Indiana Chamber of Commerce Business Research Center
Cindy Monnier
Director, Business Research Center
Indiana Chamber of Commerce
MBA, Wayne State University (1976)
Master of Library Science, Indiana University (1993)
Suppose you are a sales manager for an industrial distributor who is trying to identify manufacturers who could use your products in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. What if you were a human resources manager looking for current salary or wage date for your part of the state? Or articles on what other companies are doing about "pay for performance." Or are you an area newspaper reporter needing statistics on the Consumer Price Index? Or you are a development director for a not-for-profit and you need demographic statistics for a grant application. Or you are an economic development agency looking for a list of all foreign –owned companies or a lost of the largest employers in the state. You know this information must be somewhere, but where?
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce Business Research and Information Center is an easy and quick way to get these answers, from their headquarters in downtown Indianapolis, service members and government offices statewide. Where a larger company or organization may have a person whose entire job is to identify and track competitors and develop marketing statistics, companies without these resources can use the Business Research Center to do this research.
Information is delivered primarily via e-mail and phone. We use a variety of databases, such as Dow-Jones-Reuters, General Business File and the ReferenceUSA database of all U.S. Companies, as well as the Internet to answer questions.
We receive about 2,000 requests each year. The chamber has over 4,000 members, primarily small and medium sized businesses, as well as most all of the larger Indiana employers. Our staff of 45 works with the state legislature on shaping legislation of interest to our members. We also have a large program of seminars and publications to help companies meet the requirements of state and federal business law and to better and more profitably run their businesses.
At IUPUI, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs offers a joint graduate certificate with the Master of Library Science. This combination is a strong foundation for management positions in special business information centers. The planning and budgeting skills gained from completion of these two degrees are also important for those who seek a directorship position in a public or academic library.
Article reprinted with permission from the author and Indiana Insight, a publication of IUPUI.
