Thought for the day: Don't worry about your competition

Chapter Six:  Don't Worry about Your Competition (Let Them Worry about You)
 in  Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success by Mike Schultz

Topics from Chapter 6 (pp. 69-77) "...  These mistakes are understandable, but they're still mistakes...."

• Mistake 1: Over-the-Top Competitive Research
• Mistake 2: Market and Service Offering Reluctance
• Mistake 3: Clichéd Competitive Differentiation
• Mistake 4: Unique Methodology
• Forget General Marketing Advice
• Don't Worry about Crowded Markets
• Change the Question from Competition to Clients
• When Competition Is the Order of the Day

 

Resources for Canadian Stock Investors -- Websites

Info courtesy:  Stock Investing For Canadians For Dummies  Andrew Dagys  and  Paul Mladjenovic (4th edition, 2013)

Book Description

Master the basics of stock investing? Easy.If you want to learn how to profitably invest in stocks, this is the book for you. This updated new edition of Stock Investing For Canadians For Dummies offers straight answers and simple advice for any Canadian who wants to take control of his or her portfolio. With practical guidance on making wise investments in any market—even today's uncertain one—this plain-English guide covers unique investment segments, how to invest in different market situations, and real and recent examples on what to invest in and when. With fully updated references and resources, this is the perfect stock investing guide for beginners.

• Updated to include the latest information on the current stock market, as well as fresh case studies
• Written by expert authors—one an accountant and the other a certified financial planner and investing consultant
• Ideal for novice investors and those planning for retirement

 Websites (pp. 329-330):

• Advocis - Official Site  "Commit to your profession. Find out what Advocis's proposed Professions Model would mean for both financial advisors and consumers in Canada."
• Financial Advisor Pages   "If you are looking for a financial advisor, investment advisor or financial planner, you will find F/A Pages a valuable resource"
• Investment Management Consultants Association | IMCA  "Investment Management Consultants Association delivers the premier investment consulting and wealth management designations and world-class educational offerings"
• Rrsp.org   "Offers Canadians information in the areas of retirement, estate, tax and investment planning."
• Investing for Beginners

On the same shelf:

• Top Ten Web Sites for Canadian Stock Investors - For Dummies
• Canadian stocks - Media Wave Communication
• FAIR Canada » Other Links

8 classic search engines: Where are they now? TORONTOSUN.COM

BY KERRI BREEN ,QMI AGENCY

NOVEMBER 14, 2013  torontosun.com

On the same Shelf:

• Old School Search Engines: Where Are They Now?

From Ask Jeeves to WebCrawlerBy Chris Crum · November 16, 2011 webpronews.comExtract:

Ask Jeeves was founded in 1996, and eventually becameAsk.com, although ... Last year, Yahoo indicated that it would be shuttingAltaVista down, but so ... owns Ask. Here's what it looks like today: Excite. The results: Excite. Lycos ... DogPile is similar to WebCrawler, and is also now owned by Infospace.

• Google Yahoo! Excite dogpile Jeeves - Dogpile Web Search
• Popular Search Engines in the 90's: Then and Now - Six Revisions
• 10 Websites We Miss From 1996

1. AltaVista
2. Suck.com
3. Mr. Showbiz
4. GeoCities
5. HotWired
6. Lycos
7. Angelfire
8. N64
9. GamePro
10. Pathfinder

Competitive Intelligence is an art of science or none-of-the-above?

• Competitive Intelligence The Art and Science of Being
• The Art and Science of Elicitation - Competitive Intelligence
• The soft science of CI - Competitive Intelligence Magazine ...
• The science, not art, of business intelligence -Michael C. O'Guin ...
• Competitive intelligence the new information science fun(c)tion
• The Art and Science of Business Intelligence Analysis (Advances in Applied Business Strategy)  Benjamin Gilad
• Information Management For The Intelligent Organization: The Art Of Scanning The Environment (Asis Monograph Series)  Chun Wei Choo 
• The Manager's Guide to Competitive Intelligence  John J. McGonagle  
• The Complete Guide to Competitive Intelligence (Fifth Edition)  Kirk Tyson 
• Competitive Intelligence: A Guide for Your Journey to Best-practice Processes  Paige Leavitt

Should Google Be Forced To Filter Search Results? Semantic Search techniques revisited

By Chris Crum · November 7, 2013 webpronews.com
Extract:

"One man is currently trying to get his damaging content out of Google, and not just removed, but filtered as it’s created. A French court has sided with him, and ordered Google to comply. 

... Interestingly enough, this comes after Google adjusted its algorithm on its own to prevent mug shot sites’ content from ranking in search results, which could help protect the reputations of some people.
In another case in June, a European court said Google didn’t have to remove search results when a Spanish man sought for it to remove reputation-damaging materials." continue reading

 On the same shelf:

•  The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think Eli Pariser
•   Google Script: Enterprise Application Essentials: Adding Functionality to Your Google Apps James Ferreira
• How to Find Out Anything: From Extreme Google Searches to Scouring Government Documents, a Guide to Uncovering Anything About Everyone and Everything Don MacLeod
• Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications Toby Segaran  
• Nexus 5: A True Google Experience [Review]
• 5 Ways To Unlock The Benefits Of Semantic Search, Search Engine Land-by Barbara Starr-

• Harnessing Collective Intelligence

• MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

• "collective intelligence" and collaborative filtering? - O'Reilly

'Determining competitors’ capabilities' in Business Plans For Canadians For Dummies

Here are some of my comments about the book and extracts from the book, Business Plans For Canadians For Dummies 

by 

Nada Wagner, 

Paul Tiffany,  

Steven D. Peterson.

 

Overview of the book:Build a winning business plan with expert tips and strategies

• Creating a great business plan is the first and most vital step to business success. Packed with Canadian resources and anecdotes, this friendly guide takes you through the planning process. From scoping out the competition to planning for growth, this book is your ultimate reference for determining and meeting your business goals.
• Business essentials — from creating your company's mission statement to setting goals and objectives
• Competitive analysis — from analyzing your industry to tracking your competitors' actions
• Market research — from identifying your market to meeting your customers' needs
• Financial information — from reading income statements to understanding balance sheets

You must read the full book to get a real feel of the do's and do it now type of 

competitive intelligence, esp., Chapter 8: Checking Out Your Competition.

This book is very good for the Canadian business planners. Its content is excellent reading and refreshing, with many ideas / resources that are so really informing and Canadian, eh!!! This is the strength. And, hence reading the following extracts (although generic and good for a business anywhere), gives an opportunity to feel the depth and breadth of the book.

Sample from the book from the section 'Determining competitors’ capabilities' in Chapter Eight (pp. 134-135):

"You need to ask the same kinds of questions about your competitors that you ask yourself when you complete a company checkup... ""The capabilities that you're most interested in tell you something about your competitors' ability to react when your industry changes.""To determine your competitors' capabilities, start with this list of important business functions and areas..." 

"The following questions should get you going...:

• Management: What do you know about the background and experience of the company's chief bigwigs...
• Organization: How structured and centralized is the company's organization?...
• Customer base: What's the company's share of the market?...
• Research and development: Is the company known for innovation technology and its intellectual property?...
• Operations: How modern are the company's facilities and business processes?...
• Marketing and sales: How strong are the company's  products?
• Distribution and delivery: How many distribution channels does the company sell through?
• Financial condition: Is the company's revenue growing?... " (pp. 134-135)

The last question, about finances (read also as: revenues) of the competitors, is one major area that is difficult to dig. So also the portion on essential/required research about customer (pp. 90-94) and market (pp. 104-105) are very insufficient for gathering the competitive intelligence. Whereas a value added book, at least for the information professionals is: Bates, Mary Ellen. Building & running a successful research business: a guide for the independent information professional:

From my desk:

•  Mary Ellen Bates. Building & running a successful research business: a guide for the independent information professional.Edited by Reva Basch. CyberAge Books, 2003 -- (new edition:Building & running a successful research business: a guide for the independent information professional, 2010) Information Resources Management Journal 
• Market Research Resources via Libraries