LMA Luncheon - Competitive Intelligence
January 10, 2012
Wanda McDavid & Judy Goater
Access/Information, Inc.
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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 are information experts.
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Definitions
• "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."
- Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP)
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Definitions
• 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
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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
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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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Commercial Resources
atVantage
LexisNexis® Company Dossier
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Non Commercial Resources
• Competitive Intelligence – A Selective Resource
Guide – December 2011 by Sabrina Pacifica
http://www.llrx.com/features/ciguide.htm
• Zimmerman’s Research Guide – Company
Information
http://law.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmermans/di
sp.aspx?z=1313
• Zimmerman’s Research Guide – Company
Personnel http://law.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmermans/di
sp.aspx?z=1314
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Virtual Chase Justia.com
• Business research
http://virtualchase.justia.com/researchresources/business-research
• County and Municipal Law Resources
http://virtualchase.justia.com/legalresearch/county-and-municipal-law-portals
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General Sources
• Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en&ie=UTF8&tab=es
• Google Advanced Scholar Search
Pagehttp://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_searc
h?hl=en&as_sdt=2000
• Google Advanced General Search Page
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en
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What to include in a Company Profile?
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Quick Facts
Company overview
Business Segments
Products/Services
Business Partners
Board of Directors
Key Executives
Key Developments
Representative
Clients
• Legal Issues and
Litigation
• Locations - Where
they do business
• Case Studies
• Patent Information
• Marketing Strategy
• Competitors
• Sources
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Company Information
• Public Companies
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SEC filings
Company Web Sites
News Articles
Links Search
Community Postings
Case Law Databases
Public Records
Commercial Databases
Blogs
• Private Companies
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D&B Reports
Company Web Sites
News Articles
Links Search
Community postings
Case Law Databases
Public Records
Commercial Databases
Blogs
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Company Information
• Hoovers http://www.hoovers.com/1000054791.html
• Yahoo! Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/
• Google Finance
http://www.google.com/finance?hl=en&ie=UTF8&tab=ne
• Nexis Company Information
• Valuation Resources.com – Attorneys http://www.valuationresources.com/Reports/SIC
8111Attorneys.htm
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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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Competitor's Web Site
• The Competitor's Web Site is the singlemost valuable source of information.
• Companies and professional organizations
want potential customers to find them and
will openly provide information such as
product descriptions, pricing, locations,
and mission and vision statements.
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Public Records
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Business Records
Judgments
Civil Actions
Criminal Cases
Bankruptcies
Property
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Court and Government Information
• USA.gov
• USA Spending site
http://www.usa.gov/
http://www.usaspending.go
v/
• CoCourts
https://www.cocourts.com/ • Pacer
http://www.pacer.gov/
• Courtlink
http://www.courtlink.com
• US Patent & Trademark
Office
• Court Express –
http://www.uspto.gov/
http://www.courtexpress.c
om
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People Information for Legal Marketers
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Competitors
New hires
Mergers & Acquisitions
Prospective Clients
Current Clients
Opposing Counsel
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Persons of Interest -Tips and Caveats
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Use a wide variety of sources
Validate your information
Be inventive and follow leads
Don’t forget the upkeep and monitoring
Be mindful of Privacy vs. Right-to-Know
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Uses for Contact Information
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Updating marketing databases
Marketing campaigns
Prospective clients
Prospective employees
Additional research
Locating witnesses
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Contact Information Sources
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Yahoo! People search
salesforce data.com (Jigsaw database)
Telephone directories
Professional directories
Professional licensing agencies
Commercial databases
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Business Sources
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Professional Association Newsletters
Company Websites and Press Releases
SEC filings/Edgar
Commercial databases
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Local and Regional Media
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Commercial databases
Local newspaper search
Community news
Google News
Radio and television transcripts
News alerts
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Social Media
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Martindale Hubbell
Linked-In
Facebook and Google+
Twitter
YouTube
Blogs
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Public Records
• Property and tax records
• Court filings
• Commercial database searches and
indexes
• CBI Criminals Records Check
• Voter registrations/political campaign
contributions
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Scholarly Sources
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Commercial databases
Google Scholar
Curriculum Vitae
WorldCat
HeinOnline
SSRN, EconPapers
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Local Resources
• Denver Public Library database resources
• Colorado Secretary of State
http://www.sos.state.co.us/
• Colorado Professional Licensing
• National archives
• Special collections; e.g., University of
Denver’s FACTS database
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