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

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

8 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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10 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 (

11 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

12 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

13 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

14 Market Forecasting What’s the current and projected market for the company’s products and services Demographics Projections Government Agencies Associations

15 Public Records Business Records Judgments Civil Actions Criminal Cases Bankruptcies Property

16 Local Resources Business & Company Resource Center – Business Premier Database – Ebsco – Colorado Secretary of State Colorado Professional Licensing Associations Unlimited Prompt National Newspaper Index

17 Commercial Resources LexisNexis® Company Dossier

18 Industry Trends Economy.com ervice_overview.asp?selVal=3&service=6 ervice_overview.asp?selVal=3&service=6 IBIS World Industry Snapshots - y/?id=ValuationResources y/?id=ValuationResources Valuation Resources.com – Attorneys - s/SIC8111Attorneys.htm s/SIC8111Attorneys.htm

19 Analysis History Industry Background & Trends Issues News Information Resources Recommendations

20 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

21 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 ations/By_Industry ations/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 ( uebook1_7.cfm ) in your deliverableCiting sourceshttp:// uebook1_7.cfm Documenting your search strategy

Flexing and Using Your Legal Research Muscles Your Resource -