Selected Market Research Resources
Prepared by
The SBDC National Information Clearinghouse
http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu
General Business Information:
American City Business Journals - http://www.amcity.com/. Business related news for many US cities.
Search for articles on industry trends, compare similar businesses in other cities, and check your
competition.
American Demographics Magazine - http://www.demographics.com/publications/ad/index.htm. Good
for discovering trends, obtaining marketing ideas, and identifying markets for businesses that market to
consumers.
Edward Lowe Foundation - http://www.lowe.org/. The Ed Lowe Foundation maintains a searchable
database of articles, book chapters, and SBA publications dealing with a wide variety of small business
issues.
EntreWorld (Kauffman Center) - http://www.entreworld.org/. The Kauffman Foundation supports
entrepreneurial education. Their website provides a good source for training materials.
Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/. Online version of Forbes magazine.
Inc Magazine - http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/. Search for general business trends at this popular
business magazine’s website.
NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System)- The new system that will replace the
SIC within the next few years. NAICS was created in order to compare and track the economies in Canada,
Mexico and the United States. The 1997 US Economic Census is reported by NAICS. NAICS codes can
be located at: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html. See also: SIC.
SIC (Standard Industrial Classification)- All establishments are assigned a classification by the Federal
Government for statistical and other reporting purposes based upon their primary business function. Most
private and public statistics are reported at the SIC level. SICs can be located at:
http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html. See also: NAICS.
Small Business Sourcebook (Gale Research) – Contains sources of information related to starting
specific types of small businesses. Typical entries include citations for start-up info, associations, trade
publications, reference works, statistics, supply sources and databases.
Small Business Profiles (Gale Research) – Provides short vignettes about selected small businesses.
Includes brief statistics and contact information for associations and franchise opportunities.
SmartStart Your <State> Business (Oasis Press) – Part of a series that contains a variety of general
business information and some knowledge specific to individual states. It includes federal and state agency
contacts, sample legal forms, business plan guidelines, marketing information, and human resources advice.
Financial Information:
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios (Prentice Hall) – Provides ratios and industry
norms in actual dollar figures derived from IRS data. Each industry includes performance indicators such
as total assets, cost of operations, wages, asset turnover, and profit margins.
Financial Studies of the Small Business (Financial Research Associates)- Similar to RMA but surveys
small and micro-businesses only. Organized by industry.
Market Share Reporter (Gale Research) – Organized by SIC categories (industry groups). Reports
percentage of market held by leading companies in each category covered. Usually gives total market size
for each category.
Robert Morris Associates (RMA) Annual Statement Studies – On disk or in print. Contains ratios
derived from statements of commercial bank borrowers and prospects. Organized by 4 digit SIC code,
most editions contain only national averages.
I:/Client/Market Research
Market Research Bibliography
SBDCNet
October 11, 2002
Financial Information (Continued):
Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys – Industry surveys in each of 52 topics. Each topic contains trends
comparative company analysis and forecasts. Each survey is published independent of the other topics.
US Industry & Trade Outlook (McGraw-Hill/US Dept. of Commerce) – Hundreds of tables and charts,
industry reviews, trends and forecasts divided by 50 major industry groups. Each group essay may contain
more specific information about products and services in that category.
Demographic Information:
American Factfinder (US Census) -- http://factfinder.census.gov. Users can access statistical data about
their geographic area. Includes demographic and economic statistics.
County Business Patterns (US Census) - http://www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html.
Employment and establishment data for U.S. counties.
FedStats -- http://www.fedstats.gov/. The gateway to statistics from Federal Agencies.
Acorn Lifestyle Lookup -- http://www.infods.com/freedata. See 2000 demographic estimates and lifestyle
data for a zip code of your choice. NOTE: This is NOT official Census data!
Demographics Journal (MSA Statistics) - http://www.bizjournals.com/journals/demographics/.
From the publishers of the American City Business Journals. State and MSA rankings for a variety of
different demographic characteristics are available.
Consumer Expenditure Survey (BLS) – http://www.bls.gov/cex. Provides average expenditure data for
the nation, regions, and selected cities.
The Sourcebook of ZIP Code Demographics (CACI) – Demographic information by zip code. Includes
population, race, income, and expenditure information for each ZIP code in the US.
See also: http://econdata.net and http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/SBIC/demograpics.htm.
Directories:
American Wholesaler and Distributor Directory (Gale Research) – Provides listings of wholesalers and
distributors sorted by product category and by state.
Catalog of Catalogs (Woodbine House) – Billed as “ The Complete Mail-Order Directory” this resource
contains the descriptions and contact information to 14,000 catalogs. It is indexed by subject and by
company name.
Directory of Manufacturers' Sales Agencies (Manufacturing Agents National Association) – Lists
manufacturer’s sales agencies alphabetically and by state. All companies included are members of the
Manufacturers’ Agents National Association. Also has information on how to select a sales agent.
Encyclopedia of Associations (Gale Research) – Guide to thousands of National and International
organizations. Contains contact information and descriptions and is indexed by name, key word, and
geographic area.
Thomas Food Industry Register http://www.tfir.com/. Free directory of food manufacturers and
suppliers to the food industry.
Thomas Register of Manufacturing http://www.thomasregister.com/. This widely used directory
includes national listing of most manufacturing firms.
The SBDC National Information Clearinghouse
“A Partnership of SBA, SBDC, ASBDC, & UTSA”
Page 2
Market Research Bibliography
SBDCNet
October 11, 2002
Market Research Tutorials:
How to learn about an industry or a specific company http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/howto/search.htm
http://home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/index.html
http://gopher.nypl.org/research/sibl/company/companyinfo.html
Market Research Workbook- http://www.umsl.edu/~smallbus/MRW/mrw.pdf.
Miscellaneous:
Industry Information - http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/industry.htm and http://www.sba.gov/ADVO/stats/profiles
Sample Business Plans/Business Planning Guides- http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/bplans.htm
Small Business Administration - http://www.sba.gov/.
SBA Women’s Business Center - http://www.onlinewbc.gov/. Not just for women. The business center
provides several tutorials for people starting a business and lists several links for further information.
Entrepreneur Magazine - http://www.entrepreneur.com
National Business Incubation Association – http://www.nbia.org
Business Owner’s Toolkit – http://www.toolkit.cch.com
Magazine Articles – http://www.findarticles.com
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Small
Business Administration under Award Number SBAHQ-99-B-0001.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed
in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The SBDC National Information Clearinghouse
“A Partnership of SBA, SBDC, ASBDC, & UTSA”
Page 3