Research Guides: MGMT 498 Business Consulting : Library Resources

Research Your Community

First step is to know more about your community. What's the average income in your community? How many children under 5?

Spokane Trends
Portal to economic, education, housing, etc. data for Spokane County. A joint project of: City of Spokane, Community Building Foundation, Eastern Washington University, Greater Spokane Inc., Spokane Regional Health District, and Spokane United Way.
Census Bureau QuickFacts
Quick tables on population, age/race, income, housing, income/poverty, disability and health insurance for towns with at least 5,000 people.
Just type in the location and a table will be generated. Can type in another location to compare results.

Looking for how many existing business there are in the area? The official count is done by the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns. But the latest compilation is 2016, and it's only down to the county level. I'd supplement with Google searches and news articles.

Greater Spokane Inc. Economic Development
Website for selling the Spokane area to businesses. Has some nice infographics, but note the sources carefully and ignore the ones from Applied Geographic Solutions. (Their business counts make no sense!!!)

Local News

Local news articles are your best bet for a more subjective take on what's going on in your community.

Easy way to get a sense of news articles is to do a Google search, then limit to News.

Spokane Journal of Business (ProQuest) 1991-present
Full text articles from this regional business bi-weekly newspaper.
Spokesman Review (ProQuest) 1994-present
Keyword search or browse by date.
Spokesman Review Online
Online edition of the Spokesman. Can do a number of searches before you encounter a paywall.
Pacific Northwest Inlander
Free weekly newspaper for the Inland Northwest
Seattle PI
This Seattle newspaper went online-only back in 2009.
Olympian
Newspaper for Olympia, WA
Tacoma News Tribune
Seattle Weekly
Stranger
Alternative weekly Seattle newspaper
Idaho Statesman
Boise newspaper
Boise Weekly
Alternative weekly newspaper
Coeur d'Alene Press

Woods and Poole Data sets

Woods & Poole
Provides historical and projected U.S. state, metro area, and county estimates for economic and demographic research.

Demographic, Population & Census Data

SAGE Data
Formerly called Sage Stats. Collection of data measures spanning all U.S. states, counties, cities, metropolitan areas, and zip codes. Data goes back more than 20 years. Covers the economy, education, crime, government finance, health, population, religion, social welfare, and transportation.

Washington State Population
Portal to population and demographic data, from the Office of Financial Management
Census Bureau
Main agency for collecting statistical data on economics, population, and social demographics. They also publish analytical reports on demographic and population issues.
Census Bureau's Population Reports
Census Bureau publications on a wide variety of social and economic characteristics of the population, such as household composition, ethnicity, and income. In-depth reports are prepared on important social, economic, and demographic issues.

Find Articles

Business Source Complete (EBSCOhost)
Articles from periodicals (including peer-reviewed journals) on all aspects of business. Contains books, plus reports, papers and company profiles. Selected titles go back as far as 1886, but most begin in the 1990s.

JSTOR Business & Economics Journals
Full-text articles from over 100 scholarly business and economics journals, from the first issue up to 3-5 years ago.

EconLit (EBSCOhost) -- 1969-present
Indexes articles on economics issues from journals and magazines, dissertations, books and working papers.
Regional Business News (EBSCOhost)
Articles from regional business journals, newspapers and newswires from the U.S. and Canada, back to 1990.

Spokane Public Library Business Resources

Spokane Public Library Business Resources

Companies and Industries

Business Source Complete (EBSCOhost Business Interface)
Find company information, SWOT analysis and other specialized business information, along with articles.
IBISWorld
IBISWorld is the world's largest provider of national and international industry-based research. Includes industry performance, outlook, products and markets, operating conditions and risk ratings.
Mergent Market Atlas
Offers business and financial information on global, publicly listed companies
This resource is has the same Content as Mergent Online, but it is on a new platform
PrivCo Private Company Financial Intelligence
Click Direct Access button to start searching.
Find data for privately-held companies. Data includes company financials, detailed business descriptions, funding histories, acquisitions, competitors, IPO activity, and bankruptcy/restructuring info.