EI 101: First-Year Business Experience 2024-25 (all sections): Competitor Analysis

TIPS on finding trade sources:

• Google industry keywords with the word "association" to find trade associations.  ex:  "food processing" association 
• When you find a trade association website relevant to the industry, review the site's menu headings and/or use the search box on the site to look for information for your analysis (ex:  competitive trends).
• Find Trade Source websites in an IBISWorld report by going to the "About this Industry" section of the report. Look for "Additional Resources." 
•  In a First Research industry report, look for the Websites section to find links to trade sources. 
• Use keywords to search the Business Source Complete and One Business databases and then filter results to trade publications. 
• ThomasNet.com (linked below) is a trade directory that may have a listing for a competitor.  
• Use other directories linked on this page to help identify competitors.

TIP:  Start with a company's Form 10-K, which is a government source.  Look in the Business section of a public company's Form 10-K for information about its competition.

If a competitor is a public company, look at the Investor's section of the company's website for SEC filings.  See the Form 10-K.  

TIP:  Start by looking for WSJ articles. Try Google to find WSJ articles.  Example:  "fast food" site:wsj.com

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