Database of the Month: New Search Interface for Plunkett Research

Plunkett Research has recently reorganized its web site to make analyst reports and historical data easier to find and compile. Plunkett Research offers business intelligence information including industry/market trends and statistics, company profiles, professional organizations, and career research. It is ideal for industry trend tracking, identification of professional and trade associations, market research, business plan development, and investment research.

Plunkett analysts profile approximately 8,000 companies in 35 industries, with approximately 1,000 new companies added to the list yearly. All types of companies are included; for example, about 20% of the companies are privately held and about 30% are headquartered outside of the United States. Each industry receives a complete update once per year. An Archives button on the main page enables access to historical data almanacs by industry, presented in PDF format. Depending on the industry, 7-10 years of archived data is available.

Industry/Company/Market Research

The home page provides buttons to Research an Industry and/or Research a Company. A third Browse option allows users to select from a list of 35 industries on which Plunkett Research analysts focus their research activities.

Plunkett presents research on companies by geographic location, revenue size, and company type. The information is cross-searchable by keyword and can also be searched using advanced options. Selection criteria include type of company, annual sales, employee count, specific industry sector by NAICS code, city, state or country of headquarters location and more.

Directory information includes corporate contact information, revenues, company rank within the industry by several indicators, number of employees, and names and titles of company executives.

The Browse list includes unique industry groupings, including E-Commerce and Internet, Green Technology, International Companies, Outsourcing & Offshoring, Transportation, Supply Chain & Logistics, and many more.

"Industry Research Centers" display on the page after the user chooses an industry. The Centers offer detailed information about:

• Industry market research and trends
• Industry statistics
• Company profiles
• Definitions of terms used in particular industries and for business in general
• Industry associations, trade organizations and professional societies

Reporting Tools

Plunkett enables users to export company contacts and/or lists of professional organizations and societies, in Excel or plain text format. Using the Build-a-Report feature, the user can create industry reports in PDF format for printing, emailing and/or saving. Select a company or industry from the browse list on the main page, or click either “Research an Industry” or “Research a Company” on the main page to access this feature.

My Research Account

Sign up for a free research account and receive the following benefits:

• Set up your own personal research profile and create a history of your searches
• Save your searches and save comments about the search results
• Set up alerts for new data posted to Plunkett Research

Database Assistance

Video introductions to popular searches and functions are prominently displayed on the main page below the search options.

Connect to this Database

Please visit http://ezp.bentley.edu/login?url=http://plunkettresearchonline.com to start your research. Begin with the video tutorials on that page, or explore what the database has to offer on your own.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to a database available from the Library’s website, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases), please Ask a Librarian. If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact Adam Williams, Research Instruction Coordinator at awilliams@bentley.edu.