Business Planning References
General Information Sources
INC Magazine
Garage.com (organization to accelerate startups)
Business Thinkers (general site for entrepreneurs)
StartupStree.com ("Centrall location to seearch
for strategic, advisory, and investment resources...")
Sources of Industry Statistics and Data
Encyclopedia of Associations
- Excellent source of information from trade groups and professional
organizations
U.S. Census Bureau
Statistical Abstract of the United States. US Bureau of the
Census.
STAT-USA
-
Subscription service of the Economics and Statistics
Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. State of the Nation contains
data on the U.S. economy and finance including economic indicators, housing and
construction, employment, manufacturing and industry, monetary statistics, and
economic policy. The National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) has U.S. import
and export statistics. The International Trade Library is searchable by
country or product.
Datastream
- The Datastream Research Service is a very large system containing data on
a broad range of financial and economic topics. This includes
equities, bonds, company accounts, stock market indices, interest and
exchange rates, economic indicators, futures and options, warrants, and
commodities. Data can be manipulated using functions and expressions.
DRI Global Economics
- DRI offers the most comprehensive collection of global financial, economic
and industry information.
Business Statistics of the United States
- Forty years of monthly, quarterly and annual economic indicators which can
be updated by the Survey of Current Business
Dismal Scientist
Economic Indicators
Federal Reserve Bulletin. Monthly.
FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data
- Provides historical U.S. economic and financial data, including daily U.S.
interest rates, monetary and business indicators, exchange rates, balance of
payments.
- http://www.stls.frb.org/fred
Survey of Current Business. US Department of Commerce. Monthly.
- GNP tables, foreign investments and other analysis from the Bureau of
Economic Analysis.
LABSTAT. US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Consumer Data
Simmons Study of Media and Markets. Annual.
- Covers products and the characteristics of their consumers or covers various
media audiences and their characteristics. The CD-ROM contains an annual survey
of 20,000+ American households: characteristics of respondents, exposure to
media, and usage of products and services by brand name. Data can be cross
tabulated for a wide array of demographic and psychographic characteristics of
users of products and their media behavior.
LifeStyle Market Analyst. Annual.
- Provides statistical information on lifestyles and consumer behavior in the
U.S. Also includes information on U.S. market surveys and lifestyle market
planners.
"Survey of Buying Power." Sales and Marketing Management.
Annual.
- Part I published in July gives current estimates of population by age, retail
sales by store group, and S&MM's own Effective Buying Income and Buying
Power Index. There are also rankings of the top black, Hispanic and
affluent MSAs and other special features. Part II has 5-year projections
plus surveys of newspaper and TV markets.
Consumer Expenditure Survey. US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Family income and expenditures for detailed food and other categories are
presented with families classified by income, race, age, region, etc.
- http://stats.bls.gov/csxhome.htm
Product Development
Rocky Mountain Inventors and Entrepreneurs Congress
Patents and Trademarks
US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Web Patent Database
IBM's Intellectual Property Network
The World Intellectual Property Association (WIPO)