The ABI/INFORM Collection features full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals, country-and industry-focused reports, and major news sources. Its international coverage gives researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world.
Business Source Premier is a research database providing database containing citations, abstracts, ebooks, and journal articles in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, finance and economics.
Articles from Harvard Business Review are intended to be used for individual research only. The University of Winnipeg’s license does not allow for classroom or teaching use nor does it allow articles to be made available on electronic reserves or via persistent linking from syllabi. A separate license is needed for classroom or teaching use.
Instructors can organize electronic course packs of articles for required readings from HBR at https://hbsp.harvard.edu/home/ for students to purchase and access.
Entrepreneurship is all about finding and developing a sustainable business concept. The word is derived from the French Entreprendre, or "to undertake."
The success or failure of a business depends largely on the quality of the business plan. The following are key steps in the development of a business plan:
This Course page is designed to help students use appropriate library resources to develop a business plan.
What industry are you in?
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) can help you define your industry. Each industry is given a number. This number can be used to locate industry specific information in a variety of databases.
Who else is in your industry (Competitors, Suppliers, etc.)?
The Canadian Company Capabilities (CCC) is a database of over 60,000 Canadian businesses.
SEDAR (System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval) Provides access to most public securities documents and information filed by public companies.
Financial Data
Use the SME Benchmarking Tool to generate an industry report.
Students can get more detailed financial information, such as the Financial Performance Indicators for Canadian Business and the Canadian Business Patterns, through the Data Librarian (Ian Fraser, i.fraser@uwinnipeg.ca, 204.786.9813).
Who is your customer? Characteristics such as age, sex, income, and expenditures are key factors for the entrepreneur. Other industry specific factors such as health, recreation, travel, etc., are also important. Here are some resources to learn about your demographic:
Canadian Demographics at a Glance
Statistics Canada Offers the following free summary tables related to Canadian Household Expenditures:
Other aspects of the Survey of Household Expenditures can be obtained throught the Data Librarian (Ian Fraser, i.fraser@uwinnipeg.ca, 204.786.9813)
Location, Location, Location! Some enterprises thrive in one location and fail in another. Where you decide to sell your product is just as important as what you decide to sell.
Local
For information about specific Winnipeg neighbourhoods, try the 2006 Winnipeg Neighbourhood Profiles. This will give you Census data down to a precise area of the city.
National
The 2006 Community Profiles (StatsCan) will give some key indicators about who lives in your community.
The Statistics Canada Census Tract (CT) Profiles allow you to search for census information about small geographic areas.
International
The TCS offers a free database of market reports on a wide range of locations, including intelligence on prominent industries in each market. You can access this free service by region or by sector. See Spotlight on Market Research for more.