USAFA Library Guides: MGT 375 (Marketing Analysis): Getting Started

Key Concepts

Common Language Marketing Dictionary
Improve your vocabulary and understanding of marketing terms. Marketing acronyms & abbreviations lookup also featured.
The Five Forces
Insights on Porter's Five Forces from the Harvard Business School. Michael Porter's influential article, The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy, is accessible on Business Source Ultimate.
Key Concepts in Marketing
SAGE publication will help extend your understanding of key concepts for an undergraduate course in marketing
Small Business Administration: Marketing & Sales
Basic principles, methods and key components of marketing mix
Strategic Management Insight
Learn about SWOT analyses, mission statements and the most popular strategy tools used by companies to implement their strategic plans and achieve a sustained competitive advantage
Understanding Marketing
Harvard Business publication offers examples with concepts to help you define a target market, understand competition, form a marketing strategy with the four Ps': product, promotion, pricing, and place (distribution), test new product ideas with customers, etc.

Business Plans

In addition to the unlimited user access resources listed below, Statista has a tool to create business plans for consumer and digital markets. See Consumer Data & Demographics page for more details.

Business Plans Handbook
Real-life business plans to help small business entrepreneurs. Presents sample plans taken from businesses in the manufacturing, retail and service industries which serve as examples of how to approach, structure and compose business plans.
Business Planning & Market Strategy
Find insights on preparing business plans and market strategies, and writing business plans with executive summaries. (See Chap. 12)
How to Write a Business Plan
Provides step-by-step instructions and forms to put together a convincing business plan. Includes a chapter on how to write your marketing and personnel plans. (See Chap. 8)

Gale Business: Plan Builder
Sign up for free access to this library-funded planning tool that helps guide you through the steps for starting, managing and optimizing a business or nonprofit. Major components of Plan Building include a entrepreneur profile, business ideation, break-even analysis, business plans with market research, and financial projections.
How to Write a Business Plan
From the Small Business Administration
Write Your Business Plan
Learn how to develop a business plan with an executive summary, market analysis, marketing & sales, and more from the Small Business Administration. See also examples of business plans.

Suggested Online Reference

Developing Successful Marketing Strategies
Walks you through the process of planning and developing a marketing strategy with real examples to help clarify the theories
Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Strategies
Provides examples of global brands within a strategic marketing framework to include: situational analysis, target market, marketing strategy / tactics, and outcome.
Marketing and Management Models: A Guide to Understanding and Using Business Models
How to use management models to guide business decisions and for strategic analysis; e.g. brand switching, positioning, product life-cycle, & more
Marketing for Entrepreneurs: Concepts and Applications for New Ventures
Provides insights, strategies, and tips on how to apply entrepreneurial marketing concepts to increase the chances of venture success
SAGE Handbook of Marketing Ethics
As a key concern of marketing and consumer research, this handbook brings together a diverse body of content on all major topics relevant to the field of marketing ethics

Marketing Plans

Malcolm McDonald on Marketing Planning: Understanding Marketing Plans and Strategy
Explains how to develop a planning strategy and the steps involved in producing a marketing plan
The Marketing Plan Handbook: Develop Big-Picture Marketing Plans for Pennies on the Dollar
A practical handbook that you coaches you through the process in creating an effective marketing plan. Includes a model marketing plan.

Small Business Administration Learning Center
Learn tpics on market research for a better understanding of competition and strategies to win customers