SLA CI Division Webinar: Using the Internet to Research Private Companies

Using the Internet to Research Private Companies August Jackson august (at) augustjackson (dot) net http://www.augustjackson.net @8of12 #slacid

Our Approach

Decision-Focused Intelligence I need Competitor X’s price list, customer list and tax filings. I also need their CEO’s 4th grade report card, her mother’s maiden name and the book report she wrote on “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” in the 5th grade. #slacid

Decision-Focused Intelligence I have an important decision that I need to make. There are some things I need to understand about Competitor X to help me make those decisions. #slacid

Decisions Commonly Supported Strategic Planning Partnership Mergers & Acquisitions Business Development Research & Development Product Development & Life Cycle Market Entry/Exit Marketing & Advertising Planning Tactical Sales Activity #slacid

Define KITs: Choosing Analytical Models Which analytical frameworks will we use? Choose The Right Analytical Frameworks #slacid

Define KITs: Choosing Analytical Models Match Analysis to Your Business Decision Business and Competitive Analysis Babette Bensousan and Craig Fleisher Choose The Right Analytical Frameworks #slacid

Define KITs: Common Information Requirements Product Revenue Pricing Profitability Market Share Strengths Weaknesses Marketing and Sales Partners Current Markets Market Position Supply Chain Capacity Facilities Employees Hiring Likely Strategies Financial Capacity Executive Decision-Making Industry Trends Opportunities Threats Financials Ownership Legal and Regulatory Kinds of Information Commonly Sought #slacid

Plan Research Strategy Data Intelligence Primary Secondary Internet research Interviews Verifiable answers direct from a single source Diverse sources, analysis, varying levels of confidence A Framework for Research Planning #slacid

Plan Research Strategy Data Intelligence Primary Secondary Hiring Locations Channels to Market Current Markets Company Revenue Ownership Legal Regulatory Industry Trends Employees & Skills Market Share & Position Capacity Opportunities & Threats Product Revenue Suppliers Product Profitability Supply Chain Decision Making Capacity to Act Strengths & Weaknesses A Framework for Research Planning #slacid

Best Secondary Sources for Private Company Info #slacid

Our Use Case: Raynor Garage Door Our use case: Raynor Garage Door of Dixon, Illinois Our Use Case #slacid

Premium Sources #slacid

Company Web Site Descriptions Offices Locations Identified partners Executives Job postings Press release Sales channels Corporate history Company Web Site #slacid

Link Analysis Partners Distributors Philanthropic ventures Former employees Fans Critics Bloggers User forums News coverage Use Google’s link: Operator #slacid

Filetype: Operator Extension Document Type PDF Adobe Acrobat DOC/DOCX Microsoft Word PPT/PPTX Microsoft PowerPoint XLS/XLSX Microsoft Excel

Legal and Regulatory Filings
Regulatory Filings
Environmental
Employment
Building Permits
Export Permits
Shipping Records
Legal Filings and Decisions
Patents & Trademarks
Securities
Government contracts and proposals
Budget time
and funds!
Jurisdiction-Specific
National
State and provincial
City, county, municipal
Not all offices are Internet-ready, some may require an office visit
Search
+ jurisdiction
+”public records”
+”probate”
+”legal records”
Directory of resources in the appendix
Legal & Regulatory Filings #slacid

Legal and Regulatory Filings #slacid

Location openings
Site growth
Hiring & firing
Near-term activities
Changes in management
Industry position
Execute profiles
Company profiles
Location and industry specific Search + city +”newspaper” Search + industry +”journal” Search + industry + product + technology +”association” +”society” Local and Industry News Sources #slacid

Industry Associations and Journals #slacid

Locations
Centralization
Employees’ skills
Outlines of organization charts
Targets for primary research
History of business initiatives
Perspectives of customers
Remember your ethics.
Don’t be scary or pushy!
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com Ning http://www.ning.com Industry-specific social networks Search + industry +”social network” Directory in the appendix LinkedIn #slacid

People Search and Social Networks #slacid

Slideshare #slacid

People Search and Social Networks #slacid

Other Company Resources

New hiring
Skills sought
Location of new hires
Clues to expansion
Clues to new market entry
Clues to priorities
Postings reveal corporate culture
Leading general job sites Monster CareerBuilder Yahoo Jobs Indeed Industry-specific job sites Search + industry +”job” +”career” Pay attention to sponsored search results and ads when doing a jobs keyword search Job Sites

Questions? #slacid

Appendix: Directory of Filings Databases
Fuld & Co. on-line resources:
http://www.fuld.com/fuld-bin/f.wk?fuld.i3.home
BRB Publications Free Resource Center
http://www.brbpub.com/freeresources/pubrecsites.aspx?h=1
State and Local Government on the Net (US)
http://www.statelocalgov.net
Virtual Gumshoe (US)
http://www.virtualgumshoe.com/resources/
International Organization of Securities Commissions
https://www.iosco.org/lists/display_members.cfm?memID=1&orderBy=none
#slacid

Appendix: Directory of Newspapers and Industry Journals and Organizations
Google News
http://news.google.com
NewsVoyager
http://www.newspaperlinks.com
BizJournals (US city-specific business journals)
http://www.bizjournals.com
Scirus Scientific Journal Directory
http://www.scirus.com/
Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com
#slacid

Appendix: People Search Engines
Pipl: http://www.pipl.com
Spock: http://www.spock.com/
123people: http://www.123people.com/
Yo Name: http://www.yoname.com/
Masters of Criminal Justice Web Directory of People Search Engines
http://www.mastersincriminaljustice.com/blog/2009/50-best-people-search-engines-to-track-down-anyone/
#slacid

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SLA CI Division Webinar: Using the Internet to Research Private Companies

by August Jackson

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