Help doing research for a paper

[woofersus]

So I have to write a paper about how to deal with a specific marketing issue relating to my employer for my Marketing Management class, and given that I'm self-employed and my business is relatively new, my paper is going to end up being a general paper about how to start a new business in the audio industry.

What I'm having a little trouble with is digging through the gazillion product release articles and product reviews to find real information about the home audio industry as a whole. I'm hoping some people here who are well read on the subject might be able to point me to some.

Useful things would be articles about the current state of the audio industry, history of the industry, or about the changes in the industry with respect to ID manufacturers and online stores. Obviously forum entries are not going to be acceptable for a formal paper, but in certain cases blog entries can be used if the source is respectable and not just some guy.

Any ideas? Sites where I should look?

[skullguise]

I imagine the CE pages would have some good statistics and info....http://www.ce.org/ (maybe not as much about ID companies, but some stuff about the industry as a whole)

[lngbruno]

I imagine the CE pages would have some good statistics and info....http://www.ce.org/ (maybe not as much about ID companies, but some stuff about the industry as a whole)

+1 Also, look at print magazines like Stereophile and the Absolute Sound. IIRC, they have published articles about the metamorphosis happening in audio. Also, look at ejournals, ToneAudio, Soundstage, Enjoy the Music and Affordable Audio just to name a few. If you don't see what you need, write to one of the contributors. I have written to a few over the years and they have been very helpful and respond quickly.

Another thought...contact a large company like Harman International and ask to speak to their PR department.

There are angels out there, you just need to know how to find them. :whoopie:

Happy discovery,
Lou

[woofersus]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll be looking into them over the weekend.

[m-fine]

You can look in the annual reports from public companies in the industry. The are available free from the Edgar database at the SEC, I think edgar.sec.gov should get you close. Look for form 10-k which is the annual report. They usually have a managemnt outlook with industry info.