# Secondary Data Sources

> Where to find and how to verify secondary data for the MBS4820 Capstone — FedEx SEC filings and investor relations, GCC/UAE logistics and e-commerce market data, Statista/Passport/IBISWorld, World Bank LPI, UAE government statistics, and academic databases. Includes the source-quality hierarchy, the data-log protocol, and rules against fabricated figures. Use when researching market size, company financials, competitor data, industry trends, or any quantitative claim.

- Skill: `faaz17/secondary-data-sources` (Agent Skill)
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- Category: Research & Search
- Author: Faaz17 (https://skillmd.com/u/faaz17)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/faaz17/secondary-data-sources

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# Secondary data — sourcing and verification

## The rule that outranks the rest

**Never invent a figure.** If a number cannot be traced to a real, named, dated source,
write `[UNVERIFIED — needs source]` and leave it in the draft where the reader can see it.
A visible gap is a task; a fabricated number in a Turnitin submission is misconduct.

This applies to market sizes, growth rates, market shares, revenue figures, headcounts,
delivery volumes, cost benchmarks, and every percentage. It also applies to "approximately"
and "around" — a vague fake is still a fake.

## Source-quality hierarchy

Work down this list. Stop at the highest tier that has the number.

1. **Primary company disclosure** — SEC filings (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K), annual reports, investor
   presentations, earnings-call transcripts. Audited, dated, legally accountable.
2. **Peer-reviewed journal articles** — the only tier that counts toward the 50% quota.
3. **Licensed market databases** — Statista, Passport (Euromonitor), IBISWorld, Mintel.
4. **Multilateral and government statistics** — World Bank, IMF, WTO, UNCTAD, UAE FCSC,
   Dubai Statistics Centre, Dubai Chamber.
5. **Industry bodies** — IATA, IRU, Global Express Association, Dubai Logistics Corridor.
6. **Consultancy research** — McKinsey, PwC, Deloitte, BCG, Bain. Credible but promotional;
   read the methodology note.
7. **Quality business press** — FT, Reuters, Bloomberg, Gulf News, The National, Arabian
   Business. For events and colour, not for headline statistics.

**Never cite:** blogs, SEO listicles, "top 10" content-marketing pages, Wikipedia (follow
its sources instead), AI-generated summaries, or undated pages.

## FedEx — where the real numbers are

FedEx Corporation, NYSE: FDX. **Fiscal year ends 31 May** — FY2024 covers June 2023 to May
2024. Always state which basis you mean; mixing fiscal and calendar years is a classic
error a logistics-literate marker will catch.

| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Revenue, operating income, segment results | Form 10-K, Item 7 (MD&A) and Item 8 |
| Segment breakdown (Express, Ground, Freight, Services) | 10-K segment reporting note |
| Average daily package volume, yield per package | 10-K MD&A operating statistics tables |
| Fleet size, aircraft, vehicles, facilities | 10-K Item 2 (Properties) |
| Strategy, DRIVE programme, Network 2.0 | 10-K Item 1 (Business), investor presentations |
| Risk factors — genuinely useful for competitor analysis | 10-K Item 1A |
| International/Middle East exposure | 10-K geographic disclosures |
| Quarterly trends | Form 10-Q, earnings releases |

Access: `investors.fedex.com` and SEC EDGAR (`sec.gov/edgar`, full-text search). EDGAR is
free, authoritative, and permanently linkable — prefer it.

**Note the structural change:** FedEx has been consolidating Express and Ground under
Network 2.0 and spinning off FedEx Freight. Segment definitions have shifted across
years — do not build a time series across a redefinition without saying so.

Comparators worth benchmarking: UPS (10-K), DHL / Deutsche Post (annual report), Aramex
(DFM-listed, Dubai — especially relevant for a GCC venture), SMSA, Naqel, and the
e-commerce captives (Noon Logistics, Amazon Logistics).

## GCC / UAE market data

| Need | Source |
|---|---|
| UAE e-commerce market size and growth | Passport (Euromonitor), Statista, Dubai Chamber of Commerce |
| Courier, Express & Parcel (CEP) market | Passport category report, IBISWorld |
| Logistics performance benchmarking | World Bank Logistics Performance Index |
| UAE macro, population, trade | UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre; Dubai Statistics Centre |
| Free zones, business setup costs, licensing | DMCC, JAFZA, Dubai South, DED published fee schedules |
| Air cargo capacity and rates | IATA, Dubai Airports, Emirates SkyCargo |
| Cross-border trade rules, customs | Dubai Customs, WTO Trade Facilitation database |
| SME landscape | Dubai SME, Ministry of Economy |

Free-zone fee schedules are published and citable — they make start-up cost assumptions
defensible rather than invented, which directly serves marking criterion 5.

## Academic literature — where to search

Middlesex library discovery (`mdx.keylinks.org`), Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Emerald,
Wiley, Taylor & Francis, JSTOR, SSRN. The module reading list is at
`https://mdx.keylinks.org/new-ui/hierarchy/list/21326`.

Journals that fit this project: *Journal of Business Venturing*, *Entrepreneurship Theory
and Practice*, *Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal*, *Academy of Management Review*,
*International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management*, *Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal*, *Journal of Business Research*, *Transportation
Research Part E*, *International Journal of Logistics Management*.

Always capture the DOI at the moment you find the paper. Retrofitting DOIs across 20
references the night before submission is miserable and error-prone.

## The data-log protocol

Every figure enters `02-Research/data-log.md` **before** it enters a draft:

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ID | `D001`, `D002`… — cite this ID in draft comments |
| Claim | What the number asserts, in one line |
| Value | The figure, with units and currency |
| Period | The year or period the figure describes — not the publication year |
| Source | Full Harvard reference |
| URL | Direct, stable link |
| Accessed | Date retrieved |
| Confidence | `verified` / `secondary` / `estimate` / `unverified` |

- `verified` — read it in the primary source myself
- `secondary` — a source I read cited it to someone else; note both
- `estimate` — derived or triangulated; **show the arithmetic in the notes column**
- `unverified` — placeholder only; must not survive to submission

## Verification discipline

- **Prefer the primary source.** If Statista attributes a figure to the World Bank, cite
  the World Bank.
- **Check the period.** A 2025 publication often reports 2023 data.
- **Check the definition.** "E-commerce market size" can mean GMV, revenue, or transaction
  count. Say which.
- **Check the geography.** UAE ≠ GCC ≠ MENA. These get conflated constantly and the
  differences are large.
- **Check currency and units.** AED vs USD, millions vs billions. State the basis and any
  conversion rate used, with its date.
- **Triangulate anything load-bearing.** If a market-size figure drives the financial model,
  find a second independent source. Where they disagree, report the range and say why —
  that is exactly the critical engagement criterion 5 rewards.

## Using secondary data well — what earns marks

Markers reward interpretation, not collection. For every figure, answer *so what?*

Weak: "The UAE e-commerce market was worth USD X billion in 2024 (Statista, 2025)."

Strong: "At USD X billion in 2024 and growing at Y% annually, the UAE e-commerce market is
expanding faster than incumbent last-mile capacity, which grew Z% over the same period
(Source A, 2025; Source B, 2024). That gap is the opening this venture targets."

Every data point should either justify a decision in the business plan or be cut.

## Secondary-data limitations to acknowledge

State these in the methodology — acknowledging limitations is explicitly rewarded:

- Data collected for another purpose may not fit the research question exactly
- Publication lag means figures are historical
- Aggregator definitions and methodologies are often opaque
- Company disclosures are self-presented and selectively framed
- Consultancy reports may serve a commercial agenda
- Licensed databases raise access and reproducibility limits
- Coverage of GCC SME logistics is thinner than for US/EU markets — a real constraint worth
  naming rather than hiding