It was founded in 1994 by Dick Harris, one of the most esteemed figures in the information industry. Following the sale of Predicasts to Information Access Company in 1991, Harris left the company and later established his new firm. Over time, it added other kinds of publications, including abstracts of corporate annual reports, investment firm and market research reports, press releases, and SEC registration statements. This old plan is updated with modern, user-oriented indexing and editorial features. The total is divided evenly between U.S. and foreign publications, representing U.S. national and regional markets and those in dozens of countries.
Preference is given to articles with tabular data, such as market share rankings.
In each database, the lengthy abstracts excel at providing all of the main points from the original, including numbers such as market share, sales, revenues, etc. Both databases base product indexing on SIC codes. The geographic indexing, which breaks down by nation and region, is similar in both files. An index of 50 industry names helps to focus on individual manufacturing and service sectors. There are also document type, trade name, spokesperson, and slogan indexes.