ENT 5113: Entrepreneurship (Chawla)

This guide provides resources and ideas for market research for this class.

Access to Resources

From a user's perspective, the main difference between a library database and a website is access.

Library databases are available to users affiliated with UTSA, such as currently registered students, faculty, and staff through the library website. Most UTSA databases are available remotely with your abc123 login. Visitors can use most databases, but only onsite on library guest computers.
Websites (or certain sections of websites ) are accessible at any time to anyone and may be found through a web search. Some websites host open access databases which are available for free. Many kinds of websites are very important in business research, for example, government websites (SEC.gov, census.gov, etc.), company's investor pages, open access resources, news, some commercial sites, and many more.

Researching Mobile Apps

Conducting research for a business plan for a mobile app is different from a business with defined geographic reach and in more traditional industries. Here are suggested keywords to find relevant information and examples:

mobile apps

mobile applications

apps

mobile app startup

monetization

development cost

marketing strategies

business plan

market research

market landscape

Mental Health Apps for Kids
How to Create a Convincing Business Plan for Your Mobile Apps?
Mobile App Development Cost
Mobile App Marketing Strategies
Alternative Search Engines
Try other search engines to discover additional resources.

Researching Immigrant Services

Try these search tips:

When researching this topic, keep track of keywords that are used in relevant documents when reviewing results.
When searching specific sites, such as SAM.gov, use truncation * to allow for variants of these words. When using search engines, such as Google, you don't need to use truncation. It automatically expands to include variants of the words.
- immigra* OR refuge* OR migra* OR alien*
If your focus is on unauthorized immigration, these keywords may help:
- undocumented OR unauthorized OR illegal
These keywords will help narrow down your results:
- assistance OR program OR service
Use operator "site" to locate local service for immigrants on the City of San Antonio website:
- immigrant site:sanantonio.gov

Agencies for Immigrant Services

Government Contracts

SAM.gov
Search for contracting opportunities, i.e. procurement notices from federal contracting offices.
Federal Contract for Small Businesses (SBA)
Guidance for small businesses on applying for federal contracts.

Market Sizing

MaRS Discovery in Canada offers a robust suite of resources to tech entrepreneurs which also prove useful for building up market research skills. Review the webpage and take this quick course below.

Introduction to Market Sizing (MaRS Discovery)
A 30-minute course on market sizing.

UTSA Databases

Industry Research

IBISWorld
Contains detailed industry market reports for the U.S., based on the NAICS classification. Reports include industry performance, lifecycle, products and markets, supply chain, operating conditions, regulation and policy, key competitors, barriers to entry, outlook, and more. Specialized Industry Reports address more narrowly defined product/service segments or emerging industries.
AtoZ Databases
Create a list of companies / businesses within specified geography.
BizMiner
Provides detailed industry analysis and market research reports on more than 16,000 lines of business in national and local markets. Includes startup and small business statistics, such as annual sales and market share; failure rates; entrepreneurial activity rates; startup profit & loss detail and ratios; and detailed small business balance sheets, P & L, and ratios.

Market Research

Statista
Review the source of statistics to find addition information.
Market Research Academic
Aggregates market research reports from six publishers covering service industries, consumer goods, food & beverage, heavy industry, life sciences, public sector, technology & media.
Mintel Academic
Contains over 1,000 in-depth market research reports by Mintel analysts focusing on consumer goods, travel, health and well-being, technology, retail, and food and drink in the U.S., U.K., and western Europe. Includes market segmentation, size and trends, brand share analysis, supply structure, advertising, retail distribution, consumer lifestyles and attitudes, and more.

Mapping

SimplyAnalytics
This web-based mapping and data analysis application enables users to develop interactive thematic maps and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data variables by state, county, city/place, ZIP code, census tract, block group, or custom area.

Articles

Wall Street Journal (Current) | WSJ.com
Register for free access to WSJ.com and the WSJ apps. Includes all WSJ articles, videos, interactive features, digital print daily edition, and more.
San Antonio Business Journal
Provides in-depth coverage and breaking news on the business communities in the local San Antonio area. Users must first register for an account using their UTSA email address to access the content.. After a personal account is created, users may login directly on the SABJ site.

Please refer to this Research Guide for additional information on registration and access.

Business Plans

Business Plans (ENT guide)
Resources for business plan examples.

Patents

Google Patents
Search for granted patents and applications from USPTO and translated patents from multiple international bodies. See About link for an updated list of countries and related non-patent literature. Filters are applied post-search.

Trademarks

USPTO Trademarks
The official U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site.
Trademarkia
A search engine for U.S. federally registered and international (the U.K., Canada, and Australia) trademarks.
Trademark Encyclopedia
Information on trademarks. Some data may be out of date.
Understanding Trademark Classes (Trademarkia)