Research Guides: ENTR 2P91: Entrepreneurship: Product / Service Analysis

Gather Background Information

Are you working with a Service Learning Community Partner? You may wish to gather some background information on your community partner or learn more about their business idea, particularly if it is in a sector that you may not be familiar with, such as the nonprofit sector.

Product/Service Feasibility Analysis

1. Design & Conduct Primary Research

As part of your product/service feasibility analysis, you should conduct primary research with potential customers in order to assess the desirability of your new product/service idea, as well as evidence of likely demand. Examples of primary research include concept tests and buying intention surveys.

2. Find Secondary Sources

Find additional evidence of likely demand by looking for information about the new product or service in secondary sources such as business, industry, or news sources available from Library Databases or other online sources.

1. Design & Conduct Primary Market Research

Concept Testing (Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing) Describes four types of concept testing.
Focus Groups and Depth Interviews (Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing) "This article traces the origins of these two pervasive qualitative methods, identifies their similarities and differences, and discusses current issues that surround their uses in marketing-research today".
Questionnaire Design (Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing) Presents simple guidelines for designing a questionnaire.

2. Find Secondary Sources

Another method of assessing the demand for a product or service is to find articles written about the problem your proposed product or service is trying to solve. These articles may have been published online or in newspapers, business journals, or industry / trade magazines. Some examples of Canadian trade magazines include: Bakers Journal; Boating Industry Canada ; Canadian Gaming Business; and Canadian Grocer.

Recommended Library News Databases:

Omni Newspaper Search This link opens in a new window Search current and historical newspaper coverage.
Access World News This link opens in a new window An extensive collection of local, regional and national newspapers from countries all over the world. Includes all major local Niagara papers.Permitted Uses
Factiva This link opens in a new window A current international news database from Dow Jones which provides access to premium content from 200 countries, in 28 languages.Users have access to a wide range of information from newspapers, newswires, industry publications, websites, company reports, and more.Permitted Uses
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window International news, business, and legal sourcesIncludes Company Dossier module for detailed company information and Shepard's Citations for federal and state court cases back to 1789Permitted Uses

Recommended Library Business Databases

ProQuest One Business This link opens in a new window Find scholarly journals, books, trade publications, dissertations, working papers, company, industry and market research reports, newspapers, business cases, ebooks, streaming video, and other sources relevant to research in business and economics.Includes the ABI/Inform Collection, J. P. Morgan Research, the Entrepreneurship Database, the Business Video Database, the Accounting, Tax & Banking Collection, the Asian & European Business Collection, and the Business Market Research Collection. More Information.Permitted Uses
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window All disciplines of businessFind scholarly business journals, trade journals and business magazinesIncludes company profiles, industry reports, market research reports, country economic reportsPermitted Uses
Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database This link opens in a new window InterdisciplinaryFind scholarly journal articles, magazines and newspapers published in CanadaPermitted Uses

Smart Google Searching

Google News Search
Google News Search can be an effective tool for identifying the latest news stories from a wide variety of news sources. However, most publications are not freely available online, so your best bet is to look for the fulltext articles in one or more of the Library's News or Business Databases.