you Kyle. Nobody wants your damned hashbrown casserole!).

Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is the practice of creating a highly diverse work environment that revolves around the information possessed by people within the company. The knowledge contained within the minds of a company's employees is one of the most valuable assets that company has. It is very hard for another company to recreate a good knowledge management system because their employees are different and know different things.

At Nucor Steel they make egg cartons... no wait, that doesn't sound right. At Nucor Steel they make Chocolate Milk... hmmm, that can't be right either, but lets continue anyways. Nucor Steel has a highly adept team of moderately skilled workers that produce a product. This product is then sold for money or traded for drugs, depending on the market conditions at the time.

At Partners Healthcare, their knowledge management practices revolve around medical conditions, prescription drugs, and medically conditioned prescription drugs. When you have a doctor that is an idiot, people die. Maybe not at first. Maybe they get home and feel a sharp pain in their stomach where they just had surgery and it turns out the doctor left his scalpel in their abdomen. When this happens, hospitals and doctors get sued (oh yeah, and people die). So it is important to have a very good knowledge management system in place when it comes to healthcare, because without it not-so-good things will happen (and by this I mean bad things).

Buckman Labs is another beast of a company that uses knowledge management to "buck" the competition (don't worry if you don't understand this analogy, I'm not sure I do either). Anyways, in these labs they have, they carry out experiments and shit. In order to accurately perform these experiments, they need lots of knowledge about how long they can torture a lab rat before it begins to feel underappreciated and hires a lawyer.

In summary, knowledge management is a fairly important subject. People count on it. Even animals count on it. In order to have a successful competitive advantage over another company it is not enough to just have the most current technology. You need to have a team of highly trained, knowledgeable, and skilled workers to capitalize on the knowledge they possess in order to become an industry leader.

HCA

Health Corporation of America (HCA) is a large health care provider in the United States owning hundreds of hospitals across the country. They are constantly using IT to improve and develop upon their business model and practices. One way in which they use IT is by giving all nurses cell phones that are linked to patient rooms and a central system; which will alert them of any pertinent information. On a side note, there are way too many turtles in the zoo.. I mean c'mon who hasn't seen a turtle before? Why are they even in the zoo? Unless they are gigantic (I'm talkin 6 foot circumference, minimum) then leave them in the wilderness.

HCA also uses IT in all of their systems in general. All of the electronic equipment that is used to monitor and treat patients daily relies on IT to some degree. Without the programming behind the systems they would be non-functional. Without staff to troubleshoot potential problems with them, they may sit dormant.

Another way in which hospitals in general will be using IT, relates to a new law that is in-the-works. This law will require all hospitals to update their records to electronic versions. No more pen and paper records. This law will require the implementation of new systems to some hospitals in order to handle the load of information it will be subject to. IT personnel may be needed to handle the systems and teach current employees (doctors, nurses, etc) how to use the system. On another side note, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie-pop? I think the answer to this questions lies within a few factors: how much you are salivating, how large your tongue is, and how forcibly you lick. If you assign values to these items, and weighted percentages, perhaps you may be able to come up with a valid answer to this question on a per-person basis.  Otherwise, stop asking this question of me you stupid, stupid owl...

In summary, hospitals require loads of IT to properly operate. Without it patients will die, doctors will die (murdered by the family of the previously mentioned deceased patients), and nurses will die (maybe).

Increasing Returns

The Law of Increasing Returns, simply put, means that the more variables and improvements made to a product, the higher the profit will be for that product. It is exactly the opposite of the Law of Diminishing Returns; which states that at a certain point any additional changes or improvements made to a product will not matter, because your product has hit a "ceiling", so-to-speak, and no extra profits can be realized.

With increasing returns a business gains a disproportionate amount of output compared to the level of inputs. Increasing returns are most commonly seen in the technological market. A company may have software already developed and by adding a couple new things can greatly enhance the value of that software.  Basically, when your inputs are increased by x, your outputs increase by more than x, so you get more out than what you put in. It would be similar to playing a slot machine, or any other game in which you gamble with money, and winning. You put in a quarter and maybe you hit it big and win back a few thousand dollars. Or maybe you get caught cheating and security comes and throws you out the front door, at which time you land on your already bum knee and it busts wide open, leaving you with mounds of hospital debt and an inability to pay it all, especially now that your blacklisted from all the casinos and can't showcase your gambling skills (i.e., your cheating skills, which you must not be very good at anyways because you were caught).

In technological terms, increasing returns would be like adding one feature to some software that then allows you to do multiple things you couldn't do before by using the new feature. If one piece of software gets ahead of another piece, it attracts more developers and attention, thereby allowing it to get even further ahead. The market for operating systems saw this happen when they first came about. One OS, like DOS or Macintosh would make developments the other did not yet have, which would attract other software developers to make programs on that OS, which in turn would help that OS get even farther ahead than they already were. Then when they get further ahead, they get even further ahead, and when they get even further ahead, they get even even furtherer ahead; and so the cycle continues until one company becomes a superpower, igniting the arms race for fear of economical domination, and then the world ends.

IT Strategic Value

IT is as important for developing countries as it is for developed countries. Without up-to-date IT, companies will find themselves at a severe disadvantage when it come to competing in business. Information Technologies allow companies to process data faster, keep track of inventory more efficiently and process orders more quickly, among other things.

Companies who use Just-in-time (JIT) delivery systems are able to utilize IT in such a way that they are able to minimize the amount of goods stored in any one location because the necessary items are delivered only when they are needed. This greatly reduces storage costs and costs associated with having surplus inventory. Wal-Mart is one such company that uses this technology and while it does not necessarily provide a competitive advantage for them, since most other large companies have this same technology; it certainly provides a competitive disadvantage for those smaller companies who do not have access to it.

Data mining companies have seen an increase in demand for their services through the use of their information gathering technologies, allowing companies to gain access to data about their customers shopping preferences, income, age, marital status, and a variety of other attributes.  Possessing this customer information can help companies customize their product, service, shopping experience, or all three to better fit their market.

Even aspects of IT that are as boring as payroll applications can provide a value to the company. With an efficient application to manage payroll or other aspects of the company like accounting, that company can lessen the amount of people required to staff those departments and use that money and resources elsewhere.

Companies like FedEx or UPS that use package tracking software are able to set themselves apart from the competition by allowing customers to become a part of the shipping process and see where their order is at all times.  In addition to this companies also use radio frequency identification (RFID) technology which helps them keep track of their goods easily and efficiently. By simply scanning a products packaging, a company can instantly know exactly what that product is, how much of they have, and also add it to the inventory.

Websites are another extremely important aspect of IT that let companies who have their own websites recognize a significantly large and new market. People can now buy that companies' product without ever having to set foot in a store; and have it directly delivered to them. Whereas before if someone was elderly or did not have a vehicle, they may have been restricted to where they could shop. Now these same people are able to shop wherever they like whenever they want.  IT is an ever expanding industry that is constantly shifting toward new, faster and more efficient technologies and companies that do not stay on top of this trend will find themselves left in the dust as their competition surges forward.

Knowledge Economy vs. Physical Economy

When people discuss a knowledge economy they are most often referring to an intangible resource.  This includes things like the information and skill sets a person possesses. It is sometimes difficult to put a monetary value on these kinds of goods because you cannot see them. There is no clear list of ingredients or resources that have gone into giving this person their skills or information they have.

In contrast, a physical economy is one in which they goods are tangible. You can touch, see, hear, and even smell them. A product can be looked at and it can be determined what went into the creation of that product.    It is much easier to assign a value to things in a physical economy.

A knowledge economy can include things such as: the people a business employees and the specific skill sets those employees bring to the table, the information regarding what goes into making their product, or even a service offered. A physical economy could be things like the computers those employees use or the actual product the company makes. These things can wear out over time or become obsolete.

In a knowledge economy information can be shared easily or it can be kept a secret if a company wishes to maintain a competitive advantage or keep the details of a product protected. Oftentimes, the knowledge economy and the physical economy overlap. It takes knowledge to create a physical product. The specifics that go into making Coca-Cola's soft drink are only known to a select few. By keeping that information under-wraps it allows Coke to produce a unique product that is not easily replicated. Without the information that goes into creating a certain product, that product cannot exist.

In a knowledge-based economy the emphasis is put on intellectual property as opposed to goods produced. A good example of a knowledge-based economy would be an auto-repair shop. It wouldn't be difficult for a person to obtain many of the same tools used in repairing cars, but without an intimate understanding of what goes into making a car run or not run, that person can't effectively use those tools. The price of knowledge is based on its value to the customer and when it is sold, the seller still retains possession and can easily sell again, without limit.

In a physical economy there is more concern with a good being produced rather than a service being offered. A physical economy includes everything from the T.V. you buy, to the food at the grocery store, to the clothes you wear. These are all tangible things; you can touch and see them. The price of these items is calculated by simply factoring in the costs of all the physical items that went into making it, along with various other production costs like labor. When you buy an item from the physical economy, it changes hands and the seller no longer controls it.

In all cases though, it takes the knowledge economy and the physical economy working hand-in-hand to accomplish things. Without knowledge of how to make a physical product that product won't exist. Without the physical tools needed for car repair, the mechanic will not be able to use his knowledge to fix the car. All things have been created by someone or a group of people using the information they possess and applying it to the real world.