Research Leads to Success

Partnership and community participation are important to the success of both UCF and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership . Therefore, many of the opportunities and resources available to students are also extended to the entire community.

CEL Small Business Research Services

Growing businesses require thorough, credible research related to markets, competitors, and industry forces in order to develop effective strategies and write fundable business plans. Unfortunately, this is a time consuming and difficult process that requires research expertise and access to high quality data.

In an effort to help small businesses address this challenge, the UCF College of Business has created CEL Small Business Research Services. This initiative will combine leadership from experienced entrepreneurs and faculty, business research templates, data resources and research support from the UCF Library, and elite graduate interns to improve the quantity and consistency of business intelligence available to growing regional companies. Small businesses will access CEL Research Services by referral from our partner advising agencies (e.g., SBDC), discuss their needs with a faculty supervisor, pay a nominal fee for requested services, and receive secondary data research reports created by graduate interns typically within 2-4 weeks.

This initiative will help address an important gap between the self-help research resources offered by CEL’s KnightLaunch website and the highly customized research services offered by UCF’s Venture Lab and SBDC. It also complements UCF’s GrowFL “tools” (customized business intelligence reports addressing specific client queries – see http://www.growfl.com/) by serving the needs of companies that are not big enough yet to qualify for GrowFL’s services.

The UCF Library

The UCF Library is one of the resources that any community member, regardless their collegiate affiliation can utilize. Community members wishing to conduct research are welcome to visit campus and utilize the UCF Library. Individuals wishing to use the computer database system can do so without restrictions, passwords or login credentials from computer terminals located throughout the library. The value of the information available through the UCF Library’s licensed research resources simply cannot be over-estimated. Information you find is likely to be far better that what you (and your competition) can acquire from surfing free resources available on the web. Consider it the gold standard for your business research!

Making Resources easier to use

The CEL is working with the UCF Library to make the library’s online resources easier to use and, therefore, more valuable. Keep in mind that these resources are not available free on the web. Having access to the proprietary research resources available in a research university library is a huge advantage to those in the university community.Some of these resources are available now and may be found here →

Viewing most resources is free. However to print documents or make photocopies, a print card must be purchased from one of the cash-to-card dispensing machines located within the library. The cards are $5 plus the added value you require for printing. Please note the card dispensing machines take cash only! Those members of the community who wish to check out a book but are not current students or active alumni can do so by purchasing a six-month or 12-month library card. Both the Circulation Desk and the Research and Information Desk are open during library hours to assist with any questions.

To learn more about the UCF Library or seek assistance through the “Ask a Librarian” function, please visit http://library.ucf.edu/.

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