Entrepreneurship and Marketing

"The Balance Small Business makes launching and managing your own business easy. It is home to experts who provide clear, practical advice on entrepreneurship and management. Whether you’re just starting up or you want to take your company to the next level, our 20-year-strong library of more than 7,000 pieces of content will answer your questions and turn your business dreams into reality." from The Balance: Small Business about us page

The EDC is a private, non profit corporation that is leading the region's economic development by helping businesses to expand, relocate and succeed in Western Massachusetts.

Online version of this small-business magazine, with feature articles, online tools, and advice from experts.

A huge list of franchising opportunities sortable alphabetically, geographically or by investment level.

From Inc.com, which aims to deliver "advice, tools, and services, to help business owners and CEOs start, run, and grow their businesses more successfully". It includes business plan tips and information on how to write a business plan.

This site includes information and advice covering many business and management tasks, including marketing, sales, finding capital and managing people.

An agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that promotes the growth of minority-owned business through the mobilization and advancement of public and private sector programs, policy, and research.

SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow, and succeed nationwide.

Information and networking assistance for women business owners as well as a number of resources for setting up, running, and growing businesses. Many resources free but the site does also have paid membership features.

StartupNation is a free service founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.

Learn the steps to start a small business, get financing help from the government, and more.

The website of the United States Small Business Administration contains tools to help people start, manage and expand small businesses. It includes online training on topics such as developing a business plan, marketing and finding start-up funding.

The SBA Office of Advocacy conducts and publishes its own research on topics such as the small business economy.

Reviews options from loans to grants for starting and funding your business.

America's leading small business association.

An association with a wide range of resources and tools to help you run your business successfully.

The voice of microbusiness.

"The AMA strives to be the most relevant force and voice shaping marketing around the world; an essential community for marketers." (AMA Mission; from website)

"The DMA offers advocacy, innovation, education and connections to help marketers seize the full potential of their data" (from DMA website)

"The Academy of Marketing Science Foundation is an international, scholarly, professional organization. It is dedicated to promoting high standards and excellence in the creation and dissemination of marketing knowledge and the furtherance of marketing practice through a role of leadership within the discipline of marketing around the world." (AMS mission; from AMS website)

"Established in 1905, the American Advertising Federation (AAF) is the only organization that includes members across all disciplines and career levels in advertising." (from AAF website)

"To further, through research, the scientific practice of advertising and marketing." (ARF mission; from ARF website)

This group is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that includes department, specialty, discount, catalog and Internet stores. Its site provides a list of advocacy efforts, resources to address issues facing the retail industry after September 11, 2001, retail industry news and a list of top retailers throughout the world. Some material only available to members.

ASCI measures customer satisfaction with over 200 companies in 43 industries, plus a portion of the federal government.

Hoovers free content on over 85 million companies. Expanded content available for paid subscribers.

Provides economic data for a user-selected industry from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Free registration required. Search ThomasNet to find manufacturers, distributors and service providers. More than 607,000 industrial companies in North America are included, indexed by 67,000 product and service categories.

Includes articles, research findings, industry news and how to conduct market research from a leading U.K. market research consultancy, DJS Research Ltd.

Free articles, directories, Webinars, case studies, tools and other resources for better marketing research and insights.

Profiles all major companies, industries and geographies presented in an easy to digest format. Includes market data and competitive analysis. Available with STCC library card and password.

Free e-books and white papers
on a variety of industries and market research topics.

An ongoing survey that provides detailed information on a yearly basis about our nation and its people. It helps local officials, community leaders and businesses understand the changes taking place in their communities.

This site is the Census Bureau's major access point for resources and statistics. One can retrieve data by geographic area, by topic, or by creating "data sets" of customized statistical tables.

A tool to help you understand how people use the Internet across the world. In addition to providing predefined consumer behavior charts, it has a graph builder facility, allowing researchers to create their own charts based on consumer shopping and multi-device behavior.

Provides data on expenditures, income, and demographic characteristics of consumers in the United States. From the US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This is a report compiled by the Census Bureau, using the Census Bureau’s Decennial Census of Population and Housing, the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), and the American Housing Survey (AHS). The most recent data on the site is from 2010.

Provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Survey of consumer confidence conducted by the University of Michigan. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (MCSI) uses telephone surveys to gather information on consumer expectations regarding the overall economy.

Assesses what's happening in the world today with consumer trends and insights from around the world. Access to quarterly and methodologies are free, other services are available for purchase or subscription.

An excellent collection of resources providing free access to information about business and economic conditions and indicators collected by the U.S. government. Includes data and statistics on income, employment, trade, and manufacturing, and plenty more organized into broad categories.

BizStats states that it is the leading free online source for small business statistics. BizStats collects, analyzes, edits and adds value to public data and delivers it without cost in an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand format.

Timely, relevant economic data providing an up-to-date picture of the U.S. economy including such key issues as economic growth, regional economic development, interindustry relationships, and the Nation's position in the world economy.

The site provides economic data on a national level and by region, state and many metropolitan areas.

Measures business activity across the U.S. economy with detailed statistics that are important for industries and communities.

This is the place to go for quick access to U.S. demographic information. There is information in the categories of people and households, business and industry, and geography.

The U.S. Census Bureau collected data for the Statistical Abstract of the United States until 2011, so the most recent information on this Web site is from the 2012 Statistical Abstract, and could be useful for information from 2011 or before. During the years it was published, it was an authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Sources of data included the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Provides comparable price and volume measures of gross domestic product (GDP) and its expenditure aggregates among countries within and across regions.

"The International Data Base (IDB) offers a variety of demographic indicators for countries and areas of the world with a population of 5,000 or more. World and Region demographic indicators in the IDB, including population totals, exclude the populations of countries and areas with fewer than 5,000 people. The IDB has provided access to demographic data for over 25 years to governments, academics, other organizations, and the public. It is funded by the Census Bureau's International Programs."

Analyses of complex demographic data and research, providing up-to-date population information. Includes the World Population Data Sheet and U.S. Economic and Social Trends.

Economic, social and environmental statistics for over 200 countries and regions, compiled from UN agencies and other international, national and specialized organizations.

The World Bank's principal data source on the global economy. More than 550 time series, 1960-present, on more than 200 countries and 18 country groups, covering demographic, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators.

This site provides "current estimates of sales at retail and food services stores and inventories held by retail stores" in the United States. Reports "are released approximately 6 weeks after the close of the reference month. They contain preliminary figures for the current month and final figures for the prior 12 months." Includes data back to 1992.

This group is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that includes department, specialty, discount, catalog and Internet stores. Its site provides a list of advocacy efforts, resources to address issues facing the retail industry after September 11, 2001, retail industry news and a list of top retailers throughout the world. Some material only available to members.

Includes demographic, social, economic and housing information.

Includes demographic, social, economic and housing information.

Includes information on each of the forty three communities in the Pioneer Valley including housing prices, recreation areas, household income and population by age, as well as regional trends and link to Economic Development Data & Information database.

Intellectual property rights are an important for inventors to know about. This is a handbook to address FAQs in this area for inventors and entrepreneurs

From the US Patent and Trademark office.

Search for patents and trademarks, plus links to additional patent resources.

Intellectual property rights information & assistance from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

Register, record and research copyright records.

Advertising Standards Canada is Canada's independent advertising self-regulatory body.

"The globalEDGE Database of International Business Statistics (DIBS) contains over 5,000 variables from over 200 countries to aid in international business research. Access to the data requires free registration and is intended only for academic use by students, faculty, and researchers of educational or government institutions. "

Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The National Federation of Independent Business is an association representing small and independent businesses, whose mission is to promote and protect the right of members to own, operate and grow their businesses.

OSD administers the procurement process for Massachusetts government by establishing Statewide Contracts for goods and services. It can help businesses do business with the Commonwealth by providing step-by-step advice on becoming a contractor.

This authoritative weekly news publication, based in Great Britain, examines politics, business and the economy.

Helps U.S. companies find new international business partners in worldwide markets and non-U.S. companies find U.S. suppliers of products and services.

Seek to strengthen the skills of Massachusetts youth and adults by investing in innovative partnerships with industry, education and workforce organizations.

Provides support for companies (and their representatives) that have, or are considering, investments in our region.

Supports business formation and growth in the state’s technology sector.

A consortium of local governments that have banded together to address problems and opportunities in the Pioneer Valley region.

Leads the growth, attraction, creation and development of technology-based business in Western Massachusetts and the Knowledge Corridor region.

Provide free, confidential, one-to-one business assistance and free or low-cost educational training programs to prospective and existing small businesses throughout the Commonwealth.