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Recognition and Testing of Opportunities
Charles Heller (Beacon Global Partners)
Presentation covers phases of the entrepreneurial process, entrepreneurial death traps, market- vs. technology-driven ventures, assessment of commercial potential, scalability and market leadership, and covers the question: product or service?
Slides
Market Analysis
Scott Magids (Technology Advancement Program)
Presentation covers demand analysis, competitive analysis, first to market, and commercial viability.
Slides
Kauffman Field Guide to Market Research
EntreWorld guide guide explains the "whats, whys, and hows?" of market research; what market research is, the definitions as well as the differences between primary and secondary market research, why it is such an important key to understanding an industry, potential customers, markets, as well as the competition, and how to find and utilize the information once it is located.
Due-Dilligence Crib Sheet
Fortune Small Business magazine's compilation of Web sites for market research.
The New Market Research
Inc. magazine article disccuses how companies are finding new ways to determine what customers really want.
Market Research -- What Is It, What Can It Do?
Small Business Admninistration Women's Business Center article outlines the benefits of market research and what it can tell you.
How to Prepare a Market Analysis
Comprenensive article by Edward Lowe, an in-depth busines developer, featuring questions to ask, resources for due-diligence, and examples of questionnaires.
U.S. Patent Search
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office gives access to 27 years of U.S. patent descriptions and more than 1.4 million European Patent Office and World Intellectual Property Office patents and applications.
U.S. Census
United States Census provides statistics about population nationwide.
News databases
Marketresearch.com
Aggregator of global business intelligence representing a comprehensive collection of published market research available on-demand.
LexisNexis
Full-text database that offers a wide range of news, political, legal, business, and reference information in full-text format. Primary source of newspaper articles, including those from the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Simmons
Retrieves demographics and psychographics of product category, brand users, media audiences, and ranks media according to their ratings, and estimate reach, frequency, and frequency distribution of advertising media plans
also available through UMCP libraries
Mediamark Research
Mediamark Research provides demographics and psychographics data on consumer buying behavior in the United States, largely as it relates to brands and media.
Available at the UMCP Mckeldin Library Reference Desk Media Cabinet
Factiva
Provides world-class global content, including Dow Jones and Reuters newswires and The Wall Street Journal - unduplicated in a single service elsewhere. Factiva offers the only single content solution with multiple language interfaces and multilingual content covering nearly 9,000 sources.
also available online through UMCP libraries
Technology and business publications
- Forbes: regular section dedicated to tech industry; search archives
- Fortune: regular section dedicated to tech industry; search archives
- Wall Street Journal: daily section dedicated to tech industry; search archives
- Inc Magazine: leading entrepreneurship publication; extensive info and insight about tech trends
- Red Herring: prominent tech industry magazine; will include articles and published surveys about tech markets
- Bloomberg: leading financial news publication; includes articles covering technology trends
- Tech Web: publication with very specific quantitative data on tech purchasing trends and major industry events
- ZDNET: umbrella for leading PC/IT magazines; searchable database of surveys and articles
Broad Sources
Hoover's
Database of information on million companies, with in-depth coverage of 40,000 of the world's top business enterprises.
Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)
D&B is a leading source of information for reducing credit risks, finding profitable new customers, managing suppliers, and running your small business effectively.
Edgar Database of Corporate Information
Free U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission database, includes government-required documents required by the U.S. goverment about companies, including registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms.
Annual reports are available through Edgar (Form 10-K); Instructions:
- "Search for Company Filings" (under Edgar heading)
- Select "Search Companies and Filings" again
- Enter Company name
- Select Form 10-K for the company
- Scroll within the document to view sections: "market;" "competitors;" "business strategy
Technology Industry Research
When using these research firm sites, select "press releases;" and/or "research" and/or "downloads." While full reports (often 20+ pages) cost $50-$3,000 (200+ page report) depending on the supplier, synopses, press releases announcing new studies, and free "mini-reports" include tremendous statistical data.
- IDC: extensive press releases (free) and for-sale reports about numerous industry sectors within IT and telecom; quantitative data plus analysis
- Gartner: extensive press releases (free) and for-sale reports about six key sectors (hardware, software, services, semiconductors, telecom, and Internet); mostly quantitative data with some analysis
- Giga: in-depth analysis of wide range of IT markets covering all aspects of hardware, software, services, telecom, etc.
- Forrester: analyzes impact of technology on different business areas; great research on retail, manufacturing, and healthcare technologies
- Yankee Group: conducts surveys of production and purchasing managers to spot demand trends in diverse IT and telecom markets
- Jupiter Research: conducts market research of enterprise and consumer software, e-services, media, and telecom; mostly quantitative data
- Aberdeen Group: works closely with start-up firms; conducts research of emerging software, hardware, and IT markets
- Sage Market Research: specialized technology market research firm providing specialized analytical reports on enterprise software and hardware, storage, security, and telecom services
- Canadian Electronics Market Research Network: synopsis (detailed) of quantitative research on semiconductors, PCB technologies, and manufacturing services for IT
- CyberAtlas: quick stats and press releases about numerous aspects of technology and Internet use; free information with extensive stats
- Infotechtrends: stats regarding expected consumption of hardware, software, IT services, and telecom services
- Venture Development: extensive stats re integrated circuits, telecom/datacom services, energy products and services, and embedded systems
- Biotech research: web site with listings of 12 leading biotech/healthcare research firms that provide free and for-sale research
- Other newspapers/magazines (NY Times, Washington Post)
- Web sites of "Big Four" accounting firms: www.deloitte.com; www.kpmg.com; www.ey.com; www.pwc.com (search "stats;" "downloads;" and "press releases" under "Technology/Communications Practice Areas"
- Internet search engines
- UMD Library (online and through facilities): searchable databases of published articles from generalized and very specific trade publications; avoid paying for articles through library searches; visit http://researchport.umd.edu/ and select "Business and Economics" databases to find 20+ searchable databases with stats, articles, etc.
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