Guides: Entrepreneurship: Market Research

Product Market Information

Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete provides full text and abstracts of articles in more than 1,200 journals, magazines, newspapers, videos, and periodicals covering a wide range of topics in business and industry. Provides company profiles, industry profiles, market research reports and country reports. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. Dates of Coverage: 1886 to present.
Academic search complete
Academic Search Complete provides a scholarly collection providing full text coverage for over 10,500 journals for nearly all academic areas of study - including social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies, etc. Dates of Coverage: 1975 - Current
Research library
Research library (Periodical Abstracts Research II) a general reference database of a diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, and magazines covering over 150 academic disciplines. Note: If search results do not show beyond first page, you should click Tools-Internet Options-Delete Files and then click on Settings to make sure Automatically is checked.Dates of Coverage: 1971 - Current

Resources from the Federal Government

Resources on the Web

America's Best Brands -- provides profiles of major product brands
American Customer Satisfaction Index -- Univ. of Michigan's Ross School of Business produced index measuring the satisfaction of U.S. household consumers with the quality of products and services offered by both foreign and domestic firms with significant share in U.S. markets

Spacial and/or Physical Market Information

Business Insights: Global
Business Insights: Global provides an international perspective on company and industry information for over 500,000 companies. Includes company profiles, industry rankings, marketing information, products, brands, investment ratings, financial ratios, financial statements, market size, industries by SIC, directory information, and more. Dates of coverage: varies by company
Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete provides full text and abstracts of articles in more than 1,200 journals, magazines, newspapers, videos, and periodicals covering a wide range of topics in business and industry. Provides company profiles, industry profiles, market research reports and country reports. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. Dates of Coverage: 1886 to present.
Hoovers Online (Now Mergent Intellect)
The Hoover's Online plaform is being phased out by Dun & Bradstreet. The link in this record now points to the replacement product, Mergent Intellect.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni provides access to news, legal, and business sources including journals, television and radio broadcasts, newswires and blogs, newspapers, and legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes.

Demographics & Target Markets

Social Explorer
Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use Web interface lets users create maps and reports to better illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. In addition to being a comprehensive data resource, Social Explorer also offers features and tools to meet the needs of both demography experts and novices. To learn more about Social Explorer, visit https://www.socialexplorer.com/product
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Topic areas include population demographics, vital statistics, education, law enforcement, elections, federal/state/local government finances and employment, national security and veterans affairs, social insurance and human services, labor force, poverty and wealth, business enterprise, science and technology, agriculture and natural resources, energy and utilities, construction and housing, manufactures, wholesale and retail trade, transportation, information and communications, banking and finance, arts and recreation, accommodation and food services, foreign commerce and aid, Puerto Rico and the island areas, and international statistics. Dates of Coverage: 1878 (with some data back to 1789)–2012.

Resources from the Federal Government

U.S. Census Bureau
Census Bureau's American FactFinder
Bureau of Labor Statistics Demographics
Small Business Administration Resource Guide

Advertising Expenditures

Locating information on advertising expenditures can be difficult. Below is a suggested resources that might help.

SRDS: this directory provides valuable data about media sources including: contact information, advertising rates, circulation information, audience size data, and other metrics.

SRDS Business Media Source

Journals & Periodicals

Consumer Behavior & Public Opinion

IPoll databank
iPoll Databank Contains over half a million of U.S. national public opinion surveys in a variety of topics. Includes questions and answers from over 150 survey organizations. Dates of Coverage: last 70+ years
Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete provides full text and abstracts of articles in more than 1,200 journals, magazines, newspapers, videos, and periodicals covering a wide range of topics in business and industry. Provides company profiles, industry profiles, market research reports and country reports. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. Dates of Coverage: 1886 to present.
ABI/INFORM
ABI Inform provides full text and abstracts of articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers covering a wide range of topics in business and industry. Dates of Coverage: 1923 – Current

Public Opinion Polling

Information from the Federal Government

Resources on the Web and tips for building a better Google search query

Combine the industry, company, or NAICS with keyword terms like "consumer behavior" "purchase decision" "product choice" via Google to search for relevant materials.

When searching via Google combine limiters with keyword to return specific results. Below are a few examples:

Site:.pdf will limit to PDF
Site:.org limits to organizational site
Site:.gov limits to a government website

Entrepreneurship

Product Market Information

Spacial and/or Physical Market Information

Demographics & Target Markets

Advertising Expenditures

Consumer Behavior & Public Opinion

Additional Links