Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Codes and Regulations For Washington State (searchable, and easy to use).

Market Share Reporter
Reference HF5410 M35
An annual compilation of reported market share data on companies, products, and services. Gives sources from where information is derived.

World Market Share Reporter
Reference HF5410 W67
A compilation of reported world market share data and rankings on companies, products, and services.

U. S. Market Trends and Forecasts
Reference HF5415.1 U8
Overview and projections for almost 400 industries. Includes information such as market size, market sectors, competition, customer profiles, market history and forecasts in chart and graph format. Trends in the back by age bracket, little over simplified but could be helpful.

Market Scope: The Desktop Guide to Supermarket Share
Reference HD9321.4 M375
Supermarket share for over 1,400 chains and wholesalers as reported by five market definitions (ACNielsen SCANTRACK, Nelsen Media Research's DMA, IRI InfoScan, TradeDimensions' Marketing Guidebook, and MSA). Includes the buying offices, total number of supermarket sales as a percent of total sales, as well as demographic information for the geographic area, recent mergers and acquisitions in the supermarket industry, etc. See introductory pages for users guide and definitions.

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys. We have online now!

Reference Standard & Poor's. HC 106.6 S74

Search by industry headings (in the front of each volume). After you find the closest industry, grab the right alphabetical book and read the articles for changes in the trends and look at the CDI for more number trends. Very helpful. Also has regulations for industries that have changed.

Who's Buying Groceries.

Reference HD 9321.4 W46

Provides the trends of different shopping segments, men, women, race, age and ethnicity.

(Simmons may provide additional information.)

Check consumer data resources (print and online). See especially the New Strategist Reports.

SUDS The Lifestyle Market Analyst
      (Reference Book on 1st floor of library. Call No: HF5415.33 U6 L54)
      - Provides marketing profiles by geographic area
      - lifestyle profiles
      - consumer segment profiles
      - a list of consumer magazines and direct mailing lists classifications targeted to lifestyles.

The Sourcebook of Zip Code Demographics
      (Reference Book on 1st floor of library Call No: HA 203 S66)
       Projections of key population and income variables: data on population, households,
       families, income, race, age, and spending potential for various products.

Chamber of Commerce as a resource, i.e. Bothell, Woodinville, and Ballard. They have listings of all the Member Businesses.

MRSC- Municipal Research Service Center of Washington- Site giving all of the web sites for major cities as well as county profiles in Washington State, see especially "Research Tool" tab at the top of page.

Check consumer data resources (print and online), polls and surveys, U.S. Census, (see government sources) and newspaper and journal articles.

American Factfinder: This U.S. Department of Commerce site provides a huge amount of demographic information on people and business, including personal income and a wealth of localized information, from the year 2000 census. Use zip codes to locate Demographics corresponding to where you are considering opening your business.

MelissaData

http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/
Current but very simplified data.

Competitor websites may give you some great ideas about buying trends as well.

Standard & Poor's netAdvantage -
Features Standard & Poor's market investment news, including market snapshot, company quote, equity indexes page, the Outlook's market insight, S & P stock picks and pans, economic calendar, economic insight, industry in focus, and Stovall's sector watch

Lexis-Nexis Academic -

Covers news, trade journals, legal, statistical and accounting information. Look for magazines & newspaper articles, using search terms such as "Demand Trend" and the type of industry you will go into. For example "demand trend" and the term "frozen" produced great articles about trends in frozen foods.

TableBase (UW Bothell On Campus Access Only)
TableBase specializes in tabular data on companies, industries, products and demographics. It is international in scope, covers over 90 industries and provides links to tables and articles from which the tables were derived. A useful marketing tool!

InfoTech Trends
Market data from over 65 industry journals on peripherals, software, storage, Internet, communications, etc. Covers revenue, shipment forecasts, market share, usage, etc. Data is up to the most recent quarter, comes in table format, and can be downloaded into Excel spreadsheets. Note: Information found here may be useful for making projections (e.g., from market, revenue, costs, etc.).

Simmons Choices 3 (Library Access Only)
(To access from UWB/CCC Library, select: Start/Programs/Library CD-ROMS/Simmons/Choices3)
This is a consumer research database derived from responses to a national consumer survey by 30,000 American adults aged 18+. The collection of data in the database includes household purchase or usage of numerous household products, brands, and services, including media usage. Customized reports can be created from the data to analyze product users' demographic and psychographic characteristics and their media behavior. Latest available data is for 2002. Suggestion: at the beginning do a search for the products, companies or brands, so you can verify the database has this data for the most recent year. For example, search for "Costco" and "Wal-Mart" so you can compare the demand and demographics for each company. If the data does not exist in that year, try the next year. This is a very spiffy tool, but the learning curve is steep; keep playing with it and you will use it lot.

Note: Beginner's Guide available here.
For more complex searches, ask at the reference desk for the Simmons Choices 3 User Manual (Public Work Station Computer Manuals HC110 C6 C47 1999-2000).

SimplyMap - a wonderful tool that allows some multi-variable searches to pinpoint where your target customers are located.

This mapping tool allows you to search on a map for customers meeting your target demographics. Data can be exported to excel to map charts showing the size of your client base. Suggestion: use Simmons to identify your clients and then use SimplyMap to find the densest area that they reside and put your business there. VERY COOL TOOL! Link to: SimplyMap Tutorials

Plunkett Research Online
An industry center providing market research, trends and analysis, industry statistics, profiles of industry-leading companies (both public and private), industry associations, and company contact export features.

Investext

To search by industry. Select an industry from the drop down menu; enter "Demand" in the keyword search box and see what comes up.

To narrow your search: in the "Report Title" box, try typing a word you think might appear in a title. Keep it broad.

The larger reports are more likely to contain information you seek (also, note who produced the report).

The report is accessible through the "PDF Document" on the left margin.
OR
Search by company. Reports may contain information related to the company's industry, its competitors, market share, trends and forecasts.

Business Databases, Doreen Harwood (our campus Business Librarian) created this page as an index to all of the business databases available to you through the UW Libraries. Database are UW Restricted.

b. Psychographic Trends

1. What type of media do they consume?

2. What are their beliefs?

3. Why do you believe they are the type to buy your product?

Handbook of market segmentation : strategic targeting for business and technology firms, By Art Weinst

Reference HF5415.127 .W45 2004

Explains why understanding the psychographics of your product or service is necessary. The book also breaks down the process of internal research or using contracted research. Discusses the usability of VALS.

Asking questions : the definitive guide to questionnaire design : for market research, political polls, and social and health

questionnaires, By Norman M. Bradburn, Seymour Sudman, & Brian Wansink

Reference H62 .B63 2004

This explains how to set up a psychographic questionnaire so you can find the type of people likely to purchase your product.

SRI Consulting Business Intelligence VALS^TM

http://www.sric-bi.com/VALS/types.shtml For a description of the shopper types. This is a commercial website

that has broken down the different types of shoppers to help identify types of shoppers within your target demographic.

"VALS is a consumer psychographic segmentation system because it is based on psychological characteristics and several demographics that correlate with consumer behavior-hence, psychographics."

To take the survey to understand yourself in order to put this tool in to perspective. http://www.sric-bi.com/VALS/presurvey.shtml

Roper Center for a huge number of polls going back many years and covering all sorts of interesting topics.

Simmons Choices 3 (Library Access Only)
(To access, select library Information Commons computers: Start/Programs/Library CD-ROMS/Simmons/Choices3)

SimplyMap- (Not currently available) has some psychographic information, (use with Simmons for a more complete picture). This is a wonderful tool that allows some multi-variable searches to pinpoint where your target customers are located. It even maps out their location or gives it to you as excel data. VERY COOL TOOL!
Link to: SimplyMap Tutorials

Lexis-Nexis Academic -

Covers news, trade journals, legal, statistical and accounting information. On the left hand margin, select "Reference," then "Polls & Surveys." This will allow you to search for key terms.

c. Phase of life - is your product limited to certain time periods in customer's lives?
(i.e., single, college age, child rearing, retired, empty nest, )

Think about the lifestyle choices people make such as when we buy life insurance or stop snowboarding. What drives these changes?

The Lifestyle market analyst- Very helpful in seeing the interests of different age brackets and cities.

Reference HF5415.33.U6 L54

The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship. (2004) John Wiley & Sons.

(Reference Book on 1st floor of library. Call No: HD 62.5 B94)

Great interview Ideas for potential customers in order to understand the purchasing process and to get to know potential buyers.

Citizen surveys : how to do them, how to use them, what they mean

By Thomas I. Miller and Michelle Miller Kobayashi

Reference HM261 .M54 2000

American Men: Who They Are & How They Live by New Strategist Publications
Reference HQ1090.3 A457
Demographic data on men organized into ten sections: Attitudes and Behavior, Business, Education, Health, Income, Labor Force, Living Arrangements, Population, Spending, and Wealth.

American Women: Who They Are & How They Live by New Strategist Publications
Reference HQ1421 S486
Demographic data on women organized into ten sections: Attitudes and Behavior, Business, Education, Health, Income, Labor Force, Living Arrangements, Population, Spending, and Wealth.

American Attitudes American Consumer Series by New Strategist Publications
Reference HN 90 P8 A527
Who thinks what about the issues that shape our lives.

Americans and Their Homes: Demographics of Home Ownership. American Consumer Series
Reference HD7287.82 U6 R87 by New Strategist Publications

Best of Health: Demographics of Health Care Consumers. American Consumer Series
Reference WA540 AA1 W4b by New Strategist Publications

Racial and Ethnic Diversity: Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Whites American Consumer Series
Reference E184 A1 R78 by New Strategist Publications
Demographics, lifestyles, and attitudes of racial and ethnic groups.

ProQuest Databases

You can use the dropdown database list to limit your data to "Business- ABI/INFORM Trade and Industry," "Business- ABI/INFORM Dateline " or "Business- ABI/INFORM Global". If you need fewer articles, limit dates to recent articles.

Simmons Choices 3 (Library Access Only)
(To access, select library Information Commons computers: Start/Programs/Library CD-ROMS/Simmons/Choices3)

SimplyMap- has some psychographic information, (use with Simmons for a more complete picture). A wonderful tool that allows some multi-variables searches to pinpoint where your target customers are located. It even maps out their location or gives it to you as excel data. VERY COOL TOOL!
Link to: SimplyMap Tutorials

Questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. Who is your customer - provide a specific description
(summarize the information above that describes your ideal customer)

2. How many potential customers are there in your target area?

3. How are these customers currently being served?

a. What is the unmet need and how will you meet it?

b. Think about how you will win the customers currently being served by others?

IV. Industry Overview

1. Structure

How many Companies are there? What size are they?
(Do they have resources to overtake you? or buy you out?)
Distribution Channels?- Are they set up horizontally or vertically for a reason?
How do they transport their product? Why?
What are the barriers to enter this market?
How is their hierarchy set up?

Market Share Reporter may provides some of this information
(Reference Book on 1st floor of library. Call No. HF5410 M35)

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/distribution.htm

Chamber of Commerce as a resource, i.e. Bothell, Woodinville, and Ballard. They have listings of all the Member Businesses. Understand your competitor's location.

Corporate Affiliations
A corporate affiliations directory that provides insight into 174,000 parent companies, affiliates and divisions--U.S. public, U.S. private, and international. Includes M&A activity from 1976 where available. Searchable by multiple criteria such as company, parent company, subsidiary, personnel, responsibility, city, state, zip code, country, product/brand name, outside service firm name or type, area code, number of employees, sales, stock exchange, SIC code and SIC keyword, year founded, ticker symbol, and keyword. Advanced searches can be limited by public, private or international companies, as well as parent, subsidiaries or both.

Hoovers
Provides access to company profiles for 14,000 companies, public and private, worldwide.
Search for the company that you are interested in and check the competitive environment and the competition.

Lexis-Nexis
Competitors are often included in company profiles.
Select: Business
Select: Company Profiles

Mergent Online
Mergent Online provides access to 15 years of financial data for U.S. and international public companies. Other information provided includes business profiles, histories, lists of subsidiaries, company officers and directors. An archive section provides U.S. and international public companies that were acquired, went bankrupt, liquidated or merged out of existence from 1996. Full Annual Reports for several years are integrated within the BASIC SEARCH Module and Company SEC filings are available through the EDGAR SEARCH module

TableBase (Web-Based but On Campus Access Only) UW restricted
Use the product you hope to market as the keyword, then use drop down menu to select concept term "Market Share."

Reference USA
http://www.referenceusa.com
Directory of Public and private companies and manufacturers for U.S. and Canada. Searchable by company, SIC/NAIC codes, Yellow Pages subjects, and industry. Can be limited by type and size of business (employee size or sales volume), location (state, MSA, city, county, area code, zip code), executive title, headquarters, branch or subsidiary, stock exchange or all public companies. Provides address, phone, fax, number of employees, sales, credit rating, ticker symbol, toll free number, SIC code, line of business and if public company. Can also be searched for companies that meet specific criteria such as all biotech companies in Bothell.

2. Competition - Who, How Many, How Big?

Research how they advertise
Visit their web sites
What are their markets
Learn their products
Product features
Prices

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys. We have online now!

(Reference Book on 1st floor of library Call No: HC 106.6 S74)

Search by industry headings, in the front of each big book is the industries that they include. After you find the closest industry grab the right alphabetical book and read the articles for changes in the trends and look at the CDI for more number trends. Very helpful. It also has regulations for each of the industries that have changed recently.

Market Share Reporter sometimes provides this information
(Reference Book on 1st floor of library. Call No. HF5410 M35)

Industry Magazines: get the latest information about trends or changes for your product from trade journals. (Add the product to the search provided.)

Obviously, check the Competitions' websites!!!!

U.S. Patent and Trade Mark Office- really cool site that allows you to check patents that have been applied for as well as granted.
http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
U.S. Patents and Trademarks since 1976. Includes international and e-business links as well.

Patent Database on the internet
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/swain/patent/patdbases.html
Metasite for patents. Some sites are free.

Business News Online, (newspapers, newswires, magazines with limited free articles)

Competitors' sites may contain Company Newswires (Company PR with possible hype so evaluate) with information about not-yet-released products that can impact your company.

Chamber of Commerce as a resource, i.e. Bothell, Woodinville, and Ballard. They have listings of all the Member Businesses. Understand your competitor's location.

Trade Journals: report on industry trends and includes small and private companies. For articles on the company, search online Databases such as:

Lexis-Nexis, ABI/Inform Trade & Industry, or Factiva. Use these databases to find current information regarding changes in the technologies that your product uses or the direction in which the market is moving.

Lexis-Nexis
Select: Legal Research Select: Patents

Factiva: Click on the tab News Pages at the top of the menu for the latest headlines and top stories in Top Newspapers: The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Business Week, Barron's, Forbes, and Fortune.

ProQuest Newspapers: Full text and indexing for over 600 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Oregonian, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other major U.S. national newspapers, international English-language newspapers, and selected regional/state newspapers.

Forrester
Forrester is an independent research firm that analyzes the future of technology change and its impact on businesses, consumers, and society and analyzes such technology areas as new media, computing, software, networking, telecommunications, and the Internet. Access is provided to some reports in this database.

Lexis-Nexis
Competitors are often included in company profiles.
Select: Business
Select: Company Profiles

TableBase (Web-Based but On Campus Access Only) UW restricted
Use the product you hope to market as the keyword, then use drop down menu to select concept term "Market Share."

3. Stage of Industry - the research that you have done about the industry and the competition should be sufficient to complete this section.

Telltale signs of Industry stages:

Startup-

high cost
low sales volume
no/little competition - competitive manufacturers watch for acceptance/segment growth
losses
demand has to be created
customers have to be prompted to try the product

Maturity-

established in market
little need for publicity
increase in competition
prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products
brand differentiation, feature diversification, as each player seeks to differentiate from competition with "how much product" is offered
most profitable phase

Growth-

economies of scale
sales volume increases significantly
more profit
customers are aware
competition begins
prices to maximize market share

Declining-

costs become counter-optimal
sales volume decline or stabilize
prices, profitability diminish
profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased sales

4. Trends

Growth-Demand
Technology - is technology changing (quickly, slowly)?
Buying patterns - is this a one time purchase item or many purchases in a lifetime?

Market Share Reporter
Reference HF5410 M35
An annual compilation of reported market share data on companies, products, and services. Gives sources from where information is derived.

World Market Share Reporter
Reference HF5410 W67
A compilation of reported world market share data and rankings on companies, products, and services.

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys. We have online now!

Reference Standard & Poor's. HC 106.6 S74

Search by industry headings, (in the front of each volume). After you find the closest industry, grab the right alphabetical book and read the articles for changes in the trends and look at the CDI for more number trends. Very helpful. Also has regulations for industries that have changed.

Who's Buying Groceries.

Reference HD 9321.4 W46

Provides the trends of different shopping segments, men, women, race, age and ethnicity.

(Simmons may provide additional information.)

Check consumer data resources (print and online), polls and surveys, U.S. Census, (see government sources) for newspaper and journal articles.

Competitor websites may give you some great ideas about buying trends as well.

Lexis-Nexis Academic - Look for magazines & newspaper articles, using search terms such as "Demand Trend" and the type of industry that you will go into, ("frozen" gave great articles about trends in frozen foods); covers; news, trade journals, legal and accounting information.

Investext

To search by industry. Select an industry from the drop down menu; enter "Demand" in the keyword search box and see what comes up.

To narrow your search: in the "Report Title" box, try typing a word you think might appear in a title. Keep it broad.

The larger reports are more likely to contain information you seek (also, note who produced the report).

Business Databases, Doreen Harwood (our campus Business Librarian) created this page as an index to all of the business databases available to you.

5. Government Regulations for this industry -

Licensing

Insurance

Taxes

Pollution -Toxins proper waste disposal

Washington Administrative Code (WAC),

Reference KFW35 .A26 2001 on the first floor of the Campus Library.

Standard & Poor�s Industry Surveys. We have online now!

Reference HC 106.6 S74

Search by industry headings- in the front of each big book are the industries they include. After you find the closest industry, grab the right alphabetical book and read the articles for changes in the trends and look at the CDI for more number trends. Very helpful. It also has regulations for each of the industries that have changed recently.

Doing Business in 2004: Understanding Regulation
Reference K3840 D64
Investigates the scope and manner of regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Provides quantitative indicators on business regulations and their enforcement that can be compared across more than 130 countries, and over time.

Uniform Commercial Code
(Reference KF890 W45 in print format)
U.S. Commercial Law.

Doing Business in Washington Access Washington, the official guide to doing business in Washington State. This site is full of great resources for business here. The Environmental Permit Handbook for Washington State.

Department of Revenue Washington State More tax information for specific industries.

Municipal Research and Service Center- Codes and Regulations for cities and counties in Washington State.

Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Codes and Regulations For Washington State (searchable, and easy to use).

Thomas--U.S. Congress on the Internet
Domestic legislative information. Search current congressional bills by bill number, key word or phrase.

Edgarscan
From Price Waterhouse Coopers Technology Center. Search by company for SEC reports or a list of some companies in the field. Generates background information on those companies, including for their lines of business and does a financial comparison of them. Can also search by industry (SIC codes) to obtain a list of some companies in an industry and a financial comparison of them.

SEC Filings 10K

http://www.sec.gov/ public companies must file 10K reports and will sometimes explain new regulations to shareholders in the report.

The Federal Trade Commission http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm

Business.gov The Official Business Link to The US Government, separates the information into industry specific data to help locate what you need. http://www.business.gov

US Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/

Wastes http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/index.cfm and http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/indwaste/index.htm

Lexis-Nexis
Select: Legal Research Select: Legal Research, State Codes, Washington (and something about your product).

Investext
Abstracts and full text of reports and forecasts prepared by international brokers, investment banks, and trade associations on over 11,000 U.S. and international companies and 83 industries. Some reports include sales forecasts and market share. Also contains Wall Street Transcripts of interviews with market leaders.

Industry Surveys

Doreen Harwood (our campus Business Librarian) created this page as an guide to all of the industry databases that are available to you.

6. What Promotions are other companies utilizing?

Major Marketing Campaigns Annual
Reference HF 5837 M34
Profiles 100 of the most notable advertising and marketing initiatives of 1997. Entries include overview of brand history, competition, marketing strategy and outcome. Campaigns cover a variety of marketing strategies such as radio and television advertising, branding, and direct mail. Search in general index by company, product, advertising agencies and people. There is also a subject index.

Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns
Reference HF 5837 E53
Contains 500 important marketing campaigns for products and services. Entries are alphabetical by company and provide an overview and a history of the campaign, target market, major competitors and (if known) market share, marketing strategy and outcome.

The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising
Reference HF5803 A38 (3 volumes)
Takes an historical look at the advertising industry. There are entries for advertisers, brands, campaigns, individuals and various aspects of advertising such as infomercials and telemarketing. Includes profiles of 120 advertising agencies worldwide and the history of advertising in specific countries and regions. Further reading lists are provided at the conclusion of each entry. There are Appendixes for Advertising Hall of Fame, Notable U.S. Advertising Degree Programs, Top U.S. Advertising Agencies, Top U.S. and World Advertisers. The source is well illustrated

The 2003 Entertainment, Media and Advertising Market Research Handbook
Reference GV174 E58
Sections include a Market Overview covering Market Summary, Leisure Time, Media Conglomerates and Consolidation, Profiiles of Key Players, Investment Analysis, Celebrities, plus Advertising and Marketing, Television, Film and Video, Print Media, Sports, Music, the Internet, Entertainment, Venues, Demographics Focus (children, teen, Generagion X and Y, Baby Boomers, Seniors, Gender, Ethnic and Gay and Lesbian Markets). Sections typically include a market assessment and forecast, market leaders, market trends, market distribution by advertising segment, integrated marketing and advertising, consumer demographics, and much more.

Trade Periodicals (SRDS Business Publication Advertising Source)

Reference HF 5905 .S723 This is at Foster Library

Trade periodicals, frequently called trades, contain brief articles, press releases, and job announcements about a specific industry. The marketing trades give information about trends in the marketing industry, company news, and current events. Examples of marketing trades are Adverting Age, Marketing News, and Adweek. Most of the trades are available full text in ABI/INFORM.

http://agr.wa.gov/Marketing/default.htm

Clio Awards
http://www.clioawards.com
An archive of who won the clio awards, which honor advertising excellence worldwide.
Note: Some of the Clio Award videos are held in the UWB/CCC Media Center. To locate them, search the Online Catalog by Keyword for "Clio Awards" and limit Location to "Bothell/CCC Campus Library" and Publication Type to "Videos, Slides, Media."

Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov/
Working for consumer protection and a competitive marketplace. Includes sections on Business Guidance, Consumer Protection, Antitrust/Competition, Economic Reports, News Releases, Legal Cases and more.

Advertising Educational Foundation
http://www.aef.com This site will let you watch the CLIO commercials.
Advertising Educational Foundation serves as the industry's clearinghouse, repository and distribution force for educational information and materials to improve the perception and understanding of the social, historical, cultural and economic role of advertising. Their mission is to provide the best resource to advertising and related content on the web.

Marketing and Business Services

WSDA helps Washington food and agricultural producers sell their products in domestic and international markets and promotes the agricultural industry.

100+ Marketing Ideas from Small Business Administration (SBA)
http://www.sba.gov/managing/marketing/100ideas.html

Literally 100+ Marketing ideas, great site for other ideas as well.

What questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. Description of the current industry

a. How can you take advantage of the current industry trends?

b. How much growth can you expect?

c. Is this a market you want to go into?

2. What ideas can you borrow from the competition? (i.e., Supply chains, distribution channels, points of sales)

3. What can you do that your competition can't?

a. Can you keep them from doing that?

4. What can you improve upon (e.g., make more profitable, simplify, streamline, just-in-time, reduce waste)?

V. The Marketing Plan (Four P's)

Describe each of the following 4P's. Since you have done the above research, the written statements will solidify all of the ideas you have and will help you to see what ideas are the best options.

1. Product - What is the product or service you will sell? Describe all of the attributes of the product or service. Is it a service or tangible good? What is the product life cycle?

2. Price - How will you determine price? What options will work best for your product?

Print Resources

Almanac of Business & Industrial Financial Ratios

Reference HF 5681 .R25 T68

Over 20 financial ratios and percentages are given for each of 75 major industries. Each industry is also subdivided, and ratios are given for the sections. Statistics lag three years behind publication date. Note: Compiles statistics for companies just starting up and has no money in assets.

Marketing by Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz, & Rudelius.

Reference HF5415 .M29474 2006

Excellent resource for any questions and this book is frequently a class textbook.

Encyclopedia of small business

Reference BL65.P7 E53 2007 v.1& 2

The Price Advantage by Marn, Roegner & Zawada

Reference HF5416.5 M365

Great explanations for all sorts of pricing situations, i.e. Post Merger, Price Wars, and New Technology.

Froogle can be a resource to get comparison prices in order to set your prices.

Setting Prices Step by Step http://www.netmba.com/marketing/pricing/

Databases (UW Restricted)

TableBase (Web-Based but On Campus Access Only) UW restricted
Use the product you hope to market as the keyword; then use the drop down menu to select concept term "Pricing."

Encyclopedia of Small Business

This source is an eBook. Select the index, then P and scroll down to pricing and you will find some helpful explanations to determine pricing.

If you get great info, make note of the publication and the article name in order to find the full article in Lexis-Nexis.

3. Place- What are the locations you will use to make your product available?

Print Resources

Market Scope: The Desktop Guide to Supermarket Share.

Reference HD 9321.4 M375.

BDI and CDI of the grocery stores, where stuff should be sold once the product is developed but it does not tell you what type of shoppers will go to that outlet.

Marketing Guidebook: The Blue Book of Supermarket Distribution.

Reference HD 9321.3 P75

Mentions what aspects are important to people choosing grocery stores, and what services they each offer. The book also offers information on when there are conferences to demo products and see the latest trends, including websites for this information.

The Lifestyle market analyst

Reference HF5415.33.U6 L54

Reference for consumers shopping

Editor and Publisher Market Guide
Reference HF5410 .E33
Gives quality of life data, latest census data, economic and demographic projections for U.S. cities and other communities supporting daily newspapers.

Community sourcebook of ZIP code demographics

Reference HA203 .S66

4. Promotion - How are you going to promote your site? What promotional ideas work with the market you have selected?

Use the four P's (product, price, place, & promotion) and other tactical or environmental variables to show how your plan can succeed.

Print Resources

Best resource--Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns
Reference HF 5837 E53
Contains 500 important marketing campaigns for products and services. Entries are alphabetical by company and provide an overview and a history of the campaign, target market, major competitors and (if known) market share, marketing strategy and outcome.

Company/brand$

Reference HF5813.U6 C68

How major corporations spend their money to advertise their products. Company/brand$ breaks the advertising dollars in to 10 different spending categories such as; cable TV, outdoors, and radio.

Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands
Reference HF 5415.3 E527
Three-volume set on consumable products, personal products and durable goods. Gives product info on 600 of the most popular leading brands (often considered "household words"). Entries include overview of brand history, sales and market share (when available), major competitors, advertising info, address and phone number of parent company, brand logo or photo, essay on how the product originated, evolved and fares today.

Major Marketing Campaigns Annual (Great examples of Marketing Campaigns)
Reference HF 5837 M34
Profiles 100 of the most notable advertising and marketing initiatives of 1997. Entries include overview of brand history, competition, marketing strategy and outcome. Campaigns cover a variety of marketing strategies such as radio and television advertising, branding, and direct mail. Search in general index by company, product, advertising agencies and people. There is also a subject index.

Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media
Reference Z6951 A97
A guide to publications and broadcasting stations, including newspapers, magazines, journals, radio stations, television stations, and cable systems. Covers ad rates, circulation stats, local programming, personnel and more. Arrangement by state, city and media category. Descriptive and statistical data are given for most cities and states. The third volume has tables of industry activity and statistics, broadcast and cable networks, news and feature syndicates, and 21 indexes. The fourth volume contains maps for all areas covered and a regional market index (by newspaper, periodical, cable, television, and radio)

Trade Periodicals (SRDS Business Publication Advertising Source)

Reference HF 5905 .S723 This is at Foster Library

http://agr.wa.gov/Marketing/default.htm

Clio Awards
http://www.clioawards.com
An archive of who won the clio awards, which honor advertising excellence worldwide.
Note: Some of the Clio Award videos are held in the UWB/CCC Media Center. To locate them, search the Online Catalog by Keyword for "clio awards" and limit Location to "Bothell/CCC Campus Library" and Publication Type to "Videos, Slides, Media."

Marketing and Business Services

WSDA helps Washington food and agricultural producers sell their products in domestic and international markets and promotes the agricultural industry.

100+ Marketing Ideas from Small Business Administration (SBA)
http://www.sba.gov/managing/marketing/100ideas.html

Literally 100+ Marketing ideas, great site for other ideas as well.

Questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. What is your product or service? (If you have explained it fully before, don't repeat it. Just make sure it is fully explained.)

2. What is the price? How did you determine this price? Show support of price using the following; cost of materials, time to produce, cost of transport, competitor's prices and your profit.

3. Where do you plan to locate your business? Where will you obtain the components necessary for your product or service? Where will you sell your product or service? How will it get there?

4. What promotional ideas will you use? When and how? What image will that give to your product?

VI. Segment, Target & Position

(STP)

Note: Use the research that you have completed above for this section.

1. Segment - who are potential buyers of this product?

2. Target - who will you pursue?

This should be decided by which segment your product would appeal to the most, and if they have the means to buy your product.
Describe your target market segment in detail by using demographics, psychographics, geography, lifestyle, or whatever segmentation is appropriate.
Why is this your target market?
How large is it?

3. Position - What is the position you want in the customers mind and how will you achieve that?

Positioning is designing a product or service that the targeted market sees as distinct and valuable when compared to competitors' products. (4 P's continued 2 cells below)

Three ways to position a product:

Unique - this is the only one of its kind
Difference - e.g., More than twice the speed, or more attachments, etc.
Similarities - e.g., Same as ______ but at a lower price.

What is this telling your targeted segments? Should you rethink anything?

A. How will you communicate with the market?

B. What is your value proposition - why is it better than your competition?

C. What is the evidence that it will be successful?

Questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. How do you promote your product in the market? To whom?

2. What is the position you will go after in the market?

3. What is your value proposition - why is it better?

4. What is the evidence that it will be successful?

VII. The Organization Plan

Organizational structures

A. What form of a company will be needed? (Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, Limited Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), Corporation, & Limited Liability Company (LLC))

B. What does management look like? How will management be structured? How will conflicts be resolved?

C. Will you have any consultants for the business? Who and Why?

What questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. How will this Company structure benefit the company and owners?

2. What special skills or experience does the key management have for this industry?

3. What other resources will you be bringing into the company (i.e., consultants, employees)?

Encyclopedic Dictionary of Operations Management
Reference TS 155 B525

Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science
Reference T 57.6 E53

Human Factors Design Handbook
Reference TA 166 W57
Provides general reference to key human factors questions and human-product interface design suggestions in a form that engineers and designers can utilize with a minimum of searching or study. Human factors engineering is the practice of designing products so that the user can perform required use, operation, service, and supportive tasks with a minimum of stress and a maximum of efficiency.

Advances in the Management of Organizational Quality
Reference HD 62.15 A83 Volume 1
The papers in this volume represent studies ranging from broad performance-oriented issues dealing with impact of quality programs on financial and manufacturing performance of firms to specific organizational issues and practices affecting quality management programs in firms. The studies give insight into the relationships between quality improvement programs and many organizational issues such as customer satisfaction, manufacturing practices, leadership, selection and recruitment, innovation, human resources management, and organizational practices.

ISO 9000: An Implementation Guide for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses
Reference TS 156 V63
Written for manager or owner of a small business who wants to implement ISO 9000 as part of its quality system. Offers a simple systems model of ISO 9000 that can be used for certification. Includes sample procedures an forms. The intent is to demystify the ISO 9000 standards and to demonstrate their use in operating a small business.

Organization Charts: Structures of 230 Businesses, Government Agencies, and Non-Profit Organizations
Reference HD 38 0738

Beverage Industry Annual Manual
Reference HD 9348 U5 B48
Supplier, Product and Operations Guides, Industry Reports and Association Listings.

Mitsue-Links

http://www.mitsue.co.jp/english/company/chart.html This site gives great, clear explanations of company structures and how the structures can benefit different companies in different ways.

Doing Business in Washington Access Washington, the official guide to doing business in Washington State. Includes online forms for filing business names, registration requirements,

VIII. Financial Plan � Required Resources, Monthly, 3 Yrs

Financial Plan � what are the required resources you will need?

Project out monthly financials for 3 years to give a realistic overall picture of each of the following:

A. Income Statement

B. Balance Sheet

C. Cash Flow

D. Capital equipment and supply list

E. Breakeven analysis

F. Assumptions upon which projections were based

G. Projected range of sales (Bygrave, William D.. (1994). The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship. John Wiley and Sons, page 154)

What questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. How much money do you need?

2. Where do you plan to obtain it?

3. What is the number of customers to break even? What percentage of your target market is that?

4. When will you break even?

5. What will the investor/lender get out of this deal?

RMA Annual Statement Studies
(Book in Reference collection on 1st floor of Library. Call No: HF 5681 B2 R6)
Composite financial data for 375+ industry groups (by NAICS code). Arranged by broad category, then by industry group and line of business. Published by RMA, a national organization of bank loan officers. RMA surveys its membership to obtain sample financial statements of businesses seeking bank financing. While this is a very detailed source of composite financial information, RMA cautions that the figures be viewed as general guidelines because of the limited samples within industry categories.

Start with this resource; however, if you cannot find your Industry classification code in this source, try using the next two sources below.

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios
(Book in Reference Collection on 1st floor of library. Call No: HF 5681 R25 I525)
Industry norm statistics on 800+ lines of business to compare a company�s financial condition to peers, project future performance, determine standards of risk and performance, and create a model to measure how a company�s financials should look based on industry performance. From D&B database of business credit reports. Uses SIC codes.

Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios
(Book in Reference Collection on 1st floor of library. Call No: HF 5581 R25 T68)
The source of the industry financial data is from corporate income tax returns filed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Data are grouped into 13 categories by size of assets for each industry. Corporate performance is profiled in two analytical tables for each industry. One table reports operating and financial information for all corporations (those with and w/o net income); the other table gives the same info but for only corporations with net income. Ratios are arranged by SIC code.

Financial planning for the entrepreneur : notes, profiles, cases / by Donald E. Vaughn

Reference HG4027.7 .V38 1997 Explains each of the financial theories that you will need to understand and has case studies with questions that are not answered by the book. Has examples from many types of industries to show different area needs.

Five Year Plan (Service Industry)

http://www.exinfm.com/free_spreadsheets.html A website that offers Free Excel Spreadsheets that could be useful.

SEC Reports find a company similar to yours just as you would with the RMA Annual Statement Studies book in the section above.

Note: in LexisNexis you can search by SIC Codes.

http://www.jaxworks.com/download.htm On this site you can find a "5 Year Projections" you can save it and then use it later. They also have a breakeven spread sheet. Simplified but can be very helpful.

http://www.jaxworks.com/toys.htm "Want to have some fun? Here is a new way to create an Excel business analysis system that is customized just for you. How? You build it to your specifications from preconfigured modules."

Microsoft Templates that may be of some help.

Five Year Plan (Manufacturing)

Start Up Costs

Five year projection worksheet

Statement of Cash flows

IX. Financial Terms

VII Financial Terms

1. How much money do you need?

A. When will you need money?

B. How many customers do you need to break even? What percentage of your target market is that?

2. When will you break even?

3. When can you expect to start to pay off investors?

Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources
Reference HG65 R8
Provides a background for venture capital, relays how to raise venture capital, discusses sources for business development financing, and contains a directory of U.S. and non-U.S. venture capital firms.

Red Herring
http://www.redherring.com
Technology business news and events, including Investor and IPO news, VC & startups.

Thompson Financial Securities Data
http://www.tfsd.com/products/financial/default.asp
Provides worldwide merger and financing information.

National Venture Capital Association
http://nvca.org/home-frame2.html
Association events, VC industry statistics and legislative alerts.

Venture Capital Finance Directory
http://www.vfinance.com/
vFinance.com contains venture capital directories and related services, including a downloadable business plan template.

Small Business Administration- "The SBA provides small business counseling and training through a variety of programs and resource partners, located strategically around the country."

Banks- The entrepreneurial class was told to form a personal relationship with their bank, or think about getting a different bank. Talk to your bank and see what they can do for you.

Angels- talk to friends and family to see if they know anyone. Here are two possible guides, but most of these funds want an introduction rather than a cold call.

From Inc.com, a resource for entrepreneurs: http://www.inc.com/guides/start_biz/24011.html

From The Smart Startup: Solutions for the Startup Funding Problem. http://www.antiventurecapital.com/angel%20investor%20sources.html

Interesting Article from Inc.com, on "20 Tips for Finding Money Now" http://www.inc.com/magazine/19990301/741.html

X. Exit Strategy

X. Exit Strategy -

How do you plan to pay off the investors if the company does not succeed? In case your company does work out, show the scenario the other way also. If your plan fails completely, at what point do you admit defeat? On the other hand, would you rather be doing something else if someone offered to buy the company?)

Questions you should answer within your business plan:

1. Is your company separate from you? Is it a legal entity?

2. What is the value of the company at the time of the exiting? How will you pay off the investors?

3. What if you sell your idea?

4. If the company does not make it and closes (e.g., bankruptcy)?

5. In a partnership, make a plan for who retains the company, who gets bought out and how the price could be determined.

Rogoff, Edward G.. (2004). Bankable business plans. Thomson Texere, p 23.

The business valuation book: proven strategies for measuring a company's value, by Scott Gabehart, Richard Brinkley

Reference HG4028.V3 G3 2002

Text and CD (the CD, which is kept behind the reference desk, contains Word documents, but you can copy the formulas to Excel and make them useful.)

The IPO Decision by Jason Draho

Reference HG4028 S7 D73 2004

Sort of an in-depth How-To Guide for IPOing, including valuation for the IPO and a number of valuation options.

Exit Strategies for Your Business - Nice article showing five different exit strategies, with pros and cons from Entrepreneur.com.

Charting Your Business Timeline - Moving On: Exit Strategies article from Entrepreneur.com about when the time feels right to move on and decide on a selling price.

The Four Ds of a Business Exit Strategy - from About.com outlining why you should plan for this.

Planning Your Exit Strategy: Small Business Valuation from National Federation of Independent Business gives some examples on how to assign value to companies.

XI. Appendices

All supporting information that you used to write your report.