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| Assignment
Directions: Select a company, corporation, or organization
for which you have interest. Research the company by using
the resources from the Stewart Library, Career Library, on the
Internet or by personally contacting the firm. Use a minimum
of four resources in your research.
Scope:
This guide is a selected list of resources that will be useful
for locating information on companies and industries. These resources
include print materials available in the Stewart Library, and
electronic resources, some of which may be available only to WSU
students, faculty, and staff.
Table of Contents
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If uncertain about which company to research, give one of these a try:
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Price's List of Lists
"A database of ranked listings of companies, people
and resources freely available on the Internet."
Detailed report including company overview, business description, history, competitors, and much more.
- International Directory of Company Histories
Reference Table 6 HD2721.I63
Multi-volume print directory providing detailed history of the world's largest companies. These are regularly updated and currently contain in excess of 80 volumes.
- Lexis-Nexis (Hoover's Company Records)
Provides basic company information including company description, financial numbers, hiearchy, and more. To access Hoovers in the
Lexis database, select the Business tab
under the search toolbar, then enter the company name. Within the company profile there is a link for the Hooover's Company Records.
- Company Web Sites
Useful for financial information, products, and services
of the company. This information is usually from the company perspective and may be biased. The format of the website is: http://www.businessname.com (Example: http:www.dell.com). Many public companies will have links for investors where financial information may be found. There is also often a place for career and job information.
- Hoovers Handbook of Private Companies
Reference Table 6 H4057.A1H662
Contains profiles
of 900 of the lagest private companies in the U.S.
- LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations
Reference Table 6 HG4057.A219
Useful for finding parent companies of divisions, subsidiaries
and affiliates for private and public companies. Includes
addresses, number of employees, names of top executives,
and indexes by geographic location, type of business,
and brand names.
Profiles and financial information of public companies.
- Mergent Online
Financial profiles of U.S. and Internal publicly-traded companies. Coverage includes history, property, subsidiaries, officers, directors, long term debt, capital stock, news, income statement, balance sheet, statements of cash flow, ratio analysis, basic directory information, and more.
Contains full text analysis of many publicly traded companies. Information includes Morningstar Ratings, strengths and weaknesses, financial statements, SEC filings.
- Yahoo Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com)
Contains extensive stock and other financial information for publicly traded companies including stock history, SEC filings, Competitors, income statements, and balance sheets.
- Ward's Business Directory of U.S. private and Public companies Reference Table 6 HG4057.A575
Contains a directory of public and private companies. Companies maybe located by name, geographic region, and industry classification codes.
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These sources will give you an overview of the industry. Some sources cover all industries, and other cover specific industries.
Provides access to industry information for stocks and mutual funds. Reports available for a variety of industries and companies.
- Mintel Market Reports
Includes a wide range of reports on U.S. and international markets. The reports inlcude: Automotive, Beauty and Personal, Clothing, Beverages, Electronics, Health and Medical, and Travel. The user is required to create a login profile before initial use.
A directory of manufacturers of a number of products.
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These database may be helpful for finding news on your company or industry. This can be especially helpful if you are looking for marketing or management information. The Advanced Search option in the article database allows you to limit your searches in areas such as company name, industry classification codes,and other areas.
This is an article database containing academic quality publications in the areas of management, marketing, accounting, and economics. The Company profile tab gives detailed information on a variety of companies.
This is divided into three article databases:
Similar to Business Source Premier providing academic quality publication in areas of management, marketing, economics, and accounting. Includes access to the Wall Street Journal
Provides business information more on a regionalized basis
Provides access to a large number of trade and industry publications.
- Lexis-Nexis
Lexis provides extensive information on industries and
corporations through full text access to newspapers,
magazines, newsletters and financial reports.
- Mergent
Online
Financial profiles of publicly-traded companies
in the U.S. and abroad. Coverage includes history, property,
subsidiaries, officers, directors, long term debt, capital
stock, news, income statement, balance sheet, statements
of cash flow, ratio analysis, basic directory information,
and more.
- Mintel
Market Reports
Includes a wide range of reports on U.S. and international
markets. The reports inlcude: Automotive, Beauty and
Personal, Clothing, Beverages, Electronics, Health and
Medical, and Travel. The user is required to create
a login profile before initial use.
Full-text
industry information including Advertising, Aerospace
& Defense, Banking, Broadcasting, Communications,
Healthcare, Electric utilities and many others. This
guide also includes Stocks, Bonds, and Earnings guides.
Contains full-text
information and ratings on a variety of Stock, Mutual
Funds, and Extended Traded Funds.
- Value
Line Research Center
Fulltext reports on companies and industries.
Also, publications covering stocks, mutual funds, options
and convertible securities as well as special situation
stocks.
- Business
& Industry
Coverage includes important facts, figures, and key
events for international public and private companies,
industries, products, and markets. Includes trade magazines,
newsletters, and the general business press to international
business dailies. Some full text. 1994-present. Updated
daily.
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These sources can be helpful if you are looking for information on Utah companies.
Searchable directories of companies based in Utah.
- Utah Business Directory Reference Table 6 HF5065.U8u78
Directory of Utah business organized by the Standard Industry Code (SIC) as well as cities.
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In some databases,
you can search by industry classification numbers. Some
use SIC, some use NAICS, and some use both.
- North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Provides common industry definitions for Canada, Mexico,
and the United States. This new system is replacing the
countries' separate classification systems with one uniform
system for classifying industries. In the US, NAICS will
replace the Standard Industrial Classification system (SIC).
Provides information about new industries and sectors as
well as correspondence information between NAICS and SIC.
- Standard
Industrial Classification Code Search
Allows a search of the 1987 version SIC manual by keyword,
access of descriptive information for a specified 4-digit
SIC, and examination of the manual structure. The SIC manual
may be searched by keyword or by SIC code from this site.
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Associations are
potential sources of detailed information on companies and
industries. Many have Web pages.
- Encyclopedia of Associations Reference
Desk
- Encyclopedia of Associations (International Organizations)
Reference Desk
- Associations
on the Net (Internet Public Library)
"A collection of over 2000 Internet sites providing
information about a wide variety of professional and trade
associations, cultural and art organizations, political
parties and advocacy groups, labor unions, academic societies,
and research institutions. Abstracts summarizing information
about the association and its site are provided."
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Job and Career Information
For information on career information contact the HR department of a company. Also, take the opportunity to network with professionals in the field.
- If interested in a particular company, check the company home page. Often there is a section devoted to position openings with the company.
Provides information on a variety of professions including training and education, job prospects, working conditions, job search tips, information about job markets in specific states, and more.
- Often associations will publish information about salaries in their profession, often broken down by geographic regions.
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Research Tips for Company Research
A few questions
to ask yourself before you begin:
- What company are you researching?
If you need help in selecting a company, try the Fortune
500 web site. This site lists the Fortune 500 companies
in order of Fortune 500 rank and provides links to their
homepages, a company snapshot, industry information, and
other information pertaining to the company. Since these
companies are large publicly held companies, it will be
relatively easy to find information.
- Is the company public or private?
a. Determine whether the company is publicly held,
privately owned, or a subsidiary of a publicly held organization.
Remember, information is more easily found for publicly
held companies.
b. Public Company stock can be bought on
public stock exchanges. The U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) requires that public companies disclose
financial information to the public. Therefore, there is
a lot of financial data and disclosures about public company
practices.
c. Private Company stock is typically owned
by the principles in the company (founders, family members
key employees, etc.). Financial disclosures do not have
to be made to the public. The best strategy is to search
for a company web site, news sources or inquire directly
to the company. See Private
Company Resources for suggestions on how to
research privately held companies.
Beware of 'hidden
company names' when researching a company. If you
cannot find any information on a public company after searching
by company name, try potential variants of the company name
or use the ticker symbol. Here are a few examples:
- DuPont: The company's name is actually E I Du Pont de
Nemours & Company. For companies with initials in their
name, try searching both forms. Another example is E. W.
Scripps.
- IBM: is actually International Business Machines
- AT&T: really IS AT&T (but used to be American
Telephone and Telegraph Company)
- The Gap: Some directories will list this company under
the T's, while others will list it under G. If a company
has a 'The' at the beginning of its name, try both.
- Alcoa: Commonly known as 'Alcoa', it's proper legal name
is Aluminum Company of America. Some directories list it
under 'Alcoa', and some under its proper name.
- Using punctuation: Some databases don't mind periods or
commas- they simply ignore them. Others are more picky:
if you don't include punctuation, you won't get results,
OR including punctuation gives you no results. Again, if
you're unsure, try both.
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Research
Tips for Industry Research
Some questions to consider
include:
- What are the industry trends and areas of growth?
- Who are the leading companies in the industry?
- What products and services are in the greatest demand?
- What new technologies are impacting the industry?
This information can be found
in some of the general industry sources listed above.
Sample Completed
Project
If you can't find what you are looking for or you have further questions...
- Come to the Reference Desk located on the middle level at the north end of the library
- Call the Reference Desk at (801) 626-6415 or Toll free (877) 306-3140
- Click on Live Assistant from the Library Home Page during library hours
- Email the Reference Desk at refdesk@weber.edu
Or contact the Business & Economics Librarian
- Ed Hahn
- Business & Economics Librarian
- Office: 144
- Phone: (801) 626-8662
- email: edwardhahn@weber.edu
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