Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore

FIN430 - Entrepreneurial Organization and Finance

ENTR460/FIN760 - Social Enterprise

J.C. Weiss
Fall 2009

Individual course index / fa09/fin430_weiss.htm

Introduction | Locations
Research Industries | Research Companies | Research Customers
General Sources | Busness Plans | Journal Articles | Book catalogs
Other helpful information

Introduction:
This guide will help you find information for your business plans.

For questions, contact the librarian for this course:

You can also email Langsdale Library Reference at langref@ubalt.edu, call at 410-837-4274, or try our Live Chat.

Class Session Materials:

Locations:
Information always costs money... to someone. Often, libraries or government agencies have already paid for the information for you. Here is quick guide to who may provide you with access to a resource:

  • UB: University of Baltimore. Books are available in the Langsdale Library. Web resources are available to current UB students, staff, and faculty with a University of Baltimore library barcode.
  • Pratt: Enoch Pratt Free Library (Baltimore Public Library) . Books are available at the central library or at library branches. Web resources are available with a Baltimore city library barcode, which any Maryland resident can get.
  • Free: Free to anyone on the Web
  • $$$: Not available for free, but can be purchased. Often expensive.

1. Research Industries:

Annual Statement Studies. (2009). Risk Management Association (formerly Robert Morris and Associates). (UB: Ready Reference 1st floor - HF 5681 .B2 R6)

Business Source Premier [on-campus] [help]
This database is primarily an index to business journals. It does include lots of great industry surveys, however. To get to the industry surveys, go to the Refine Search section at the bottom of the search screen and select Publication Type: Industry Profile. See the Industry Reports in Business Source Premier handout for a screenshot describing what to do. (UB)
Also: http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/database_list.aspx (Pratt)

Census Bureau. County Business Patterns. (Free)
 http://www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html
Industry data by county/city/zip code.

Census Bureau. Current Industrial Reports. (Free)
 http://www.census.gov/cir/www/
Current statistical profiles of large industries. Focuses on manufacturing and construction.

Census Bureau. Economic Census. (Free)
 http://www.census.gov/econ/census/
Detailed portrait of the nation's economy every five years. National, state, and local information available. See the latest data as it comes out at the 2007 Economic Census page.

Census Bureau.
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) . (Free)
 http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
Searchable guide to the industry codes used by the U.S. government. NAICS codes are very specific, and can be used in many business information sources.

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios. (2009). Short Hills, NJ: Dun & Bradstreet. (UB: Ready Reference 1st floor - XHF 5681 .R25 D9)

Key Business Ratios [on-campus]
Description: D&B's Key Business Ratios help you understand the true performance of a company, by benchmarking it against its industry peers. The 14 key business ratios cover all critical areas of business performance—solvency, efficiency and profitability. And, using an individual company's financial statements with Key Business Ratios, you can generate a comparison of a company's own business ratios with the industry.
Time span: Current year.

Mintel Market Reports [on-campus]
Mintel provides access to hundreds of reports on a variety of European, UK-specific and US consumer markets. Each report that Mintel publishes provides a unique overview of a market including its dynamics and prospects. Visitors to the website can search by keyword or browse for relevant publications by 'category'.
Note that academic users of this site must first agree to the academic conditions of use. Then you must create and sign in using a profile consisting of an email address and a password before you can see the reports that are available.(UB)

Standard & Poor's industry surveys (2009). New York: Standard & Poor's. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HC 106.6 .S74 2001 Latest issue, READY REFERENCE)

2. Research Companies:

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Free)
 http://www.bls.gov
Employment, wages, prices & consumer spending, etc. National, state, and local.

Producer Price Index. (Free)
 http://www.bls.gov/ppi/home.htm
 "Measures the... the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output," according to the BLS website.

Business and Company Resource Center [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1979 - present. Profiles 400,000 companies. Provides company histories, business articles, industry rankings and analyses for selected public companies.(UB)
Also: http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/database_list.aspx (Pratt)

Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Business Entity Information Search. (Free)
 http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/UCC-Charter/CharterSearch_f.aspx
Search "business entity filings made with the Department of Assessments and Taxation."

Guidestar. http://www2.guidestar.org/
Profiles of nonprofit organizations, pulled from IRS forms and annual statements. Free registration is required.

D&B Million Dollar Database
Provides information on over 1,250,000 U.S. leading public and private businesses. Company information includes industry information with up to 24 individual 8-digit SICs, size criteria (employees and annual sales), type of ownership, principal executives and biographies. : http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/database_list.aspx (Pratt)

Hoover's Company Records[on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 2002-current. Find in-depth company information on over 5,000 companies with Hoover's Company Records. Each profile provides an overview and history, as well as as information on key people, products, subsidiaries and competitors. (UB)
Also: http://www.hoovers.com/free/ (Free) ($$$)

Mergent Online [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: Current. Mergent Online contains the electronic versions of the Mergent (formerly Moody's) Manuals (Industrial, OTC, Banking and Finance, and International), covering over 10,000 U.S. companies and thousands for foreign companies. The financial data for most companies covers 15 years. Industry reports are included. (UB)
Also: http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/database_list.aspx (Pratt)

ReferenceUSA [on-campus]
Coverage: Current. Provides directory, sales and employee size information for more than 12 million businesses in the U.S. (UB)
Also: http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/database_list.aspx (Pratt)

ThomasNet (Thomas Register of Manufacturers). (Free)
http://www.thomasnet.com/
Online version of the classic directory of manufacturing companies. You can search by product type, company, or brand name.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EDGAR. (Free)
http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Forms and reports that all public companies must file with the U.S. government. Most of the company financial information in other services is pulled from EDGAR and then processed to make it easier to understand.

3. Research Customers:

Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. (Free)
 http://www.bnia.org/
Publishes Vital Signs, an annual statistical analysis of Baltimore neighborhoods.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Free)
 http://www.bls.gov
Employment, wages, prices & consumer spending, etc. National, state, and local.

Consumer Expenditure Survey. (Free)
 http://www.bls.gov/cex/home.htm
 Tracks the "buying habits of American consumers," detailing what broad types of products they are spending money on.

Producer Price Index. (Free)
 http://www.bls.gov/ppi/home.htm
 "Measures the... the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output," according to the BLS website.

Census Bureau. (Free)
 http://www.census.gov/
Massive government website full of demographic statistics. Should be a first stop for any demographic search. Overwhelmed? Try the Census Bureau's American FactFinder: http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html

County and City Data Book. (Free)
 http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ccdb.html
Population and commerce statistics by city, county, and state.

Demographics USA County Edition (2005). New York: Market Statistics. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HF 5437 .S32).Related title for prior years: Survey of Buying Power.

Fedstats. (Free)
http://www.fedstats.gov
 Gateway to statistics from most branches of the U.S. government.

MarketResearch.com ($$$)
http://www.marketresearch.com/
Detailed, specific marketing reports, but expensive.

Magazines & News (UB) (Pratt)
You can do the research yourself, by searching through business journals and magazines yourself. This can be very inexpensive, but time-consuming and sporadic.

Prizm (Free) ($$$)
http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=20
Offers consumer profiles of zip codes, combining demographic information and consumer spending behavior. A basic overview of trends in the zip code are free. More detailed information is available for a fee.

Regional economic indicators (2000). Baltimore: Baltimore Metropolitan Council. (UB: Ready Reference 1st floor - HC108.B35 E4 2001)

Rand McNally commercial atlas and marketing guide (2004). Chicago: Rand
McNally. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HF1023 .R19 - Located on atlas stand)

Maryland State Data Center. (Free) http://www.mdp.state.md.us/MSDC/

Survey of Consumers (Free)
http://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/main.php
Broad monthly survey of consumer confidence and related issues. Published by the University of Michigan and Reuters.

General Sources:

Advertising World. (Free) http://advertising.utexas.edu/world/

Alreck, P. L. (2004). The survey research handbook. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HN29 .A46 2004)

Cohen, W. A. (2005). The marketing plan. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HF5415.13 .C6348 2005)

Consumer magazine advertising source (2002). Des Plaines, IL: SRDS. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HF 5905 .S725)

Encyclopedia of Associations (in "Ready Reference Shelf" database)
Searchable index of organizations and associations devoted to nearly any subject or cause.
http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/databases.aspx?by=name&value=R (Pratt)

Fedstats. (Free)
http://www.fedstats.gov
 Gateway to statistics from most branches of the U.S. government.

Hiebling, R.G. (2003). The successful marketing plan: a disciplined and comprehensive approach. New York: McGraw-Hill. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HF5415.13 .H523 2003)

KnowThis.com: Knowledge Source for Marketing. (Free) http://www.knowthis.com/

Marketing Power - American Marketing Association. (Free) http://www.marketingpower.com/

Business Plans:

Business Resource Software. Sample Business Plans (Free) ($$$)
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html

Harmer, W. H. (1999). Business plans handbook. Detroit: Gale. (UB: Reference 1st floor - HD62.7.B865 1999)

Timmons, J.A. (2004). Business plans that work. New York: McGraw-Hill. (UB: HD30.28.T5766 2004)

Palo Alto Software. Bplans.com (Free) ($$$)
http://www.bplans.com/

Rogoff, E.G. (2004). Bankable business plans. New York: Thomson. (UB: HD30.28.R65 2004)

U.S. Small Business Administraton. Business Plan Basics (Free)
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html

Journal Articles: This only includes selected databases based on topics; for more, see full list of Electronic Databases:

ABI Inform [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1970 - present. Indexes more than 1,300 journals on business, management, with 75% full-text. (UB)

Baltimore Sun [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: Sept 16, 1990 - present. Full text of Baltimore Sun.(UB)

Academic Search Premier  [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1990 - present. Provides full-text for over 3,400 scholarly journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, sciences, and more. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL). Need help? Read the Academic Search Premier Visual Guide. (UB)

Business Source Premier [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: Varies– present. Business Source Premier provides full text for nearly 8,350 scholarly business journals and other sources, including full text for more than 1,100 scholarly business publications. Coverage includes virtually all subject areas related to business. This database provides full text (PDF) for more than 350 of the top scholarly journals dating as far back as 1922. Funded by the Maryland Digital Library (MDL). Includes company profiles, many of which contain SWOT analyses. (UB)
Also: http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/database_list.aspx (Pratt)

Lexis-Nexis Academic [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: 1970 - present. Features full text of many newspapers and periodicals.  Also offers business news, legal materials such as federal & state codes, case law and legal journals. (UB)

Book catalogs:
Use these to locate books, journals (not individual articles), videos, and government documents.

UB Catalog [help]
Books, journals, government documents and other materials in Langsdale Library.(Free)

Catalog USMAI [help]
Books, journals, government documents and other materials in the University System of Maryland, including UB. (Free)

WorldCat [on-campus] [help]
Coverage: Varies. International database of collections (including books, journals , dissertations, documents, and other materials) held by libraries worldwide. Maryland libraries that own copies of the items display at the top of the list of libraries so you can easily determine if local libraries own the material needed. Records of any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries. Includes manuscripts written as early as the 12th century. (UB)

Other helpful information:

Enoch Pratt Free Library. Get a Pratt Library Card (Pratt) http://www.prattlibrary.org/findanswers/index.aspx?id=2310#get

Langsdale Library. Citation Styles (Free)
 http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/Citation_guide.htm
Guides to MLA, APA, and other citation styles.

Langsdale Library. Get a Langsdale Library Barcode (Free)
 https://langsdale.ubalt.edu/info_services/lib_reg_form.cfm
Register online for your library card.

Langsdale Library. Guide to Industry Research (UB)
http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/industry_guide.htm

Langsdale Library. Guide to Marketing and Advertising (UB)
http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/marketing_guide.htm

Langsdale Library. Interlibrary Loan (UB)
http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/ill_guide.htm
If you have citations for books or articles that Langsdale Library doesn't own, our staff will find another library that does, and get you a copy. Services is free, but takes 1-2 weeks.

For more information email langref@ubalt.edu, call 410-837-4274 or Chat with a Librarian at http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/info_services/contact.htm.

3/09, 09/09TA-S
http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/course_websites/fa09/fin430_weiss.htm