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Business/SPEA Library
Getting Started
The resource recommendations and research strategies below will assist you in putting together a picture of the market (competitors, trends, consumers) in which your company operates so that you can formulate a plan to benefit the business.
Local Market Research:
Researching local companies, competitors, and markets can be challenging due to a lack of available information. Small amounts of information will be available in local newspapers, reports, and databases. You will then need to supplement this with more general information from proxy companies (larger, more established companies in the same industry or market) and the United States market.
A thorough investigation of a market will require using a variety of information sources packaged in different formats, including:
- Articles (trade & news)
- Association websites
- Company documents
- Competitor profiles
- Consumer demographics and analysis
- Industry and market reports
You will need to access these sources using a variety of tools and platforms (not just Google), and synthesize information found across them to address your research questions.
Resources & Research Strategies
| LOCAL COMPETITORS: |
- Reference Solutions
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Detailed business and consumer data on businesses in both the U.S. and Canada. Includes directory information, health care, and residential listings. Search by company name, geographic area, business type, SIC code, yellow page listing, revenue, location, number of employees or any combination of the above. In addition to address and phone number, each entry includes officer names and titles, corporate affiliation, business type and size of yellow page advertising. Toll free and fax numbers are given for some companies.
- MarketLine Advantage
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Original industry and company reports based on published research and primary and secondary data sources. - SimplyAnalytics
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Map or report consumer demographics or purchasing by location (state, city, zip code, MSA). Current and historical data available. - PrivCo
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Reports on private companies. INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION WITH AN OFFICIAL INDIANA UNIVERSITY EMAIL ACCOUNT IS REQUIRED TO ACCESS THIS RESOURCE. - Herald-Times
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Local newspaper for Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding communities. Users may access the E-Edition of the HTO here.
| INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS: |
- IBISWorld
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Comprehensive industry reports at the Global, US and individual state level. Check out the industry issues and questions/Call prep questions sections of the iExpert summary in each report. Search by keyword or NAICS code. - Mergent Intellect
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To access Dun & Bradstreet's First Research industry reports, scroll down on the home page and select "First Research." You will be prompted to enter your IU email address. You will then be routed to the search page for the industry reports where you can search by keyword or NAICS or SIC code. - Nexis Uni
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Search newspapers and trade publications for information on your company and trends in the industry. Includes articles from local, regional, national and international newspapers, magazines, newswires and more.
- Indiana Business Research CenterEconomic data for the state of Indiana to assist in localizing trends found in U.S. industry reports.
- Indiana Daily Student
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Online version of the Indiana Daily Student newspaper (1997-present).
| CONSUMER/MARKET: |
- Mintel Reports
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Market research reports for the United States with robust primary research on consumers. Also provides access to detailed reports for consumer groups like millennials, moms and college students. You can download the survey data the report is based on under the "data" section of the report. For help using this database, see this video. - Statista
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Consolidates statistical data on over 80,000 topics from more than 18,000 sources. Includes market research, dossiers, industry reports, and digital market outlooks and forecasts.
- Passport GMID: Global Market Information Database
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Please note: Euromonitor allows access to IU faculty, staff, and students only. Authorized users may utilize the information obtained from this resource for academic, non-commercial purposes only, and only during the time of official affiliation with IU. Passport is a global market research database encompassing historical and forecasted statistics, reports & interactive tools on industries, economies and consumers in 210 different countries and territories. Passport also tracks the effects of COVID-19 for 50 different countries
- MRI-Simmons Insights
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Run demographic profiles and cross tabs on consumer demographics and behavior. - Business Source Complete
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Regional, national and international business, financial, banking and industry publications.
- ABI/INFORM Collection
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Access to thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals, country-and industry-focused reports, and major news sources. Its international coverage gives researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world.
- IU Facts and FiguresTables on charts on IU enrollment and more from University Institutional Research and Reporting (UIRR). Note: some information requires a faculty login to view.
Narrow-focus/Specialty Market Databases
- BCC Research
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Access to market research reports that cover life sciences, sensors, materials, environment and sustainability, commerce, and publishers. Provides the latest trends, opportunities, challenges, and innovations emerging within these landscapes.
- Frost & Sullivan Growth Partnership Services
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Full-text access to international industry-specific databases including healthcare, telecom, IT, transportation, electronics, and semiconductors.
- SBRnet: Sports Business Research Network
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Market research from the National Sporting Goods Association; the U.S. Department of Commerce; various sports governing bodies; and full-text articles from various magazines.
Citation
When producing written reports or giving oral presentations, 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.
If you have questions about the resources or strategies in this guide or need further assistance, contact the Business/SPEA Information Commons, schedule a consultation, or use the chat box in this guide.