Competitive Intelligence: Can Free Sources do the Biz? Karen Blakeman Wednesday 3 rd December 2008 Online Information 2008 11:15 - 11:45 - Gallery Rooms 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services Tel: 0118 947 2256 Int. Tel: +44 118 947 2256 [email_address] http://www.rba.co.uk/ blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/ on Facebook – Karen Blakeman Twitter: karenblakeman This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

What is competitive intelligence? Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process of monitoring the competitive environment and analyzing the findings in the context of internal issues, for the purpose of decision support. SCIP – Society of Competitive Intelligence professionals Competitors, suppliers, customers, potential acquisitions, potential partners and alliances Past and current state of the market and industry Forecasts Legal, regulatory, political, economic and cultural environment 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process of monitoring the competitive environment and analyzing the findings in the context of internal issues, for the purpose of decision support.

SCIP – Society of Competitive Intelligence professionals

Competitors, suppliers, customers, potential acquisitions, potential partners and alliances

Past and current state of the market and industry

Forecasts

Legal, regulatory, political, economic and cultural environment

Company information The ‘big boys’ - stock exchange companies are relatively easy Share price information Yahoo Finance (‘major’ stock markets only) http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/ Google Finance http://www.google.co.uk/finance http://www.google.com/finance/ Go direct to the stock market site RBA Stock Markets and Share Price Information http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/stocks.htm 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

The ‘big boys’ - stock exchange companies are relatively easy

Share price information

Yahoo Finance (‘major’ stock markets only)

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/

Google Finance

http://www.google.co.uk/finance http://www.google.com/finance/

Go direct to the stock market site

RBA Stock Markets and Share Price Information

http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/stocks.htm

Yahoo – share price comparisons For example, share price trends– compare a company with its main competitors, its sector and the main index 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

For example, share price trends– compare a company with its main competitors, its sector and the main index

Google Finance 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Share price information Companies that have ceased trading merged been taken off the stock exchange More detailed analyses, comparisons, customised reports Priced services! 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Companies that have

ceased trading

merged

been taken off the stock exchange

More detailed analyses, comparisons, customised reports

Priced services!

Company financials - free resources Stock exchange listed companies company’s own web site SEC Edgar (soon to be replaced by IDEA) http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml , SEDAR http://www.sedar.com/ (Canada) Smaller companies official company registries, for example http://www.companies-house.gov.uk/ Official Company Registers http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/registers.htm Sole traders no financials use directories especially export and membership directories might not find any information at all apart from name and address 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Stock exchange listed companies

company’s own web site

SEC Edgar (soon to be replaced by IDEA) http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml , SEDAR http://www.sedar.com/ (Canada)

Smaller companies

official company registries, for example http://www.companies-house.gov.uk/

Official Company Registers

http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/registers.htm

Sole traders

no financials

use directories especially export and membership directories

might not find any information at all apart from name and address

Historical annual reports - SCoRe http://www.score.ac.uk/ SCoRe ( S earch Co mpany Re ports) Catalogue of printed company reports, both current and historic, held in UK libraries Libraries that hold copies of the reports are listed together with the earliest and latest years of a collection’s holdings A good place to pick up clues on past corporate relationships 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

http://www.score.ac.uk/

SCoRe ( S earch Co mpany Re ports)

Catalogue of printed company reports, both current and historic, held in UK libraries

Libraries that hold copies of the reports are listed together with the earliest and latest years of a collection’s holdings

A good place to pick up clues on past corporate relationships

Company financials – free vs priced Free good for just a few known companies and current information often limited to larger, quoted companies Priced for identifying a group of companies using several criteria by sector, country, turnover, number of employees etc. for extra download formats, analysis options for cross country searching access to information on dissolved companies access to older information beware services offering you ‘hard to find’ information at extortionate prices 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Free

good for just a few known companies and current information

often limited to larger, quoted companies

Priced

for identifying a group of companies using several criteria

by sector, country, turnover, number of employees etc.

for extra download formats, analysis options

for cross country searching

access to information on dissolved companies

access to older information

beware services offering you ‘hard to find’ information at extortionate prices

Looking at a company’s web site history Wayback Machine http://www.archive.org/ takes periodic snapshots of web sites around the world shows how they were presenting and marketing themselves and their products in the past not guaranteed to work domain name may have been owned by someone else in the past 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Wayback Machine

http://www.archive.org/

takes periodic snapshots of web sites around the world

shows how they were presenting and marketing themselves and their products in the past

not guaranteed to work

domain name may have been owned by someone else in the past

http://www.archive.org/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Directories Use directories to track down information on smaller companies Industry/market research need to use several sources to get as comprehensive a picture as possible Search on industry/sector name and directory OR directories Google oil OR petroleum directory OR directories Exalead.com, Live.com, MSE360.com (oil OR petroleum) AND (directory OR directories) 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Use directories to track down information on smaller companies

Industry/market research

need to use several sources to get as comprehensive a picture as possible

Search on industry/sector name and directory OR directories

Google

oil OR petroleum directory OR directories

Exalead.com, Live.com, MSE360.com

(oil OR petroleum) AND (directory OR directories)

Industry and market information Free general statistics demographics, government statistics, industry overviews, “anonymous” data Priced industry specific market shares named companies brand names detailed rankings 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Free

general statistics

demographics, government statistics, industry overviews, “anonymous” data

Priced

industry specific market shares

named companies

brand names

detailed rankings

Statistics key starting points Statistics Sources http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/stats.htm Official Statistics on the Web http://w ww.offstats.auckland.ac .nz Nationmaster http://www.nationmaster.com UK Official Statistics http://www.statistics.gov.uk/default.asp often get better results by running a Google advanced site search 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Statistics Sources

http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/stats.htm

Official Statistics on the Web

http://w ww.offstats.auckland.ac .nz

Nationmaster

http://www.nationmaster.com

UK Official Statistics

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/default.asp

often get better results by running a Google advanced site search

Free industry and market research Individual publishers tables of contents, executive summaries, free sample chapters Government reports Management consultants Company annual reports Academic sector Trade and industry press Take care when combining data from different sources coverage, sample size, method of collection, and analysis will be different for each source 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Individual publishers

tables of contents, executive summaries, free sample chapters

Government reports

Management consultants

Company annual reports

Academic sector

Trade and industry press

Take care when combining data from different sources

coverage, sample size, method of collection, and analysis will be different for each source

www.alacrawiki.com 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Market and industry research Free government bodies e.g. http://www.export.gov/ , http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/ regulatory bodies e.g. in the UK - Competition Commission trade, industry, manufacturing associations, trade and industry press http://www.reportlinker.com/ searches free resources but you have to pay to refine and display results http://www.free-research.com/ browse and display free resources, includes references to priced research http://www.researchwikis.com/ mixed quality, often US biased and not all the data is sourced or referenced 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Free

government bodies e.g. http://www.export.gov/ , http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/

regulatory bodies e.g. in the UK - Competition Commission

trade, industry, manufacturing associations, trade and industry press

http://www.reportlinker.com/

searches free resources but you have to pay to refine and display results

http://www.free-research.com/

browse and display free resources, includes references to priced research

http://www.researchwikis.com/

mixed quality, often US biased and not all the data is sourced or referenced

http://www.reportlinker.com/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

http://www.free-research.com/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

http://www.researchwikis.com/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Search engines Try and imagine what you would like to appear in your ideal document Use terms such as “market share”, “household expenditure”, “per capita” Google numeric range search TV advertising spend forecasts 2008..2015 Repeat the most important term(s) in your search one or more times Change the order of your search terms Limit your search to a type of organisation e.g. gov.uk Limit your search to specific document formats e.g. xls, doc, pdf Use Google, Yahoo, Live …and give MSE360 a go 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Try and imagine what you would like to appear in your ideal document

Use terms such as “market share”, “household expenditure”, “per capita”

Google numeric range search

TV advertising spend forecasts 2008..2015

Repeat the most important term(s) in your search one or more times

Change the order of your search terms

Limit your search to a type of organisation e.g. gov.uk

Limit your search to specific document formats e.g. xls, doc, pdf

Use Google, Yahoo, Live …and give MSE360 a go

Intellectual capital Key people, ‘know how’, expertise R&D pipeline products/services now in the market products/services in active development products/services in initial research stage Availability of information varies depending on industry e.g. information on highly regulated pharmaceutical industry is available through priced services monitor trade and industry journals, newsletters, magazines Patents - beware free services as these are not comprehensive if ‘mission critical’, hire the services of an experienced patent searcher Trademarks, brand names, slogans and advertising 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Key people, ‘know how’, expertise

R&D pipeline

products/services now in the market

products/services in active development

products/services in initial research stage

Availability of information varies depending on industry

e.g. information on highly regulated pharmaceutical industry is available through priced services

monitor trade and industry journals, newsletters, magazines

Patents - beware free services as these are not comprehensive

if ‘mission critical’, hire the services of an experienced patent searcher

Trademarks, brand names, slogans and advertising

Advertising Run a search on Google video and YouTube to track down television and cinema adverts Visit4Info http://www.visit4info.com / European press, TV, cinema - last 3 months of adverts free Adforum http://www.adforum.com/ Creative Club http://www.creativeclub.co.uk/ Adslogans http://www.adslogans.co.uk/ Adverteyes http://www.adverteyes.biz / who said what, where and when – now priced Coloribus.com - Advertising Archive http://www.coloribus.com/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Run a search on Google video and YouTube to track down television and cinema adverts

Visit4Info

http://www.visit4info.com /

European press, TV, cinema - last 3 months of adverts free

Adforum

http://www.adforum.com/

Creative Club

http://www.creativeclub.co.uk/

Adslogans

http://www.adslogans.co.uk/

Adverteyes

http://www.adverteyes.biz /

who said what, where and when – now priced

Coloribus.com - Advertising Archive

http://www.coloribus.com/

Video, audio, images and other ‘stuff’ Check out video and audio search tools for interviews, television and radio news items Corporate communication via YouTube channel http://www.blinkx.com/ for television and cable news services Flickr photos may reveal additional information on events, sponsorships and links to other companies and people Facebook? Twitterstream? 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Check out video and audio search tools for interviews, television and radio news items

Corporate communication via YouTube channel

http://www.blinkx.com/ for television and cable news services

Flickr photos may reveal additional information on events, sponsorships and links to other companies and people

Facebook?

Twitterstream?

News Free check coverage, archives, search options for individual newspapers http://www.abyznewslinks.com/ http://www.kidon.com/media-link/index.php search engine news options e.g. Yahoo, Google, Live, Ask have only the last 30 days of free news advanced search options limited and unreliable no source list, and sources frequently change key industry publications may not be included 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Free

check coverage, archives, search options

for individual newspapers

http://www.abyznewslinks.com/

http://www.kidon.com/media-link/index.php

search engine news options e.g. Yahoo, Google, Live, Ask

have only the last 30 days of free news

advanced search options limited and unreliable

no source list, and sources frequently change

key industry publications may not be included

News Individual publications and newspapers, BBC, radio (audio), television (video) etc Silobreaker http://www.silobreaker.com/ Chipwrapper http://www.chipwrapper.co.uk/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Individual publications and newspapers, BBC, radio (audio), television (video) etc

Silobreaker

http://www.silobreaker.com/

Chipwrapper

http://www.chipwrapper.co.uk/

http://www.silobreaker.com/ covers free resources news, blogs, video, images geographical location of stories people networks use as a starting point for more in depth research 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

covers free resources

news, blogs, video, images

geographical location of stories

people

networks

use as a starting point for more in depth research

Chipwrapper.co.uk Google Custom Search engine Searches everything available on 15 free UK News Sites No date sort option but typing in the month and year sometimes works 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Google Custom Search engine

Searches everything available on 15 free UK News Sites

No date sort option but typing in the month and year sometimes works

News Individual publications and newspapers, BBC, radio (audio), television (video) etc Silobreaker http://www.silobreaker.com/ Chipwrapper http://www.chipwrapper.co.uk/ Archive news some web based news sources and individual publications go back several years and are free subscription and pay as you go options such as Factiva and LexisNexis far better for highly focussed, targeted research 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Individual publications and newspapers, BBC, radio (audio), television (video) etc

Silobreaker

http://www.silobreaker.com/

Chipwrapper

http://www.chipwrapper.co.uk/

Archive news

some web based news sources and individual publications go back several years and are free

subscription and pay as you go options such as Factiva and LexisNexis

far better for highly focussed, targeted research

Blogs as sources of information Blogs by industry gurus and experts are a good way of keeping up to date with what is happening in a sector Look for the Blogroll on a relevant blog Google Blogsearch http://www.google.com/blogsearch Ask.co.uk – Blogs and feeds Live Feeds search - http://search.live.com/feeds Blog and feed search engines, directories http://www.technorati.com/ http://www.blogpulse.com/ 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Blogs by industry gurus and experts are a good way of keeping up to date with what is happening in a sector

Look for the Blogroll on a relevant blog

Google Blogsearch http://www.google.com/blogsearch

Ask.co.uk – Blogs and feeds

Live Feeds search - http://search.live.com/feeds

Blog and feed search engines, directories

http://www.technorati.com/

http://www.blogpulse.com/

Blogpulse 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk Click on the graph to see “Trends”

Blogpulse Trends 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk Shows how often your search terms occur in postings – can compare up to three searches

Cluuz http://www.cluuz.com/ Uses the Yahoo database “ cluster graphs, image extraction, and tag clouds” Quickly updated and dynamic maps Results vary from one day to the next, one hour to the next 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

http://www.cluuz.com/

Uses the Yahoo database

“ cluster graphs, image extraction, and tag clouds”

Quickly updated and dynamic maps

Results vary from one day to the next, one hour to the next

Cluuz 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

So can free resources do the biz? Up to a point Priced services can save you time, may offer more focused searching and more analytical options Free can help with highly specialised, niche markets “ difficult to find” information on certain types of companies rumour, gossip You need to use both 6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk

Up to a point

Priced services can save you time, may offer more focused searching and more analytical options

Free can help with

highly specialised, niche markets

“ difficult to find” information on certain types of companies

rumour, gossip

You need to use both

6 June 2009 Karen Blakeman www.rba.co.uk Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services Tel: 0118 947 2256 Int. Tel: +44 118 947 2256 [email_address] http://www.rba.co.uk/ blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/ on Facebook – Karen Blakeman Twitter: karenblakeman This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License UKeiG Stand 734