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COB 300 - Integrative Business

This guide helps students research their business plan proposals. Be advised this is NOT a comprehensive checklist for all topics that should be researched.

How to start business plan research

Marketing research topics

Operations & Supply Chain Management research topics

Management research topics

Finance research topics

Citing and FAQs

Best bets A to Z

A to Z list of selected JMU Business Resources

Subscription-based resources that JMU provides. You will need to authenticate with Duo as a JMU user to access.

BizMiner
Industry research and data reports on more than 16,000 lines of business in national and local markets.
Business Source Complete
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Indexing and full text for periodicals and news sources covering all aspects of business, including business, country economic reports, company profiles, market research reports, industry reports, and SWOT analyses.
IBISWorld
Industry market research reports of more than 700 United States industries; includes US Specialized Industry Reports, East Coast State Reports, and iExpert Summaries.
Mergent Intellect
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Company information on global private companies, both active and inactive.
Mintel Academic
A comprehensive resource full of reports on current issues in a wide array of domestic and international markets.
Passport GMID
An online market research tool containing global information on consumer spending, industry information, country profiles, and much more.
Note: Users must login with their JMU eID and password.
ProcurementIQ
Insight and analysis on goods and services, specifically designed to help purchasing, supply chain management, and strategic sourcing professionals to identify price drivers and market characteristics that impact buying decisions.
ReferenceUSA
Directory of U.S. businesses (key personnel, addresses, credit rating, sales, subsidiaries, etc) and households (name, address, and phone number, census data for the household's area).
Statista
A data aggregation and research platform covering worldwide markets, industries, and societal topics. Data is compiled from private and public sources aggregated from North American, Europe, and Asia.
WARC
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Advertising best practices, evidence, and insights from the world's leading brands; also contains leading journals Admap, MarketLeader, the Journal of Advertising Research, and the International Journal of Market Research.

Other pages on this guide refer to these resources as well as to free online sources that will help you complete your business plan.