The supply and demand for strategic information

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the role of strategic information in the process of analyzing and understanding a specific company. Special emphasis is given to how forward‐looking information becomes important in relation to establishing a perception of market value by financial sell‐side analysts.Design/methodology/approach – The empirical part of the paper is based on semi‐structured interviews with financial analysts, fund managers, and the top management team from a large medical device company listed on a Scandinavian Stock Exchange. The case company is internationally renowned for its state‐of‐the‐art business reporting.Findings – It is shown how the three parties produce and consume strategic information and apply it in the process of analyzing and understanding the company and how strategic information plays markedly different roles across the groups participating in the market for information. It was specifically found that understanding the stock price and the company were two d...