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Professor
Gil Becker
Library Liaison
Jeff Waller
Contents
Introduction
Background Information
Industry and Company Reports
Books
Journal Articles
Newspaper Articles
Selected Websites
How to Cite Your Sources
Subject Guide
Economics & Business
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This guide ties in with the class assignment to analyze a particular industry in detail. Start your research by reviewing the chapter on your industry from one of the books on reserve
at the library. Then examine industry reports on your sector, as they provide in-depth overviews of the current market structure, analysis of recent company performance, and forecasts of future trends. Finally, search for books and journal articles that discuss industry dynamics and public policy, and learn the latest developments by searching for articles in the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers.
If you need any assistance in using these resources or if you are having difficulty in locating information, please contact the Economics and Business liaison librarian.
Books on Reserve
These books (on reserve at the Circulation Desk) contain chapters describing recent developments in various industries, including the ones being investigated for this project. Reading these chapters should give you a foundational understanding of the history and structure of the industry, including public policy toward it.
Industry and Firm Studies (4th ed.)
Reserves HD31 .I55 2007
Nine industry studies, including airlines, banking, soft drinks, and sports.
Industry Studies (3rd ed.)
Reserves HC106.8 .I53 2002
Studies of 14 industries, including pharmaceuticals, casino gambling, and health insurance.
Structure of American Industry (12th ed.)
Reserves HC106 .S78 2009
Overviews of 12 industries, including electricity, beer, music recording, and college sports.
Reference Books
Encyclopedia of American Industries
This site contains the complete text of a 2005 encyclopedia on US industries. The industry profiles include some information on market structure and recent conditions, but their focus is on the industry's historical development.
Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries
Ref HD2324 .E528 2007
This is an excellent source of background information on recently growing industries, such as alternative energy, e-commerce, and internet service provision. Each entry describes an industry's organizational structure, development, and current conditions.
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The following resources provide detailed insight into industry dynamics, including predictions of future developments. You can also obtain up-to-date company profiles for the major players in your industry, to learn about their recent performance and strategies for future growth.
Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys [found in NetAdvantage]
Ref HG4910 .S756 (print version)
These detailed profiles characterize the dynamics of a particular industry at the time they were written, including the major players, trends, financial statistics, and the regulatory framework. S&P NetAdvantage contains Industry Surveys from the last ten years. To find the latest survey on your industry, click the Industry tab and use the Industry Surveys pull-down menu to select the appropriate report. Within the Industry Survey, use the links at top (such as "Industry Trends" and "How the Industry Operates") to navigate to different sections of the report. To download an Excel spreadsheet of financial data on the major players in the industry, click "Downloadable Company Data" in the left-side menu.
Industry Profiles [found in Business Source Premier]
This database includes industry reports from several well-respected sources, particularly Datamonitor's Industry Profiles and Global Insight's Industry Yearbooks. To access an industry report, type a keyword representing your industry into the "Browse for" box.
Company Profiles [found in Business Source Premier]
This database also enables you to find Datamonitor reports on individual companies within your sector, which include histories, SWOT analyses, and revenue analyses. To access a company report, type the company's name into the "Browse for" box.
Standard and Poor's Stock Reports [found in NetAdvantage]
To learn more about the recent performance and future outlook of companies in your industry, search for their S&P Stock Reports. To retrieve the latest report on your company, click the Companies tab, select "Stock Reports" in the Resources pull-down menu, and search for the company either by name or ticker symbol.
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Geisel Library catalog
For this project, books will be primarily useful for background information on government regulatory policy and the recent history of your industry. To find general books about public policy and antitrust issues, try doing a Subject search in the catalog for any of the following. Click on relevant subject headings to see a list of available books.
- Antitrust law
- Competition
- Industrial policy
- Trade regulation
WorldCat
For books specific to your industry, you may wish to conduct keyword searching in WorldCat to identify relevant books owned by other colleges. Limit the Material Type to "Books" and the Year to recent years to find recently-published books. Sample keyword searches for this project include the following:
- (automobiles OR autos) AND future
- casino* AND gambling
- banking AND industry AND regulat*
- soft drink* OR Coca-Cola OR soda
- music AND recording AND industry
When you identify a relevant book in WorldCat, you can click on the "Request via Interlibrary Loan" link in its WorldCat record. Books requested through WorldCat are usually delivered to Geisel Library in 7–10 days, so be sure to start your research early. You will be emailed when your book arrives, and you can check it out for a specified borrowing period.
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There are a number of business and economic journals that provide scholarly analysis of industry dynamics and regulatory issues. There are also hundreds of "trade publications" that publish articles about the latest trends in the industries that they cover.
Search the databases below to find useful articles from these types of publications. If there is no link to the full text of the article, click on the  icon to determine whether the journal is available in Geisel Library or in full-text via another online database. If the article isn't available, consider clicking on the Interlibrary Loan link in the WebBridge window to request a PDF copy of the article from another library. Within a week, you should receive an email indicating that the article is available to access.
Business Source Premier
The place to start, with hundreds of full-text scholarly journals (including the Antitrust Bulletin and Journal of Industrial Economics) and trade publications. Try basic keyword searching using the Boolean "AND" operator to link together terms representing different concepts. For example, search "recording AND industry AND (online OR download*)". Use the Publication Type limiters to the left of the search results to narrow your focus to Academic Journals, Periodicals, or Trade Publications. Another approach is to combine Subject searches on terms such as "Antitrust Law," "Trade Regulation," and "Competition" with keywords for your specific industry or company.
ABI INFORM
This database provides citations and abstracts (but no full text) from over 2,000 business and management periodicals, including academic journals and trade publications that cover industry trends.
EconLit
This database consists of citations for journal articles, books, and working papers on economics. This is the most complete resource for searching academic journals in the field of economics.
LexisNexis Academic – News
Offers full-text articles from selected business news publications. Next to the Sources label, choose "Business News Publications" from the drop-down box. Adjust the Date Range as desired to focus on particular time periods.
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Along with articles from trade publications (which can be found in the journal databases above), newspaper articles are often the best source for up-to-date information on the latest industry dynamics. The following databases offer full text of recent newspaper articles. Try the same keyword searches that succeeded in the journal databases.
LexisNexis Academic – News
Find full-text newspaper articles from local, national, and international papers. In the Sources drop-down box, choose either "US Newspapers and Wires" or "Major World Newspapers". In the results screen, change the Sort to "Relevance" to move the best results to the top. If you have too many results, add more keywords or limit the search to “headline and lead paragraphs”.
Newspaper Source
Get full-text articles from several major national and international newspapers, plus selected full-text access to more than 200 regional newspapers.
Wall Street Journal
This database offers full-text access to the Wall Street Journal from 1984 through the present. You can do keyword searching within the citations, abstracts or full text of articles.
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The following websites will supplement your research by providing government documents on US trade regulation and legal documents from antitrust court cases.
Antitrust Case Browser
This site offers summaries of US antitrust cases and their outcomes, organized helpfully both by legal area and by product. This is a convenient way to learn about antitrust cases in the industry you're examining, from the early 1900s through 2004. Once you find cases of interest, you can obtain the full-text of the court's decision by typing the case's citation number (e.g., 457 U.S. 332) into the "Find a document by citation" box in Westlaw.
Department of Justice, Antitrust Division
This agency enforces the antitrust laws by filing criminal suits or initiating civil action against businesses allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices. Click on Public Documents to access appellate briefs filed by the Dept. of Justice, or go to Antitrust Case Filings for an alphabetical listing of cases. You may also try using the Search Tools to locate documents relevant to your industry.
Federal Trade Commission
This is the federal agency charged with preventing anticompetitive business practices and reviewing mergers for their potential adverse impacts on consumers. Click on Advocacy Filings (under the Competition tab) for trade regulation rules and amicus briefs filed by the FTC, click the Actions tab for the FTC's recent antitrust activities (including legal action), and click on Research (under the Economics tab) for economic reports and working papers about individual industries. Or, try keyword searching on a company or industry in the Search box.
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See the library's How To Cite Your Sources guide for resources on how to properly cite research materials. Always confirm the style required by your instructor.
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