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Applied Business Research

Course Number: BU610

Subject: Business

Welcome to Laurier Library's MBA - Applied Business Research Guide. This guide will introduce you to some of the different types of business research you may need to do while working on your consultation projects - this can include conducting primary research in the form of surveys, or will require industry research, Literature Reviews and so on. Throughout the guide, you will find various links to Tutorial Videos, which can provide extra assistance in developing your research.

If at any time you need help with your research or with library resources, please don't hesitate to email Matt or you can book an appointment with him.

Primary Research

Primary research can be a valuable way of gaining information about your client and their customer/consumer base - the library has a number of excellent resources available to help you in building surveys and other research tools. Books can help you understand the best way to structure surveys and how to create questions that will best assist your research.

Start by doing a search in OMNI (the Library Catalogue) for any books on survey creation. Note: You can now request Print material from 14 different university libraries through the OMNI (the Library Catalogue).

Alternatively, you can search these ebook collections:

Some recommended titles include:

For further help with finding books, see these tutorials: Finding books in OMNI and Finding eBooks

Secondary Research

This kind of research involves collection information from sources such as: articles, books, reports, websites and so on. You will need to use a variety of different sources when conducting this kind of research.

Article Research

Article research can help you understand the problem(s) you are working towards solving, or help you better understand the industry you are working in and if you are conducting a literature review, you will find these resources invaluable. Use the following article databases to find articles and reports:

Includes trade and scholarly journals in a variety of fields.

Index for business and management publications.

A full-text resource with news, business information and journal articles drawn from almost 9000 worldwide sources.

Provides access to thousands of full-text online academic journals.

Index for scholarly, professional and popular literature on Canadian Business and Current Affairs

Provides access to the full text of Canadian news sources from many Canadian newspapers, including articles, columns, editorials and features.

For further help, watch these videos: Better Searching Using AND, OR, NOT, Better Searching Using Keyword Shotcuts and Doing a Literature Review

Industry Research

For a complete list of Industry Research resources, see the Industry Research subject page.

This is a list of the top industry resources that we recommend you start your research with:

This resource provides a listing of Canadian Associations. Associations may provide detailed information on their respective industry. N.B. Be sure to uncheck all databases, with the exception of Associations Canada.

Contains Canadian and US Industry Reports, iExpert Summaries, and Business Environment Profiles. Industry market research reports contain such information as trends, statistics & analysis on market size, market share of major companies, industry growth rates, and key external forces affecting supply and demand.

Provides industry reports and analysis including Porter's Five Forces analysis. Enter in keyword. Select "Industries" from drop-down menu. Learn how to use Marketline to find Five Forces analysis from this video tutorial.

Offers industry/market analysis and forecasting. Select an industry from drop-down "Industries" menu or enter keyword in search box.

Company Research

For a complete list of Company resources, please see Company Research subject page.

This is a list of some of the top resources for doing company research:

Find annual reports for publicly traded (Canadian) companies.

Coverage contains company filings for over 10,000 publicly-traded companies worldwide. Enter the company name or ticker symbol in the search box > click GO

Enter the company name in the search box > select "Companies" from the drop down menu - includes SWOT analyses for various companies

Provides some information on the market share for Canadian companies, products and/or services, but the main focus is tUS and International. Search by company, product, industry keyword, or industry classification codes.

Includes data on market share, brand share, and retail share of companies and products globally or by country/region.

For further help, see tutorials on: Company financials: Mergent Online, Finding Canadian Company Annual Reports, and Finding SWOT Analyses

Citing Your Sources

Citing your sources is an important part of any academic project - please make sure you review the guidelines around properly citing your research and if you are ever in doubt, just ask!

For help with citations, take a look at Laurier Library's Citation Guide or you can email Matt.

Page Owner: Matt Rohweder

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