How to collect industry market information and competitor information?

Although there are many kinds of public publications, we can classify them according to conventional methods. Some common channels are as follows:

Industry research. Research that can help people understand the general situation of some industries can be roughly divided into two categories. The first category refers to the research monographs of the industry, which are generally written by economists (of course there are exceptions). These books can be easily found in the catalogue index of the library, and can also be easily cited through other information sources. Once these written markets are established, competitors and industry critics in the industry will understand these books and their significance. With the deepening of research, people will ask about these studies again and again. The second category is financial articles published by securities analysis companies or consulting companies. Sometimes, some professional consulting companies will collect information for specific industries and need to pay a certain fee to obtain these data.

Trade association. Many industries have trade associations, which are responsible for collecting industry data and publishing detailed statistical data. Whether major trade associations are willing to provide data for researchers varies greatly. Usually, if there are introductions from members of trade associations, the difficulty for researchers to obtain data will be greatly reduced. Trade Magazine Most industries have one or several trade magazines that regularly report industry events, sometimes once a day. Small-scale industries may not have specialized industry publications, and may be part of large-scale publications. Trade magazines for customers, distributors or suppliers are also very useful data sources.

Reading trade magazines for a long time will also help people understand the dynamics and important changes of industry competition and diagnose the standards and attitudes of the industry.

Financial media. There are many financial publications that report industries and enterprises irregularly.

Company directory and statistics. Mainly listed companies. Some private companies disclose very limited information. However, due to the unaudited data of such companies, it must be handled with caution, and many users have complained about the fallacy of the data. In addition, there are many statistical data sources about advertising expenditure and securities market performance.

Company literature. Most companies publish a lot of literature, especially listed companies. In addition to the annual report, declarations, power of attorney, plans and other government documents required by the Securities and Exchange Commission may also be useful. The speech or supporting materials delivered by the president of the enterprise are also useful. In addition, news reports, product descriptions, user manuals, published company yearbooks, annual meeting documents, job advertisements, patents or advertisements are also useful.

Major government information databases. The most common source of government statistical information is the portal website of the Bureau of Statistics.