There are three types of business information providers available online:


1. free Web sites,

2. fee-based Web sites and

3. Value-added information services.



Free Web sites comprise Web pages maintained by business units, publishers, regulatory agencies,
trade associations and experts on a specific subject or industry.

The most noticeable advantage of these sites is that they are free. But these sites are all separately
maintained on the Web. It is impractical to aggregate searches, so researchers must go from site to site, looking for the information they require. Also, free Web sites usually do not offer considerable archives of information — an article available today may be gone the next day.


Examples of free Web sites are the BBC news site (news.bbc.co.uk), the U. S. Securities
and Exchange Commission database of filings (edgar.sec.gov) and the Yahoo’s financial news site
(news.yahoo.com).


Fee-based Web sites present published articles or high-value information, for example trade statistics, which may not be accessible on the free Web. They frequently have preformatted compilation of material, such as company profiles, and usually offer an archive of materials dating back a year or more. Although they have a enhanced selection of material than free Web sites, they are still limited in focus.

Examples of fee-based Web sites include Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com) and the keynote website http://www.keynote.co.uk/


Value-added information services
Value-added business information services tender high-quality information from a widespread range of sources including newswires, newspapers from around the world, trade magazines, newsletters, investment house reports and more. They have huge archives of periodicals and chronological financial data.

These services present straightforward but dominant tools, which allow researchers to search hundreds of sources of current information and archives concurrently. Results can be downloaded, printed or e-mailed. And, electronic clipping features keep business researchers informed about topics they select. Value-added information services charge fees, which can be paid within a company's purchasing process. The blanket arrangement can provide access to a precise number of employees within a company.

The main providers of value-added information are Dialog (www.dialog.com), Factiva
(www.factiva.com) Lexis-Nexis (www.lexisnexis.com) and www.360view4u.co.uk (FREE)