AREC 315 - Agribusiness Economics and Management

These strategies and resources may help you answer the following questions within your marketing plan:

• What is the nature of the industry? e.g., conduct an industry AND competitor analysis to assess the competitive environment, the growth trends and key driving forces of the industry, AREC 315 Business Plan Project Assignment Fall 2024 2/7 such as the demand and supply factors. Research and analyze both the national and local markets. [Ch.6]
• Use either SWOT analysis or the Porter Five Forces Model to assess the business, e.g., weaknesses and threats to address? Strengths and opportunities to capture? How will your business address them? [Ch.6]
• What are the competitive advantages of your business? How can your business survive in your industry? [Ch.6]

Strategies for Identifying Competitors

During your industry research, you might have already noticed potential competitors or similar companies you would like to research further. If not, review the information on the Industry Research tab and try some of the following strategies to identify competitors and similar companies:

• Look at the table of contents of industry reports to locate a section on major companies/competition.
• Add keywords like companies or competition to the searches you created to find industry information.

Strategies for Researching Competitors and Similar Companies in More Detail

Once you have an idea for your potential competition or similar companies to research, follow these strategies to research their business:

1. Gather basic company information before searching in a library database
Use a general search engine to collect key details about the company. For example, searching “Tractor Supply” in Google can help you find:

• Official company name: Some databases require the full name.
• Headquarters location: Helps confirm you’ve found the correct company.
• Company type: Public, private, or non-profit. This affects where and how you can find information.

Additional Tips:

• Public companies: Find the stock ticker (e.g., TSCO for Tractor Supply) to improve database search results.
• Private companies: Identify a similar public company as a “proxy” to estimate financial information. For private companies, rely more on news, press releases, and industry reports.

Video tutorial: Public, private, or non-profit? Watch this quick video to learn the differences and how to identify a company’s designation.

2. Find and browse the company's official website to learn more.

• Tip: Use the consumer-facing of the company's website, but also try to locate its corporate or investor relations site. For the latter, use a search like Google to search the company's name plus "investor relations". (Private companies may not have this site.)
  • Example: Tractor Supply investor relations

3. Use the company's official name or stock ticker to search a company research database (see recommendations below).

Tip: Start with just the company's name. If you need to narrow results, add keywords relating to various facets about the company that you would like to research, such as revenue, trends, performance, competitors, etc.

The steps below follow the search strategies outlined above. In this example, we will be researching one of the top feed store companies in the U.S. Tractor Supply as well as a regional feed store.

Gathering information on competitors

Step 1: Begin in IBISWorld  with your NAICS code or keywords to search for information on competitors. Our search for feed stores provided a link to Farm Supply Stores in the US.

Step 2: Use the table of contents on the side menu to find the pages for Companies and Products.

Step 3: Review these pages for overviews, insight into the competitive landscape, and market shares of the leading companies. Determine if more details are required on any given company or product to help you understand the competitive landscape.

Researching competitors in more detail

Major Companies:

Step 1: Gather basic company information and browse company website

Search Tractor Supply in Google or a similar search to locate:

• Official company name: Tractor Supply Company.
• Headquarters location: Brentwood, Tennessee 
• Company type: Publicly Traded - Tractor Supply Company Overview 

Step 2: Gather research on major companies

Use "Tractor Supply" or the official "Tractor Supply Company" name as keywords to find company reports, articles, and profiles.

• EX1: Mergent Intellect - search Tractor Supply and let search box suggest the correct company profile (Ours is titled "TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY.")

Regional competitors:

Step 1: Gather basic company information and browse company website

Search Olsen's Grain in Google or a similar search to locate:

• Official company name: Olsen's Grain.
• Headquarters location: Chino Valley, AZ 
• Company type: Private

Step 2: Look for information on your regional competitors

Use "Olsen's Grain" as your keywords to find company reports, articles, and profiles.

• EX1: Bizminer. 
  • Choose Company Profile and search Olsen's Grain. Set the state to Arizona
  • If you get more than one result, use Google to identify the address of the company headquarters and select that option, for this example we selected: Olsen's Grain 344 S. Highway 89 Chino Valley, AZ. You will need to look at each report if  your regional competitor has multiple locations.

Now you try -- follow this example to search for companies and products using the recommended resources on Section 1 and below.

Not every database will have relevant results depending on the company you are researching. Research requires some trial and error - expect to search a few different databases, but not necessarily all of these. Review the descriptions of each database before diving in to better understand its strengths and scope. For example, some are better suited to researching small or private companies while others are best for large or public companies.