Research Guides: Feasibility Study Resources: Competition

Contact the CMU Libraries

The level of competition a business will face is important in determining its feasibility:

Is the potential market saturated with similar products or services?
Will the competition come from independent merchants or national chains or both?
What does the lack of competition say about the market?

Use the following resources to locate information on potential competitors by industry, by company, and by location.

Check out the area in which your business will be located, to see if any of your competitors have locations nearby.

Reference USA
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A compilation of 9 databases. The main database gives profiles of public and private US businesses regardless of size. Others include information about US new businesses, Canadian businesses, US consumers/lifestyles, US jobs/internships, physicians/dentists, US and Canadian white pages and US new movers/homeowners

Look up your industry to see who the top companies are, and therefore your main competition.

Industry Center
From Yahoo! Finance, select an industry to see its top performers.

Look up key companies in your industry to see their top competitors, who will also be YOUR top competitors.

MergentOnline
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Covers 10,000 national and international public companies. Includes business profiles, stock & bond information, financial statements, annual reports, SEC filings, competitors and executive/officer information
PrivCo
Provides business, financial and revenue data on major, non-publicly traded corporations, including family owned, private equity owned, venture backed, and international unlisted companies. Contains information on private M&A deals and deal multiples, private firm valuations, VC funding, and private equity deal history.
Corporate Affiliations
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This database offers critical insights including company profiles on over one million parent and subsidiary businesses worldwide, and in-depth details on directors, executives, and their professional interactions, to help you build relationships that encourage business success.