It's been quite a while since I highlighted our Frost & Sullivan database. For those who are new to it, F&S is our main source for in-depth market research and strategy reports of emerging technologies.  

Tempting Titles...

To give you a sense of the type of content you'll find in F&S, consider these recent additions to the collection of over 50,000 reports, grouped by industry...

<Read on for examples of the great content in this valuable database!>

I

'm very pleased to announce that SFU researchers have access until Dec. 2020 to a collection of detailed data on publicly traded firms in China.

This short-term subscription was funded with support from a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada research grant held by Prof. Ray Zhang, but the resource is available to all SFU researchers. 

Each of the six datasets from  CSMAR (China Stock Market & Accounting Research) covers firms listed on China's Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. And they are... 

<Read on for the details!>

I was just scanning the usage stats for our IBISWorld database -- a key source for overviews of industries in Canada, the USA, and China. 

During the month of August, likely the slowest period of the year for research and instruction here at SFU, our researchers downloaded almost 1100 IBISWorld reports.

If past patterns hold true, a further 10,000+ IBISWorld reports will be downloaded and used in SFU assignments this semester.

<Read on to find out how amusement parks, bread, and wireless fit into this story...>

Sometimes a deep dive into a specific topic can be a great way to learn about the resources available via your library.

We did a post of that sort focusing on the renewable energy industry a couple months ago. Today we're going to take a look at the apparel, fashion, and textile industries & markets...

<Read on for a guided tour of some of our industry/market report databases!>

"Water, water everywhere, / Nor any drop to drink"

It's rare that we get a chance to quote poetry here in the BUEC Buzz, let alone a 185-year-old poem by a master like Samuel Coleridge... but this line from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is oddly apropos of the frustration involved in trying to research a local market in our information age.  

We are all awash in information, so it can seem like doing good market research requires just a Google search or two — a quick dip with a cup over the side of the boat...

<Read on to learn about the thirst-quenching benefits of SimplyAnalytics!>

I spotted an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal this morning: "Netflix U.S. Users Decline, Sinking Its Stock --- Video service reports 130,000 fewer domestic subscribers in second quarter."

To be frank, what was interesting for me about this article wasn't the content -- as much as I like streaming Netflix shows while I fold the laundry, I don't really need an ongoing blow-by-blow of its subscriber numbers.  No, what caught my attention was that this would be a good chance to highlight a couple of my favourite SFU Library resources: Factiva and Statista. 

<Read on for details!>

This is just a brief post to let you all know that we now have an Advanced guide for our Vividata database, thanks to the hard work of one of my colleagues here in the library, Marianne!

Our Introduction to Vividata gui

de still covers the basics -- how to create and interpret a simple table -- but this new Advanced Vividata guide goes several steps further: deep into how to adjust the settings to create exactly the table you need, then how to read that table accurately.

<Read on for details!>

SFU students, faculty, staff, and alumni now have access to Mergent Intellect, a database of information on industries, companies, and people from such well-known business organizations as Hoover's, Dun & Bradstreet^®, Mergent, Career Beam, Whitepages, Nielsen, and First Research. 

Mergent Intellect includes a mix of industry profiles and ratios, global company information, and North American resident/consumer information... 

 

<Read on for details!>

A couple of our marketing classes are going to be doing some primary research on alternative protein products & consumers this semester.

In support of those classes, 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 the powerful market research tools available to SFU researchers.  Bon appetite!

<Read on for a menu of delicious databases! >

Our Statista database has a new feature: Business Plan Export. 

Just to be clear: Business Plan Export does not deliver a business plan!  It does, however, gather secondary data that you might need when creating such a plan (or for many other purposes) and make it very simple to download with just a few clicks.  

Although this tool appears to be primarily aimed at those who are starting a new business, I think it has a wider audience as it is a real timesaver regardless of what you plan to do with the result.

<Read on for details!>