In order to make informed decisions in business, it is necessary to conduct business research. Literature research is one way of doing business research and this is the focus of this training.
What will you learn from this training?
This training is focused on expanding your information literacy skills in doing business literature research. You will learn how and where to search strategically for business information.
This training is intended for all students who need to do business literature research on a topic or market and does not require any previous experience.
You will learn:
What business information entails
How to do an orientation on your subject
How to find / collect search terms
Search methods
How to build a search string
Selecting sources: Which databases are relevant for a specific type of business information
Form Search strategy business information
When you are building a search strategy, you might benefit from using the Form Search strategy business information. You can open this form by clicking this link.
This is how it works:
This training contains 4 modules. Each module contains some theory and once a short video.
You can work your way through the modules from beginning to end or go directly to the module you need. Click the ‘Next’ button on the bottom of this screen to start.
1. What is business literature research?
Business research focusses on both the internal and the external environment of a business.
The internal business environment consists of data created by the company and for the sole use of the company, such as company strategy plans, business models, marketing plans etc. You may research the internal business environment to exhibit the inner strengths and weaknesses of an organisation.
The external business environment consists of elements that influence a business’s strategy, results and performance from the outside. These elements are:
Market forces
Industry forces
Key trends
Macroeconomic forces
Business literature research is focussed on researching business theories, business topics and the external business environment.
When researching the external business environment, you will find that business information can be found in a variety of information sources. The type of information needed is generally leading in selecting the appropriate information source.
In general, business information can be divided into one or more of the following types of information:
Company information
Industry information
Investing/financial information
Consumer information
Trend information
Business statistics
Business news
Business theory
2. Searching strategically
Have a search strategy or plan
Well begun, is half done. This is also true when you are looking for literature for your study assignment, research or thesis.
In this part of the training we will discuss:
Orientation on a subject
Finding and collecting search terms
2.1 Orientation on a subject
Specify the information you need.
Look at your assignment and identify the key pieces of information you need and break those up in smaller pieces. Focus on the smaller pieces of the puzzle rather than searching for the entire holy grail.
During this orientation phase, you will get an increasingly clearer picture of your subject. This will help you define your subject and, in the end, formulate specific research questions
Create a mindmap.
Creating a mindmap can be a great tool do this and be a starting point for your orientation.
Write down everything that you can think of. Something that is not useful now, can prove to be of value later on.
Start searching the breadth of the topic for pertinent information. Which trends apply, what do experts have to say about the subject, and what has been written about it in (trade) literature?
Use the information you have found to add more relevant subjects to your mindmap.
Example
In this example we have derived the following research questions from the management issue and the objectives.
Main research question
What can be the product positioning strategy for company X for its private label “Y” for food discount retailers?
Sub-research questions
What does the literature say about (product) positioning stategy?
What is the current positioning strategy of the assigned “Y” product category?
What does the discount retail food market in The Netherlands look like?
What is the product positioning strategy of the Competitors (retail and product level) of the “Y” product categories Dairy and Canned fruit?
What are the characteristics of the end consumer of the food discounters of the Netherlands?
Looking at the research questions above, which aspects of the business environment would you need to research?
Words such as “industry”, “macroeconomic”, “market” and “trends” may come to mind. Look at each of these aspects of the business environment and break these up in smaller parts. In case of “Industry”, you might think of words like “retail food", ”supermarkets”, "dairy", "canned fruit", “competitors”etc. By writing these down for each aspect of the business environment, you gain perspective on your topic and subjects that you may encounter.
Tips!
Be aware: there is not always an (exact) answer to each of your questions. Sometimes you will have to come up with an acceptable alternative.
Keep an open eye for relevant search terms
Be creative in your overall approach
2.2 Collecting search terms
Translate your research question into relevant search terms with which you will search.
Do you find it difficult to come up with usable search terms? Try the following tips:
Use your mindmap - During your orientation you have searched for and will have found information to add more relevant subjects to your mindmap and with that more search terms to add to your list of search terms.
Scan relevant articles for keywords – In case you haven’t written down your search terms in the orientation phase
Check the company website – When researching business information for a company, the company website can provide relevant search terms regarding their products and services.
Sources you can use for your orientation:
Professional/trade literature: Professional/trade literature resembles scholarly literature in that it is typically written by people working in the field, but may be written by staff writers with expertise. You can find this type of literature via the START-box on the library webpage.
The Web: Everybody Googles! Googling will help you to:
Get a feel for your subject / product / market
Collect alternative search terms / synonyms
Find stakeholders for your market / subject (e.g. industry associations, trade journals & partnerships)
Tip!
If you surf the Web, also look for sources, not just data. A lot of information is buried in the hidden Web. Find the relevant sources and then drill down. Ask yourself, “Who benefits from this kind of information?” to help identify these potential sources.
3. Search methods
It is not very effective to enter random search terms in any database.
To find specific information on your subject, you will have to combine your search terms into a “search string”.
There are several techniques to do this:
Phrase searching (searching for exact word combinations)
Boolean operators
Proximity operators
Truncation and masking
Limiting your search
All techniques will be discussed in the next chapters.
Note: The full benefits of these search methods will be most clear when using databases containing books and articles, like Business Premium Collection and Business Source Premier, but they also work in Google (Scholar). Databases like MarketLine, EMIS, Stylus, Trendwatching and most statistical databases will require other search/browse methods.
3.1 Phrase searching
To search for exact phrases, put the words between quotation marks.
This is particularly useful when your concept consists of two or more words.
Searching with quotation marks will give you results that contain your search terms next to each other and in the order given by you.
Searching for the terms without quotation marks will give you results that contain both terms but they may be in different sentences.
3.2 Searching with Boolean operators
AND
The AND-operator is used to connect two or more search terms/concepts
Use AND to narrow a search and retrieve records containing all of the words it separates, e.g. “food retail” AND Netherlands will only find records containing both these words.
OR
The OR-operator is used for synonyms, related terms, plural/single and different ways of spelling
Use OR to broaden a search and retrieve records containing any of the words it separates, e.g.(”food retail” OR supermarkets) will find records containing “food retail” only, supermarkets only, or both words.
Note: Use of parentheses (round brackets) is required when using the OR-operator.
NOT
The NOT-operator is used to exclude search terms/concepts
Use NOT to narrow a search and retrieve records that do not contain the term following it, e.g. supermarkets NOT hypermarkets will find records that contain supermarkets, but will not contain the word hypermarkets.
In Google you have to use a dash (-) instead of NOT.
Note: Be careful when using the NOT-operator! You may unintentionally exclude relevant documents from your results!
3.3 Truncation and masking
Truncation
Truncation is the replacement of 1 or more characters at the end (or in the middle) of a word with a truncation character (the asterix).
Depending on the database there might be a default maximum number of characters that will be retrieved. In the Business Premium Collection that number is 5.
Example
Searching foreconom*will find economy, economics, economical, etc.
To define how extensive the truncation should be (in Business Premium Collection), a number (within square brackets) can be entered next to the asterisk.
Example
Searching for econom[*2] will find economy, economis but not economist, i.e. will replace up to 2 characters only.
Searching for behavi*r will retrieve behavior and behaviour.
Masking
Masking is the replacement of any single character, either inside or at the right end of the word with a masking symbol (wildcard character).
Note: Masking symbols can vary per database! Check the help files in a database to find out the correct masking symbol.
Example
In the Business Premium Collection, the question mark symbol (?) is the Wildcard character. A single ? will retrieve only one more character, ?? won't retrieve less than 2 more characters, etc.
Searching for organi$ation will retrieve organisation and organization.
3.4 Build a search string
It is not very effective to enter random search terms in any database.
To find specific information on your subject, you will have to combine your search terms into a “search string”.
Building search strings is done by using one or more of the techniques we discussed in chapters 3.1-3.3 and combining them using parentheses.
What are parentheses?
Parentheses are used to build 'nested' queries using round brackets (). This allows you to search with a combination of (Boolean) operators.
Databases are programmed to prioritise Boolean operators, thus establishing a "search precedence". The search precedence influences how your search is performed.
For example: Most databases give AND precedence over OR, meaning terms linked with AND will be searched before those linked with OR, regardless of the order they appear in your search.
In any database, using parentheses will override the search precedence.
Example
(”food retail” OR supermarkets) AND Netherlands NOT hypermarkets.
Tip!
Type AND/OR/NOT in capitals. Using capitals will increase the readability of your search string.
3.5 Limiting your search
Nobody is willing to dig his or her way through thousands of results and assess each individual result on its relevance.
What can you do when you have too many results?
Use more or different search terms
Combine important search terms with the Boolean AND-operator
Be critical with the use of the Boolean OR-operator
Truncate a word as late as possible: truncat*
Use filters to limit your results
Filters
Many databases offer filter options to limit your initial results. In this example we will show you the filters in the Business Premium Collection, but you will find similar options when using START, Business Source Premier, Academic Search Complete and other databases.
You first perform an initial search en subsequently click on one or more filters on the left-hand side of your screen. Using filters allows you to search for specific source types, specific date ranges, assigned subjects etc. Click on “More filters” to see all available filters.
If there is a “More” option in a limit category, use it!
Clicking on “More” will open a new pop-up window with options to include or exclude certain source types, subjects etc.
3.6 Search example (video)
Watch the video on searching and limiting in the Business Premium Collection.
Problems with watching the video?
If you see the error "Mediasite Player: your playback ticket is not valid for this session", delete the cookies from your browser and try again.
3.7 Tips for researching the business environment
Researching the business environment requires a research strategy, critical thinking, creativity and an open mind.
Next to the tips in the previous chapters, we have a few additional tips for you:
Clearly identify the industry you are researching.
Think about alternative names for describing the industry. For example, you may find information about the
shipping industry under: shipping, marine freight, transport & logistics, dry bulk, wet bulk, tankers etc.
Be aware that industry reports are not always available for niche industries
If you can’t find an industry report for your niche industry, consider researching the broader industry. E.g.: if you are researching white asparagus, you may also want to research the broader fruit & vegetables industry.
Industry Associations: Industry associations clearly benefit from collecting data about their industry. Many industry associations collect industry statistics, maintain directories, publish white papers and research reports, organize conferences, and trade shows. Industry experts may be identified through these organisations.
Governmental Materials: Governments provide a wealth of industry information. Look for the regulatory agencies for your industry, as they may provide detailed statistics and figures on their websites.
Note: Some databases (also) use database-specific classifications. EMIS uses both the NAICS classification and their own classification of industries.
An example of a national statistical classification is the Dutch SBI-code. This code is used by e.g. the Central Bureau of Statistics (database Statline), the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and the database CompanyInfo.
4. Selecting sources
Where you search defines what you will find. Statistical data on consumer expenditure can be found in a different source than information on the market for retail food in The Netherlands.
The ‘type of information’ you are looking for correlates with the information source.
This means that in order to answer your research question(s), you will have to search for information in different types of sources.
The library has selected sources for you, based on quality and the fact that these sources offer information in a structured way.
Start with sources offered by the library!
You can reach the library website from home. If you want access to one of the sources, you will be asked to login with your HR-account.
Information sources: an overview of all databases the library offers
Information sources per study programme: an overview of databases selected for your study programme.
On the tab Weblinks under Information sources per study programme (all RBS programmes) you will find information sources categorised by type of business information. Weblinks offers not only the regular library databases, but also weblinks to free, high quality, information sources selected by the library:
Business Books and Journals (Both business and academic information)
Company information
Competitive landscape and trends
Country information
Industry information
News
Statistics (international data)
Statistics (regional data)
Statistics (national data)
Financial Ratios
Other resources
Tips!
Identify the sources you need. Start with the core 3 or 4 sources for your (sub-) topic and build from there. You can also add the sources to your mindmap.
4.1 Selecting sources for an environmental analysis
As mentioned previously (Chapter 1 - What is business literature research), the external business environment are elements that influence a business' strategy, results and performance from the outside. The Business model Canvas distinguishes the following 4 elements:
Market forces
Industry forces
Key trends
Macroeconomic forces
In the next few chapters, we cross-reference the above mentioned elements (in detail) with relevant databases.
Please note: Not all information will be available in these databases. Sometimes you will find that parts of the information are (already) available wihtin the organisation and sometimes you will just have to get creative. Keep in mind, if you can't find the required information in literature you may need to conduct field research to gather the information.
In the overviews we suggest the main information sources that are relevant for your search. The lists are not exhaustive and researching additional sources might be necessary.
4.1.1 Sources for market forces
Market forces [Market anlysis]
Database(s)
Market Issues
What are the crucial issues affecting the customer landscape?
What are the most important customer segments? Where is the biggest growth potential? Which segments are declining? Which peripheral segments deserve attention?
What do customers need? Where are the biggest unsatisfied customer needs? What do customers really want to get done? Where is demand increasing? Declining?
What binds customers to a company and its offer? What switching costs prevent customers from defecting to competitors? Is it easy for customers to find and purchase similar offers? How important is brand?
Who are our competitors? Who are the dominant players in our particular sector? What are their competitive advantages or disadvantages? Describe their main offers. Which customer segments are they focusing on? What is their cost structure? How much influence do they exert on our customer segments, revenue streams, and margins?
Who are the new entrants in your market? How are they different? What competitive advantages or disadvantages do they have? Which barriers must they overcome? What are their Value Propositions? Which Customer Segments are they focused on? What is their Cost Structure? To what extent do they influence your Customer Segments, Revenue Streams, and margins?
Which products or services could replace ours? How much do they cost compared to ours? How easy it is for customers to switch to these substitutes? What business model traditions do these substitute products stem from (e.g. high-speed trains versus airplanes, mobile phones versus cameras, Skype versus long-distance telephone companies)?
Who are the key players in your industry value chain? To what extent does your business model depend on other players? Are peripheral players emerging? Which are most profitable?
Google: Think of websites of main competitors and trade associations
4.1.3 Sources for key trends
Key trends [Foresight]
Database(s)
Technology trends
What are the major technology trends both inside and outside your market? Which technologies represent important opportunities or disruptive threats? Which emerging technologies are peripheral customers adopting?
What are the key demographic trends? How would you characterize income and wealth distribution in your market? How high are disposable incomes? Describe spending patterns in your market (e.g. housing, healthcare, entertainment, etc.). What portion of the population lives in urban areas as opposed to rural settings?
What is the state of the capital markets? How easy is it to obtain funding in your particular market? Is seed capital, venture capital, public funding, market capital, or credit readily available? How costly is it to procure funds?
Describe the current status of markets for commodities and other resources essential to your business (e.g. oil prices and labor costs). How easy is it to obtain the resources needed to execute your business model (e.g. attract prime talent)? How costly are they? Where are prices headed?
How good is the (public) infrastructure in your market? How would you characterize transportation, trade, school quality, and access to suppliers and customers? How high are individual and corporate taxes? How good are public services for organizations? How would you rate the quality of life?
Het arrangement Training Business Literature Research - 2022 is gemaakt met
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voor alle doeleinden, inclusief commerciële doeleinden.
Van dit lesmateriaal is de volgende aanvullende informatie beschikbaar:
Toelichting
This training is focused on expanding information literacy skills in doing business literature research. Students will learn how and where to search strategically for business information.
Leerniveau
HBO - Master;
HBO - Bachelor;
Eindgebruiker
leerling/student
Moeilijkheidsgraad
gemiddeld
Trefwoorden
business information, information literacy, literature research, search methods, search techniques
This training is focused on expanding information literacy skills in doing business literature research. Students will learn how and where to search strategically for business information.
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plural/single and different ways of spelling
find out the correct masking symbol.
