Industry Analysis, Ratios, and Trends
- D & B Hoover's This link opens in a new windowOver 12 million company profiles and in-depth financials, industry analysis and news.
- MarketLine Advantage This link opens in a new windowProvides 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 This link opens in a new windowSearch for industry. On the left there will be links to Industry Profiles, Market Research Reports, and SWOT Analyses
- Statista This link opens in a new windowDetects 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 This link opens in a new windowDetailed 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. CensusFor 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. CensusFind detailed statistics about U.S. businesses meant to help small businesses succeed and grow.
- Bureau of Labor StatisticsA 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.govPublic access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.
Organizations Compiling Government Data
- Census ReporterCensus 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.orgA 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 This link opens in a new window Extensive full-text database combining scholarly journals, trade publications, dissertations, working papers, market reports, newspapers, and other sources relevant to research in business and economics. Included databases: ABI/INFORM Collection Accounting, Tax & Banking Collection Asian & European Business Collection Business Market Research Collection Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database: Business Career & Technical Education Database: Business EconLit Entrepreneurship Database India Database: Business J.P. Morgan Research ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: Business Research Library: Business
- Entrepreneurship Database This link opens in a new window This database bridges theory with practice, covering a wide spectrum of resources useful to educators, researchers, students and practitioners. Content ranges from the scholarly - including journals, dissertations, working papers and conference proceedings - to a full toolkit of practical guides, templates, forms, sample business plans and tips from successful entrepreneur in a wide range of formats - from video to downloadable Word and Excel files, as well as traditional text and PDFs.
Specific Publications
Other Consumer Stats
You can find consumer statistics from the following sites.
- Pew Research CenterPublic opinion polls on variety of topics.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowDetects 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 HandbooksProvides 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.comProvides over 500 searchable sample business plans. Also advice for writing plans, marketing, advertising, growing or purchasing a business.
- Small Business Administration: Business Plan BasicsProvides sample business plans. Provides detailed, step-by-step guides for developing and writing a comprehensive business plan.
Legal Sources
- Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window Westlaw is an online legal research service for lawyers and legal professionals in the United States and the United Kingdom and is a product of Thomson Reuters. In addition, it provides proprietary database services. Information resources on Westlaw include more than 40,000 databases of case law, state and federal statutes, administrative codes, newspaper and magazine articles, public records, law journals, law reviews, treatises, legal forms and other information resources. -- Wikipedia
- BitLawA 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 OpportunitiesIncludes 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 OpportunitiesFrom the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), opportunities for ventures that support economic competitiveness and development.
- Economic Development DirectoryFrom the U.S. Economic Development Administration, links to regional contacts providing support for economic development, organized by geographic location.
- Angel Resource InstituteEducational source on angel investing which publishes a directory of angel investor groups throughout the U.S. and Canada.
- National Venture Capital AssociationAssociation representing the venture capital community. Site includes educational resources that can be used to learn about VC
- Basics of CrowdfundingBest practices for developing a crowd-sourcing plan written by staff at Entrepreneur magazine
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Ryan Ake
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