Library Research Guides: BUS W313 New Venture Planning: Business Plan/Presentation Resources

Getting Started:

This guide will assist in conducting research around different aspects (i.e., industry, competitors, concept, consumers, and operations) of a business plan. The resources listed in the "Getting Started" box provide examples of business plans, a high-level overview of the planning process, and advice on how-to develop each aspect of your plan. If you have questions about the resources or strategies in this guide or need further assistance, contact the Business/SPEA Information Commons, schedule a research consultation, or use the "Get Help" widget in this guide.

Business Plans Handbook A Compilation of Business Plans Developed by Individuals Throughout North America
ISBN: 9781410328212
Publication Date: 2017
The Business Planning Guide Creating a Winning Plan for Success by Bangs, David H.
ISBN: 079315409X
Publication Date: 2002

Small Business Source
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Full text consumer small business reference books, as well as tools and instructions to address a range of small business topics. Also includes business videos, a help and advice section, and information on how to create business plans.

Industry or Market:

Identifying the NAICS or SIC industry classification code can assist in accessing industry and company information.

IBISWorld
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Comprehensive U.S. and global industry reports that identify market size/share, trends, outlook, major competitors, and operating conditions.
Passport GMID: Global Market Information Database
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Comprehensive consumer, industrial, and service market reports for 235 countries that provide trends, growth, and detailed forecast data.
ABI/INFORM Collection
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Further research information identified in IBISWorld and/or Passport GMID reports using the business literature searchable in this database. Can also assist with investigating more granular aspects of an industry not represented in a larger report.
Comprised of ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. Notable periodicals include The Economist, Sloan Management Review, and the Wall Street Journal.

Competitors:

Mergent Online
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Detailed financial information for public and some private competitors.
Access to U.S. Company Data and International Company Data. Allows users to access reports on companies based around the world, searching by company name or ticker symbol, or searching across all global boundaries to find companies that match specific financial and/or textual search criteria. Also includes detailed information, such as history, property, subsidiaries, officers and directors, long-term debt, and capital stock. Financial statements are presented in "as-reported" form and in native currencies.
PrivCo
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Detailed financial information for private competitors. Individual registration with an IU e-mail account is required to access this resource.
MarketLine Advantage
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Company analysis reports for competitors that include history, SWOT, and revenue analysis.
MarketLine offers a collection of company, industry, financial, product and country information, research and data extending over all major marketplaces and industries. A searchable online business information service using published desk research and secondary data sources to create three different types of profiles. Company profiles include company overviews, business descriptions, company history, executive listings, product listings, locations, news, and commentary. Industry profiles contain: 5-year historical and 5-year forecast market values and/or volumes; market segmentations; company and/or product market shares; explanatory text identifying major trends and significant growth points; and analysis of each market's competitive landscape, including main players, distribution channels, and regulatory issues. Each country profile includes a description of the country's economic performance and GDP, an assessment of its potential for development, and detailed market and industry analysis of the country's business environment. Profiles are supplemented by a "news & comment" section.
ABI/INFORM Collection
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Further research information identified in Mergent/PrivCo and MarketLine reports using the business literature searchable in this database. Useful for finding case studies and details about competitors' strategic activities.
Comprised of ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. Notable periodicals include The Economist, Sloan Management Review, and the Wall Street Journal.

Business Concept, Products or Services:

Mintel Reports
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Provides information about consumer behavior and use of products/services and company-specific offerings.
Mintel Reports offers product and industry market research reports covering US and International marketplaces. Each report combines data and analysis of the competitive landscape, supply chain, market-share size and trends, and consumer profiles. Complex demographic issues are broken into easy-to-understand sections, explaining consumer behavior and demonstrating the structure of the market. Reports may be downloaded as RTF (rich-text format) files; tabular data may also be saved as CSV (comma-separated values) files.

Access and downloading instructions:
1. All users will have to agree to the Academic permissions and prohibitions, which prohibits systematic copying, use without attribution, use for commercial purposes, or distribution to non-IUB students and employees.
2. After accepting the above permissions and prohibitions, you must create an individual profile in order to download reports.
3. Select "Log into your profile..." to create a new (or log into an existing) Mintel profile.
4. After logging in, downloading is available by either using the direct download option for a report or by using the My Presentations feature which also offers the direct download option for the report.
ABI/INFORM Collection
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Provides news, industry, and scholarly articles that relay general information about business structure or detailed accounts of company initiatives that can be used to research business concepts and potential product/service offerings.
Comprised of ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. Notable periodicals include The Economist, Sloan Management Review, and the Wall Street Journal.
Business Source Complete
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Provides news, industry, and scholarly articles that relay general information about business structure or detailed accounts of company initiatives that can be used to research business concepts and potential product/service offerings.
Provides access to peer-reviewed business journals, covering all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance, and more. Indexing and abstracts and full text are available back as far as 1886.

Consumers:

Mintel Reports
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Identify and research target consumers using Mintel's "Consumer" sections and datebooks.
Mintel Reports offers product and industry market research reports covering US and International marketplaces. Each report combines data and analysis of the competitive landscape, supply chain, market-share size and trends, and consumer profiles. Complex demographic issues are broken into easy-to-understand sections, explaining consumer behavior and demonstrating the structure of the market. Reports may be downloaded as RTF (rich-text format) files; tabular data may also be saved as CSV (comma-separated values) files.

Access and downloading instructions:
1. All users will have to agree to the Academic permissions and prohibitions, which prohibits systematic copying, use without attribution, use for commercial purposes, or distribution to non-IUB students and employees.
2. After accepting the above permissions and prohibitions, you must create an individual profile in order to download reports.
3. Select "Log into your profile..." to create a new (or log into an existing) Mintel profile.
4. After logging in, downloading is available by either using the direct download option for a report or by using the My Presentations feature which also offers the direct download option for the report.
Frost & Sullivan Growth Partnership Services
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Identify and research target consumers for business to business companies in the IT, healthcare, automotive, and telecommunications space.
Frost & Sullivan provides research and analysis in new market opportunities for corporate growth. Frost & Sullivan covers the following markets and sectors:

Aerospace & Defense

Automotive & Transportation

Chemicals, Materials & Food
Chemicals & Materials
Food & Beverages

Energy & Power Systems Energy & Power
Power Supplies & Batteries

Environmental & Building Technologies
Building Management Technologies
Environmental

Healthcare
Clinical Diagnostics
Drug Discovery Technologies
Healthcare & Life Sciences IT
Medical Devices
Medical Imaging
Patient Monitoring
Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology

Industrial Automation & Electronics
Automatic Identification & Security
Electronic Devices
Industrial Automation & Process Control
Power Transmission
Semiconductors
Sensors & Instrumentation
Surface Mount Technologies
Test & Measurement

Information & Communication Technologies
Communications Services
Conferencing & Collaboration
Contact Centers
Digital Media
Enterprise Communications
IP Communications
IT Services & Applications
Mobile & Wireless Communications
Network Security
Next Generation Carrier Infrastructure
Smart Cards
Space & Communications
MRI-Simmons Insights
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Further research your identified target consumer's behavior and usage of products and services.
Simmons Insights (formerly Simmons OneView, and prior to that Simmons Choices3) provides data on adult U.S. consumers based on national surveys. The data includes consumer demographics (age, gender, income ...), consumer psychographics (behavior, attitudes ...) and buying and media habits. The database can be used to create individualized reports for marketing strategies, advertising choices, and other business decisions.
SimplyAnalytics
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Map or report target consumer demographics and behavior by location.
Allows users to:
-Access thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables.
-Develop interactive thematic maps and export high-resolution images to word processing or presentation software.
-Select, sort, and compare data across multiple locations and build custom reports that can be exported to a spreadsheet for additional functionality.
-Explore historical census data to understand how regions change over time and use estimates and projections to analyze current and future trends.
-Make informed personal and business-related decisions by asking questions like “what are the social and demographic characteristics of my neighborhood?” and “where should I locate my retail store?”

Business Operations (Design, Finances, Marketing, and Management):

Finances:

Reference Solutions
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Provides access to estimated business expenditure ranges for accounting, legal, marketing, office equipment, management and several other categories.

Career One Stop
This site that allows you to search Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data by area and occupation.

Banker's Guide to New Small Business Finance Venture Deals, Crowdfunding, Private Equity, and Technology by Green, Charles H.
ISBN: 9781118837870
Publication Date: 2014
RMA Annual Statement Studies
Call Number: HF5681.B2 R6
ISBN: 1545-7699
Publication Date: 2016/17
At the Business/SPEA Information Commons Reference Desk
Financial Studies of the Small Business
Call Number: HD2346.U5 F55
ISBN: 0363-8987
Publication Date: 2007
At the Business/SPEA Information Commons Reference Desk

Marketing:

Mintel Reports
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Research how your target consumers respond to different marketing strategies in order to identify the most appropriate channels to use for your marketing plan.
Mintel Reports offers product and industry market research reports covering US and International marketplaces. Each report combines data and analysis of the competitive landscape, supply chain, market-share size and trends, and consumer profiles. Complex demographic issues are broken into easy-to-understand sections, explaining consumer behavior and demonstrating the structure of the market. Reports may be downloaded as RTF (rich-text format) files; tabular data may also be saved as CSV (comma-separated values) files.

Access and downloading instructions:
1. All users will have to agree to the Academic permissions and prohibitions, which prohibits systematic copying, use without attribution, use for commercial purposes, or distribution to non-IUB students and employees.
2. After accepting the above permissions and prohibitions, you must create an individual profile in order to download reports.
3. Select "Log into your profile..." to create a new (or log into an existing) Mintel profile.
4. After logging in, downloading is available by either using the direct download option for a report or by using the My Presentations feature which also offers the direct download option for the report.
MRI-Simmons Insights
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Research how your target consumers respond to different media channels in order to identify the most appropriate channels to use for your marketing plan.
Simmons Insights (formerly Simmons OneView, and prior to that Simmons Choices3) provides data on adult U.S. consumers based on national surveys. The data includes consumer demographics (age, gender, income ...), consumer psychographics (behavior, attitudes ...) and buying and media habits. The database can be used to create individualized reports for marketing strategies, advertising choices, and other business decisions.
Winmo
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Identify advertising expenditures and marketing strategies by company.
ABI/INFORM Collection
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Access advertising and marketing publications that provide general information for marketing within a specific industry or detailed accounts of company/product-level marketing strategies.
Comprised of ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. Notable periodicals include The Economist, Sloan Management Review, and the Wall Street Journal.

Management:

ABI/INFORM Collection
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Access management publications that provide general information for management within a specific industry or detailed accounts of company management strategies.
Comprised of ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. Notable periodicals include The Economist, Sloan Management Review, and the Wall Street Journal.
Business Source Complete
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Access management publications that provide general information for management within a specific industry or detailed accounts of company management strategies.
Provides access to peer-reviewed business journals, covering all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance, and more. Indexing and abstracts and full text are available back as far as 1886.

Citation:

When producing written and oral outcomes, cite the following:

"Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge.
Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications.
Publications that must be cited include: books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc." (MIT, n.d., para. 3)

The Business/SPEA Citation Guide provides examples of how to cite information from business databases in both APA and MLA citation style.

BUS W313 New Venture Planning

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Getting Started:

Industry or Market:

Competitors:

Business Concept, Products or Services:

Consumers:

Business Operations (Design, Finances, Marketing, and Management):

Citation:

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BUS W313 New Venture Planning

Getting Started:

Industry or Market:

Competitors:

Business Concept, Products or Services:

Consumers:

Business Operations (Design, Finances, Marketing, and Management):

Citation:

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