Barbie E. Keiser October 2006

Barbie E. Keiser October 2006
Business and corporate information literacy: Mining the web for business and information tools Barbie E. Keiser October 2006

The premise Knowledge workers typically spend 25% of their workweek seeking and analyzing information How much more productive could your organization be if workers were better prepared? What opportunities has your organization lost? As a company, what could/should you do?

The solution Cultivate information literacy
What this does for your organization For your industry For your country

What is information literacy?
The ability to recognize when there is a need for information To determine what information is needed to make the decision To be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at-hand

Socio-economic and political development are best advanced by…
People who recognize their need for information and can identify, locate, access, evaluate, and apply the needed information Entities that organize and manage information so that their employees, suppliers, customers, and joint-venture partners can easily access and use it

In an information literate society
Benefits Citizenry that can actively participate in government decision-making Ability to use e-government opportunities Value Media-literate, informed voters Productivity Citizens Government

An informtion literate industry
Benefits Easy access to industry from those abroad Informed potential pool of investors Value Increased foreign trade and foreign direct investment

An information literate entity
Benefits More efficient workforce, experiencing less frustration Individual companies able to take advantage of opportunities in an expeditious manner Value Productivity of workers Options for teleworking (telecommuting)

If the premise is… Knowledge workers typically spend 25% of their workweek seeking and analyzing information Then your job must be to reduce the time it takes for knowledge workers to find and analyze information

How do you accomplish that?
Support, encourage, and invest in lifelong learning Build industry-specific portals with an information literacy component Customize generic education/training programs for your specific industry Organize and maintain organizational caches of information Understand that policies can influence practice Arrange both formal and informal education and training opportunities that are easily accessible to all (employees, suppliers, customers) with built-in guidance functions for novice/occasional users

What can we do today? Provide a framework for identifying what business information is needed concerning markets, industries, companies, products, and services Review what information is available (and what is not), which resources have value-added content and unique data, and how to get the most for your money (trade-offs) Demonstrate techniques for finding quality resources and identifying key alerting mechanisms

Three questions you should ask
Where should I go first? Where is what I want/need most likely to be? Who has done this already? Where should I go first? What will lead me to the site/resource I need? Where is what I want most likely to be: In the format that I need? At a reasonable cost (for this project/question/assignment)? Who has done this already? Experts (market researchers, investment bankers, professors) Libraries (academic, public, special, virtual) Pathfinders, research guides, & workshops Library schools Commercial sites with extensive list of useful links to reputable resources

Business information or business intelligence (BI)?
Information continuum Three levels of business intelligence Thinking globally, acting locally (& vice-versa) Drilling down, looking sideways, chaining forward, back-linking Link analysis Best/exemplary practices Monitoring Business resources Specific topics Stream of information

Objectives for any business intelligence program
Improve your ability to recognize changes that are occurring in the environment Improve monitoring efforts Deepen your knowledge Anticipate activities Be aware of shifts in focus or emphasis Interpret & clarify Determine trends and interrelationships Provide insight and understanding Deepen knowledge about what you’ve already deemed important enough to monitor, such as the activities of your competitors (so that you can anticipate their actions in future) Assessing the environment internally as well: What’s happening in your organization which may change the way your department performs? Identify strong and weak signals of change Determine key indicators and monitor them for signs that a change is occurring Are there any shifts in focus or emphasis of which you should (must) be aware? The argument for inclusion

What’s required for success
An organized approach Keeping up with the industry Knowledge of sources available, source availability options/ access requirements Use of secondary sources that lead to primary Authentication of quality content and reputability of authorship Negotiation skills (licensing) A network of people Organization of information from the users’ point of view Distinguishing information ownership from management responsibility Focused on the needs of the client Ability to manage expectations An organized approach that is flexible enough to accommodate users’ growing sophistication & changing needs Stream of information New sources and tools Knowledge of sources available, source availability options/ access requirements Skill using available tools Access to unique sources Flexibility Monitoring system Formal & informal; continuous & ongoing Sophisticated search capabilities Archived data Indicators of change News and events Existing competition as well as potential Access to unique sources (that others don’t use) Significant trends (future-oriented) Direct impact Value added A network of people, drawing on individuals’ skills

Research associated with BI can be complex
Topics may be targeted or broad Often time-sensitive Involving a combination of environmental scanning and monitoring Requiring attention to detail and innovative research strategies, with knowledge of/access to a wide range of resources, both primary and secondary Topics may be targeted or broad Strategic: Comprehensive approach to building a CI program Tactical: Ad hoc research involved in CI Requiring attention to detail and innovative research strategies, with knowledge of/access to a wide range of resources, both primary and secondary Including public records, legal and/or technical documents

When considering new tools
Diverse types Complementary (back-ups) Perils of an Internet start-up Why the good ones get acquired (and what happens afterwards) Finding aids and monitoring tools What’s right for you Diverse types Sources reviewed (subject coverage) Techniques employed Human editing Delivery options (to you) Timeliness of delivery Ease of manipulation (for others) Limitations on redistribution Security Finding aids and monitoring tools Locate Harvest Alert Distribute Analyze What’s right for you What you are doing & why (the purpose) Employing a mix Degree of control Limitations on amount received De-duping How many are involved (who, where, “preferences”) Comfort level with technology Availability Technology Tech support Funds available

Cultivating information expertise
Determine the intelligence requirements Understand what information is available (and what is not) Highlight “the best” Educate others & manage expectations Present business intelligence designed to initiate ACTION Who is asking for assistance? What do they need/want to know? How critical is this project? (timeframe & economics) Where can you find this information? How Reliable is it? Source credibility Timeliness of updates Will they be using this information? More than simply the information needed Determining what information is needed will guide you to the correct sources to consult Specifying & directing information needs Setting priorities Establishing resources Devise an intelligence gathering strategy and collection system Identify & gather critical information Locate new information sources Determine market perceptions Which media and formats to use for which type of application

Segment the industry and for each segment…
Acquire lists/directories of companies participating within each industry segment Target particular geographic areas Set financial characteristics (e.g., sales) for screening purposes Build company files; construct company profiles Compare targets qualitatively (strengths/ weaknesses; management styles; markets) and quantitatively (financials) Devise strategy(ies)

The payoff Delivery of more timely, more accurate, more focused information to those who can make the best use of it Better decision-making capabilities Reduced information source redundancy and minimal duplication of effort Savings in time, money and effort Provide relevant, timely, integrated information in the most useful format, cost-effectively Sifting the chaff from the wheat Data: Discerning what is true Truth vs. perception (and how that affects organizations) Leverage information resources to achieve full and effective use Buy once, use many times Slice and dice, vertically and horizontally Socially networked way Search tools ( Amazon.com & FOAF Design information services and technology capabilities for maximum compatibility and integration to minimize expenses and increase productivity, organization-wide

The simple business intelligence model
Collect data using a wide variety of sources and formats Organize information (and resources) for multiple uses and users Judge the value (of information and resources) Analyze the information Disseminate information, but communicate intelligence that leads to ACTION Judge the value Assist in the analysis process by determining the pertinence, reliability, and validity of information gathered Disseminate information, but communicate intelligence that leads to ACTION Weigh the options; consider the alternatives Analyzing information means determining pertinence, reliability, and validity of information gathered Communicating intelligence means Determine who receives what When (time-sensitivity issues) How (format of presentations; method of delivery)

Typical problems Responsibilities for information gathering are unclear Not comprehensive Ill-equipped information gatherers (and recipients Lacking focus No historical perspective Data by the truckload (and mostly incomplete) Lack of support (from senior management) Resistance (no time or desire to read material collected) Time mismanagement (too much on gathering, not enough on analysis) Unwillingness to share

Understanding client needs
What the client does Where information plays a role What type of information Ongoing interest vs. ad-hoc request Which sources and tools Personal preferences Level of detail Modes of delivery Frequency/timing of delivery Importance of a stream of information (particularly for discerning trends)

The Internet both changes and helps…
How information enters the public domain (and how quickly) How information is distributed (and how quickly) What decisions need to be made regarding the acceptance of information What actions need to be taken by the recipient Providing access to (global) information resources Timeliness of data/updates Economics Too much information? Too quickly? Varying quality of information available Trade-offs What decisions need to be made regarding the acceptance of information Source credibility Authenticity/authorship issues

Changing your mindset Don’t just look for electronic versions of print publications Demand added-value from each site Be aware of who is responding to questions

Fee-based resources vs. free via the WWW
Structured (fielded) data Special features (tables, lists, rankings, multicompany, case studies, forecasts) Historical framework Trend analysis Future-oriented (projections) Contact with sources Time-sensitive activities Flexibility Situation-specific May be worth the $ in terms of: Time spent Frustration levels Advanced search capabilities Ease of manipulating data Ability to download Permission to share with others

How to reach these resources
Bibliographies, guides, journals & books Personalized news sources/services Web channels & industry servers Malls and gateways Portals and vortals Global business, finance, investment & trade Industry-specific sites and searches Go direct (single sites) Virtual everything Social networking tools WWW search engines (& what you need to know about how they work) Traditional information sources Web-based business information directories, databases, portals, and pathfinders Selected news aggregators and feeds BizWiz WWW search engines (& what you need to know about how they work) Knowing when Internet directories can be more helpful Traditional information sources When print is better Economies of scale for electronic resources Access via the Web to less or more Accessing resources on vs. via the Web BizWiz.com

Search engines Caveats Indexed search services Subject directories
Meta-search engines Toolbars Region & country-specific Image handling Voice (audio) and video Pods and vods Metasearch engines Discussion boards and chats, wikis and blogs Caveats Some are better than others Size isn’t everything The freshness test Handling frames Dynamically-generated page search capability Relevancy & links Subject specificity Adding features all the time Indexed search: general and subject-specific Size isn’t everything: Surely quality in terms of ability to execute a search and retrieve highly relevant pages is more important than the fact that a search engine is large (>100 million pages) or small. Still, AltaVista, Hotbot and Northern Light remain among the largest search engines; Webcrawler among the smallest.  The freshness test: How frequently does it add new pages submitted, revisit pages in its index to eliminate dead links, and update the index? - If you are searching for recent news items, AltaVista, with its monthly refresher, will not suffice. Consider employing a news-specific service (e.g., Excite’s NewsTracker). - Excite updates its most popular pages on a weekly basis; the others every 2-3 weeks. - Lycos’ WiseWire system allows users to vote on pages they like and that should be “spidered” on a daily basis  Handling frames: A search engine must sufficiently understand a Web site’s structure. Frames-based sites may be recognized by their homepage alone. Searches employing AltaVista and Northern Light tend to retrieve Web sites that contain frames better than most search engines, displaying pages and links more successfully.  Dynamically-generated page search capability: Since the Web is constantly changing, check your results to be sure that your search engine is delivering to you homepages, multiple pages within that particular site that meet the requirements of your search string, and “dynamic” Web pages (e.g., …com/viewStory,asp?id=25) Google & Excite do a good job. A key feature for relevancy on the Web would be the number of links on a Web site. Those with many links should rank higher than those with only a few. Google & Infoseek take linkages into account when ranking results, as do Excite & AltaVista, though to a lesser degree. Vivisimo, Clusty, Teoma

Podcasts & podcasting Odeo.com Podscope Podzinger
RocketInfo ( Feedster ( Get A Podcast Podcast Directory Podfeed.net Podcast.net Podcast Alley Podcasting Station ( Podcast Pup Digital Podcast Every Podcast Podcast Empire SoundPractice.net SpeakWire Casting Words Blog Explosion ( Podcasts.Yahoo.com

Need help choosing a search engine?
Best of the Bots ( Search Engine Watch - formerly Gregg Notess ( Search Engine Showdown ( The Spider’s Apprentice ( Best Search Tools Chart ( Search Engine Relationship Chart ( NoodleTools ( Pandia Search Engine News ( VirtualSalt ( Comparing major search engines ( Phil Bradley ( Web searching tools ( Business-to-Business ( iTools ( LLRX Search Engine Comparison Chart ( Search Engine Lowdown ( Search Engine Watch Forums ( Search Engines ( Seasrch Strategies for the Internet ( ALA Toolkit ( and Public Libraries Briefcase ( Web Search Guide Comparison Charts ( WebSerch ( Searching Google Effectively ( All the Web AltaVista Google Google News Google News Alerts Teoma Yahoo ( Vivisimo Use SE Relationship chart to make certain that you are performing unique searches and not executing the same search CyberSkeptic’s Guide ( InfoToGo

Searching online: Search engines & directories
Excite Images, news, audio, video Business news on homepage AltaVista Images, news and video WebCrawler Images, news, audio and video Yellow & white pages Ask.com A9 Cydral image search ( FAST search ( Audio, video, pictures, news Wondir ( ASK ( now includes Teoma and DirectHit AlltheWeb News, pictures, video, audio Blinkx Search over 1,000,000 hours of audio, video, podcast, vlog and television content Search.com for Reference and Directory Exalead Clustering Clusty.com Vivisimo Accumo.com Yahoo Google ( vs. Use the “more like this feature” Soople Mygooglesearch Galaxy Business and Commerce Dmoz Open Directory Project About.com ( Toolbars Google, Yahoo, metaEUREKA Wondir not for business but for when you don’t know what you need (social sciences) Use advanced search capabilities (e.g., Exalead)

Finding and searching newer technologies
Blog list ( OpinMind Feedster & Daypop FindSounds.com PreFound Search4rss Waypath Podscope Blogdigger SingingFish ( IncyWincy MediaCHANNEL Podzinger Rocketinfo ( Sortbydate.com Technorati

Malls & gateways Resource Discovery Network for Business Studies ( is now Intute ( Academic Info Business Administration ( Social Science Business and Management Information Gateway (

Add-ins that will help WebWhacker (http://www.bluesquirrel.com)
Copernic WebFerret by FerretSoft Bookmarklets List All Links ( Tool bars Alert systems Google Alerts ( Web change notification Autonomy &Verity Watch That Page Infominder Watch360 ChangeDetect TrackEngine Karnak Website-Watcher ( Trackle EoMonitor ( “the complete page change monitoring service,” finds changes daily and remembers page history. Announcements of changes are sent by to paid accounts, but EoMonitor will watch up to 20 pages and 200 Netscape bookmarks for free accounts. (Paid accounts get other features and corporate accounts will monitor over 1000 pages.) EoMonitor’s Netbrief ( monitors changes in pages you identify as being important as well as it seek out new Web pages on topics you have indicated are of interest to you. This service allows you to arrange the information you find in a way that makes sense to you, publishing on a private Web site. For an example as to how this works, take a look at Daily Diffs at Bookmarklets ( lets you know when a site has last been modified. Its List All Links feature can help you identify related sites with which you might wish to link as well. Mind-it ( is “your personal Web assistant,” watching pages you select (by submitting a URL), ing you when relevant changes occur on these sites. WhizBang! Change Detector locates important content changes on Web sites ( Master.com

Keeping up with it all Sources for these services
Locator tools Internet Scout Report & NSDL ( Freepint ( Internet Resources Newsletter ( Librarians’ Index to the Internet ( Argus Clearinghouse ( BUBL ( The Virtual Chase ( LLRX.com ( ResearchBuzz Infotogo.com CyberSkeptic’s Guide ( AcademicIndex ( Current awareness alerting services Clipping services Reputation monitoring Personal Distributed Sources for these services Traditional online services Initial Web-based services (now acquired) Web-based services Using colleagues as a resource BusLib-L

Improving with age Personalization & mass customization
Globalization & media diversification Web-based search tools & technology On the Web Via the Web The Invisible Web CloserLook ( Subject specificity Media-specific CloserLook - We help you design and conduct real-time searches in this Invisible Web space in order to improve efficiency in data gathering and reduce errors in decision-making.

What’s old becomes new again
QuickBrowse Awasu CyberAlert TracerLock Webclipping NewzCrawler Nexcerpt Burrell’s Luce ( Metro Monitor News ( SearchforVideo.com Videora Feeds2Read ( Vanderbilt Television News Archive ( BlinxTV ( Newsiq Teleclip TVEyes ( Singingfish New Media Intelligence ( Clip Syndicate Critical Mention Morningside Partner ( VMS for news & ads ( FAST Tracking & Monitoring ( QuickBrowse: Quickly scan news from various publications at once. · delivery: Receive your customized paper by every morning. · Quickbrowse This: Save time with Quickbrowse This by displaying your selected articles inside a single page Awasu (TM) is a free Windows news-reader that runs in the background on your computer and monitors these sites for you. When it sees that something new has appeared, it will let you know. Awasu will also keep track of what you have already read which saves you even more time since you no longer need to search through your favorite sites for new stories.

New tools from old names
PR Newswire eWatch Flat pricing Analyst review Access clips from a secure(?) homepage NewsPrompt business & financial news from 18,000 sources PRWeb press release distribution for small business Journalists Free syndication AP (InfoDesk) Online subject catalog of sources UPI NewsTrack and Perspectives Remember Reuters TargetNews? Excite? BBC Monitoring ( AFP Direct ( Tribune (Yellowbrix & FluentMedia) Content Solutions ClariNET is now part of Yellowbrix Comtex Industry Updates & News Solutions ( Times News Tracker incorporated into TimesSelect ( Moreover Blog Monitoring Tool ( FeedDirect (general & consumer news headlines for Web sites) NorthernLight MagPortal Esmerk eWatch - Web Pubs: More than 4,700 online newspapers, e-zines, broadcast sites and portals are monitored for key words such as company name. AP InfoDesk is the easiest and least expensive way to use current awareness news and information from any source desired on desktops, on Web sites and in business applications Newsgroups: More than 66,000 Usenet groups and electronic mailing lists are monitored for coverage. Online Service Forums: Coverage includes CompuServe and America Online message boards. Investor Message Boards: Coverage includes discussion of company mentions on investor message boards on Yahoo! Finance, Motley Fool, Raging Bull and Silicon Investor. WebWatch™: Automated daily monitoring of changes in customer specified web sites. Web publications, search engines and e-zines do not apply. MagPortal Headline feeds with full-text article search allow your site users to find magazine articles on topics tailored for your website. Whether you operate a public website or an intranet site to keep your employees informed, feeds can: Keep users coming back to your site for fresh content. Make your site more dynamic without the hassle of constantly updating your pages. Provide a central location for finding relevant information. Aid users in research with access to several years' worth of articles.

Web-based services Conversation Monitoring Tracked searches
NewsLibrary ( Online news clipping ClipGenius NewsGuard CustomScoop Custom newsletters Inbox Robot Conversation Monitoring Converseon Ad tracking News Power Online ( Concentrating on Weblogs PubSub Topic blogs Intellnet ( Journalist’s Toolbox (

Why employ these tools Identify good sources that you didn’t know before Global & local New publications as they are released Commentary Convenience Incoming formatting meets your personal needs Reformatting for customized delivery to others Personal options Small Town Papers Desktop or DesktopNews WorldFlash (ticker) Pop-up Alerts (TriggerNews) Headlineviewer Summary with link to full-text Web page (NewsIndex) Sharing your personal news clips with others Crayon.net Web page Blog Small Town Papers brings the small town newspaper to the internet. View your hometown newspaper online shortly after it's published! You get the entire newspaper, including photos and ads. We can even notify you by when your favorite small town newspaper is live on the internet. We've also been working hard on a keyword searchable database of newspaper archives, stored in image form for genealogy buffs or those who miss the news from small towns. Our content dates back to the 1800's! Sign up under the "searchable archives" link at the top of the page to be informed of our progress. Don't lose touch with your small town! All newspapers are updated every week! Create your own newspaper with Crayon.Net

Options that make reputation monitors different from alerting services
What they monitor (sources and media) How they monitor (and how often) How well they improve their monitoring efforts Search & deliver functionality Flexibility Back-end support for further analysis

When choosing a news delivery service…
The type of information you need Cost limitations Presentation format Headlines Summary First paragraph (with link to full-text) Full-text Delivery mechanism(s) Scroll ticker vs. Push vs. pull vs. cast Security issues Redistribution rights Personal & shared Clipping services Current awareness Reputation monitoring services Inmagic News Index NewsIsFree NewsKnowledge RocketInfo SurfWax Intellisearch Now WiseEye Bowdens Media Monitoring ( Clippingservice.com CustomScoop Findory MediaMonitors.com.au Mediatrack.co.uk NewsNow.co.uk News Media Intelligence TracerLock TrackEngine QuickBrowse NewsPage YellowBrix CRAYON.net

What is reputation monitoring?
What people are saying Press coverage (positive & negative) Official vs. Web-based Printed vs. real-time Editions vs. continuous updates Competitors, customers, suppliers, employees To whom (& how many) How quickly and frequently is this repeated Effect of the Web Using these same services to diffuse rumors As opposed to CI which would ask what are they saying about themselves and then comparing that with words they choose for SEO keywords & what the government is doing with them (watch lists)

Blogs Interconnectedness of Weblogs, bulletin boards, and chats
Repetitious information when blogs use similar feeds Strength of moderators/facilitators Activity of blog Timeliness of chat Watch who comments on what Threads are not enough: Blogspace needs more Explicit mechanisms of clustering and group formation Indexing and advanced classification Easy shift from headlines to abstract to first para to KWIC Hyperlinking to full-text Kinja Technorati Blog Universe Bloglines Blogdigger Plazoo Ask.com ( BlogBridge Forbes.com Best of the Web ( !!!! NIELSEN BuzzMetrics (also owns Intelliseek BrandPulse Internet

Discussion groups: Lurking & using
Using Online Discussion Groups Post product information To gain insights on brand reputation, ways to improve services, diffuse erroneous information Know that not every posting warrants a response Learning the etiquette of a group will help you appreciate how best you can influence it Tools for Monitoring (& More) Internet FAQ Archives ( TalkCity Web.icq.com Socialtext Catalyst ( eGroups becomes Yahoo! Groups ( Topica – formerly Liszt ( Google Groups – formerly Deja ( Harley Hahn’s Master List of Usenet Newsgroups ( JISCmail ( Subject-specific list sites Law Guru ( Library-oriented lists ( Search engine marketing forums (

Tools for content integration & management
Personal content managers Snippy ( SurfSaver Tinderbox ( Spurl.net HTTrack ContentSaver Collecting, organizing, publishing, and sharing with ease Onfolio Traction Software firstRain Relegence FirstTrack ( InMagic Gatherer & Profiler ( Furl.net Principles of ECM ( Organize the Web with ... great company for serious researchers Do you wish there was an easy way to drag, drop and file useful information as you find it? Your Web browser should be able to do this... Now it can. Use Snippy to save, categorize and annotate information in realtime, before it disappears or the links change. Create your own snippet folders and categories for work or personal internet research topics. Share snippets with colleagues via , or via shared folders on the network. Drag-and-drop snippets from documents and s! Let Snippy complement or even replace your browser's bookmark feature. Internet research surveys show that over 25% of user bookmarks become obsolete within a year,and over 70% are rarely, if ever, re-used. Use Snippy to save information now, before it disappears forever. Take Snippy for a Walk Fill out the form below, then play with Snippy free for 30 days ($39.00 to buy) SurfSaver stores your favorite Web pages directly from your browser into searchable folders. Use SurfSaver to organize and search the information you gather on the Internet. SurfSaver is the perfect tool for anyone doing on-line research. Tinderbox is a personal content management assistant. It stores your notes, ideas, and plans. It can help you organize and understand them. And Tinderbox helps you share ideas through Web journals and web logs. eNow - Using The Relegence FirstTrack Service, our customers gain access to information from global news wires, regulatory feeds, television broadcasts, news and corporate web sites, bulletin boards, discussion groups and internal corporate sources. Innovative features such as HeatFactors™, Relevancy Scoring, Event Detection, automatic Summarization and Clustering of related stories assist users in cutting through information overload to obtain actionable intelligence. InMagic - external content sources, including Web sites, to gather content, creates metadata to categorize that content and loads the content into a Content Server or DB/TextWorks database. An administrative interface allows you to specify the servers, files and sites to be crawled and to schedule automatic crawls. Inmagic Gatherer is a critical component of your content management strategy, allowing you to automate the time-consuming process of integrating content from separate silos and repositories both inside and outside your organization.

Making sense of that which you retrieve
Discover & harvest using intelligent bots BrightPlanet Envisional Intelligent navigation Endeca InQuira Siderean Text extraction & analytics Cymfony IBM’s Webfountain Content mining Data, text, & Web Netowl messages – Privacy & ownership issues Languistics Island Duck (for customer feedback) Google your with Interwingle ( Google’s Gmail (

Different technologies, approaches, & purposes
Decision support Knowledge.Works ( Predictive modeling & scoring Intelligent Results Data transformation Retrievalware & text categorization (Convera) Intelligent tagging (ClearForest) CAI (nStein) Automated summarization SurfWax Structured data vs. “unstructured” talk Content in context & out Relational database creation Data warehousing Content security Data Transformation (conversion & indexing, classification & taxonomy)

Reality vs. opinion Sci/tech proceedings and conference presentations
Government releases Communism Revisions Floating ideas through “unnamed sources” Advocacy groups as part of the grassroots community movement Bias often unstated; sometimes unclear Newspapers Corrections Editions Ombudsmen News vs. opinions Mixing editorial content with news ( Separating editorials from news Editorial analysis within a political campaign

Opinion tracking Polling New tools for polling Consumerism
Services/Organizations Topics New tools for polling Ease of online voting & sharing results Consumerism

Consumerism Traditional sources Government sources
Consumer Reports ( Government sources Recalls ( Professional & user reviewers Product-specific reviews Auto Computer Age-specific Children Online catalogs with “top ten” lists Appliance 411 ( Best Stuff ( Consumer Democracy ( Consumer Product Reviews ( Consumer Search ( & ( Productpedia ( eOpinions ( RateItAll (

Thinking logically for quality
Pay attention to extensions Basic information & freshness Alexa Bookmarklets Follow the links (forward & back-chaining) Fagan Finder Visualization tools Semagix WebBrain Anacubis Grokker ( Kartoo Touchgraph Excellent region-specific business sites Emerging nations and markets Reputable world trade sites Expanded news sites Interested parties with “name recognition” Management consultants Accounting firms Commercial & investment banks

Web site evaluation criteria
Source credibility Purpose Coverage and scope Date of creation Quality Output options Documentation Customer support Value-to-cost ratio Privacy Site map Source credibility Organizations and individual authors Pay attention to extensions Who links to them? To which sites do they link? Advocacy in check Purpose Target audience Objectivity Relevance to your work/inquiry Coverage and scope Integration Objectivity – Evidence of bias? Contact info Consistency in terms of navigation and retrieval Error rates (typographical; misspellings, inaccuracies) Date of creation Frequency (and timeliness) of updates Quality Reliability Validity Accuracy/Error rate Meaning over time Completeness & Consistency Aesthetics Accessibility/Ease of use Output options Documentation Customer support Value-to-cost ratio Privacy Site map

Look for academic curricula & support
Course syllabi Published articles & working papers (past & ongoing research) Dissertations/theses Case studies University-based research centers Databases Self-archiving ( Economics ( Open Access Repositories Subject-specific libraries (e.g., business) Bibliographies & pathfinders BizEd ( Subject Finder – Business Studies ( Scholarly Societies Project – Business, Economics & Mathematics ( Very Large Database ( Highly cited ( Individual universities ( & ( Dissertations: Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations ( Proquest ( Current Research from Proquest ( eSholarship Repository ( ScholarUniverse.com Yearbook of Experts ( NewsWise Expert Finder Tools ( FACSNET Sources ( FindaPhD.com (UK) ProfNet ( Sources & Experts ( Google Scholar Academic search will soon add business subjects to their coverage ( CiteSeer ( SSRN

Translation plus Browser prompt to install character sets
Fonts in Cyberspace ( Industry- and country-specific resources Human intervention Technical translations Glossaries ( Software Free online translator services Business-related Quotes online ( Travel-related Learning languages Verbix Web tools Links to other resources Limited options ( International business practices, customs, & etiquette WorldBiz International Database ( Babelplex Free Translation Tools ( Google search ( Online Translation Guide ( Babelfish ( from AltaVista ( Google language tools ( AllWords ( Machine translation ( Dictionary.com – Translate ( Fagan Finder Translator Wizard ( Foreignword.com Free online translator service ( Freetranslation.com OneLook Dictionaries ( Systran Language Translation ( Yourdictionary.com Portuguese Translations ( AlphaWorks ( News about translation tools ( WordReference Xlation.com/glossaries YourDictionary Find them on travel sites too Culture & ethics

Three categories of research
Market Industry Company Background General business climate Risks Trade issues, barriers, statistics Population, demographics & social/lifestyle issues Health, education & religion Ethics & values Technology & infrastructure Legal/regulatory environment Background (including political climate) General business climate (economics, finance, labor, risks) Risks include sociopolitical change, business risk assessment, and security issues (for diplomats, expatriate business persons, journalists and workers) International Agencies & NGO’s United Nations ( and World Bank Development Banks European Union OECD Government sources Government Servers (www2.echo.lu/other/govlist.html) Canadian & US governments Commercial Sources Academic Sites News Updates Global Regional Country-level

Market Industry Company Statistics Legal & regulatory issues Technology Trends & forecasts Current activity Structure Statistics Historical perspective Market size Growth trends Performance (criteria) Multi-industry vs. industry-specific Trends & forecasts Industry segment Product-level Current activity Company-level Structure Major and secondary players Rankings (criteria) Definitions Potential entrants “Domestic” vs. foreign

Market Industry Company Background data (Corporate description) Financial performance Products and services Markets (and customers) served Operations Employee data

Caveats at the market-level
Country classification Geographic region Type of economy Stage of economic development Political organization Comparing country data Tips Problems

Competition at the country level
Global Competitiveness Program ( Competitive Institute ( International Budget Project ( Competitive Indicators (World Bank) World Competitive Yearbook (IMD - Lausanne) Competition Policy – UK ( Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy ( Globalization ( Index of Economic Freedom - Country Guides ( Competitive Alternatives - KPMG's guide to international business costs ( Doing Business Guides Deloitte/EIU ( World Bank Benchmarking Business Regulations ( Commercial Guides (US Department of Commerce) International Business Reports for Corporate Intranets! Country Briefings ( EIU Online Store ( – World Investment Service Country Commercial Guides ( Economist Country Briefings ( Library of Congress Country studies ( Portals to the world ( Country profiles ( & & & EarthTrends Country Profiles ( Country Watch ( World Economic Forum Country Guides ( or.nsf/Content/KB+Country+Profiles) InfoShop at the World Bank ( International Business Reports for Corporate Intranets! Here you will find a series of country-specific reports on international business practices, business customs, protocol, negotiating, cross-cultural communication, business entertainment, gift-giving, social etiquette and much more.

Emerging nations and markets
International agencies Institute of International Finance Emerging Markets Research ( World Economic Forum ( Regional organizations North-South Institute ( Transitions Online ( Governments Canadian International Development Agency ( Background Notes ( Commercial databases Directory of Development Organizations ( S & P Emerging Markets ISI Emerging Markets - Internet Securities ( ) World Marketing Data and Statistics ( Libraries Virtual Library on International Development ( Licensing Digital Information ( InfoNation ( International Data Base ( Emerging Markets ( Snapdata ( Fund Research Emerging Portfolio ) Investment Banks Pangaea Partners ( Commercial Banks Wachovia/First Union ( International Country Studies – Exceptional links ( Igostats ( – Free trial

Emerging nations and markets
Libraries Virtual Library on International Development ( Finding International Statistics Online ( GlobalEdge Country Insights ( VIBES ( Everything International – Company & Industry Data ( Resources for International Business & Marketing ( Research Guides – Baker Library ( Least developed country report ( Investment Promotion Network – Direct Foreign Investment ( Development Gateway ( ABCNews.com’s Country Profiles Oxford Economics ( ( Economics, Business, and Environment Country Profiles ( Economist Country Briefings ( Eldis Statistics Guide ( Finding International Statistics Online ( Global Knowledge for Development ( Global Gateway ( Resources for International Economic Development ( OneWorld – NationsOnline ( UNIDO (

Problems with comparing country data
Base years Methods of estimating Methods of data collection Extent of coverage* Precision of definition Scope of territory Margins of error Currency conversion Updates & revisions*

Tips for comparing country data
The more detailed the publication, the greater the time lag The more accurate the statistics, the greater the time lag Appreciate how the Internet changes the equation

Economic and trade data
National accounts Measures of inflation Labor statistics Financial statistics Risk Foreign trade

Economic data Don’t limit your search to government sites for the country in which you are interested Try international agencies, other governments (3rd countries), commercial & academic sites

Economic data collection issues
Measuring National Accounts Effect of inflation Measures of inflation Use GDP deflator for macro analysis Use PPI or CPI, as appropriate Political environment Exchange rates Purchasing Power Parity Index (PPP) tries to factor in the underground economy and other intangibles For a truer cost of living, try the Big Mac Index Relocation services Hotel costs

Economic and trade data
World Economic Outlook (IMF) Euromonitor’s World Economic Factbook World Tables (World Bank) OECD Economic Outlook Historical Statistics Eurostat National Accounts ESA Aggregates UN System Pathfinder – Economic development ( System of National Accounts Balance of Payments Statistics (IMF) Handbook of Economic Statistics ( Index of Economic Freedom ( International Budget Project (

Data sources: US economics
Business Statistics of the United States National Income and Product Accounts Survey of Current Business Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index (BLS) “Guide to Economic Indicators” Economic Statistics Briefing Room ( Joint Economic Committee ( US Census Bureau ( Census Bureau Economic Programs ( Commercial products (CACI) Census Economic Briefing Room ( Business & Trade Services ( Bureau of Economic Statistics ( Bureau of Labor Statistics ( Stat-USA ( Federal Reserve Boards International Economic Statistics Database ( Index to Reserve System Economic Publications ( Federal Reserve Education ( Beige Book ( Business Cycle Indicators (

Personal favorites: Economics
Statistics World (Bank) Development Indicators UN Common Database ( United Nations Statistical Division ( US Census Bureau Statistical Agencies International ( World In Figures ( Sources of Economic and Financial Statistics ( ( Social Science Research Network ( Economics Classroom ( For the public AmosWEB Pedestrian’s Guide to the Economy ( Moody’s Economy.com ( Dr. Ed Yardeni’s Economics Network ( Dr. T’s EconLinks.com ( QuickMBA ( Free Lunch ( Economic News Feed ( Associations & think tanks American Economics Association ( and ( EconLit ( Association for University Business and Economic Research ( National Bureau of Economic Research ( Econometrics Journal Links ( AEI's monthly newsletter on economic trends in the United States and abroad ( Economic Strategy Institue EconPapers ( Economic Policy Institute ( Economics Search Engine ( Journalists’ Guide to Economic Terms ( Institute for International Economics ( Library of Economics and Liberty ( MilkenInstitute.org Theoretical Economics Open Journal ( Center for Economic Policy Research ( Brookings.org Index of Economic Freedom ( Independent Institute ( Urban Institute (

Personal favorites: Economics
Commercial Sources Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU’s latest) Blackboard Scholar ( B&E data links ( BPubs – Economics ( InfoMine – Business & Economics ( Terrible site, great links ( Economic History ( EconMagic Economic Time Series ( DRI – WEFA ( EconData.net Economist.com Research Tools ( Law and Economics ( Forbes.com Best of the Web Economics Blogs ( EconLibrary.com Kiplinger forecasts ( Roubini Global Economics ( VLRC Economics Links ( International Economics Study Center ( Academic Sites Columbia University ( Area Studies ( Economic Resources for College Teachers ( BizEd ( University Economics Departments ( Econ Links ( Econ Links ( Economics Information Sources ( Internet Resources for the Economy ( Economics and Economic Statistics Research ( Internet Economist ( Researching International Economic Law ( SOSIG Economics ( Economics Subject Guide ( Scandinavian Working Papers ( Teaching K-12 Economics ( WebEc ( Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research ( Berkeley Law & Economics Working Papers ( Economics Net-Textbook ( Sources of Economic and Financial Statistics ( Free one-day pass is available on economist.com homepage

Personal favorites: Financial statistics
International Financial Statistics (IMF) with trial account ( Financial Market Update ( Institute for International Finance ( International Finance Corporation ( Bank for International Settlements ( Foreign Direct Investments Online ( Global Financial Data ( Financial Market Trends (OECD) Bretton Woods Project ( Treasury Bulletin ( Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( Historical releases ( Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago ( FRASER ( Liber8 ( Federal Reserve Bulletin ( Foreign Exchange Rates ( Financial Times ( FT News ( FT Market Watch ( FT Search ( Journal of Commerce ( Financial Ratio Analysis ( Financial Scandals ( Financial Training Calendar ( Financial Textbooks ( Financial Dictionary ( A – Z of Financial Terms ( III Financial Services Factbook ( S&P indices ( The Millennium (

Personal favorites: Financial statistics
For the public FastCEO.com Bloomberg.com/tv MarketWatch.com Currency Converter ( Commercial sites and products FinanceWise.com Guarantee-Finance.com StudyFinance.com Fund Info Service ( Bonds BondsOnline ( InvestingInBonds.com DCP Data for municipal bond info ( Hedge Funds Hedge Fund Association ( Hedge Fund Research ( HedgeWorld.com HedgeIndex.com Academic institutions Financial Data Finder ( Finance Links and Sites from NYU ( WWW Virtual Library ( Web Links ( Sources of Economic and Financial Statistics ( Museum of American Financial History ( Mutual Fund Cost Calculator ( What was the exchange rate then ( Social Science Research Network ( Society of Financial Professionals ( )

Labor Issues Sources Employment & unemployment statistics
Labor laws & regulations Temporary help, outsourcing, & offshoring Outsourcing Institute ( Sources International Organizations Governments Labor unions Think tanks Advocacy groups Strike dates & settlements Compensation practices

My favorite labor sites
International Labour Organization ( & Natlex ( Labour Economics Gateway ( Trades Union Congress ( EEOC in the US and Equal Opportunities Commission in the UK DTI Employment Relations ( Center for Economic and Social Inclusion ( NOMIS ( Employee relations policies ( European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( & European Industrial Relations Observatory ( WWW Virtual Library ( Flexibility – Resources for New Ways of Working ( Child Labor Laws ( National Immigration Law Center ( Workplace Law ( Employment Law Information Network ( Employment Law News ( Labor and Employment Legal Resources ( National Employment Law Project ( CEO Executive Pay ( Core Compensation Data from Hemscott ( Executive Grapevine ( Executive Paywatch ( Workforce Productivity ( Local Employment Dynamics ( Ecomp online ( Work-Life Balance ( Workers Struggles ( Note spelling differences (labour and organisation) Resources for teleworking/telecommuting Violence in the workplace Child labor New Labor Section of SLA’s Social Sciences Division!

My favorite labor sites
US Dept. of Labor ( Bureau of Labor Statistics ( Occupational Employment Statistics ( Compensation and Working Conditions ( Most requested statistics ( Career Guide to Industries ( (Local) Economies at a glance ( Foreign Labor Statistics ( Nonemployer statistics ( Telework Association ( Telework Exchange ( Families & Work Institute ( Globalization and Labor Standards ( Catherwood Library Guides ( Labor Contracts Database ( & Labor Research Portal ( O*Net ( Resources for Union Organizing ( United Auto Workers ( Salaryexpert.com AFL-CIO Teamster.net Work Index ( Workplace Fairness ( Salary Survey ( ) Salary calculator ( Salary Expert from WSJ ( Use academic institutions (Cornell) Use labor unions around the world

Employee benefits & human resources management
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Employee Benefit Research Institute ( Employee Benefits & Compensation – Related Lnks ( Employee Benefits Legal Resource Site ( PensionRights.org Spencer Benefits Report ( Contract Employees’ Handbook ( Executive Compensation ( International Association for Human Resource Information ( bNet White Papers ( Human Resources Learning Center ( HRZone.co.uk HR.com Human Resources Law Index ( Stress Directions ( Profiler Personality Test ( Workplacelaw.net Society for Human Resource Management Online ( WorkIndex.com Workforce Management (

Risk issues External factors affecting country
Internal groupings (points of power) Political parties (in and out of power) Other important groups Internal factors Specific projects

Personal favorites: Political risk
Handbook of Country and Political Risk Analysis Political Risk Newsletter Bank of America World Information Service Walden Country Reports Institutional Investor Euromoney EIU Country Risk Service ( “Big Six” accounting firms Country Risk Forecast ( Country Risk Analysis ( Oxford Analytica, including Consensus Economics ( Corruptions Perceptions Index ( Countrybriefings.com

Foreign trade data collection issues
Classification of goods Place of final destination Valuation Discontinuities and revisions Lack of regionalized definitions

Trade data & opportunities
LexMercatoria ( Revised Guide to International Trade Law Sources on the Internet ( International Trade Statistics ( Harmonized tariff schedule ( Agency for International Trade Information & Cooperation ( GATT Digital Library through 1994 ( WTO & GATT Research ( Free Trade Area of America ( Summit of the Americas ( International Chamber of Commerce ( US Chamber of Commerce ( Federation for International Trade Organizations ( is the source for international import export trade leads, events, and links to 8,000 international trade (export import) related Websites International Business Resource Center ( Bridge Between NAICS and SIC ( Conversion to NAICS ( Industry trade data ( Concordance NAICS – NACE ( Regulations, stats, opportunities for trade (specific industries), contacts China Business here

Trade data & opportunities
Trade Statistics Overview ( Danish Exporters ( BizEurope Global Trade Center Trade Leads ( UK Trade & Investment ( UK Trade Info Data & Prices ( Holland Exports ( Indian Exporters Directory ( Doing Business Abroad ( & Trade Data Online ( International Business Forum ( Manhattan International Development Corporation ( TradeExpress International Directory ( the most complete product directory for volume buyers to find suppliers, exporters and OEM manufacturers. Tradematch ( provides international trade opportunities through new markets, partners and customers overseas Inform Katalog & Export ( database of profitable and export companies ready to offer their products and services on Czech and international market World Trade Markets ( SEARCH system to cater for the capturing, dissemination and searching of Trade Point Trade Leads (ETO's-Electronic Trade Opportunities) throughout the world Statistical Tradeflow Database ( UN Trade Statistics Database ( & Crosswalk ( Market Access & Compliance (

Web help for firms seeking overseas trade
International Trade Administration (US Department of Commerce) US ITC Tariff & Trade Database ( US International Trade Statistics are available from the Foreign Trade Division, US Census Bureau ( National Trade Data Bank ( Export USA Publications ( U.S. Customs Rulings ( Export.gov & BuyUSA.gov Market Access & Compliance ( TradeNet Online ( Outsourcing & Offshoring ( Port Connecticut ( TradersCity Index ( Export Services China ( Foreign Trade Information System ( Cato Center for Trade Policy ( Dialog TradeStat ( TradeStats Express State Data ( Virtual World Trade Reference Room (

Demographic data & data collection issues
Population Age distribution Urban & rural Income (& income distribution) Per capita Methodology Collection time Definitions

My favorite sites: Population/demographics
Trends in Europe & North America ( International census links UN Commission for Europe ( ( Asian American SuperSite ( Software for analyzing UK census data ( Office of Population Research Papers ( Harvard Center for Population ( Demography at ANU ( Microdata Use ( and ( MediaMark Research ( Population Index ( Social Science Data Analysis Network ( Population Reference Bureau ( Census of Government ( Business Analyst Online Software ( Earth Resource System ( Business Mapping Software ( The Data Web Page ( WWW Virtual Library ( Mass. Institute for Social & Economic Research ( Scarborough Research ( Claritas Demographic Reports ( MelissaData ( Custom maps (

My favorite sites: Population/demographics
UN Swmographic and Social Ststistics ( US Census Bureau ( Census Bureau Subjects A-Z ( American Fact Finder ( American Community ASurvey ( State & County Quick Facts ( International Data Base ( Census Links ( Country Rank by Population ( World Population ( International Programs ( International Population Reports ( US Gazetteer ( DataFerret ( Social Statistics Briefing Room ( New on our site ( State of the Cities ( NationMaster HNPStats ( Free ITC statistics ( State-based projects, such as MISER ( American Demographics ( Historical CensusBrowser ( Stats About All US Cities ( Decision Making Information ( US Census 2000 Demographic Products ( Census Scope ( US Demography ( Access to 1990 Census ( Archive of census products ( Free census records online ( Demographics Now ( Demographic and Health Surveys ( Community Profiles ( US Gazetteer ( GenderStats Database ( World Gazetteer ( Social Indicators of Development (

Social/lifestyles data
Education and literacy The Condition of Education (National Center for Education Statistics) ERIC Health care World Health Organization National Institutes of Health AHA Hospital Statistics Religion Ethics and values Transparency International ( Social organizations SRI VALS Service Decima Quarterly (Canada) Opinion polling and survey research Market research on the Millennium Generation Use of the Internet for purchasing goods Program on International Policy Attitudes – International Trade ( Greenfield.com Worldopinion.com

Technology & infrastructure
Telephones Roads Internet access Electricity

Where to find it (and who can help)
International agencies & NGO’s Government sources (national & local levels) Associations & not-for-profit organizations Market, industry, & company research reports Conferences, events, & exhibitions Universities, research centers & think tanks Identification Collections Case studies Experts Libraries: Public, academic & virtual libraries with excellent business collections, research guides, or links Press

International (and regional) agencies and NGOs
United Nations ( UN System ( Agencies within the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights ( Commissions Links to agencies ( UN Economic & Social Commission of Asia & the Pacific ( Specific publications Government Gazettes Online ( EuroStat (part of Europa site) World Bank Group ( International Monetary Fund ( Regional Development Banks (ADB, EBRD, CDV) Regional Conferences and Cooperatives OAS, OECD, ASEAN, PAHO European Union ( Directorates General ( Aid agencies, rescue missions, humanitarian efforts Official Government Servers ( Statistical agencies ( US Census Bureau Statistical Agencies International ( .org vs. .ch

Global and regional resources
Economist Intelligence Unit’s EIU’s latest ( Central European Business Daily ( NewsBase ( Transitions Online ( East Europe and Russia News ( Central Europe Online ( ) Corruption Perceptions Index ( CIA World Factbook Country Information with sample country report ( EmbassyWorld.com BBC News Country Profiles Foreign Government Resources on the Web ( Local Economic Development Initiatives (

Finding US government agencies/resources
Firstgov.gov FedWorld.gov GPO Access – Government Information Locator Service ( For searching ( ) Finding aids ( By topic ( Official US Executive Branch Web Sites ( The Blue Pages ( UncleSam ( Uncle Sam Migrating Government Publications ( InfoMine Government Publications ( Searchgov.com Spanish Resources ( Congressional Research Services Reports ( US Links ( Research in Government Information ( US Federal Government Agencies Directory ( Government Information on the Web Subject Index ( University of Michigan Documents Center ( Government Resources on the Web ( Statistics ( InfoMine’s Scholarly Internet Resource Collections ( LSU Federal Agencies Directory ( Free Government Information ( Open Congressional Reports (

Additional federal government information sites
LSU Libraries Federal Agencies Directory ( Congressional Committee Reports/Testimony from Thomas ( Catalog of US government publications ( Catalog of scitech resources ( Gov Research Center ( Federal Government Servers ( FedForms ( FedStats ( MapStats ( Stat-USA ( FIrstgov.gov Business Gateway ( Business.gov Business Partner Network ( Central Contractor Registration ( Central Contractor Registration Search ( Federal Marketplace ( Eagle Eye ( Where in Federal Contracting ( Thomas – change for older sessions GreyLit

State & local government gateways and locator services
State & Local Governments ( State & County QuickFacts ( Links to state governments ( Gov Engine ( State and Local Governments ( Gov Spot – State Government ( Multistate Legislative Presence on the Internet ( State Bill Topic Search ( State and Local Government on the Net ( state/states.html) & ( State Resource Center ( 50states.com GovernmentFilesOnline for Secretaries of States ( Government Contract & Bid ( State Regulations ( StateNet ( California State Legislative information ( Indiana Legal Information ( (Washington State) Texaslegal.com BRB's FREE RESOURCE CENTER ( Full Text Statutes ( Governing Magazine ( Government Guide from AOL ( Municipal Codes Online ( Business Filings Databases ( Secretaries of State Web Links ( or (

Regulatory reporting and enforcement
Regulations.gov ( Recalls.gov EConsumer ( FDA Enforcement Report ( OSHA Teen Workers ( EPA Enforcement & compliance history online ( Federal Communications Commission Electronic Comments (

Associations & not-for-profit agencies
Trade associations International Regional Single country Advocacy groups National level Cross-border cooperation Local community groups Topic-specific News Membership lists Online magazines & e-newsletters Statistical data Gale’s ASAENET.org Associations on the Internet ( Trade Association Forum –searchgroup (

Who issues market & industry research reports (and how do I locate them)?
International agencies, governments, & NGOs Government agencies Associations Research organizations & think tanks NIRA’s World Directory of Think Tanks ( US ( Collections PolicyFile Index of Urban Documents ( ResourceShelf’s DocuTicker ( Management consultants Accounting firms Securities analysts Investment banks Commercial banks BestCalls.com & CallStreet.com Research from multiple institutions Thomson’s Research Bank – Investext ( Individual firms Stock trading/data sites Sci/tech Nelson’s Directory (to know who covers the company) Wall St. Transcript (to know who has issued a report lately)

Accessing market & industry research reports – General & subject-specific
AMR Research All About Marketing ( Chartered Institute of Marketing ( Datamonitor eMarketer Euromonitor ECNext Knowledge Center ( Find SVP ( FirstResearch ( Forrester Research ( Freedonia Group ( Frost & Sullivan ( Global Insight Gobi International ( GreenBook HarrisInfo Manta In-Stat MDR ( InfoTechTrends Information Research Network ( Jupiter Research ( Market Research & the Internet ( Market Research Reports Collection ( MarketResearch.com Marketsearch Directory ( MindBranch Mintel Plunkett Research Plusdetudes Reed Business Information ( ResearchInfo.com Research and Markets Valuation Resources Industry specialities

Marketing favorites Market Research Portal ( KnowThis.com Market & Industry Research ( MarketingTerms.com Marketing Toolkit ( QuickMBA – Marketing ( Quirk’s Marketing Research Review ( SalesandMarketing.com Marketing & Research Library ( Marketing Links ( TrendWatching 360Youth Scarborough.com WonderGroup YPulse

Sci/tech research is different
R & D NTIS Federal R & D ( Battelle Conference proceedings Interdok Quality/Benchmarking Best Practices American Productivity & Quality Center ( American Society for Quality ( Baldridge National Quality Program ( British Quality Foundation ( EFQM.org Institute of Quality Assurance ( Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers ( Online Quality Resource Guide ( Qualitymag.com Best Manufacturing Practices ( Standards ISO ( American National Standards Institute ( Standards Australia ( British Standards Online ( HIS/Global ( TechSavvy.com IFAC.org (accountancy) Standardization resources ( ASTM Standards Worldwide ( Techstreet.com (Thomson)

Patents & trademarks Reputable databases
Official government sites Intellectual Property Digital Library ( European Patent Office ( UK Patent Office ( Japan Patent Office ( Canada ( US ( Patent Classification homepage ( Reputable databases Micropat.com IFI Claims Patent Database ( Commercial patent search services Patent attorneys FreshPatents.com PatentLawLinks.com Patent Pending Blogs (

Industry & company-specific case studies, & management discussions
Darden Case Collection ( Thunderbird Case Series ( Harvard Business School case studies ( and ( INSEAD ( COLIS/European Case Clearing House database ( CasePlace.org Babson College Case Collection ( ) IMD Case Studies ( ( HSB Working Knowledge ( Business Case Analysis ( For Darden – Click on Publications to reach the store

Conferences, events, & exhibitions
Program Topics Speakers Exhibitors Schedule Alerts Conference Alerts ( Exhibition halls in major cities Trade show organizers Country-specific Industry-specific Finance ( Kalends from Reuters ( Business technology ( Sites with conference calendars Associations Journals/newsletters Individual publishers ( Academic institutions International Association of Fairs & Exhibitions ( All Conferences ( Meetingsnet ( ExpoWorld ( Papers Invited (

Experts Subject listings Regional listings Experts.com
Expert Witnesses ( Yearbook of Experts - US ( Scholaruniverse.com Scholarly Societies Project ( FANET News Sources ( Experts & Services (

Academic business libraries
International Business Internet Links ( InfoMine ( MSU-Ciber ( International/Country Studies ( Internet Resources – UC at Berkeley ( Rutger’s University Research Guides ( Company Research ( International Business ( Simon Fraser University Research Guides ( & ( University Libraries – University at Albany – SUNY ( Penn World Tables ( Resouces on international Business ( Academic Library Business Pages ( Business History ( Guide for Researching Business Topics ( Guide to Company Information Using Only the Internet ( International Business Resource Connection ( Virtual International Business & Economic Sources ( Rutger’s Company Research ( Rutger’s International Business (

Virtual libraries Wall Street Executive Library ( Krislyn’s Strictly Business Sites ( Phil Bradley’s Company & Business Information ( – out of date Martindale’s Reference Desk ( Washington Researchers International Information ( Library Spot ( Virtual Pet Industry Research Desk (

What journalists uncover (and where they publish)
Wire services General news + business wires Company News Group – European Corporate Press Releases ( Traditional broadcasters & news programs Newspapers Magazines Business journals Management Trade journals (magazines & newsletters) Scholarly journals Open Access Traditional database options & the Invisible Web Database producers Database vendors Content aggregators Commercial sites with business data & links e-zines Newsgroups, bulletin boards, chats & blogs Scholarly discussions Bloggator.com/business Personalized news services Clipping services Current awareness alerts Corporate reputation monitors

Wire services BusinessWire.com USNewswire.com AP Reuters PRNewswire
Individual Web sites Search engine indexing and directory services Personalized news services Business Web sites with feeds & links Traditional online databases BusinessWire.com USNewswire.com AP Reuters PRNewswire Canadian Press News Service ( Who reports to whom from wires lets you verify/build org charts Conference Board org charts Articles with org charts (changes) Back inside cover of annual reports (if not Bd of Directors)

Audio & video Shadow TV (http://www.shadowtv.com/monitoring_2.html)
American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank ( Federal News Service ( CNN ( Online NewsHour ( OnDemand – Global Voices ( Salon Audio ( Shadow TV ( Singingfish ( MediaChannel DocuSeek ( Television News Archives ( Gary Price Speech & Transcript Center ( The NEXminer family of products and services offer extensive audio-video intelligent mining (AVIM) capabilities and solutions such as audio-video contents analysis, indexing, archiving, searching, monitoring, notification, intelligent mining and extracting knowledge.

Think global, act local Transcripts Television/radio networks
News & Information via Streaming Audio & Video ( NewsIQ Links to stations Live Radio & Television from Around the World ( Web Radio Online ( World Radio Network ( Radio Locator vTuner NewsSearchPortal WorldLinkTV World News Network ( World News Business ( Television/radio networks BBC Online ( BBC World News ( BBC News Programmes ( BBC Radio On Demand ( BBC News Advanced Search ( BBC Monitoring ( Specific news programs on those networks Joint ventures MSNBC business video ( Blinx.tv Feedroom

Newspapers International Regional reputation National Business Local
International Herald Tribune Regional reputation Wall Street Journal (Asian edition) National Business Financial Times Local Go direct Collections of links Academic Commercial Traditional “online” databases Content aggregators Tools for Journalists ( ABYZ News Links ( AFP Worldwide News Agency ( AJR Newslink ( AllYouCanRead.com FindNewspapers ( FindNews.org HeadlineSpot.com International News Archives on the Web ( JNet Business ( Kidon Media Link ( News & Newspapers Online ( NewsLibrary NewsPaperDirect NewsStand NewsTrawler OnlineNEwspapers.com Opinion Pages RefDesk ( World News Network ( Editorial Roundup ( World News Connection ( World-Newspapers.com 7am.com Newspaperindex.com

Magazines & newsletters
Electronic versions of print products Abbreviated versions of print (selected articles from print edition) Print version plus Interactivity Archives & full-text Access to multiple titles with sophisticated search capability Traditional databases Web-based services Created for the Web MagPortal FindArticles (Looksmart) MetaPress Questia Biblioalerts Digital Librarian ( Newsletter Access Alternative Press ( Kiplinger Forecasts

Business & management journals
Access to multiple titles Worldclass ( Intellisearch ( Business Publications Search Engine ( Value-added business data available from print journals you know Business Week Online – Global Business ( Forbes Available from travel/promotional sites Resources for management MeansBusiness.com Bestofbiz.com Small businesses Women-owned Entrepreneurs Special issues (

Scholarly journals Peer review Individual publishers Content aggregators Individual universities Consortia Open access Directory of Open Access Journals ( Lists Related to the Open Access Movement ( American Scientist Open Access Forum ( or mirror ( Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers ( Highwire ( Project Muse (

Scholarly journals: Individual publisher sites, aggregators, subject-specific, OpenAccess
1Cate ( Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers ( American Scientist Open Access Forum ( ARL Directory of Scholarly Electronic Journals & Discussion Groups ( Scientific Literature Digital Library ( Directory of Open Access Journals ( DSpace ( EPrints ( eScholarship Repository ( Extenza ( Figaro ( getCITED ( HighWire ( Ingenta ( National e-Journals Initiative ( Project Euclid ( Project Muse ( Scitation ( Scholarly Articles Research Alerting ( Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography ( & Publishing Weblog ( SPARC Open Access Newsletter (

E-zines & discussion groups
Serials in Cyberspace ( American NewJour ( Electronic Journal Miner ( CataList ( Kovacs Directory of Scholarly and Professional e-conferences ( PhDWeblogs ( Yahoo! Groups ( formerly Egroups Google Groups ( formerly Dejanews Tile.net Liszt ( Beaucoup! ( NetNews Tracker (Usenet groups)

Trade publications Directories Traditional vs. created for the Web
General business directories Global Regional Country-specific Local Industry specific Industry Web sites with company listings/directories Traditional vs. created for the Web Comprehensive? Accurate? Up-to-date? Journals, magazines, & newsletters Annual reviews Index to special issues Lists & rankings Databases that permit field screening

Structure of an industry
Companies Market analysis Products Customers Trends Import/export activity Distribution methods

Typical questions: Marketing and industry overview
Which firms are the competition and what are their comparative market shares, growth prospects, and overall marketing strategies? What trends/developments are taking place within the industry and what is their (likely) impact on each company?

Industry data collection issues
Definition of an industry Description/line of business International and national codes Product/Vendor codes Measure performance Terminology employed Accounting standards Characteristics of a company set Ratios Statistics for benchmarking BizStats.com

Industry & manufacturing favorites
Industrial News Alerts ( TheManufacturer.com Alacra Industry Spotlights ( Current Industrial Reports ( Industry Profiles – 2004 ( FirstResearch.com BizMiner.com ValuationResources.com IndustryLink IndustryWeek.com WWW Manufacturing Sites ( ResearchConnect.com Global Industry Analysis ( Material Data Sheets ( Trade.gov Manufacturing & Services ( Industry & Market Reports from Thomson-Gale ( and Snapshot International Industry Search ( CorpTech Industries – Reuters ( Resources for Industry Analysis ( Industry Data Finder ( Industry Sector Information from RBA ( Penn State Libraries Industry Research Guides ( Industry EU Catalogue ( Baker Library Research Guides ( SPG Media ( Industry Information ( Yahoo!

My favorites: Statistics
Business Statistics ( GlobalEdge ( Statistical Resources on the Web ( Statistics Sources ( Internet Glossary of Statistical Terms ( Elementary Concepts in Statistics ( WWW Virtual Library (

Small business, women-owned businesses, and entrepreneurship
All-biz.com AllBusiness.com Aurora’s Business Women’s Diversity Network ( Business support, information, and advice ( Business Zone ( CatalystWomen.org CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit ( Center for Women & IT ( Center for Women’s Business Research ( Center for Women’s Global Leadership ( D&B’s small business center ( Entrepreneur.com Entrepreneur’s Startup Kit ( HBS Entrepreneurs ( Kauffman eVenturing ( Office of Entrepreneurial Developmnet ( Global Information Network for SMEs ( Institute for Women’s Leadership ( Finance Resources from Krislyn’s Strictly Business Sites ( MoreBusiness.com Tripod Small Business ( SmallBusiness.com Small Business Resource Center ( Network ( Small Business Service ( Industry Specific Business Guides and Business Profile Supports, Missouri Small Businss Development Centers ( SOHO Online ( StartBusiness.co.uk PowerHomeBiz.com EnterWeb.org Business Women’s Business Plan Workbook ( Incorporating a business ( Internet assistance, business advice ( Small Business Library ( Starting a small business – Business Plans ( Microsoft Small Business Center ( National Small Business Association ( National Women’s Business Council ( NYPL Business Owner’s Manual ( Sample Business Plans ( Small Business Startup Guide ( Small Business Regulations ( SBA Office of Advocacy ( Small Business Websites that Work ( SmallBusiness.FindLaw.com SBA Start-Up ( Small Business Advancement ( Small Business & Self-Employed ( Small Business Resources for Women in Business ( SmaillBusinessTrends.com Federation of Small Business ( The Hartford’s Small Business Insurance Center ( Small Business Facts 2006 ( Yahoo! Small Business (

Funding a business Small Business Funding ( European Venture Capital Association ( National Business Incubation Association ( Capital Growth Interactive ( Directory of venture capital firms ( European Venture Capital Journal ( VentureXpert ( Venture Capital Firms Directory ( CanadaVC.com NVST.com S&P Leveraged Commentary & Data ( PWC MoneyTree Report ( PrivateEquityWeek.com InternetNews Venture Capital ( Venture Capital Journal ( Venture Economics National Venture Capital Association ( Capitaliq.com (from S&P) Deal Flow ( TheDeal.com

Accounting and tax favorites
AccountantsWorld.com Accounting & Finance ( AccountingEducation.com AccountingWEB ( AICPA.org & CPA2biz.com Chartered Institute of Taxation ( CPA.net Federation of Tax Administrators ( Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers ( Accounting Research Manager – CCH free trial online ( Accounting Terminology Guide ( Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales ( International Federation of Accountants ( Learning Materials – Accounting ( Lex Mundi International Tax Desk Book ( Lectures in Accountancy ( PriceWaterhouseCooper’s Comperio free trial ( SmartPros Accounting ( Tax & Accounting Sites Directory ( WebCPA Accounting Research Network ( State Government Tax Collection ( State Tax Central ( TaxAnalysts.com Tax Database World ( International Tax and Investment Center ( AuditNet.org AccountancyAge.com Europa ( Robert Half Finance ( International Financial Reporting Standards ( Tax Policy Center (

Sources for information re: corporate governance
BoardroomInsider.com Business for Social Responsibility ( Corporate Board Member Magazine ( Corporate Directors Forum ( Corporate Governance ( Corporate Monitoring ( Corporate Responsibility ( DirectorsandBoards.com European Corporate Governance Institute ( Executive Paywatch ( Free Complete Toolkit for Boards ( Global Reporting Initiative ( Institutional Shareholder Services Corporate Governance Blog ( & ISS Governance Center ( International Finance Corp ( Investor Responsibility Research Center ( Society of Corporate Secretaries ( Corporate Governance Links from the Corporate Library ( HBS Corporate Governance ( Business Roundtable Task Force ( Social Investment Forum ( Weinberg Center (

Searching for company information
Prospecting Soliciting new business related business more business Managing accounts risks Analyzing competitors clients/customers comparables

A level of progression Identifying companies within an industry segment Verifying basic company information Obtaining an overview of a company Building an in-depth profile

Defining the company Legal status Corporate affiliation/relationships
Public vs. private/listed vs. unlisted Stock vs. mutual Corporate affiliation/relationships Parent or subsidiary Headquarters location Joint venture partnership Domestic or foreign-based State/country of domicile License to operate

Sources for lists Embassies & Chambers of Commerce Trade associations
International Bureau of Chambers of Commerce ( Trade associations Associations on the Net at Industry Web sites with company directories Trade publications Databases that permit fielded screening “Telephone” directories Lists and rankings

Profiling companies & market activity
.xls ( Securities Data ( Sheshunoff Mergerstat Hemscott.net IPO Central IPO Prospectus Web ( InfoWiz ( Peerscape (D & T) InvestorNet ( Stocksmart.com Reesegroup Wall Street City Hoovers S&P vs. Mergent

Company directories on the Web
Web directory services EiNet ( ) Open Directory ( Region & country-specific Web search directories Credit rating services Dun & Bradstreet Zapdata Business directories Kompass Thomas Global Register Europe ( Corporate Affiliations Company Profiles of US Manufacturers ( ThomasNet Associations Commercial industry sites Company & Telephone Directories ( 1800miti.com UK business directory listings ( ABC Francais ( BizLink International Directories ( Business Information – Telephone Directories ( Infobel World ( InfoSpace InfoUSA USAData Europages, Euroyellowpages, Euronline

Telephone directories
* 07/16/96 Telephone directories ComFind Big Yellow LibrarySpot Phone Books ( WorldPages New Interactive Yellow Pages ( Mapsonus.com Switchboard.com CompaniesOnline.com ( InfoSpace BigBook Lycos WhoWhere ( BigFoot Research It! ( 50states.com 192.com (for UK) Internet Address Finder ( PeopleFinders SuperPages.com The Ultimate Yellow Pages ( Melissadata ( ZoomInfo.com Telephone reverse directory (business & residential listings) – Accurint and Nexis Switchboard - Very fast InfoSpace includes date last updated Four11 - Limited in terms of numbers of listings but data is derived from Internet listings and alumni assns. * ##

Verifying company descriptions
Directory-level data Print vs. online approach Traditional databases vs. Internet Company identifiers Name Ticker symbols Identifying numbers Standard numbers Official and quasi-official (EIN vs. D&B) Links between company hierarchy/acquisition – which numbers stay with the company through acq/merger/divestiture

What the company itself tells you
Company data: Official or not Annual reports 20-F filings On their website In-house organs Links from/to Press releases Current employees Advertising Classifieds At exhibitions

Company data: Official and not
Annual reports Official financial filings Filings explained Stock exchanges ( Direct from company (on website/investor relations page) Commercial sites SECinfo.com Annualreports.com Pro.edgar-online.com Stock trading/data sites Regulatory agency filings Tax records Secured transactions (UCC filings & certificates) Corporation & limited partnership records Patents & trademarks Census data Plant expansions State boards of equalization Secretaries of states State Business Filings Database ( Catalog of searchable IP databases maintained by government, academic and institutional sites, as well as commercial sites ( Court cases Bankruptcies, judgments & liens Foreign Company Data ( Thomson Bureau van Dijk – M&A, IPO, JVs, Private Equity deals ( Capital IQ from Standard & Poor’s Compustat from S & P Official filings CAROL ( FT.com Annual Report Service ( Corporate Direct ( Hemscott Annual Reports Report-Annuel.com Corporate Reports ( 10K Wizard

* 07/16/96 Court docketing Court docket scans for civil and criminal litigation history Federal/state Superior/municipal State upper/lower Felony/misdemeanor Bankruptcies, liens, judgments & notices of default CourtExpress LexisNexis CourtLink Westlaw Company Information Microsoft PressPass ( Electronic Access to State Court Records ( Superior courts maintain probate records * ##

Bankruptcy resources Title 11, US Bankruptcy Code (CFR)
U.S. Courts ( Legal Information Institute ( American Bankruptcy Institute ( FindLaw: Legal Subjects: Bankruptcy Law: Journals & Publications ( Bankruptcy Law Trove ( BankruptcyData.com ( Legal Dockets Online ( Directory of US Bankruptcy Clerks’ Offices (

Screening and profiling
Public/private (Listed/unlisted) Financials Geography Performance Size Industry segment Product description/codes Fortune Company Profiles ( Corporate Information from Wright Investors’ Service ( Hoovers Online ( EuroInfoPool ( Vault Reports Wetfeet CarlsonOnline OneSource Alacra ( Wharton Research Data Services ( The Scannery Integra (

Investing, Charting & Money Market Funds
ValueLine BigCharts.com Bloomberg Boursorama Business for Social Responsibility ( Investor Responsibility Research Center (

Finding out about individuals associated with a firm/organization
* 07/16/96 Finding out about individuals associated with a firm/organization Marquis Who’s who ( Who’s Who Online ( Biography.com Notable Citizens of Planet Earth Biographical Dictionary ( Articles or speeches by and about target of investigation Electronic Biographies Web Guide ( Forbes.com People Tracker ( Time Most Influential People ( Find the Right Executive Decision Maker ( Finding People Information Blog ( Biographical Dictionary ( Biography.com Biography from Infoplease ( Biogs.co.uk Peoples Archive ( PeopleSpot.com Researching People on the Internet I ( Researching People on the Internet II ( Sutter’s Who’s Who ( Who2.com Ziggs.com Use the online reference shelves at libraries (academic, public, virtual) to find lists of links and test out resources that are unfamiliar to you * ##

A wide array of online people and business tracking services
Telephone listings Credit history Real estate holdings Medical conditions Legal entanglements Driving and motor vehicle records Professional licenses Example: Licensee Status Inquiries ( Nexis Accurint Forbes.com People Tracker ( Search Systems Googling Types of investigations/investigators

Commercial services ChoicePoint (http://www.choicepoint.com)
* 07/16/96 Commercial services ChoicePoint ( AutoTrack ( Knowx.com Medical Information Bureau ( PrivacyGuard ( Employee screening ( Metropolitan Reporting Bureau, Inc. Services for the Insurance Claims Industry ( Public Data Corporation ( Record Information Services ( DCS National Inquiry System ( USSEARCH.com Informus: You can search by SS # - Driving record - Workers comp - Insurance report - Criminal history - Previous employment - Education - Credit - Current ( and previous) address Metropolitan Reporting Bureau, Inc. Services for the Insurance Claims Industry Police Accident Reports, Incident, Photographs Fire Reports Driver Statement to State where applicable Title History Weather Reports Subrogation financial - Assets Activities Fixed Rate Coroner Reports & Death Certificates Locate Defendant/witness OSHA Reports Property and Judgments Disposition of charges from Traffic Accident * ##

Credit bureaus Dun & Bradstreet (dnb.com) Experian (formerly TRW)
* 07/16/96 Credit bureaus Dun & Bradstreet (dnb.com) Small Businesses ( Market Insight ( Experian (formerly TRW) BizInfo Online ( Equifax Infocheck - now part of Equifax Europe ( TransUnion Credit Reporting System * ##

What’s helpful to know before you begin
* 07/16/96 What’s helpful to know before you begin Full and correct name Date of birth Social security number Neighbors and relatives Hobbies Living or dead? Obit Finder ( Obituary Daily Times ( ) Last known address Nationality Marital status Schools attended Hobbies: US Coast Guard Watercraft file * ##

Motor vehicle records Department of Motor Vehicle Records
* 07/16/96 Motor vehicle records Department of Motor Vehicle Records Produce a list of vehicles owned by an individual or business (year, make, model) Match registered and legal owners of vehicle by license plate number of VIN Provide a driving performance history for an individual Vehicle History Report ( Insurance Information Exchange ( * ##

Selected business information websites
“Traditional” online resources EIU Factiva Competitive Intelligence Professional Resources from Nexis.com ( OneSource Credit rating services Moodys.com Standard & Poor’s Duff & Phelps Dun & Bradstreet International Equifax/Equifax Europe (includes InfoCheck) Graydon – ATP International ICC Jordan’s Bureau van Dijk Perfect Information Profound Bloomberg Reuters

General business & investment sites with industry data and links
CEO Express Competitive Intelligence Links ( Briefing.com OneSource ( TheStreet.com INVESTools Thomson MarketEdge ( Investor Guide ( The Financial Center ( First Call ( Seeking Alpha 123Jump Money.cnn.com Company research Industry Watch Researchmag.com Stocksmart.com Wall Street City Carlson Online Digital Look Investor Centre ( Euroland The Motley Fool ( or Global-Investor DailyStocks Investment Promotion Network ( MSN Money Corporate Library Companies & CEOs

Wall Street freebies (and premium services you can afford)
Stockmaster ( The Investment FAQ home page ( Investor Guide ( Unofficial Directory of Nasdaq SmallCap Stocks on the Web ( The Financial Center ( Legendary Investor Selections ( Avid Trading Company ( Invest$Link ( Quote.com ( Stock Research Group ( StockSmart ( Wall Street Executive/Canadian CEO

Selected bibliographies, guides, and books
Business Information Searcher ( Competitive Intelligence Research Guide Helicon’s Articles and Book Reviews on CI and Related Topics Business Statistics on the Web Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence

Thank you, and feel free to be in touch!
Barbie E. Keiser

The CI Process Compile Analyze KNOWLEDGE INFORMATION DATA COLLECT
Communicate DECISION RESULTS Apply Act INTELLIGENCE Critical functions for CI Collecting the data Compiling the information Analyzing the knowledge Communicating the intelligence Determining the options Deciding upon the action(s) to be taken The Data Collection Stage Understanding the business objectives Determining the need for secondary source and primary source intelligence Use of secondary source as a springboard for primary source discovery Evaluating the quality and reliability of sources Developing and implementing an information system by creating a practical framework that provides externally- (& internally-) sourced information to key personnel Decision maker

Barbie E. Keiser October 2006

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