Research Resources - MKTG430 - Edwards - Library at Shippensburg University

Note that there are several ways to get market, industry, consumer, and company data; each report source emphasizes different aspects. For a clearer, or at least more informed, picture compare the Datamonitor (in Business Source Complete), Mergent, and Morningstar reports for your company with the company's website, annual report, and marketing communications. Also, compare the industry information from the varous sources, some analysts have diverging opinions.

RKMA Handbooks

Market Research Handbooks
RKMA Market Research Handbooks include biennial updates of the following market research areas: Business-to-Business Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Consumer Marketing, Consumer Use Of The Internet, Entertainment, Media & Advertising Market, Healthcare Business Market, International Consumer Markets, Leisure Market, Restaurant, Food & Beverage Market, Retail Business Market, Sports Marketing, Travel & Tourism Market, and U.S. Cities & Communities.

Academic Journal Resources

Library databases:

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. In addition, searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.
ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry This link opens in a new window
Covers trade publications from industries including finance, insurance, transportation, construction, and more. Covers over 700 publications for trade and industry information. Contains publications on every major industry, including finance, insurance, transportation, and construction.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.
Contents ~70% indexed in Ship Library Discovery Search.
Ship Discovery Search This link opens in a new window
Use this search to find articles and books in a wide variety of databases to which Ship Library subscribes. Use the left-side limiting features for relevant database areas, then explore the subject limiters.
Access on-campus or off-campus with your ShipID

Freely available resources:

Google Scholar
This database, freely available from Google, is one of the most important scholarly databases, especially in the natural and social sciences. It brings the power of Google to the search for academic/scholarly publications, including journal articles, books, theses and dissertations, and other research documents. Google creates this database from "academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites" -- website. It has incredibly powerful citation searching features, which enable you to easily locate sources that cite a particular document (using the "Cited by" feature) and to find similar documents which often share related citations (using the "Related Articles" feature).

When using Google Scholar off campus, be sure to set your Scholar Preferences to use the Shippensburg University proxy to access library full-text through the "Full-Text@My Library" linking feature.

Economic, Industry, Market, Company, and Business News

Library databases:

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. In addition, searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,300 journals.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.
ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry This link opens in a new window
Covers trade publications from industries including finance, insurance, transportation, construction, and more. Covers over 700 publications for trade and industry information. Contains publications on every major industry, including finance, insurance, transportation, and construction.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.
Contents ~70% indexed in Ship Library Discovery Search.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window
Westlaw is our major legal database that includes secondary and primary legal sources. It contains statutes, codes, arbitrations, and case law. Westlaw also includes the legal encyclopedias, journals, treatises, and law reviews. In addition to legal materials, it also has extensive collections of national and state/local news sources, as well as regional business magazines.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.
IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Market research reports for different industries in the US, plus industry reports and company benchmarking reports for more than 5000 companies. Reports include trends, statistics and analysis on market size, market share of competitors, forecasts, and industry growth rates.
Students have a tendency to overuse IbisWorld in their papers and projects. IbisWorld is a great place to get started, but students will need to consult multiple resources to have a well-rounded view of their industry.
Regional Business News This link opens in a new window
Covers regional business news sources including newspapers and business trade magazines.
Contains full text and links to news articles.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.

Government resources:

STAT-USA This link opens in a new window
Lists sources for current and historical economic and financial releases and economic data. Plus current and historical trade-related releases, international market research, country analysis, and the trade library. This federal government database was discontinued on September 30, 2010.
Use the links listed in the "State of the Nation Library" section for most-relevant information.
{note: links have changed several times in the past year, if you get an error, Google the title of the resource for related info}
Access from on campus or off campus.

Economic Census
Economic Census Data from the US Census Bureau
more...less...
Freely Available Reosurce

Country Information

Library databases:

Passport (Euromonitor) This link opens in a new window
Access key business intelligence on countries, markets, and companies. This database provides historical statistics and forecasts, analysis of consumers' lifestyles, information sources, brand and company information, plus full-text market analysis.
Access from on campus or off campus with ShipID.
IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Market research reports for different industries in the US, plus industry reports and company benchmarking reports for more than 5000 companies. Reports include trends, statistics and analysis on market size, market share of competitors, forecasts, and industry growth rates.
Students have a tendency to overuse IbisWorld in their papers and projects. IbisWorld is a great place to get started, but students will need to consult multiple resources to have a well-rounded view of their industry.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window
Covers News, Legal, and Business domains. Contains full text of newspaper and journal articles, court cases, legal briefs, business information and more. Use the menu options to limit by country.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.

Government resources:

CIA World Factbook
A key compendium of basic statistical data on each country of the world, compiled by the CIA.

STAT-USA This link opens in a new window
Lists sources for current and historical economic and financial releases and economic data. Plus current and historical trade-related releases, international market research, country analysis, and the trade library. This federal government database was discontinued on September 30, 2010.
Use the links listed in the "GLOBUS/NTDB" section for most-relevant information.
{note: links have changed several times in the past year, if you get an error, Google the title of the resource for related info}
Access from on campus or off campus.

Consumer Analysis

Library databases:

Mintel Reports (Mintel Oxygen) This link opens in a new window
Contains market reports for US and Global industries and some brands.
Available from on-campus or off campus with your ShipID
MarketResearch.com Academic This link opens in a new window
Contains industry reports and related materials covering management, marketing, accounting, supply chain and other angles into various industries.
Available on-campus or off-campus with your ShipID
ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry This link opens in a new window
Covers trade publications from industries including finance, insurance, transportation, construction, and more. Covers over 700 publications for trade and industry information. Contains publications on every major industry, including finance, insurance, transportation, and construction.
Access from on campus or off campus with Ship ID.
Contents ~70% indexed in Ship Library Discovery Search.

Government resources:

American FactFinder (Census Bureau)
This is an easy to use tool from the census bureau that brings together population, housing, economic, and geographic information from the census in one place.
census.gov
Every 10 years, the U.S. government tries to gather demographic data from everyone in the U.S. It's in your best interest to respond when you receive your questionnaire.
Census Data Guide (from CUNY)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
This is the major site for all types of U.S. labor statistics, including: inflation and prices (including U.S. import and export prices), employment and unemployment, pay and benefits, spending and time use, productivity, and workplace injuries.

Special Notes

Special notes:

The sources below can often be peripheral to finding specific information, but when they come through the data is very helpful. Try them out.

American Factfinder
U.S. Census Department's search engine for recent Census reports and data.
more...less...
Contents not indexed in Ship Library Discovery Search.
American Factfinder - Quick Reports - PA - Local
Find local business data for the Shippensburg Area
more...less...
Freely Available Resource
Economic Census
Economic Census Data from the US Census Bureau
more...less...
Freely Available Reosurce
Note about researching non-profits
Organizations most people think of when they hear "non-profit" (usually charities and other civic or social organizations) have their own NACIS Code: 813xxx "Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar"
YMCA, for example, is a civic organization which would likely fit in NAICS 813410 "Civic and social organizations"

MKTG430 - Edwards

Instant Answers

Ask Us Anything

How did we do?

Helpful Librariain

RKMA Handbooks

Academic Journal Resources

Library databases:

Freely available resources:

Economic, Industry, Market, Company, and Business News

Library databases:

Government resources:

Company Information

Library databases:

Government resources:

Country Information

Library databases:

Government resources:

Consumer Analysis

Library databases:

Government resources:

Special Notes

Special notes:

Contact the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library