Bentley Library Home
Blog Hero Image - In the Know

Database of the Month: Plunkett Research Online

Back to In The Know Blog
by Macee Damon
October 20, 2011

Plunkett Research Online (PRO) offers business intelligence information including industry/market trends and statistics, company profiles, professional organizations, and job prospects, making it ideal for industry/market researchers, for prospect/sales management projects, and for job seekers. Plunkett Research analysts profile approximately 8,000 companies in 28 industries, with 1,000 new companies added to the list yearly. Each industry receives a complete update once per year. The previous year’s data is archived and available to users.

Industry/Market Research

The home page provides a clickable list of 28 industries for which Plunkett’s analysts supply a mix of proprietary data and data from government sources. In addition, Plunkett provides information for groupings of companies by geographic location, revenue size, and/or company type. All types of companies are included; for example, about 20% of the companies are privately held and about 30% are headquartered outside of the U.S. Data is searchable within and across industries. Each "Industry Research Center" offers detailed information about:

  • Industry market research and trends
  • Industry statistics
  • Company profiles
  • Definitions of terms used in particular industries and for business in general
  • Industry associations, trade organizations and professional societies

The information is cross-searchable by keyword and can also be searched using advanced options. Where available, archived data is presented as a print-style Almanac in PDF format. Depending on the industry, data goes back seven years or more.

Reporting Tools

Plunkett enables users to export company contacts and/or lists of professional organizations and societies, in Excel or plain text format. Also, using Plunkett’s Build-a-Report ℠, the user can create a custom PDF-formatted industry report for printing, emailing and/or saving. You’ll be able to select exactly the companies you want to target. Criteria you may select by include annual revenues, size by employee count, specific industry sector by NAICS code, city, state or country of headquarters location and more. Directory information includes corporate address, phone, fax, website, revenues, profits, number of employees, subsidiaries, and up to 27 executive names by title.

Job Seeker Resources & Tools

For job seekers, in addition to the industry and company tools discussed above, Plunkett Research offers:

  • A separate Employer Search by major (U.S.-based, 2,500+ employees) and mid-size (U.S.-based, 150 to 2,500 employees) companies, with export and print functionality in Excel or plain text
  • Job market trends and statistics
  • Tips on the job search process
  • External links to the government publications Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Career Guide to Industries
  • Links to career websites and temporary employment agencies

MyResearchAccount

Sign up for a free research account and receive the following benefits:

  • Set up your own personal research profile and create a history of your searches
  • Save your searches and save comments about the search results
  • Receive alerts about new data posted to Plunkett Research Online

Connect to this Database

Please visit http://ezp.bentley.edu/login?url=http://plunkettresearchonline.com to start your research. Begin with the video tutorials at http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com/ResearchCenter/videos/tutorial.aspx, or explore what the database has to offer on your own.

This database is included in the following Library Research Guides:  Company Research, Careers,  Industry & Market Research,  Researching Employers, and Residential Real Estate Market. 

You can also visit our Databases A-Z page to view a complete list of our resources.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.