A college bookstore was publishing textbooks for college professors and their courses. The store wanted to expand it’s business and needed to find potential clients in certain subjects. I conducted a cross Canada search by locating public and private colleges. The client received a database listing 69 potential colleges (name, address, phone number, website and the key buyer).
A government department needed a strategy to determine which countries to target for their foreign direct investment (FDI). After determining that out dated information was being used, I determined that a venture capital/investment perspective was needed (stock indices, sector and country specific mutual funds). With this new perspective, the department refined its list and started to target emerging countries.
A high technology company needed help in locating key technologies for a patent infringement lawsuit. By locating the key components in certain products and conducting interviews, a database was created listing the manufacturer, retailer who sold the product and the type of processor being used. The company sued 22 companies for patent infringement.
A non-profit needed help to determine whether or not the price of their refurbished desktops and laptops was competitive. By using UsedOttawa and Kijji, I recommended a new pricing scheme.
For the same non-profit, we wanted to donate money. The other directors wanted to target organizations but they found out that there was no transparency. Why not schools I asked? Underperforming elementary schools that could use the money to buy tech items? To improve their students marks? And the schools test scores. Prove it the directors said. It was easy to find the information. Unfortunately, it was scattered all over the place. School data from one organization. Neighborhood data from another. Combining it into a report to get the complete picture? Priceless. Needless to say, the others were convinced. The money flowed to the schools. They were pleasantly surprised that an organization is giving them money. Out of the blue. I’m positive some of them are wondering how we found out about their situation.