CONFIDENTIAL
Proposal to provide the
Plunkett Research Online
Business and Industry Reference Service
To: Orbis Cascade Alliance Libraries
January 3, 2011
Pricing:
Contact Greg Doyle (gdoyle@uoregon.edu) for Orbis Cascade Alliance pricing
and discounts.
Submitted by:
Kelly Burke
Online Accounts Representative
kellyb@plunkettresearch.com
Voice: 713.932.0000 USA
I would be happy to answer questions or give you a personal demo.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
Summary:
Plunkett Research Online: Business and Industry Research
Special features and our unique data give you an unparalleled online reference
package.
Industry analysis
Market research
Profiles of thousands of leading companies
Industry statistics
Industry contacts (you can export contact lists)
Industry glossaries
Special tools and data for job seekers
Search, Print and Export capabilities
Build-A-Report tool (export custom reports in PDF)
Concise Industry Videos
Historical Archives available as an option
Value-packed subscriptions may include organization-wide access by business
schools, libraries, corporations and universities.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
These videos will help you appreciate the tremendous value offered by Plunkett
Research Online:
“How top business librarians use Plunkett Research”
“How to use Plunkett Research Online”
Your Proposed Subscription Details:
Access Type:
We have the ability to tailor your access method to fit your needs.
Depending on your subscription level, options include IP address
recognition, remote access via proxy server or other methods, or
username/password login.
License:
End-User Agreement includes generous terms for use of Plunkett data in
reports, white papers and marketing lists.
Special Tools Included:
Build-A-Report (custom build your own industry reports on the fly in PDF)
Mailing list and contact list export (to text or MS Excel files)
MyResearchAccount (build your own private profile and save your
searches)
Our site uses its own Google search server so that search results are
presented in a familiar, highly relevant format
Videos—view our concise video introductions to each industry
Save data as PDFs
Special Tools and Data for Job Seekers
Research employers, link to current job openings, study our research tips!
Administrator/Librarian Features:
MARC Records provided for each section and tool on the site
Usage Statistics Tool—select date ranges, run reports, export to Excel
We cover all of the world’s vital industry sectors:
Hundreds of NAIC codes
Analysis of public companies
Unparalleled profiles of privately held companies
U.S. and International industry and company data
Continuously updated
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
We provide market research, analysis, statistics, research tools
and corporate profiles, organized into these broad industry
sectors:
Advertising & Branding International Companies
Airline, Hotel & Travel Investment & Securities
Apparel & Textiles Manufacturing
Automotive Middle-Market Companies
Banking, Mortgages & Credit Nanotechnology & MEMS
Biotechnology Outsourcing & Offshoring
Canadian Industries Private Companies
Chemicals, Coatings & Plastics Real Estate & Construction
Consulting Renewable, Alternative &
E-Commerce Hydrogen Energy
Energy & Utilities Retailing
Engineering & Research Sports
Entertainment & Media Telecommunications
Food, Beverage & Tobacco Transportation & Logistics
Health Care Wireless, Cellular, Wi-Fi & RFID
InfoTech, Computers & Software
Insurance
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
Why you should turn to Plunkett Research first. Our products
are:
Organized in unique Industry Research Centers, each covering a vital
industry sector such as Biotech, Retailing or Banking, so that researchers
can immediately find exactly the information they want
Written in a manner that nearly anyone can understand and use, and
backed up with complete, industry-specific glossaries
The only source for our proprietary, point-by-point analysis of industry
trends and statistics
Easy-to-use export tools, including our exclusive Build-A-ReportSM that
quickly creates industry summaries in PDF
Ability to email results, download results, create PDFs, or print results
The best source for up-to-date data on emerging industries and emerging
growth companies
Often the only source for profiles and data on important privately-held
firms
While other databases were originally designed to serve professionals in
investment or finance, Plunkett Research was designed from the ground
up to serve the needs of general researchers, from students to
government agencies to job seekers to business and industry
professionals
Ask about our exclusive Build-A-Report SM feature and our
concise Industry Videos!
Plunkett Research, Ltd., 713.932.0000, www.plunkettresearch.com
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
FAQs—Plunkett Research Online:
How does Plunkett Research differ from competitors and other data providers?
Plunkett Research was developed from the ground up with the following core
thought:
The focus at Plunkett Research is to make it easy for the general reader to
readily access and understand the most vital trends creating change within
given industries—even if the reader has no current expertise in that
industry.
Most other business database publishers fall into one of the following categories,
making them vastly different from Plunkett Research:
1) They are “directory” publishers, publishing corporate contact information
gleaned from yellow pages or similar sources, without any supporting
industry analysis or statistics.
2) They focus primarily on providing corporate contact information for use in
supporting sales people, often without providing readers with background
knowledge of the industries they are trying to sell to.
3) They aggregate and coalesce data that was originally published by other
firms—often in the form of newspaper or magazine articles, rather than
conducting research and analysis in house. This can make their
subscriptions more expensive, while making search results much less
targeted and search screens much less user-friendly.
4) They originated as departments within bond-rating companies focused on
providing extremely deep financial numbers and financial ratios for
corporations or industry segments.
5) They generally do not provide forecasts of future industry growth or
analysis of industry trends.
How would you best describe the position of Plunkett Research in the
marketplace?
No other firm does what Plunkett Research Ltd. does. We help you understand
how industries work today and where they will be tomorrow.
Our philosophy is that several core sets of data should be presented in one
comprehensive tool to give the reader the best total picture of an industry. That
data must be user-friendly: easy-to-access, easy-to-understand, easy-to-use.
That data must be affordable and represent extremely high value for the
subscriber.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
The foundation of these data sets is our analysis of industry trends (including
finances, markets, technologies, deregulation, research/development and
globalization). We empower the reader to better utilize knowledge of these
trends by adding our industry statistics, profiles of leading companies, glossaries
and a database of industry associations.
We never assume that the reader is an expert. Instead, we are careful to use
language and explanations that are easy to understand. At the same time, we
provide comprehensive information to give a broad, accurate and innovative
picture of an industry and its players.
We understand that there is intense competition in the business
reference/business information marketplace. Our goal at Plunkett Research at
all times is to provide:
Accurate, Timely, Innovative Business and Industry Information, with:
Better Industry Data
Better User Interface
Better Tools
Better Prices
Background of Plunkett Research, Ltd.
What methods does Plunkett Research use for data gathering and validation?
Plunkett Research Ltd. has been a highly respected source of business and
industry data since 1985. Our data development evolved from research methods
originally established by founder Jack Plunkett for his first book, The Almanac of
American Employers, published by Contemporary Books, Inc., later a division of
Tribune Companies, the publisher of The Chicago Tribune.
Through the years, Plunkett Research has evolved a research methodology
based on strict guidelines used to build and maintain the content of five
proprietary business and industry databases:
1. An industry trends database
2. An industry statistics database
3. A companies database
4. A business and industry glossary database
5. A industry associations and professional societies database
Plunkett analysts are trained to follow research formulas and methodology. They
use company-approved sources in their work, and post their findings daily to
Plunkett’s proprietary databases. All research results go through multi-step
editing processes. And, all results are date-stamped.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com
Who/what are sources of Plunkett’s data?
Primary sources include
Over 3,400 industry associations, professional societies and government
agencies worldwide with which Plunkett maintains relationships and/or from
which Plunkett obtains industry-specific/country-specific data.
Financial analysts, industry executives and industry experts with whom
Plunkett maintains communications
Corporate disclosure documents and financial statements
Industry conference proceedings
Analysis of white papers, reports, periodicals and publications
Where does Plunkett Research get its information on privately held companies?
With the exception of corporate disclosure documents, we use the same
methods and sources for private firms as we do for public firms. Information on
privately-held firms can be difficult to obtain on an accurate and objective basis.
At Plunkett Research, we take pride in the depth of information we are able to
provide on private companies.
How much and how often is research updated in the database?
Our update and rewrite procedure is as follows:
1) All of our data is date-stamped. We do not allow data to pass more than
12 months without rewriting and/or updating.
2) Important changes to industries and companies are added to the database
as they occur.
3) All of the work that our analysts and researchers conduct daily is posted to
internal databases on an ongoing basis. Each Friday evening, the latest
changes from those databases are posted to our online subscription
service so that subscribers have prompt access to them.
4) The median rewrite/update for our data is approximately 10 months.
5) Some types of data, such as year-end industry statistics, are available
several months past year end due to delays in reporting and/or gathering
of full-year data.
What percentage of these companies are private companies? International
companies?
About 20% of these companies are privately-held. About 30% are
headquartered outside of the U.S. Recently, we have been focusing on adding
companies in Canada, Brazil, Turkey, India, China, Singapore, Japan and Korea.
Plunkett Research, Ltd. 713.932.0000 www.plunkettresearch.com info@plunkettresearch.com