Why free isn't always best for business

Clare Hart began her career at Dow Jones in 1983 after graduating in business and computer systems management form Drexel University, Pennsylvania.

She helped launch the group's first web products in 1995 and 1996 and three years later had become executive director of enterprise products.

By the year 2000, Dow Jones and Reuters had teamed up to launch Factiva - which offers content and services to its clients on the internet - and Ms Hart was named president and chief executive of that firm.

What was your first job?

I worked in a fabulous Swiss bakery in New Jersey for a Swiss-German baker.

His father had owned a bakery in Switzerland and he came over here and set up business.

I can't remember exactly how much I earned but I think it was $3 (£1.80) or $4 (£2.40) an hour.

I still love bakeries for the reason that that's where I first worked. It's made me quite discerning, I mean if you're going to go for the calories then you may as well go for the good stuff.

And I love people that set up businesses like that, building them in their adopted countries. Fortunately it's still there - although its been sold on to another owner now.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

I find so many people inspiring that I'm always torn - should it be someone political, someone I respect or my mother?

I'd have to say my mother, because she always had a positive attitude, worked hard and was unconditionally accepting of people, which are all good qualities.

She had a saying, which was: "Dear, you have to realise not everyone's like you."

And that acceptance of diversity is always a reminder of why it's important to accept that people are different and why you shouldn't wish that everyone is the same.

In business I'd say it's Meg Whitman, head of Ebay, because she's done a brilliant job. She's stayed focused and didn't get caught up in the dot.com hype.

She was at BCG before that and she's a very bright woman. She's taken the business discipline she had there and I believe she must be a good motivator of people - engaging people in this hi-tech, high energy environment.

And because she's reputable she's made lots of money for the business.

What's the best bit of business you've had?

If you get the strategy right, everything else will fall into place.

I learned that from Dorothea Coccoli Palsho, former president of business information services at Dow Jones.

So we've worked hard and Factiva has really focused on getting our strategic initiatives right and we've remained very focused on the direction of the company. But I would say that that's still a work in progress.

What's the big business story grabbing your interest at the moment?

Martha Stewart - you can't get away from it at the moment, but it's really the overriding theme of corporate scandals that has my attention.

There's been the Ken Lay arrest, Enron, and Tyco's problems with former chief executive Dennis Kozlowski.

Corporate scandals are the big thing because it has so much to do with corporate relations and integrity.

You read the stories and realise what is capable of destroying brands and livelihoods.

We actually knew a lot of people at Arthur Anderson, the global accounting firm. It's criminal that the company was dissolved.

With Enron the retirement accounts have been cut off through corruption and greed.

I do hope justice is done, that it all calms down and more importantly that personal and professional values stand for more than greed.

What's the biggest challenge facing your business at the moment?

The biggest challenge we face at the moment is the placing of value on content.

During the dot.com boom there were so many services offering free content it means that people still have expectations about free services, but that's now changing.

There are so many sources available - searches, blogs - that everyone can be a publisher, but then it's difficult for users to tell whether that content is either trustworthy or reliable.

We're trying to educate our customers and prospective customers to understand the value of content - what's a reputable brand or a quality product - and that educational process has become a challenge for the industry.

Information overload is a problem - for example a search for Plasma TVs on Google will come back with 2.1m hits, whereas on Factiva you'll only get seven from the most reliable and quality services.

Then comes the question of free versus fee. The heating up of the search engine sector is good, they are fabulous tools, but they are just directories and not really business and information sites.

We've developed a White Paper showing that just because something's free doesn't mean its the best quality or most relevant, for example 60% of our sources are not available on the web.

So it's a change but I don't think we'll see closure on the issue any time soon.

What was the proudest moment of your career?

My proudest moment was becoming CEO at Factiva, because I'd worked hard alongside colleagues to get this joint venture going.

When my predecessor abruptly resigned I was very disappointed, but I did understand the reasons behind his decision.

I didn't believe that someone could do a better job - as I know the people and the business so well.

So I was proud to be appointed.

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Factiva is a joint venture between Dow Jones and Reuters.

It offers world-class global news and business content covering almost 9,000 sources from 122 countries in 22 languages that can be integrated into company systems.

More than 82% of the Fortune Global 500 companies use Factiva, and the company has 1.6 million paying subscribers worldwide - with customers such as Ford, Nestle and Boots.