13 Sources of Competitive Business Information
I wrote an article for American Express OPEN on how to compare your business to you competition. Benchmarking, as it’s called, is also a good way to research a start-up business idea. You can read the whole article here: Financial Benchmarking: How Do You Compare To Your Competitors?
The free and low cost sources of competitor data I discuss in the article include:
1) Your industry association
2) Internal Revenue Service Corporate Sourcebook
3) Annual reports of public companies in your industry
4) Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Productivity and Costs
5) Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Pay and Benefits
6) Bureau of Labor Statistics Labor Producer Price Index
8) US Census Bureau Economic Census
9) US Census Business Expense Survey
10) US Census Annual Survey of Manufacturers
12) The Risk Management Association
For other great small business advice, visit:
American Express OPEN and FindingMoneyAdvice.com – our sister site for small business owners
By the way, if you like the article at American Express OPEN, we’d love a tweet and a thumbs-up on their page!
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