Research Commentary: Toward the 24-Hour Knowledge Factory - a Prognosis of Practice and a Call for Concerted Research

The term "24-Hour Knowledge Factory" connotes a geographically dispersed team of workers in which members of the team are able to work on specific endeavors on a round- the-clock basis. A professional could work in the US on a standard 9 am to 5 pm basis. At the end of his or her workday, the activity is transferred to a colleague in China who works during daytime in that country. At the end of the latter's workday, the work is transferred to a third colleague in Poland or Romania, who in turn will pass the baton 8 hours later to the first worker in the US. Each member of the team works during the normal workday hours that pertain to his or her time zone. The use of sequential workers that underpins the concept of 24-Hour Knowledge Factory has some similarity to the shift-style workforce that evolved in the manufacturing sector as an adjunct to the industrial revolution. Just as the latter concept had a profound impact on the entire manufacturing sector, we argue that the concept of 24-Hour Knowledge Factory will have a major impact on the entire field of information systems, and that more research is needed in this area. The concept of 24-Hour Knowledge Factory is relevant for semi-structured work in both the IS arena as well as in other professional arenas such as finance, product development, marketing, and medicine. The proposed areas of research can help to create the IS infrastructure for supporting applications in these diverse arenas.