Reprinted by permission
WELCOME to the May 2002 edition of The BestBizWeb
Eletter! Here is our monthly review of the best business
research sites we've come across.
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SITE: Search-SEC.com
URL: http://www.search-sec.com/
CATEGORY: Company Information
PURPOSE: This site provides access to SEC documents filed
by U.S. public companies. Users can search by ticker
symbol, and limit searches by company name, zip code, phone
number, state, country, SIC code, or form types.
FEE/FREE: FREE
SOURCE CHECK: Search-SEC.com is a privately-held firm
located in Hawaii and run by Robert Carleton. Carleton is
a systems and Web administrator who launched the site
in January 2000.
OUR VIEW: This site offers an incredibly easy way to look
up filings. While there are several SEC filing search sites,
this one is the easiest to use. You just type
in a ticker and pull up recent as well as archived filings.
It's simple, fast, and effective. There's even a free email
alert service, and a short but informative briefing called
"Using SEC filings to research public companies" that is a nice
guide for those who are new to using public company records.
Consider this source if you want a fast and simple public company
document look-up service.
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SITE: Internet Advertising Report (IAR)
URL: http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/
CATEGORY: News Sources/Internet News
PURPOSE: IAR provides timely news stories on topics
related to interactive advertising. This includes email
marketing, pay-for-placement search, portals, wireless,
and Internet company activities. Also covered are related
consumer issues, such as demographic trends, Internet
survey usage results, and so on.
FEE/FREE: FREE
SOURCE CHECK: Internet Advertising Report is part of
Internet.com's "internetnews.com" site and was launched
in 1996.
OUR VIEW: This site is a good example of quality online
journalism. The articles are well researched, well written
and cover the key issues in advertising and marketing
on the Internet. The site is simple to navigate, and you can
even conduct a keyword search on the IAR archives as well as
on the rest of internetnews.com. Consider this site when you
want quality up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the
Internet business.
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SITE: The Beige Book
URL: http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/2002/
CATEGORY: Economic Data and Government Sources
PURPOSE: The Beige Book, from The Federal Reserve,
provides an up-to-date commentary on economic conditions
and trends for twelve selected regions around the country.
The Book is updated eight times per year and an archive
of earlier reports dating back to 1996 is available.
FEE/FREE: FREE
SOURCE CHECK: The Federal Reserve is the central bank
of the United States and is charged with managing the country's
monetary policy, regulating the banking industry, maintaining
the country's financial stability, as well as related duties. The
information in the Beige Book is provided by bank and branch
directors who conduct interviews with key business persons,
economists, market experts, and other sources.
OUR VIEW: These 8-10 paragraph reports provide a very
timely and interesting view into how various regions of the
country are doing economically--and come from an unquest-
ionable source of authority. The interesting thing is that
it includes softer, anecdotal material, providing a real flavor
for how a region--and the U.S. as a whole--is doing in various
key sectors. Consider this source when you want a timely
and authoritative snapshot of the economic health of a
specific region of the United States.
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SITE: Country Commercial Guides
URL: http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/business/com_guides/
through 2001
http://www.usatrade.gov/website/ccg.nsf/ccghomepage?openform
since 2001
CATEGORY: International Business Research and Government Sources
PURPOSE: These are yearly reports that examine a country's
economic, political, and market environment. All reports cover
basically the same scope and follow the same format. The key
sections are: Executive Summary; Political Environment;
Marketing U.S. Products and Services; Leading Sectors for U.S.
Exports and Investments; Trade Regulations; Customs and
Standards; Investment Climate Statement; Trade and Project
Financing; Business Travel; Economic and Trade Statistics;
U.S. and Country Contacts; Market Research; and Trade Events
Schedule.
FEE/FREE: FREE
SOURCE CHECK: Country Commercial Guides are written
by the staff of U.S. Embassies, which report to the U.S.
State Department.
OUR VIEW: While not really insider or nitty-gritty-type
studies, these reports are still eminently useful for their
breadth of coverage, and simple editorial style. They are all
updated once per year. We particularly liked the section
on "business travel" that provided practical tips
when doing business in that country, such as etiquette,
national holidays, transportation options, and so on. Consider
this source when you want a quick snapshot of what it's
like to conduct business in a particular country.
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SITE: Dun and Bradstreet Small Business Services: Search
URL: http://sbs.dnb.com/advFind.asp?bhcd2=1020959156
CATEGORY: Company Information
PURPOSE: This site lets you search for directory data on
Dun and Bradstreet's database of about 13 million U.S.
public and private firms. Typically, this data includes:
contact information; products sold; estimated sales and
sales trends; number of employees; employees at a specific
location; names of competitors; a few manager/officer names;
and a graphic map to the firm.
FEE/FREE: FREE
SOURCE CHECK: Dun and Bradstreet is a leading
provider of business information for credit, marketing,
and purchasing decisions worldwide.
OUR VIEW: You get a lot for your money here considering
that this is a free site! Not only is there a good deal
of useful information, but you have some nice search
options (by name, phone number, type of business or DUN
Number). The site pages load quickly and are well-designed.
We particularly liked its ability to identify the
headquarters for large firms with multiple locations
around the country. Our only caution is that you can't
always rely on estimated sales figures, and that some
firms in the database will have a more complete set of
data than others. Consider this site when you want a
fast look-up of basic data covering virtually all
private and public firms.
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Last modified: Tue Jul 2 05:36:00 HST 2002