library website and government
What information can you reasonably guess that your organization is collecting on a regular basis? (If you know anyone in the organization who will help you, ask them what types of information are usually gathered. If not, then try looking at other sources.) For instance, look at the website and see what information is gathered when you send an inquiry or place an order. If your organization is large, you may be able to get annual reports or other accounting reports (e.g. 10K) with information about the market. Try the library website and government (.gov) websites also. You might also ask typical customers and/or suppliers what data they have been asked to provide to your organization.
3. How might the information that is already collected be used? What additional secondary information might be available, but perhaps the organization is unaware of it or just doesn€„¢t bother? By analyzing all of this potential information, what could the organization learn?
4. Try to find secondary information to characterize the market for your organization€„¢s primary product. Consider customers, competitors, directions of change (may be due to new product needs, understanding of problems, etc.), and environmental changes. Here, you may wish to see if there are any articles in business news that might help you.
5. What additional research results do you need or want to fully characterize the market for your organization? Identify any of these topics that might already be addressed in secondary research, and any topics that you believe would require new primary research. For topics requiring new research, what kind of payoff would there be if it were to be done?