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Business Administration - MBA, DBA: Finding Grey Literature

Resources - use the tabs below to explore

Finding Company Reports & Profiles:

NZX Company Research 

Lists New Zealand company information and provides a comprehensive and regularly updated current and historical analysis of company data.

Factiva 

Access to a wide range of global and NZ news and business information content. Use the Companies/Markets menu to find company and industry reports.

Business Market Research Collection (ProQuest) 

Contains company, industry, economic and geopolitical market research from sources including Hoover's Company Profiles, OxResearch from Oxford Analystica, and Snapshots.

New Zealand Companies Office

Search the NZ Companies Register for companies, company directors or shareholders

Business Source Complete (via EBSCOhost) 

Use the 'Company Information' link or select 'Company profiles from 'More'

Finding Country & Industry Reports & Analysis: 

IBISWorld (NZ Industry Reports)

An industry report collection that offers insight into the major industries in the New Zealand economy at the 5-digit ANZSIC level. Each report consists of 30 to 40 pages of key statistics and analysis on market characteristics, operating conditions, current and forecast performance, major companies and more. See the video below on how to access IBIS World's NZ Industry Reports:

 

Passport GMID: Global Market Information Database (Euromonitor) 

Provides business intelligence on industries, countries, and consumers. It offers integrated access to statistics, reports, insightful comment and business information sources.
NOTE: first-time users need to register using an "otago.ac.nz email" address.

Passport Is Euromonitor's Syndicated Global Market Research Database - Euromonitor.com

Finding a PEST analysis for New Zealand in Passport:

 

 

Business Source Complete (via EBSCOhost) 

Coverage includes full-text journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics.

Business Market Research Collection (ProQuest) 

Contains company, industry, economic and geopolitical market research from sources including Hoover's Company Profiles, OxResearch from Oxford Analystica, and Snapshots.

ProQuest Central 

A leading electronic database providing indexing/abstracting and full-text access to scholarly and general interest publications. It combines information from a number of leading online databases with subjects covering: business, law, education, computing, science, technology, engineering, arts, medicine, and religion.

Factiva 

Access to a wide range of global and NZ news and business information content. Use the Companies/Markets menu to find company and industry reports

Finding Consumer Reports and Information:

Passport GMID: Global Market Information Database (Euromonitor) 

Provides business intelligence on industries, countries, and consumers. It offers integrated access to statistics, reports, insightful comment and business information sources. Coverage is global.
NOTE: first-time users need to register using an "otago.ac.nz email" address.

Passport Is Euromonitor's Syndicated Global Market Research Database - Euromonitor.com

Business Source Complete (via EBSCOhost) 

Coverage includes full-text journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics.

OECD Main Economic Indicators 

Presents comparative statistics that provide an overview of recent international economic developments through the presentation of a wide range of short-term economic indicators for the OECD member countries, 5 area totals and selected non-member countries.

Grey Literature

- Grey (or gray) literature is material published outside of peer-reviewed journals and other traditional channels such as edited monographs (books).

- Often this means reports from government or non-governmental organisations or articles from trade journals and business magazines. It can also take the format of working papers, websites, conference presentations, social media and so on.

-  Most grey literature is not peer reviewed, so you need to use your judgement and assess it to decide whether it is a high quality resource. See the TRAAP test at the bottom of the page to help critically evaluate the appropriateness of the grey literature you find.

Finding business magazines/ trade journals

Example:  The Havard Business Review 

Assess your findings

Evaluating and thinking critically about sources of information are important skills to develop and apply while undertaking research.

Not all information is reliable and appropriate for academic work, and not all information is relevant to your particular topic.

You should challenge and reflect on information that you find; don’t just accept everything you read.

Work through this tutorial to develop your skills in evaluating information that you find online:

TRAAP Test

Or apply these terms to assess if the information you have found answers your research question.

Timeliness

Relevance

Authority

Accuracy

Purpose

Download the TRAAP Test Questions

Work through this tutorial to develop your skills in evaluating information that you find online:

SIFT - Evaluating Information Tutorial

Even though the library databases are good sources of information, we still need to evaluate that information before we decide to use it. You can do this by asking the following questions:

  • Is the information relevant to your topic?​
  • Who are the authors, are they experts in the field? Who do they work for? What else have they written?​
  • What evidence is given, what references are given, and what methodology is used?​
  • How is the study funded? Is there a bias?​
  • When was the information written, is it still relevant? Has it been updated or amended in light of new evidence?

 

For more information and resources, check out the ‘Evaluating information: additional resources’ box at the bottom of this page.

Here are some resources to help develop your evaluating skills:

  • For a simple 'commonsense' approach to evaluating claims made by the news media, read this short article by Doug Specht & Julio Gimenez from the University of Westminster, and pay close attention to the 6 'steps for reading like a scientist'.
  • If you need to verify a claim, you can check it on a fact-checking website. Check out this guide to Fact Checkers, curated by the University of California Berkley Library, for ideas on what websites to use if you are not sure.
  • Work through this excellent module on 'evaluating information and critical thinking' created by The University of Sheffield Library.