Business research can be particularly arduous when searching for information on particular companies or searching for specific statistics. We have found several web sites helpful. These sites have effective advanced search facilities as well as access to in-depth data. We would appreciate any additional web sites that you have found useful. It should be noted, however, that sites continuously change. New sites appear and other change their offering.

1. On-Line Marketing and Marketing Research Data (http://www.mr-online.org/) --- This site contains links to lists of available market and marketing research data as well as links to other information resources. However, these study are for sale and not a free source of information.

2. The Online Market Research Community (http://www.researchinfo.com/) --- This marketing research site serves as an exchange for professional community. It contains articles, a roundtable discussion of topics and opinions, an employment resource, and a source of free and demonstration survey research software.

3. Telecommunications Industry Market Data (http://apdg-inc.com/marketdata.html) --- This site contains summary market data on the telecommunications industry along with forecasts.

4. Personal Computer Industry Market Data (http://www.wgss.com/) --- This site contains data and projects on the market for portables, desktops and server systems and is sponsored by a workgroup of major participating firms. Summary results are available. However, detail information and models are only available to members.

5. General Social Survey Data (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/gss/) --- This site contains a wealth of social and opinion data. It is an on-going multi-year program to collect representative dynamic social opinion data. It is collected as part of an academic program and therefore is fully accessible. The site contains analytical tools to explore relationships.

6. WWW Commercial Use Survey (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sgupta/hermes/) --- There are several sources of data on the commercial use of the World Wide Web. However, this one is conducted periodically with a standard format by an academic institution. As such, its results are probably more reliable than the sporadic studies done commercially.

7. Web User Survey (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/) --- This is an extensive multi-year survey conducted by an academic institution on web use.

8. Statistical Resources- Business & Industry (http://www.census.gov/econ/www/industry.html) --- This site contains probably the most extensive US industrial data available on line from the US Census. The data is organized by industry group but give product details. The major trick with this site is to press view for the details of the analysis. At this time, data is available from 1992 through 1995 annual and 1995 and 1996 quarterly.

9. U.S. Industrial Outlook (http://www.ita.doc.gov/industry/otea/usio/usio95.htm) --- I have always found industrial sector economic information critical for any business analysis. This is an U.S. Government site, which gives, selected sector economic activity information by SIC code groups. The data is from the Statistical Abstracts of the United States (1995).

10. The Office of Technology Assessment (http://www.wws.princeton.edu:80/~ota/ns20/pubs_f.html) --- The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment closed in 1996. However, from 1974 when it opens to 1995 it generated a good number of interesting and useful overview reports. This site contains those reports. Most of the reports appear to be results of workshops conducted by OTA.

11. A Planning Reference Room (http://www.edgeonline.com/) --- This is the site of Entrepreneurial Edge magazine. It contains among other things, some good reference materials for marketing and business plans. Very worthwhile reviewing.

12. Infoseek Ultra (http://ultra.infoseek.com/) --- I've had some trouble with some of the search sites either being slow or more often producing long lists of useless links. This upgraded search site, a variant from InfoSeek, appears to be a significant improvement. Try it out.

13. Find a Street Map (http://guide.infoseek.com/Reference?pg=maps.html&sv=N2&lk=noframes) --- Ever wanted a street map of a location? If you do this is the site. It will produce a street map to any degree of detail from the street address. It's a wonder.

14. On-line magazines and journals (http://www.iinet.net.au/~raymondo/mags.html) --- Great first stop for looking for established references. It's interesting how global the web has become. This site as well as our favorite HTML editor, Hot Dog, are from Austrialia.

15. Journals and Newspapers (http://bioc02.uthscsa.edu/journal/journal.html) --- This site links to a number of journal and newspaper indices. Its a good start for searching for journal and news information.

16. World-wide Newspapers ( http://www.dds.nl/~kidon/papers.html) --- Want to look at news from a local perspective. This site links you to newspapers around the country and around the world. Many of the sites are only homepages, but some are full on-line newspapers. This is a great find. The general site will also link to local TV and Radio stations and other local resources world wide.

17. A Business Research Site (http://www.brint.com/interest.html) --- This site is designed for "Business Research Interests". Like most Internet information sites it is slanted to MIS but there is a broad range of information available. In particular, there are a large list of links to material on organizations as "Complex Systems", and Business Process Reengineering (BPR).

18. Searches of US Patents and Trademarks (http://www.uspto.gov/) --- This is the home page of the US Patent and Trademark Office (Dept. of Commerce). This site has capabilities to search for patents based on characteristics as well as name and number. The on-line system provides characteristics of the patents and the abstract. Full text copies of the patents are available by mail at a minimal cost ($3.00)

19. Alta Vista (http://altavista.digital.com) --- Of all the well-known Internet search facilities, this one means business. It is probably the most extensive and powerful textual search facility available. However, it tends to produce too many citations rather than too few. You need to use the advanced search feature to narrow down searches.

20. The Thomas Register (http://www.ThomasRegister.com) --- The Thomas Register is a well-known reference to find manufacturers and sellers. Its web site contains a search facility that greatly enhances its usefulness.

21. The US Census (http://www.census.gov) --- Demographic data is almost always useful. Available on this site through their Access Tools are: (1) cross tabular frequency analysis, (2) downloading census data, and (3) maps indicating absolute and relative levels of a broad set of statistics by state and by county. The frequency and cross tabulation facility is particularly useful. It won't do everything, but it goes a long way for examining general demographic information by state and county. The facility is located on the title of "Data Map". Frequency information can be obtained directly. However, the cross tabular analysis is available for pre-determined variables listed as STF1A and STF3A Tables. There are two mapping facility is referred to as the Tiger Map Server v2.0 and the WWW Thematic Mapping System. The Tirger Map System can give detailed maps (within counties) of limited 1990 data. The Thematic Mapping System generates geographic maps on the county and state basis but using a broader range of data.

22. The U.S. Government Printing Office (http://www.access.gpo.gov) --- The government printing office is a repository of a great deal of on-line information. Unfortunately, it's a mixed bag of lists, full-text reports and summaries. However, it does lead you to some interesting information. For example, you can get access to the State Departments country summaries.

23. The Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov) --- This site provides probably the most extensive library search facility available. Unfortunately, the references, themselves are not on on-line. However, if you wish to determine if a reference may be available, this is good first step.

24. Academic Web User Survey (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/) --- This site contains the results a detailed web user survey conducted over five time periods by Georgia Tech. Survey results are summarized along with a copy of the on-line questionnaires. The surveys provide a statistical picture of web users. Like most on-line surveys, the sampling can not be considered random. However, it is a fairly large sample. The questionnaires are good examples of the type of instruments that can be used on-line.

25. Results of a Syndicated Web User Survey (http://www.npd.com/todsp2.htm) --- The results a web user survey are presented on this site. The study was conducted by NPD which conducts a number of syndicated panel and survey market research services. This survey appears to be part of a new service focusing on uses of the World Wide Web. It appears to be a professionally executed study and is quite interesting.

26. Zarden Market Research Directory (http://www.zarden.com) --- This is a good resource to find marketing research suppliers. It appears to be fairly extensive. Since it is free to register on the site, it has attracted many of the major firms. This on-line service may replace the "Green Book" as a principal resource.

27. Links to Statistical Agencies (http://www.cbs.nl/eng/link/index.htm) --- The site from the Netherlands gives an excellent collection of governmental statistical resources on a world wide basis. It appears to be their interest to keep the list growing. Many of the sites that I found useful are listed here. It is a good place to start searching for data. Note that some of these sources are not free.

28. European Union Web Site (http://europa.eu.int) --- The European Union has an active program to compile social, business, economic and trade statistics on Europe with some references to the US and Japan (EUROSTAT). Unlike the US census data, this information is not available openly. However, it is available through proprietary sources on-line as well as through electronic and print media. Catalogues of information and sources are available through this site. There is a facility to make the data available. However, it was not loadable. (But I'm still working on it).

29. Western Hemisphere Trade (http://lanic.utexas.edu/cswht/itis2.html) --- This site is intended to give access to trade information in the Americas. However, the access site was not loadable through Netscape. I'm still working on it.

30. STAT-USA (http://www.stat-usa.gov/) --- This is a compilation of US government statistics. It's not free, however, but the subscription is fairly modest ($150/year) for a single user. If you have routine need for government data this might be a useful approach.

31. Federal Government Information (http://www.fedworld.gov/) --- This maybe a reasonable use of federal money. This site contains a search engine to look for information held by the federal government. It maybe a good starting point or a last resort to get to government data and its free.

32. Statistical Data and Software (http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/) --- This is the homepage of the Statistics Department of Carnegie Mellon University and contains various statistical software and databases. In particular, it has examples of various statistical techniques.

33. U.S. Postal ZIP Codes (http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/) --- For anyone wanting to lookup US Postal ZIP Codes this site is a find. It facilitates finding postal (5 number) codes based on city and state and 4 number additional codes for the addresses.

34. White Pages for E-Mail (http://www.four11.com/) --- This site is a E-Mail address directory. Though I have not used it frequently, when I have it has been very useful.

35. An Extensive Business Directory (http://www.bigbook.com/) --- Anyone interested in finding specific business types, customers, respondents, or suppliers? This site gives an extremely comprehensive directory of businesses. I've used it in my own marketing program to target potential customers. I highly recommend it.