In order to look at the way knowledge-centric companies of the 21^st century will look like, it would be appropriate to look at the knowledge intensive sector - pharmaceutical companies, IT, Research, Consulting etc. Eli Lilly may be an excellent example for this. Eli Lilly, the "specialty pharmaceutical company", always had a focus on very complex and sophisticated drugs. The Critical Care Unit of Eli Lilly is responsible for all products sold to the hospitals. <See also Eli Lilly Case Study>.

What is then marketing for Eli Lilly?
What does it mean to market a highly complex product to specialists?
And what kind of company Critical Care has to be, to face the challenges of the new Knowledge Economy?

In the 20^th century rapid automation replaced physical human work with machines. The computers replaced repetitive and standard tasks with automatic processes. Today, hardware is amply available, corporate software is efficient, and the processes are optimized and standardized throughout the industry. So, what is left for a company to be different? And where should the management focus their efforts to maximize returns? What long term, strategic advantage is left in a automated and computerized Knowledge Economy?

CULTURE AS THE LAST LONG TERM DIFFERENTIATOR

"One great idea does not make a great company" - a competitor may copy processes, software, and technology ideas within weeks. A company will stay ahead only if it develops the ability to create innovative processes, technologies and ideas continuously. The only thing that cannot be imitated in the short term by your competitors is the culture of your organization, and this will be the only competitive advantage in the new knowledge economy. Critical Care has been able to evolve this culture over the years to derive maximum benefits from their collaboration work place. Working together and communicating over the layer have become an integral part of their organization.

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MEET WHEN WORKING AND WORK WHEN MEETING

Imagine a world where employees work the full day and don't spend any time in meetings. And imagine a world, where employees are constantly in meetings, from early morning till evening. Combine and you will see how a knowledge worker's day may soon look like. A world, where you would even be often in many meetings at the same time. In the physical world, you can be at one meeting at a time, and it is difficult to work during a meeting.

Today's typical working style is, that employees work on a computer and meet separately. The computer serves as an "extension of the brain" and helps to process and organize your information and knowledge. Then a group of people meet and exchange and discuss their information and knowledge. The meeting participants print out knowledge, interact, exchange, and synchronize. Synchronization is an essential part of collective work and becomes more and more important, the more complex the issues and domains, and the more people involved in a project.

In future, the complexity of work and knowledge domains may require, that we co-work and synchronize constantly within networks of people. This is not possible in the physical world, but in cyberspace. The computer, or rather the net or 'layer' will be the collective brain of the 21^st century company. All people involved in a project, will exchange, meet virtually, work collectively on the same pieces. The 21^st century company will meet in the workspace and work in the meeting space. And the barriers that the real world poses will break and work will become much more exciting and path-breaking.

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