Company Histories and Competitiveness: How to Locate Company Information

The library has several databases that provide company information.  The boxes to the right summarize some of the ways to find company information. For more details, see the How to Find Company Information LibGuide. To access the databases featured here, click on Databases in the drop down menu under Find on the library homepage.

To find  articles about a particular company, use the journal databases, especially Business Source Ultimate, ABI/INFORM Complete, and JSTOR Business Collection to locate articles about specific companies. Use the advanced search, mark the "full text" and "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals" options, then type in a company name into the top line. Focus your search by adding search terms in other search boxes, such as marketing, management, strategic planning, etc. You may also find case studies related to your company in Sage Business Cases.

D&B Hoover's Business Browser gives instant access to information on industries, companies (both public and private), executives, and corporate family structures.

Detailed company information may be found by typing the name of a company into the Search for a Company box at the top of the page. When the results come up, there may be many companies listed with similar words in their name. Click on the company you are looking for. A one page Company Summary will be displayed. Besides a description of the company, it includes information on its executives, recent significant developments, recent news articles, and brief financial and stock information.

Use the menu on the left of the summary to view detailed information organized under three categories:

• Core. This category includes more detailed company description and history, as well as products & locations, contacts, corporate family,corporate overview, SWOT Analysis, recent news, and more.
• Advanced.  Contains information about competitors, closest industry peer and companies, significant developments, analysts' reports, SEC filings, and technologies. 
• Financials.
  • Financial Health Report,  Shows growth over a five year period..It provides latest key indicators, margins, valuation and effectiveness ratios, and share and dividend activity data. Data provided by Morningstar.
  • Standardized Financial Report. View 3 - 10 years of annual income, annual balance, and annual cash flow. Data provided by Morningstar.
  • Geographic Segments and Business Segments Reports.
  • Annual Ratios. Available for 5 years for financial strength, efficiency, profitability, management effectiveness, valuation, and current market multiples,
  • Ratio Comparison Reports. Compares key financial ratios of this company against its industry and sector.
  • Stock Report
  • Income statements, balance sheets, and cash flows, all covering up to a 10 year period.

Nexis Uni allows users to search full-text documents from 17,000+ credible sources of information for a wide range of academic research projects. Users can also access authoritative news content, legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes, and business information on 80 million+ companies and 60 million+ executives.

Start your search for company information from the homepage in one of four ways:

• Menu. Use the drop down Menu, located right in the top left area of the page and select Company Dossier.  This is a tool has four tabs. The first one, Find a Company, is used to locate company information, compile lists of companies that meet the criteria you select,  and compare he assets, liabilities, income statement, and ratio analysis of up to 5 companies. To get started, click on the Find a Company tab to display these three choices.
• Search box. Enter a company name in the large search box at the top of the page. Click on Advanced Search for more options to focus your search.
• Guided Search. Click on Company Info in the What are you Interested in? box. Enter a company name in the search box that appears .You may also make a selection for type of information in the ..and show me box.
• Discover topics. Click on the Business box. Options will appear to search for company dossiers or to do a general company search.

Gale Business Insights Global provides case studies, articles, data points and in-depth statistical information covering international business topics.

To locate company profiles, type in the company name or its ticket symbol in the search box. For better results, use the exact name of the company, or even better, the ticker symbol. The profile will provide an overview of the company with many other choices in the two menus to the left. 

• Company Information choices vary by type of company, but may include store brands, case studies, company history, financials, investment reports, market share reports, rankings, SWOT Analysis. Articles from Academic journals, magazines, and news reports can also be accessed from here.
• Related Articles by Subject groups articles into nine subject areas (which may also vary by type of company): financial data, legal issues, management, operations & technology, people, products & services, sales & marketing, statistics, strategy & planning.

Business Source Ultimate contains more than 3,800 full-text journals, nearly 2,000 of them peer-reviewed. It includes country economic reports, monographs, company profiles, market research reports and SWOT analyses.

Company Profiles:

Click on More in the blue bar at the top of the page. Now click on Company Profiles.  Enter a company name into the Browse box or use the A-Z shortcuts. A detailed profile, either from Marketline or Medtrack will be listed. Click on PDF Complete Report to access, not on the name of the company.

The Marketline Reports generally include a company overview, key facts, business description, history, key employees and biographies, major products and services, competitors, locations, and often a SWOT analysis. The Medtrack reports are focused on companes in the pharmaceutical industry.

Other Types of Company Information:

Click on Company Information in the blue bar across the top of the page. On the next screen, type the name of a public company in the search box. Alternately, you may use the drop down menu next to the search box to search by ultimate parent, ticker symbol, or keyword. When the results list comes up, click on the company name to view a snapshot of the company which includes a brief description as well as Company Data, such as financials, subsidiaries, executives, industry codes with links to articles, and other basic information.

The Related Information box to the left provides links to articles concerning this company from sources such as academic journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers,  and books. Various reports may also be available, including industry profiles, market research reports or country reports.  The sources in the box vary by company and type of company (parent or subsidiaries).  . 

You may also use the Company Information search screen to find a list of companies that meet criteria you choose, such as location, number of employees, revenue, and so on.