Which business book(s) should you read?

If one of your new year’s resolutions is to read more business books you may have found yourself overwhelmed by the quantity of books available. 

Over on the State of Search website Bas van den Beld has come up with some great ideas for your next business book read.  An infographic designed by Koozai helps take you to choices in a number of subject areas, including:

·         Branding

·         Web analytics

·         Business development

·         Content marketing

·         Paid search

·         SEO

·         Web theory

·         Social media

The post is well worth a look.

BvD releases updated Orbis

Business information publisher Bureau van Dijk (BvD) has released an updated version of Orbis, the company database. 

Orbis contains information on over 100 million companies from around the world sourced from more than 100 information providers.  

 

Enhancements include the addition of over 11,000 CICI (company identifier) numbers; and two additional measures of financial strength and user access to additional original documents.

More information via Information World Review.

Apps for information professionals

In our December issue we will be publishing an article by Scott Brown in which he describes mobile apps that are relevant to information researchers and professionals, both in their own work and in the services and products which they offer to their clients.

It's a great, practical article outlining some of the ways in which apps are being developed and rolled out by vendors and other providers.  Brown explores how new developments such as augmented reality are helping create a new generation of mobile information products.  

Scott's articles are always full of practical advice.  Here's one of his tips ahead of the December publication date:

"Be sure to ask your current information vendors if they are making apps available for their products, and include mobile access as part of your discussions with current and potential vendors as you negotiate access and contracts".

The coolness of social media

Coolbrands.co.uk produces an analysis of Britain’s ‘coolest’ brands and has just released its latest findings.  Brands may be nominated by members of the public and the coolest are selected by an expert council and members of the public before the top brands are identified.

Coolness, as Coolbrands admits, is subjective.  The judging criteria they use are:

·         Style

·         Innovation

·         Originality

·         Authenticity

·         Desirability

·         Uniqueness

(Usefulness, value or impact do not seem to get a look-in.)

The latest top 10 features Apple, BBC’s iPlayer, Google, Twitter and YouTube.  (Luxury brands such as Aston Martin, Liberty and Bang and Olufsen also appear).   ‘Attractions and the arts’ features as a category (cool brands in this category include the Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall). 

Unfortunately libraries do not feature at all, even though there are innovative, stylish and unique libraries out there.   

Journals price projections for 2013

Every year, EBSCO publishes a report which aims to help information professionals make budgeting decisions and plans.  Based on historical pricing data and publisher surveys, the report sets out trends and predictions for serials publishing for the year ahead.

This year, the survey predicts:

• Overall price increases of 5-7%
• Increases in library budgets will not match this rise
• Libraries will continue to ‘prune’ content purchases 
• Increasing use and importance of usage analytics to inform purchasing decisions
• OA movement gaining momentum
• More exploration of alternative purchasing methods

 More information.

Pharmaceuticals, research and data mining

An agreement has been reached between representatives of pharmaceutical companies and publishers which aims to help pharma companies undertake text and data mining.

The agreement has been made between the Pharma-Documentation-Ring (P-D-R - an association of 21 pharmaceutical companies), the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers.

You can read more about the agreement on Research Information.

The value of 'National Brand'

Brand Finance journal has published a report exploring the way that ‘nation brand’ contributes to the economic and social wellbeing of countries and has revealed its top 100 nation brands

According to the report, a strong nation brand helps to “cut through the information glut that is inherent in... modern business news [and] supports investor confidence in the value of a country”.

The report goes on to feature country case studies on a number of subject areas (including how nation brand can help countries to:

·         Attract and retain talent

·         Enhance tourism business (including domestic tourism)

·         Attract inward investment

·         Improve the sale of goods and services

The top 10 countries identified in the report are:

·         USA

·         China

·         Germany

·         Japan

·         UK

·         France

·         Canada

·         India

·         Brazil

·         Italy

The report is available to download, free of charge, from Brand Finance.