Executive Toolbox: Concordia’s Library System

Olivier Charbonneau 2023-08-17

When researching a business topic or launching a new venture, information about industries, markets or competitors can be invaluable for MBA or EMBA students. In this session, we will cover resources from the Internet as well as licensed market and industry intelligence databases available from Concordia University Library. This is a workshop adapted from the “Entrepreneurship”  course at the John Molson School of Business.  

Direct link to the Business Research Portal (BRP) at Concordia University Libraries: https://www.concordia.ca/library/guides/business.html

The gist: for trade or research articles use ProQuest Business; for industry data & reports for Canada, the USA, China and the World use IBISWorld; for consumer reports and data use Passport by Euromonitor. Find these and more on the Business Research Portal (BRP) at Concordia University Libraries.

Source: Business Research Portal (BRP) at Concordia University Libraries

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

  • Leverage scientific evidence for business success
  • Locate industry and market reports from the Internet and the Library
  • Understand how to use datasets from Statistics Canada (Census & Data) and other national agencies
  • Develop a healthy information diet

COURSE OUTLINE

  1. Finding sources with strong evidence to support claims
  2. Articles: evidence from science and news
  3. Know your market & industry: reports from IBIS Wrold; SME Benchmarking; Mergent Intellect
  4. Using Google for business research: trade associations & governments
  5. Statistics Canada for entrepreneurs: Census & CANSIM
  6. Library services

1. Finding sources with strong evidence to support your business or academic claims

When making a claim in a paper or a presentation, you need to locate and cite the best source with strong evidence. To navigate the breadth and depth of the information universe, you need to recognize certain social, economic or political processes at play. Here is a simple framework to tap into various information lifecycles:

2. Articles: evidence from science and news news

Getting started: read articles from encyclopedias such as Wikipedia or International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences to get a sense of the literature. Look at the jargon used, navigate the “see also” links and download the articles cited therein. Books, such as your textbook, handbooks or monographs from Sofia, the library catalogue, are also relevant. Remember: do not cite encyclopedia articles, you have to access the peer-reviewed articles cited in encyclopedia entries!

Three words about Generative Artificial Intelligence: plagiarism; hallucinations and empowerment.

Now that we’ve sorted out some details, here are some tools and tips for locating business intelligence from articles:

Remember: you have to cite anything that you haven’t written, such as copy-pasting from a source or a response from a chatbot.

3. Know your market & industry: reports from IBIS Wrold; SME Benchmarking; Mergent Intellect

4. Using Google for business intelligence: trade associations and government reports
  • Find trade associations with Google
    • They post a lot of industry/market information on their websites
    • Trade shows, reports, analysis, press releases, lawsuits, white papers, directories, interviews, newsletters… is there a bias?
    • Watch the video for this step
  • Find government information with Google’s advanced search
    • Most government websites follow a standardized format for their addresses
    • Governments study and regulate many topics relevant for new business
    • Example: 2022 Communication Markets Report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
Government LevelExample of “Site/domain”Tip
Municipal.ville.montreal.qc.caLook for “Montréal en statistiques” page for information for boroughs
Provincial.gouv.qc.caThe province deals with mainly: health, education, welfare, culture, agriculture/food…
“Federal”.gc.ca   .gov europa.euAlways check for reports from Industry Canada at site:.ic.gc.ca
Internationalun.org   or other agencyAgencies affiliated with the United Nations have their own website
Table 1: Tips to filter Google results for Government information
5. STATISTICS CANADA FOR ENTREPRENEURS

6. Library Services

As graduate students, you are afforded a vast array of spaces, services and collections!

Ask questions! For example, you can chat live with a library staff right now. Olivier’s email is on the Business Research Portal.

Ce contenu a été mis à jour le 2023-08-24 à 4:57 pm.