In the corporate environment, knowledge comprises information, forecasts and trends, analyses and research findings on products and processes, customers, suppliers and markets, experiences of failures and successes, among various other business details. Unlike material assets, which decrease with consumption, the value of knowledge as an asset increases in direct proportion to its application; shared knowledge remains intact with the giver even as it enriches the receiver. Ideas breed experiences.

Implicit knowledge is invisible and, often, confined to the mind of a person. It is hard to codify and, therefore, difficult to communicate to others. Transformation of knowledge from the implicit to the explicit increases its usability and visibility. But capturing the implicit (often intuitive) knowledge that resides within an expert in the form of know-how and insights is very difficult and challenging.

Implicit and explicit knowledge are not discrete or separate categories. They are so heavily linked as to be practically bipolar and nearly impossible to map. For example, to completely understand a written document (explicit knowledge) it requires a significant amount of insight and experience (implicit knowledge) - like a machine drawing which is indecipherable to a person without an engineering background.

What are the implications of this for industry and trade? The three traditional factors of production - land, labour and capital - are relatively easier to handle in the 21st century. The new fourth factor,