Business News: newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The National Post. Many have online content for free but limit some articles for subscribers. Many library databases provide full access to these newspapers.
Trade publications: Written by people working in an industry, for other in the same industry. Limit to 'Trade publications' when searching in OCtopus and Business Source Complete.
Company websites: Public companies are generally easier to research as they must disclose certain types of information. Look for annual reports, which might provide information about strategy and direction
Government: Government sites can provide stats on industries and consumers.
Researchers: Often the most expensive type of reports can be found within our library databases. These are the types of reports you will not find for free on Google!
Tips for searching library databases
individual words or short phrases: "apple inc" AND pricing AND laptops (as opposed to: what is apple's pricing strategy for laptops?)
synonyms and related words: smartphone could be "mobile device", iphone, cellular, etc....
quotations marks: search for phrases: "mobile phone", "apple inc.", etc.
asterisk:* variations of a word: brand* will bring back brand, brands, branding
Business Source CompleteThis link opens in a new windowLook for company and industry profiles (you can browse company and industry profiles on the right under "browse"). Also, try a search with your keywords, for example: "apple inc" AND (pricing OR brand*) AND laptop*
ABI/Inform CollectionThis link opens in a new windowTIP: Search for a company featured prominently in an article by combining the company name with 'Company/Org' from the drop-down menu.
In some cases, certain publishers do not grant certain rights specific to their content. Check content for any restrictions.
License definitions & additional information
COURSEPACKS / ELECTRONIC RESERVES / VIRTUAL LEARNING. Members and Authorized Users may incorporate a reasonable portion of the Licensed Material in course packs, study packs, resource lists and in any other material (including but not limited to multi-media works) to be used in the course of instruction and/or in virtual and managed environments (including but not limited to virtual learning environments, managed learning environments, virtual research environments and library environments) hosted on a Secure Network (only accessible to Authorized Users by Secure Authentication) so long as a "hit" is registered on Licensor's on-line platform each time an article is accessed for the CoursePack. Each item shall carry appropriate acknowledgement of the source, listing title and copyright owner. Copies of such items shall be deleted by the Member when they are no longer used for such purpose. Course packs in non-electronic non-print perceptible form, such as Braille, may also be offered to Authorized Users.
CREATE PERSISTENT LINKS to individual articles for access by Authorized Users for Permitted Uses under this Agreement, from within secure authentication environments provided that the product(s) support the ability of such persistent link technology. ELECTRONIC RESERVES / VIRTUAL LEARNING. Members and Authorized Users may incorporate a reasonable portion of the Licensed Material in course packs, study packs, resource lists and in any other material (including but not limited to multi-media works) to be used in the course of instruction and/or in virtual and managed environments (including but not limited to virtual learning environments, managed learning environments, virtual research environments and library environments) hosted on a Secure Network (only accessible to Authorized Users by Secure Authentication) so long as a "hit" is registered on Licensor's on-line platform each time an article is accessed for the CoursePack. Each item shall carry appropriate acknowledgement of the source, listing title and copyright owner. Copies of such items shall be deleted by the Member when they are no longer used for such purpose.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN by paper or electronic means, a single copy of an individual document within the guidelines of traditional interlibrary loan practices and applicable copyright laws provided that the loan is not done in a manner or magnitude that would replace the recipient library's own subscription to either the Products or the purchase of the underlying Work (e.g., newspaper, magazine, or book).
OCtopusSearch for some variation of your product, brand, or company name and other keywords like marketing, promotion, pricing, etc.
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