The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

xxiv The Network Society
scholars and politicians that contributed to this fruitful exchange of
ideas and analysis, provides what he suggests to be guidelines for
enacting policies in the Information Age. For Jorge Sampaio, in this
context, the clear formulation of strategic guidelines and, above all,
making decisions at the right time and on the basis of knowledge of
the current economic and social trends are absolutely crucial for stimulating
and monitoring the necessary changes. In other words: full
exploitation of the information technologies with a view to modernizing
companies, the public administration and the state itself can only
be achieved if, before this, in each one of the principal fields of economic
and social life, the main barriers associated with the conventional
organizational models and modes of operation are examined.
Without organizational innovation, technological innovation will
never constitute a development factor and effective source of competitiveness.
Jorge Sampaio argues that in countries characterized by high
degrees of dualism and asymmetry, the role of the state in creating the
infrastructural and support conditions for industrial activity, paying
particular attention to the universe of the small and medium-sized
enterprises, becomes perhaps even more indispensable than in other
contexts. However, state intervention, though necessary, is far from
enough. The role of the business community is indispensable in
preparing any national economy for successful entry into the age of
the information society and globalization. This is because, in the final
analysis, it is the enterprises that, depending on a given institutional
framework and the stock of skills available in the employment system,
will actively contribute to adding vale to the wealth accumulated by
an economy.
This is a book on knowledge and policy, two ends of the same
process of managing our lives. Only their fruitful combination can
allow a better understanding and a better life for our societies. That is
the challenge of the network society.
Gustavo Cardoso and Manuel Castells