LibGuides: Entrepreneurship: Critical Databases

Critical Databases - by Function

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Our largest database for business articles. Covers scholarly journals, industry magazines, and general business magazines. Also includes company, industry, and country reports. Does not include full text articles from the Wall Street Journal (but those articles are at least described/indexed.)

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Choose Get Company Info toward the lower right of the page. Search for your company by name or ticker. Company snapshots show you SIC and NAICS information for your company of interest.

Understand Business Law & Regulations - US Small Business Association
From the SBA "Starting a Business" guide.
US EPA - Small Business Gateway
Includes an FAQ.
elaws: Employment Laws Assistance for Workers & Small Business (U.S. Dept. of Labor)
"Simulates the interaction you might have with an employment law expert." Also includes an Employment Law Guide.
Colorado: Department of Regulatory Agencies
Occupations and businesses listed are regulated by the Department of Regulatory Agencies.
Colorado: Office of Economic Development >> Occupational License Database
This database contains state and federal regulations. Additional city regulations may exist, so be sure to check with the local city or county clerk licensing department.

Interested in Legal Cases?

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
[Try clicking "Look up a Legal Case"! Contains full-text regional, national & international newspapers, state and federal court cases and statutes, law reviews, and company profiles.]

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides international industry reports from Marketline, Business Monitor International, and other publishers.

Statista
Provides statistics on economies, markets, and industries. Includes data from over 18,000 government, industry, and market research sources. Some, but not all, data is freely accessible.

Almanac of business and industrial financial ratios by Troy, Leo
Call Number: HF5681.R25 T68 2015
Publication Date: 2015
Item location during renovation: CMU Reference UC 213! Provides financial ratios for companies in various asset ranges by SIC code. Data reported are based on aggregate numbers from IRS records.

Business Reference Services - Market Segementation

In order to know the potential market they must identify the characteristics of individuals likely to be interested in that particular product or service, establish how many such individuals there are, as well as study how these people behave and respond to particular advertising approaches.

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U.S. Census Bureau - American FactFinder

The American Community Survey is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities a fresh look at how they are changing; The Economic Census profiles the U.S. economy every 5 years, from the national to the local level and by detailed industry and business classification. The Population Estimates Program publishes estimated population totals for the previous year for cities and towns, metropolitan areas, counties, and states
Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE)

The CE is important because it is the only Federal survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers' expenditures and incomes, as well as the characteristics of those consumers. It is used by businesses and academic researchers studying consumers' spending habits and trends, by other Federal agencies, and, perhaps most importantly, to regularly revise the Consumer Price Index market basket of goods and services and their relative importance.
County Business Patterns

County Business Patterns (CBP) is an annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. Includes Zip Code patterns.
EDGAR -- SEC

You can search information collected by the SEC several ways:

Company or fund name, ticker symbol, CIK (Central Index Key), file number, state, country, or SIC (Standard Industrial Classification)
Most recent filings
Full text (past four years)
Boolean and advanced searching, including addresses
Key mutual fund disclosures
Mutual fund voting records
Mutual fund name, ticker, or SEC key (since Feb. 2006)
Variable insurance products (since Feb. 2006)
Business Data and Statistics -- USA.gov

Find data and statistics on banking, earnings, economic analysis, trade and more
Prizm [Nielsen] Consumer behavior

Evaluate market segments by linking consumer behaviors for shopping, financial, media and much more, to gain powerful insights that allow you to create actionable strategies and tactically execute while benchmarking your performance.

Economic Census
The Economic Census provides detailed information on employer businesses, including detailed data by industry, geography, and more.

American Fact Finder
The Census' search engine for population, housing, and economic data.

Free Mapping Tools!

ZeeMaps.com
You do not need to create an account to make maps. PDF or PNG map images for presentations or brochures. Keep maps private for confidential data with HTTPS support. Up to 31 marker groups and sub-groups with clickable map legend. Highlight countries, states, cities, zip codes, counties, or hand-draw region.
ESRI's Mapping for Everyone (aka Story Maps)
Story maps are lightweight, open-source web apps. They combine web maps created using ArcGIS Online, Esri's cloud-based mapping system, with multimedia content—text, photos, video, and audio—to let you tell stories about the world. Start by browsing our list of apps to choose what type of story you want to tell.
BatchGeo.com
We love maps, and we think they should be easy to make - that's why we made BatchGeo. It's the fastest way to create Google Maps from your data. It accepts addresses, intersections, cities, states, and postal codes. We do the hard work of figuring out where all your data lives in the real world.
Click2Map.com's Free Map Creator
The Click2Map Editor is a powerful Rich Internet Application. Its look and feel are similar to those of a standard desktop application. Click2Map's ergonomic user interface helps you create maps easily, even if you have no programming knowledge. The Click2Map Editor comes with a library rich of several dozens of markers to which you can add your own images.
Click2Map renders map personalization extremely easy! Lines and polygons can be used for multiple purposes, for example to mark geographical areas or to highlight itineraries. You can choose their color, line width and opacity. Click2Map's import function allows you to convert your address databases into markers on your maps. Addresses are automatically geolocated!
TargetMap.com
Just choose a country and a way to create your map by color, type values or by uploading your excel files (you can even use your zip / postal code column to get the best and most accurate maps!). But, the best is yet to come : all maps are published & shared in the community, boosting everyone’s knowledge! And that’s not all . Once you’ve shared your map, you can also improve and compare it with other people’s related maps & data...and embed the maps in your blog...and insert customized maps in your PowerPoint presentations.
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Remember, it's free!!! We just ask you to publish quality maps & to share your knowledge!
ESRI Zip Tapestry
Tapestry segmentation provides an accurate, detailed description of America's neighborhoods—U.S. residential areas are divided into 67 distinctive segments based on their socioeconomic and demographic composition—then further classifies the segments into LifeMode and Urbanization Groups.

Public Companies...

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Under the main search box, click >b>Advanced Options and in the Source area type in: Hoover's. You'll see several options come up, choose one (e.g., Hoover's Company Records - In-Depth Reports) and then enter your search terms (e.g., Coors; "frozen foods"), and click Search.
Morningstar Investment Research Center This link opens in a new window
Current comprehensive financial information on NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ stocks, mutual funds, ETFs with return information on various investment types, indexes, sectors, and styles. Covers all stocks on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and ASE, and also 14,000 mutual funds. Provides stock, fund, bond, and options data, plus Morningstar Analyst Reports, screeners, a portfolio x-ray, & more.

Private Companies...

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Under the main search box, click Advanced Options and in the Source area type in: Hoover's. You'll see several options come up, choose one (e.g., Hoover's Company Records - In-Depth Reports) and then enter your search terms.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Use this resource for Company Profiles which include Competitor information.