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The Business Researcher Newsletter |
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July 6, 2006 Volume 9 Number 4 |
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Hello, Welcome to the Summer issue of the BR Newsletter. We have been busy over the last few months redesigning our website. Don't worry all of the same content is still there. We have just simplified the navigation system so entrepreneurs can find the relevant data they need from all of our research databases: Canadian Industry Profiles (industry benchmarks), Canadian Market Estimates (household spending), Stats Link Canada (polls, survey and reports) and our original Site Summaries (websites with free Canadian data). Please note that there is now a subject index for each section conveniently located in the top right corner of every page. We have also added a Research Consultant module to the
web site that guides researchers though the available resources. It is
organized by industry sector. See: As always you can still submit a query at the QueryDesk if
you are unsure where to look: Over the next few months we plan to add more features to help small business researchers find the Canadian data they need. I hope you find this issue helpful. John White
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We did not add any new site summaries to the GDSourcing site over the last few weeks.
We did however add the following subject headings to the Stats Link Canada subject index. Click on the links below to see a free preview of the references now available under each heading. Subscribers can click on the full access links.
To view all available subject headings see: http://www.gdsourcing.com/statslinkcanada/IndexFree.asp
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The following statistics were released by Statistics Canada over the last few months. We have listed those releases we feel are of the most interest to Canadian entrepreneurs. Now that Statistics Canada is giving away their online publications free of charge, you can access many of the detailed reports right online. Simple click on the publication link at the bottom of each reference. For more information of the free Stats Can giveaway see the article below.
AGRICULTURE
Poultry and Eggs Statistics
Net farm income
Farm Input Price Index 2005
Canadian agriculture in 2005: A
tough year in review
Agriculture value added account
2005
Farm business cash flows 2005
ARTS & CULTURE
Arts, entertainment and recreation services
Rural employment in the culture sector
International trade in culture goods
BUSINESS & FINANCIAL SERVICES
Buying and
selling research and development services, 1997 to 2002
Science and Engineering Employment in Canada and the United States http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-622-MIE2006011
Comparing Science and Engineering Employment in Canadian and US Cities http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-622-MIE2006012
Annual Survey of
Advertising and Related Services
Foreign banks in the Canadian market http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11-621-MIE2006041
Screening job
applicants
COMMUNICATIONS
Telecommunications statistics
CONSTRUCTION & REAL ESTATE
Review of non-residential construction in 2005
Flows and stocks of fixed residential capital
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Hours worked and labour productivity in the provinces and territories
Characteristics of Growth Firms, 2004/2005
An analysis of consumer prices in 2005
Economic importance of transportation
Foreign control
in the Canadian economy
Foreign direct investment
Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review
How are Canadian regions adjusting to a larger and more integrated North
American market?
Changing patterns of women in the Canadian labour force 2005 http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060615/d060615c.htm
Current economic conditions
The Canadian Labour Market at a Glance, 2005
EDUCATION
Educational Outcomes at Age 19 Associated with Reading Ability at Age 15 http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=81-595-MIE2006043
Education and
earnings 1980 - 2005
GOVERNMENT
Public sector employment
Public Sector Statistics: Supplement
HEALTH
Impact of universal flu immunization in Ontario
Estimates of Total Spending on Research and
Development in the Health Field in Canada, 1988 to 2005
Food consumption
Residential care facilities 2002/2003 and 2003/2004
Health Indicators
New data on smoking and on diabetes
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Informatics professional services price indexes
JUSTICE & SECURITY
Aboriginal people as victims and offenders
Neighbourhood
characteristics and the distribution of crime on the Island of Montréal
MANUFACTURING
The Impact of Trade on Plant Scale,
Production-run Length and Diversification
Survey of Innovation http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060602/d060602d.htm
MARKET
Income of
individuals
Census family
income
OTHER SERVICES
Personal services industry
Electronic, commercial and industrial machinery and equipment repair and
maintenance services
PRIMARY & ENERGY
Electric Power Capability and Load
Contract
drilling and services to the oil and gas extraction industry
Non-metallic
Mineral Mining and Quarrying, 2004
Metal Ore
Mining, 2004
General Review
of the Mineral Industries, Mines, Quarries and Sand Pits, 2004
Diamonds: Still
shining brightly for Canada's North
SOCIAL STATISTICS - NON-PROFIT SECTOR
Income and the Outcomes of Children http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=11F0019MIE2006281
Caring Canadians, Involved Canadians:
Highlights from the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 2004
Why did employment and earnings rise among lone mothers during the 1980s
and 1990s?
TRADE
International Merchandise Trade Annual
Review, 2005
Profile of Canadian importers 2002
Foreign affiliate trade statistics
Motor vehicle fuel sales
TRANSPORTATION
Couriers and local messengers industry
Characteristics of international travellers
Taxi and limousine service industry - 2004
An analysis of the transportation industry in 2005
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Statistics Canada released their December 2005 business counts in March 2006. Prior to releasing the new data, Statistics Canada undertook a "Deathing Project" to "clean up" their database. While the process sounds menacing, the aim was simply to eliminate inactive establishments. The result was that there was a noticeable drop (3.8%) in the number of businesses identified in Canada between December 2004 and December 2005. It is important to note that this decline in counts is due to the Deathing Project itself and not to any extraordinary economic factors. Whether you are consulting business count data from our Canadian Industry Profiles or from another source, make sure you understand the change in the source parameters before you jump to any conclusions about industry strength or closures. First of all the inactive business establishments have been accumulating over a period of years. These "dead" businesses did not all cease activity in 2004. Of course with hindsight, this means that business counts from previous years have be skewed somewhat by these inactive businesses. Unfortunately there is not a great deal we can do about past comparisons. By looking at the types of businesses that were deathed however, we can at least gain some insight into the types of businesses where the likelihood of inactivity is highest. In total 172,374 businesses were removed from the Statistics Canada Business Register. Of these, 172,235 or 99.92% were from the Indeterminate size grouping (businesses without full-time employees), an additional 0.06% were from the 1-4 employees grouping. In total 99.98% of the deathed businesses belonged to the smallest of businesses in Canada. All industry sectors were affected by the Deathing Project but four in particular stand out. Among indeterminate deaths Finance and Insurance (11.1%), Construction (11.1%), Retail Trade (10.9%), and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (10.6%) account for 43.7% of the total. Among employer businesses Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (19.4%) and Construction (13.7%) alone account for a third of the businesses removed from the register.
When the distribution of deathed indeterminate businesses is examined at a 6-digit NAICS level, only ten business have a 2% or higher share with Portfolio Management (7.76%) and Holding Companies (7.16%) accounting for nearly 15% of all indeterminate deaths.
Similar sectors appear on top among employer-businesses with the exception of Civic and Social Organizations. Of course here the numbers overall are quite small with the top industry (Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services) losing only 12 businesses due to the Deathing Project.
The order of ranking changes when you consider which business types experience the biggest impact from the Deathing Project, that is industries with the highest percentage variation in business counts. Clearly the most distorted are those where there is a high number of indeterminate businesses (e.g. Portfolio Management) and/or a low total number of businesses (e.g. Infants' Cut and Sew Clothing Manufacturing).
* Only those industries with at least 10 businesses were ranked The Deathing Project appears to have been well overdue. Going forward the Business Register will now provide a more accurate picture of the smallest Canadian businesses. For current analysis however it is not possible to compare indeterminate business counts between 2004 and 2005. The only option to analyze this size of business over this period is to use the Labour Force Survey. CANSIM tables 282-0011 and 282-0012 provide the ability to retrieve data on the self-employed without paid employees by month and by year. The employer business counts are not as seriously affected by the Deathing Project. Comparisons are certainly possible although caution should be used when examining businesses with less than 5 employees especially at the full 6-digit NAICS level. All of our Canadian Industry Profiles (http://www.gdsourcing.com /CIP/Cip.htm) now include information on the number of businesses removed due to the deathing project. If you require detailed data related to the effect of the Deathing Project on your specific industry, please contact us at contact@gdsourcing.com.
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The rumours are all true! Statistics Canada is now giving away all of their electronic publications free of charge. Of course the trick is still finding the publication most suitable to your research needs. You can locate Stats Can publications a number of ways. You can use their online catalogue (http://www.statcan.ca/english/search/ips.htm), or browse by major subject area (http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/downpub/freepub.cgi) but the simplest and most effective way we find to locate relevant publications is to use The Daily. Use the search box at the top of the linked page. Any publications related to The Daily release are listed at the bottom of each entry. Another non-Stats Can option is our Stats Link Canada database. We track and update each Stats Can publication as it is released. One advantage of Stats Link Canada is that it has a detailed subject index that covers both Stats Canada and non-Stats Can publications and our publication descriptions are not abridged abstracts but rather keyword dense listings of the statistics actually covered. While the free publication give away is a generous offer to the Canadian research community, do not mistake this for free access to all Stats Can data. Data that is only available in CANSIM or from stand alone databases (e.g. Business Patterns, Financial Performance Indicators) or any data that requires a custom retrieval are not included. Research charges will still apply here as well as for any paper versions of publications. However for now do not dwell on the negative. This give away is still a major boon to researchers across Canada. To get you started on your new electronic Stats Can library here is a list of links to some of the "research crown jewels" you can now access free of charge:
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| I recently learned an important lesson about using Google. I have always known that the success of a Google search is based entirely on keyword selection but every once and a while you experience a search episode that drives home the point succinctly. My seven year old son recently picked up a board game from a garage sale. The game "The Lion King" came with most of the pieces but the instructions were missing and the game board itself did not provide much insight into how the it should be played. Being a professional researcher, I thought it would be a snap to solve this problem. Surely the rules to a game from the late nineties would be online. Confident of instant success, I started with a basic search in Google: "Lion King" +rules I found sites that celebrated the movie (The Lion King rules!) and sites that sold the "Vintage" game in question. I was happy to see that our $2 purchase was well below the market value of $20. My son however was not impressed. The savings meant nothing if we could not play the game. Preferably right away! It was clear my research problem required a strategy. When you are looking for market or industry data the best advice is to look for sources of the data not the data itself. This advice actually applies to any type of search. In the business world this often involves associations, government departments and specialized media outlets. When you are searching for the rules to a "vintage" game this involves the manufacturer. I was confident that Milton Bradley would have a section on their site devoted to lost rules. After all this could not be a unique problem, especially in a world of garage sales and eBay. So I tried to qualify my search and went for the home run: "milton bradley" "Lion King" +rules This search resulted in a list of entrepreneurial web sites trying to sell the instructions in question for $4 (twice our purchase price!). Regardless of the price, the fastest delivery time offered was "8-24 hours after ordering" which was well past bedtime. The pressure was mounting by the minute! Next I figured it was time to get serious and stop trying to be fancy (i.e. pull the rules up on the first link of the Google results page. This time I aimed to go straight to the source: "milton bradley" +rules My first hit was another rule seller - although this time the price was only $2. The next link looked very promising: Rules and Instructions for Board Games It was from About.com (http://about.com/) For those unaware of this online resource, it is an excellent link source. It was started in 1996 on the premise that people make the best guides to the Internet. Each topic heading has an "editor" who compiles and explains the value of each link collected. The links are coherent and helpful unlike some of the automated link farms you come across online. The first link on my About.com result page was: How to Find Game Rules and Instructions "BINGO!" I thought, now I am getting somewhere. The article was a simple 'how to' feature with tips on locating lost rules or instructions for board games. Unfortunately it only provided generic advice. The last suggestion even caused signs of frustration to appear on my son's face. "Be persistent. If at first you don't succeed, try again in a couple of weeks. And keep trying until you're successful" Not exactly what a seven year-old want to hear! This was getting serious! Corporate clients have nothing on your own son's expectations. I was not however ready to give up on About.com just yet. It is a very rich resource, much like your local librarian. I scanned the same page and noticed the following link:
Hasbro, Parker Brothers, Milton Bradley, Avalon Hill However when you click on the link you are sent to the generic Hasbro home page. I can tell by the About.com link that the original target was the instructions section of their site. Note the end of the rather complicated URL: But some sites do not want you jumping inside them. They want you to follow a set path. At the Hasbro home page, after scanning the available navigation buttons, I decided to try their site search engine. The "Lion King" search words produce a product description and ordering information. (This time the price is $15.95). No link for rules however. There was a link for replacement parts but "rules" are not considered a replacement part. Now what! A pout was starting to appear on my son's face. This was not going to be pretty if I do not find the required rules fast! In desperation I try the "customer service" link. And there with a picture of Mr. Potato Head waving triumphantly is the link "toy and game instructions" with the description: Tired of making up your own rules? Check out the official instructions for some of your favorite Hasbro toys and games. Seconds later we were printing up the PDF of the rules we required for free! I was a bit surprised at the effort it took to find this information. Later, after playing the game - which I lost! and no I didn't let him win! - I went back to examine my search steps in a less frenetic way. First of all I took a closer look at the game box. Sure enough - I am embarrassed to admit - below the bold MB for Milton Bradley in the top left corner of the box lid was the tiny copyright information "© 1994 Hasbro Canada Inc" in the bottom left corner. If my initial search had of been: hasbro +rules "lion king" The first link of the first page returned would have been exactly what I was looking for.
The key research lessons relearned by this exercise were:
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Each Business Researcher Newsletter ends with a collection of five statistics related to Canadian small businesses.
Source: CFIB (April 2006)
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G D S O U R C I N G - R E S E A
R C H & R E T R I E V A L |
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Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 GDSourcing - Research & Retrieval. All rights reserved. You may circulate this newsletter freely as long as GDSourcing is clearly credited as the source. We encourage people to subscribe directly. There is no charge for this newsletter. A subscription form is available at http://www.gdsourcing.com /newsletter.htm
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