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This article presents a set of techniques to measure and analyse the structure of the information economy of a country using input‐output methods. Published national data bases for many countries fail to identify the information economy and the focus has been on the measurement of conventional sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and services. However, it is now widely recognised that the information sector is emerging as a major force in the restructuring and growth of many economies in the world. The measurement and analysis of this information economy is invaluable for proper policy formulation in this information age. The article demonstrates the operational nature of the techniques proposed herein, by their application to Australia and a few developing economies in the Pacific.

Public information disclosure is a manifestation of transparency and contributes to governance-by-disclosure. Also, better financial reporting can improve the credibility and integrity of public finances and contribute to a better management of public resources. A survey was carried out in Cyprus of users’ of public financial reports concerning an expectation gap about the types of information included in such reports (information needs expectation gap) as well as the quality of such information (information quality satisfaction gap). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Two focus groups of users and preparers of public financial reports were used to construct the questionnaire. Users of such reports, who belonged to all three categories of public sector financial reporting identified by IPSASB, were surveyed. The quantitative data obtained was analysed using SPSS and quadrant analysis to answer the research questions posed.

Data from 101 respondents confirmed that each of the information needs identified in the IPSASB Consultation Paper (2008) was rated as being a significant information need. Data analysis also showed that both types of expectation gap exist, especially as far as local authority and semi-public organisations are concerned.

The response rate in the self-administered survey was admittedly rather low but it was not unexpected mainly due to the survey’s very specialised nature and the tendency by people in Cyprus not to critique public bodies.

Deficient financial public sector reporting means the auditor general is not able to adequately express an opinion on public spending at the local government level. This, in turn, means taxpayers do not get the quality of services they pay for. At the same time, the lack of information transparency means corrupt practices are not eradicated. One answer to the problem would be legislating the content of public financial reports.

The lack of governance-by-public exposure means that services to the local community cost a lot more, due to corruption and inefficiency. In addition, it contributes to lowering market confidence and eventually contributes to financial crisis at the national level.

The survey conducted was the first of its kind in Cyprus to investigate financial public sector reporting and document both manifestations of the expectation gap. In addition, information needs identified in the IPSASB Consultation Paper (2008) was rated as significantly needed and this is the first time it has been done in Eurozone member state and in a country facing a financial crisis.

Many and varied information sources are used by researchers and managers across sectors relevant to public policy development. When aggregated, these sources can be described in terms of sector‐specific information landscapes. This paper describes results from a survey that investigated such landscapes and relates them to the working practices of those for whom they were relevant. This is achieved through the use of co‐word or co‐term analysis, a technique derived from actor‐network theory. This technique allows for the production of graphic plots of normalised free text term pairs, which take into account inclusiveness. The results suggest that knowledge communities can be identified by this technique.

The purpose of this paper is to first, describe the origins and evolution of electronic information products and services for the business community in Spain and second, to analyze the current distribution of today’s market players.

This study is based on a review of the scholarly literature about the information industry, on Spanish annuals and directories about databases, on related legislation, and on the broad experience of the authors who have worked in this field since the 1980s.

The early days of the business information industry in Spain developed precariously, in comparison to other parts of the world. Furthermore, the supply of information was almost entirely monopolized by the public administration. Nevertheless, the structure and market players have been completely reorganized, starting in the 1980s, leading to today’s totally transformed panorama.

Three main factors can explain this evolution: first, growth in the creation of new companies; second, processes of mergers and acquisitions; third, recent consolidation of a group of companies that re-use information generated by the public sector. Their activities have been stimulated by legislative initiatives over the past eight years that promote and regulate this market.

This paper aims to explore the influence of specific characteristics of the public sector in developing countries (i.e. a low‐institutional capacity, a limited involvement of stakeholders, and high levels of corruption and informality), and of reforms of this sector, on public sector performance measurement (PSPM).

Based on a review of prior literature, the paper develops understanding of the demand for and supply of performance information in developing countries, and of changes in this area.

The paper argues that public sector organisations in developing countries are likely to face an unbalanced position, i.e. disequilibrium between the demand for and supply of performance information. More precisely, the public sector reforms – which are partly stimulated by a growing involvement of some stakeholders – lead to an increasing demand for performance information but, because of the low‐institutional capacity and the high level of corruption, this increasing demand is not always followed by a sufficient supply of performance information. This leads to an “unsatisfied demand” position.

The paper concludes with an overview of issues related to PSPM in a developing country context that require further investigation.

The arguments presented in this paper are summarised in an overview of factors that influence the demand for and supply of performance information in the public sector in developing countries. This overview might be helpful to those who are involved in the design of performance measurement systems in these countries.

So far, relatively little is known about PSPM in a developing country context. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap.

The following is an introductory profile of the fastest growing firms over the three-year period of the study listed by corporate reputation ranking order. The business activities in which the firms are engaged are outlined to provide background information for the reader.

Purpose – This paper examines the extent to which Saudi listed companies report online information about their corporate governance practice in light of the guidance issued by the Saudi Arabian Capital Market Authority (SACMA), thereafter.

Methodology – We adopted a content analysis approach, accordingly a corporate governance disclosure index is developed to analyse the content of every company's website.

Findings – We found that the majority of Saudi listed companies utilise the Internet to communicate some information about corporate governance to their stakeholders. We also found that the level of online reporting of corporate governance varies between sectors. In particular, the paper revealed that the banking sector has the highest level of corporate governance disclosure compared with other sectors. On the other side, companies in the industry and service sectors provide very little information about corporate governance on their websites. The results suggest that the nature of control over the sector, the involvement of government in the ownership and management of businesses and some social assumptions could have an impact on companies’ decision to disclose online information about their corporate governance in developing countries.

Practical implications – The importance of investigating online reporting of corporate governance in Saudi Arabia emerges from the fact that SACMA published a guidance in 2006 that recommends the disclosure of corporate governance information by Saudi listed companies. Therefore, it would be worthwhile informing SACMA about the extent of compliance with the guidance of corporate governance. This is essential taking into consideration two facts: first, the recent remarkable growth of the Saudi stock market which was accompanied by significant increase in the demand for additional information by stakeholders; second, the recent increase of the utilisation of the Internet by companies for disclosure purposes worldwide. Further, the results of this research study could add to our limited knowledge about the practice of corporate governance in developing countries.

Originality/value – This paper contributes to the limited literature on disclosure practices in developing countries in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular. Our review of the literature revealed that there is no study to date on online disclosure of corporate governance in Saudi Arabia and very limited research has been carried out in developing countries in general. This is important taking into consideration environmental factors of developing countries, which could bring different sight in the issue of the disclosure of corporate governance.

The purpose of this paper is to study the status and trend of intellectual capital disclosures by selected companies in India. Three categories of intellectual capital disclosures across six industry groups were measured. The relation of the three categories of disclosures, i.e. human capital, relational capital and structural capital disclosures with the measures of organisational performance such as sales, R&D, R&D intensity, net profit and export intensity has also been studied.

Based on National Industrial Classification 2008, six sectors, namely pharmaceutical, basic metals, industrial manufacturing, energy, financial services and information technology were included in the study and 20 companies were selected from each sector based on the availability of data from 2004-2005 to 2013-2014, thus, making a sample of 1,200 firm-years. For collecting the data, a list of keywords related to various dimensions of intellectual capital was prepared and the count of keywords was searched in the annual reports of the companies.

Significant and positive trend coefficients were found in the majority of the sectors. Analysis revealed that trend coefficients differed across various sectors indicating the presence of sector specificity. Results of trend analysis reveal that structural capital-related disclosures have stagnated in case of pharmaceutical sector after hitting the peak. Significant variations were found across sectors in terms of all three types of intellectual capital disclosures. Results of study empirically support the fact that intellectual capital disclosures tend to increase with size of the organisation.

As data have been collected from annual reports of the companies, the accuracy of the findings is limited to the accuracy of the reported data.

The study is an original piece of work. This study provides an insight into the disclosure trend of intellectual capital in an emerging economy.

This paper aims to address the recent trends and developments relating to the re‐use of public sector information (PSI) and open government data.

It starts from the European Commission's Digital Agenda, which stressed the importance of opening up access to content to promote the single market. While the 2003 PSI directive has contributed to this, barriers to the re‐use of PSI still remain, often based on a lack of awareness with public sector data holders and users. Some of these barriers are currently being challenged by the open government data (OGD) movement. While this movement has comparable objectives to the PSI directive, it is based on different arguments. This raises the question of how the two approaches relate.

The paper argues that the proponents of the re‐use of PSI and OGD should join forces to promote the availability of public sector data.

In this way, the public sector can be encouraged to rethink its information policy and move to a more coherent view on how data can be used to increase the benefits for the information society and the market for digital content.

Reports that there are increasing trends towards the commercialisation of public sector information. Explains the concepts of information trading and discusses the role of the public sector. Describes three case studies within the UK government. Identifies the lack of a uniform approach to information trading within UK government departments in terms of attitudes to information provision, information costing and pricing and the resourcing of an information trading function. Discusses issues concerning the national and departmental policy on information distribution and trading; the resourcing and management of information technology to support the information trading function; the development of an information‐aware culture within the government and its departments and the development of contractual relationships with marketing agents within the private sector. Examines the effect of online information provision on information trading. Discusses the application of agency theory to the study of the role of marketing agents and identifies their importance in the development of a public sector information trading market. Concludes that there is a lack of clear direction for government departments concerning information trading.