ESSENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR ENGINEERING LIBRARIANSMegan Sapp Nelson, Asst. Professor of Library Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Business Research Consists of…Company Research
Market Research
Industry Research
Country Research
Demographics Research
Economics
Accounting & Tax Research
Engineering Librarians Most Frequently Need to Know:
Company Research
Market Research
Industry Research
Country Research
Demographics Research
Economics
Accounting & Tax Research
Company Research Includes:
Financial data Profiles SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities,
Threats) Analysis Competitors
Company Research Sources Resources:
Thomas Register – http://www.thomasnet.com
EDGAR – http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml Company Websites
Market Research Market Research Reports Market Share/Size
Market Research Sources US Commercial Service Market Research
Library http://www.buyusainfo.net/adsearch.cfm?search_type=int&loadnav=no (Free registration with Export.gov)
Industry Research Classification Schemes Surveys/Overviews Statistics
Industry Research Sources Yahoo Finance Industry Profiles
http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/ Current Industrial Reports (U.S. Census
Bureau) http://www.census.gov/cir/www/index.html
US Economic Census - http://www.census.gov/econ/census/snapshots/index.html
Country Research Statistics Profiles Economic Conditions
Country Research Sources World Development Indicators
http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/DDPQQ/member.do?method=getMembers&userid=1&queryId=6
UN Data http://data.un.org/
Demographics Research Statistics
Demographics Sources US Census Bureau American FactFinder http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lan
g=en Statistics by Country – UN
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/inter-natlinks/refs3.htm Demographic and Social Statistics – UN
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/default.htm
Your most important resource
Get to know your colleagues specializing in business information.
Resources Kirkwood, Hal. Business Research
Concept Map. http://www.lib.purdue.edu/mel/bizmap/BusinessResearch.html
