- How do I find information about my industry?
Industry Information Research Guide
Business & Company Resource Center
National and international industry information from trade journals. Market size, shares, trends
Click on Industry icon.
eJournal Finder
Search by subject for your specialized trade magazines covering your industry in publications such as TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics.
Current Industrial Reports: US Census Bureau - Provides detailed production data for a variety of industries.
Service Annual Survey: US Census Bureau - Data on non-good producing industries including retail trade, wholesale trade, and the service industries.
Economic Census
Detailed reports on all industries every 5 years.
Encyclopedia of American Industries: Manufacturing. (R 338.097303 En)
Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries. (R 338.0973 En)
Encyclopedia of Associations. (R 061 En)
Information for international, national, regional, state, and local professional and trade organizations and associations in all fields.
Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys (R 338.0973 St)
Detailed and comprehensive reports covering current industry environment, trends, forecasts, comparative company analysis for over 50 major industries.
- What is market share and how do I find it for my product?
An article search in the database Factiva or Business Source Complete will sometimes be the most effective way to find market size information. Enter your product and the term "market share".
The Market Share Reporter (R 381.021 Ma) provides this type of data for many industries. This publication can be found electronically through Business & Company Resource Center.
International Marketing Data and Statistics (R 310.9 In) is a statistical yearbook of marketing information for more than 160 countries. A companion volume of marketing data is European Marketing Data and Statistics (R 313 Eu).
Trade associations are often a good source of market size information. Encyclopedia of Associations (R 061 En) provides an easily searchable interface to more than 460,000 international, national, regional, state, and local organizations, including non-profits.
- How do I find about competition?
Search Austin American Statesman using Factiva which contains full-text articles that can be a good source of company and industry information in the Austin area. Click Source, then select Austin American Statesman.
ReferenceUSA - Search business listings by, industry, geography, sales and employee size.You can also find new businesses in your area.
Regional Business News covers about 75 publications that include business news from rural and metropolitan areas of the U.S.
Austin Business Journal includes an archive.
- How do I find my Supply Chain & Distribution Options?
Search for articles in Factiva. Enter suppl* and the company name, or "distribution" and your company or product.
Thomas Register
American Wholesalers and Distributors Directory. (R 381.202973 Am)
- What are the best sources for demographic and lifestyle information?
Marketing Research Guide
ReferenceUSA - Use the US Lifestyles module (under the Residential Search) to research consumers based on their lifestyles, hobbies and interests.
An excellent starting point for demographic information is the web site for the U.S. Census Bureau. The easiest way to electronically search for Census data is to use American FactFinder, which lets you browse and search for data from many Census sources.
Consumer Expenditure Survey
Community Sourcebook of ZIP Code Demographics. (R 304.60973 Co)
US income distribution and household spending by zip code.
Search the full text of over 8,000 newspapers, periodicals, wire services, media transcripts, or web sites for articles about demographics in Factiva.
The Lifestyle Market Analyst (R 658.8340973 Li) combines lifestyle, demographic, and geographic data in one publication.
Who's Buying (R 339.470973 Wh) is a nationwide survey of buying for entertainment, health care, groceries, pets, travel, electronics, household items, apparel, and beverages.
- How do I find financial and cost information?
Using Factiva
look under the "Companies/Markets" tab, conduct a "Company Snapshot" search for a company, then select "Reports" to bring up a "Ratio Comparison Report" that includes financial ratios.
Financial Studies of the Small Business. (R 658.15904 Fi)
Arranged by asset size and establishment type; financial and operating ratios are provided for about 50 lines of small business and manufacturing.
Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios. (R 338.740973 In)
Financial ratios are displayed for over 800 lines of business.
RMA Annual Statement Studies. (R 332.742 R)
Financial and operating ratios for more than 400 lines of business whose total assets are less than $250 million.
Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey
- Free Business Plan Templates
The Tactics of Creating a Business Plan from Columbus Enterprise Development Corporation, is a detailed question and answer guide to writing a business plan with links to online resources and collections of data.
Create a mini business plan online with the MiniPLan from PaloAlto Software.
MasterCard Working for Small Business has a step-by-step online Business Plan Workbook that presents the components of a good plan, with in depth explanations of ratios.
The SBA outlines the entire business planning process with their Small Business Planner.
- Sample Business Plans
