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BA 260: Foundations of the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Library resources to help with finding company and product information

Help with Market Analysis

Another option:

  • Reference USA. This database is especially useful for small business owners/entrepreneurs and for job seekers. OSU does not subscribe but it is available at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. (OSU students can get a free public library card, even if you don't reside in Benton County. If you have a card, you can access this from home.)
Market analysis can be very challenging. Not all the information you need is going to be publicly available, which is precisely why you also need to conduct primary research for your BA 260 project. With regard to your secondary research, sometimes you'll have to extrapolate information from different sources to get the information you need. Market research reports created by for-profit companies are usually much too expensive for a student to afford and impossible for a library to obtain. You will need to get creative!

Business News Sources

Searching in the business news can be useful for several reasons: you can get a feel for overall trends and development in an industry, discover who the major companies are within an industry, and find out what's happening that's new and exciting.

Helpful Databases / OSU Libraries

As you do your research of companies and markets, the following databases provided by OSU Libraries may prove useful for finding company and industry information.

Free Online Demographic Resources

To construct a successful business or marketing plan, it is important to know your audience. Demographic tools are a good way to discover something about the people and the communities you plan to market to--here are several freely available online tools to help you.

Data.Census.Gov: Data from the U.S. census including Puerto Rico and island areas. Includes population, housing, and economic information. (Step-by-step LibGuide for how to use the new US Census Data website: https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/USCensusData)

Census Reporter   For a more visual rendition of Census information, try this Knight News project developed to make it easier for journalists to write stories using information from the U.S. Census Bureau. Place profiles and comparison pages provide a friendly interface for navigating data, including visualizations for a more useful first look.

State Master: Database of facts about states. When viewing results, look at the bottom of the page to find the source. You may need to visit the source to view the most up-to-date information.

Oregon Explorer: Rural Communities Explorer: Information compiled and updated by faculty and staff at Oregon State University thanks to a generous donation from the Ford Foundation. Includes online information about Oregon communities (including Portland) that can't be found anywhere else.

Small Business Help from U.S. Census Bureau

Census Business Builder  Open access

Marketing eBooks

International Marketing Data and Statistics (online book) and European Marketing Data and Statistics (physical book)  are statistical yearbooks containing comparable business and marketing information.  The subjects covered range from banking and finance, consumer market sizes and foreign trade to cultural and economic indicators. It serves as an ideal base for building country profiles, strategic planning and international market analysis. At a glance, you can compare population size by age, length of the average working week, consumer expenditure on hotels by month and much more.  The international edition includes the United States.