Popular business research skills
Foundational
Students should be able to:
- articulate business research goal
- understand characteristics and availability of business information sources and content
- consider if information is available and who is likely to provide the information
- adjust research strategies based on search results
- apply assessment criteria to evaluate business information
- utilize proxy content (i.e., information that is closely related to, but not precisely matching, the ideal information sought during a query)
- properly attribute sources
Company research
Students should be able to:
- locate, review, evaluate, and synthesize company-created content
- find and use government filings
- gather and utilize third party company reports such as MarketLine Company Profiles
Industry research
Students should be able to:
- recognize that an industry's characteristics affect availability of information (e.g., emerging vs a traditional industry)
- locate and utilize third-party industry reports such as IBISWorld Industry Reports
- identify industry leaders and market share
- locate and review relevant trade associations
- search, evaluate, and use information from relevant trade journals/magazines
Market research
Students should be able to:
- identify appropriate target market populations
- locate demographic data
- estimate market size
- identify best channels for selling products or services
