Sviluppo di database di informazioni internazionali: Ruth Stanat nel 1990

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With the unification of Europe and the rapidly changing political and economic events worldwide, research executives are currently faced with the need for translated, synthesized, and analyzed information from the various countries within the European Economic Commission (EEC) and from other parts of the world. Under the new economic system of the EEC, several companies will plan to expand the marketing of their products and services. Consequently, they will need the collection of published information as well as the need to collect quantitative data. During the 90s, senior management will seek answers to specific questions, such as “Is the Eastern European consumer ready for X,Y, or Z product?” rather than reading large market research reports which do not specifically answer their questions.

Within Europe, there are several obstacles to the collection of published information (e.g. from newspapers, the media, and journals). Following a detailed discussion of these obstacles, this paper discusses a methodology for the scanning, synthesis, translation, and analysis of published information. Within this methodology, the paper is organized into eight parts as follows.

1. Ostacoli alla raccolta delle informazioni pubblicate all'interno della CEE e su base globale
2. La soluzione: la necessità di sistemi di tracciamento continui delle informazioni pubblicate
3. Come definire le vostre esigenze di informazioni pubblicate
4. Fonti di business intelligence internazionale
5. Progettazione della banca dati
6. Internal staffing versus outsourcing
7. Determinazione del rapporto costi/benefici del sistema
8. Importanza strategica di questi sistemi per l'unificazione dell'Europa

This paper concludes with a discussion of how international and European research managers will experience an increasing need for market trends, competitive intelligence, and new product activity information as new trade agreements evolve within and outside of the European continent. The paper also includes a discussion of research needs for Eastern Europe. In summary, the paper focuses on the development of new cost-efficient systems to process this information, rather than utilizing older labor-intensive methods.

Il documento fornisce ai lettori un “come” sviluppare questi sistemi insieme alle specifiche relative a costi e personale.

1. OSTACOLI ALLA RACCOLTA DELLE INFORMAZIONI PUBBLICATE NELLA CEE E SU BASE MONDIALE

During the past year, we have seen a dramatic change in worldwide political and economic events. With the eruption of the Gulf crisis, the demise of communism, and the subsequent liberation of several Eastern Bloc countries; the demand for access to credible worldwide business and political information has increased. European research professionals are now asking themselves: “How can I provide management with accurate and timely answers to their international information requests?”

Each country within and outside of the EEC has a wealth of information, or business intelligence, which is reported in its daily newspapers, general business journals, and various industry and market publications. The challenge is to capture this information on a timely basis, translate the information, and synthesize and digest the information, which can be used for market intelligence or research briefs, newsletters, or reports.

1.1.La barriera linguistica:

Innanzitutto, il professionista della ricerca, indipendentemente dal paese in cui si trova, dovrà affrontare barriere linguistiche in tutto il mondo. Mentre l’inglese sta diventando la lingua accettata per gli affari in tutta l’Europa occidentale, il professionista della ricerca deve affrontare la sfida di acquisire informazioni dalle seguenti regioni geografiche del mondo:

• Stati Uniti e Canada
• Europa occidentale (compresi i paesi scandinavi)
• Europa orientale
• URSS
• Messico, America Latina, Sud America
• Medio Oriente
• Lontano est
• Australia

Even within these geographical regions, the diversity of languages can be complex, such as in Western Europe. This challenges the research professional to either increase his or her knowledge and fluency in other foreign languages or to locate information providers and/or commercial database vendors who offer translated information. This paper will focus on a methodology from which the research professional can develop their own system to track international published sources. Lack of Commercial Databases that offer Business and Technical Information by Country or Geographical Region:

1.1.1. Stati Uniti e Canada:

Gli Stati Uniti hanno un'offerta di mercato sofisticata, se non matura, di database commerciali e tecnici. Sia il Giappone che l'Europa occidentale ci stanno rapidamente seguendo con il recente sviluppo delle offerte di database commerciali negli ultimi tre-cinque anni. Fortunatamente per gli Stati Uniti e altri utenti inglesi, molti di questi database sono tradotti in inglese per l'accesso tramite comandi inglesi.

In Western Europe, some databases do exist in specific languages (e.g. German). As the software technology improves, we will expect that these databases will be able to be translated into the local language of the users. Various publishers of international directories are searching to locate the available local commercial databases available for access, and it is anticipated that more of these global database directories will be published as the world moves toward a global economy.

1.1.2 Europa occidentale:

Similar to the USA, Great Britain has a sophisticated market for commercial databases (both scientific and business). With the unification of Europe by 1992, however, the challenge is to develop databases that capture and report the local business and scientific information from each of the countries and then synthesize and digest the information into a structure that can offer the information as a Western European segment. Within the EEC, however, select countries use sophisticated information reporting systems along with commercial database offerings. The user, however, is faced with the obstacles of differing telecommunications systems and networks. As the unification progresses, data reporting standards and telecommunications access to local country databases will be necessary to enable the information professional to search local database information. Both Reuters and Datastar currently have the largest systems or networks to deliver European technical and business information.

Nonostante la rapida crescita dei database e dei distributori dell’Europa occidentale, una quantità significativa di informazioni aziendali risiede ancora nelle società di ricerche di mercato locali o nelle biblioteche aziendali. Ad esempio, le filiali locali e le affiliate di grandi aziende europee raccolgono informazioni aziendali e le forniscono su richiesta al management locale o internazionale o semplicemente archiviano le informazioni negli schedari. Questo tipo di intelligence locale è tipicamente nella lingua locale e viene raccolta da un ricercatore professionista. Il professionista della ricerca deve affrontare la sfida di sviluppare un sistema in grado di acquisire queste informazioni e sviluppare database personalizzati dal materiale.

1.1.3 Europa dell’Est/URSS:

The situation is more pronounced in Eastern Europe and the USSR. I term these regions as “virgin” territory for database development. Whereas Western Europe has had a sophisticated structure for research and information reporting or publishing, Eastern Europe and the USSR have had to rely on state-controlled agencies to gather and collect data (scientific and business). Despite this fact, local market research firms and state agencies have had some type of data reporting methodology even without the technology.

In some countries, these local “intelligence networks” are quite sophisticated, and the challenge is to locate these firms and to develop a business relationship whereby the information can be automated and disseminated to worldwide users. Clearly, the development of databases from these countries will be slow as these countries are still undergoing economic and political changes. Until the reporting and publishing systems improve in several of these countries, the integrity of the published material will continue to be questioned.

1.1.4 Messico, America Centrale, Sud America:

Similar to Eastern Europe and the USSR, this region of the world has not had a sophisticated publishing or research network. While some government agencies collect and publish data, local business intelligence (e.g. industry, market and competitive data) is lacking. Once again, the challenge is to develop databases from credible sources. One of the best sources for local market intelligence is from the local affiliate or distribution offices in this region of the world. The challenge is to motivate the local offices to forward the information to a centralized library for input into the corporate intelligence system.

It is important that this region of the world does not possess the plethora of business publications such as in the USA or Western Europe from which to scan, research, and abstract the material. Therefore, the research who requires information from Latin America will have to depend more on local intelligence gathering for input into their system.

1.1.5 Estremo Oriente:

As mentioned previously, Japan has the most sophisticated systems and commercial database products in the Far East. While they have been long-time users of European and USA databases and reports, they have recently expanded the distribution of their databases (translated into English) to the USA and European Community. Other countries such as Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore are making strides to develop commercial databases and open up distribution of other international databases into their country. Here again, much of the existing data is not in electronic format nor is it is published material. Similar to Eastern Europe, much of the valuable information is in the affiliate offices and local libraries. The challenge is to capture this information on a systematic basis and disseminate it throughout an organization.

Several large market research firms have valuable data in Australia. During recent years, Australia has made strides to use and disseminate electronic information. With the increased use of telecommunications technology, it is expected that the research professional will be able to locate strategic market information from this region of the world either through electronic commercial databases or published global market intelligence directories.

1.1.6 Frammentazione delle Informazioni:

As we begin the 90s, research executives must be able to view their competition on a worldwide basis. Specifically, they must have rapid access to translated, digested, and analyzed information. More importantly, the information must be credible. While Western European research executives have been gathering information and analyzing their own domestic markets over the past four decades, they are now faced with the fragmentation of published information on a worldwide basis.

Suggeriamo che i professionisti della ricerca organizzino le informazioni della loro ricerca per regione geografica, per settore, per mercato, per prodotti e per concorrenti. Sebbene questo possa sembrare un approccio semplicistico, è possibile creare database in grado di ottenere sistematicamente le informazioni dagli affiliati locali e di rilevare “buchi” nei dati.

1.1.7 Tempestività delle informazioni:

Information that is local to the country or termed “domestic” can usually be obtained rapidly. However, the research professional must still have a system that systematically scans the domestic publications, determines which articles are strategic or have a high degree of impact on the business, and must digest the articles to be input into a system. This challenge is augmented when publications from other European countries and from other geographical regions of the world must be scanned, digested and abstracted. Global information, even when it is structured and captured on a consistent basis, still has to be translated, formatted and input electronically for transmission. During the next five years, I believe that software and telecommunications technology will make its greatest developments in this area.

During the 90s, research executives will require worldwide news information on a daily basis and digested published information which is no older than a week. During this next decade, executives will demand “answers to specific questions” rather than piles of information or voluminous reports or outputs from database searches. As information professionals, we have to be ready to deliver against these difficult orders.

2. LA SOLUZIONE: LA NECESSITÀ DI SISTEMI DI TRACCIATURA CONTINUO DELLE INFORMAZIONI PUBBLICATE

Despite the advances in software, computer, and telecommunications technology, the information capturing process, translation process, and electronic input is, for the most part, manual. This will continue to be the case for the next few years, particularly in Third World countries. The research executive is faced with the following challenges:

• The need for an efficient method or system that will scan and digest the relevant newspapers and business and technical journals in the domestic country, and then expand this to the other countries within the EEC
• The need for this information to be scanned daily, translated, digested, abstracted, and placed into electronic format for a market intelligence system
• La necessità di espandere questa copertura ad altre regioni del mondo.

Within the USA, several large corporations have developed a corporate or market intelligence system to accomplish this task. In effect, senior management has made a “top down” commitment to invest in this type of system to enable management throughout the organization to be kept abreast of the industry, the market, the competition and the products, on a global basis. Typically, these systems are managed or staffed by the strategic planning or market research departments. The information is distributed by this department to senior management and to managers throughout the organization.

As the world economies evolve, much of the valuable information will be found in published articles and journals. Unfortunately, most of this information is kept in “pockets” within the organization or is resident in other countries. Shared corporate information networks break down these barriers and enable managers throughout the organization to cost-efficiently obtain the information. The role of the research professional is to be aware of these systems and to be knowledgeable as to the execution of these systems.

3. COME DEFINIRE LE VOSTRE ESIGENZE DI INFORMAZIONI PUBBLICATE

3.1. L'audit strategico delle informazioni

Within your own firm, I recommend that you initially survey your management and the recipients of your research to assess the utility of the published journals they are currently receiving. I term this procedure a “Strategic Information Audit,” as the survey accomplishes the following.

• Una valutazione del livello di utilizzo delle pubblicazioni attuali
• Il “flusso” delle informazioni all’interno dell’azienda (sia formali che informali)
• Il grado di duplicazione degli abbonamenti all'interno dell'organizzazione
• Determina la tempestività delle informazioni e l’efficacia delle “routing list”
• Determines the cost and usefulness of newsletters, research publications, and reports
• Determines which managers are using computers and what form of communication they use the most
• Enables you to draw an “information blueprint” of you organization
• Consente di valutare la lista dei desideri dell'intervistato, che alla fine diventa la rete informativa ottimale per l'organizzazione.

The strategic information audit should be conducted by a task force with representatives from the market research department, the library, the information systems department, and a representative from a business unit (no more than 4-5 representatives). The procedure should entail approximately 30-50 interviews of key suppliers and suppliers of information within the organization. The audit should clearly define the utility of the published information within the company and should summarize the needs of the users. The summary of the results should list the most needed published matter, determine the international scope of the literature, determine the optimum timeliness and format of the information, and determine if an electronic system or hard copy process is the best way to deliver published business intelligence to the recipients. A copy of a sample questionnaire is included in the Appendix 1 of this paper.

4. FONTI DI BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE INTERNAZIONALE

Within Western Europe and the USA, and Canada, numerous published sources of business and technical information exist. Unfortunately, executives and managers do not have the time to scan and digest all of the available publications that impact the business on a daily basis, much less on an international scale. In addition to published material, a wealth of strategic business and technical information is published in conference proceedings and in sales personnel trip reports. This published material should also be considered for input into a corporate intelligence system. The following lists sources of international business intelligence:

• Quotidiani nazionali e regionali (locali).
• Riviste economiche e scientifiche
• Atti del convegno
• Rapporti sui viaggi del personale di vendita
• Newsletter pubblicate
• Rapporti di ricerche di mercato sindacati e personalizzati
• Piani aziendali e di marketing interni
• Memorandum interni
• Azioni legali
• Rapporti di ricerca e sviluppo sia interni che esterni all'organizzazione

With the unification of Western Europe, the collection, translation, analysis, and dissemination of published material is essential to develop new marketing and product development plans. Clearly, it is impossible for a research department to scan all of the publications from the member EEC countries on a daily basis, translate the material, analyze the information, and input the information on an electronic network on a daily or weekly basis. This situation becomes more complex if Western European companies wish to remain abreast with the rest of the world’s publications (Eastern Europe, USA, Latin America, Far East, etc.). As a result, the following section discusses a solution to the problem with the development of a process or system within the company to handle this information.

5. COME SVILUPPARE SISTEMI PROTOTIPI

5.1. Progettazione della banca dati

Dopo il completamento della verifica delle informazioni strategiche e la definizione delle informazioni pubblicate rilevanti per il processo decisionale tattico e strategico, è necessario sviluppare un prototipo a basso costo del sistema. In effetti, la progettazione del database dovrebbe “escludere” le esigenze degli utenti dalla verifica delle informazioni strategiche. Di seguito viene illustrato un esempio di progettazione di un database che organizza le informazioni pubblicate per regione geografica:

Organizzazione per regione geografica

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Topic Area:                                      Industry                    Market Segments

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Tendenze del settore

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Tendenze politiche

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Sviluppi economici

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Attività di mercato

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Attività competitiva

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Sviluppo di un nuovo prodotto

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Attività

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Uso della tecnologia

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Tendenze future

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Chiaramente, la progettazione del database dovrebbe riflettere i desideri degli intervistati. Va notato che non esistono due concorrenti che vedono i propri prodotti e mercati nello stesso modo. Il database può anche essere organizzato per concorrente X,Y o Z nel formato del profilo del concorrente come indicato di seguito:

Organizzazione per attività competitiva

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Aree tematiche:

Company Overview              Competitor X             Competitor Y              Competitor Z

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� Direzione strategica generale

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� Organizzazione aziendale

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� Posizione di mercato

- Quota di mercato

- Posizione competitiva

- Pubblicità e promozione

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� Performance finanziaria

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� Strategia di distribuzione

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� Ricerca e Sviluppo

— Strategia

— Investimenti

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� Attività di sviluppo di nuovi prodotti

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� Uso della tecnologia

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� Strategia internazionale

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� Potenziali fusioni, acquisizioni, cessioni

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� Strategia proiettata al futuro

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5.1 1.Formato del database

Market intelligence systems which capture published information also require easy-to-use menu screens that enable the user to select the information they wish to view. Please note that the published data can be organized by geographical region, by competitor, and by topic. In other words, the system can include several different ways to view or access the information.

Le informazioni pubblicate possono essere presentate in tre modi:

1. Abstract di articoli, con l'aggiunta di opinioni e riferimenti

2. Formato del report con analisi riassuntiva o informazioni testuali

3. Testo completo dell'informativa

Most market intelligence systems, which capture published information, provide abstracts of key relevant articles, which are abstracted daily and updated in the system weekly. They may also include 2-3 page newsletters and quarterly reports. Many of these systems also include information from the “field,” or rumor information from the field sales force or from plant personnel. Our experience indicates that field intelligence is not useful in the format of anecdotal rumors by itself. When this information is analyzed and verified by published information or by expert opinion, it is then suitable for inclusion in a market intelligence system. The following suggests preliminary screens for the prototype market intelligence system:

Sistema di informazione del mercato aziendale

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Voci del menu:

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� Abstract
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� Newsletter
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� Rapporti trimestrali
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� Intelligenza sul campo
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Our experience indicates that the information that is published from these systems should be analytical. Most users can read factual information from the literature itself. It is necessary to add the value of analysis to both the abstracts and the report information.

5.1.2 Come sviluppare il prototipo

Following agreement on the design and format of the database, the coordinator for the market intelligence system will have to select software and computer equipment. For a prototype, we recommend developing the databases on a personal computer with a text-retrieval package. Following evaluation by a select group of users, and if the response is positive, we then recommend transporting the database to a mainframe or mini-computer which can store the information and which can be accessed by multiple users throughout the organization (on both a domestic and worldwide basis).

Consigliamo pacchetti software in grado di fornire funzionalità di ricerca full-text insieme a funzionalità grafiche. Inoltre, dovrebbero essere installati software di telecomunicazione e linee dati affinché gli utenti possano connettersi alle informazioni su base internazionale o da terminali remoti dalle loro case.

Si precisa che sia il contenuto del materiale pubblicato che le capacità operative del sistema dovrebbero essere valutati ogni sei-dodici mesi. Poiché il contesto economico internazionale continua a cambiare, dovrebbe farlo anche il sistema di market intelligence. Ciò implica che le aree tematiche potrebbero cambiare con una frequenza trimestrale o semestrale. L’architettura complessiva del sistema, tuttavia, dovrebbe riflettere il pensiero strategico del management per i prossimi tre-cinque anni.

6. PERSONALE INTERNO E OUTSOURCING

Clearly, the development of market intelligence systems that capture published information and provide it to the organization needs an “internal champion” or a person from the research department who is willing to head up the strategic information audit effort, work with the information systems department to design the database, and implement the system. Our experience indicates that it is important for the internal champion to have “top down” support from senior management. Moreover, a budget must be established for the strategic information audit, the development of the prototype, the authoring of the information, or the procurement of the information into electronic format, and the acquisition of software, computers, and telecommunications equipment.

Il campione interno dovrebbe essere l'architetto del sistema oltre ad essere il venditore aziendale, o la persona che vende i vantaggi del sistema alla gestione interna e al personale di ricerca. Inoltre, la persona dovrebbe avere una persona tecnica nel proprio staff per supportare il database e una persona del servizio clienti per "tenere le mani" degli utenti e ottenere un feedback continuo dal database.

With regard to the decision of whether to produce the databases using the existing research staff or to contract a supplier to publish the databases, the following questions serve as guidelines:

1. Does the research department have sufficient staff of research analysts to publish the information? Do they have the time to scan publications, clip the material, translate and summarize, the material and put it into database format?
2. Il dipartimento ha le competenze e/o il tempo per la pubblicazione del database? Sarebbe meglio spendere il tempo degli analisti di ricerca analizzando i dati del database e pubblicando report analitici o newsletter per il senior management?
3. Can the research department absorb the cost of the publications, or can they utilize the publications from the corporate library? The cost and translation of international publications should also be considered.
4. Compute a cost per abstract or quarterly report. Is it cheaper to outsource this work? Consider the quality issues. Perhaps it is more efficient to contract out the lower-level abstracting and have the research analysts access the database and analyze this material to produce senior-level management reports or marketing plans.

Il campione interno dovrebbe condurre un’analisi “make versus buy” come segue:

Costi annuali del dipartimento interno (US$)

Personale di 3-4 analisti di ricerca: $200.000 – $250.000

Spese di traduzione: 30.000 – 50.000

Pubblicazioni: 30.000 – 50.000

_______________________________ _________ _______

Costi annuali totali: $260.000 – $350.000

# di abstract all'anno 1.200 – 2.400

Costo per abstract: $216 – $145

Fornitore esterno

Contratto annuale totale $100.000 – $150.000

# abstract all'anno 1.200 – 2.400

Costo per abstract $83 – $63

In most cases, it is more cost-efficient to contract with an outside supplier. The issue remains, however, whether the outside supplier can quickly, or over a period of time, develop the perspective you need so the abstracts and reports will add value to your analysis. Several companies with successful marketing intelligence systems contract to outside suppliers to publish the abstracts or quarterly summaries, and then their internal research analysts “manage the system” and utilize the information to publish more detailed analytical reports or answer key senior management questions or ad hoc requests.

7. DETERMINAZIONE COSTI/BENEFICI DEL SISTEMA

In this current period of economic and political uncertainty, with tight budgets, investment in this type of system must clearly prove value or impact the corporation. The following outlines a typical budget for a market intelligence system that captures published information.

Campione interno, tecnico, rappresentante del servizio clienti $250.000
Fornitore a contratto esterno $100.000
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Costi totali di manodopera e materiali: $350.000

Software per personal computer 1.000
Software mainframe (se non disponibile internamente) $100.000
Costi aggiuntivi dei computer (se non di proprietà interna) – ———

Please note that companies have very successfully developed very cost-efficient systems on personal computers for minimal costs. It should be noted that these figures represent large corporate investments in systems that can be accessed worldwide by staff personnel.

After a period of one to two years, management will want to quantify the benefits of the system. If management can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, the system has paid for itself:

1 L'azienda ha aumentato (o protetto) la propria quota di mercato o i propri ricavi a seguito di decisioni prese in base al materiale presente nel sistema?

2 L'azienda ha sviluppato nuovi prodotti o riposizionato prodotti esistenti come risultato dell'utilizzo diretto delle informazioni provenienti dal sistema?

3 L'azienda ha identificato nuove opportunità di business o di mercato come risultato dell'utilizzo del sistema (ad esempio espansione in un nuovo mercato – Europa orientale, fusioni, acquisizioni, ecc.)?

4 Utilizzando questo sistema l'azienda è riuscita a riposizionarsi in modo più rapido ed efficiente rispetto all'unificazione dell'Europa?

5 Le affiliate dell'azienda in tutto il mondo riescono a prendere decisioni più rapidamente grazie alla traduzione, sintesi e resa tempestiva delle informazioni pubblicate in formato elettronico?

8. IMPORTANZA STRATEGICA DI QUESTI SISTEMI PER L'INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION EXECUTIVE

During the next year, it will be necessary for corporations to have access to the published business intelligence of companies within and outside of the EEC. While a plethora of “Euro” publications may develop, research executives will still need business intelligence that is local to the member and non-member countries. Moreover, EEC countries will need business intelligence from Eastern Europe, USA, the Soviet Union, the Far East, Latin America, and other parts of the world. Strategic decisions are made from published information. The companies that invest in these systems will realize the greatest dividends during the 90s.

 

Di Ruth Stanat, 1990.