ENT 5946 - Small Business Consulting

To understand a company and its competitors, you need to understand the industry of which it is a part of even if you are looking for information about a sub-industry. 

These reports contain valuable analysis of an industry's operating conditions, forecasts, driving forces, competitive landscape, etc.  The amount of information varies depending upon the industry. Some databases may have all the information you need, other not much especially if is a sub-industry. Be prepared to include alternate names for your industry as well as broader and/or more specific industry categories in your research. 

• IbisWorld Industry Market Research.  Provides instant access to over 700 US industries - everything from Shoes Stores to Gold Ore Mining and all industries in between.
• Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys.  Access available through NetAdvantage.  Provides comprehensive reports on more than 50 industries. Written by industry experts, each report begins with a survey of the current environment followed by a profile of the industry, a discussion of industry trends, an explanation of how the industry operates, key industry ratios and statistics, an invaluable section detailing how to analyze a company in the industry, and concluding with a glossary, industry references and comparative company statistics.
• Business Insights: Essentials (formerly Business & Company Resource Center).  Provides a collection of industry information, including articles, financials, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, and chronologies.
• MarketLine Advantage.  An international market research database providing thousands of in-depth industry reports, company, and country information.
• Mintel Academic.  Contains full text market research reports covering U.S. and global consumer markets, with an emphasis on European and U.S. markets. Each report analyzes market share, segmentation, and trends along with providing comprehensive demographic profiles and consumer patterns. .
• ABI/INFORM Archive, Dateline, Global, Trade & Industry.  Search this database for reports on industries and markets from the following sources - Business Monitor International (BMI) Industry Reports, First Research (D&B), and Just-Series Market Research Report.
• Business Market Research Collection. Conduct industry, economic and geopolitical market research with information from US Industry & Market Research Reports, Oct. 2014 - present and, Worldwide Industry & Market Reports, 2014 - 2015 published by Barnes Reports. 
• Business Source Premier.  Some of the research is in the form of background information while other research will take a microscopic look at specific aspects of an industry.  Reports available from MarketLine, IHS Global.