Monthly Archive for July, 2009

Tracking Capital Investments in Canada on Twitter

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 29, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Economic Intelligence and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

E&B DATA, Intelegia’s parent company,  has launched a Twitter page for those wish to track capital investments in Canada.  EB_DATA allows government agencies, economic development officers, potential investors and large corporations to keep informed on new construction, expansion and modernization projects worth more than $1 million.

E&B DATA On Twitter

To begin tracking capital investments in Canada, visit www.twitter.com/EB_DATA

We also invite you to join the Facebook Group that compliments the Twitter feed.

E&B DATA has been monitoring capital investment projects as a part of its Investment Observatory since 2000 and updates its database of projects on a daily basis.   For more information on the database, please visit the E&B DATA website.

The Many Faces Of Google For Economic Intelligence: Part 3 - Google Blog Search

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 24, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Economic Intelligence
. 0 Comments

Last week, Tools For Thought highlighted the use of Google Finance for economic intelligence and its relevancy to preparing to meet a potential investor for foreign direct investment purposes.  This post will take a look at Google Blog Search.

As the name suggest, Google Blog Search exclusively retrieves relevant posts based on keywords.  Although blog posts may appear in the results from the general search application, it is wise to select the blog search option to avoid the irrelevant hits.

You may wonder in what circumstances would you go to the application for economic intelligence purposes?

Blogs are outlets for individuals to publish their insights on various subjects without depending on a webmasters on a timely basis.  Citizens of towns often start their own blog to voice their concerns on an proposed project that will have definite economic spin offs.

Google Blog Search

Please click on the image to enlarge.

Case Example:

You are interested in reading opinions about the different job creation programs available in Ontario, Canada.

Solution:

Using Google Blog Search, you may find several posts by individuals discussing several issues and expressing their views.  This type of information is often forgotten when collecting economic intelligence for economic development intiatives.

Sustainability and Social Media : Is It A Natural? - Take 2

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 20, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Author-Isabelle Poirier, Economic Development, Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0 Strategy
. 0 Comments

In May 2008, Intelegia examined the Dow Jones Sustainability Index - 10 Supersectors Leaders in terms of the use of blogs in their approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development (SD).    After conducting a thorough examination of the websites of the companies listed in the index, Intelegia discovered that Intel had a full compliment of Web 2.0 tools (i.e., blogs, podcasts, videocasts) and Web 1.0 applications (i.e., newsletter and news alerts) to deal with social responsibility issues.

With the acceptance of online social networks as viable communication tools during the past year, Intelegia decided to conduct the same exercise with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (2008 / 2009).  The image below is the scorecard that was used to evaluate the company’s websites. (Please click on the image to few a full scale version of the table.)

DJI Sustainability Index and Social Media

Source: E&B DATA / Intelegia

Please Note: Only online social networks that are mentioned on the company’s website are considered.

Findings from the study include:

  • Of the 18 companies in the index, only two companies do not have a section of their corporation website discussing corporate social responsibility or sustainability development. Itausa-Investimentos Itau and TNT N.V.
  • Intel still leads the way in terms of adopting Web 2.0 applications when it is comes to promoting their dedication to corporate social responsibility.  This is seen through Intel’s official Facebook Fan page for their Inspired by Education project.  Although not located in their CSR section, the company has a channel on YouTube titled, Channel Intel.  It would not be a big shock if Intel creates a channel specifically for CSR content in the near future.
  • adidas AG does not offer much in terms of Web 2.0 tools when it comes to CSR or SD however; looking at their products website is a different story.  adidas.com offers an array of Web 2.0 tools such as podcasts
  • Eni, an integrated energy has a collection of videocasts discussing their various sustainability initiatives.
  • Air France-KLM in the airline industry does not have a presence on Web 2.0 which is surprising.  For a company that should be engaging with  clients, Air France-KLM must begin an effort to use social media tools.

With the power of the Web 2.0 or social media offer to connect with other, it is interesting to see who will be quickly adopting applications and who will be conducting “business as usual” over the next 12 months.

The Many Faces Of Google For Economic Intelligence: Part 2 - Google Finance

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 15, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Economic Intelligence
. 0 Comments

In the previous post, The Many Faces Of Google For Economic Intelligence: Part 1 - Google Alerts, we explained how the application can be a tremendous time saver and an effective monitoring service based on keyword(s) appearance on the web.

This second post of the series will examine Google Finance, a portal for business information.

Google Finance maybe considered as a poor man’s version of Hoover’s Online however. it provides the bare essentials on a company such as:

  • Description
  • Latest News
  • Listing of Top Executives
  • Key Financials
  • Related companies
  • Historical stock prices

The majority of the information on Google Finance provides data on public companies around the world.

Google Finance

Please click on the image to enlarge.

Case Example:

You are just about to meet with representatives from a large company in the alternative energy sector that is ready to make a significant investment in the northern of your state.  Due to a lack of time, you were not able to read up on the potential investor and you only have a half a day to so.  What do you do?

Solution:

Via Google Finance, you can access the following  details pertaining to potential investor:

  • Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow (on a quarterly or annual basis)
  • Competitors
  • Recent news

These details can be put together to create a brief document that can be read in minutes.

The Many Faces Of Google For Economic Intelligence: Part 1 - Google Alerts

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 9, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith and Competitive & Internet Intelligence
. 0 Comments

As users of the internet and gatherers of information, we often take such tools as Google for granted.  We expect Google to provide us with relevant information based upon a few keywords that are entered in the general search box.

For professionals working in the field of economic development,  going beyond Google’s simple search function can prove very beneficial and will unearth information that may sway decisions for future initiatives.

In this first part of “The Many Faces Of Google”, this post will discuss the Google Alerts application.

Google Alerts allows individuals with a valid Google account to receive alerts regarding the appearance of keywords on the web.  Google will indicate the appearance of keywords available on:

  • Websites
  • News
  • Blog
  • Video
  • Groups

Google also offers a comprehensive scan where it offers all of tracking services listed above.  The alerts can be delivered  “as-it-happens”, “once a day” or “once a week” to your email inbox or feed service.

Please click on the image to enlarge.

Case Example:

As an economic development officer (EDO), you are interested in the level of usage of various federal incentive programs for small businesses.  How can you evaluate the interest over the next 12 to 16 months?

Solution;

Using the specific name of the incentive programs, you can establish various alert however; some may prove more fruitful that others.  A website alert will return a great amount of program information that may be repetitive for your needs.

*** If you need assistance setting up a formal monitoring service for your economic intelligence needs, please contact Ian at ian@intelegia.com

Competitive Intelligence & Economic Development: Reinforcing The Link

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 1, 2009
in Author-Ian Smith, Competitive & Internet Intelligence and Economic Development
. 0 Comments

The link between the practice of competitive intelligence and economic development is obvious however; it is taken for granted.  From the routine literature scan to the data mining of statistics in databases, these competitive intelligence activities can be considered as “just internet searching” for economic data.  To some, this label maybe unsettling and must asked themselves:

How can competitive intelligence professionals bring their expertise to the field of economic development?

The answer can be derived on three levels:

i) Understanding the issues:

At the root of economic development issues, lies Key Intelligence Topics (KITs) for competitive intelligence professionals.  For example, an issue of foreign direct investment attraction calls for investigating all companies that may have the means to invest in a foreign countries.  In addition, the conditions (locational factors) in  which the companies will take into consideration must be examined.  Responses to the KITs will assists competitive intelligence researchers in finding timely and relevant data in an efficient manner.

ii) Access the right information sources

Rather than depending upon a broad search of the web, competitive intelligence professionals can benefit from a toolkit of sources that is relevant to the mandate.   An economic impact study calls for researchers to collect secondary data from government sources that may not be available online for free.  Knowing the specific sources and how to access them will save time and money.

iii) Apply competitive analysis tools

With relevant data in hand, competitive intelligence professionals can bring further insights in an economic context thanks to such analysis tools as:

  • SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats)
  • Porter’s Five Forces
  • STEEP Analysis (Social, Technological, Economical, Environmental, Political)

(Please view our presentation on competitive analysis tools or inquire about our training sessions)

Given the current global economic conditions, economic development initiatives must be executed with a strategic mindset.  In order to do so, the same competitive intelligence processes used in a corporate environment can be modified to supply data to decision makers to plan for the future to benefit economic stakeholders.