Here are some starting points for succeeding the final project at JMSB’s (Concordia University) MARK 305 Consumer Behavior course. Remember to think about who produces what kind of information and in which format:
1. Consumer behavior trend analysis: Where do we find information about emerging trends in CB?
Free web sources recommended by Olivier, your librarian. These sources showcase unique data, e.g. “new data” not found elsewhere, that have been posted on the Internet by trustworthy sources:
Passport from Euromomnitor: this time, use the “industry reports” section to learn more about your industries
IBISWORLD reports: this system is in the “industry analysis” section of the Business Research Portal
ProQuest Business Databases: find articles by searching for the name of the trade associations, major players, industry name or consumer trend concept. Focus on articles from trade journals and academic/peer-reviewed/scholarly journals
Do you really think Google can help you with this one?
3. Consumer analysis: demographics, size of the target market and their consumption process (pre-during-post)
Remember: you’ve already learned so much! Don’t forget to use what you’ve found already!
Firstly, I like to point out that projects spanning multiple industries, markets, trends or technologies will probably have to pick a few codes, at least 2 or 3 of them. That is the only way to capture the complexity of disrupting an industry – by looking at a few angles.
Secondly, entrepreneurs researching a business plan will have to adapt existing reports and data to their unique idea. Dealing with imprecise information is not easy and simply looking for “perfect” information will usually not yield a comprehensive and authoritative project report. So, cast a slightly wider net and pick the best tidbits, rather than being too discriminating.
Early in this process, entrepreneurs are asked to pick an industry code from the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to guide their exploration of many tools. These code have 2 to 6 digits, the more digits you have, the more precise the industry (say from “41” for “Wholesale Trade” to “419110” to “Business-to-business electronic markets”). Usually, having a 5 digit code is best.
A common problem entrepreneurs bring to me has to do with picking the right code for emerging technological fields. Here are the most common NAICS codes in the tech industry and how to navigate between them, drawing from a non-exhaustive list based on my experience:
335
Electrical equipment, appliance and component manufacturing
See:
“Étude de jeu 2012 : L’industrie du jeu électronique poursuit sa croissance en 2013 | TECHNOCompétences”
http://www.technocompetences.qc.ca/actualite/etude_jeu_2012
The Canadian Marketing Association announced on their website that last summer, the International Journal of Mobile Marketing ran a special issue on mobile marketing in Canada (Summer2012, Vol. 7 Issue 1). Although you can purchase single articles from the publisher, this journal is available from the Library.
This image is taken from the last printed version of CARD: Canadian Advertising Rates and Data. It presents the cost to advertise in various media outlets, this case is Maclean’s a popular news magazine mostly read in Ontario.
Notice how you have various costs, from black & white, 1 color and 4 colors. Also, some other options such as free standing inserts (FSI) and classified ads. The readership of Maclean’s is the last thing showed, including total paid, complimentary and newsstand.
Here are short bibliographies generated from Library sources.
EBSCO’s Business Source Complete from peer-reviewed journals. The search query was simply for the terms “video games” industry. I picked the most interesting that touched upon “indie games” or labour issues for the past 5 years, 7 articles from about the first 40 hits.
Title: Under the radar: Industry entry by user entrepreneurs.
Authors: Haefliger, Stefan shaefliger@ethz.ch; Jäger, Peter pejaeger@ethz.ch; von Krogh, Georg gvkrogh@ethz.ch
Source: Research Policy; Nov2010, Vol. 39 Issue 9, p1198-1213, 16p
Title: User Communities and Social Software in the Video Game Industry.
Authors: Burger-Helmchen, Thierry, Cohendet, Patrick
Source: Long Range Planning; Oct2011, Vol. 44 Issue 5/6, p317-343, 27p
Title: The orchestrating firm: value creation in the video game industry.
Authors: Mikael Gidhagen; Oscar Persson Ridell; David Sörhammar
Source: Managing Service Quality; Jul2011, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p392-409, 18p
Title: Computer Hobbyists and the Gaming Industry in Finland.
Authors: Saarikoski, Petri1 petri.saarikoski@utu.fi; Suominen, Jaakko1 jaakko.suominen@utu.fi
Source: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing; Jul-Sep2009, Vol. 31 Issue 3, p20-33, 14p
Title: The business of playing games: players as developers and entrepreneurs.
Authors: Chazerand, Patrice1 patrice.chazerand@isfe.eu; Geeroms, Catherine1 catherine.geeroms@isfe.eu
Source: Digital Creativity; Sep2008, Vol. 19 Issue 3, p185-193, 9p, 1 Chart, 3 Graphs
Title: Work and Employment in Creative Industries: The Video Games Industry in Germany, Sweden and Poland.
Authors: Teipen, Christina1
Source: Economic & Industrial Democracy; Aug2008, Vol. 29 Issue
Title: Digital Consumer Networks and Producer–Consumer Collaboration: Innovation and Product Development in the Video Game Industry.
Authors: ARAKJI, REINA Y.1; LANG, KARL R.2,3,4
Source: Journal of Management Information Systems; Fall2007, Vol. 24 Issue 2, p195-219, 25p, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 1 Graph
>Creativity, innovation and the cultural economy [electronic resource] / edited by Andy C. Pratt and Paul Jeffcutt : Creativity, innovation and the cultural economy [electronic resource] / edited by Andy C. Pratt and Paul Jeffcutt
The cultural economy edited by Helmut K. Anheier, Yudhishthir Raj Isar ; Annie Paul, associate editor ; Stuart Cunningham, guest editor : The cultural economy / edited by Helmut K. Anheier, Yudhishthir Raj Isar ; Annie Paul, associate editor ; Stuart Cunningham, guest editor
The Blackwell cultural economy reader edited by Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift : The Blackwell cultural economy reader / edited by Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift
These are some interesting reports that cover the video games industry in Canada. In addition, you may want to search for articles that cover this topic.
Sign on to Passport GMID and search (top right corner) for “video games canada” (provides industry reports, consumption statistics and company profiles).
PMB Print Measurement Bureau
PMB Product Data provides results of a yearly survey of over 11000 Canadians’s consumption habit.
Look under “Home Electronics > Video Game Systems” as well as “Computer, Phones & Internet > Cell Phones/Smartphones/PDA”.
And this is where you come in: “Phase one” of the competition will then be building artwork that matches that guide that should then be uploaded to OpenGameArt and dual licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 and GPLv3. This part of the project will run from June 1st through June 30th. “Phase two” of this competition will be building GPLv3 or later games that incorporate artwork from the artwork building phase of the project. People can work in teams or individually, and this portion of the contest will run from July 1st through July 31st. [read more]
See also: OpenGameArt.org for open licensing digital assets.
