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WEB RESOURCES
Information is the key to good business decisions. There is a great deal of good information freely available on the Web. The following websites provide a starting point for your business research activities. They are arranged in categories to help you expedite your search. Note that the opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed are those of the websites’ producer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBTDC.
Associations - Directories
ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership
www.asaecenter.org
This page allows you to search
for an association by name, interest area, or geographic location. You also
can search using a combination of fields.
Weddles
www.weddles.com
Free listing of associations
arranged by industry
Internet Public Library
www.ipl.org/div/aon/
A
collection of over 1100 Internet sites providing information about a wide
variety of professional and trade associations
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Associations - Business
American Mktg Association
www.marketingpower.com
The
world's largest and most comprehensive professional society of marketers
National Retail Federation
www.nrf.org
The world's largest
retail trade association
Biotechnology Industry Organization
www.bio.org
The
mission of BIO is to be the champion of biotechnology and the advocate for
its member organizations –both large and small
National Restaurant Association
www.restaurant.org
The leading business association
for the restaurant industry
Software & Info Indust.
Association
www.siia.com
the principal trade association
for the software and digital content industry
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Benchmarking
Fintel Scorecard
www.fintel.us/cms/desktopdefault.aspx
Compare your company to others
in the industry based on 9 core ratios
Biz Stats
www.bizstats.com
Compare your company performance
to others in the same industry
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Business Plans
BizPlanit
www.bizplanit.com/free.html
BizPlanIt's Virtual Business
Plan is an online business plan resource based on real-world business
planning advice.
Entrepreneur Magazine
www.entrepreneur.com/businessplan
Articles and
resources for creating your business plan
SCORE Business Plan Template
www.score.org/downloads/Business Plan for an Established Business_Dec.doc
Easy to follow template for
creating a business plan, preferred by counselors
American Express
www133.americanexpress.com/
osbn/tool/biz_plan
Step-by-step guide to writing a
business plan
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
www.clpgh.org/subject/business/bplansindex.html
Guide to business plans by type
of business
SBA Business Plan Basics
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner
nessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/index.htmlstep by step instructions for
creating a business plan from the SBA
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Competitive Intelligence
Society of Competitive
Intelligence Professionals
www.scip.org
Provides
education and networking opportunities to business and competitive
intelligence professionals (including marketing, market research, strategy,
and information.
Fuld & Company
www.fuld.com/HomePage.html
Specialist in competitve
intelligence
Investigators Toolbox
www.virtuallibrarian.com/research/ci.html
Tools for performing a
competitor search
Law & Tech. Resources for
Legal Professionals
www.llrx.com/category/793
Articles on competitive
intelligence
Zapdata
www.zapdata.com
D&B Sales & Marketing
Solutions' online source for B2B sales leads, mailing lists and business
information
Securities & Exchange Commission
www.sec.gov
Search for required filings of
publicly traded corporations
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Demographics / Psychographics
American Fact Finder
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Ongoing data collected
by the Census Bureau
Melissa Data
www.melissadata.com
Free address
information for businesses and individuals
Websaras
http://eslmi40.esc.state.nc.us/websaras/
Electronic information
dissemination tool that displays
statistics for the states and areas therein, in the Bureau of Labor
Statistics regions. This system gives geographic based access to a variety of
census, economic, labor market, and local information.
NC Rural Databank
www.ncruralcenter.org/databank/
Statistical information on North
Carolina's rural counties
My Best Segments-Claritas
www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp
MyBestSegments
features information about Claritas' segmentation system PRIZM NE and is the
only source for detailed segment descriptions for all of Claritas' market
segmentation products.
EASI Demographics
http://www.easidemographics.com
Free reports based on the 2000
Census
FreeDemographics
www.freedemographics.com
Free demographic market analysis
reports
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Economic Development
EconData
www.econdata.net
Regional Economic Data
NC Commerce Site Selectors'
toolkit
www.nccommerce.com/en/BusinessServices/
LocateYourBusiness/SiteSelectorsToolkit/
Information for site selectors
considering NC as a business location
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Entrepreneurship
Council for Entrepreneurial
Development
www.cednc.org
A private, non-profit
organization formed to identify,
enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to
accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and NC
Kauffman Foundation
www.kauffman.org
Focuses its grant making and operations
on advancing entrepreneurship and
improving the education of children and youth.
Edward Lowe Foundation
www.lowe.org
To champion the entrepreneurial
spirit by providing information, research and educational experiences that
support entrepreneurship and the free enterprise system
Inc Magazine
www.inc.com
Provides small-business
information, Web-based tools, products, and services
Entrepreneur Magazine
www.entrpreneur.com
Small
business tools; business plan guide; entrepreneur’s database’s for business
opportunities and franchise information
Entrepreneurial Connections
www.entrepreneurialconnection.com/About.asp
Provides tools, tips and
training for the self-employed and small business owners
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Financing Resources
Capital Opportunities for Small
Business
www.sbtdc.org/publications/cap_opps.asp
SBTDC's online publication for
finding capital resources for NC businesses
SBA-Financing your resources
www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance
Describes loan availability,
eligibility, sources of grants
TOP
Franchising
Entrepreneur Magazine-Franchises
and Opportunitiese
www.entrepreneur.com/franchise
Franchising opportunities plus
tips on buying/running a franchise
Franchising.org
www.franchising.org
Resource for On-line Franchise
Information
The Franchise Registry
www.franchiseregistry.com
Llisting of companies registered
with the SBA which are available for franchising
Franchise Direct
www.franchisedirect.com
Listing of franchises for sale
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Government Resources - Federal
Code of Federal Regulations
www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr
US Small Business Admininistration website
www.sba.gov
An independent agency of the
federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small
business concerns
US patent & Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov
Search for patents and
trademarks
Internal Revenue Service
www.irs.gov/businesses/small
Tax information for small
businesses
Laws & regulations by
industry
www.business.gov
Provides
a single access point to government services and information to help the
nation's businesses with their operations.
FedBizOpps
www.fedbizopps.gov
Federal government procurement
opportunities above $25,000.
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Government Resources - North Carolina
NC Department of Commerce
http://www.nccommerce.com/en
Websaras
http://eslmi40.esc.state.nc.us/websaras/
electronic information
dissemination tool that displays
statistics for the states and areas therein, in the Bureau of Labor
Statistics regions. This system gives geographic based access to a variety of
census, economic, labor market, and local information.
NC State University Industrial
Extension Service
www.ies.ncsu.edu
Supports North Carolina business
in the workplace – in the office, on the factory floor or in the hospital
NC Biotechnology Center
www.ncbiotech.org
Supports biotechnology research,
business and education statewide
Defense Logistics Agency
www.dla.mil/dla_orgs.aspx
The Defense Logistics
Agency is DOD's largest combat support
agency, providing worldwide logistics support in both peacetime and wartime
to the military services as well as several civilian agencies and foreign
countries.Find info on selling to the military.
NC Secretary of
State - Corporations Division
www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/
Responsible for the examination,
custody and maintenance of the legal documents filed by corporations, limited partnerships and
limited liability companies in NC
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Human Resources
Employee Benefit Research Institute
www.ebri.org
Contributes to, encourages, ands enhances the development of sound
employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research
and education.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission
www.eeoc.gov
Commission which enforces laws
protecting against discrimination in employment
Society for Human Resource Management
www.shrm.org
World ’s largest professional
association devoted to human resource management whose mission is to serve
the needs of HR professionals by providing current and comprehensive resources, and to advance the profession by
promoting HR’s role.
Salary.com
www.salary.com
Benchmark salaries
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Industry Research
NAICS Classification System
www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
New classification system for
industries. Replaces SIC codes.
Valuation Resources
www.valuationresources.com
A directory of resources which
address subjects such as industry overview, issues, trends, and outlook,
industry financial information and financial ratios, and compensation and
salary surveys for a wide variety of industries.
ZapData
www.zapdata.com
Free industry reports from Dun
& Bradstreet
Alacra Industry Spotlights
www.alacrawiki.com/index.php?title=Alacra_Industry_Spotlights
Detailed
proprietary reviews and commentary on the best web-based sources of industry
specific content previously available only to Alacra subscription
customers
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International Trade
Country Briefings
www.Economist.com/country briefings
Socio-economic information about
individual countries
World Fact Book
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
Detailed information about
countries of the world including political and economic aspects
Ex-IM bank
www.exim.gov
Assists in financing the export
of U.S. goods and services to international markets.
Overseas Private Investment Corp.
www.opic.gov
OPIC
helps U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new
and emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks
associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy.
US Trade & Development Agency
www.ustda.gov
Advances economic development
and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle income countries. The
agency funds various forms of technical assistance, early investment
analysis, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support
the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading
environment.
TOP
Legal
FindLaw
www.findlaw.com
Legal information for lawyers
and general public, including case law, statutes, lawyer search
Martindale
www.martindale.com
Directory of lawyers
MegaLaw
www.megalaw.com/forms/nc/ncforms.php
NC Legal forms
The Red Book (NC Licenses and
Permits)
www.nccommerce.com/en/businessservices/
startyourbusiness/businesslicense/permits
Lists the licenses and permits
needed for businesses in NC
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Market Research
Quirks
www.quirks.com
Magazine for market researchers
Hoovers
www.hoovers.com
Company descriptions and
industry info.
Annual Reports
www.annualreports.com
Online access to annual reports
Securities and Exchange
Commission
www.sec.gov
Corporate filings
Marketresearch.com
www.marketresearch.com
Reports to purchase
Valuation Resources
www.valuationresources.com/IndustryReport.htm
Free industry reports
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Marketing
ListFinder
http://listfinder.directmag.com/market
Searchable database of more than
50,000
direct mail lists.
Standard Rate and Service Data
http://www.srds.com/portal/servlet/LoginServlet
Database of media rates and information
American Marketing Association
www.marketingpower.com/my-marketingpower.php
Resources for marketers and
advertisers
M Plans
www.mplans.com
Choose from several free
marketing plans or purchase others
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Publications
CEO Express
www.ceoexpress.com
Gateway to online business
magazines
BusinessWeek
Businessweek.com
Weekly
magazine containing information useful
to entrepreneurs
Harvard Business Review
www.harvardbusinessonline.com
Online version of HBR which
provides summaries of articles in print edition
Wall Street Journal
www.wsj.com
Daily News Voyager
www.Newspaperlinks.com/voyager.cfm
Gateway to many online
newspapers
USA Today - Money
www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/default.htmney
Online magazine with articles of
interest to small business owners
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Science and Technology
National Technical Information
Service
www.ntis.gov
Has science, technology and
business information.
American National Standards
Institute
www.ansi.org
Has standards information and
links to standards sites.
DOD SSP
http://dodssp.daps.dla.mil
US Patent and Trademark Office
www.uspto.gov
Protect intellectual
property by patenting
Association of University
Technology Managers
www.autm.org
Promotes,
supports and improves academic technology transfer worldwide and demonstrate
its benefits globally through education, advocacy, networking and
communication.
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Statistics
U.S. Census
www.census.gov
Main census website
County Business Patterns
www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html
An annual series that provides
subnational economic data by industry. Businesses use the data for analyzing
market potential, measuring the effectiveness of sales and advertising
programs, setting sales quotas, and developing budgets.
Statistical Abstract
www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Summary of statistics on the
social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
FEDStats
www.fedstats.gov
Gateway to federally collected
stats
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