Brand/Company Information
Library Databases
- International Directory of Company Histories
Provides histories of companies that are a leading influence in a particular industry or geographic location. For students, job candidates, business executives, historians and investors. - Mergent Online
Detailed company information including 15 years of financial statements. Note: This database will be retired June 30, 2025 and replaced by Mergent Market Atlas. We will offer links to both resources until that date.
- Business Source Complete
This is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. - ProQuest One Business
A comprehensive business database containing millions of full-text items across scholarly and popular periodicals, newspapers, market research reports, dissertations, books, videos and more. Includes the full text of the Wall Street Journal. Formerly called ABI/INFORM Collection - Statista
Easy to use statistics search engine with access to more than a million statistics and facts. - Nexis Uni
Replaces LexisNexis Academic.
More than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. - Data Axle Reference Solutions
Directory information for publicly and privately owned companies in the United States, as well as information about individual consumers. Formerly called Reference Solutions / ReferenceUSA.
Freely Available Web Sites
- Kantar BrandzLists of brand rankings and information about global brands. View the entire report, a chart, or an infographic. Free registration required to download the report.
- InterbrandView articles, reports, and lists of best brands in a variety of countries and industries.
Consumer Opinions/Behaviors
- IBISWorld
Select consumer information can be found within the US Business Environment Profiles. To find them, click on Industry Research > US > US Business Environment Profiles OR US Business Environment State Profiles. To view the categories available, look under the headings Consumer Behavior, Demographics, and Other Indicators. These are brief but useful reports, and they mention the sources and organizations from which the information came, which can lead you to more information. - Data.census.gov
Data.census.gov is the new platform to access data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau. It replaces the American FactFinder website, which was retired in 2020. - Statistical Abstract of the United States
The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a one-volume, comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
- Claritas: My Best SegmentsThis web site groups consumers into general categories, with brief descriptions and demographic information. Use the Zip Code Look-Up to get information about consumers in a particular area in both descriptions and graphs. There are three categories of information for consumers; PRIZM, P$YCLE, which describes the financial status of consumers, and ConneXions, which describes the level of technology use and connectivity of consumers. Use Segment Details to view descriptions of all of the consumer segments on the web site. Use the Narrow Segments button in the middle of the screen to search for consumer groups by age, income, and other categories.
- Pew Research CenterA non-partisan research group that collects and presents data, opinions, and reports on American attitudes, activities, and trends. Browse by topic, or type in your search.
- Facebook IQ Insights to GoProvides consumer insights in the form of data, reports, and other information. Search by Region, People, Industry, or Marketing Platform, and these can be combined in a search. Information is from interactions on Facebook platforms.
- American Time Use SurveyData on how American consumers use their time. Scroll down to view topics and tables of data.
- Consumer Expenditure Survey (U. S.)Statistics and reports on consumer expenditures, unemployment rates, and much more.
- US Census Bureau International Database (IDB)Just choose your country from the drop down menu, then choose your year. Click submit. You'll get birth rate, population, and more!
- Nielsen InsightsIncludes reports on various consumer groups. Insights link at the top leads to shorter news articles, and for longer reports scroll down to Perspectives or Reports, or listen to Podcasts.
Marketing Research Insights
- Ipsos Market IntelligenceIpsos is a market research company. On their web site there is a collection of free information about consumers and brands. Click the News and Polls link to see consumer polls and sentiments, and click the Innovation and Knowledge link for analysis on market research topics, consumers, and marketing communications.
- McKinsey & Company Marketing & Sales InsightsLots of great information here! Click Industries for industry and consumer insights, and Featured Insights for analysis of trends, news, and how it all impacts business.
- Think with GoogleThis free resource contains analysis done on trends, digital communications, consumers, and marketing by using data from Google searches. presented in visuals and interactive reports. Can do keyword searching or browse topics.
- SimilarwebThe free version of this resource gives an overview of traffic to any web site. Includes rankings, marketing channels, traffic, engagement, regional usage, and more. Free registration gives you a seven day trial.
- SemrushThe free version of this resource gives an overview of traffic to any web site. Includes rankings, marketing channels, traffic, engagement, regional usage, and more. Free registration gives you a seven day trial.
Citing Your Sources
Whenever you do research, you will need to cite the information sources that you use. Most business scholars use APA style. Here are some tools that can help you with this task:
Gleeson Library's guide to citations: How? Why? When?
- APA 7th Edition Citations for Business SourcesAn excellent guide to using APA 7th edition style for popular business sources. Scroll through the guide to find an example for the business source you are using in your research. Compiled by librarians Naomi Schemm, Marcia Dellenbach, Zachary Grisham, Marianne Hageman, Natalia Tingle, Matt Trowbridge, and Amanda Wheatley
- Citing Business Databases in APA: Michigan State University GuideThis guide was created to help with citing some common business databases
- Citing Business Databases from the University of North Carolina at GreensboroThis guide has some additional business database examples in APA style.
- MLA Business Citations: Youngstown State UniversityScroll down the page to see citations for specific business web sites, reports, and databases cited in MLA style.
- Purdue OWLOur favorite style guide web site is the OWL from Purdue University.
- RefWorks
RefWorks allows users to create personal databases to manage, store, and share the information citations/references. Users can automatically insert references from their database into their papers and generate formatted bibliographies and manuscripts in seconds. See our RefWorks Guide for information about creating accounts, adding references, and using add-ons.
Getting Help!
There are several ways to obtain assistance with your research. Read on!
You have your very own librarian! She is Penny Scott, and you can contact her for help.
Her contact information is: email: plscott@usfca.edu * phone: 415-422-5389
It is best to email ahead, or make an appointment, to make sure she is available! Appointments are available virtually via Zoom, or in person, and are great for groups or individuals. If you don't see a time that works for you, email Penny.
If Penny is not available, or any time you need help, you can always get help, just Ask a Librarian!
You can also take a look at our Research Guides on many topics!