Internet-based companies such as Amazon, Facebook, and Tencent hold an enormous amount of consumer data that are utilized to create business value via big data analytics. Although some companies use big data to provide professional services, such as targeted advertising and product recommendations, according to the current CAS, IFRS, and U.S. GAAP accounting standards, these assets are not recognized as assets since they are generated internally. This paper starts with a discussion of how Amazon, Facebook, Tencent, and Walmart use big data to create value for their businesses and then argues why it makes sense to recognize big data as intangible assets. Possible methods of data asset evaluation and their implications for business managers are also explored.

National innovation is important for driving a country’s long-term economic growth and identifying social problem solutions. However, while some countries maintain favorable policies for promoting innovation, some seem to fall behind. In addition, a country’s innovation policies may change over time. In this study, we examine when and why policy-makers change innovation policies. Specifically, we draw on performance feedback theory to theorize how aspirations for national innovation may affect a country’s innovation policies. Based on the data of member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), we find that when national innovation output is below the level of aspiration, policy-makers improve policies to attract private R&D investment (expand public R&D investment) if national private R&D investment (national public R&D investment) is also below the aspiration levels. However, the shortfalls in national private or public R&D investment alone do not motivate policy-makers to take any action. Such findings provide strong implications for policy-makers and innovators in both the private and public sectors.