Global Programs: Business Resources
Top Databases
Don't forget about UB's Everything search!
- Access World News This link opens in a new windowProvides the fulltext of many USA and international newspapers.More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- Gale Business: Insights This link opens in a new windowDetailed company and industry reports, profiles, and news.More InfoFull-Text UB ONLY
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowIndexes more than 4,100 journals, including nearly 3,300 full-text titles. Many of the full-text items are also available as scanned images. Topics cover nearly every area of business including management, economics, finance, accounting, international business, and more. SWOT analysis is also available through Business Source Complete.
- Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new windowBrowse the Business collection to access over 90 reference texts. Topics include case writing, international business, household spending reports, and a number of business encyclopedias.
Research & Business Cases
The business case provides justification for undertaking a project or program. It evaluates the benefit, cost and risk of alternative options and provides a rationale for the preferred solution.
The library can help with a number of elements within the business case, including: market research, SWOT analysis, industry drivers, and more!
Market Research
A full market research guide is available here.
Recommended resources include Business Insights, Entrepreneurial Studies Source and IBISWorld.
For example, try using the keyword search feature in Business Insights to find news and reports on niche markets.
SWOT Analysis
Need examples of a SWOT analysis? Log into the Business Source Complete database and search SWOT analysis in the top search box.
You can also use the Publication Type filter in Business Source Complete to limit your search to SWOT Analysis.
Competitors
Use the Top Databases list to research articles and case studies on existing companies. By researching industries in IBISWorld, you can find information on competitors, market share, supply and demand industries, marketing efforts, etc.
Business Plans
- Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library) This link opens in a new windowAvailable online as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library. A collection of representative business plans compiled by entrepreneurs seeking funding for small businesses.
- Bplans.comMost plans here can be purchased from the publisher, but 50 sample plans are freely available on the Web.
- Business Plans IndexA subject index to sample business plans, including those published in book form and those available from Web sites. Compiled by the Pittsburgh Public Library (Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh).
- Mplans.comA small collection of sample marketing plans are available at no charge (approximately 25 of them); users can also purchase additional plans for a fee.
Business Models
A business model is a company's plan for making a profit. It identifies the products or services the business will sell, the target market it has identified, and the expenses it anticipates. Business models can be a crucial way for a new company to attract investors and recruit talent.
It is important to keep in mind that a business model is NOT the same as a business plan. "Your business model is the core concept upon which you build your business plan." (Muehlhausen 25)
Much like with Business Cases, UB Libraries can help researchers with background and industry information for inclusion in the business model. Contact me anytime!
References
Muehlhausen, Jim. Business Models for Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/lib/buffalo/detail.action?docID=1195722.
Articles
- A development of sustainable and successful business model for Thai local products: The mixed crispy rice noodle, Phra Na Khon Sri Ayutthaya ProvinceThe aims of this research are: 1) the community business of the mixed crispy rice noodle, 2) the opinions and satisfaction of Thai and foreign consumers on the mixed crispy rice noodle and 3) enhancing the performance of enterprises. This is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) using qualitative and quantitative data.
- Sustainability: insights from a business model perspectiveThis paper uses business model perspective to understand how different organisations can through their corporate sustainability policies contribute to the social innovation/entrepreneurship processes.
Online Resources
- Flourishing Business CanvasThe Flourishing Enterprise Innovation Toolkit and Flourishing Business Canvas are a new set of tools and methods created to support these leaders in their efforts to design flourishing enterprises; businesses and organizations that are socially beneficial, environmentally regenerative and financially viable.
- Business Model CanvasThe Business Model Canvas was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder based on his earlier book: Business Model Ontology. It outlines nine segments which form the building blocks for the business model in a nice one-page canvas.
- Business Model Canvas PDFPDF version with guiding questions.
- Business Model Innovation: An Interview with Alex OsterwalderIn this interview, Alex Osterwalder, coauthor of Business Model Generation and Value Proposition Design, discusses the increasing importance of business model innovation and the application of the visual tools he has invented, which have been useful to companies of all sizes seeking to develop new business models.
Recommended Reading
Business Models for Dummies
Write a business model? Easy. Business Models For Dummies helps you write a solid business model to further define your company's goals and increase attractiveness to customers. Inside, you'll discover how to: make a value proposition; define a market segment; locate your company's position in the value chain; create a revenue generation statement; identify competitors, complementors, and other network effects; develop a competitive strategy; and much more. Shows you how to define the purpose of a business and its profitability to customers Serves as a thorough guide to business modeling techniques Helps to ensure that your business has the very best business model possible If you need to update a business model due to changes in the market or maturation of your company, Business Models For Dummies has you covered.
Sustainable Business Models
This book provides a comprehensive exploration into the identification and development of sustainable business models as well as their implementation, management and evaluation. With ever-increasing pressure on organisations to respond to societal change and improve competition through sustainable business model innovation (SBMI), this book aims to contribute to the knowledge of their design and management. The chapters explore the role of partnerships, the Internet of Things and the circular economy, among other factors, in developing SBM and how SBMI is facilitated through ideation and in entrepreneurial settings. Providing new typologies, patterns and a framework to evaluate the level of sustainability of business models, this book critically reviews existing literature on the topic to examine the potential of SBMI in research and in practice. The contributing authors employ a number of case studies and case examples to illustrate the integration of sustainable business models throughout the value chain, and their influence on wider social, environmental and business activities.
Sustainable Business Models
The dynamically changing world economy, in an era of intensive development and globalization, creates new needs in both the theoretical models of management and in the practical discussion related to the perception of business. Because of new economic phenomena related to the crisis, there is a need for the design and operationalization of innovative business models for companies. Due to the fact that in times of crisis, the principles of strategic balance are particularly important; these business models can be sustainable business models. Moreover, it is essential to skillfully use different methods and concepts of management to ensure the continuity of business. It seems that sustainable business models, in their essence, can support companies' effectiveness and contribute to their stable, sustainable functioning in the difficult, ever-changing market. This Special Issue aims to discuss the key mechanisms concerning the design and operationalization of sustainable business models, from a strategic perspective. We invite you to contribute to this Issue by submitting comprehensive reviews, case studies, or research articles. Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer review procedure, with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.
The Art and Craft of Case Writing
Filled with helpful checklists, charts, and suggestions for further reading, this practical, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary guide takes readers through the entire case-writing process, including skills for writing both teaching cases and research cases. This edition includes new discussions of students as case writers, and how to interpret and respond to reviews, as well as updated and expanded material on video, multimedia and Internet cases.
Business Models and Strategic Management
Finally, a book comes along that provides a unique yet simple and powerful approach to understand the business model and the critical role strategic management has in supporting it. Its value is in business model thinking. It brings you a combination of the best contributions of academe and industry that will help build business model-centric organizations. Inside, you'll learn about strategy from a business model perspective. What does that mean? It means that you'll first have to think rigorously about your value proposition; your current or future competencies; and your revenue streams and cost structure before developing, adopting, or modifying your strategies. What is the difference between a business model and a strategy? A business model is how a company operates, and a strategy is how a company competes. When the basis of competition changes because a new model disrupts the economics in the industry, it requires an adjustment in business models before any new strategy can work. This book adds a business model level to the traditional strategic management process that is more consistent with current, real-world, practices in strategic thinking and analysis. It takes you deeper into the intricacies of what constitutes a business model and how current strategy derives from it, and offers 7 modules that will show you the key components to manage your business model, to help conduct business model analysis, and to assess the financial viability of a business model, just to name a few."
Business Model Generation
Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow's enterprises. If your organization needs to adapt to harsh new realities, but you don't yet have a strategy that will get you out in front of your competitors, you need Business Model Generation. Co-created by 470 "Business Model Canvas" practitioners from 45 countries, the book features a beautiful, highly visual, 4-color design that takes powerful strategic ideas and tools, and makes them easy to implement in your organization. It explains the most common Business Model patterns, based on concepts from leading business thinkers, and helps you reinterpret them for your own context. You will learn how to systematically understand, design, and implement a game-changing business model--or analyze and renovate an old one. Along the way, you'll understand at a much deeper level your customers, distribution channels, partners, revenue streams, costs, and your core value proposition. Business Model Generation features practical innovation techniques used today by leading consultants and companies worldwide, including 3M, Ericsson, Capgemini, Deloitte, and others. Designed for doers, it is for those ready to abandon outmoded thinking and embrace new models of value creation: for executives, consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders of all organizations. If you're ready to change the rules, you belong to "the business model generation!"
Case Study Research
- Guide to Case StudiesFrom Writing@CSU | The Writing Studio. This guide takes students through definitions, types and how to conduct a Case Studies
Searching for Case Studies
In Business Source Complete and Entrepreneurial Studies Source:
- Click the Advanced Search link under the search box on the main page
- Scroll down the page to Document Type, and select Case Study from the menu
- Scroll back up the page and enter your search terms (e.g. "Sustainable Development", "biodegradable")
In Business Insights Global:
- From the main homepage, select Case Studies
- Use the filters and search box in the left navigation column to narrow your results
In an Everything search on the UB Library homepage:
- Use quotation marks to search "case study" with your search terms (e.g. "sustainable development" and "case study")
- Narrow your results using the Refine your results filters in the left hand column
Librarian
Related Guides
Global statistics and data
- UNdataA web-based data service for the global user community. It brings international statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single-entry point. Users can search and download a variety of statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies. The numerous databases or tables collectively known as "datamarts" contain over 60 million data points and cover a wide range of statistical themes including agriculture, crime, communication, development assistance, education, energy, environment, finance, gender, health, labour market, manufacturing, national accounts, population and migration, science and technology, tourism, transport and trade.
- United Nations Population DivisionThe key UN agency responsible for population. Selected links deal with projections; contraceptives; migration; living arrangements. Includes reports, datasets, newsletters, databases and more on international topics such as family planning, marriage, migration, urbanization, etc.
- International Data Base (IDB)United States Bureau of the Census. International Data Base (IDB)