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20 Links to free useful business information

Here are twenty links to really get you on your way in business research. I've included sources which give free information and which I have personally found to be very useful in my consultancy activities. These are not necessarily the best resources out there but they do provide useful free content even if part of a larger "pay for" service.

These are just a small sample of the key business information sites noted on workshops I run for the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP) as part of its professional development programme. Click here to see comments from attendees at one of my recent business information workshops.

Company Data

http://www.companies-house.gov.uk
Information direct from the official source of UK limited company data. You can search names for registered addresses for free and check out disqualified directors.

http://www.carol.co.uk
Online access to full annual report and accounts for major UK and overseas companies.

http://www.teldir.com/eng
Resource link to telephone directories of the world online (including UK).

http://www.corporateinformation.com
Starting point for researching companies worldwide.

Market research and statistics

http://www.keynote.co.uk
http://www.majormarketprofiles.com/
http://www.business.barclays.co.uk/BBB1/jsp/bbbcontrol?task=detail&value=362
Free online executive summaries from Key Note, some free topline figures for a wide range of markets from Euromonitor and some free market overviews from Barclays Bank. Sometimes that's all you need!

http://www.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/stats/OFFSTATSmain.htm
http://seitti.funet.fi:5000/etusivu_en.html

Two of my favourite links into statistical offices of the world and other sources of country statistics.

UK entry point for government statistics.

Press and trade journal comment on companies and markets

http://www.ft.com
The Financial Times

http://www.rocketnews.com
http://www.inboxrobot.com
For very current information (last week or so) these two search engines will give you a wide search for news stories.

http://www.findarticles.com
http://www.magportal.com
Sources of free full-text articles.

Favourite search engines for business information research

General:

http://www.alltheweb.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.northernlight.com (but leading to “pay for” items)

Remember, no one search engine is good enough for all searches. And then there’s the “invisible web” – items available via the web which search engines cannot, or will not, retrieve. These databases are often great sources of business information (attend my courses to find out more!)

Meta search engine:

http://www.vivisimo.com
A meta search engine will search more than one search engine at once. This is a good example.

General entry point for subject gateways:

http://www.hw.ac.uk/libWWW/irn/pinakes/pinakes.html
For when your business information needs are broader than company information and market size.

Oh … and if you are interested in a good way to search Google for quick reference questions see my article in Freepint Newsletter 11 (8 August 2002) http://www.freepint.com/issues/080802.htm