Business Resources

Week VI
Business Source Complete
In my search for "FM Radio," I noticed the following:
The types of sources include trade and academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and product reviews. I clicked on the "Company Information" on the right of the screen and found this fascinating. A list of FM stations and companies appeared, with basic information as to location and annual revenues. I clicked on News Corps.because its revenues ($33Billion) were the most eye-popping. Drilling down, I could look at basic financials, products, whether it is a publicly traded company, ownership and management, etc. This was quick and informative and were I in the market for a partner, job, stock, etc. it would be a good place to start.

In using the visual search option, I found the "graphic" component very interesting. However, I concluded that the search terms used would have to be very specific to find the desired information. "FM Radio" was too broad a topic. When I narrowed it by "Public" FM Radio I got more of what I was looking for without having to guess which "box" to select.

EconLit
In doing my search for resources for small businesses, I noted that most of the articles are from academic journals or government reports. I decided to do a search that added the term "fisheries" to see what kind of information I might find for a young lobsterman. To be honest, I didn't find anything that would be remotely pertinent, useful, or at a reading level that would be engaging. I tried advanced search, as well as changing from Boolean to the other choices and the results became more and more bizarre. When I got a hit from a Croatian journal, I gave up and moved on to look for information about the EPA and small business. Again, I didn't find much that would be germaine to someone wanting to avoid EPA entanglements or trying to understand their regulations.

When searching for items pertaining to tax policy and small business, I got 21 hits. The first article was in the journal "Small Business Economics" and explores "Can State Tax Policies Be Used to Promote Entrepreneurial Activity?" This article would certainly be of interest to a policy wonk, but for the small business trying to figure out whether or not to locate in Hancock County, Maine it might be of little value.

I admit that my inability to find the kinds of articles I was looking for may be due to my poor search skills, but I think that mine are probably better than the average person's. I've concluded that this database might be more geared towards the academic than the practical, particularly since most of the articles I found were from academic journals.

Regional Business News
I selected Bain Capital as my nationally known company. With 1,942 results, I scrolled down until I found an article about a northeastern US company. I clicked on an article about a Pennsylvania concern, 4Moms. The article outlined why Bain had just given it an infusion of $20M. I learned that to make the most of this tool, it is important to click on the "full text" box. What I particularly like about this database is the option of having the article read aloud! Having a choice of 3 accents for the reader makes it entertaining. I recommend the Australian accent for anyone having a dull day.

For my Maine company, I selected Hannaford Bros. I read a full-text article about the LEED certification of the Augusta store. I had a harder time finding regional information about the industry, in general. I was successful in locating articles about Hannaford in the various regions of the country where it has stores. It was only through doing this search that I discovered that Hannaford has closed stores in North Carolina and wants to sell the remaining properties.

Value Line
Of interest to me was that I couldn't get to Value Line from the EBSCO Host site. I had to go back into MARVEL and get to Value Line from the alphabetic listing. When we lived in Iowa, I was one of those people who went to the library and stood in line to use one of 2 Value Line books. I would make sure I had all my questions written out so that I could search as quickly as possible in my allotted 20 minutes.

Reading the discovery exercise questions, I expected to find much of the information I would normally look for to be locked or abbreviated. However, I didn't find this to be the case. Once I familiarized myself with how to search for information on particular stocks, I found everything I could possibly need to evaluate individual stock performance, as well as industry-specific information. Even though I have a very poor internet connection at home, I didn't encounter any problems with Value Line. Not many people must know about this resource, as I didn't have any delays in using it. In fact, it was as speedy as anything today. I smiled when reading the Value Line pages...the online version is as blurry and the type is as small as it is in paper. The good part is that the "pages" don't smell musty.

Wall Street Journal

I found this to be the easiest resource studied this week. I used the terms “small business” and “health care” and got 120 articles. The suggested limiters are very helpful, including: health insurance, fines and penalties, employees, etc. I created an alert for “health insurance: and “penalties.” Having already looked at the Proquest site and other newspapers, I found using the Wall Street Journal site very similar. This is a great resource for those who want a decidedly conservative view of business challenges and concerns today.