FINDING BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENTS
What’s the difference between scholarly journal articles and reports? ............................................ 2
Company Profiles ................................................................................................................................ 3
Annual company financial reports ...................................................................................................... 4
Scholarly articles ................................................................................................................................. 5
Outputting results ............................................................................................................................... 6
Industry profiles. ................................................................................................................................. 7
Market research reports ..................................................................................................................... 8
Country reports ................................................................................................................................. 11
Commodity reports ........................................................................................................................... 12
How do I reference a report found on a database? ......................................................................... 12
NEED FURTHER HELP?
If you need help with searching databases just contact the ISS subject team for Business &
Economics on buslib@swansea.ac.uk
Tutorials & guides: http://www.swan.ac.uk/iss/libraries/subjectinformation/businesseconomics/ then follow the link to Business or Economics.
All the databases listed in this handout can be accessed via iFind Research > Business
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What’s the difference between scholarly journal articles and reports?
Scholarly journal articles (sometimes called peer-reviewed or refereed articles) are the most
important sources of information for your assignments. They are written by researchers from
universities and research institutes around the world. Before they can be published in a journal they
are rigorously scrutinised by experts in the same research field to ensure that the methodology, data
analysis and conclusions are robust.
Report literature is not usually scholarly but it can still be important and authoritative. It provides
useful data on countries, commodities, industries and markets for students of business and
economics. Reports are published by governments, international organisations , specialist
companies who gather business intelligence and by research institutes.
Publication type
Market research reports
Source (database)
Mintel Oxygen
Market research data
(only covers these markets:
Food; Drink; E-commerce;
Technology; Leisure)
Mintel Global Market Navigator
Company profiles
EBSCO Business Source Complete
ProQuest Business Collection
Annual company reports
Industry reports
ProQuest Business Collection
EBSCO Business Source Complete
and
ProQuest Business Collection
Commodity reports
ProQuest Business Collection
Country reports
EBSCO Business Source Complete
ProQuest Business Collection
Type of content
Consumer behaviour
Trends
Brands
Market leaders
Analysis
Data only
Market size
Market segmentation
Market share
Market forecasts
EBSCO: 1 million MarketLine
company profiles give an
independent overview of
companies covering: main
products, key personnel, history,
location, SWOT analysis, company
view and (occasionally) revenue
analysis.
ProQuest: Hoovers Company
Records series includes some
similar information.
7,000 annual reports
Value of an industry
Economic growth/decline
Market segmentation
Market forecasts
Market volume
Competition
Reports from the Economist
Intelligence Unit and also Oxford
Economics.
Includes: Price forecasts;
Demand & consumption;
World stock figures
1400 country profiles from the
Economist Intelligence Unit.
Also EIU country data.
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Company Profiles
A company profile will give you a useful overview of a company – its major products and services
and competitors.
EBSCO Business Source Complete
1. Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on EBSCO Business Source Complete and login
with your Athens username & password.
2. Click on More > Company Profiles at the top of the EBSCO screen, then search for a Company
profile by name of the company.
Each report should have sections on the history of the company, overview, location, key personnel,
SWOT analysis, company view, key competitors and revenue analysis
ProQuest Business Collection
1. Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on ProQuest Business Collection and login with
your Athens username & password.
2. Click on Browse, then Company Reports, then Hoovers (for UK companies)
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Annual company financial reports
Further information, including guides, workbooks and video tutorials on Blackboard .
UK & Ireland – use FAME database
1. Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on FAME and login with your Athens username &
password.
2. Enter name of company, e.g Thorntons
3. On results screen, click on company name to view standard report
4. Use menu on right-hand side to navigate report
5. Export data from tables & charts to Excel via the Export icon.
Rest of world – use ThomsonOne
1. Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on ThomsonOne and login with your Athens
username & password.
2. Enter name of company, e.g Sinopec and search.
3. Select company by clicking on company name to view details.
USA - ProQuest Business Collection (or Thomson One)
4. Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on ProQuest Business Collection and login with
your Athens username & password.
5. Click on Browse, then Company Reports, then ProQuest Annual Reports Collection (mostly
USA).
6. Browse by company name or by date or by industry.
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Scholarly articles
Tips:
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Break down your assignment title into concepts, e.g
Chocolate industry/ Strategy / Branding
Concept One: Think of alternative terms & combine with OR
e.g. chocolate OR cocoa OR confectionary
Combine with other concepts/keywords using AND:
AND ensures search terms are combined in one set of focussed results.
OR enables the user to find sufficient results whatever keywords have been used by the
database.
Results list – too many results? Limit to Scholarly Articles and to Full Text and by date.
Another way to search - use the Thesaurus to identify the best search terms:
1. Search on your
term
2. Select the best
suggested term
Click on your chosen term.
Select the term :
Click on Add (EBSCO adds the term to the Search box at the top of the screen)
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Click on Search
Outputting results.
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Browse your results for useful items.
Select items individually by clicking on Add to folder
OR
Select items a results page at a time by clicking on Alert/Save/Share
When all useful items are selected, go to Folder View
In Folder View – Select All.
Click on method of output, e.g. Email
Enter your email address - all PDF files will be attached to the email.
Select “APA” as citation format before you click on Send.
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Industry profiles.
Using EBSCO Business Source Complete, click on New Search.
For example, type in:
Chocolate or cocoa or confectionary
AND
industry
Use filters on the left-hand side of the screen to refine your results:
Limiting by Date;
Limiting to Industry Profiles
Limiting to Full-text
Still too many results?
continent).
Add “Great Britain” to the search ( or the name of any country or
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Market research reports
Mintel Oxygen market research reports include analysis, commentary and data.
NB: Swansea University subscribes to the following industry categories only:
e-commerce; food; leisure; technology; drink.
Mintel Global Markets Navigator contains industry and country data containing market
size, market share and forecast data for thousands of consumer goods categories
worldwide.
Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on Mintel Oxygen and login with your Athens username
& password. Accept “Terms & Conditions”.
Mintel Oxygen: Finding Reports
You can use the Search box (top right) to search for reports. You can also browse the report
categories listed under “Subscriptions” under “My Reports”.
Report home page
Resources on the right show summaries to download. You cannot download the entire report - you
can only download individual sections. “Executive Summary” will give an overview or click on
“Report Contents” to show the sections of the report.
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Within a section of a report you have the following options:
 Download as a document (Rich Text Format, suitable for Word)
 Print: you can only print individual sections of a Report
 Export to Basket: collect sections in your “Basket” (accessed via Tools / Export
Basket) and then download them as a single .rtf file.
Mintel Global Market Navigator: Finding Data
Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on Mintel Global Markets Navigator and login with your
Athens username & password. Accept “Terms & Conditions”.
Click on the Search option just below the Mintel logo. This displays options to construct a
set of data by Region and Country, then Industry and Market.
As you make selections, the display refreshes below to display the relevant reports
available.
Click on View results
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Using Data on Mintel Global Markets Navigator
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Select tabs displaying data (Market size, Market segmentations, Market shares,
CAGR, Socio-economic data) to view data tables.
There are options to download sections of data on the individual tabs or the entire

report can be downloaded using your preferred file options:
Toggle between market/country, or jump to a different section.
NB
If you can’t find the market research information you need on Mintel, try EBSCO or PROQUEST
databases. Both contain market research reports .
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Country reports
Country reports are useful to business leaders who wish to export to, or import from, specific
countries, or who wish to explore other markets.
EBSCO BUSINESS SOURCE COMPLETE
Search on a country, e.g Bulgaria.
Limit your search to Country Reports (under Show More), Full-Text and to recent years
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Re-sort into Date Descending order to see the most up to date publications at the top of the
results list.
Country reports include reports which give an overview of a country (Country Monitors) and
also more specific reports on political risk and on emerging markets.
PROQUEST BUSINESS COLLECTION
PROQUEST also supplies country reports : Finance and Forecast reports; Country Profiles and
Country Economic Forecasts.
1. Click on Browse
2. Select Country
Reports
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Commodity reports
Commodity reports are available from the ProQuest Business Collection.
Useful for forecasting prices, future consumption and supply of raw materials and food stuffs.
1. Access via iFindResearch > Business > click on ProQuest Business Collection and login with
your Athens username & password.
2. Click on Browse > Commodity Reports >
How do I reference a report found on a database?
Examples.
Economist Intelligence Unit. (2013). World commodity forecasts: food, feedstuffs and beverages,
February 2013. Retrieved from ProQuest Business Collection
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1287516110?accountid=14680
Financial Analysis Made Easy. (2012). John Wiley & Sons Ltd : Company financial data. Retrieved
August 15, 2012, from Financial Analysis Made Easy (FAME) database, Bureau van Dijk
Publishers. http://fame2.bvdep.com/
MarketLine. (2012). Mobile Phones in Europe Industry Profile, September 2012. Retrieved from
EBSCO Business Source Complete
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=82485178&site=ehost-live
Mintel. (2011). Coffee shops – UK - February 2011. Retreived from Mintel Oxygen
http://academic.mintel.com/
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