Blough-Weis Library: Management & Marketing: Entrepreneurship Resources

Industry Analysis, Ratios, and Trends

D & B Hoover's
Over 12 million company profiles and in-depth financials, industry analysis and news.
MarketLine Advantage
Provides company and industry profiles offering standardized market data and competitive analysis, Base Drivers Database featuring key macro-economic, social, demographic and industry statistics for 215 countries and business news.

Provides company and industry profiles offering standardized market data and competitive analysis, Base Drivers Database featuring key macro-economic, social, demographic and industry statistics for 215 countries and business news.
ProQuest One Business
Search for industry. On the left there will be links to Industry Profiles, Market Research Reports, and SWOT Analyses
Statista

Subscription Ends 12/31/2025
Detects trends in over 600 industries providing Immediate access to over one million statistics and facts. The information is available on four platforms: German, English, French and Spanish.
Mintel
Detailed reports on consumers and markets, including demographic and statistical information, trends and forecasts. You must register if you want to download; registration is free.

Government Data

U.S. Census
For understanding U.S. markets, the U.S. Census data is the first place to start. It tracks fundamental characteristics of people and businesses over time and by geographical location down to the census tract level. Most authoritative publishers of market research draw on portions of this freely available data for their own reporting.
Small Business Topics Page - U.S. Census
Find detailed statistics about U.S. businesses meant to help small businesses succeed and grow.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
A nonpartisan agency that collects, analyzes, and publishes data on the U.S. labor market, economy, and working conditions. The BLS is part of the U.S. Department of Labor and is a source of information for the public, employers, researchers, and government organizations.
Small Business Administration (SBA)
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is a cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses.
Data.gov
Public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

Organizations Compiling Government Data

Census Reporter
Census Reporter is an independent project to make it easier for researchers find and analyze data from the U.S. Census bureau. Place profiles and comparison pages provide a friendly interface for navigating data, including visualizations for a more useful first look.
USAFacts.org
A not-for-profit organization and website that provides data and reports on the United States population, its government's finances, and government's impact on society.

Professional Associations

Regional, state, or national professional associations can provide excellent target market information and other important reports, surveys, fact sheets and statistics regarding marketing or consumer profiles.

You can locate industry association websites by running a search using the following format: industry description + association.

You can also add site:.org to your search to ensure that you only return results that have a .org domain.

Example search: site:.org retail + association

Trade Publications and Journals

ProQuest One Business
Entrepreneurship Database
EconLit

1969 to present
EconLit, published by the American Economic Association, provides bibliographic coverage of a wide range of economics-related literature. An expanded version of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) indexes of journals, books, and dissertations, EconLit covers both economic theory and application. Literature covered is of interest to researchers, academics, product managers, advertisers, product development specialists, and public policy professionals. EconLit includes information that is of prime relevance to many industries and research establishments world-wide.

Specific Publications

Other Consumer Stats

You can find consumer statistics from the following sites.

Pew Research Center
Public opinion polls on variety of topics.

Statista

Subscription Ends 12/31/2025
Detects trends in over 600 industries providing Immediate access to over one million statistics and facts. The information is available on four platforms: German, English, French and Spanish.

You can also search our databases or the Internet using combinations of terms such as:

[your product] + consumers + [location]
trends + [your product] + [location]
[your product or industry] + lifestyle

Business Plans

Business Plans Handbooks
Provides business articles for specific businesses. May provide actual sample business plan and financial data and/or guides to starting and operating business. Searchable by business.
BPlans.com
Provides over 500 searchable sample business plans. Also advice for writing plans, marketing, advertising, growing or purchasing a business.
Small Business Administration: Business Plan Basics
Provides sample business plans. Provides detailed, step-by-step guides for developing and writing a comprehensive business plan.

Legal Sources

Westlaw Campus Research

BitLaw
A free legal resource focusing on intellectual property, patents, copyright, and trademark, as it relates to technology and the internet.
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)
Search for patents and trademarks and learn about the processes for both.

Funding

Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)
From the SBA, localized assistance to prospective owners of small startups.
SBA Contracting Opportunities
Includes a directory of subcontracting opportunities. Organized by state.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
Federally-funded program to encourages U.S. small businesses to engage in R&D that has commercialization potential. A related program is Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR).
EDA Program and Funding Opportunities
From the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), opportunities for ventures that support economic competitiveness and development.
Economic Development Directory
From the U.S. Economic Development Administration, links to regional contacts providing support for economic development, organized by geographic location.
Angel Resource Institute
Educational source on angel investing which publishes a directory of angel investor groups throughout the U.S. and Canada.
National Venture Capital Association
Association representing the venture capital community. Site includes educational resources that can be used to learn about VC
Basics of Crowdfunding
Best practices for developing a crowd-sourcing plan written by staff at Entrepreneur magazine

Ask Your Librarian

Ryan Ake

He/Him/His

Email Me

Contact:

Office114
Blough-Weis Library

570-372-4324

Subjects: Accounting, Advertising, Business, Communications, Economics, Entrepreneurship, International Studies, Management, Philosophy