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Info Guides - Business Research Checklist
A Starting Point for Researching Consumer and Industry Activity
This list includes a combination of reference sources available at the Main Library and on the Internet. Use these resources as a starting point for beginning your business research.
On this page:
Factors that Affect the Business Research Process
Use the following guidelines for evaluating the kind and amount of information you will find.
In general, the larger the impact of the designated industry on the economy, the more information will be available. One way to determine the impact is to identify the number of businesses or number of people employed in the specified industry.
Is the business part of a larger industry grouping? For example, when researching a coffee shop business, the analysis may want to take into account the broader food and restaurant business, not just coffee shops.
Determine who studies the designated industry. If there are publicly held companies in the designated industry, then there will be a lot of coverage by industry analysts.
Know Who Follows Your Industry
Industry and trade associations can provide membership lists, industry research, and other specialized information. To locate industry associations check:
- American Society of Association Executives
- Search the directory by keyword or name for more than 1700 national trade and industry associations on the Internet.
- Encyclopedia of Associations
- A directory of nearly 23,000 national and international organizations.
- Small Business Sourcebook
- Lists the key associations, trade publications, and other information sources for over 300 business categories.
- Trade Show Central
- Includes links to seminars, conferences and trade shows.
- The Tradeshow Week
- Directory and statistical profiles of the leading trade shows.
Consumer Demographic Information
These sources provide insight on where to locate a business and find potential customers. Knowledge of consumer profiles, household income and age distributions are essential if your business is to succeed.
Web site for Tucson & Pima County:
- City of Tucson Planning Department
- Specializes in local census data. Select Tucson Update for monthly updates on population, employment, and more.
Books that focus on national coverage; these may include Tucson:
- Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand
- Discover who your best customers are. This book profiles the best types of residential customers to target based on demographic categories such as income, gender, education, etc. for over 300 consumer products and services ranging from food, finance, health care, and more.
- The Lifestyle Market Analyst
- Provides demographic profiles comparing over 70 lifestyle interests in over 200 major market areas.
- Community Sourcebook of ZIP Code Demographics
- Offers spending potential, population and income composition profiles by zip code.
Industry Trends
- U.S. Census Bureau
- The U.S. Economic Census includes statistical overview of national retail, manufacturing and wholesale activity. County Business Patterns profiles all sectors of the U.S. economy every 5 years, from the national to the local level.
These provide a point of comparison to businesses in the same industry based on income statements and selected financial ratios:
Books at the library:
- Financial Studies of the Small Business
- Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios
- RMA Annual Statement Studies
On the web:
- Bizstats
- Provides financial and related data for specific types of small businesses that can be used to measure average profit, degree of risk, and other key ratios.