posted on 2012-09-26, 11:57authored byMohammad J. Arif
The main aim of this study is to investigate the provision and use of
industrial information in Saudi Arabia, to compare it with
corresponding patterns in the UK, and to examine what conclusions
follow from this comparison for the information infrastructure in Saudi
Arabia. To achieve this aim four main objectives have been established:
(1) to determine what major information services are available to Saudi
and British industry; (2) to examine the level of service and relevance
of the information provided; (3) to investigate how aware industries are
of information services and to what extent they use them; (4) to look
for differences in the use of information services as a function of the
type of firm concerned. The major focus of the work is on provision
and use of this information in Saudi Arabia. It is not intended as a
comprehensive overview of all business information in the UK.
The first stage of the methodology involved a questionnaire survey
distributed to Saudi manufacturing firnls in the building, chemical and
metals industries. For the UK, the same industries were selected, and
the size and distribution of the sample surveyed were chosen so as to
parallel the Saudi sample. The second stage of the methodology
involved a series of interviews carried out in both Saudi Arabia and the
UK with the main information providers cited by the respondents.
The main findings of this study show that Saudi firms tap a greater
number of government information sources than Britishfirms do, but
the latter use more non-government sources. This difference reflects
the stronger emphasis on information provision by the government in
Saudi Arabia, as compared with government provision in the UK.