Kresge Research Guides: English for Business Studies: Getting Started

EBS Project Teams

EBS Business + Impact Challenge 2021

Students will be asked to brainstorm how Professor Astashkina's research can be applied to real-world applications that make a positive impact.

Here is the abstract for the research you will learn about in the B + I Kick Off session

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE ADVENT OF ONLINE GROCERY RETAILING EKATERINA ASTASHKINA, ELENA BELAVINA, SIMONE MARINESI

Abstract. This study assesses the environmental impact of the advent of online grocery retailing. We model the grocery supply chain before and after the emergence of online grocery retail. The models include suppliers, offline and online retailers, the delivery infrastructure, and households. All firms and households optimally manage their inventory; online retailers also optimally manage deliveries. We compare food waste and transportation emissions before and after the advent of online grocery retail. We isolate three key factors that drive the difference: (i) which households switch to online shopping, (ii) their shopping patterns, and (iii) how the first two factors change where inventories are held. In general, moderate online grocery prices and delivery fees lead to (desirable) adoption primarily by households located “far” from offline stores, neither too frequent shopping nor too large basket sizes by these online households, and enough beneficial inventory centralization—and a consequent reduction in emissions. Numerical calibration using industry and demographic data reveals that in most US cities the advent of online grocery should be beneficial, leading to an eventual 8-41% reduction in emissions; more congested, wealthier, lower offline-storedensity cities have the most substantial gains. Finally, making online deliveries from existing offline stores further enhances environmental benefits.

You can email Librarian Sally Ziph (sweston@umich.edu) with questions and/or to set up an appointment for your team.

Top Resources for Food Industry Projects

IBISWorld Industry Reports
IBISWorld is a database that has industry research across an extensive range of industries. Reports include main industry activities, key statistics and ratios, SWOT analysis, key external drivers, industry performance and outlook, competitive landscape, products & markets, major companies, supply chain influences, market share concentration, cost structure, key success factors, operating conditions, and trends. iExpert reports are brief executive summaries of broader reports. Risk Ratings reports highlight structural risk, growth risk, and sensitivity risk.

Technical notes:Downloads are limited to 30 reports per session. Exceeding this limit blocks access for the entire University. If you have a research need beyond this limit, please contact us at kresge_library@umich.edu.

Ross Alumni: Ross School of Business Alumni can purchase the full report for a 20% discount. Contact Kresge Library at kresge_library@umich.edu for more information.
D&B Hoovers
D&B Hoovers has public and private company profiles for US and global companies. Profiles include company descriptions and history, financials and ratios, hierarchy/corporate family tree data, SWOT analysis, news, competitors, SIC industry codes, NAICS industry codes, SEC filings, and annual reports. The “Build a List” function allows users to create a company list based on numerous parameters
and filters. Industry content includes constituents and analysis that include RMA Industry Norms, MarketLine Industry Profiles, and Fredonia Focus reports.
Technical notes: Company lists downloads are limited to 100 records. If you encounter a login screen, all seats are in use. Try connecting using the “UM users” link or at a later time.

Technical note:If you encounter a login screen, all seats are in use. Try connecting at a later time. Subscription includes 25 seats which are shared across all 3 UM campuses.
Statista
Statista includes ready-made statistical charts, graphs and tables on marketing, demographics, communication, technology, politics, health, leisure and public opinion polls.
Euromonitor Passport
This database contains data and insight on industries, economies, and consumers worldwide. Coverage includes consumer products, markets, and services. Statistics include product market size, company market share, brand shares, distribution, product ingredients, and packaging. Consumer behavior and economic factors are analyzed to identify future trends. Euromonitor Passport also has country profiles with economic, political, and geographic information.
Technical notes: Users may create a personal account to save results and research, create Alerts and get RSS feeds.

Use policy: When using material from this database in reports and presentations, vendor contract requirements dictate that you must include the phrase, "Used with permission of Euromonitor International."
Video tutorials:
- Euromonitor International YouTube Channel
MarketResearch.com Academic
Full-text international market research reports, with coverage back to 1994. Includes topics like business services, consumer goods, food and beverages, life sciences, demographics, heavy industry and technology/media. Reports from Freedonia, Kalorama, Mind Commerce, Packaged Facts, and Paul Budde Communication are included.

Technical notes: Some older reports may be in Microsoft PowerPoint format. There is a 1 year embargo on reports from Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd. Includes Freedonia Focus Reports.

Video tutorial
Mintel
Anonymous downloads are currently unavailable. You must log in to Mintel personal profile (link on the Welcome menu) in order to download.
Mintel provides marketing intelligence for a wide scope of industries in the US and abroad. Their reports are downloadable and contain market, consumer and brand/company information. Their databooks allow users to create graphs and tables using the marketing data that they collect.
eMarketer
eMarketer covers the digital marketplace with reports and charts on advertising spending by media, brand marketing, digital advertising, mobile apps, mobile devices, consumer behavior and experience, Ecommerce, social media usage and other topics.

Technical notes: Please log out of this resource as directed when finished. Failing to log out may prevent others from using the database.
- Help Guide
Video tutorials:
Tutorial Access Demo
ABI/INFORM Collection
ABI/INFORM contains articles from thousands of newspapers and key business magazines such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Barron’s, the Economist, and the New York Times. It also contains papers from leading academic journals across all major business disciplines.
- Help Guide
Email and RSS feed alerts available.
Business Source Complete
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Business Source Complete contains articles from thousands of newspapers, trade publications, and key business magazines such as the Harvard Business Review. It also contains papers from leading academic journals across all major business disciplines.
- Help Guide
Use policy: When using material from this database in reports and presentations, vendor contract requirements dictate that you must include the phrase, "Used with permission of Business Source Complete."