One of the most common types of research required of business students is company research. It could be for a SWOT analysis project, a management or marketing assignment, or you may be researching a company for a job interview. Whatever your need, Gutman Library has the right research tools to help you succeed.
Before you begin your company research here are a few things to consider about your company:
Public VS Private
First identify the nature of the company. It could be:
Public - Traded on a major stock exchange.
Private - Not traded on a major stock exchange, family owned.
International - a non-US corporation
Subsidiary - at least 51% of shares are owned by another company.
From the research perspective, the public company offers the best opportunity to gather information. Public companies must "disclose" meaning they must make available financial data and other information. That means there are fewer barriers to gathering information. Consider that a private company does not divulge its financial statements. Without financials, a SWOT analysis like those in the MarketLine Company Profile Reports (in the database Business Source Premier) could be quite difficult.
To determine a company's status, do a search on the company name in our Mergent Intellect database.
SIC and NAICS - Matching a Company to an Industry
An SIC is a Standard Industrial Classification code and an NAICS is a North American Industry Classification System. The United States Department of Commerce uses these codes to classify every company into industries and products. The SIC codes are no longer officially in use as the NAICS codes were created to both improve on and replace the SICs and to meet the requirements of NAFTA. However, in most business research databases you will likely see both SIC and NAICS in use. There are several library databases that can help you determine the SIC or NAICS for a particular company - to help better identify its industry, and these numbers can be used in databases to gather additional industry information. Keep in mind that many companies, particularly large conglomerates operate in multiple industries and therefore list many codes.
Financials and SEC Documents
Almost any type of serious company analysis, and especially a SWOT analysis will require obtaining company financials. Keep in mind that for U.S. companies, only a publicly held parent company will make its financial statements available. If you are researching a private firm or a subsidiary of a public company, you will not find financials for this company. It has become more common for public companies to provide their financials through the company web site. Many simply provide links to their SEC documents. You can find financials in several library databases, including Mergent Intellect, Gale Business Insights: Global, ValueLine Research Center, Nexis Uni. If you want to obtain the actual SEC documents, go to EDGAR. It makes the search and location of the documents easy, there are readily available segments of the documents available for download and the site is east to navigate. The most import documents are the 10-K which is a detailed annual report and the 10-Q, the quarterly report that updates the annual report.
If you are in need of financial ratios they can be found online in IBISWorld, Mergent Intellect, and NetAdvantage (S&P), but the library also subscribes to the print versions of several common ratio books, including RMA Annual Statement Studies (338.0973 R642a in the Reference Area - 1st Floor) and the Dun & Bradstreet's Key Business Norms and Ratios (338.50973 D897iL in the Reference Area - 1st Floor).