External data for data colllection

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External Sources of Data
External Sources are sources which are outside the company in a larger environment. Collection of external data is more difficult because the data have much greater variety and the sources are much more numerous.

External data can be divided into following classes.

Government Publications- Government sources provide an extremely rich pool of data for the researchers. In addition, many of these data are available free of cost on internet websites. There are number of government agencies generating data. These are:
Registrar General of India- It is an office which generate demographic data. It includes details of gender, age, occupation etc.
Central Statistical Organization- This organization publishes the national accounts statistics. It contains estimates of national income for several years, growth rate, and rate of major economic activities. Annual survey of Industries is also published by the CSO. It gives information about the total number of workers employed, production units, material used and value added by the manufacturer.
Director General of Commercial Intelligence- This office operates from Kolkata. It gives information about foreign trade i.e. import and export. These figures are provided region-wise and country-wise.
Ministry of Commerce and Industries- This ministry through the office of economic advisor provides information on wholesale price index. These indices may be related to a number of sectors like food, fuel, power, food grains etc. It also generates All India Consumer Price Index numbers for industrial workers, urban, non manual employees and cultural labourers.
Planning Commission- It provides the basic statistics of Indian Economy.
Reserve Bank of India- This provides information on Banking Savings and investment. RBI also prepares currency and finance reports.
Labour Bureau- It provides information on skilled, unskilled, white collared jobs etc.
National Sample Survey- This is done by the Ministry of Planning and it provides social, economic, demographic, industrial and agricultural statistics.
Department of Economic Affairs- It conducts economic survey and it also generates information on income, consumption, expenditure, investment, savings and foreign trade.
State Statistical Abstract- This gives information on various types of activities related to the state like – commercial activities, education, occupation etc.
Non Government Publications- These includes publications of various industrial and trade associations, such as
The Indian Cotton Mill Association
Various chambers of commerce
The Bombay Stock Exchange (it publishes a directory containing financial accounts, key profitability and other relevant matter)
Various Associations of Press Media.
Export Promotion Council.
Confederation of Indian Industries ( CII )
Small Industries Development Board of India
Different Mills like – Woolen mills, Textile mills etc
The only disadvantage of the above sources is that the data may be biased. They are likely to colour their negative points.

Syndicate Services- These services are provided by certain organizations which collect and tabulate the marketing information on a regular basis for a number of clients who are the subscribers to these services. So the services are designed in such a way that the information suits the subscriber. These services are useful in television viewing, movement of consumer goods etc. These syndicate services provide information data from both household as well as institution.
In collecting data from household they use three approaches

Survey- They conduct surveys regarding – lifestyle, sociographic, general topics.
Mail Diary Panel- It may be related to 2 fields – Purchase and Media.
Electronic Scanner Services- These are used to generate data on volume.
They collect data for Institutions from
Whole sellers
Retailers, and
Industrial Firms
Various syndicate services are Operations Research Group (ORG) and The Indian Marketing Research Bureau (IMRB).
Importance of Syndicate Services
Syndicate services are becoming popular since the constraints of decision making are changing and we need more of specific decision-making in the light of changing environment. Also Syndicate services are able to provide information to the industries at a low unit cost.
Disadvantages of Syndicate Services
The information provided is not exclusive. A number of research agencies provide customized services which suits the requirement of each individual organization.
International Organization- These includes
The International Labour Organization (ILO)- It publishes data on the total and active population, employment, unemployment, wages and consumer prices
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD)- It publishes data on foreign trade, industry, food, transport, and science and technology.
The International Monetary Fund (IMA)- It publishes reports on national and international foreign exchange regulations.