Marketing Information: The Situation Analysis
Guide
McINTYRE LIBRARY
Your Information Advantage
 
This course aid guides you through sources for completing a marketing
situation analysis. This assignment involves secondary information
sources: that is, information gathered by someone other than you
and presented as a summary of data previously compiled. As you work
with secondary data and develop your finding skills, you will need
to evaluate the credibility of the sources presenting the information.
Most of this information is housed in the UW-Eau Claire library
or indexed here and available from other libraries.
Sources are suggested for each portion of the analysis. In practice
you will find that some sources are useful for more than one section
of the analysis, so examine each one with the entire project in
mind. You may not be able to find information to answer every question
on the situation analysis outline. Discussion with your instructor
or a reference librarian will help you solve problems as they arise.
Sections of this document include:
Industry
History
Industries are categorized in various ways,
so work back and forth between broader and narrower definitions
of the industry which includes your product. Keep this in mind
as you review the following sources:
The Encyclopedia of American Industries
HC 102 .E53 (ref) will probably be your most useful starting point.
This encyclopedia provides both historical background and current
conditions of American industries. It is arranged by Standard
Industrial Code (SIC). The SIC code may assist you in finding
further information as you proceed in this project. Full listings
and definitions of SIC codes can be found in the Standard Industrial
Classification Manual HF 1041 .U613 (ref) or PrEx 2.6/2: In
27/987 (govt pubs - index center).
Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys
HG 4965 (ref) include historical perspective, current status,
and forecasts for U. S. industries.
The U S Industrial Outlook C 61.34 (gov
pubs) (recently retitled U.S. Global Trade Outlook C 61.34)
includes industry descriptions and projections.
The Value Line Investment Survey (reference
desk) provides descriptions of industries followed by reports
on major companies within the industry. Search the UW-Eau Claire
online catalog for books, annual reports, or articles on a specific
industry, company, or product. An author search using the company
name will show whether we have your company's annual report. Use
terms for the industry as subject or keyword. If a specific term
yields no results, use a broader term. There are guides to searching
the online catalog in reference and librarians will assist you.
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Company History
The International Directory of Company
Histories HD 2721 .D36 (ref) is a collection of major companies'
histories by industry group. Use the index in the back of the
last volume to determine whether your company is included.
The Library has a file of annual reports for
about 400 companies in vertical files in the reference area. Annual
reports are now often on the company's home page, or you may call
the company. The 10-K reports which companies submit to the Securities
and Exchange Commission are more explanatory than annual reports.
They may be found at the in the EDGAR database on the SEC Web
site, sec.www.gov.
Compact Disclosure, (a CD-ROM in reference)
has information, including brief company histories, on over 10,000
public companies.
Everybody's Business HD 2741 .M65 (ref)
profiles the 400 leading companies in the United States. Discussions
of major company products are sometimes included.
Hoover's Handbook of American Business
HG 4057 (ref) includes histories of larger American public companies.
Moody's Manuals HG 4961 (ref) covers
companies listed on the New York and American stock exchanges,
giving company histories and detailed descriptions of each company's
financial status.
Standard and Poor's Corporation Descriptions
HG 4501 (ref) covers more companies than Moody's but gives
briefer histories.
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Introduction
to the Product
The Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands HF
5415 .3 .E527 (ref) is organized by brand names and describes
brand origins, some company history, and marketing strategy information.
Because products and markets are constantly changing,
your search should now move to periodical articles, which are
the most up-to-date sources you will find. Some periodical indexes
are in electronic format, and some in print format. Start your
search for periodical articles early. You will probably need to
use interlibrary loan for some articles, and it can take up to
two weeks to obtain materials form other libraries.
ABI-Inform (On the online catalog. Type
abib at the "Database Selection" prompt). Try a keyword
search by company name, industry, brand name, or product name.
Business Periodicals Index (On the online
catalog. Type busn at the "Database Selection" prompt).
Business Periodical Index is similar to ABI-Inform, but indexes
many periodicals not found in ABI-Inform.
Business and Industry Database This partially
full-text database is new to UW-Eau Claire this January and we are in the
process of installing it. Articles will be useful for many parts
of this analysis. Ask at the reverence desk about its availability.
(You will need a dos-formatted disk to download articles).
Predicast's F&S Index (Reference index
tables) Indexes trade publications by subject, company name, and
SIC code. This is a unique and useful index, but the library subscribes
to very few of the trade journals indexed here, and you will need
to use interlibrary loan to obtain most items you find indexed
in Predicasts.
Consumer's Index (Reference index tables)
indexes product evaluations.
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Once you identify competing brands for your
product, use the Directory of Corporate Affiliations HG
4057 .A2 (ref) to identify the companies producing the brands.
Brands and Their Companies T 223 .V4 A25 (ref) can also
be used for this purpose.
The Market Share Reporter HF 5410.M35
shows market share by company within product areas. You will also
find these data in Mediamark Research HF 5415. 3 .M43 (ref)
and Simmons Study of Media and Markets HF 5415 .3 .S78
(ref).
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Environmental
Variables
Use Business Periodical Index (busn
in the online catalog) to pinpoint legal issues. Search under
the industry name and the "laws and legislation" subheading,
for example: k=beverage? and (laws legislation.su.). For technological
influences, look up the product in Applied Technology Index
(pera in the online catalog or on the reference index tables).
It would also be useful to check with the librarians
at the government publications desk about this section.
For socio-cultural influences search Social
Science Index (ind1 in the online catalog or on the reference
index tables) or in Psyclit, the CD-ROM psychology database.
Marketing is a social and behavioral science, and the perspective
gained from dedicated social and behavioral science journals would
be very useful.
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Evaluation of Consumers
Mediamark Research HF 5415 .3 .M43 (ref)
and Simmons Study of Media and Markets HF 5415 .3 .S78
(ref) are collections of marketing data which include consumer
demographics and sales data by brand.
Lifestyle Zip Code Analysis HF 5415 .33
.U6 .L56 (ref) describes demographic and "lifestyle"
characteristics by specific geographic area.
The Business and Industry Database may
produce articles which address consumer characteristics.
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Marketing Mix
The Market Share Reporter HF 4510 .M35
(ref) is an annual compilation of published market share data
on companies and products, taken form periodicals and brokerage
reports. Examination of the product and advertisements for the
product will also assist you in this section.
Communication Abstracts (reference index
tables) is a good source to find articles which evaluate advertising
techniques and their effect on various consumer markets.
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Comparisons,
Conclusions
When you have followed the steps outlined
above and consulted all the relevant sources listed, you should
be quite knowledgeable about your product. Draw from your information
finding and class work to make the final analysis and conclusions.
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