BUS 100, Introduction to Business

What you "see" depends on which part of the elephant you're examining

In the world of business, companies seek competitive advantage, and much of that advantage is controlled through the information the company chooses to share (or not). Some information you seek may be available for internal use only, and this will vary from company to company. Or it may be broken into many pieces, some of which are missing, or bent (biased), or too expensive to buy. You will likely need to consult multiple sources to piece together and verify the information you need for your project.

It's important to remember that with few exceptions, the information you will find represents an opinion or perspective, and it should be treated as such. Much of it is based on an informed analysis of available data, but it is still only one perspective. Also consider that different analyses may rely on different combinations of data. Use multiple sources whenever possible, and make sure you point out areas where the opinions and perspectives differ, before offering your own perspective or conclusions.

(Image source: http://www.taosinstitute.net/photographs-images)

Business information is produced by a variety of different entities, for a variety of purposes. A lot of it is available freely on the web. Some of it is proprietary information produced from research performed by specialized companies - this is often referred to as competitive intelligence. They use the "free" data, but they also conduct surveys, interview people who work for the company, and consult a wide range of news and other sources to produce their own analysis. The library provides a number of these for you - we pay the subscription costs, you get the benefit.

As a savvy researcher, you'll want to make use of a variety of sources so that you can compare data, look for discrepancies, and verify specific or general claims by or about your company.

Green light
This is the best, most authoritative source for this information.

Amber light
This information represents opinion or perspective that is well informed by authoritative data; however, it's always good to measure it against other sources.

Red light
This information should be treated with extreme caution - it is subject to a high degree of bias or "spin." Use it if you need to, but use multiple sources to balance, compare, and verify.