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Library Research Guides

Sections:

 

Preparing a Business Plan

 

Getting Started

The following sources will  be useful in researching all sections of your project:

Proprietary UW-Eau Claire Databases
(here you will find published research, articles, and data that is not freely available on the Web)

Selected Internet Sites 

Selected Print Resources in Library Reference Collection

  • Business plans handbook: a compilation of actual business plans developed by small businesses throughout North America.
    REF HD62.7 .B865
  • Small Business Sourcebook. REF HD2346.U5 S66

Industry Analysis

SIC and NAICS are systems for assigning classification numbers to industries. Identifying the SIC or NAIC code for your product or service may assist you in finding further information as you proceed in this project. NAICS replaced the SIC in 1997, though many information resources still use SICs.

Industry trends and outlook

  • MarketLine Business Information Center
    Profiles on more than 2500 industries and 10,000 companies.
  • Associations Unlimited
    Information for international, national, regional, state, and local professional and trade organizations and associations in all fields.
  • CenStats
    Census data including industry and manufacturing data
  • Hoovers Online
    Overviews and histories of some industries. (Hoovers is also available through the LexisNexis Business database under Company Profiles).
  • U.S. Economic Census
    Profiles American business every five years
  • LexisNexis Academic
    Its Business database includes industry news as well as company news and financial information 
  • Current Industrial Reports U.S. Census Bureau
    Provides detailed production data for a variety of industries
  • Service Annual Survey (U.S. Census Bureau):
    Data on non-good producing industries including retail trade, wholesale trade, and the service industries.
  • Census of Agriculture
    Conducted every 5 years, Census of Ag. data covers the nation's farming, ranching, and related activities at the county, state and national levels.
  • Forecastcenter.com
    free registration at this site will provide you with access to information on future trends in a broad range of categories, including business, demographics, economy, health, lifestyles and more.
  • The Bottom Line
    West Central Wisconsin business newsletter

    Print Resources in Library Reference Collection

  • Mergent's Industry Review REF HG4501.M665
  • Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys REF HG4965.S7
  • RMA Annual Statement Studies REF DESK HF5681.B2 R6
  • Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios REF DESK HF5681.R25 I525

Characteristics of firms in the industry:

  • MarketLine Business Information Center
    Profiles on more than 2500 industries and 10,000 companies.
  • Business Source Elite
    The Company Profiles tab in this database will retrieve detailed reports for the 5000 largest companies in the world. The reports are updated quarterly and average 100 pages each.
  • RDS Business Reference Suite
     Search by company name, or by industry. Using concept terms such as market share can be useful.
  • Thomson Research
    Full-text financial information and other data from federal filings of all public companies, updated daily. 
  • LexisNexis Academic
    Its Business database contains company news and financial information.
  • Hoovers Online
    Includes profiles of larger American public companies. (Hoovers is also available through the LexisNexis Business database under Company Profiles).
  • ProQuest Newspapers
    Search for your company in this database of full-text articles from more than 300 regional, national and international newspapers and newswires. (See also Wisconsin Newspapers)
  • Annual Report Gallery
    Lists more than 2,200 Annual Reports and covers the majority of the fortune 500 companies
  • Regional Business News
    "incorporates 75 business journals, newspapers and newswires covering all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States." Useful for finding information on local companies.
  • Thomas Register
    Search by product/service, brand name or company name for company profiles and online catalogs. (requires free registration)
    (Also available in print in library: Ref T12.T6)

Competitive Analysis

  • Associations Unlimited
    information for international, national, regional, state, and local professional and trade organizations and associations in all fields.
  • RDS Business Reference Suite
    Search its Business and Industry Database. On the search screen, type in your product or service name and select market share from the list of Concept Terms.
  • Thomas Register
    Searchable database of companies, products and services, and brandnames. Requires free registration for some information.
  • Wisconsin Business Directory
    Database of Wisconsin companies searchable by category, location, and company name

Print Resources in Library Reference Collection

  • Market Share Reporter REF HF5410 .M35
  • Encyclopedia of Associations REF HS17 .G3
  • Thomas Register REF T12 .T6
  • Wisconsin Business Service Directory REF HD9981.7.W6 W57
  • Wisconsin Business-to-Business Sales & Marketing Directory
    REF HF5065.W6 W57

Market Analysis

  • RDS Business Reference Suite
    May produce articles which address consumer characteristics
  • U.S. Bureau of the Census or American FactFinder
    Demographic and population statistics
  • County & City Data Book
    Convenient compilation of demographic and other data. (Also available in print in the library, REF DESK C 3.134/2: C 83/2/).
  • County Business Patterns
    "useful for studying the economic activity of small areas....Businesses use the data for analyzing market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets.
  • Statistical Abstracts of the United States
    Compendium of statistics, including demographic, economic, recreation, education, health, trade, technology data and much more.
  • Consumer Expenditure Survey
    "information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics."
  • Sperling's Best Places
    Data on cost of living, crime, education and more for cities throughout the U.S.
  • Pretrieve
    Find public record data by person, address or business
  • ERsys
    "Covers over 2600 US cities with detailed information on demographics, environmental factors, economic indicators, housing stats, media (newspaper, television, and radio), schools, transportation, local contacts..."
  • Nielson Media Research
    television audience research. Some news available for free. Additional reports available to order for a fee.
  • Advertising Age
    Search current and back issues for demographic information. To get fulltext, check availability of American Demographics on the library periodicals list
  • Population Reference Bureau
    Summaries of the demographic characteristics of countries worldwide.
  • State and County Quickfacts (U.S. Census Bureau)
  • Zipskinny: quickly and easily compare Census data for neighboring zipcode areas.
  • Statistical Resources on the Web -- Consumers
    Collection of online resources for finding demographic and consumer information, compiled by the University of Michigan.
  • Dun & Bradstreet zapdata
    Provides limited free market analysis information if you register.

Print Resources in Library Reference Collection

  • Lifestyle market analyst. REF DESK HF5415.33.U6 L54
  • Best customers : demographics of consumer demand. REF HC79.C6 R87 1999
  • Household spending : who spends how much on what. REF HC110.C6 O34

Marketing Plan

  • ACNielsen
    Click on Trends & Insights for some reports and studies on marketing.
  • Emerald Intelligence
    An international database containing full-text articles from marketing journals
  • RDS Business Reference Suite
    In its Business & Industries database, look at specific marketing concepts from a list of Marketing Terms 
    In its Business & Management Practices databases, try limiting your search terms in the Concept Terms menu, such as marketing strategies and marketing plans.

Management, Operations and Financial Plans

Print Resources in Library Reference Collection

  • RMA Annual Statement Studies Ref Desk HF5681.B2 R6

Critical Risks

Additional Resources for Local Information

Additional Resources for On-Campus Research

Many valuable information sources are not available online. If you are planning a trip to UW-Eau Claire's McIntyre Library, or to another library with a business collection, please refer to the following McIntyre Library subject guides which list additional print resources.

Getting journal articles: 

  • Some databases provide access to full-text journal articles and reports that you can download or print out from your computer. Look for "full-text" or "PDF" links to indicate fulltext.
  • Sometimes databases do not provide the actual articles but rather give you the citation information (i.e. article title, author name, journal name, date, etc.) that you need in order to find the article elsewhere. McIntyre Library may have the article you need, either online in another database or in print.Click on the FIND IT button in the database to find out if McIntyre Library has the article.
    • If it is available online, follow the links to get to it.
    • If the article is only available in print, you can photocopy it or scan it from the library collection. (If you are in a distance education class and do not come to campus, the library can send print materials to you. For more information, please see Have Books and Articles Sent to You. Please keep in mind that this process may take several days or a week, so plan ahead!)

Getting books: 

While not usually as current as journal articles or Internet sites, books can often provide valuable background and in-depth information on a company or industry. Search McIntyre Library's online catalog for books on your industry or company. (Distance education students can have some books mailed directly to their homes. For information on checking out books at a distance, please see Have Books and Articles Sent to You. Again, remember that this service takes several days or a week, so plan ahead!

Some useful subject headings to use in searching the online catalog are:

  • Business planning
  • Entrepreneurship
  • New business enterprise
  • Small business
  • Success in business

Need more information?

If you need information on doing research beyond what this guide provides, take a look at How to Learn about an Industry or a Specific Company (Polson Enterprises). It includes a step-by-step approach to conducting research on companies and industries, as well as extensive links to and lists of useful resources. Also, check out Researching Companies Online, a tutorial for finding free company and industry information on the Web.

Questions? 

We expect them. Getting frustrated? That's why we're here! Reference librarians are available at McIntyre Library to assist you in your research. Email library.reference@uwec.edu or call 836-3858 (or toll-free at 877-267-1384).

About proprietary UW-Eau Claire databases

These databases are available to you as long as you are affiliated with UW-Eau Claire or accessing them from within McIntyre Library. The library subscribes to these databases, and they contain valuable published information that is not freely available on the Internet. They require you to log on with your UW-Eau Claire username and PIN, or a username and password provided by your instructor. For more information on accessing databases from off-campus, please see Remote Access to Library Databases. 

 

McIntyre Library
(715) 836-3858 or toll-free 877-267-1384
library.reference@uwec.edu

Jill Markgraf, Distance Education & Reference Librarian


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