Libraries and Learning Centres: Business: Library Resources

Peer review is the process of having an academic paper reviewed by experts to ensure that it meets the standards for the given discipline. Peer reviewed articles are also called scholarly or refereed articles.

Regional Business News This link opens in a new window
Covers more than 80 US regional business publications, metropolitan and rural.
Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Core business database includes all disciplines in business as well as country overviews, market research reports,company profiles, SWOT analyses, industry reports and videos from the Harvard Faculty Seminar Series.
Video tutorials: Basic (https://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/bs/bs_basic/bs_basic.html) or Advanced (https://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/bs/bs_advanced/bs_advanced.html)

Harvard Business Review content in Business Source does not fall under the licensing terms noted above. From HRB: “Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing Newsletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses. Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources. Business licensees may not host this content on learning management systems or use persistent linking or other means to incorporate the content into learning management systems.”
Canadian Business & Current Affairs This link opens in a new window
Content from four CBCA database subsets (Business, Current Events, Education, and Reference). Includes articles in French.
Regarding use in course packs, CMS’s, and permalinks: these uses are only permitted “so long as each work is retrieved directly from the on-line database system in a manner that causes a ‘hit’ to be registered on the on-line system for each and every print or digital copy” (clause 3.8).
Business Collection This link opens in a new window
Business and trade publications, complemented by a selection of international, U.S., and regional news publications.
Business Economics and Theory Collection This link opens in a new window
Academic journals and magazines focusing on topics in economics and related fields. Emphasis on titles indexed in the American Economic Association's EconLit bibliography.
Entrepreneurship Collection This link opens in a new window
Academic journals and magazines perfect for both business school students and entrepreneurs. Includes insights, tips, strategies and success stories.
Knotia This link opens in a new window
CPA Canada Standards and Guidance Collection (CPACHB) and International Financial Reporting Standards.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from US, Canadian and international newspapers, magazines and journals; company financial data and directories, SEC filings, industry and market news & reports etc.
Passport (International Market Research) This link opens in a new window
International market research database providing statistics, analysis, reports, surveys and breaking news on industries, countries and consumers worldwide.

Video tutorial: Using Passport to understand the value chain. Per clause 5.4 of the licence agreement, all copies must include the following citation: “Source: Euromonitor International Limited [insert year of creation] (c) All rights reserves.”
Films on Demand Business & Economics Collection This link opens in a new window
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/films-on-demand/id1475123089?ls=1
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.infobase.fod
To use the apps, an account with your SLC email address must be created first.
This license covers the following resources: Master Academic Collection, Master Career and Technical Education Collection, Nursing Collection, Technical Education Collection, Vet Collection

“Authorized Users may stream, display, publicly perform, or exhibit the Video Titles asynchronously on a single computer or network, course management system, or password-protected website [...] Authorized Users may electronically save, organize, link to, and share Video Titles or parts thereof with other Authorized Users using tools provided within Films On Demand.”

“Participating Institutions and their staff may display, download, or print sections of Collection, including screenshots, for the purpose of internal marketing or testing, or for training Authorized Users or groups of Authorized Users.”

New business books

BBA Yr1-T1 F2022
Library orientation for 1st year BBA students at SLC.
Library Instruction Handout

Business cases can be found in journals, books, and websites.

Try searching with your topic and the term "case studies" in the library One Search box or within a database. Examples:

"case studies" AND accounting

"case studies" AND marketing

"case studies" AND "clothing industry"

The best business library databases to search are:

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Core business database includes all disciplines in business as well as country overviews, market research reports,company profiles, SWOT analyses, industry reports and videos from the Harvard Faculty Seminar Series.
Video tutorials: Basic (https://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/bs/bs_basic/bs_basic.html) or Advanced (https://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/bs/bs_advanced/bs_advanced.html)

Harvard Business Review content in Business Source does not fall under the licensing terms noted above. From HRB: “Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing Newsletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses. Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources. Business licensees may not host this content on learning management systems or use persistent linking or other means to incorporate the content into learning management systems.”

ABI/Inform (Laurentian University Library - BBA students)

Guides and journal titles:

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and so a SWOT analysis is a technique for assessing these four aspects of a business. SWOT Analysis is a tool that can help you to analyze what a company does best now, and to devise a successful strategy for the future.

Find SWOT analyses in select business databases by searching terms for your company or industry plus the term "SWOT analysis". Examples:

Starbucks AND "SWOT analysis"

"Coffee Industry" AND "SWOT analysis"

"royal bank of canada" AND "SWOT analysis"

A PESTEL analysis is used to identify threats and weaknesses which are used in a SWOT analysis. It examines the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors in the external environment.

Company and industry profiles can be found in these databases:

Passport (International Market Research) This link opens in a new window
International market research database providing statistics, analysis, reports, surveys and breaking news on industries, countries and consumers worldwide.

Video tutorial: Using Passport to understand the value chain. Per clause 5.4 of the licence agreement, all copies must include the following citation: “Source: Euromonitor International Limited [insert year of creation] (c) All rights reserves.”

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Core business database includes all disciplines in business as well as country overviews, market research reports,company profiles, SWOT analyses, industry reports and videos from the Harvard Faculty Seminar Series.
Video tutorials: Basic (https://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/bs/bs_basic/bs_basic.html) or Advanced (https://support.epnet.com/training/flash_videos/bs/bs_advanced/bs_advanced.html)

Harvard Business Review content in Business Source does not fall under the licensing terms noted above. From HRB: “Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing Newsletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses. Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources. Business licensees may not host this content on learning management systems or use persistent linking or other means to incorporate the content into learning management systems.”

Business To You. (2018). PESTEL analysis explained | B2B | Business To You. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYn4CyL3r5w

political economic technological legal environmental

PESTEL Analysis - Provided by Groupmap.com

This page contains directories of companies, and other resources for finding company information. You can use some of the sources recommended in this guide to help you research a company or product.

If you are researching a private company, especially one in North America, privately-held companies are not legally required to publish for public consumption materials such as annual reports.

Remember - when searching for information about a company, product, service or industry, you may have to look at the bigger picture as well as the details specific to your particular business, product or service. If you can’t find enough on the company/service/product, try to place it within the larger industry.

For example:

Look for the NAICS code for more information about the industry.
Look in library databases for industry reports, company reports, and/or articles related to your topic.
- Search by Company name in databases For example Business Source Premier and Google for their website.
- Check out the company on Linkedin, Facebook or other social media
- Security filings, filings, disclosure, payments and information - SEDAR (Canada) and EDGAR (USA)
- Business Directories online and in print can be useful
- Newspapers and trade journals - in print and online
- Check Library collections for published histories of known companies and their founders.
- Best bets at the Library for Canadian and Ontario companies
  - Canadian Business and Current Affairs
  - Canadian Major Dailies (Canadian newspapers)
  - Business Journals

Be creative! Use other resources to find specific information about financials, market size and share, demographics, and/or consumer behaviour. For example, visit the company’s website and social media accounts, see if their annual report is online. If they are a public company see if you can view their financials on google/finance.

Adapted from: Iaizzo, Teresa. “Researching a Company, Product, Service, or Industry” George Brown College Library. Web. Sep 25, 2017