Library Guides: Entrepreneurship Resources for Pennsylvania Residents: Companies, Industries, and Markets

Why is this important?

Gathering information about your customers, competition, and industry beforehand will better help you understand the opportunities and limitations of your business idea and help reduce risk. Articles, reports, and surveys known as "secondary" resources can help you:

Map out competitors, partners and suppliers
Gather consumer demographics and track trends, attitudes and purchasing behaviors
Determine market size, demand and market segments
Identify industry opportunities, challenges, financial outlook and regulatory environment

Companies, Industries and Markets

Web Resources

Internet resources can provide a wide-range of information. However, expertise, objectivity, and relevancy are not always apparent. Be cautious when using a search engine to research your topic. The resources below have been hand-picked as credible resources for your research.

Company/Organization’s Website
Often an important source of information about a company’s mission, vision, culture, and products/services
Crunchbase
Crunchbase is a platform for finding business information about private and public companies. Includes investments and funding information, founding members and individuals in leadership positions, mergers and acquisitions, news, and industry trends.

Note: Penn State does not provide access to Crunchbase Pro. Some basic information about startups and funders is available to view for free or with a free account. Individual memberships are available for purchase.
Thomas Register
Free supplier discovery and product sourcing in the United States and Canada product.
Hoover's (Free Online Version)
provides limited company and industry information on public and private companies. Includes financial statements, competitors, and more.
Annual Survey of Manufacturers
Provides statistics on employment, payroll, supplemental labor costs, cost of materials consumed, operating expenses, value of shipments, value added by manufacturing, detailed capital expenditures, fuels and electric energy used, and inventories.
Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs
The Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE) provides information on selected economic and demographic characteristics for businesses and business owners by gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran status.

Web Resources

Annual Economic Surveys
Collection of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Includes:
- Annual Survey of Manufacturers
- County Business Patterns
- Nonemployer Statistics
Census Business Builder: Small Business Edition - U.S. Census Bureau
Aids small business owners in gathering key data for their business plan or to better understand their potential market. Presents data for a single type of business and geography at a time
Observatory of Economic Complexity
An online resource for international trade data and economic complexity indicators available through interactive visualizations of countries and products.

Web Resources

Statista
Statista.com consolidates statistical market and consumer data on over 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources.
Note: Penn State does not provide access to Statista's premium statistics. Some basic statistics are available to view for free or with a free account. Individual memberships are available for purchase.