70-381 – Marketing I
Prof. Kumar
Library Resource Guide for Marketing
Preliminaries
Researching companies - background:
- Company Search in Business & Company Resource Center - quick company profiles, and then use the tabs at the top of the main page for each company to find news articles, investment reports, rankings (for competitors, and also click on that tab for market share,) product listings, and excellent company histories.
- Hoover's database has quick summaries, key financial figures and lists of products and competitors in one easy-to-locate source.
- LexisNexis Academic's Company Dossier will get you many kinds of company data from various sources: quick snapshots, corporate hierarchy, financials, legal cases, executives, company structure, etc. Each section can be expanded for more information
- MarketLine has detailed reports on public and private companies, internationally, including background, analysis and forecasts, and featuring SWOT analyses, from the international research firm Datamonitor.
Researching companies - financials (for public companies)
- SEC IDEA database - all US public companies and some foreign ones must file their financial reports here; this is the most direct source.
- Standard & Poor's Netadvantage - Start with "Companies" tab at the top, find your company, and then choose "Financials" or the full "Stock Report" listed at the left.
- Mergent Online database - an alternative to S&P, with international coverage.
- Any company website - look for the "investor relations" section. Here you can also find "presentations" from the company executives, often revealing strategies, future expectations, new products, etc.
- (For private companies, Hoover's database will usually give you sales revenue and number of employees.)
Researching companies and industries - news: articles on new product introductions, marketing campaigns, competition.
- Proquest – wide-ranging news database containing many smaller databases within it - thousands of publications, including complete Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
- Business & Company Resource Center – click on "Articles" - thorough and international coverage, large range of industry publications
- Lexis-Nexis Academic – most wide-ranging industry news database available, especially for international coverage
Ideas from other marketing campaigns:
Consumer markets :
- Factfinder.census.gov – voluminous demographic data on the U.S. from national to zip code level
- SimplyMap - creates thematic maps, reports, and graphs based on data: demographics, retail sales and sales potential, consumer expenditures and preferences, market segments, etc. - at geographic units from national to block group level. Not so easy to use, but it has voluminous data - to get started, try the tutorials. Open segments within the "Variables" tab to see the range of data available.
- Consumer USA - market size, market share, brand/manufacturer sales, forecasts for hundreds of consumer products. Also general economic data, demographics, and other consumer indicators.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States – easy-to-find statistics on everything
Consumer spending and attitudes:
New Strategist publications - in the Hunt Library reference room:
Best customers : demographics of consumer demand, HC79 .C6 R87 2008
American attitudes: what Americans think about the issues that shape their lives [ebook]
Generation X : Americans born 1965 to 1976, HC110 .C6 G46 2006
The Millennials : Americans born 1977 to 1994, HQ796 .M4797 2004
Who we are : Blacks, E185.615 .W46X 2007
Who we are. Hispanics, E184 .S75 W46X 2007
Who's buying alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, HD9348 .U52 W46 2005
Who's buying executive summary of household spending, 2006 [ebook]
Who's buying for pets, SF414.7 .W46 2005
Surveys:
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
Consumer Surveys from the Univ. of Michigan/Reuters
Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Pew Research Center
Link to various survey sites
Mendelsohn Affluent Survey
Researching industries :
- Standard & Poor's Netadvantage - comprehensive up-to-date reports on major industries
- MarketLine - substantial reports on many large and small industries in various countries and globally.
- Business & Company Resource Center - get an industry report: use "Advanced Search" - then change dropdown box to "Industry Overviews" and use a keyword to find a list of options.
- Gartner – specializes in technology products and services. (Note: Dataquest reports are not in our subscription.)
- Government data: Industry statistics from U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Programs. For more topics, use Fedstats.gov, or the Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
- Find the trade association website for your industry: when you've found it, look for links to research, data, publications, statistics, conference proceedings, other resource sites, etc. Here are some ways to find your trade association:
Books on a company or industry: Use the library catalog.
Questions?
Contact the librarians: