Information Services and Systems Welcome! Croeso! Your Librarians are: Elen Wyn Davies Sam Oakley Michele Davies Rebecca Kelleher Marie Bevan

Information Services and Systems Your MSc Part 2 assignments A management consulting report A new business plan What information will you need for these assignments? During this session well look at reputable & scholarly sources of business information, using EBSCO Business Source Complete, ProQuest Business Collection, FAME and Mintel

Information Services and Systems The management consulting report: what will I need? A company profile – to get an overview Annual financial report – financial health An industry report – state of the industry Market research reports – consumer behaviour and trends Commodity reports– forecasts on supply & demand & prices of crops and raw materials Country profile – economic & political risks Scholarly articles – **very important** Latest news– ensure youre up-to date

Information Services and Systems Format of the management consulting report The project should be in the format of a strategic management report, however, students should make full use of academic references. Page 3 & 4 of the MSc Management handbook Referencing advice: on Library support for Business & Economics (Blackboard)Library support for Business & Economics (Blackboard)

Information Services and Systems Business plan for a new business venture Similar information sources as the Management Consulting report EXCEPT Focus is on a new venture The business ideas need to be grounded in research (your own investigations, plus information from industry and market research reports and scholarly articles). Need ideas? Try Mintel Inspire (more later)

Information Services and Systems Format of the Business Plan Page 7 of the MSc Management handbook Examples of business plans on ProQuest Business Collection

Information Services and Systems Tools to find business information Google? Why not? iFind Research – gateway to specialist business sources, such as: EBSCO Business Source Complete ProQuest Business Collection Mintel (for market research reports and data) FAME UK (financial company information) Nexis – global business news IBIS and Euromonitor Passport (on trial)

Information Services and Systems What is Athens? Athens is a username/password system so that Swansea University users can access the online books, journals and databases which we subscribe to. Username – Password – your usual password (for ) IMPORTANT – set the ATHENS cookie first here on your PC, laptop and mobile devices. here

Information Services and Systems Search for a company profile EBSCO Business Sources Complete Im going to search for the British chocolate confectionary company Thorntons.....

Information Services and Systems Search for a company profile Go to EBSCO Business Sources Complete Search for the Chinese multinational company LENOVO. Using the section on SWOT analysis, name one of the threats to Lenovos success. 2 minutes

Information Services and Systems Search for an industry profile EBSCO Business Source Complete, Im going to search for an industry profile on the chocolate industry....

Information Services and Systems Search for an industry profile In EBSCO Business Source Complete, search for an industry profile on: The global consumer electronics industry

Information Services and Systems Effective search tips for searching for journal articles Dont just dive into a database and type in the first words which come into your head. Plan. Break down your complicated research topic into concepts. Think of other search terms which mean the same thing

Information Services and Systems A Search Strategy Concept 1Concept 2Concept 3 Chocolate manufacturing companies GrowthStrategic planning Topic: Strategic planning for growth in chocolate manufacturing companies

Information Services and Systems A Search Strategy Concept 1Concept 2Concept 3 chocolate manufacturing companies growthstrategic planning chocolate industryexpansionbusiness planning confectionary industry diversificationcorporate planning candy industrybusiness development strategic management Cadburys, Mars, Nestles, Thorntons innovation

Information Services and Systems Boolean Operators AimBoolean OperatorSearch ExamplesRetrieval Formula To narrow your search results ANDChocolate industry AND strategic planning confectionary AND chocolate Only retrieves records containing all terms To broaden your search results ORchocolate OR cocoa workforce OR employees Retrieves records containing either one or more terms To exclude a term from your search NOTChocolate NOT ice cream Excludes records containing the second term

Information Services and Systems Phrase searching: use quotation marks strategic planning SWOT analysis chocolate confectionary industry

Information Services and Systems Truncation: use * on the root of a word Strateg* Strategic Strategy Strategically

Information Services and Systems Wildcard: use ? in the middle of a word to replace one or more letters Examples Wom?n woman, women Organi?ationorganisation, organization Behavio?rbehavior, behaviour

Information Services and Systems Search for scholarly articles on EBSCO Chocolate OR confectionary AND growth OR diversification OR innovation OR expansion AND planning OR strateg*

Information Services and Systems Search for scholarly articles on innovation management AND electronic industries Limit to Full-Text Scholarly articles published over the last 10 years.

Information Services and Systems Company finance Database: FAME (Financial Analysis Made Easy) UK & Ireland – all companies, large and small 10 years of company financial reports as filed at Companies House. My search: Thorntons

Information Services and Systems Company finance Go into the FAME database and search for Lenovo UK Ltd. Look at the standard report – how many employees? Look at the peer group (bar chart format).

Information Services and Systems Market Research Mintel Oxygen – market research reports Market : size, share, environment, competition Consumer behaviour: ownership, purchasing, usage Brands: leading companies and products My search: chocolate

Information Services and Systems Market Research Mintel Oxygen – market research reports Search on : computer tablets Take a look at the Executive summary of the Desktop, laptop and tablet computers report – which European country leads on mobile broadband penetration?

Information Services and Systems Other types of reports See your handout for help searching for: Country reports – economic overview of a country Commodity reports – forecasts on supply and demand and prices for key commodities (raw materials and foodstuffs)

Information Services and Systems Need help? Just ask! Appointments & questions – Guides, links and tutorials on Blackboard subject support for Business & EconomicsBlackboard subject support for Business & Economics

Information Services and Systems Need help? Just ask! Appointments