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


From big data to biomass energy: New Plunkett Industry Almanacs online for SFU researchers!

Published by Mark Bodnar

Image of the cover of the ebook: Plunkett's Sharing & Gig Economy, Freelance Workers & On-Demand Delivery Industry Almanac 2020
I'm very pleased to report that we've added several industry almanacs to our Plunkett Research Online collection:

Each of these almanacs devotes 500+ pages to the...

  • major trends that are creating rapid changes in their target industry,  
  • in-depth statistics on sales, manufacturing, employment and more,
  • key contacts (associations, government agencies, and internet sites), and a
  • detailed directory of major firms, complete with high-level financial data and growth plans.

<Read on for links to the 14 new titles now available for downloading!>

Factiva in 2020: Expanding content to meet emerging needs

Published by Mark Bodnar

line drawing of a person next to a speech bubble with a newspaper in it
Frequent readers of the BUEC Buzz -- and most students in the classes I visit -- will know that I consider the use of good news sources to be imperative for business research.

You really can't deal with strategies, marketing plans, investments, etc. without being on top of all that is changing in our world... and that means exploring beyond the curated-for-clicks content of most social media.

And frequent readers will also know that one of our best news sources here at SFU is Factiva which covers over 33,000 news publications from around the world, including the Wall Street Journal

<Read on to learn about Factiva's new content, and about the time-saving Factiva Expert Search feature!>

Refreshed & ready for research: Check out our updated IBISWorld industry reports!

Published by Mark Bodnar

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IBISWorld logo
ur IBISWorld database received a much needed refresh earlier this year. 

The content hasn't really changed -- it's still a great collection of over 2100 regularly updated industry reports -- but browsing & searching to find those reports is now a smoother, more efficient process. If you haven't used IBISWorld lately, explore and let me know what you think!

<Read on for links to a few sample reports, and details on the under-used "BEP" part of the database!>

New content in Vividata: Canadian consumer data

Published by Mark Bodnar

Four jigsaw puzzle pieces with a Canadian flag in the centre. The words "Opinions," "Activities," "Demographics," and "Purchases" are on the puzzle pieces.
Just a brief post to let you know that our Vividata database has been updated with Fall 2019 data from their Survey of the Canadian Consumer.

For those who haven't used Vividata yet: it's an invaluable source of information on Canadians’ opinions, demographics, and activities, as well as their product, service, and media purchases, with brand-level data in many cases.

<Read on for details about this powerful database!>

One year in: The business of (legal) cannabis

Published by Mark Bodnar

Time flies when you're having fun...

drawing of a cannabis leaf with dollar signs between each segment
It was one year ago today that Canada legalized cannabis. Now that we are a year into this new world of legalized sale and consumption, we are seeing innovations such as edibles & low-cost, bulk buying, and there are reports of a boost to the economy of over $8 billion.

I thought I'd do a quick "anniversary" check today to see what new information resources might now be available on this hot topic... 

<Read on for lots of recent resources on this fast-changing topic!>

A fresh look at Frost & Sullivan: Emerging technology products, markets & strategies

Published by Mark Bodnar

logo of Frost & Sullivan
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!>