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A current awareness resource for students & faculty members in Business & Economics


Launching, financing, and running a new business venture? You're not alone!

Published by Mark Bodnar
Entrepreneurs can be found in almost every SFU faculty and department, which is probably not a surprise given that we're Canada's top university for innovation! If you're among the many who are pivoting your way through the difficult process of starting a new enterprise (social or commercial), or if you've just invented a new product and aren't sure what to do next, I hope you know that the SFU Library is here to support you!

<Read on to learn about recent ebooks, audiobooks, videos, and case studies to help you on your startup journey!>

Financial Times via SFU: the depth & breadth you need to understand our changing world

Published by Mark Bodnar
Small, square logo of the Financial Times
A bit of good news in these difficult budgetary times: SFU's subscription to the Financial Times has been renewed.

Funded in partnership with the Beedie School of Business, our direct subscription to the Financial Times gives us full access to the FT's visual & data journalismvideos, podcasts, and much more.

I appreciate the FT's news articles, but for me the value of our subscription is in the access to the deeper FT content: the analysis of major world issues and availability of multiple perspectives on complex topics. I'll cover some highlights of the many types of FT content below...

<Read on for a taste of all the FT has to offer!>

New reports on Canadian consumers: revealing the power behind Vividata's complexity

Published by Mark Bodnar
Image showing 4 puzzle pieces labelled Opinions, Activities, Demographics, and Purchases, with a Canadian flag in the centre.
With great power comes great... complexity?

Sorry about mangling that Spider-man quote. My point is that sometimes the most powerful databases are, unavoidably, also the most complex. Sadly, that complexity can act as a barrier, causing researchers to avoid some amazing sources.

Take, for instance, our Vividata database... Vividata’s Study of the Canadian Consumer reaches 40,000+ Canadians each year, gathering detailed data on Canadians’ opinions, demographics, and activities, as well as their product, service, and media purchases...

<Read on to learn about a series of 21 infographic-laden reports about Canadian consumers, informed by our complex-yet-powerful Vividata database!>

AI, 5G, IoT, SaaS, VR and beyond: more Plunkett Industry Almanacs online for SFU researchers!

Published by Mark Bodnar
I'm very pleased to report that we've added several new industry almanacs to our Plunkett Research Online collection.

Plunkett industry almanacs are a useful supplement to our other industry reports, such as those in our IBISWorld database. They don't generally contain much analysis, but they provide the information you need to start analyzing potential markets yourself... trends, statistics, contacts, and competitors...

Elgar Encyclopedia of Financial Crises: Learn from the past!

Published by Mark Bodnar
Cover of the ebook: Elgar Encyclopedia of Financial Crises.
If you read the news as much as I do, it can seem like we are doomed to lurch endlessly from crisis to disaster and back again. That's particularly evident in finance and economics where cycles are regularly punctuated with deep troughs.

Cycles may be an unavoidable feature of the financial system, but crises don't have to be... as long as we learn from the past. To that end, here's one of our newest ebooks here in the SFU Library: Elgar Encyclopedia of Financial Crises.

<Read on for details on that ebook, and, of course, more!>

On hybrid NGOs, foodservice, and marketing strategies

Published by Mark Bodnar
Simple line drawing of a dining table set with flowers, candles, and covered food trays
Hi all! My last post was intended to help a class that will be focusing on digital nomads for their research. This time I'm here to help the other half of the same class — students who are working on a marketing strategy project involving a Portuguese not-for-profit/NGO that operates a cafe, a catering business, and a restaurant.

As with my last post, this one is meant to highlight a few search tricks & strategies, as well as some key resources. There's no way I could cover all possible resources in a single post, even if I knew your specific research questions, so it's the search strategies and tips that are the most important in what follows, starting with a short discussion about how to think about your research goals...

<Read on for soooo much more!>

On digital nomads: research sources, strategies, and tips

Published by Mark Bodnar
Simple line drawing of a person working on a laptop while sitting in a hammock.
Some of the students in one of Beedie's courses are focusing on digital nomads this term. I thought I'd have some fun and do a fast scan of a few of our many databases to see what I might dig up.

Even if this isn't your current research topic, the sources and perspectives I discuss here may get you thinking about different ways to approach your own research topic and about the wide range of library resources available to support you.

<Read on for many resources (and some free advice)...>