Business Blog

There are several resources that contain demographic information and consumer spending. In particular, the following print resources contain information that may be pertinent when researching theater, performing arts, or cultural events spending. The links for each resource will take you to more information about the resource in the Biz Wiki.

LifeStyle Market Analyst contains market profiles and lifestyle profiles. Of particular interest is the lifestyle profile for individuals who “Attend Cultural/Arts Events.”

Household Spending: Who Spends How Much on What contains an entire chapter titled “Spending on Entertainment, 2003.”

Finally, Best Customers:  Demographics of Consumer Demand will actually give you suggestions for the best customers in a product category.  The most relevant section in this book is a few pages on “Move, Theater, Opera, and Ballet Tickets.”

I would definitely encourage you to look at these resources.  Please don’t discount the fact that these are print resources.  I am sure you’ll be amazed at what kind of information can still be found in these books.

Share This

Ohio Community Theater Association
“OCTA is a service organization for more than 100 community theatres in Ohio and adjacent areas of bordering states. Since its formation in 1953, it has grown to be one of the largest and most successful organizations of its kind. With its funding from the Ohio Arts Council, donations, dues and proceeds from its many self supporting activities, OCTA provides a growing list of services to its member theatres.”

American Association of Community Theater
“The American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) is the national voice of community theatre, representing the interests of its members and over 7,000 theatres across the U.S.”

Research Tip: For more associations, take a look at Associations Unlimited (subscription database). Try perfoming a Subject/Any Word Search. In the search menu, type “theater” in the “subject descriptor” box.

Also, the following print resources may be of some use:
Theater Resources Directory
“The essential source for theater professionals”
Location: Learning Commons Reference Stacks PN2087.U6 T48x

Regional Theater Directory
“A national guide to employment in regional theatres : performers (equity and non-equity), designers, technicians, management : internship opportunities for students.”
Location: Learning Commons Reference Stacks PN2289 .R44

Share This

This morning I got a reference email from a student who needed help finding “20 relevant contacts or businesses in Ohio that are either Polish businesses or have relevant ties to Poland.”

I thought that Lexis Nexis Academic was the most appropriate resource that we had available for this question. Here’s how I did the search:.

1. From the main screen of Lexis, I clicked on “Business” on the left side.
2. Next, I chose “Company Profiles” in the middle of the page.
3. On the search screen, I changed the state to “Ohio,” then typed “Poland” in the Keyword box.
4. I left the date range for “previous six months”.
5. The search yielded 621 results.

The search is not perfect, as it is looking for all profiles of Ohio companies that mention the word “Poland”. Poland could be someone’s last name so that would be a false drop. Otherwise, it’s currently the best way I know of to get close to the information.

One might also try the search backwards, putting Poland in the company name box and putting Ohio in the keyword box. If you do this, you might want to change the date range to “All available dates.”

I imagine the electronic version of Lexis Nexis Corporate Affiliations would be a better resource for this particular query, but unfortunately we only subscribe to the print. Does anyone else have any other suggestions for possible places to look? If so, please feel free to leave a comment by clicking on the “Comment” link below.

Share This

Fortune has released the list of America’s Most Admired Companies.  The companies can be sorted by industry, by alphabet, by state, and by other criteria.  Take a look at the companies in Ohio that made the list.

Link via Resource Shelf.

Share This

Do you need an easy way to compare company information for a number of different companies?  If so, you might want to check out Mergent Onilne.

Take a look at this screencast, which will walk you through how to use Mergent to compare companies within the same industry. This example uses Delta Air Lines, and walks you through how to use the SIC and NAICS codes to compare companies in the same industry. This screencast lasts approximately 5 minutes, and contains audio.  For a list of other screencast tutorials, take a look at the Business Database Screencasts page in the Biz Wiki.   More  screencast tutorials are on the way, so stay tuned.

Share This