Business Plan Research Guide

This is a guide to some of the most helpful sources for developing a business plan. Try these resources and meet with a Research Librarian who can direct you to the resources specific to your industry and market.

Overview

Use NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System) codes to find market size, develop lists of competitors, suppliers or customers, find industry ratios, and more. 

See the US Census Business & Industry site for reports that measure industries using the NAICS. 

  • Browse or search the NAICS site for your industry and its suppliers, distributors and customers nd scan the definitions of the codes to understand what is included or excluded.
  • To estimate local sales, find available total industry sales and wages for the US or your state, calculate the ratio of wages to sales, and then use with wages from the County Business Patterns to estimate local sales.
  • Scroll down the page to find links to County Business Patterns, Current Industrial Reports or other current sources on your industry. The next section has direct links to some of these Census sources.

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