Key Competitive Intelligence Sources on Dialog
Dialog's competitive intelligence data comes from many sources. There are two reasons why it helps to keep this in mind:
- It will help you choose the best database.
- It will help you decide whether your information request will make a reasonable online search.
For instance, it is unlikely you will be able to find a ready-made list of your competitor's clients. However, there is a wealth of information on over 12 million companies from a broad variety of published sources available online. The smart competitive intelligence professional will exhaust the sources below before launching into an expensive primary research project.
Some of the many different sources on Dialog and key databases in each area are listed below:
Trade journals:
Each industry has its own journals that reflect
events and changes in that industry. For example,
the journal Science is an important one for
medical professionals. Databases, such as Business
& Industry™ (File 9), Gale
Group PROMT® (File 16), and Gale
Group Trade and Industry™ Database (File
148) provide broad industry coverage.
Business Directories:
Databases like Dun and Bradstreet's Dun's Market Identifiers® (File 516), Extel Financial Cards from Primark (File 500), and Teikoku Databank: Japanese Companies (File 502) provide facts and figures about publicly- and privately-owned companies.
Newspapers:
National, international, and regional news
sources, such as the NY Times®
(File 471) and the London Times (File
710),
offer stories on new products, patents a company
holds, or alliances formed between two companies.
Dialog NewsRoom (File 990) contains over 11,000 news
sources including newspapers, trade journals, newswires, and newsletters.
They are also important sources of economic
and world conditions that affect company economic
data.
Market Research Reports:
A group of databases, MARKETFULL, contains market research reports on industries and companies. For example, Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering (File 767) provides in-depth market studies and industry analyses for technical markets in the United States, Europe, and around the world.
Industry Newsletters:
Industries publish their own newsletters, many of which are compiled in File 636, Gale Group Newsletter Database™ and EIU Business Newsletters, File 629.
Newswires:
File 613, PR Newswire, and File 610, Businesswire, contain
up-to-the-minute happenings, such as appointment
of a new CEO, a new product launch, or a newly-formed
partnership.
Dialog's information sources are international in scope. You can find facts about companies in the European Union or learn about market conditions in Japan by choosing from among Dialog's numerous databases.
In this course you will learn which databases to search on Dialog and search tips and techniques that will help you to gain competitive intelligence.
Back to Course Contents.
