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European Union member countries experienced a decrease in the macroeconomic performance during the early stages of the economic and debt crisis. Significant deterioration in the fiscal stance as one of the primary implications of the economic recession revealed questions associated with fiscal sustainability in terms of threshold levels of fiscal deficit and sovereign debt that individual countries can sustain over longer period of time (Wöhlbier, Astarita, & Mourre, 2014).

Dependence of economic competitiveness on ICT has been proven in the studies at enterprise level by e.g. Dedrick et al. (2003), and at macroeconomic level by e.g. Niebel (2014). All studies collectively appraise the positive influence of ICT sector development. Nowadays, employing ICT both into enterprises and state administration is a great step towards increasing productivity and therefore, economic competitiveness (Antlova et al., 2011).

Banks are fi nancial institutions that mediate payments, provide loans and take deposits from clients. The banking system has become an important component in the economic sector of each country. Like other industries, the banking industry has its own unique characteristics and specifi cs that adapt to internal and external influences economic sector. Each country requires a reliable and stable banking system to assure the proper functioning of the economy. The problems in the banking sector will likely have an impact on the entire financial sector.

One of the most common problems with health care systems around the world is that the cost of running them tends to increase at higher rate than the rate of inflation (see Glied & Smith, 2013). This has led among others to the introduction of visit fees by governments and/or public as well as private health care facilities and other health care providers.

Knowledge is considered as a critical strategic resource for organizations in the contemporary knowledge-intensive economy. According to the resource based view of firms, one among other sources of firm’s competitive advantage is knowledge. Research shows that knowledge sharing is a key enabler of knowledge management (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Alavi & Leidner, 2001). Many organizations assert knowledge sharing vital to exploit core competencies and to achieve sustained competitive advantage.