V. Pekka-Economou,
University of Piraeus
email : vic_pec@yahoo.com

S. Hadjidema,
University of Piraeus

Abstract
Knowledge management has attracted much attention by the business world and has been acknowledged as the most important resource and capability of modern firms’ and organizations’ advancement. Knowledge is developed and evolved through time and widened via education and learning. It can be implemented through human capital, which is the key component not only for innovation and growth of firms and organizations, but also for their successful sustainability in the long term. Knowledge- creating companies’ excellence and success comes from carefully cultivated attitudes, commitments, and management roles and practices that accumulated gradually and steadily. Education facilitates new-knowledge generation and learning, in the context of innovative product and service development as knowledge-creating companies are those whose basic responsibility is continuous innovation.
Learning enables modern organizations to renew themselves and keep up with the intensive competition they face. Furthermore, firms which are learning faster and more effective than their competitors may establish and fully exploit a source of sustainable competitive advantage in the new competitive markets.
This paper aims at analyzing the way education and learning will facilitate modernization and enhance competitiveness of firms and organizations. Additionally, knowledge-creating companies’ pioneering managerial recommendations, organizational devices and business practices will be produced as conclusion of the article.

Keywords: education, knowledge, learning, human factor, competitive advantage,