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Published: Sunday, May 14, 2000
The
experts watch the market, but who watches the experts? Validea does, with
an interesting site that looks at both the market and the market gurus.
Information is sliced and diced in ways that were almost impossible in
pre-Web days. It looks at the recommendations of financial writers,
analysts, money managers and compiles sort of a ``batting average'' for
them. It identifies companies that have received attention from the
experts. It even screens stocks using the investment strategies and
valuation methods of some of the leading market gurus.
If you like the style of Abby Joseph Cohen, Henry Blodget,
James J. Cramer, Jim Seymour, Mario Gabelli or Mary Meeker, you check on
the performance of their recent picks. Or, check on the validity of advice
from magazines such as Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Smart Money,
Individual Investor or Barron's.
Another approach is to begin with a specific stock. Enter its symbol
for a quick look at what analysts and the other sources are saying about
the company, as well as fundamental data.
If this all sounds complicated, you're right. There is a great deal of
information here. But Validea is easy to navigate and features
well-designed graphics that summarize the data. If you get lost in the
site, it's only because the content is so interesting.
Despite
the ever-present banner ads and the rudimentary page design, there are a
couple of good reasons to visit this collection of small business links.
If you've been overwhelmed when looking for small business information on
the Web, the ``small biz search engine'' will help you zero in on relevant
sites by searching a small set of documents -- about 1,400. Type in the
word ``payroll'' and you'll get 55 hits. Some offer advice; others are
commercial payroll services. It's not a comprehensive search by any means,
but it's useful if quick information is what you want.
For more quick information, try the library. There's no fancy search
engine; just 100 or so articles arranged alphabetically, by topic. It's an
easy way to find basic information on taxes, import and export issues,
financing and patent and trademark questions.
Other features of the site are less useful. Most of messages on the
forum for small and home-based business owners are of the ``earn easy
money at home!!!!'' variety. The same is true for the collection of links
labeled Reference, Opportunities, Financing, Marketing, Services,
Franchises, News and MLM. Some are useful, but many are little more than
advertisements from sites that want your business.
A
webzine with a mission to ``provide vanguard thinking about management and
leadership to the world -- for free!'' seems worth a look. But be prepared
for a lot of clicking and scrolling when you visit the Management General
site. It's created by Tom Brown; he's written and lectured extensively on
leadership.
The current issue of MG looks at the hot job market and the competition
for the best workers. Brown interviews several authors of books about
career change and human resources, but navigating from one article to the
next is a little clumsy.
In addition to Brown's interviews with other authors, he features
``ezzays,'' opinion pieces to challenge leadership thinking. You'll find
them by clicking on the ``leaders.now'' link on the home page. The ezzays
are arranged chronologically, but you can also pick a specific author or a
topic such as communication, values, intellectual capital, teams or
credibility.
MG also includes a Top 10 listing. In this case, it's a list of Brown's
picks of the best business books of the year, complete with capsule
reviews. There is also a nicely organized compilation of additional links
to business-related Web sites.
Welcome additions to the site would be a fully functional search engine
and a well-designed site map.
Web Watch columnist Carol Gurstelle provides business
research to companies and individuals. She can be reached at gurst003@tc.umn.edu or (651)
645-7047.
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