Kent State University: Marketing Research: Home

Uses for Marketing Research

Various methods of market research are used to find out information about market trends, customer satisfaction, and market needs. Businesses that conduct regular market analysis research can learn valuable information to respond to customer needs.

Some of the primary uses for marketing research includes the following:

Identify opportunities to serve various groups of customers
Examine the size of the market - how many people have the unmet need
Determine the best methods to meet the unmet needs of the target markets
Investigate the competition
Clarify your unique value
Conclude if the product is effectively meeting the needs of the customers
Conclude if your advertising and promotion strategies are effective or not

Where can I find out information about a company?

Company reports and profiles
Annual reports and market announcements
Journal articles
Newspaper articles and media
Websites

Getting Started Checklist
This handout will help you keep organized as you begin your research.

General Library Resources

Geauga Campus Library
This link provides direct access to the Geauga Campus Library site.
Geauga Campus Library Guide - Business
This library guide provides information for doing business research.
Library Tutorials
These tutorials provide information on how to search Kentlink, use the research databases, and avoid plagiairsm.

KSU Marketing Research Quick Links

The following quick links provide access to Kent State University library guides created business related research and could prove useful for finding materials for marketing research.

Research Databases for Marketing Research

Business Source Complete
Has full text for more than 10,300 serials. Contains scholarly publications covering all disciplines of business including marketing, management, economics, finance, accounting, and MIS. Additional materials include country economic reports, case studies company profiles, SWOT analyses and industry reports.
Select "Company Information" to search by comapny name, ultimate parent, ticker symbol, or keyword.
Factiva
Factiva specializes in business news but also includes news from numerous general-interest newspapers and other sources. It includes full-text news reports from more than 10,000 sources from over 150 countries and more than 20 languages. Most of the major US and UK newspapers are available, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today.
Select "Company/Markets" and "Companies" to search by company name and ticker symbol.
Nexis-Uni
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
Select "Get Company Info" to search by company name and company type.
EconLit
Covers the international literature on economics. Provides bibliographic citations, with selected abstracts of journal articles, books, dissertations, working papers, collected works, conferences, book reviews, and more. Topics include economic development, forecasting, and history; fiscal and monetary theory; business and public finance; international, healthcare, regional and urban economics, and more.
KOMPASS International
Kompass is a B-2-B database, with more than 2.8 million international and domestic companies listed. Search by company name, trade name, executive name or products and services. Free content is limited to identifying companies of interest.

Marketing Research Reference Desk

Ohio Business Gateway
This resource provides information about and for Ohio Business. Includes resources and reference materials.
USA Small Business Information
This government website provides information regarding small business resources.
Online Reference Shelf- Statistics
This libguide provides information on where to find statistics reports.
Online Reference Shelf - Newspapers
This link provides access to newspaper reources, including FACTIVA.
U.S. Federal Reserve Data Reports
Includes Exchange Rates and International Data, Bank Assets and Liabilities.
Ohio Business Information
This resource allows you to search for information about Ohio businesses.

Marketing Research: Home

Uses for Marketing Research

General Library Resources

KSU Marketing Research Quick Links

Research Databases for Marketing Research

Marketing Research Reference Desk

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