Yanli Li

Business and Economics Librarian

September 25th, 2016
yli@wlu.ca

Agenda for Today

The library website and starting points for research

Finding industry information
Competitive environment analysis
Finding company information
Finding market information
Finding customer information
Financial analysis estimating sales and costs
Finding business articles
Citation
Reference help

The Library Website

The Library website

is the gateway to
many resources,
including:

Books, articles, journals

Databases
Subject & course guides

Off-campus Authentication
You perform your research
first. If you want to access
e-resources off-campus
and are prompted for
authentication, enter your
Network Login username
and password.

Electronic books, journals & magazines, articles

Databases

Company
Industry
Market research
Financial data
Statistics
And much more .

Library resources are:

selected for quality and relevance to teaching
and research
Generally not available on the Internet
Much quicker and comprehensive in most cases
Very reliable as most information is written by
the industry experts or collected by people in the
industry

Your First Stop for Research

BU 111 Course Guides:

https://library.wlu.ca/services/course
Business Subject Guide:
http://library.wlu.ca/services/subject/business
Business databases:
http://library.wlu.ca/research-materials/databases#tabadvanced
Tutorials Finding Business Information:
http://library.wlu.ca/help/tutorials

Your First Stop for Research

Search for books, articles, and working papers in PRIMO
Good for general research on large industries and
companies:
e.g. retail*, Blackberry
Try search terms:
online communication, wechat, chatbot, mobile instant
messaging, IM app, messaging app, mobile payment, etc.

Exercise 1 Primo search

Find articles regarding the application of chatbots
Can you find this article?
Doland, Angela. How Crayola Used Wechat and Alibaba to Grow
Sales in China? Advertising Age, May 30, 2016, Vol.87(11), p.0027

Industry Classification Codes

Most databases allow you to search

information on an industry using NAICS codes
or SIC Codes.
NAICS 2012 Canada
NAICS - U.S. Census Bureau

SIC Codes
SIC Codes - Canada
SIC - U.S. Department of Labor

Key industry databases:

providing industry reports including industry overview,
trends, outlook, statistics, and much more.
o *Marketline
Search by key words, or browse industries.
o *NetAdvantage
Click Industries on the top.
o *Thomson One
IE browser only
o *Business Source Complete
Search by key words

Key industry databases:

o *ProQuest
Browse > Business > Industry and Market research > BMI and First
Research reports

o *Infomart
Click industry reports

o *Industry Canada
Search by key words, NAICS codes or browse industries.

Exercise 2: Industry research

Find a report on hot drinks industry in Canada
published by Canadean in 2016 that provides a
market snapshot to 2019? (Thomson One)
Find a report on telecommunication industry in
Canada. (ProQuest: search by key words or browse
BMI reports)

Five Forces Analysis

Five Forces Analysis using industry databases

*Marketline

Type the industry name in the search box and find Five
Forces Analysis from the industry report.
Video tutorial: International industry research: Marketline
Thomson One
Look in analyst reports for Five Forces Analysis.
Video tutorial: Analyst reports: Thomson One
Tip: Five Forces analysis is not available for every industry. Consider searching
for a related industry and evaluate whether or not the same factors apply to
the industry you are researching.

Five Forces Analysis using Journal databases

ABI/Inform Complete
Business Source Complete
Factiva
LexisNexis Academic

Tips
Use a company or industry name combined with the
following sample search terms in any of the above
trade journal databases.

Five Forces Search Strategies

Buyer Power
size OR concentration* OR market share* OR position* OR
dominan*
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
bargain* OR negotiat*
Rivalry
marketplace OR compet* OR market share* OR market size* OR
dominan* OR position* OR segment*
Threat of Substitution
differentiat* OR unique* OR new OR improv*
Threat of New entrant
(buyer* OR customer* OR consumer*) AND (preference* OR
motivat* OR behavior* OR attitude* OR loyalt* )

PEST(LE) Analysis

Finding PEST(LE) Analysis Reports

Conduct a country search to locate a complete
PESTLE report using Marketline.
Split up each letter or factor separately, i.e. "P
political", and do research on it using the
recommended tools in the Bu111 course guide
for each factor.

Useful databases for PEST(LE) analysis:

*LexisNexis Academic (click Search by subject or topic >

Country Information)
*Passport (country reports)
*Mergent Online (country profile)
*ProQuest (Browse > Business > Country Reports)

More resources:
Business subject guide > country research
Economics subject guide > statistics and policy papers

Exercise 3:
Find a Five Forces Analysis report on baby food industry

of Canada. (Marketline)
Find a PESTLE analysis report on Brazil. (Marketline)
Find a report on coffee industry in Canada including
competitive landscape. (Passport)

Public
Companies

Traded on stock exchanges or over-thecounter

Subject to regulation by Security
Exchanges
Required by law to file reports publicly
Relatively easier to find information
Recommended resources: *SEDAR,
*Mergent Online, *Infomart,
*Marketline, *Hoover's Company
Records, LexisNexis Academic

 Not required to report publicly

Private
Companies

Much more difficult to find

information about them
Recommended resources:
*Canadian Company Capabilities,
LexisNexis Academic, NetAdvantage,
Hoover's Company Records, Infomart,
company website, article search

Canadian
Company
Capabilities
Search by

company name
or industry
Special
Directories
(includes
Information
and
Communication
Technologies
sector)

LexisNexis
Academic
(Company
Profiles includes
company
overviews,
securities filings,
financials. The
Dossier link
allows for
creating a
company list)

S&P NetAdvantage (Brief company snapshots)

Select Register
Private Co. from
the drop down list

Choose any combination of basic

filters to find Private Companies that
match your criteria

Finding SWOT reports on a company

Thomson One *
Marketline
Passport *
LexisNexis Academic *
Business Source Complete

Steps: https://library.wlu.ca/services/subject/businesstechnology-management#libcontent-swot

Exercise 4 Company Information

Find a SWOT analysis report on Starbucks Corporation
(LexisNexis Academic)
Find competitors of Pet Valu (Hoovers Company

Record via ProQuest Entrepreneurship)

Find financials(revenue, earnings per share) of
Dollarama (Infomart)

Look at market share, brand share,

distribution, total sales/revenues, #of
competitors, etc.
Tools you can use:

Passport (industry reports and market statistics)*

Market Share Reporter (market statistics)*
Infomart (click "Industry reports")
Marketline (industry reports)
Industry Canada (industry statistics)
ABI/Inform Complete (articles)
Business Source Complete (articles)

Passport (consumer electronics sales in

Canada)

Market Share Reporter (e.g. market share of top electronics brands)

Click each title to

access the
detailed market

share info

Exercise 5 Market Information

Find the brand shares and company shares of
mobile phones in Canada. (Passport)
Find the market shares of top mobile apps in terms
of # of visitors. (Market share reporter)

Demographic (who they are)

Geographic (where they are)

Behavioristic (how they live)

Target customer
Look at consumer demographics

Tools you can use:

Statistics Canada (data)
2011 Canadian Census Profile *
Canadian National Household Survey *
search by postal code (e.g. N2L3C5)
Passport * (country reports)

FP Markets: Canadian Demographics (print Ref HC 111

.S9)

Passport

Look under the Consumers tab and select the sections

on the left panel.

Location
Consider the geographic area of your business

Tools you can use:

Scotts Directories *
Canadian Company Capabilities

Lexis Nexis Academic

Build a list of Companies in your industry

 Chambers of Commerce websites, i.e. Guelph

Chamber of Commerce
City websites, i.e. City of Kitchener, City of
Waterloo
Trade association websites (select Associations
Canada only)

Consumer spending behaviour & patterns

Tools you can use:
Survey of Household Spending (via CANSIM)*
Passport (reports)
Factiva (surveys & polls) *
ABI/Inform Complete (articles)
Business Source Complete (articles)
Trade association websites (check Associations
Canada only)

Factiva
can be used to find articles that report on
consumer spending behaviour in surveys.

Tip: Click "Subject" then under "All Subjects"

expand "Content Types" > click on "Surveys/Polls".
Also, can narrow by geographic region. Click
"Region" > enter country/province/city name in
search box found "All regions".

Exercise 6 Customer Information

Find a list of companies in Ontario in the business of
mobile applications or mobile messaging services. (Scotts
Directories)
Find the number of immigrants (total, female, male) in the
Kitchener - Cambridge Waterloo area who landed in
Canada from 2006-2011.
(National Household Survey 2011) Answer: 15,245; 7,255;
7,990
Find the Household expenditures on online services in
2014 (Survey of household spending (SHS) via CANSIM,
answer: $48 per household)

* Financial Performance Data - Industry

Canada

Find information on small and medium-sized

enterprises (SME) with annual revenues between
$30,000 and $5,000,000.
Include your own and data and compare with
industry averages
Help you project your costs as your business
grows
Search or browse industry, arranged by NAICS
codes

Set up criteria, select an

industry and hit Create report

Exercise 7 Financial Performance Data

Please create a report on pet and pet supplies

stores in Ontario

Regulations MaRS A wealth of information from

the MaRS library on regulations.
Legal MaRS A wealth of legal information from
the MaRS library.
CanLII The Canadian Legal Information Institute.
Provides free federal and provincial legislation.
Quicklaw Quicklaw provides full-text access in
English and French to all federal regulations.

Espacenet
Free to use and allows PDF downloads of
patent documents from over 70 countries.

Canadian Patents Database (CIPO)

Full-text documents:1920 to present.
Allows you to access patent descriptions and
images, to search, retrieve and study more
than 2,140,000 patent documents.

ProQuest
Business Source Complete
Scholars Portal Journals
Factiva
LexisNexis Academic

Search

strategy tips

Boolean: AND (narrow search); OR (broaden search)

downsizing AND human resources;

business to business OR B2B
Truncation: find relevant variants on a word
organiz*, strateg*, manag*

Put phrases in quotes

human resources management

Laurier Library Citing Sources:

https://library.wlu.ca/help/activity/citingsources

York University Business Citation Guide

http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/bizcita
tions

Exercise 8 Finding Articles

Find an article on behaviors of consumers drinking

coffee.
Find an article on spending patterns change in

retirement

 General questions ask the library:

By Chat or Email: https://library.wlu.ca/help/askus

By Phone: 519-884-0710, ext. 3222

In-depth questions ask your subject librarian

Yanli Li
Email: yli@wlu.ca
Book an appointment form