Business Librarian
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Start broad: Learn about your industry
An industry is a group of businesses that are related in terms of their main activity, for example manufacturing cars or selling groceries (Source: OpenLearn, The Open University).
We can use industry reports to learn about:
- Forecasting 5-year demand for the industry's services
- Identifying external factors affecting firms collectively, such as reduced donations because of a recession
- Comparing financial performance against industry benchmarks
JMU Libraries subscribes to these tools to help us learn about our larger industry.
- IBISWorld This link opens in a new windowIndustry market research reports on more than 700 U.S. and Global industries; includes trends, statistics and analysis on market size, market share of competitors and industry growth rate.
- Factiva This link opens in a new windowBusiness resources including full text periodicals, news photographs, company reports, and financial data.
Suggested keywords for SP 2025 non-profits
These are the suggested industries to search for in IBISWorld.
- Adoption & Child Welfare Services in the US
- Family Counseling & Crisis Intervention Services in the US
- Coffee & Snack Shops in the US
- Convention & Visitor Bureaus in the US
- Civic, Social & Youth Organizations in the US
- Elderly & Disabled Services in the US
"coffee trail" OR "beverage trail"
"equine-assisted therapy" OR "equine therapy"
("court-appointed special advocate" OR casa)
funding OR fundraising OR donation OR volunteer OR recruit
nonprofit marketing best practices
Tips for Getting the Best Info from Marketing Databases
JMU Libraries has created several tutorials in Google Slides to help students use our specialized business resources.
Click on the name of the database to open the tutorial that shows how to search for data and cite the information you find in APA style.
