New York SBDC Research Network

Excerpt from an article by Ayaz Nanji To read more, visit  MarketingProfs "Marketers are using original research primarily to create blog posts, infographics, and PDFs, according to a recent report from Mantis Research and BuzzSumo. The report was based on data from a survey conducted in January and February 2018 among 698 marketers from around the world (53% work for B2B firms, 16% for B2C firms, 26% for hybrid B2B-B2C firms, and 5% for governments/nonprofits). Respondents were surveyed on how their firms are using original research, which was defined as research published to gain attention from external audiences (benchmarks, salary guides, etc.), not research conducted to meet internal needs (marketing plans, competitive analyses, etc.)."

From  eMarketer.Retail A survey of retail executives, the vast majority of them from primarily brick-and-mortar chains, found widespread concern about enhancing the value of their physical stores. The polling from  RIS News  and  Gartner  found that more than one-third of respondents said optimizing stores and upgrading store-level bandwidth and infrastructure would be a top challenge in the coming years. Worry about physical stores fits the industry narrative of the moment, with chain after chain announcing new or expanded efforts to shutter brick-and-mortar locations. A  recent study  estimated that efforts to close stores actually need to be accelerated if the industry as a whole is to address a glut of retail space. 

This week, the Office of Advocacy released the Annual Report of the Office of Economic Research, FY 2015. This report details 26 OER publications and eight Small Business Economic Research Forums that were produced during fiscal year 2015. This year, OER produced research on the following topics: ·         Access to Capital ·         Employment ·         Innovation ·         Minority- and Women-owned Businesses ·         Veterans The report includes links to all the original documents. It can be found on Advocacy's website at https://www.sba.gov/advocacy/annual-report-office-economic-research-fy-2015

The purpose of the research study on states’ regulatory flexibility activity was to evaluate to what extent states went to mitigate the impact of state regulations on small businesses. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) at the federal level requires agencies to minimize the impact of their regulations on small entities without compromising their regulatory objectives. States versions of the RFA, the research indicates, are/have been following different paths to the requirements and are having mixed results. Get the full report or summary . Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Radwan Saade at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

The SBDC Think Tank has been working with Bob Fangmeyer, Deputy Director of the Baldrige organization, and Dr. Kevin McCormack to complete a research study focusing on small business success. To date over 250 small businesses have completed the questionnaire. Dr. McCormack has published a preliminary report on the Small Business Breakthrough Project website. Small business owners: The Breakthrough Project is a SBDC sponsored national initiative that provides free resources to small business owners. In preparation for fuller analysis, the Think Tank is attempting one last push to encourage you to complete the survey questionnaire. The survey is only 20 questions, it is anonymous, and it takes only a few minutes to complete. Please help us by completing the survey now. The results will be shared with as they become available.

New statistics showing the industrial specialization and diversification of U.S. businesses are now available from the Census Bureau's Enterprise Statistics Program . In developing a complete series of reports to be published with the 2012 Economic Census results, Census Bureau researchers have created an Enterprise Classification System and prototype tables based on the 2007 Business Register. The statistics provide a new perspective for the analysis of enterprises, businesses and their establishments under common ownership or control.

Vol: 31, No: 5 The July edition of The Small Business Advocate focuses on research. The Office of Advocacy’s 2012 round of economic research RFQs are announced in its pages, and Chief Counsel Winslow Sargeant discusses the history and successful record of the 30-year-old Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Also includes are news about a new online information series, Small Business Facts, developments surrounding the complex issue of “Incorporation by Reference” of industry standards

The key to providing good industry research is knowing where to look. Sometimes I start doing research on an industry and am not sure where to start looking. I have found the website ValuationResources.com to be incredibly helpful when I have difficulty locating information. According to the site, "ValuationResources.com is a free guide to business valuation resources, industry and company information, economic data, and more. Designed as a comprehensive resource guide for business appraisers, the site's audience includes a broad mix of business owners, professionals, students, and other parties interested in business valuation and industry information." Although the information listed in the guide isn't always available free of charge, knowing where to find the information is a step in the right direction. For resource guides specific to a particular industry, see Industry Information Resources , which covers more than 400 individual industries in the following

Every now and then I like to write a blog post about general business resources that I use. A few months ago, I discovered a very useful resource that I recommend bookmarking for future use. The William and Joan Schreyer Business Library at Penn State has compiled Industry Guides for various industry. The guides are organized industry sector or alphabetically. Check out the guide for the Biotech Industry . Guides provide NAICS, scope of the industry, databases to use for further research, U.S. and World companies and resources that provide industry data, related reference titles in the library, trade associations and journals, and occupational information sources.