Industry & Market Research Resources
Here we've provided links to research databases, government resources, and open access tools and databases for finding industry, market, and business information and statistics.
Books
The Market Research Toolbox by Call Number: HF5415.2 .M383 2012ISBN: 9781412991735Publication Date: 2011-10-12
Handbook of Marketing Scales by Call Number: HF5415.3 .B323 2011ISBN: 9781412980180Publication Date: 2010
Free Market Research Tools & Databases
- Data.govData.gov is a central hub for U.S. government data, offering free access to datasets related to small businesses. It includes valuable reports and statistics on entrepreneurship, industry trends, and economic data from 2022 onward. Perfect for entrepreneurs and researchers seeking reliable, open-access data.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics DataThe Bureau of Labor Statistics provides free data on various industries, including small businesses, with reports on employment, wages, and business dynamics. Updated with reports from 2022 and later, it’s a go-to source for understanding market and labor trends for small businesses.
- Economic CensusThe Economic Census profiles the US economy every 5 years, from the national to the local level. The report will present national statistics for every sector and subsector of the economy
- Google TrendsMarket interest trends. Narrow down to state, metro, and city levels.
- Doing Business from the World BankThe Doing Business Project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level.
- YourEconomy.orgSponsored by the Edward Lowe Foundation, this site provides free data about business activity in localized areas.
- Amazon Small Business AcademyProvides a wealth of free resources, ideal for both aspiring and established entrepreneurs. These resources include live events, podcasts, and on-demand classes, along with access to a network of like-minded business professionals. Additionally, they offer practical guides for starting and growing a successful business, and specific resources catered to those interested in selling their wares on Amazon’s store.
- HubSpotHubSpot is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) tool offering free and paid courses. It also provides the HubSpot Academy for ongoing education geared toward your entire team, including leaders, department supervisors, and employees. There are dozens of programs, including free online courses and longer certification sessions, and you can display earned badges on websites and company bios.
A-State Research Databases (Off-campus Login Required)
- ABI/INFORM Complete This link opens in a new windowIncludes numerous reports on a wide variety of industries and markets.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowContains industry reports, company reports, country reports, SWOT analyses, and more.
- Mergent Intellect (formerly Hoover's) This link opens in a new windowA highly flexible web-based application that features a deep collection of worldwide business information that enables companies to generate insightful business intelligence. Mergent Intellect offers a unique opportunity to access private and public U.S and international business data, industry news, facts and figures, executive contact information, the ability to access industry profiles and much more.
- Mergent Archives (includes WebReports) This link opens in a new windowIndexed collection of corporate and industry related documents. Containing more than 180,000 documents covering over 100 countries and industries including the Annual Report Collection: US Documents, Canadian Documents, International Documents as well as D&B Country Reports, RiskLine Reports, and Who owns Whom Collection.
- Mergent Online This link opens in a new windowFinancial information services online, global business and financial information on public companies worldwide. Includes key business ratios as well.
- NetAdvantage This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive source of business and investment information that offers online access to Standard & Poor's research-related products such as industry surveys, stock reports, corporation records, The Outlook, mutual fund reports and more.
- Regional Business News This link opens in a new windowFull-text for regional business publications. Potentially useful when scouting your market.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowA statistics portal that integrates statistical data from over 80,000 topics in areas such as business, education, finance, media, politics, society, and technology.
Statistics Resources
- Small Business Ratio CalculatorsRatios provide insight into every financial element in your company, from its profitability to the effectiveness of your accounts receivable department. We've put together calculators for some of the most commonly used business ratios.
Poll
Risky business: 6 votes (31.58%)
Funny business: 8 votes (42.11%)
Serious business: 5 votes (26.32%)
Monkey business: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 19
