Marketing Research Guide
Who is our client and what product are they selling?
Information about Companies, Industries, and Products
Directories
In-depth Information
Journal and Newspaper Articles
Directories
Directories provide fundamental information about both publicly traded and privately owned companies. They describe basic business activity and provide simple, objective background material upon which to base deeper research.
Company Affiliation
These directories link specific products with companies or subsidiaries with their parent companies.
Brands and Their Companies [X] HF5030.A254 2005
Companies and Their Brands [X] HF5030.A255 1997
Local Companies
Boston Business Journal Book of Lists [X] HF3163.B6 B66 2006
Annual listing of local businesses, ranked by a variety of factors.
Advertising Agencies, Advertisers and Public Relations Firms
Adweek Agency Directory [X] HF5805.A2 2007
Brandweek Directory [X] HF5805.A295 2007
Guides to larger American advertising, PR, media agencies and advertisers.GreenBook Worldwide Directory of Marketing Research Companies and Services [X] HF5415.2.G69 2004-2005 (2 vols.)
O'Dwyer's Directory of Public Relations Firms [X] HM263.O37
The Advertising Red Books
Contains information about national and international agencies and advertisers, such as business classification, agency of record, media expenditures, to which brands are owned by what company, client lists, and billings. Available only in Library. See Reference Librarian for password. Limited to one user at a time.
The print version of the Advertising Red Books is also available in the Library:Advertiser, Business Classifications [X] HF5805.S7 2006
Advertiser, Indexes [X] HF5805.S714 2006
Agencies [X] HF5805.S72 2006
International Advertisers & Agencies [X] HF5804.S73 2006
In-depth Information
After gathering the background information available through directories, you will need to collect more specific and detailed information on a company or industry. A company's website also often contains financial and other up-to-date information.
Financial Information
Annual Report Gallery
A free service which provides online annual reports from companies. Search by company name, ticker symbol or industry.Business Statistics on the Web [X] HF1016.B47 2003
LexisNexis Academic
Select “Business” from the top menu. Then select “SEC Filings & Reports” (for company disclosure filings) or other financial searches from the “Business Searches” menu.US Securities and Exchange Commission
Searchable database of mandated filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Be sure to search under the parent company's name.
Company and Product Histories
Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands [X] HF5415.3.E527 1994 (3 vols.)
Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns [X] HF5837.E53 2000 and 2007
International Directory of Company Histories [X] HD2721.I57 (60+ vols.)
Major Marketing Campaigns Annual [X] HF5837.M35 1998 and 1999
Notable Corporate Chronologies [X] HG4009.N68 1995
Industry Information
Business and Company Resource Center
Search by Industry to see results from the Encyclopedia of Global Industries (2007), Encyclopedia of American Industries (2006), Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries (2006) and Datamonitor Industry Market Research.MarketResearch.com Academic
MarketResearch.com Academic provides thousands of full-text market research reports, many with global coverage, for industry and market research.Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys [X] HC106.6.S74 2006
Dun & Bradstreet / Gale Group Industry Handbook [X] HF5035.D86 2000
Volume 2: Computers & Software and Broadcasting & Telecommunications
Volume 4: Entertainment and HospitalityHandbook of North American Industry [X] HF1746.H37 1998
US Industry and Trade Outlook [X] HC101.U54 1998
US Industry Profiles: The Leading 100 [X] HD2771.U8 1995
Company Information
Business and Company Resource Center
A large business database with company overviews, scholarly articles and trade news. Includes global business information, business case studies, business trends, emerging technology reports and consumer marketing data. 1980 to present.Doing Business in Boston [X] HG4058.B7 D65 1998/2000
Corporate profiles of the top public, private and subsidiary companies in the greater Boston area.Hoover's Online
Hoover's products provide descriptive summaries of the activities of specific companies.
Rankings and Market Share Information
Business Rankings Annual [X] HG4050.B88
European Business Rankings [X] HG4132.A2 1992
Forbes and Fortune Special editions--Periodicals collection
Annual special issues of Forbes and Fortune magazines. Published each April, Forbes (see April 16, 2007) lists the World's 2000 largest companies and Fortune (see April 30, 2007) ranks America's 500 largest companies by various financial activities.Market Share Reporter [X] HF5415.2.M35 2005
MarketResearch.com Academic
MarketResearch.com Academic provides thousands of full-text market research reports, many with global coverage, for industry and market research.TableBase
Tabular data on companies and products, including market share, sales, rankings, statistics, and demographics.Alexa.com
Detailed traffic statistics and rankings for websites in different categories and by country.
US Market Trends and Forecasts [X] HF5415.1.U7 2002
Market forecasts and market shares for 400 industries.World Market Share Reporter [X] HF5415.2.W67 2005
Journal and Newspaper Articles
Articles in business magazines, trade publications, and newspapers can provide you with a great deal of current information on specific industries, products, companies, and trends. You can also locate information on general subjects relating to advertising and marketing. Use the following indexes and databases to search for articles.
Academic OneFile
Contains 8,000 academic journals, the majority in full-text, as well as hundreds of podcasts and transcripts from NPR, CNN, and the CBC.
Academic Search Premier
A multidisciplinary database with over 4,500 journals, including business journals, newspapers and magazines. Some full text available.Business & Company Resource Center
Includes journal and newspaper articles, as well as financials, company histories, and market shares. 1980 to the present.General BusinessFile ASAP
Updated daily, this database indexes both magazines and scholarly journals. 1980 to the present.LexisNexis Academic
A database of newspaper and journal articles, wire stories and media transcripts. Select "Business" to limit your search to business-related resources, or search the default "News" category.Wall Street Journal
Full-text articles of the Wall Street Journal from 1984 to the present.
