Researching "Outside the Box" (Continued)

There are many additional forms of "Out of the Box" Research sources available in the CIC Library. Here are a few examples of these non-traditional sources of information.

Determine Your Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code

In order to place your product within its proper industry you should know what SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) code applies. The SIC Code is a U.S.based system developed to classify or group industries. Many public Web sites, including OSHA's SIC Search allow you to search by your product type and select the appropriate SIC code for each product. Once you have identified the relevant SIC code, you need to do some research to determine what other companies operate in your business - in other words, your competition. You can obtain this company information from sources such as Hoover's Online and other business sites.

Trade, Business and Commerce Associations

Trade association documents often include valuable data that the industry group has gathered and analyzed. They are often available online.

Click here to view resources that might provide these documents.

Some trade associations provide information packages when requested. The American Society of Association Executives provides a database to locate these organizations.

Executive Compensation

Analyzing executive compensation figures is another example of researching "outside the box". Industry standards can be viewed and conclusions can be made concerning retention of employees. Paywatch.org is a helpful site for this topic. It contains information directly from SEC filings. For companies not listed in this site, refer to the SEC EDGAR site and research individual companies proxy statements. See also Rob Magazine "Top 1000 Paid Executives"

Political Contributions - By Industry, Company, Politician and Political Party

Tracking competitors' political contributions through The Center for Responsive Politics also assists in drawing conclusions about the competitor. Numerous databases are featured which may provide useful facts and figures about the soft money, PAC and other political contributions being made to political parties and politicians.

Conference Calls

Conference calls are another avenue to take when conducting a competitive review. By analyzing calendars of conferences, you may uncover the speakers are actually your competitors. By accessing the conference papers, patterns, presentations and trends in the industry can be determined. You can uncover what the competition is planning straight from the source and learn the names of some of your competitor's top employees. In many cases, conference proceedings occur online facilitating in the retrieval of documents.

Click here for links on accessing conference call information.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please contact The Competitive Intelligence Center.