Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

July 28, 2010

Wanda McDavid

Access/Information, Inc.

Sponsored by   Presented by  

Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

Access/Information, Inc.

Who are we?

• We are one of the oldest information professional companies in the country and the largest of our type in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region.

• Our staff is comprised of experienced librarians and researchers.• We provide research for companies who are a part of LEGI.• We are the research members of an “Jump Start Team” for

Economic Gardening.

Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

• LEGI offers to any business in Longmont a combination of peer counseling, access to research data, data analysis, market analysis, plus competitive and industry intelligence.

• The initial interview, counseling, research data, and data analysis are free.

– This workshop will focus on the importance of competitive intelligence, industry and marketing trends, and the role of demographic data.

– Strategies and tools, including various commercial databases and the types of information and reports available, will be presented and discussed.

• "Competitive intelligence is a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, and managing information about the external business environment that can affect a company’s plans, decisions, and operations. Although narrower in scope, it is commonly employed as a synonym for Business intelligence."

- Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals

Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

• Competitive intelligence includes planning, identifying decision makers’ intelligence needs, collecting and analyzing information, disseminating intelligence products and services, evaluating intelligence activities, promoting intelligence services among a client base, and additional industry-specific issues – Special Libraries Association – Competitive Intelligence

Division

Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

Ethics

•Competitive information may be obtained from public or subscription sources, from networking with competitor staff or customers, or from field research interviews.

•Strategic information is not industrial espionage.

•Comply with all applicable laws, domestic and international

•Accurately disclose all relevant information, including one’s identity and organization, prior to all interviews

•Avoid conflict of interests

•Provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the execution of one's duties

– SCIP Code of Ethics

Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

Use Research & Competitive Intelligence to Grow Your Business

Strategic Information and Competitive Intelligence:

• CI is a marketing, client development and business expansion tool– Competitors– Industry information– New markets – Prospective partners– Influence business decisions – Merger opportunities/new hires

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Return on Investment (ROI)

• Good business decisions require good business information

• Measurement – Data collection– Effort/Time– Dollars

• Analysis– Sharing information

• Upkeep & Monitoring

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Strategic Information/Intelligence Cycle

• Needs

• Planning & Direction

• Published Source Collection

• Human Source Collection

• Analysis & Production

• Dissemination– See Competitive Intelligence: A Practical Primer for Location

Intelligence at the Location Intelligence Web site (http://www.locationintelligence.net/articles/2102.html)

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Essential Strategic Information

• Identify top clients, customers, or competitors

• Analyze what they need or what they are doing

• Understand the strategic role of the industries

• Identify new trends & emerging industries

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Company Information

• Public Companies– SEC filings– Company Web Sites– News Articles– Links Search– Community Postings– Case Law Databases– Public Records– Commercial Databases– InternalMemos.com– Blogs

• Private Companies– D&B Reports– Company Web Sites– News Articles– Links Search– Community postings– Case Law Databases– Public Records– Commercial Databases– InternalMemos.com– Blogs

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Competition and Market Information

• What is the R&D Department doing– U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office database

• How does the company compare to the competition

• LinkedIn• What’s the gossip• Blogs

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Market Forecasting

• What’s the current and projected market for the company’s products and services

• Demographics• Projections• Government Agencies• Associations

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Public Records

• Business Records• Judgments• Civil Actions• Criminal Cases• Bankruptcies• Property

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Local Resources

• Business & Company Resource Center –Business Premier Database – Ebsco –

• Colorado Secretary of State

• Colorado Professional Licensing

• Associations Unlimited Prompt

• National Newspaper Index

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Commercial Resources

LexisNexis® Company Dossier

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Industry Trends

• Economy.com http://www.economy.com/home/products/service_overview.asp?selVal=3&service=6

• IBIS World Industry Snapshots - http://www.ibisworld.com/snapshot/industry/?id=ValuationResources

• Valuation Resources.com – Attorneys - http://www.valuationresources.com/Reports/SIC8111Attorneys.htm

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Analysis

• History

• Industry Background & Trends

• Issues

• News Information

• Resources

• Recommendations

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Dissemination

• Executive Summary – 2 to 3 pages in length

• In-depth Analysis – 6 to 20 pages in length

• PowerPoint presentation

• Spreadsheet

• HTML or PDF documents

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In-Depth Report

• Research Question• Overview of topic or

industry– Generally– Specific issues

• Definitions• Standards,

Certification, and Regulation

• Major Companies• Trends• Associations and

Organizations• Resources• Recommendations (if

applicable)• Bibliography

Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles

Validating Information

• Plan the search

• Limit the field

• Indentify and review the original source

• Evaluate the source

• Verify the date of publication

• Beware

Fact-Finding on the Web Starting Points and Beyond

Identifying Authoritative Sources:• Trade Associations

http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Associations/By_Industry

• Government Information and Public Records• Information Hubs• Limiting searches to .org, .edu, and .gov

extensions

Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles

Documenting and Citing Sources:

• Following links to original sources

• Citing sources (http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/bluebook1_7.cfm ) in your deliverable

• Documenting your search strategy

Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles

Your Resource -