HRD In The Knowledge Economy

South Africa is considered a developing African country where economic development has been influenced by global economic trends and distortions in the economy that occurred under colonial and apartheid governments during the 20th century (Turok, 2008). Consequently, the South African economy was unprepared for its re-entry into the global economy after 1990, so today the country attempts to compete with other countries on the basis of an under-developed socio-economic infrastructure (Abbott, Goosen and & Coetzee, 2013).

Traditionally, there are three economic sectors in a country i.e. agriculture; the primary sector, manufacturing; the secondary sector, and services; the tertiary sector. The knowledge economy is known at the quaternary

In that way HRD will add value to the knowledge economy (Harrison and Kessels, 2004). According to Davenport, Prusak & Wilson (2003), SHRD aligns the organisations business goals and specific knowledge, as well as facilitating the merging of various knowledge elements to ensure sustained competitive advantage. Whicker and Andrews (2014) identified some of the key challenges of HRD in the knowledge economy; (1) becoming expert in identifying and defining strategic knowledge capabilities; (2) developing and managing knowledge workers; (3) building knowledge value as an organization and an asset; and (4) minimizing knowledge risk. These are described in detail

• Unique - knowledge resources that are rare or unique may offer a competitive advantage;
• Valuable knowledge – knowledge that can be utilized to create value in the marketplace which in turn benefits the organisation;

HR practitioners must have a superior and holistic comprehension of what contributes to productivity in the knowledge economy, as this will direct the organisations business and human resources strategy. Although technology and knowledge management processes boosting productivity, the importance of knowledge networks and collaboration in driving advancement must not be overlooked as it will lead to a new appreciation of what effective human resource management strategies in key focus areas can do, in particular in supporting creativity, leveraging existing knowledge and in acquiring new knowledge (Schramm,