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21 Bus. Info. Alert 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/busiale21 and id is 1 raw text is: Busin s Information Alert Sources, Stratgiics, and Signposts fir Infin-wation Profissionals Volume 21, No. 1 January, 2009 The Process of Business Research: Outcomes of the Credit Crunch by Sylvia James ately, I have been thinking a lot about the processes involved in business research - especially complex research projects. The knowledge and expertise that we, as business information professionals, have is often not understood by our users and may not be displayed in the results of this research that we present to patrons. This has been my preoccupation over the last few weeks as I prepared to write this article for the first issue of 2009. It is especially on my mind as I read the many articles in the business press on the current economic climate. During 2008, the dominant theme was of the unremitting progress of this disastrous credit crisis. It has become obvious to me that there was very little due diligence (in other words, business research) commissioned or conducted by the decision makers in just about every nook and cranny of the financial services sector. Why were the business information professionals not asked to use their knowledge, experience, and skills to systematically research the anomalies, the problem companies, the baffling financial instruments, and the out-and-out frauds that were happening in this unprecedented era of easy credit? The most glaring example of the lack of simple research was the recent Bernard Madoff scandal. This is, according to reports, the largest ThePrces o ess investment fraud ever perpetrated by a single individual with an esti- reearch mated $50 billion worth of losses. It came to light just as I began writing this article and is another outcome of the credit crisis. I can hardly 2 From the Editor: believe this happened in a day and age when the rigorous collection of Article of the Year information and due diligence can and should be the cornerstone of all 8 News and Trends: Ireland business decisions, especially those where our savings are invested. This fraud is on the same scale as the bank collapses, but there are no 10 Info Intro: Interest Rates taxpayer monies to bail out these investors. The Madoff investment funds Th continued on page 4

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