Carnegie Mellon University Libraries Information Workshop
for Innovation Works Internships 2008
(Preliminary note: Because the links to the databases below will work only on the CMU campus, if you're off campus, you will want to use the WebVPN first, click on CMU Libraries, and then look up the databases by name. If you're not a Carnegie Mellon student, then you can also look them up at your own university library website - these databases are available at most of them. If you're still having trouble, send me an email and we'll figure something out.
Also - because some of the resources below are not proprietary databases but free resources - and the links will work from anywhere - I've highlighted those with a red asterisk *, so you can tell the difference.)
Start out with news sources about markets, companies and industries:
There is considerable overlap among these databases, but also unique items in each one. Use various combinations of keywords, and use the articles themselves to start identifying company names and other key terms to use later on.
- Business & Company Resource Center – in addition to news and journal articles, you can find here company histories, analyst reports, industry overviews and research reports.
- Lexis-Nexis Academic– most wide-ranging database available.
- Proquest – wide-ranging news database containing many smaller databases within it - a great place to search for local reporting on a company.
- INSPEC - scientific and technical literature, and conference proceedings related to electrical and electronic engineering, information technology, control processing and similar subjects. Could be a good place to scout for competitive product developments or related technologies.
Background on an industry
- S&P's NetAdvantage website, or Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys - Hunt Ready Ref 338.7 S78
- Industry section of Business & Company Resource Center - use both Overviews and Market Research tabs
- Industry statistics from U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Programs *
- News sources, above, adding search terms like “market,” “forecast,” “trends,” “industry overview,” etc.
- Commercial market research reports * – too expensive to purchase, but their descriptions can provide industry structure, top companies, outstanding issues.
Background on companies
Consumer research – demographics and spending patterns
- Factfinder.census.gov *– voluminous data from national level down to block level
- Statistical Abstract of the United States *– easy-to-find statistics on everything
- Useful books in Hunt reference room - New Strategist publications
- Lifestyle market analyst – HF5415 .33.U6 L54
- Household spending : who spends how much on what – HC110 .C6 O34
- Who’s buying? Executive Summary of Household Spending – find this e-book on NetLibrary
- Consumer Expenditure Survey *– US govt. survey that is the basis for many studies
- Lifestyle market segmentation patterns from ESRI * – : enter a zipcode for that area’s identifiers
Identifying competitors and/or potential corporate customers
Models for marketing plans
- Books on the 2nd floor of Hunt Library: Find these and more by looking in CAMEO * under their titles, or terms “internet marketing,” “marketing management,” marketing and planning,” etc.
- Powerhouse marketing plans : 14 outstanding real-life plans and what you can learn from them to supercharge your own campaigns.
- Marketing plans : how to prepare them, how to use them.
- Marketing your business : a guide to developing a strategic marketing plan.
- Encyclopedia of major marketing campaigns – in print and as an e-book: describes thosands of the most notable marketing initiatives.
- Journals, such as Advertising Age, Sales & Marketing Management – and many more can be searched and read in databases (see News Sources above.)
- Mplans.com *
- Outline for marketing plan, and samples from Royal Bank of Canada *, and U.S. Small Business Administration *
Venture Capital
Other Useful Resources
- www.clickz.com*, shop.org *– interactive marketing statistics and research
- U.S. Patents *– or on Google Patents *– inventions, new and old, in detail
- Polls – use database from Roper Center, Reuters* (“archive” goes up to 2007), ACSI* (customer satisfaction by company and industry,) or any of the “News” databases above using “poll” as a search term, i.e. movies and poll.
Networking: how to identify key people within an industry
Get to all books and databases here: www.library.cmu.edu (or www.library.pitt.edu)
What if I have a question or am not finding what I need?
Contact the Hunt Library Reference Desk:
Or, contact me directly:
Roye Werner , Business and Economics Librarian, rwerner@andrew.cmu.edu, (412) 268-2453