Research Basics - Top Tips
- Always remember to evaluate your sources!You will need to evaluate each resource you use for research, whether it is an online or print journal article, a website, a book, a newspaper article, or other source that you want to cite. Use this guide to analyze materials and to assess how appropriate they will be for your research.
- JumpStart Your ResearchResearching for a business plan, marketing plan, or similar project? Use our JumpStart Your Research form to help you through the planning process. Email it to a librarian or bring a copy to the drop-in research help desk.
Top Sources for Industry & Market Research
- Industry & Market Research GuideIncludes access to guides on specific industries
- Business Source Ultimate This link opens in a new windowProvides access to journal articles, books and videos related to business, management, economics, banking, finance, and accounting. Use for finding articles, case studies, and company and industry information.
- BCC ResearchProvides market analysis and forecasting on a wide range of major emerging technological and scientific developments in the industrial, pharmaceutical and high technology sectors worldwide.
- eMarketer This link opens in a new windowMarket research and trend analysis on Internet, e-business, online marketing, media and emerging technologies.
- IBISWorld Industry Reports This link opens in a new windowContains full-text market research reports for Canadian, US and global industries. Reports cover industry structure, trends, competitive landscape and operating conditions.
- Industry CanadaIncludes industrial sector reports
- MarketResearch.com Academic This link opens in a new windowMarket research reports for consumer products, demographics, food, beverage, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and more. Includes reports from various sources, including Freedonia Focus, Packaged Facts and Kalorama.
- Passport GMID This link opens in a new windowInternational statistical and market research reports for over 200 countries, covering consumer products and services, demographic and lifestyle reports and economic data.
- Vividata This link opens in a new windowData on Canadian consumers, print readership, product usage and lifestyles. (Formerly Print Measurement Bureau)
- SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new windowInternet-based mapping application that enables users to develop interactive thematic maps and reports using Canadian and US demographic, business, and marketing data.
- Warc : World Advertising Research Center This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles, reports and case studies on advertising. Includes advertising expenditure data. Can search by brand, advertiser, and agency.
Top Sources for Company Research
- Bloomberg This link opens in a new windowInvestment analysis database. Use to find stock prices, ratios, betas, business news, freight rates, stock exchange members, etc. Available on specific machines in the Canaccord Learning Commons, Wayne Deans Investment Analysis Centre (current Sauder students and faculty and staff only) and UBCO Library.
- Business Market Research Collection (Hoover's Company Profiles) )Canadian, US and international company data. You can search for people, company profiles, company reports, industry analysis, etc.
- Mergent Online This link opens in a new windowUS & international public company data, with enhanced features that allow you to compare companies and export data into software applications such as Excel. Annual reports. Analyst reports.
- Standard & Poor's Capital IQ This link opens in a new windowComprehensive database of global public and private companies, banks, investment firms and M&A transactions.
- SimplyAnalyticsTo extract a list of businesses within an industry:
- To view in a map: select "Business" (Top left), click on "Browse business categories" and find the industry
- To export the file: perform the previous steps, select "Businesses" (Right menu), click on "Export" and select the file format
Top Sources for International Business Research
- International Business Research GuideMore resources for researching international business intelligence information, including links on business costs, data & statistics.
- ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new windowIn addition to articles, this database contains Country risk ratings produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
- Business Source Ultimate This link opens in a new windowThis resource contains Country Reports and profiles from a variety of sources. Search for a country of your choice, and then on the left-hand side limit the source type to Country Reports.
- Canadian Trade Commissioner ServicePortal with information for Canadian exporters on doing business abroad
- Country Insights. Foreign Affairs and International Trade CanadaInternational business etiquette profiles by country
- IMF eLibrary Data This link opens in a new windowAnnual, monthly, and quarterly financial and economic time series for more than 200 countries and over 40 regional and special groups of countries.
- KPMG: Competitive AlternativesKPMG's guide for comparing business locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific
- PricewaterhouseCoopers. Doing business seriesSearch the website for the phrase "doing business" to find guides for specific regions
- World Bank Data This link opens in a new windowDevelopment-oriented statistics from the World Bank: social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators for over 200 countries and 18 country groups, covering 1960 to the present.
- World Bank: Doing BusinessObjective measures of business regulations and enforcement across 183 economies. Each economy is ranked according to 10 sets of indicators, which are combined into an overall "ease of doing business" ranking
Additional Resources
- A-Z List of Business DatabasesDo you know the business database you're looking for? Browse the lists of databases available through David Lam Library.
- Search through UBC Databases in all DisciplinesLooking for an index or database? Search UBC Library's collection of databases.
UBC Research Guides
NAICS Codes
Some market research databases and websites organize business information using industry codes.
The two industry classification systems you will come across most often are NAICS andSIC. Both are hierarchical, organized by broad industry categories, each divided into more specific industries.
Note: If you are researching a very specific or very new industry, it may not be included in these industry classification systems.
Look up the code for your industry:
- NAICS (North American Industry Classification System)Developed in 1997, by Canada, the United States and Mexico. Industry codes are from 2-6 digits long.
- SIC (Standard Industrial Classification)An older industry classification system. NAICS was intended to replace SIC, however, some resources still use SIC codes to classify information.