We live at a local level but act at a global one and each organization is a player in a global world. Each company has its own knowledge base and network and we can say that at the global level exists an unorganized global knowledge base without connections between local ones which limits the access to knowledge. The solution for this problem is represented by a global knowledge network based on an organized global knowledge base. This paper underlines the need to create a global knowledge network and a global knowledge base composed of connected local knowledge bases and presents a SWOT approach for this issue.network, knowledge network, knowledge base

Neagu Cristina Denisa

English

Research Papers in Economics

 
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Business Statistic – Economic Informatics 
GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK – A SWOT APPROACH  
PhD Student Neagu Cristina Denisa 
University “Al I Cuza Ia i” 
Faculty of Economics and Business 
Administration, Ia i, Romania 
  Abstract: We live at a local level but act at a global one and each 
organization is a player in a global world. Each company has its own 
knowledge base and network and we can say that at the global level exists 
an unorganized global knowledge base without connections between local 
ones which limits the access to knowledge. The solution for this problem is 
represented by a global knowledge network based on an organized global 
knowledge base. This paper underlines the need to create a global 
knowledge network and a global knowledge base composed of connected 
local knowledge bases and presents a SWOT approach for this issue. 
Keywords: network, knowledge network, knowledge base 
Introduction 
Actual society is characterized by an increased significance of information and 
communication technologies (ICTs) which have conducted to a transformation in the 
nature of economic activity, with associated implications for the shape of the society. 
Knowledge has always been a factor of production since the very old times of 
human society and it has influenced and advanced the economic and social 
development. At the beginning of the human society, the knowledge was related to how 
to hunt and prepare the meat. Later it has become related to how to farm, to build or to 
manufacture. The technology developed changed only the degree and speed of 
knowledge integration in the economic activity.  
Taking into consideration that the capacity to manipulate, store and transmit 
large quantities of information cheaply has rapidly increased in the recent years, we can 
say that the digitization of information and the associated pervasiveness of Internet 
facilitate a new application of knowledge to economic activity and more, favorite the 
intensification of new knowledge in the economy, generally speaking. 
In this context, the problem of integrated information and knowledge base at 
the global level appears more critical now than it used to be in the past. This paper is 
presenting the steps in achieving a global knowledge network and global knowledge 
base and their relation with individual elements at local, regional and national levels 
and it presents a SWOT analysis approach for this issues.  
Definitions 
We consider necessarily starting with some definitions of concepts used in this 
paper, concepts such as: 
1.  knowledge – is organized and contextualized information which can be 
applied to create new meanings and new ideas  
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2.  knowledge management – involves processes such as: capturing, creating, 
organizing, storing, transferring and using knowledge and experiences of 
workers and groups within an organization and making knowledge 
available to all organization and its partners  
3.  knowledge base – knowledge collected into schemas based of a specific 
field of interest  
4.  knowledge networks – are group of experts working together on a common 
interests, sharing knowledge and developing solutions for various problems 
which are then available to be used by other individuals inside or outside 
the network 
5.  community of practice – an informal group where ideas are generated and 
exchanged with members who have common interest in some subjects or 
problems, which collaborate to share ideas, find solutions and build 
innovations  
6.  practitioners – persons who practice specific professions and need specific 
knowledge to perform their tasks 
7.  global knowledge base – collection of knowledge from various knowledge 
bases arranged into schemas based on various fields of interest  
8.  global knowledge network – groups of experts and practitioners working 
together on a common interest, sharing knowledge and developing 
solutions to be used in various domains of activity. 
Motivation 
Each enterprise acts in the economic environment by using data,   
information and knowledge. These are the main resources with high impact on   
the way in which enterprises do business.  
Organizations, no matter what type, are agents in a very complex world 
characterized by dynamism, diversity and too much unorganized information and too 
less knowledge. The enterprise’s environment is influenced by:  
1.  competitors 
2.  government 
3.  politics 
4.  culture 
5.  education system 
6.  market, etc. 
We underlined the fact that organizations have too much information. It is too 
much because each day we receives much more information than we needs and for 
specific information we loose precious time in the searching process. How is that 
possible? Because we create information and knowledge and we don’t know how to 
organize it. The main result is represented by the fact that we create, transfer and store a 
huge quantity of information, which is not classified, and the access to the needed 
information or knowledge is very difficult. In our times, information quantity grows 
each day (each hour) and the information can be seen, at the global level, as a global 
database. From databases, one can extract information, and from information creates 
knowledge. But why should one reinvent the wheel? It would be much simpler to have 
access to a global knowledge base, to search in and to try to find the needed knowledge, 
and in case of negative results then one will try to create that needed knowledge. Ok, 
this looks very simple. It is very simple to say and very difficult to do. Why? We don’t  
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have a global knowledge base. We only have a search engine, which can help us to 
search in a global information network. If we are lucky we can find the right 
information, and if we are really lucky, we can find the proper knowledge.  
From the enterprises point of view, the plan to solve these problems already 
exists and each enterprise is working on or has already finished the optimization of the 
internal processes by discovering solutions such as: 
1.  business information systems analysis and design 
2.  workflow management 
3.  document management 
4.  knowledge management. 
The solution we propose is one that provides access the global knowledge base 
through global knowledge network. This will be possible when each organization will 
have a proper knowledge base and will be a part in strategic alliances or knowledge 
networks. Then each partner will have the chance to access the other knowledge bases 
with the purpose to find solutions for their problems. We continue by presenting the 
way to create the global knowledge base.  
Steps to create the global knowledge network  
 
The creation of a global knowledge network involves each organization to 
follow steps such as:  
1.  implementing knowledge management – in this way, it will exist a 
knowledge base in each organization  
2.  understanding the need to create or to become part in strategic alliances 
with organizations from the same activity area, universities, research 
centers, foundations, financing organizations, independent research 
institutes, government, official and unofficial forums, local, regional and 
international organizations and non-state actors – this will be the first step 
to create knowledge networks 
3.  connecting their knowledge bases – partners must find a solution to create 
one knowledge base for the strategic alliance based on their knowledge 
bases 
4.  acting like an important agent inside alliances and try to create, transfer and 
use knowledge inside this structure – this is very important to develop the 
strategic alliance knowledge base; 
5.  becoming agent in more than one strategic alliance, not only at local level, 
but national, and international – this will be the first step to create a bigger 
knowledge base and, after this each agent which is part of different 
alliances must share the knowledge. 
After this plan will be implemented, we will have a global knowledge base 
which will be characterized by knowledge bases placed in different locations but 
connected through knowledge management systems and information technologies.  
In the next figure, we present the structure of global knowledge networks with 
its components: 
1.  enterprise’s knowledge base; 
2.  local knowledge base – from community points of view; 
3.  national knowledge base; 
4.  strategic alliance’s knowledge base;  
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5.  activity area knowledge base; 
6.  international knowledge base; 
7.  global knowledge base. 
 
Figure no. 1  Global knowledge Base – Global Knowledge Network 
As you can see in Figure 1, the global knowledge base will have as components 
all elements mentioned above and if we decrease on scale level we can see the content 
of each knowledge base.  
It will be very easy to search in the global knowledge base through a 
knowledge search engine and the knowledge will be on our screen in short time. Each 
owner will have the chance to develop the global knowledge base by adding new 
knowledge.  
In the next rows we will present a global knowledge network SWOT analysis 
approach by using the characteristics of this analysis and by changing it to our purpose. 
This analysis is far to be complete; it wants to underline the main characteristics of a 
global knowledge network project. 
The SWOT analysis approach  
 
For this SWOT approach, we start by presenting the key elements of this 
analysis: 
1.  cultural aspects – each culture has its own specific elements and it is 
impossible to create a global structure; 
2.  legal aspects – each country has its own law but there is a start to a law 
unification;   
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Business Statistic – Economic Informatics 
3.  political aspects – are different at national level but we can see some 
unification processes; this political aspects can affect or help the knowledge 
sharing processes between countries; 
4.  economical aspects 
a.  market demands can change very quickly and we can see an 
increased need to find solutions to answer those demands in the 
shortest time; these solutions imply to have access to knowledge 
and best practices;  
b.  competition – companies will not share knowledge to competitors 
because they don’t want to lose their market place; 
5.  management aspects – we can see different styles of management and each 
strategy is focused on some objective, but we can see in the same time a 
unification of management style, for example: European management style; 
6.  technological aspects 
a.  informational aspects – ICTs allow the information and knowledge 
transfer at low costs;  
b.  new technologies – imply high skilled people to use them  
7.  educational aspects – educational institutions must adapt the learning 
programs to society demands; 
8.  environment aspects – global problems need global solution and player 
from the entire world; the cooperation between different organizations to 
solve environment problems is already done by using ICTs.  
Based on these elements mentioned above, we present in the next table the 
SWOT analysis for a global knowledge network: 
Table no. 1 Global knowledge network – the Swot analysis 
Strengths Weaknesses 
1.  large ICTs utilization inside enterprises; 
2.  low costs for information transfer 
assured by ICTs; 
3.  people are able to share their 
knowledge;   
4.  increased number of educated people;  
5.  increasing knowledge transfer; 
6.  increasing number of alliances; 
7.  valuable knowledge owned by people 
and organizations; 
8.  people concretize the need to have 
access to knowledge bases; 
9.  solutions for knowledge management 
and strategic alliances are already 
implemented;  
10.  existing practice in knowledge 
management and knowledge 
management area; 
11.  training programs which can be seen in 
many enterprises. 
1.  knowledge divide – knowledge exists in the entire 
world but at different levels; 
2.  lack of knowledge classification inside many 
organizations – they need to implement knowledge 
management and to create knowledge bases; 
3.  the lack of knowledge networks – organizations 
must become important agents in strategic alliances 
and they need to agree to share their knowledge; 
4.  lack of trust between people – we share our 
knowledge especially with known persons;  
5.  no existent model for global  knowledge network;  
6.  implementation of knowledge management at a 
global and creation of global knowledge networks 
need a long time;  
7.  lack of full understanding of knowledge 
management;  
8.  lack of experience in knowledge management 
implementation; 
9.  lack of knowledge management strategies at 
different levels; 
10.  lack of access to different knowledge bases; 
11.  no standard for knowledge transfer; 
12.  conservationism from people’s side; 
13.  expensive education;  
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14.  lack of secure information networks;  
Opportunities Threats 
1.  increased number of highly educated 
people; 
2.  arrival of new ICTs; 
3.  loosening  of regulations; 
4.  global politics – unitary politics at a global 
level; 
5.  a global effort to protect the copyright and 
the intellectual property;  
6.  global events; 
7.  market requirements will expand; 
8.  global trend to implement knowledge 
management solutions and to create 
strategic alliances; 
9.  change in people education, profiles, 
lifestyles; 
10.  short time needed to resolve global and 
local problems; 
11.  research activities on knowledge 
management and knowledge networks 
topics; 
12.  increased quality of product, services and 
of solutions to solve problems. 
1.  shift in enterprise’s strategy; 
2.  military conflicts which can affect the access to a 
global knowledge base; 
3.  political problems unsolved and others which may 
appear; 
4.  cultural differences; 
5.  legislative changes which can affect the knowledge 
transfer; 
6.  new ICTs which will need skilled persons; 
7.  vulnerable to attacks on global knowledge 
networks;  
8.  possible misunderstandings of global knowledge 
network’s role;  
9.  attacks on knowledge base or knowledge networks 
(local, regional, national or international).  
 
The discussion about global knowledge network remains open. Its importance 
for the society is clear; the problem is how to make it real. From our point of view, the 
only solution is to connect all local knowledge bases and in this way we will have a 
global knowledge base.  
Conclusions  
The knowledge economy is that type of economic environment where 
enterprises can increase or fall based on they way in which they create, share, access, 
store and use knowledge.  
Global knowledge network is a dream which becomes slowly reality. It will 
have different communities as target groups: students, researchers, policy – makers, 
managers, experts, employees, various organizations, etc. It will represent a real help 
for them to accomplish their tasks.  
REFERENCES  
1.  Castell, M.  “The Rise of the Network Society”, Blackwell Publishing, 
2000 
2.  Nonaka, I., 
Takeuchi, H. 
“The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese 
Companies Create the Dynamic of Innovation”, Oxford 
University Press, New York, 1995 
3.  Von Krogh, 
G., Ichijo, K., 
Nonaka, I. 
“Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the 
Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of 
Innovation”, Oxford University Press, New York, 2000 
 

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE NETWORK – A SWOT APPROACH

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