LibGuides: EI101: First-Year Business Experience 2018-19 (all sections): Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis Resources

Use Google to match keywords or phrases that describe your product or industry (ex: "ice cream") with the phrases below to find lists or directories that may include potential competitors or suppliers.

trade associations (look for membership directories)
trade publications
trade shows (look for exhibitor lists)
buyer's guides
supplier guides (ex: ThomasNet)
Google Patents (find companies that have received patents for similar products)

Other Tips on finding trade sources:

Google industry keywords with the word "association." ex: "fast food" association
Find an industry report and look for links to trade sources in the report (ex: First Research report).
Search Google Patents to find companies that have received patents for similar products.
Use keywords to search a database and then filter results to trade publications. (ex: Business Source Complete database).

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete is the world's definitive scholarly business database. Includes books, case studies, company profiles, economic reports, industry reports, SWOT analyses, in addition to nearly 2,000 peer-reviewed journals.
First Research This link opens in a new window
First Research provides comprehensive research reports on over 200 industries. Search by keyword, SIC, or NAICS codes to find industry studies that cover trends and opportunities, the competitive environment, financials, and executive profiles.

TIP: Start with the AtoZ or Mergent Intellect database to create a list of competitors. AtoZ will let you create a heat map of companies in a specific location. The PrivCo databases focuses on private companies. The BizMiner database will provide financial norms for industries and will also help you find competitors within a market area. For help using Mergent and other databases, see the tutorials linked on this guide.

AtoZ Databases This link opens in a new window
AtoZdatabases is a reference and marketing database marketed to Library, Academic, and Government institutions throughout the U.S. This web-based solution provides details on businesses and households within the U.S.
BizMiner This link opens in a new window
BizMiner provides financial and market reports for thousands of U.S. industries at the state, metro, county, or zip code level. Use BizMiner to find financial benchmarks, business startup trends, and more.
Mergent Intellect This link opens in a new window
Powered by D&B's Hoover's, Intellect provides access to 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. It also provides access to contact information for over 210 million U.S. consumers using WhitePages Pro data.
Sports Market Analytics (SMA) This link opens in a new window
SMA is an online international sport marketing and business information provider focusing on sport participation, fan profiles, sports facilities, sport finance, sporting goods, sponsorship, marketing, media, and directories.
PrivCo This link opens in a new window
Users can create an individual account with their Butler email address. PrivCo.com is a proprietary database that sources private company financial data.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista.com provides companies, business customers, research institutions, and the academic community with direct access to quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets.

Try the databases linked below to find general business news articles (ex: WSJ, Forbes, local business newspapers)

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete is the world's definitive scholarly business database. Includes books, case studies, company profiles, economic reports, industry reports, SWOT analyses, in addition to nearly 2,000 peer-reviewed journals.
Regional Business News This link opens in a new window
This database provides coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers and newswires from all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new window
This is the Eastern edition of the Wall Street Journal, available from 1984 to the present.

Business Databases by Topic
Use this chart to help you find the best business databases for specific topics.

EI101: First-Year Business Experience 2018-19 (all sections): Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis Resources

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