The classic way knowledge capital was created and transferred within an industrial economy was through apprenticeship models. Young workers gained their knowledge through working with older 'knowledge' workers. There is no better way to gain knowledge than through learning by asking, watching, doing. The result is that while knowledge capital is more important than ever for the success of a modern organisation, the old models for creating and passing on knowledge have been in severe decline. The new model, which organisations must become proficient at, is the content model.
Content is to the information economy as oil is to the industrial economy.
It is the key resource - the key way that knowledge capital is expressed. Strangely, within most organisations the true benefits and costs of content are very poorly understood and measured. The discipline of knowledge management has sought to bring a more scientific view to content - to how knowledge is created and managed. There is little real success so far. They know it is important.