MKT 3600: Marketing Management

E. Danneels

General Information

Information Perspectives

Internal - Corporate View

Annual form 10-K report filed with the SEC
President's letter from the annual report to the stockholders,
Press releases, SEC filings and other company documents

External - Outsiders

Business journal and news articles,
Industry analyses
Investment analyst reports

Research Companies

QuickFIND - Multi-database Search for Articles & Books

Start with QuickFIND multi-database search to retrieve results from 11 databases (including the library catalog & Worldcat for books) on your topic with one search. There are 3 ways to search:

WPI Electronic Resources Databases:

Hoovers
Thomson One-Banker Analytics: Search, view and extract information on companies, most internal but allows company & competitor comparisons. Search Tips
General BusinessFile ASAP - Choose Advanced Search, click on Investext for analyst reports (sometimes you'll find forecasts, reasons why investors should or shouldn't invest in a company), new product launches, etc.
The Value Line Investment Survey - contains company & industry profiles, used to help investors determine whether or not to purchase a stock. Reference Collection HG4501 V26/V262

Free Web Sites:

Current Company/Industry News And Articles

Many advertising/marketing trade magazines track marketing campaigns, trends, and strategies.

LEXIS®-NEXIS® Academic: Provides a wide range of full text news, legal, and business information. Includes patent information as well. Over 5,000 full text publications are included.

Sample Searches

(marketing or advertising or promotion) and (ipod* or mp3 or apple computer)

Glean information on the industry as well:
(mp3 players or ipod or digital audio players) and (industry or market or forecasts or trends or sales or units)

EBSCOhost Business Source Premier: Provides full text for nearly 3,300 scholarly business journals, including full text for more than 1000 peer-reviewed business publications dating as far back as 1922. Search within the following advertising industry trade publications for information on marketing/advertising campaigns:

See also trade press such as Electronic Engineering Times or Billboard.

EBSCO Business Source Premier - Business Searching Interface also contains industry profiles, from Datamonitor, refine search by choosing Publication Type, Industry Report. For overview of company in a PDF format by Datamonitor, search for company name, then choose Company profiles. Includes SWOT anaylsis.

Only Finding a Citation? Getting the Full Text

Within library databases, look for the FullTextFinder link, for retrieval options.

Is the journal online or here in the library? Search our Journals, Magazines, & Newspapers
Visit another library: Search WorldCat to find out one
Request delivery from another library: Interlibrary Loan.

Customer & Target Market Information

Sample Search

(mp3 players or ipod) and (consumers or customers or demographic* or target market or ages or gender or income or ethnicity)

Consumer Reports.: Location: POPULAR magazines 3rd floor. Current 5 years. Online via EBSCO Business Source Premier 1991 to present (Embargo: 3 months)
Consumers Research Magazine: Location: POPULAR magazines, 3rd floor. Coverage: Current 5 years. Online via Ebscohost Business Source Premier 1990-2004.
Encyclopedia of Associations. Detroit, Gale Research Co. [REF HS17 G334]: Trade associations may be good sources of statistical and market information. To find association web sites, also try a web search on keywords: association consumer electronic devices. For example, this will lead you to the Consumer Electronic Association, which has a profile on usage of portable audio players.

Competitors And Manufacturers

Check Competition section of 10-K filing if publicly traded company
Check Hoovers
Search Patents
Search for other similar products and research the company (Creative Labs - Zen Micro)
Try company directories in the library or online (by industry or product code):
- Directory of Corporate Affiliations. 5 vols. Ref HG4057 A219
- Thomas Register of American Manufacturers.

Industry Information

Use Databases & Electronic Resources mentioned above, but also the following resources may also be useful.

Encyclopedia of American Industries - snapshots of industry data by broad industry category (electronic components; Electronic Computers, etc. by SIC code)
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. [REFDESK HF5681 R25 T68].
Business Statistics of the United States. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press. [REF HC 101 A13124]
U.S. Industry & Trade Outlook. New York : DRI/McGraw-Hill : Standard & Poor's ; Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Commerce/International Trade Administration. [REF HC106.5 A17]
The Value Line Investment Survey - contains one page company & industry snapshots, with forecasted earning and sales information as well as some textual analysis of the current situation for investors.

Give Credit! Cite Your Sources

Try RefWorks if you wish to create a personal database of your references which can be output into any citation style.

Questions?

Stop by the reference desk or set up a research consultation.

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Last modified: Sep 04, 2007, 09:40 EDT