Business Research for Biomedical Innovation Scholars

Trade Associations are organizations that facilitate networking and provide resources for companies involved in a particular industry.  The easiest way to find one for your industry is to use the Encyclopedia of Associations.

An example from the Encyclopedia of Associations: Personal Care Product Council

Trade Journals (Trade Publications) are popular publications (not scholarly) that look like magazines.  They are created to keep people in a particular industry up to date on new developments.  They often contain lots of advertisements for companies involved in a particular industry or related companies who supply raw ingredients or materials to companies within an industry.  They are frequently published by a trade association but not always.  One trade journal you may already know of is Billboard magazine which is a trade publication for the music industry.