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This is a selected guide for research on Company Information in the McFarlin Library Collection.

[Business Subject Guide]

Company Background

There are many tools available for doing company research.  Basic search strategies are needed for locating company background such as corporate structure, history, mission and objectives, services and products, and financial background.

The strategies will focus on researching public companies. Finding information on smaller private companies can be more difficult. Wherever possible, suggestions for finding information about private businesses will be included.

The majority of  businesses in the U.S. are privately owned and are not legally required to disclose information to the public.  Since only publicly held corporations must disclose information to the public, only a very small percentage of American businesses can be readily researched.

Finding information about companies is basic to business research. Good background research allows informed decision-making for assessing competitors, analyzing companies for investment, and evaluating potential employers.

Consider the following outline for beginning company research:

Finding Background Information

The following steps will help organize the research process:

• develop an overview - use business directories
• identify whether the company is public or private
• look for company history
• read financial disclosure reports
• consider industry ratios, if relevant
• establish corporate rankings, when relevant
• browse periodical indexes to find articles
• use newspaper indexes to find current articles
• search Internet sources

To find information about company history, search the following online databases:

Business and Company Resource Center 

The Business & Company Resource Center  is a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.
 

Business Source Complete via EBSCOhost

 

This is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. In addition to the searchable cited references provided for more than 1,200 journals.  

 

Hoover's Online

Hoover's, Inc., delivers comprehensive company, industry, and market intelligence that drives business growth. Our database of 12 million companies, with in-depth coverage of 40,000 of the world's top business enterprises, is at the core of our business tools and services that customers find vital to their business operations.

Mergent Online  (formerly FIS Online)

"Mergent Online is a subscription-based service offering 11,000 U.S. public companies and 17,000 non-U.S. public companies. Mergent Online is  the preferred source for global business and financial information. Formerly known as Moody's Financial Information Services, Mergent has been publishing detailed business descriptions, corporate histories and financial statements since 1900."

Public Companies

Corporate financial reports

Corporate financial reports (often called disclosure statements or filings) must be submitted to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) by all publicly-traded companies. These disclosure statements provide the investing public with essential information about corporate activities.

This information is important for tracking company performance. The data are most useful when compared over a period of time. The reports are one of the first places to start company research.

There are several options for retrieving corporate financial filings.

• You may request the documents directly from the company.  Telephone the company's headquarters and ask for the shareholders' relations office.

   

• You may find many of the filings on Mergent Online in the McFarlin Databases.

   

• SEC filings may be available in the EDGAR database on the Securities & Exchange Commission Web site, if the company has filed electronically.

   

• Financial filings may also be available on a corporate Web site.

Financial Ratios

Financial ratios provide a method for comparing one company to another or to an industry average. They are a valuable tool for analyzing financial statements.  Ratios are used to provide meaningful relationships between values.  They are used to compare average ratios for a particular industry or by comparing them over a period of time.

Sources for locating financial ratios include:

Mergent Online

"FISonline is a subscription-based service offering 11,000 U.S. public companies and 17,000 non-U.S. public companies. FISonline is offered to you from Mergent, Inc. -- the preferred source for global business and financial information. Formerly known as Moody's Financial Information Services, Mergent has been publishing detailed business descriptions, corporate histories and financial statements since 1900."

 

Rankings

Rankings are useful when comparing companies. They can provide a broad measure of performance within an industry.  Most company rankings are based on financial factors.  Sometimes, companies may be ranked by other measures, for example, number of employees.

Sources for locating company rankings include:

Market Share

Market share is considered an important indication of competitive strength. It is expressed as the percentage of total sales of a given market held by each competitor.

Private Companies

To find limited information about private companies, search the following references:

** Frequently, information on privately held companies can be obtained by contacting the company directly.

[Business Subject Guide]