This document provides guidance on researching various topics related to entrepreneurship and starting a new business. It outlines 10 sections to research, including industry codes, trade associations, trends, size of the industry, competitors, and target markets. For each section, it provides tips on specific library databases and resources that can be used to gather relevant information, such as ReferenceUSA, Statista, and trade publications. The goal is to help students access reliable sources and identify important entrepreneurial research strategies.

1. Library Research:
Entrepreneurship
This work byValerie LangWaldin, J.D., M.L.S., Associate Professor, Library, HudsonValley Community College is
licensed under a CreativeCommons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2. From main HVCC page click on
Library.
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3. Select Find Sources in the Dwight
Marvin Library.
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4. Choose Research Guides and click
on Business.
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5. Then, Entrepreneurship
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6.  Table of Contents Page
◦ 1. NAICS Code 10
◦ 2. Trade Associations 16
◦ 3. Services provided by trade associations 18
◦ 4. Trade journals or magazines 19
◦ 5. Trends 26
◦ 6. Industry size 48
◦ 7. Competition 57
◦ 8. Target market 69
◦ 9. Average annual sales for past 3 years 73
◦ 10. Sales growth rate 88
 Industry-wide
 Locally
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8. 812/11/2019

9. Access library resources,
reliable websites and
ENTR research
strategies.
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10. GYMNASIUMS
Let’s use gymnasiums as
an example.
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11. Identify the NAICS
code for this industry.North American Industry Classification System
The federal government assigns a number to categorize different businesses.
Also note Professor Mather has great tips on finding NAICS codes on your library research assignment
sheet.
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12. 1212/11/2019

13. 1312/11/2019

14. 1412/11/2019

15. 1512/11/2019

16. 1612/11/2019

17. How?
 Identify two trade associations that would
be valuable for your business.
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18. 1812/11/2019

19. Go to your trade association sites and
look around! Jobs, certification
information, etc.
 Identify two valuable resources that trade
associations could provide this business.
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20.  Identify two trade journals or magazines
that would be valuable for your business.
How?
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21. 2112/11/2019

22. 2212/11/2019

23. Under “Publication Type,” scroll down
to “Trade Publication.”
For example,
using
Entrepreneurial
Studies Source,
you can limit
your search
results to just
trade
publications!
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24. Try a title or subject search using your
business.
You can
experiment
with this.
For example,
look for your
business in the
title of the
article.
Remember to
select “Trade
Publication.”
Click on drop-
down window.
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25. 12/11/2019 25

26. 2612/11/2019

27.  Identify trends in your business.
 Trade Associations
 Trade Journals
 Albany Business Review, ReferenceUSA,
 Statista, and other library databases
 Google “trend” and your industry.
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28. Trends:
Trade Associations
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29. Trends:
Trade publications
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30. Albany Business Review
Click on industries & topics or run a
search on your industry.
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31. Statista includes hundreds of industry trends, and is very
intuitive (easy to use!). For more help with Statista see ENTR
Subject Guide.
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32. 12/11/2019 32
The following slides will help you identify your industry trends.
ReferenceUSA

33. The advanced search is
always recommended
unless you are searching a
specific company.
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34. 1. Check Keyword/SIC/NAICs
2. Click on Search All NAICS
3. Type in NAICS Code (*be sure your industry appears in
Results and Selected)
4. Update Count
5. View results (in that order!)
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35. 35
Finding industry
trends…
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36. Trends in
locations
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37. 3712/11/2019

38. Scroll up to top
of screen, click
on “Back to
Results.”
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39. 3912/11/2019

40. All of these areas including
top businesses, location,
sales volume and employee
size are industry trends.
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41. 4112/11/2019

42. 4212/11/2019

43. 4312/11/2019

44. Finding
historical
trends
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45. 1. Check Keyword/SIC/NAICS
2. Check Metro Area (or City, Zip, County)
3. Click on Search All NAICS
4. Type in NAICS code (*be sure your
industry appears in Results and
Selected).
5. Select State and Metro Area
6. Update count
7. View results
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46. Years in business may
indicate industry
trends. Are
gymnasiums staying
in business? If not,
can you identify
possible reasons why?
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47. *These numbers represent the closest
approximation possible re: industry size. Your
professor is aware of these challenges. Work with
what you have.
 What is the size of the industry you are
planning to enter? Use the following:
◦ NAICS code data
◦ ReferenceUSA
◦ Statista
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48. Using NAICS Code to find
Size of Industry
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49. 4912/11/2019

50. 5012/11/2019

51. 5112/11/2019

52. 5212/11/2019

53. 1. Check Keyword/SIC/NAICs
2. Click on Search All NAICS
3. Type in NAICS Code (*be sure your industry
appears in Results and Selected)
4. Update Count
5. Record Count is your industry size
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54. Using Statista to find industry size
Be careful about your search terms. In this
case, “gymnasiums” produced no results.
“Gyms” did (see next slide).
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55. 5512/11/2019

56.  Who are three of your competitors?
 Albany Business Review (Book of Lists)
 ReferenceUSA
 Phone Books
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57. 5712/11/2019

58. To access The Book of Lists, click on Lists &
Awards. Then, on the left hand side, select Book of
Lists.
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59. Flip forward or backward through the Book of Lists
using left and right arrows.
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60. Albany Business Review Book of Lists (competitors)
For example, these pages show lists of local home builders and landscape
architecture firms (among many other industries!).
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61. 6112/11/2019

62. Remember to select Advanced Search
unless you have a specific company in
mind.
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63. 1. Check Keyword/SIC/NAICS
2. Check Metro Area
3. Check Search All NAICS
4. Type in your NAICS (*be sure your
industry appears in Results and
Selected)
5. Select Metro Area
6. Update Count
7. View Results
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64. Possible competitors
For more detail see
next two slides.
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65. 65
For
example,
check
Bally Total
Fitness
and then
click
Details. 12/11/2019

66. Detailed profile
of Bally Total
Fitness
Scroll down
for
competitors
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67. 6712/11/2019

68.  Find facts about your target market.
◦ Who are you trying to sell your
product/concept/service to?
◦ Albany Business Review – Industries & Topics
◦ ReferenceUSA – Consumer Lifestyles
◦ Statista – Consumer Markets, Digital Markets,
Topics, Industries (explore!)
◦ Trade Associations & Publications
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69. 6912/11/2019

70. 7012/11/2019

71. Here you can actually obtain names and
addresses of individuals interested in the
products/industry you are seeking to enter.
Use the information in your results ethically
and consistently with your assignment.
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72.  These are just suggestions for navigating
through the numerous ways to approach
entrepreneurial research. For more help, make
an appointment with a librarian.
 Start early, pace yourself, think outside the box.
 Remember, you are an entrepreneur. You can do
this.
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