Chapter 1: Communities of Practice: Expanding the View

In this chapter, the authors discuss the important role that CoPs play in a knowledge economy – as engines of economic growth. The chapter includes both historical and current examples of CoPs. The authors highlight the importance of learning from practical applications today and make the case for expanding the traditional model of a CoP and placing situated learning at the heart of a new model. Furthermore, the chapter advances the argument for looking beyond organizational boundaries to see the full spectrum and nature of CoPs.

Over the past 70 years, the economy has shifted from an advanced industrial economy to a knowledge‐based economy. In an industrial economy, physical capital (land, equipment, buildings), and financial capital were the primary factors of production and source of wealth. A knowledge economy is one in which knowledge is capital and is equivalent to the raw materials, labor, and financial capital of the industrial economy (Carlaw et al., 2006). Houghton and Sheehan (2000) suggest that a knowledge economy is one in which knowledge generation and exploitation are the predominant sources of wealth creation. Powell and Snellman (2004) suggest that knowledge will fuel our 21st‐century economic systems.