Competitive Intelligence - Finding Industry Sector Experts

[Alan S. Michaels]

What are the top 3 sources that you (or your customers) go to for industry-specific CI information?

There appears to be a sharp increase in the number of industry consultant networks, with a huge number of industry experts enrolling.  Do you view this trend as significant, or mostly hype where lots of people sign up but not much happens?

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PS - Members of this fine CI group who use LinkedIn, feel free to join the LinkedIn group "Corporate Planning, Strategy & Strategic Market Segmentation" ( http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1846141 with 14,000+ members) and add your info to our Member Directories: 
Member introductions: http://lnkd.in/s-S9-X
Member strategy books: http://lnkd.in/uuHNES
Member strategy blogs: http://lnkd.in/9hS_uS
Member Twitter handles: http://lnkd.in/NsAuX_
 
Special red-carpet for those of you with industry expertise to join industry subgroups for the above group. (Feel free to promote yourself and your company's industry expertise in as many industry subgroups as you feel appropriate.)
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 # of Members in our INDUSTRY SECTOR subgroups:
 .[1,482] Chemicals & Specialty Chemical Manufacturing
. [ 587] Banking, Financial Markets & Financial Services
. [ 566] Consumer Products Manufacturing
. [ 548] Mining, Energy & Environmental Services
. [ 422] Food, Beverage & Tobacco Manufacturing
. [ 361] Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting
. [ 323] IT, Business Consulting & Business Services
. [ 315] Apparel Manufacturing
. [ 237] Media, Information, Communications & Entertainment
. [ 220] Construction & Engineering
. [ 204] Health Care, Life Sciences & Pharmaceuticals
. [ 178] Auto, Truck, Train, Ship & Utility Vehicle Manufacturing
. [ 168] Retail Trade
. [ 121] Aerospace & Defense
. [ 110] Travel, Transportation, Wholesale & Warehousing
. [ .55] Food Services, Hospitality & Lodging
. [ .42] Other Commercial Products Manufacturing
. [ .41] Insurance, Annuities & Health Plans
. [ .34] Foundations, Consumer Services & Ed & Real Estate & All Else

[Glen Brynteson]

Thanks for the post Alan - joined...