Abstract:

The title mentioned above may seem a little trivial, but it hides a problem considered to be crucial. This problem concerns entire societies, not only an individual person, or a group of people. With no doubts KBE (Knowledge – based economy) gives us a lot of positive results, but there are also some negative consequences of this phenomenon. The permanent process of transition from the industrial economy to the knowledge – based economy, from the industrial to the information society is the issue. As clearly visible, also in Poland, such transition does not proceed in a gentle way. Not everyone has the abilities and opportunities to make their knowledge much better. On the other hand, there are people, who want to study, not for pure knowledge but to acquire a diploma of higher education, making the unemployment level of people with higher education growing much higher. Therefore, another problem of a contemporary knowledge must be faced, that is its … MCDonaldization (McDonald's is one of the most influential developments in 20th century America. George Ritzer's book entitled “McDonaldization of Society” thesis argued that contemporary life is succumbing to the standardization, flexibility and practicability of fast-food service. Ritzer outlines five dominant themes within this McDonaldization process: Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Increased Control, and the Replacement of Human by Non-human Technology ) - yet, this is a separate topic.

The aim of the article is to systematize the chances and the threats of KBE in the contemporary information society. In the article, a different approach to the management of knowledge is presented as well as the directions of its development. The article make an attempt to compares the concept of the knowledge management with the concept of the intellectual capital. The information tools perform a crucial role in the implementation of the knowledge management. The application of these tools are considered in the treatise. The knowledge management supports the functions of the knowledge-based economy, digitalisation, computerisation. The creation of the modern structures of the future economy (eg. clusters, fractal or virtual organisations) by the government and by the business institutions has a significant impact on the state economy.