Economics

The determination of costs and especially the assessment of benefits of KM and KMS is still in its infancy. Many authors have contributed to the description and explanation of the substantial differences between standard economic theory and information economics. Examples are negligible marginal costs or network effects (e.g., Gersbach 1991, Hirshleifer/Riley 1992, Lehner et al. 1995, 179). Our understanding of the economics of knowledge or competence is even more “primitive” than our understanding of information economics (Teece 1998a, 291).