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The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of marketing of information products and services in university libraries in Kenya.

The paper utilises literature surveys of currently published articles and the researcher's professional experience.

Marketing is a basic and essential management process for promoting information products and services in university libraries in Kenya, but it is not given the attention it deserves and/or is poorly coordinated. Marketing avails university libraries the unique opportunity to provide quality, and demand‐based and user‐oriented information products and services.

The paper used mainly literature surveys of currently published articles and the researcher's professional experience.

The paper offers reasons, strategies or initiatives and recommendations on how to make university libraries the destination for the user population. In this respect, university libraries should be proactively involved in marketing of information products and services to the user population.

University libraries in Kenya should involve themselves actively in marketing and promotion of information products and services to the information audience. This helps to create awareness among the user population leading to increased use of information products and services in the libraries.

The paper highlights various marketing initiatives of making university libraries in Kenya the destination for the user population. Also, the paper explores recent innovative strategies for marketing information products and services. Marketing helps university libraries to: market and promote information products and services, provide innovative products and services, understand the needs and demands of the information audience or user population, plan service provision, and provide efficient and effective information products and services.

Marketing intelligence is seen as a vital part of any organisation's ability to compete now and in the future. It is established through “procedures and sources used by executives to obtain their everyday information about pertinent developments in the marketing environment” (Kotler, 1984). The detail discussed here considers how Du Pont UK executives can improve their knowledge of their marketing environment so as to enable them to make more effective strategic decisions in the future. To do this, they need information, but they also need to reveal by analysis the messages this information contains — in fact, their goal — i.e. marketing intelligence.

Computerised marketing information systems have been discussed in the marketing and information systems literature for some time. Looks at the extent to which they have been implemented in the UK and concludes that they are still in their infancy. A schema for a marketing information system is presented together with some pitfalls in design that must be avoided. Discussion finally turns to how such an information system may be used.

The aim of the following discussion is to present the division of markets into marketplace and marketspace and evaluate the significance of virtual value chains in opening up further possibilities in the marketplace and marketspace. Against this background, it will, second, be argued that information becomes a factor of success in its own right in competition in future markets. However, in order to activate information, marketing is forced to adapt to the conditions of information networks in the virtual marketplace (marketspace). Third, it will be discussed that marketing must develop into information‐based marketing. It will particularly be considered what demands are put on the information‐based market in order to achieve real competitive advantages in marketspace from the factor of production information.

Taiwan OTC market is an electronic, order driven, call market. The purpose of this paper is to gain understanding of whether trade size or number of transaction provides more information on explaining price volatility and market liquidity in this market. The paper also aims to investigate how market condition can affect the relationship between information type and trading activities.

The paper uses data from the Taiwan OTC market to run the empirical tests. It divides firms into five size groups based on their market capitalization. Regression equations are run to test: whether number of transactions has a more significant impact on price volatility on the Taiwan OTC market; the impact of market information on number of transactions; the relative impact of firm specific and market information on number of transactions; and the impact of number of transaction of bid‐ask spread.

Findings show that the larger the number of transactions, the higher the price volatility. Smaller firms on the Taiwan OTC market are traded based on firm‐specific information. This relation is further affected by market trends. Especially for the larger firms, when the market is up and the amount of market information increases, number of transactions increases. When the market is down and the amount of market information increases, number of transactions decreases. Finally, it is found spread size is more likely to be influenced by number of transactions, instead of trade size. Overall, based on these empirical results, the information content of number of transactions seems to be higher than that of trade size in the Taiwan OTC market.

Investors now understand that number of transaction actually carry more information than trade size does.

The relation between market information and number of transaction, also that between market information and trade size is influenced by market condition. The paper fills a gap in the literature to show that market condition has an impact on the relation between information type and trader's behavior. A number of transactions are identified that provide more information than trade size does. It is also shown that market conditions can further affect the impact of information on trading activities.

At the very core of Marketing Information Systems (MkIS) design is the identification of the marketing information needs of decision‐makers. Information needs can be defined as the user specifications of information characteristics involved in information seeking, and refer to those qualities of information perceived by managers to be “useful” to facilitate their decision making. Drawing on empirical results from three sets of literature and from studies of information systems design (particularly management and accounting information systems design), the authors review a framework for exploring the design of an MkIS. A qualitative study examining the information needs of senior marketing executives is also reported and discussed. The results, based on interviews with 20 senior marketing executives, indicate that marketing information needs can be defined using six information characteristics.

Learning about whether target markets face search, experience, or credence situations when assessing a company′s product or service can help in formulating more effective marketing strategies. Depending on the information situation of the targets, a company may want to vary the information content and amount of its advertising, its use of brand names and warranties, its emphasis on personal selling, and other elements of its marketing program. Offers several propositions to guide marketing decision making.

In view of the growing importance of information for the development of commerce, industry and research the Commission has undertaken, since 1975, various initiatives aiming at strengthening the position of the European information industry. Community actions in this area form part of a comprehensive Community policy in the fields of information technologies, telecommunications and information market. The development toward an information society and the eminent importance of this development for the services industries have in recent years led to a steady reinforcement of Community initiatives in this area. The Community initiatives in information market development can be seen as an effort to establish an efficient link between knowledge generation and knowledge application.

The purpose of the work is to verify the offered hypothesis and to develop a new model of macro-economic balance, adapted to peculiarities of information economy.

The methodology of the research is based on equilibrium approach to studying socio-economic phenomena and processes. According to this approach, in order to determine the balance in information economy, the methods of abstracting and modeling of economic systems are used. The theoretical basis of the chapter is the classical macro-economic balance in “AD–AS” model (aggregate demand–aggregate supply model).

The research concluded that information economy envisages high specificity of the main commodity market – market of information as a product – and that behavior of sellers and buyers cannot be described correctly with the help of the classical two-dimensional model of demand and offer in macro-economics. In order to solve this problem, the author presents a new three-dimensional model of balance, which is adapted to peculiarities of information economy. This model shows that the aggregate demand and supply of information as a product in information economy depends not only on the level of market price for information but also on its value and preservation of its uniqueness. So apart from striving for lowest prices, consumers are interested in purchasing the most valuable information, which is not sold by sellers and is not available in the market. The market has only information that has no critical value for its owners and economy on the whole.

The author’s three-dimensional model of balance, adapted to peculiarities of information economy, is recommended for application.

The changes to be expected in the marketing field as information technology becomes a more widely accepted phenomenon are highlighted. Specifically, attention is focused on the observable, invisible and evolutionary effects such developments have on the marketing scenario. The analysis incorporates a set of recommendations.