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Business Information Universe
International Summer School on Information Literacy, funded by CEI, 10-14 September 2007, Fermo, Italy
Sabina Cisek, PhDAssociate Professor
Institute of Information and Library Science Jagiellonian University
Krakow, Poland
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FOREWORD: THE COURSE OBJECTIVES, STRUCTURE, CONTENT AND TRAINING
METHODS
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Business Information Universe: the course objectives
• Familiarize participants with the concept and domain of business information
• Give an overall presentation of the business information industry, services, sources and uses
• Introduce selected business information resources – focusing on free-of-charge and Open Access Web-based services and sources
• Show how to use business information sources (mainly – international in scope, in English) and provide opportunity for hands-on training
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Business Information Universe: the course structure and content
• Module 1: Introduction to Business Information
• Module 2: Seeking for business information – Web-based information resources
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Business Information Universe: the course teaching-learning approach
and training methods
• Assignments, demonstration, discussion, group-work, lecture, hands-on practice
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Business Information Universe: very selected additional readings
• Research guides and tutorials– BERA: Business and Economics Research
Advisor. A Series of Guides to Business and Economics Topics by Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/rr/business/BERA/index.html
– Intute: Virtual Training Suite http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/
• Journals and weblogs– „Business Information Review”. Quarterly by Sage
[paid]– ResourceShelf http://www.resourceshelf.com/
[free]
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MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS INFORMATION (BI)
Training methods: lecture, demonstration and discussion
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The Module 1 structure and content
• Meaning, definitions, terminology, characteristics and importance of business information
• Business information needs and users
• The business information industry: producers and providers of BI
• General description and categorization of BI resources
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Meanings of the term „business information”
• Business Information is a domain of activity that: – involves – preparing/producing information sources;
collecting, managing and giving access to them; finding, evaluating and using information, etc.;
– includes – products (i.e. business information resources), services, systems, professionals, organizations, needs, users and uses, etc.
• Business information is a type of information
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Definitions of business information
• (1) Information FOR (doing) business– to make informed decisions – short-term,
long-term, strategic– to enhance business, products, technology
with current information– to gain profit, recognition and success
• (2) Information ABOUT business (and economics, and related issues)
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Terminology
• Business information
• Business and economics information
• Business intelligence
• Competitive intelligence
• nearly synonyms
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Business information features
• Business information should be reliable, trustworthy, authenticated, current, up-to-date; but – historical data and controversial issues may also be needed
• Business information is based on resources that are already published and made available – Note a: that does not mean – these sources
are always easily available– Note b: of course there are exceptions
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Business information area
• General business information resources = „starting points”
• Company information • Financial information = investment
information • Product and service information • Markets, marketing and trade
information • Other
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Business information needs, users and uses
• Who needs business information? What for? Why business information makes a difference? Why business information literacy is an advantage – for organizations and for everybody?
• Discussion with the course participants
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Business information needs, users and uses – who needs business information?
• In professional life • business enterprises • associations, not-for-profit organizations, NGOs • central and local governments, authorities• journalists, writers• researchers, scientists, students• advisers, brokers, lawyers
• In private life: everybody • anybody who wants to set up a business • buyers • credit takers • complaining clients • investors • job seekers • tax payers
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The Business Information Industry: producers and providers of BI (I)
• Non-commercial: – International organizations, like European Union,
OECD, United Nations, for example• Your Europe – Business [by EU European Commission]
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/nav/en/business/index.html
• Euro Info Centres [by EU] http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/networks/eic/eic.html
– Governments’ bodies, administration, local authorities
• Ministry of Finance of Republic of Albania http://www.minfin.gov.al/
• Republic of Macedonia Ministry of Finance http://www.finance.gov.mk/gb/index.html
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The Business Information Industry: producers and providers of BI (II)
– Libraries (academic, government, public), librarians, for example
• Buffalo & Erie County Public Library – Reference Desk – Business and Finance http://www.buffalolib.org/refdesk/index.asp
• Harvard Business School Baker Library http://www.library.hbs.edu/guides/
– NGOs
– Professional associations, chambers of commerce
– Universities, other educational/research institutions, scholars, students
– Volunteers, enthusiasts
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The Business Information Industry: Producers and Providers of BI (III)
• Commercial: – Commercial publishers and providers of BI
resources, for example – • Dun & Bradstreet http://www.dnb.com/us/ • Internet Securities, Inc. (trading as ISI Emerging Markets),
http://www.securities.com/ • Wiley http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-300022.html
– Corporate intelligence centers • see The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
(SCIP) http://www.scip.org/
– Information brokers = independent information professionals
• see the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) http://www.aiip.org/index.html
– Journals, for example • „The Economist” http://www4.economist.com/countries/
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The business information sources
• There exists a great amount of business information sources
• Where and how to find them?
• How to read and understand them?
• How to evaluate them?
• How to use them?
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The business information sources: categorization (I)
• By financial barriers / availability of information
– Free information, for example:
• CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html ;
• Intute: social sciences: business http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/business/
– Commercial information – sold to the public, for example: Business Source Complete (EBSCOhost)
– Proprietary information – not available, trade secrets
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The business information sources: categorization (II)
• Note– There are numerous commercial sources –
databases, directories, etc. that are available online:
• partly free – basic information
• partly free – but you have to register or subscribe
• partly as paid services, for fee
– Examples:• http://www.corporateinformation.com/
• http://www.kompass.com/en/MD001368
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The business information sources: categorization (III)
• By producer/provider status (formality)– official (by government)
– non-official (by commercial provider)
• By format– electronic (online and offline), print, people
• By level of processing– primary sources
– secondary sources
– tertiary sources
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The business information sources: categorization (IV)
• Online electronic sources – by type of website – General-purpose (global and local) search engines,
meta-search services, catalogs, portals– Specialized search tools (for example – „harvesting”
services, Deep Web directories) – Quality-controlled subject/information gateways,
vertical portals– Full-text resources – archives, e-journals, digital
libraries, repositories – Web 2.0 forms – blogs, wikis, etc. – Databases online– Institutions’ and organizations’ Websites – …
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MODULE 2: SEEKING FOR BUSINESS INFORMATION – WEB-BASED INFORMATION
RESOURCES
Training methods: assignments, demonstration, discussion, group-
work, elements of lecture, hands-on practice
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The Module 2 structure and content
• Seeking for business information – Web-based information resources
• Part A: Getting started
• Part B: Company information
• Part C: Financial information
• Part D: Product and service information
• Part E: Markets, marketing and international trade information
