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MKT 302 Project


General Research Strategies


Read / Listen to / Watch



From now until the end of the semester you must be diligent in collecting the news as it happens. Your project canNOT reflect the trends unless you track information about your company, industry, the economy, and the population trends for at least 5 years.



What to look for

(the words you search for)


 

 Your Company name (omit the words: Co, Corp, Inc, Ltd, etc)
Your Company Subsidiaries and Divisions names,
Your Company's Parent &
Ultimate Parent Company names

 

 Your Competitors' (#1 in the industry & other close competitors) names

 

 Your Industry use both broad & narrow terms
(examples: beverages, alcohol, breweries, beer, ale, etc.)

 

 Look for interviews with the top officers in your company & parent company
CEO (Chief Executive Officer),
COO (Chief Operations Officer),
CFO (Chief Financial Officer),
President, and
Chairman of the Board

 

 Any mention by brand name, especially look for advertisements and coupons
Your brand and product name will show up the least. Rely on company name and industry to find information.

 

 Social and economic trends. This would be articles on:
  • changes in eating, buying, shopping, travel habits;
  • hot new fashions in clothing, sports, food, jobs, toys, houses, cars, etc.;
  • changes in population;
  • changes in economic indicators like the CPI, unemployment, consumer confidence, credit card usage, etc.;
  • world news that could have an effect on your company, industry or product- war or economic collapse, for example.

Where to look for it

OLD News (What happened last week or earlier):

Periodical & Newspapers Indexes --- 5 most recent years -- (2001-2007):

  • You should use more than one index to be sure you are getting a broader perspective.
  • Each team member should use at least 1 index from each of the index lists below:
Business Periodicals Indexes & Abstracts Newspaper Indexes for Business Popular Culture & Current Events

NEW News (This week and tomorrow):

The information search recommended below does tend to overwhelm those who aren't used to massive information gathering and sythesis.

***
It is imperative that you print off the articles from the free public web sites of these news sources
when you first see them!
The articles can disappear the same day or within the week.
The online edition carries stories that do not make the print edition!
***

Still, to keep up with new information starting with the beginning of the semester, you should read, listen or watch the items listed in each of the categories below:

  1. Daily: Each team member should do all four.
    1. One Local Newspaper -
    2. Wall Street Journal
    3. Financial Times (London)
    4. One News Program -
  2. Weekly: One of the following (Sunday Edition preferred). Looking at these will provide you with a broader perspective of what is happening nationwide in your industry, economically, cultural and social trends, and in the government.
    1. New York Times
    2. Washington Post
    3. Christian Science Monitor
    4. Chicago Tribune
    5. Los Angeles Times
    6. Times (London)
  3. At every opportunity, read:
    1. Current events magazines
    2. Women's Magazines
    3. Men's magazines
    4. Commercials/Advertisements
    5. Key trade magazines for your industry

If you have made note of these recommendations, you are ready to read the Hints for the project.

Assignment #1 Hints

Assignment #2 Hints

Assignment #3 Hints

Assignment #4 Hints

Assignment #5 Hints

Simmons Study of Media & Markets Instructions


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Jeanette M. Mueller-Alexander,
Business Reference Librarian
Hayden Library Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona, USA
Created 1994, Last Revised: January 5, 2007