Finding Company Information

When searching for company information, you'll need answers to these questions:

• Is the company U.S.-owned, or is it part of an international corporation?
  Some quick places to check for capsule profiles are Business and Company Resource Center, Mergent Online,  and Yahoo's company information.
• Is the company publicly-held, or private?  
  Publicly-held companies are required to disclose certain financial information to their shareholders and to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which usually makes it easier to locate information on these companies. Business and Company Resource Center and Reference USA are two sources that include both public and private companies.
• What type of business is it?
  This can determine what kinds of directories and resources in which a company is listed, since they tend to target the sources that will be used by people in their line of business.
• Who are the competitors in this industry? Who are the members of the supply/distribution chain for this industry? Try general company directories such as Reference USA and Kompass as well as specialty directories.  Articles from trade journals will also highlight these relationships; try the Business & Industry or ABI/INFORM Trade and Industry research databases.

Go to Company Research for recommended databases, web sites, and library materials for researching your company.  To find industry codes for a company, see SIC or NAICS Codes for a Company.  For detailed financial information on companies, see Tools for Financial Analysis.

See also:

• Researching Companies Online by Debbie Flanagan
• Ten Steps in a Company Analysis from Lexis-Nexis

Finding Industry Information

Industry information tends to be "big picture."  When searching for industry information, you'll need answers to these questions:

• What industry do I need to research?
  Be mindful that many companies are involved in more than one industry, and you may need to choose which of them to research.
• Are there key words and concepts I should use?
  Industry information is often organized by SIC codes (Standard Industrial Classification Codes.)  To find the  SIC code for an industry, check the Standard Industrial Classification Manual.  NAICS codes are another way to organize industry information; check the NAICS website or the NAICS manual (Ref. HF 1042 .N677.)
• What does the profile of this industry look like?
  Use sources such as Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (choose "Industry Survey" from the Search Publication pull-down), IBISWorld, or Business and Company Resource Center. 
• What's currently going on in the industry?
  Try research databases such as Business Source Premier, Business & Industry, or ABI/Inform Trade & Industry.  
• What trade or industry associations are involved with this industry? 
  Check the Encyclopedia of Associations through Business and Company Resource Center (Advanced Search) or in print (Ref. HS 17 .G131.) 
• Where can I find industry ratios and industry norms?
  For more on ratios, see Business Ratios.

Go to Industry Research for recommended databases, web sites, and library materials for researching your industry.  

See also:

• Ten Steps in an Industry Analysis from Lexis-Nexis

Need more help?  Ask a librarian!

Marianne Hageman / mdhageman@stthomas.edu
Updated February 2006 / company_industry.htm