| This is a guide to some of the most helpful sources for developing a business plan. Sections are outlined above. Getting Help
Entrepreneurs are often on the cutting edge of an emerging or fast-changing industry. This makes it impossible to provide a complete list of sources for potential businesses. Try these resources and meet with a reference librarian who can steer you to the resources specific to your industry and market. To make an appointment contact the Library Information Desk at 781-239-4596 or email reference@babson.edu. 
Know Your Industry
- how it works, major forces, the value chain, major players, market segments, industry & market size, trends that might impact your industry, etc. Start With These Sources - Industry Reports
IBISWorld - great coverage with statistics and descriptions of markets, segments, industry conditions, factors affecting performance, key competitors and more for most US industries to the 5-digit NAICS industry. Global and China reports are also available.
Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage Industry Surveys - find great introductions to industries dominated by publicly-held companies plus key industry sources. Click Industries tab for full listing of global and US reports - Product and Market Reports
MarketResearch.com Academic- View hundreds of full text market reports on both products and target markets, ranging from watches to the college market. Even older reports provide valuable information on the way an industry works. Mintel - US, UK and worldwide market research reports on consumer products and travel.
- More Sources to Check First
Investext Plus - Search a key public company or the industry for brokerage house and association reports. In keyword box enter: industrykeyword and industry report
RDS Business Reference Suite - Search Business & Industry and Tablebase for market share, rankings, marketing strategies, target markets and more. Browse and select concept terms that fit your need. View Tablebase quick data but look at the full article as well. Business & Company Resource via InfoTrac - Enter the 5-digit NAICS code followed by an asterisk to see industry reports, rankings, market share, associations, brokerage reports & articles on your industry.
EBSCOhost Business Source Complete - Enter the 5-digit NAICS code to select industry & market reports, trade journal articles, etc. on your industry. Mergent Online: Industry Reports - view reports on major industries in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. Includes the Food & Beverage, Hospitality & Tourism, IT & High Technology, Biotechnology, Medical Instruments & Equipment, Pharmaceuticals, Property & Development, Metals industries, etc. Resources for Popular Industries FACCTS - Faulkner Advisor on Computer, Communications and Technology
Forrester Research -Market research reports with a focus on the use of emerging technologies. Send an email to reference@babson.edu to request an account.
InfoTech Trends - Provides market share, forecasts, installed-base data extracted from articles on computer and telecommunications industries.
SBRnet - Sports Business Research Network
USDA and its Foreign Agricultural Service - U.S. food products & foreign markets See also these industry-specific research guides: Or consult with a reference librarian at 781-239-4596.
Identify NAICS & SIC Codes for Key Data
Use NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System) and SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes to find market size, develop lists of competitors, suppliers or customers, find industry ratios, and more. All current U.S. government sources use NAICS. Sources such as InfoTrac Business & Company Resource Center, RDS Bizsuite and Dun's Million Dollar Database allow you to search by NAICS or SIC.
Click here to identify NAICS and SIC codes - Browse or search the NAICs site and note the NAICS codes as well as the SIC codes for your industry and its suppliers, distributors and customers. For instance, for DVDs, movie prodution, DVD manufacturers, retail and rental stores would each have a different code. Information at all stages helps you understand your industry.
- Scan the definitions of the codes to understand what is included or excluded.
- From the NAICS code definition, choose Go To...1997 Economic Census. View the 2002 Economic Census PDF.
- To estimate local sales, find available total industry sales and wages for the US or your state, calculate the ratio of wages to sales, and then use with wages from the County Business Patterns to estimate local sales.
- Scroll down the page to find links to County Business Patterns, Current Industrial Reports or other current sources on your industry. The next section has direct links to some of these Census sources.
Find Industry or Market Size/Sales & Amount of Competition
The Bureau of Census and other government agencies collect data to measure the economic activity and publish it on the web. The Economic Census is gathered every 5 years ending in 2 and 7, but annual and quarterly surveys update the Census with summary data. Start with the NAICS code site above, linking to the Economic Census, or go directly to a sources below.
Economic Census - While only published every 5 years, the Economic Census can be helpful for value chain analysis telling what materials are used in manufacturing, key ratios, etc. Reports on Merchandise & Commodity Line Sales tell where goods are sold and Concentration Ratios indicate how fragmented the industry is.
County/Zip Code Business Patterns - Provides number of companies by employee size by NAICS code for county, or zip code or metropolitan areas. County data includes total wages. County sales can be estimated using the sales/wages ratio from the Economic Census.
Current Industrial Reports - Annual, quarterly or monthly shipments of industrial and consumer products and parts, and materials consumed. If your product is not covered, try the Annual Survey of Manufactures.
Monthly & Annual Retail and Food Service Sales and Inventories - Annual reports also include gross margin data. See the Economic Census by Sector for more detail.
Service Annual Survey - Estimated annual revenues for various services. See also the Economic Census by Sector.
Construction and Housing Reports - Data on value of construction for various private & public uses, new residential construction, new residential sales, new housing characteristics, manufactured housing & residential improvements & repairs.
Manufacturing & Distribution USA - HD9721 .M364 2003 v. 1-3 (Information Desk 1)
Information, Finance & Services USA - HD9999 .I493 U625 2001 v. 1-3 (Information Desk 1) - compiles industry data from a variety of government sources and includes input/output data. Update with the Census Bureau sources described above these titles.
Euromonitor Global Market Information Database - current and forecast consumer data in markets around the world.
World Bank's World Development Indicators provides general social & economic indicators for all countries.
Identify Competitors
Identify and research key competitors and determine their strategies, business and market segments, distribution, etc. Try to identify at least one publicly-held competitor or similar company and look up their latest 10-K annual SEC filing for descriptions of business, operation strategies, their competition, distribution, intellectual property as well as management discussion and financial statements. Capital IQ - Look up a know competitor or use the screening tool to identify competitors, suppliers and customers of publicly-held companies and view their SEC filings and financial statements. Information on venture-backed companies are also available. Business & Company Resource Center via InfoTrac - search a company name or the 5-digit NAICS code to find Rankings or Market Share data for major competitors.
LexisNexis Academic Company Dossier - Enter the company name on the lower right opening screen to bring up Hoover's report with competitors, intellectual property plus other company information. Or choose Advanced Search Options to search by employee or revenue range, state, SIC code and keyword.
Dun's Million Dollar Database - covers more U.S. private companies, subsidiaries, branches and divisions with many criteria for screening. Mergent Online - use Advanced Search feature to screen publicly-traded companies by NAICS, SIC, and Textual Search of the Business description.
Or try Switchboard.com's Advanced Search.
Find Operating and Financial Norms and Ratios
For margin analysis and developing financial statements and projections: - Benchmark with a key publicly-held company
Look up the annual 10-K or registration statements for companies similar to yours. These SEC filings are available through Capital IQ, Thomson ONE Banker and the SEC's EDGAR Database. Use the competitor sources above to identify companies.
- Study industry norms developed by associations and others.
Sources for ratios and representative statements are listed below.
- Consult the U.S. Census monthly, annual and Economic Census reports described above for seasonality, sales/wages ratios and other data.
- Ratios & Industry Averages
Dun & Bradstreet's Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios (Information Desk1) - D&B covers most SIC codes.
Annual eStatement Studies. Risk Management Association (RMA), formerly Robert Morris Associates. Updated annually. - RMA provides 5-year downloadable comparisons plus breakdowns by asset, sales and regional categories.
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios (Troy). (Information Desk1) - Troy's Almanac is based on IRS returns and thus provides some unique ratios, more breakdowns by sales ranges, and separate ratios for returns with net profits.
IRS Corporate Ratios. Schonfeld & Associates. Annual. - Schonfeld, based on IRS returns, provides additional ratios broken down by size.
Financial Studies for Small Business. Financial Research Associates. - HD2346.U5 F55a (Information Desk1)
Consult the Small Business Resource Center (enter industry keyword and choose Directories tab from results) or the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (Information Desk1) to identify sources for a specific industry, such as the annual Restaurant Industry Operations Report. Search the Library Catalog to see if Babson has a copy.
Identify Key Industry Associations and Trade Journals
- Use sources below to identify trade associations for your industry.
- Consult association web sites to find out whether they publish reports on trends, markets or operating ratios. If a source is not free, check our Library Catalog to see it's available locally.
- Browse trade journals using our Find Online Journals to locate them online in one of our databases. Or Interlibrary Loan Service or a librarian may be find the source in a local library.
- Set up an alert in EBSCOhost and ProQuest to receive an email with table of contents for new issues or new keyword search results.
The sources below list organizations and trade publications that follow your industry. Small Business Resource Center - InfoTrac - enter your industry keyword and from results choose Directories tab. Fulltext from the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources and the Small Business Sourcebook will list key associations, trade journals, ratios and other sources.
- Business & Company Resource Center via InfoTrac - search NAICS code to identify a longer list of trade associations. Search 4 or 5-digit code with asterisk, for example: 31133*.
Small Business Sourcebook - HD2346.U5 S66 (Information Desk1) - Annual guide to sources of information on over 326 small business industries. Sources include start-up information, associations, licensing, reference works, supplies, trade shows, consultants, franchises, periodicals, and Internet sites.
Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources - HF5353.E52 (Information Desk 1) Look up your industry for a list of key sources: handbooks, trade associations, periodicals, financial ratios, almanacs and yearbooks, directories, price sources, abstract services and indexes, statistical sources, and databases.
American Society of Association Executives - To find associations by topic, from the menu on the left choose Directories and then "gateway to associations."
Encyclopedia of Associations - HS17.E6 (Information Desk1)- The Encyclopedia is a five-volume set covering 23,000 national and international organizations. An entry number of "IO" refers to names in the international volume. It is also searchable through the LexisNexis service at Library Workstations #1-2.
Internet Public Library: Associations on the Net - Topical index.
Market Research: Customer Profiles and Media Habits
Most of the market research reports below cover the demographics and psychographics of target populations.
If businesses are your target market, consult industry sources.
Market Research Reports
MarketResearch.com Academic- Provides access to hundreds of full text market research reports on both products and target markets, ranging from watches to the college market.
Mintel - 900 market research reports focusing on consumer products, lifestyles, retailing and international travel industry Forrester Research - Market research reports with a focus on the use of emerging technologies.
Euromonitor GMID - market analysis for consumer markets worldwide will be included beginning 10/1/05.
Market Demographics DemographicsNow - Compare and map local markets by demographics and spending potential with MOSAIC data
Sourcebook America - Use this electronic source for quick comparing zip code areas.
American FactFinder - U.S. Census Bureau's gateway to their demographic data. Display a demographic Fact Sheet for a specific place or zip code, or choose Data Sets in Getting Detailed Data. - In Data Sets click Reference Maps to identify relevant Census blocks and tracts (it helps to start with a zip code-scroll down).
- Return to Data Sets page and choose Census 2000 Summary File 3.
- Click Detailed Tables to create custom tables with age, sex, ethnic group, income, travel to work, and other data.
Landview 6 - determine population and housing characteristics within a radius of a particular address. Follow instructions carefully or ask for help.
Consumer Behavior - Lifestyle Market Analyst. HF5415.33.U6 L54 (Information Desk 1)- for quick reference to demographics and activities of people in Designated Market Areas or who participate in various activities, such as crafts, skiing, or own a camrecorder, etc.
Mediamark Reporter provides demographics, lifestyles, product and brand usage, and advertising media preferences, similar to Simmons with unique products.
Scarborough via Arbitron Qualitap. - consumer characteristics in a specific Metropolitan market, such as Boston. Try the tutorial or make an appointment with a reference librarian. Available campuswide, but NOT off-campus.
Simmons Study of Media and Markets. - create custom tables with national and broad regional consumer characteristics including psychographics (opinions, impulse shoppers, etc.). View the Basic Steps Tutorial for an introduction. For assistance, make an appointment with a reference librarian. Available only in the library.
Other Sources
- RDS Bizsuite - Search the Business & Industry Database for consumer behavior, trends, etc.
- Market library via LexisNexis - contains several market research report summaries, a digest of marketing research newsletters, the Market Share Reporter, Roger opinion polls, Trends, and more.
Resources for the International Business Plan
Country Study Guides - Link to guides for doing business in your country. Choose your country and select the Country Commercial Guide (US State Dept.) as well as EIU's Country Commerce and Country Finance publications. The guides also link to other key sources and web sites. For specific areas such as labor or taxation, try the guide Country Study Resources by Topics. IBISWorld Global and China Reports - statistics and descriptions of markets, segments, industry conditions, factors affecting performance, key competitors and more. Stat-USA - The Globus/National Trade Data Bank section has market research reports and other information.
Euromonitor Global Market Information Database (GMID) - provides online global consumer market & lifestyle data, market analysis and country profiles. If you are searching for data for multiple countries and the results have little detail, try searching your product or consumer in one country at a time.
European Business Facts and Figures HC241.2.P313 (Information Desk1).
ISI Emerging Markets -includes industry reports in countries such as China, India, Russia, Chile, etc. SourceOECD - reviews industrial policies of major countries plus communications, information technology and other industries. Remember to search the periodical databases and major US industry sources, including EBSCOhost, RDS Business Suite, InfoTrac's Business & Company Resource Center, Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage > Industries, and ProQuest. US-centric sources can provide information on concepts and dynamics of the industry. For international trade data, see the Topics guide Global Trade - Quick Reference.
Trade Journal and Newspaper Articles for More Detail
The following databases can be searched for trade journal articles on all industries and all markets.
Central Search allows you to search across most of the databases below. If you are not finding what you need, search databases individually for access to all features and content.
RDS Business Reference Suite - Coverage includes "over 900 trade and business publications covering business events in over 190 countries around the world" from 1995 to present.
EBSCOHost Business Source Complete - EBSCOHost covers some unique sources.
ProQuest - If results are too broad, limit search to Subject terms found in relevant articles. ProQuest includes some unique trade journals.
General Business File via InfoTrac - Use keywords to search your industry and browse By Subdivision plus Related Subjects. You can also search an SIC or NAICS code or use Relevance searching. InfoTrac has one of the broadest selections of trade journals.
Factiva - world wide coverage of business publications. Try the advanced searching techniques for tips using field codes and other features, or click Examples on the search page. Browse News Pages tab to see if your industry is covered - click the upper left Global News down-arrow.
LexisNexis Academic - Enter your keywords, select publications and time period. Results can be grouped by industry, subject and other ways. Or narrow results with additional keywords.
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