What are Subject-Specific Competencies? The creation – and evolution – of subject-specific research competencies for business emerged through careful analysis of and in response to: - Undergraduate business research assignments
- Frequently asked reference questions in business disciplines
- Project-driven research demands
- Current industry employment trends
- Awareness of fundamental competitive intelligence strategies and methods
- Collaboration with teaching faculty
More specifically, in addition to the core information competency standards established by ACRL, the following subject-driven research competencies for business were identified:
- Locate company information
- Financials
- Products, brands, services, NAICS
- Corporate structure
- Officers
- News (e.g., mergers, IPOs, new officers, etc.)
- Gather industry data
- Industry trends
- Market share
- Competitive landscape
- Company rankings by sector
- Knowledge of competitive intelligence issues
- Operations
- Suppliers
- Distribution systems
- Pricing policies
- Physical resources
- Marketing and advertising strategies
- Understand industry Classifications such as North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Standard Industry Classification (SIC)
- Economic census reports
- Sector reports
- Reporting/authoring government bodies (e.g., Commerce Department)
- Secure international trade data and related information
- World Bank
- OECD
- United Nations
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Understand and locate economic indicators
- Sources (e.g., Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Key indicators (e.g. CPI, Durable Goods Orders, New Home Sales, etc.)
- Knowledge of management, finance, marketing, and economics
- Current issues
- New trends
- Professional associations/organizations (e.g., American Marketing Association)
Though the above subject-specific competencies for business provide a framework for business research skill-sets, and enhance information competence, they are too general in nature to be applied to core areas of business (e.g., Marketing, Finance, Economics) and do not provide the detailed, area-specific research competencies needed to meet specialized competitive intelligence gathering requirements. To meet these requirements, subject-specific competencies are further differentiated into areas of specialization -- in this case, Marketing. This drilling down of subject-specific competencies establishes a new specificity and depth to the information competence matrix: Area-Driven Competence. |
