One of the many things I love about working with Business & Economics is how the skills and strategies being taught are so practical & useful. In many cases, students are working on projects and policies that are directly and immediately relevant to issues and needs in the world beyond our campuses.
A couple years ago I collaborated with our Interactive Arts & Technology Librarian on a series of posts about one of the "wicked problems" of our modern world: sustainability in the textile & fashion industries.
That series was published to support an interdisciplinary cohort of students in our Business of Design program, all of whom were working on projects to change the way fashion and its materials are designed, produced, purchased, and discarded... change of the sort that our world so desperately needs.
The word "change" is key here. The Business of Design program has changed to Make Change Studio, but the students involved are still trying to change the world, and they've returned to the topic of fixing fast fashion.
One of our marketing classes (BUS 345 E100) is going to be doing some primary research on alternative protein products& consumers again this semester.
In support of that class, I've listed some key resources, but students in other classes may also want to use this post as a case study to learn about some of the powerful market research tools available to SFU researchers. Bon appetite!
If I were to ask you to do some research for an essay, you'd probably assume I was referring to digging up some academic journal articles, right? The connection between scholarly articles and essays is undeniably strong, and with good reason: the peer review process involved in publishing such articles ensures their high quality.
Nevertheless, there is a vast world of information beyond journals. For many assignments it may be acceptable to cite government reports, think tank analysis, ebook chapters, and even news articles...
There's an old saying that "twice is a coincidence, but three times is a trend." In the last half hour I've spotted three new cannabis/marijuana business related resources in our collection, tipping us over into trend territory.
Such a trend toward information on the business aspect of marijuana isn't really a surprise: with legalization just around the corner, businesses have been scrambling for months (if not years) to line up a good starting position. The people who produce the reports, data, and ebooks needed to support new businesses have also been scrambling to fill this new niche.
If you are among those who are looking into this new market (academically or entrepreneurially), check out these new resources available through the SFU Library:
Sometimes you need the big picture of an industry before you can dive in for deeper research: a brief history of the industry's development; a description of its structure; or a list of key countries and companies... just enough to guide the next steps in your analysis.
For those purposes (and more!) SFU researchers should check out our new online access to the 6th edition (2017) of the Encyclopedia of Global Industries. [...]
Hey entrepreneurship students! Did you know that you have online access to hundreds of real business plans from throughout North America via the SFU Library? We've recently purchased a few more volumes in the onlineBusiness Plans Handbook series -- bringing us up to 40 volumes in total.
[...] check out this small selection of the types of companies covered in the newest volumes:
Our BUS 345 students are going to be doing some taste tests again this semester, and this time the focus is on cheese!
If you're in that class, see below for some initial thoughts on resources to help you understand the cheese market and consumers, especially in Canada. Also be sure to check out my earlier blog post -- On taste tests and primary research (redux) -- for a list of resources and search strategies that may help you as you design your taste test methodologies and evaluate... <more>
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