Jigsaw Puzzles, Pyramids, and Stars Secondary Market Research Shapes and Sources Mark Bodnar SFU Burnaby & Surrey mbodnar@sfu.ca

High-Level View Wrong geography Wrong industry Wrong scale Wrong topic 9/9/2010 High-Level View Secondary = perfect?… Secondary = (im)perfect… Wrong geography Wrong industry Wrong scale Wrong topic Wrong time SFU Library

High-Level View Secondary = unnecessary… Secondary = necessary… 9/9/2010 High-Level View Secondary = unnecessary… Secondary = necessary… Image credit: A Floating Castle of Dreams by Torley https://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/3105347202 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License. SFU Library

High-Level View fragmented Secondary business/market information is... 9/9/2010 High-Level View fragmented & incomplete Secondary business/market information is... Image credit: ClkerFreeVectorImages via https://pixabay.com/en/users/ClkerFreeVectorImages-3736/ SFU Library

High-Level View Likely to be published? 9/9/2010 High-Level View Likely to be published? Data on imports of cheese to Canada by country of origin for 10 years. Explicit details on the strategic plan of a small, private, artisan cheese producer in Chilliwack. Details on the supply chain of a processed cheese spread manufacturer? The number of people in South Surrey who buy cheese frequently. SFU Library

Layered business information… 9/9/2010 High-Level View Big name analysis Below + analysis Aggregated information + gaps filled with primary research Aggregated and incomplete information Dispersed and incomplete information $$$ Layered business information… SFU Library

9/9/2010 High-Level View SFU Library

9/9/2010 High-Level View SFU Library

High-Level View MarketLine forecast for 2019 is $3,132,800,000 9/9/2010 High-Level View MarketLine forecast for 2019 is $3,132,800,000 Passport forecast for 2019 is $4,192,700,000 Passport number is about 33% higher than MarketLine. Why are they so different? Is one right and the other wrong? SFU Library

Layered business information… 9/9/2010 High-Level View Layered business information… $$$ analysis + analysis + primary research Aggregated Dispersed Issues below (again) Issues below, plus… Expertise Experience Track record Issues below, plus… Methodology Varying definitions Varying quality Gaps SFU Library

High-Level View Likely publishers… 9/9/2010 Regulations, Trade Data, Industry Overviews, and more... High-Level View NEWS Governments Associations Companies Researchers Private Academics Likely publishers… Directories and Industry Overviews How and Why Questions Pyramid peak! (See previous slide) Key financials? News about actions taken? SFU Library

Information about fish consumption in Canada? 9/9/2010 High-Level View NEWS Governments Associations Companies Researchers Private Academics Likely publishers… Information about fish consumption in Canada? ? SFU Library

High-Level View A few takeaways… 9/9/2010 High-Level View A few takeaways… Not all information is publicly available You will have to make some estimates & inferences Estimates & inferences need a foundation “Peak” reports are great, but not sufficient Get to know your local librarians! SFU Library

High-Level View Ask or be asked… Why would this info be published? 9/9/2010 High-Level View Ask or be asked… Why would this info be published? Why might it not be published? Might someone have estimated it? Can we bend the constraints a bit? Can we look for disaggregated info instead? SFU Library

Small Business Accelerator sba.ubc.ca 9/9/2010 On the Ground Starting points Sources & Strategies Small Business Accelerator sba.ubc.ca SFU Library’s business guides Help > Find materials by subject & course > Business > Additional resources IBISWorld Passport ORBIS SimplyMap Canada Vividata (e)books Factiva & TechNavio Google site limiting Realtor.ca Google Scholar Private research firm blogs Reports from major consulting firms + Statista! SFU Library