Introducing
the Dirt Diggers Digest Guide to Strategic Corporate Research
By
Phil Mattera, Dirt
Diggers Digest
EDITOR’S NOTE: Phil
was (and is) one of my most trusted colleagues and friends when I worked in DC. Strategic
researchers were – and still are – a small group of dedicated professionals who
use a wide variety of techniques to dig out the truth about businesses, government
and politicians. As a general rule, we shared techniques with each other and
did our best to pass on the skills and tools we acquired to others. This new
Guide is a fine example of that principle in practice. - wc
What
is the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions coming from Duke Energy’s Hanging
Rock power plant in Ironton, Ohio?
What
are the terms of a typical agreement between McDonald’s and one of its
franchisees?
Which
insurance companies hold the most bonds issued by Monsanto?
Is
BP on the list of companies excluded from doing business with the federal
government?
How
much are members of Verizon’s board paid and how many shares of stock does each
director own?
Which
watchdog groups monitor the paper industry?
If
you deal with questions such as these, you are probably a corporate researcher
for a union, environmental group or other progressive organization, and you
will be interested to know about the new Dirt
Diggers Digest Guide to Strategic Corporate Research.
Until now it has had three main parts covering sources of general company
information, sources for analyzing a company’s key relationships (institutional
investors, creditors, major customers, etc.), and sources for reconstructing a
company’s accountability record (legal entanglements, labor relations,
environment compliance, political influence, etc.).
Designed
to be a resource for a wide variety of activist researchers, the guide focused
on sources that applied to a broad range of businesses. Along with dozens of
additional entries in the existing parts, the new version of the guide contains
a section which for the first time provides detailed lists of industry-specific sources in the following
categories:
- Specialized directories and data compilations
- Trade associations
- Trade publications
- Unions representing workers in the industry
- Watchdog groups monitoring the industry
- Regulatory agencies and disclosure documents
The
guide provides hundreds of such sources for all major industries, among them
aerospace, chemicals, electric utilities, mining, pharmaceuticals,
semiconductors, steel, telecommunications, and trucking. The directories, trade
publications and data compilations include many resources known mainly to
industry insiders.
The lists of unions include both those representing workers
in each sector in the United States as well as international labor federations
bringing together unions from around the world dealing with the industry. The
lists of watchdog groups include diverse organizations working to get companies
in the sector to act in a more responsible manner.
Below
is the full table of contents for the guide with links to the individual
sections. Happy hunting!
E. Creditors
PART
IV. INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC
SOURCES
