LibGuides UFV: BUS 403, Strategic Management: Market Analysis

The Assignment

Topics covered in the analysis are to include:

Customer Profile
Competitive Strength Assessment
Product and Service Offering
Product and Service Uniqueness
Research and Development
Patents and Trademarks
Projected Market Growth and Market Share Objectives
Summary of the Market Analysis

Company Profiles and More

Research Databases

The following databases can be good sources for company profiles, as well as other information related to the company's organization, strategy, outlook, and more. Note that not all companies are included in each source, and that the amount of information available may vary from company to company.

Gale Business Insights This link opens in a new window
Offers a quick overview of the company, with links to articles discussing legal issues, management, operations, products & services, strategy & planning, and more, including a SWOT analysis. Use the links in the two menus on the left to navigate through these topics.
Business Source Complete (EBSCOHost) This link opens in a new window
The MarketLine reports provide information such as company overview, history, key employees and biographies, major products and services, SWOT analysis, top competitors, and company view. Not all reports include all of these elements. Click on the "Company Profiles" link in the menu on the right-hand side to browse or search a list of available reports. Also a good source of articles and reports from various business publications.
Canadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA) (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
No company profiles, but you can type in a company name in the "Organization" field and see everything about that company. Focus is on Canadian publications, including newspapers, so particularly useful if you are researching a Canadian company.
Passport GMID (Global Market Information Database) This link opens in a new window
Look for a global company profile for the best information. Focus is on fast-moving consumer goods, so may not provide profiles for companies in other industries.

Web-based Investment Sites

The following are well-respected sources of information for investors; much of their information is freely available on the web.

Morningstar
Well-respected provider of investment advice, much of which is available free on the web. Especially useful for financial performance and ratios, as well as key people.
Reuters
Reuters is a well-respected provider of company intelligence that provides a great deal of information for free on the web . It's particularly useful for financial performance (including financial ratios - see valuation ratios under "Financials"), key people, and current issues about your company (including what's being reported on social media). Also offers analysts' recommendations (by consensus).

Industry and Market Research Reports

In order to determine a company's competitiveness, it is necessary to examine the industry as a whole, as well as its competitors. The following sources can help you with this.

Gale Business Insights This link opens in a new window
Look in the Industries menu for:
Industry Essays: reprints of entries in titles such as Encylopedia of Emerging Industries, Encyclopedia of American Industries, and Encylclopia of Global Industries. Each essay offers an industry snapshot, overview of its organization and structure, information on its backgrond and development, as well as its current conditions, and a brief discussion of industry leaders.
Plunkett Reports: search by NAICS code; in-depth, comprehensive financial analysis of the industry, including indstry ratios, current and forecast revenues and CAGR as well as historical revenues, and profiles of leading companies.
Business Source Complete (EBSCOHost) This link opens in a new window
Offers industry and market research reports. Use the relevant NAICS code(s) to search for reports (enter the NAICS code in the search box and select "IC NAICS Code or Description" from the list of fields in the drop-down box). Industry reports are provided by BMI/Fitch and MarketLine. BMI/Fitch Reports include sections such as SWOT, industry forecast, industry risk/reward index, company profile, regional overview, and demographic outlook. MarketLine reports include market overview, market data (value and volume), market segmentation (category and geography), market market value (current and forecast), market volume (current and forecast), category segmentation, and geography segmentation, market outlook (value and volume), five forces analysis, competitive landscape, comapny profiles, and macroeconomic indicators (demographics). Reports are specific to geography; check the date to make sure the reports are relatively recent.
Passport GMID (Global Market Information Database) This link opens in a new window
Provides a variety of types of analysis, focusing on fast-moving consumer goods (e.g., appliances and electronics, food and drink,home products, luxury goods, fashion, financial services), and B2B within Canada. Also provides country-level statistics (e.g., market size, company and brand shares) for various products and industries. Use the Industries menu to search by industry, or use the search box.

Patent Information

In many circumstances, particularly in the medicine and technology fields, a company's patents may be quite critical to its success or failure. Whether a patent has been granted, expired, or expanded to new jurisdictions can affect what sort of competition a company may face.

WIPO Patentscope
Organized by the UN's World Intellectual Property Office, this database allows you to peruse over 100 million patents from around the world.
Canadian Patents Database
Maintained by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, this database "lets you access 153 years of patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 2,500,000 patent documents."
Patent Public Search
US patents from 1790 to the present, available for search.
European Patent Register
"The European Patent Register is the most complete and up-to-date source of publicly available procedural information on European patent applications as they pass through each stage of the granting process."

Other Potential Sources

Don't forget that your company's web site and annual reports can provide a wealth of information about the company's product and service offerings.
Look for your company's MD&A (management discussion & analysis) in their annual reports from SEDAR and EDGAR.