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Entrepreneurship (130:170)

Defining the Industry: Major Classification Systems

  • Many sources arrange company and industry info by industry codes
  • Standard Industrial Classification Manual (UNI Ref. HF 1041 U613 1987)
  • North American Industry Classification System (UNI Ref. HF 1042 N67 2002)
  • Examples: 722410 Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages),  721110 Hotels and Motels,  722110 Full-Service Restaurants
  • Classifications and definitions can vary from source to source and over time
  • Problems such as: the most specific classification may be too general, company involvement in numerous industries, etc. 

Market and Industry Research Reports 

*Mintel Reports

  • Contains market research reports on several hundred consumer products and services
  • Reports cover topics such as market size and forecast, leading companies, market drivers, etc.
  • Reports focus on specific products or consumer groups (pizza restaurants; hotels; ice cream shops; athletic shoes; beer; distilled spirits; family/midscale restaurants; sporting goods; white and dark spirits; alcohol consumption in bars; college students; etc.)
  • Must register email and create a password to access

*IBIS World

  • Contains 700 industry reports
  • Reports typically cover factors such as key competitive factors, major  companies, industry outlook
  • Reports cover industries such as: beer, wine & liquor stores; bars, nightclubs & drinking establishments; credit unions; full service restaurants; hotels & motels; shoe stores

*Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage

  • Industry Surveys portion of Netadvantage contains chapters that provide detailed analysis of more than 50 industries such as apparel & footwear; alcoholic beverages; banking; lodging; restaurants
  • Company entries include Competitors list

*ABI/INFORM Complete

  • Contains several hundred market research reports from several publishers
  • Look under Data & Reports or Browse tabs
  • Reports cover markets such as: athletic footwear; bars; credit unions; hotel & motel (hospitality); restaurants 
  • Search results for market reports are under Reference/Reports tab

*Business & Company Resource Center

  • Contains  company profiles, investment reports, industry profiles, market research, financials, etc.
  • industry Tab, and Advanced Search/Industry Overviews lead to industry and market reports
  • Some company profiles include links to related industry and market reports 

*Market Research.com 

  • Catalog of off-the-shelf market research reports available for sale
  • Free registration allows viewing of abstract, table of contents, and other overview details that might be helpful
     

Competition Identification and Analysis 

*ReferenceUSA

  • Use US Businesses/Quick Search to look up known company and see list of potential competitors
  • Or US Businesses/Custom Search to create list of companies in certain geographic area in a certain line of business

*Hoover's

  • Company entries include competitors list

*Business Source Elite

  • Company Profiles include competitors list and SWOT analysis for larger firms.

*LexisNexis Academic

  • Companies option on left side leads to Company Dossier lookup, and Create a Company List
  • Includes info from various sources, including Key Competitors (from Hoover's)

SEC Form 10-K Annual Reports, for Publicly-Held Firms, via EDGAR

  • Part I, Item 1 Business - sometimes discusses competitors
  • Winnebago 10-K for 2009, for example, notes more than 20 competitors and includes details on some of them

Thomas Register Directory

  • Specialized company directories and catalogs can help in identifying companies working in certain product areas

Articles from Trade Journals, Business Magazines, Academic Journals

  • Tools in this section of handout may lead to information about new or small industries and markets
     

Demographic and Economic Data

Governments conduct censuses and surveys, and most results are available for public use. Many other types organizations, such as trade associations, also gather data; some may be available for no charge and without restriction, some may available only to members or for a fee.

U.S. Census Bureau American Factfinder (demographics)

  • Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, this site includes demographic and economic data from the population and economic censuses and surveys, for the U.S. as a whole, states, and smaller areas.

U.S. Census Bureau Business Data You Can Use (economic)

  • Graphic Industry Snapshots, Data for Your Local Area, Industry Statistics Sampler
  • Economic Census data: within industries, number of establishments, sales/shipments, payroll, number of employees
  • Census Bureau Resources for Small Business - Lists and describes more Census tools for business

County Business Patterns - Waterloo Cedar Falls, 2009 survey data
 

  • Survey but may be more up to date
  • Contains data on number of employees, number of establishments, and payroll for SIC and NAICS defined industries for states and counties.

Demographics USA
UNI Reference HF5415.3 .D462

  • Includes demographics such as population by age and race, effective buying income, and consumer expenditures for states, counties, and five-digit zip codes; also contains data on business characteristics, for the same geographic areas.

State Data Center of Iowa

  • Official source for U.S. census statistics about Iowa.

Iowa Labor Market Information

  • Detailed figures on employment, hours, wages, and occupational projections. From Iowa Workforce Development.

Cedar Valley Economic Development Corporation

  • Economic development organizations compile data about their regions.

Trade associations collect data from members and issue reports; may be available for free or a fee. How to find trade associations:

Consumer Behavior and Attitudes

Consumer Expenditure Survey

  • This U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics program collects and distributes data on the buying habits of U.S. consumers
  • Tracks expenditures for specific products, such as fresh fruits, by consumers in various demographic categories

Household Spending: Who Spends How Much on What (UNI Reference HC110.C6 H68 2006)

  • Based on published and unpublished data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey.

Lifestyle Market Analyst (UNI Reference HF5415.33.U6 L54 2007)

  • Provides demographic and lifestyle profile of television markets in the U.S.: occupation, education, income, hobbies, sports activities, etc.
  • Profiles more than 71 lifestyle interests, such as Attend Cultural/Art Events, showing demographic characteristics of households interested in particular lifestyles.
  • Also profiles demographic groups such as Single Men, 18-34 in terms of geographic concentration and lifestyle interests.

Social Media

Various social media sites may contain useful commentary on products.
 

Articles in Trade Journals, Business Magazines and Newspapers, and Academic Journals 

Rod Library subscribes to databases that index journals and magazines in various subject areas. The first four below index academic journals, trade journals, business magazines, and newspapers in various business areas.

Trade journals can be a major source for marketing data and intelligence for the industries and markets they cover. Some trade journal web site articles are free and some are not. Rod Library subscribes to all articles from certain trade journals, and they therefore are available to UNI employees and currently enrolled UNI students at no cost.

Trade journal example:  American Fastener Journal

Other databases index articles in areas such as education, sports, and recreation and may be appropriate search tools for a given project. Through Panther Prowler, one can simultaneously search several databases in areas such as business, education, and music.

*ABI/INFORM Complete

  • Indexes about periodicals in all business areas; provides full text or image online for many
  • Includes scholarly business journals, trade journals, Hoover company profiles, and the Wall Street Journal
  • Thesaurus can help in finding search terms

*Business & Company Resource Center

  • Indexes business periodicals of all types; provides full text or image for many
  • Also includes company profiles, investment reports, industry profiles, market research, financials, etc.

*Business Source Elite

  • Indexes journals like ABI and BCRC, but also includes company profiles with SWOT analyses for larger companies

Other indexes may be appropriate for some topics, depending on the product and company: Engineering Village 2, PubMed Central, Art Full Text, and so on. See Databases A - Z and Databases by Field of Study on the library home page.
 

Articles from Newspapers

Articles about small or new companies may be found only in local publications, such as the following. Small, local companies also probably have websites and provide information about themselves there.

Evaluation and Citation of Business Sources 

Conflicts between sources as to data or analysis should be considered in deciding whether to use them. If uncertain whether to use a particular website, consider factors such its scope, author qualifications, point of view, and other criteria.

Credit should be given to authors whose exact words and ideas are used. Different professors may require different style manuals, many of which are available at the Rod Library reference desk.

A copy of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, for example,  is available in print at the Rod Library Reference Desk, as is a copy of the APA Style Guide to Electronic Resources. The APA style is summarized at this page.

The Chicago Manual of Style is also kept at the Rod Library Reference Desk. This quick guide from The Chicago Manual of Style Online provides tips on how to cite different types of publications.

The Library at UNC-Greensboro has done a nice summary of how to cite articles and documents from business databases like Mintel. For example, it recommends citing Mintel reports in APA style as follows:

Mintel. (2009, December). Breakfast Foods: the Consumer - US. Retrieved from http://academic.mintel.com/.

Stan Lyle, Rod Library, August 31, 2011