Knowledge economy determined by cultural dimensions

The forthcoming transformation of the materialistically based paradigm, which is growing into post-materialistic paradigm, is associated with new approaches to economy and management. Enterprises must deal with new problems and challenges in the global environment. The globalization may be characterized by global flows of capital, goods, discontinuous changes and particularly information in the economic environment. In these conditions it begins to talk about a "new" economy - a knowledge economy.The paper is based on the research project of the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia ?Human Resource management of small and medium-sized enterprises?[039/2013/S] and also on data, which was gained from cooperation with students.The knowledge economy has recently been increasingly discussed topic and it can be defined in many precise and exhaustive definitions. One of the new approaches may be its defining via cultural dimensions of G. Hofstede. These cultural dimensions also determine the status of the corporate culture. The corporate culture (together with an atmosphere, which it creates) can have a positive or a negative impact on all the activities in the enterprise. It may therefore contribute to maintenance the competitiveness and better efficiency. Among the desirable cultural dimensions of knowledge economy are the small power distance supporting the transfer of knowledge. Collectivism, which is related to synergies of leading teams as well as to use of tacit knowledge. Femininity with its atmosphere of trust, allowing the development of human potential and care for the quality of life and the environment which leads to the corporate social responsibility. And the acceptance of changes arising from discontinuous flows of the globalization. And the long-term orientation, which is associated with the investment in human capital.The aim of the paper is finding out the state of transformation of surveyed enterprises into the knowledge economy.