Understanding the Business Environment Library Session Understanding the Business Environment Yanli Li Business and Economics Librarian September 25th, 2016

Agenda for Today The library website and starting points for research Finding industry information Competitive environment analysis Finding company information Finding market information Finding customer information Financial analysis – estimating sales and costs Finding business articles Citation Reference help

The Library Website The Library website is the gateway to many resources, including: Books, articles, journals Databases Subject & course guides 

Off-campus Authentication You perform your research first. If you want to access e-resources off-campus and are prompted for authentication, enter your Network Login username and password.

Library Electronic Resources vs. Google Searching Electronic books, journals & magazines, articles Databases Company Industry Market research Financial data Statistics And much more ….

Library Electronic Resources vs. Google Searching Library resources are: selected for quality and relevance to teaching and research Generally not available on the Internet Much quicker and comprehensive in most cases Very reliable as most information is written by the industry experts or collected by people in the industry

Your First Stop for Research BU 111 Course Guides: https://library.wlu.ca/services/course Business Subject Guide: http://library.wlu.ca/services/subject/business Business databases: http://library.wlu.ca/research-materials/databases#tab- advanced Tutorials – Finding Business Information: http://library.wlu.ca/help/tutorials

Your First Stop for Research Search for books, articles, and working papers in PRIMO Good for general research on large industries and companies: e.g. retail*, Blackberry Try search terms: online communication, wechat, chatbot, mobile instant messaging, IM app, messaging app, mobile payment, etc.

Hands on Practice Exercise 1 – Primo search Find articles regarding the application of chatbots Can you find this article? Doland, Angela. How Crayola Used Wechat and Alibaba to Grow Sales in China? Advertising Age, May 30, 2016, Vol.87(11), p.0027

Finding Industry Information Industry Classification Codes Most databases allow you to search information on an industry using NAICS codes or SIC Codes. NAICS 2012 Canada   NAICS - U.S. Census Bureau   SIC Codes SIC Codes - Canada   SIC - U.S. Department of Labor  

Finding Industry Information Key industry databases: providing industry reports including industry overview, trends, outlook, statistics, and much more. *Marketline Search by key words, or browse industries. *NetAdvantage Click “Industries” on the top. *Thomson One IE browser only *Business Source Complete Search by key words Since students’ business plans in this course should focus on the development of a new technology venture, the databases below are ones that provide coverage of technology industries.

Finding Industry Information Key industry databases: *ProQuest Browse > Business > Industry and Market research > BMI and First Research reports *Infomart Click “industry reports” *Industry Canada   Search by key words, NAICS codes or browse industries.

Hands on Practice Exercise 2: Industry research Find a report on hot drinks industry in Canada published by Canadean in 2016 that provides a market snapshot to 2019? (Thomson One) Find a report on telecommunication industry in Canada. (ProQuest: search by key words or browse BMI reports) 453910 NAICS code: 453910 Pet and Pet Supplies Stores

Competitive Environment Analysis Five Forces Analysis

Competitive Environment Analysis Five Forces Analysis using industry databases  *Marketline  Type the industry name in the search box and find Five Forces Analysis from the industry report. Video tutorial: International industry research: Marketline  Thomson One  Look in analyst reports for Five Forces Analysis. Video tutorial: Analyst reports: Thomson One Tip: Five Forces analysis is not available for every industry. Consider searching for a related industry and evaluate whether or not the same factors apply to the industry you are researching.

Competitive Environment Analysis Five Forces Analysis using Journal databases ABI/Inform Complete Business Source Complete Factiva LexisNexis Academic Tips Use a company or industry name combined with the following sample search terms in any of the above trade journal databases.

Competitive Environment Analysis Five Forces Search Strategies Buyer Power size OR concentration* OR market share* OR position* OR dominan* Bargaining Power of Suppliers bargain* OR negotiat* Rivalry marketplace OR compet* OR market share* OR market size* OR dominan* OR position* OR segment* Threat of Substitution differentiat* OR unique* OR new OR improv* Threat of New entrant (buyer* OR customer* OR consumer*) AND (preference* OR motivat* OR behavior* OR attitude* OR loyalt* )

Competitive Environment Analysis PEST(LE) Analysis

Competitive Environment Analysis Finding PEST(LE) Analysis Reports Conduct a country search to locate a complete PESTLE report using Marketline. Split up each letter or factor separately, i.e. "P – political", and do research on it using the recommended tools in the Bu111 course guide for each factor.

Competitive Environment Analysis Useful databases for PEST(LE) analysis: *LexisNexis Academic (click “Search by subject or topic” > Country Information) *Passport (country reports) *Mergent Online (country profile) *ProQuest (Browse > Business > Country Reports) More resources: Business subject guide > country research Economics subject guide > statistics and policy papers

Hands on Practice Exercise 3: Find a Five Forces Analysis report on baby food industry of Canada. (Marketline) Find a PESTLE analysis report on Brazil. (Marketline) Find a report on coffee industry in Canada including competitive landscape. (Passport)

Finding Company Information Public Companies Traded on stock exchanges or over-the-counter Subject to regulation by Security Exchanges Required by law to file reports publicly Relatively easier to find information Recommended resources: *SEDAR, *Mergent Online, *Infomart, *Marketline, *Hoover's Company Records, LexisNexis Academic  Searching from the company side, you may have a chance to read a story about how the company has developed, e.g. improved profitability by adopting a new information system.

Private Companies Not required to report publicly Much more difficult to find information about them Recommended resources: *Canadian Company Capabilities, LexisNexis Academic, NetAdvantage, Hoover's Company Records, Infomart, company website, article search When doing research on your own company or on competitors good to think about are they private or publicly-traded. Quickly show them range of databases available for finding information about publicly-traded companies. Challenge of finding information about private companies. Talk about what tends to be out there e.g. brief profile information in our databases, competitors info., web site of company itself, articles maybe. Show the list of resources for finding information about private companies.

Canadian Company Capabilities Search by company name or industry Special Directories (includes Information and Communication Technologies sector)

LexisNexis Academic  (Company Profiles includes company overviews, securities filings, financials. The Dossier link allows for creating a company list)

S&P NetAdvantage (Brief company snapshots) Select “Register Private Co. “ from the drop down list Choose any combination of basic filters to find Private Companies that match your criteria

Finding SWOT reports on a company Thomson One * Marketline Passport * LexisNexis Academic * Business Source Complete Steps: https://library.wlu.ca/services/subject/business- technology-management#libcontent-swot

Hands-on Practice Exercise 4 – Company Information Find a SWOT analysis report on Starbucks Corporation (LexisNexis Academic) Find competitors of Pet Valu (Hoover’s Company Record via ProQuest Entrepreneurship) Find financials(revenue, earnings per share) of Dollarama (Infomart)

Finding Market Information Look at market share, brand share, distribution, total sales/revenues, #of competitors, etc. Tools you can use: Passport (industry reports and market statistics)* Market Share Reporter (market statistics)* Infomart (click "Industry reports")  Marketline (industry reports) Industry Canada (industry statistics) ABI/Inform Complete (articles) Business Source Complete (articles)

Finding Market Information Passport (consumer electronics sales in Canada)

Finding Market Information Market Share Reporter (e.g. market share of top electronics brands) Click each title to access the detailed market share info

Hands-on Practice Exercise 5 – Market Information Find the brand shares and company shares of mobile phones in Canada. (Passport) Find the market shares of top mobile apps in terms of # of visitors. (Market share reporter)

Finding Customer Information Demographic (who they are) Geographic (where they are) Behavioristic (how they live)

Finding Customer Information Target customer Look at consumer demographics Tools you can use: Statistics Canada (data) 2011 Canadian Census Profile *  Canadian National Household Survey * allow you to search by postal code (e.g. N2L3C5) Passport * (country reports) FP Markets: Canadian Demographics (print – Ref HC 111 .S9) CANSIM  time series data including many demographic variables

Finding Customer Information Passport Look under the Consumers tab and select the sections on the left panel. Needs updating the first image

Finding Customer Information Location Consider the geographic area of your business Tools you can use: Scott’s Directories * Canadian Company Capabilities Lexis Nexis Academic Build a list of Companies in your industry

Chambers of Commerce websites, i.e. Guelph Chamber of Commerce City websites, i.e. City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo Trade association websites (select “Associations Canada” only)

Finding Customer Information Consumer spending behaviour & patterns Tools you can use: Survey of Household Spending (via CANSIM)* Passport (reports) Factiva (surveys & polls) * ABI/Inform Complete (articles) Business Source Complete (articles) Trade association websites (check Associations Canada only)

Finding Customer Information Factiva can be used to find articles that report on consumer spending behaviour in surveys. Tip: Click "Subject" then under "All Subjects" expand "Content Types" > click on "Surveys/Polls". Also, can narrow by geographic region. Click "Region" > enter country/province/city name in search box found "All regions".

Hands-on Practice Exercise 6 – Customer Information Find a list of companies in Ontario in the business of mobile applications or mobile messaging services. (Scott’s Directories) Find the number of immigrants (total, female, male) in the Kitchener - Cambridge – Waterloo area who landed in Canada from 2006-2011. (National Household Survey 2011) Answer: 15,245; 7,255; 7,990 Find the Household expenditures on online services in 2014 (Survey of household spending (SHS) via CANSIM, answer: $48 per household) Table 203-0026 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 Survey of household spending (SHS), household spending, by age of reference person annual (dollars)

Financial Analysis- Estimating costs  * Financial Performance Data - Industry Canada Find information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) with annual revenues between $30,000 and $5,000,000. Include your own and data and compare with industry averages Help you project your costs as your business grows Search or browse industry, arranged by NAICS codes  

Set up criteria, select an industry and hit “Create report”

Hands-on Practice Exercise 7 – Financial Performance Data Please create a report on pet and pet supplies stores in Ontario

Regulations and Patents Regulations – MaRS A wealth of information from the MaRS library on regulations. Legal – MaRS A wealth of legal information from the MaRS library. CanLII  The Canadian Legal Information Institute. Provides free federal and provincial legislation. Quicklaw  Quicklaw provides full-text access in English and French to all federal regulations.

Regulations and Patents Espacenet   Free to use and allows PDF downloads of patent documents from over 70 countries. Canadian Patents Database (CIPO)   Full-text documents:1920 to present. Allows you to access patent descriptions and images, to search, retrieve and study more than 2,140,000 patent documents.

Finding Business Articles ProQuest Business Source Complete Scholars Portal Journals Factiva LexisNexis Academic

Finding Business Articles Search strategy tips Boolean: AND (narrow search); OR (broaden search) downsizing AND human resources; “business to business” OR B2B Truncation: find relevant variants on a word organiz*, strateg*, manag* Put phrases in quotes “human resources management”

Citation Laurier Library – Citing Sources: York University – Business Citation Guide http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/bizcita tions

Hands-on Practice Exercise 8 – Finding Articles Find an article on behaviors of consumers drinking coffee. Find an article on spending patterns change in retirement

Research Help General questions – ask the library: ◦ By Chat or Email: https://library.wlu.ca/help/askus ◦ By Phone: 519-884-0710, ext. 3222 In-depth questions – ask your subject librarian Yanli Li ◦ Email: yli@wlu.ca ◦ Book an appointment form