HST.590 Libraries' Guide
HST.590 class wiki
Remlee Green Health Sciences Librarian remlee@mit.edu
Stephanie Hartman Engineering Librarian hartman@mit.edu
Alex Caracuzzo Associate Head, Dewey Library alex3@mit.edu
This guide gives you an overview on how to start researching topics related to companies and industry. For further assistance with your research, contact a librarian!
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NOTE: MIT Certificates must be installed on your computer for off-campus access to most of the proprietary database links on this page.
MIT has licensing agreements with several market research firms enabling access to many of their reports. These firms include Frost & Sullivan, Gartner Group (full access available in library), Jupiter Research and others. For a full list of accessible market research firms, visit the Business Database Advisor.
Some research firms, such as Forrester and IDC, make abstracts or excerpts of their reports available for free on their websites. Unfortunately, MIT Libraries usually cannot purchase such reports due to their high cost and limited scope.
For new products and new markets, it is possible that no previously-published market research reports exist. Dewey Library has created a guide to "do-it-yourself" market research" using the MIT Libraries resources, tailored to the needs of someone writing a business plan (on a limited budget) without access to off-the-shelf market research.
There is generally more information available about public companies than there is about private firms. It's a good idea to first determine whether your target company is public or private using either D&B Million Dollar Database or ReferenceUSA, two large directories of US and International companies. Next, consult the Business Database Advisor, a tool for identifying the most commonly-used resources for company financials, news, analysis and forecasts, and other information.
For step-by-step instruction on doing basic company research, visit the Online Workshop: Researching Companies. To identify contacts and industry experts, use online "Yellow Pages" directories (such as ReferenceUSA), National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States or the Washington Information Directory (both of these books are on reference at the Dewey Library).
If you cannot find what you are looking for, or if you need help with your research, you are always welcome to ask for help from a librarian.
There is generally more information available about larger, more established industries than smaller, emerging ones. If you are researching a niche industry, it is a good idea to speak with a librarian for advice before you delve too deeply into your research.
The Dewey Library Industry Information Subject Guide provides an extensive list of sources for researching industries, including journal and newspaper databases (such as ABI/Inform and LexisNexis), industry reports (from Standard & Poor's, Plunkett Research, and others) and other data sources. To identify contacts and industry experts, use online "Yellow Pages" directories (such as ReferenceUSA), National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States or the Washington Information Directory (both of these books are on reference at the Dewey Library).
For step-by-step instruction on doing industry research, visit the Online Workshop: Researching Industries, Markets + Products.
Patent documents can be a rich source of competitive and technical information. The science and engineering librarians at MIT have created a Guide to Patents at MIT.
The Dewey Research Advisor suggests several sources of information on venture capital funding. There are also websites with information on funding, including:
To search the collections of the MIT Libraries, try Barton (the web catalog) for books and other print material, and Vera for online material, like journal articles.
Dewey Library (in Building E53) is the MIT library for business-related resources (and related management and the social sciences topics). The Dewey Library offers multiple routes for getting help with your research. For on-the-spot advice, reference librarians are available at Dewey from 11am - 5pm, Mon - Fri.
For research help on topics of engineering and science, you may want to visit the Barker Engineering Library (building 10) and the Science Library (building 14S).
You can also get advice or answers to research questions via e-mail through the MIT Libraries Ask Us! service. More extended research assistance can be obtained by meeting with a librarian. To arrange a consultation for individuals or teams, fill out a Research Consultation form.
Visit the MIT Libraries website for more information about other MIT library locations and services.
This page was last updated on Thursday, 16-Jul-2009 08:02:33 EDT