Journalism - Strategic Communication

1.  Company

• Product Line
• Image in the Market
• Technology & Experience
• Culture
• Goals

Information about the company's history, mission and vision statements, culture and values can often be found on the company's website.  Financials (if a publicly traded company) can be found in the SEC disclosure documents or 10K.  Mergent Online and Factiva will have financials for publicly traded companies.  Look for news releases, business trade and news publications in Business Source Premier, and Factiva.  Business Source Premier often has market research reports and SWOT analysis of companies and industries. 

2. Collaborators

• Suppliers
• Distributors 
• Alliances 

Suppliers, distributors and alliances may be located through SEC documents (10Ks) and through PR and business wires found in Factiva and in these business databases: Business Source Premier and Mergent Online.  Bloomberg has a unique "supply chain" feature that maps suppliers, customers and competitors (see upper right box). 

3. Customers

• Market size and growth
• Market segments
• Retail channels – where does the customer actually purchase the product?
• Customer information sources – where does the customer obtain information about the product?
• Trends – how consumers' needs and preferences change over time.

Market size, segments, channels, customer information sources and buying trends may be found in market research databases like Mintel.  Business Source Premier often has market research reports and SWOT analysis of companies and industries.  Articles about trends, channels and market share may be found in: Business Source Premier and Factiva.  Industry trade publications and blogs offer another source of market and trend information.

4. Competitors

• Actual or potential
• Direct or indirect
• Products
• Positioning
• Market shares
• Strengths and weaknesses

Information about competitors, their products, market share, strengths and weaknesses can be found in company/industry databases such as:  Business Source Premier, Mergent Online, Mergent Online, Net Advantage, IBIS World; business trade and news publications like Factiva; and market research databases like Mintel. Competitive positioning might be revealed through advertising campaigns shared in advertising databases like Adforum, Ad Age Datacenter , Communication and Mass Media Complete and Winmo .  

5. Climate or context (PEST Analysis – see lower right box)

• Political and regulatory environment - government policies and regulations that affect the market
• Economic environment - business cycles, inflation rate, interest rates and other issues of economic nature
• Social/cultural environment - trends and fashion
• Technological environment - new ways of satisfying needs, the impact of technology on the demand for existing products

Search for information on your specific industry and the regulatory environment (tariffs, patents, etc.)as well as information about the economy and its effect on the industry in Factiva, Net Advantage and IBISWorld.  

Bloomberg is an excellent source of company, industry and market information.  Its supply chain map provides a dashboard of important information with the target company in the center linked with suppliers on the left, customers on the right and competitors at the bottom.

The Bloomberg terminal is located on the northwest wall of the Journalism Library. 

Climate or context (PEST Analysis)

• Political and regulatory environment - government policies and regulations that affect the market
• Economic environment - business cycles, inflation rate, interest rates and other issues of economic nature
• Social/cultural environment - trends and fashion
• Technological environment - new ways of satisfying needs, the impact of technology on the demand for existing products