Leaving Villanova

November 14, 2008 is my last day at Villanova. Please use the Research Tab to find the subject librarian who will be replacing me. Good luck to all of you.

Dan

In Conclusion...

I hope that everyone enjoyed participating in this year's Summer Business Institute Program. At this point the 2008 blog will no longer be updated. I did get a lot of positive feedback from students in this class and as such I will continue to publish course specific research guides that grow and develop along the research needs of the course participants.

The Villanova Summer Business Institute
is a nine week program for undergraduates and recent graduates of non-business programs.

Conference and Trade Show Literature.

I recently found this source, and so I am posting it as an example of what might exist for various demographic and ethnic groups:

The Hispanic Retail Summit 2007

The information you will see in the downloadable reports may or may not be cited, and you must, either way, verify the information before you will be able to say with certainty that it is valid.

I can help, call me.

American Generations

This is an E-book, and it is searchable from inside or outside the library. Great for demographic research, especially for the Summer Business Institute.

American Generations

Demographic Research

Remember to use sources like Mintel, MarketResearch.com Academic, and GMID. Don't rely on any one specifically, but use them alongside data found in the Census and from data in trade publications.

Use Business Source Premier, Business & Industry, and ABI/Inform to find great trade publications with very recent research on your ideal market groups.

Demographics USA

Another reason to come to the actual library for the current week's project:

Demographics USA

The 2007 edition is on the first floor in the Reference Statistics Section, older issues are upstairs on the third floor under the same call number.

Its a great way to see more about particular kinds of consumers. Goes really well with the SRDS Lifestyle Market Analyst as well.

GMID now has added search functionality

For Example, click on the "consumer" tab and you will be taken to a page with the option of searching on "Consumer Segmentation" for the USA.

There is also a "consumer pulse" section with the latest information on trends and activities in general.

Steps to segmenting research

Steps to segmenting research

Posted using ShareThis

This "timeline" highlights the basic steps that I have been sharing with people asking for information about "segmenting". The content makes sense to people when delivered via email or in person, so I hope that it works here as well. I welcome your comments.

Time Use Survey

This is another way to find out what your customers might enjoy doing.

The Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Policy Map

This is a free online tool that will help you to demonstrate, in a visual fashion, the results of any demographic research that you might conduct for this class.

You have to register for a free account, but it is very easy to use.

PolicyMap

Finding the competitors

A very effective way to discover who else might be making soft drinks is to use the Census website.

Click on the middle of page where you will see "NAICS"... This is the North American Industrial Classification System. Every business has one or more of these codes.

Search for terms like "soft drink" or whatever your group decides.

You can then take the codes that your group agrees on and use them as keywords when doing a company search in Lexis Nexis or Mergent Online. Remember, Lexis will have private (businesses that are not traded on a stock exchange, like Hank's for example) data as well. Mergent is only public companies, like Coca-Cola.

Falvey Library's Question Center

If my team and I are taking too long to reply to a question, or if you'd rather ask someone else, be sure to take advantage of our new Question Center.

Trade Publications

Many of you are looking for the full text of trade publications, so as a reminder, the links are under the "external environment" section on this page and my favorite sources are:

Business Source Premier
ABI/Inform
Business & Industry

Let me know if you have any trouble searching these products.

Hank's Gourmet Beverage's - Finding the profile with Lexis - Nexis

1. Goto Lexis - Nexis
2. Click on Business
3. Select Company Profiles
4. Enter "Hanks" in the company name, enter "beverage" in the search terms and then select "US Private Company Reports" from the source section.

You should get a Hank's Beverages file that was last updated on June 9, 2008

Mintel Reports

See how to sign up, login, and use the Advanced Search feature of Mintel Reports:

Mintel Basics

Comparing Companies with Mergent

Mergent Online is another great tool for comparing companies against your own customized set of variables.

This short video will walk you through the basic steps. HINT: use the ticker symbol, Mergent has no private company data and the name search is very precise and may overlook your company if you've entered the name incorrectly.

Lexis-Nexis Academic - Company Information

Lexis Nexis has both public and private company information. It is also home to patent searching, legal research, newspapers from around the world, and other valuable bits and parts.

Download this 2:00 minute video to see just how simple it is to get company data using the new Lexis-Nexis Interface.

GMID How to video

GMID, the Global Market Information Database, is vast in it's content. Use for finding statistical data, demographic data, country reports, and company and industry studies.



For a clearer and larger version of the video, download this file. Be patient, it takes a moment to complete.

GMID: Getting Started

Welcome

This page is a resource to students in the Summer Business Institute. All of the resources discussed here can also be found on the library's website with the exception of any resources that are located on the free and public web.

I want to advise and/or remind everyone that the library has a team of four professional librarians who are ready to assist you with any aspect of your research for this or any other class that you might be taking.