Business Research: Business Research

Business research is the systematic and objective gathering, analysis and interpretation of information that helps identify market opportunities and make better marketing decisions.


For example, by researching the market we find out what products and services consumers prefer, the size of the market and how to split it into market segments.

Business research provides insight into the demographic and psychographic characteristics of the target audience, customer reactions to promotional and pricing policies, and potential sales of new products and services.


With this Library Guide we try to help you find the right information for your business research, if you don't quite get there even with this help, please see Support & Contact where you can get additional support.

Marketers essentially always want to get from the current situation to a future, desired situation. To get to that desired situation, you need a certain strategy.

Imagine this: the current situation is that you have 1,000 followers on Instagram. The desired situation is that you grow to 10,000 followers. What strategy should you choose in that case? That depends on the current situation and its developments: how often do you post reels, what content do followers find interesting, how many followers does that bring in? How much has your account grown in recent weeks? What audience are you addressing now? What is the competition doing? What is your company good at and where can they still develop?

The better you know your current situation, the easier it will be to choose an appropriate strategy.

This guide will not tell you which strategy to choose, because each situation requires a different choice. However, it does give you tips on where to find resources to help you identify your current situation, or places where you can find strategies.

You have probably heard of the DESTEP method. That's one of many tools for mapping external influences on the current situation. Using the resources in the "I'm looking for..." menu, you can gradually fill in the DESTEP method.

Not getting there? Support & Contact notes how we can help you further if you have questions.

For your business research, you are looking for different types of information.

Maybe your assignment says you have to do DESTEP or PESTLE analysis. A PESTLE analysis is an analysis to map the macro environment. PESTLE is an abbreviation for six factors, namely: political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal, and ecological. These environmental factors affect the organization indirectly and can only be influenced by the organization to a limited extent. They are, however, of great importance to the success of the organization, so it's important to identify them!

This guide is laid out just a little differently then based on PESTLE, but don't worry, you'll get all kinds of tools to efficiently find your desired information. Click in the menu at the top to navigate between the different tips and topics.

• Trying to use a database but not quite getting there? Then use these pages
  •  |    NEN Connect    |    Nexis Uni    |   OECD iLibrary    |  Marketline |   Statline |    Company Info |  BSU |  Statista
• Looking for specific information (e.g. DESTEP/PESTL information)? Then use one of the following categories.
  • Market/ industry information
  • Country / region information
  • Company information
  • Consumer information
  • Product information
  • Business news
  • Statistics, data & trends
• Are you stuck with your business research? Check out Support & Contact to see what support you can get.

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