Business and Economics Library

New Database: Frost & Sullivan

nas27 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:09:10 +0000

The Library is pleased to announce that through a partnership with BYU’s Technology Transfer Office we are able to make research from Frost & Sullivan available university-wide.

Frost & Sullivan’s 1800 analysts and consultants cover more than 300 markets and 250,000 companies from 35+ global offices. Frost & Sullivan is a key addition to our collection of market research providers, providing in-depth coverage of technology, chemicals, materials, energy, healthcare, biotechnology, and communications. Whether you need to research the market for mobile video transcoders or whether you want to read technical alerts on new alloys for dental implants, Frost & Sullivan is the place to look. Try it out here.

Quote of the Day

nas27 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:01:37 +0000

I’m always surprised by how often we assume that the information we need is only a click away on the Internet. Perhaps I shouldn’t be, since this seems true enough when what we want to know is something like how many cities in Utah have a larger population than a sold-out LaVell Edwards Stadium (the answer is nine, see 1 & 2). But of all people, those of us in business and economics should realize that if someone can charge you money for something they’re not likely to give it to you for free.

To this point I came across an apt quote yesterday, from Thomas Mann at the Library of Congress:

“The belief that ‘everything’ will be freely available to everyone on the Internet, from anywhere, at anytime, is based on unworkable Marxist assumptions about human nature.”

Mann makes a strong argument that as long as copyright exists information will be for sale (3). I’d add that as long as tools and processes are developed that add value to information, access to those technologies will also be for sale. But I do think Mann underestimates the ingenuity of market forces. Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, makes the case in his latest book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price (4), that money can be made by giving things away. After all, Google has no trouble turning a profit without charging people to use its search engine.

Will this hold true to the point where ‘everything’ will become freely available on the Internet? Probably not. If there’s one thing that’s certain in business it’s that there will never be only one business model. As much as the phenomenon of “Free” has put unprecedented amounts of information at our fingertips, there’s even more that’s available for a price, and as Mann points out, short of a worldwide disavowal of intellectual property, there always will be.

Common wisdom has it that information wants to be free, but common sense dictates that people want to get paid.

Mergent Investor Edge

nas27 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:26:52 +0000

Through an arrangement with the Utah Academic Library Consortium we now have access to Mergent’s Investor Edge. This tool allows users to screen for stocks based on Beta, industry, and analyst recommendations. It includes price data, ten years of annual statements, SEC filings, and industry reports.

Mergent’s Investor Edge takes its place in our suite of financial databases, alongside our existing access to Morningstar, S&P NetAdvantage, and Value Line. While less sophisticated than our existing resources, it is very easy to use and provides unique content like Ford Equity Research Reports, Moody’s Bond Reports, ratings, and Corporate Bond Yield Averages.

Global Business Clinic

nas27 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:17:54 +0000

Download the handout.

Bloomberg Training Seminar

nas27 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:22:20 +0000

Bloomberg is used by more brokerages and banks than any other business information service. There are 250,000 Bloomberg terminals worldwide, supported by Bloomberg’s 10,000 employees. Get a head start on your career by learning the Bloomberg terminal now!

A Bloomberg representative will be on campus Tuesday, October 6^th, in TNRB 260. Please join us for part or all of this training seminar. The schedule is outlined below but will be flexible with plenty of time for Q&A.

2:00 – 3:00 pm: Bloomberg for Beginners
3:00 – 4:00 pm: Advanced Equity, Debt and more
4:00 – 4:50 pm: API – tying Bloomberg data into Excel

Brought to you by the Business Library and the Peery Institute of Financial Services.

Scholarly Literature Clinic

nas27 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:06:06 +0000

Download the handout.

Video Tutorials

nas27 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:59:29 +0000

We work with a lot of sophisticated databases, each with its own interface. Even if you’ve been to one of our clinics it can be hard to remember how to use them. To make things easier we’re working on short video tutorials that demonstrate specific tasks using certain databases. Here’s an example, for the Mint Global database:

On many of our subject guides you can find a link to these tutorials just above the Live Chat box. We’ll be adding more links as we work on this project. If there’s a tutorial you’d like to see, let us know. You can see the ones we’ve done so far here.

Industry Research Clinic

nas27 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:24:35 +0000

Download the handout.

Research Clinic: Who’s Your Competition?

nas27 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:19:51 +0000

Download the handout.

Subject Guide Switchover

nas27 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:42:27 +0000

We’ve completed the first step in remaking our old subject guides. Rather than wait for the Library’s official switchover date we thought Business and Economics could lead the way, so we’ve replaced the Subject Guide links on the right side of this website with links to the new guides.

We think they’re a huge improvement, but we’d like to know what you think. Also, some bits are still getting sorted out, like the “Recent Articles” section on some guides including a few not-so-recent articles. Please point out any other problems to us, either by commenting on the guides themselves or by contacting us directly. And stay tuned for new additions, including embedded video tutorials.

If you miss the old Subject Pages, you can still find them here for now.