Greenwood Public Library
spacer
spacer Books spacer Movies & Music spacer Kids spacer Teens spacer About Us
spacer
Advanced Catalog Search

Email this page
Print page

 

 

 

 

Guide to answering business questions.

Researching a Company

  1. General (phone, address, executives) 
  2. Company History
  3. Financials 
  4. Still in business? 
  5. Public or Private? 
  6. Subsidiary/division? 
  7. Products 
  8. Market Share
  9. News
  10. Case Studies
  11. Credit Report
  12. Companies — General

  1. General information (Phone, address, names of executives, etc)

Contact information for both public and private companies

Executives, including biographies

For public companies, biographical information is available in the company's proxy statement and Annual Report/Form 10-K.
Here are a few websites which will provide executive biographical information:

For private companies, here are a few good sources:

  • D&B Million Dollar Directory 
  • Standard & Poor's register of corporations, directors and executives
  • Hoover’s Handbook of Private Companies

  • 2. Company history

    • The company's website can provide a wealth of information about the company, including corporate history. An excellent print source is the International Directory of Company Histories. (Chicago : St. James Press.) and the Library of Congress's Guide to Business History.
           

  • 3. Financials

    • Sales, Revenues

    Here are a few websites, which will supply financial information about public & private companies:

    Annual Reports, proxy, and 10K

    Here are a few websites which will provide financial statements (Annual Reports, 10-Ks, etc) on public companies:

    • Annual Report Service
    • CAROL - Company Annual Reports online. Scope is International. Free registration is required.
    • SEC Info (limited free information; recently became subscription website)
    • Annual Reports Library - The Annual Reports Library has built a collection of over 1.45 million original reports (and proxies) from corporations, foundations, banks, mutual funds and public institutions.
    • PRARS - Public Register Annual Report Service - This site lists companies alphabetically and by industry. The reports need to be ordered from PRARS but they are free.

    Annual reports may also be found by going to a particular company's homepage.

  • 4. Is the company still in business?

    • An excellent place to start looking (regardless if the company is still in business or not) would be to check the Secretary of State website for the state in which the business is located.

    If the company is no longer in business:

    Directory of Obsolete Securities (previously called the Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct or Obsolete Companies and the Fisher Manual of Valuable and Worthless Securities. This is an excellent print source series for finding information about companies no longer in existence. It provides the date and a brief reason why the company is no longer in business (forfeited bankruptcy, etc).

  • 5. Is the company public or private?

    • Information on private companies is not readily available. A few sources that would provide information on private companies would be:

    • Standard & Poor's register of corporations, directors and executives.
    • Hoover’s Handbook of Private Companies.
    • Central Indiana Better Business Bureau
    • Reference USA. Directory information on ten million public and private U.S. businesses. Also includes credit rating and net sales range. 
    • Directory of American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries.
    • Million Dollar Directory. Dun & Bradstreet. Provides information on America's leading public and private companies. Annual.
    • Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies.
    • Standard Directory of Advertisers. Guide to over 25,000 corporations. Annual.
    • Thomas Register of American Manufacturers.  Brings together industrial buyers and suppliers on a national, regional, and local level. Browse or search US and Canadian Companies to find the industrial products or services you need. In addition there is an online version of Thomas Food Industry Register with limited information available free to non-subscribers
    • Business Planet, maps flagship online databases of the World Bank Group that support private sector-led growth and financial market development in developing countries. It is an entry point to powerful data sources such as Doing Business, Enterprise Surveys, Privatization Database and Private Investment in Infrastructure Projects.

  • 6. Do you know if this company is a subsidiary or division or another company?

    • America's Corporate Families: Vols. 1-2, The Billion Dollar Directory; Vol. 3, International Affiliates.
    Directory of Corporate Affiliations. Includes international affiliations.
    Corporate Affiliations - This resource covers nearly 200,000 parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, and divisions down to the seventh level of reporting relationships

  • 7. Products/services

    • What is the company's line of business? (SIC or NAICS codes). Sources for Determining SIC and NAICS Codes

    Publicly available websites provide information on SIC and NAICS codes:
    U.S. Census Bureau: provides a list of NAICS codes
    NAICS Association: Provides a search tool to find NAICS and SIC codes.
    OSHA SIC Manual: from the United States Dept. of Labor. It is a searchable version of the SIC Manual.  

  • 8. Market share/rankings

    • Would you be interested in company rankings (top 10 list), competitors, ratings, or market share information? (Market Share is the ratio of sales for one company's products or product line to the total market sales of that product or product line, expressed as a percentage of the market.)Here are some excellent websites, which provide company rankings.

    • Forbes Magazine. Click on Lists.  
    • Gary Price List of Lists. (Limited free information)
    • Market Research.com. Offers more than 2.3 million reports from over 950 leading research firms. Also has Market Looks, an 8-10 page summary on specific industries. Free registration.
    • Market Share Reporter. An excellent print source updated annually.

  • 9. Company News

    • Would you be interested in news or articles about a particular company?
    Here are a few excellent websites which will provide articles are individual companies:

  • 10. Case studies / best practices   

  • 11. Credit Reports

  • 12. Companies — General

    • Visit the library's Business Subject guide page for more general recommendations.

    Researching an Industry

    1. Trends & forecasts
    2. Market Share
    3. General Industry information: trade associations
    4. Industry Surveys and statistics
    5. Industry news
    6. Industries — General

    1. Trends & forecasts

      2. Business articles on the subject can be found at:

    2. Market Share (Major companies/players)

      3. Yahoo Finance News By Industry

      Market Share Reporter. A print reference source.

    3. General Industry information: trade associations

      4. Associations are a great starting point to find all types of information on a given industry.

      • Encyclopedia of Associations is available in print at the library.
      • Associations on the Net, from the Internet Public Library.

    4. Industry Surveys and statistics

    5. Industry news (Newswires, newspapers, industry journals)

      6. Here are some websites providing industry news: 

    6. Industries — General

      7. A list of additional industry websites will be available soon.

    Questions About Investing

    1. Stock Quotes
    2. General Investing Sites

    1. Stock Quotes

    Specific date? Stock quotes for smaller stocks? OTC stocks?

    Stock quotes are freely available on the Web at most newspaper and general business websites. Those listed below have more than basic quote information. Some are for information for smaller stocks or OTC stocks. Here are some websites that provide this information:

    Real time or historic quotes?

    • Big Charts
    • PC Quote
    • Daily Stocks.com
    • Historical Stock Prices -- Silicon Investor. Prices back to 1968 
      For stock information by industry - click on stocktalk. For news about the market click on Market Insight. For historical stock information enter, in the search box, the name of a company. Current information appears but check directly above where this begins - there are links for historical prices, insider trading activity and expected earnings. Keyword: stocks, stock prices, trading
    • SiliconInvestor offers earnings, upgrades and downgrades, SEC filings, graphs and news and market commentary on major companies. Includes historical quotes (1975 to present) that may be downloaded in Excel.

    Ticker Symbol Lookup

    Do you know the ticker symbol or CUSIP number?

    Stock charts or tables?

    Have you looked in the Investors Business Daily, Wall Street Journal or Morningstar for this information?  All are available within the library.

    • Investors Business Daily - Most of the story content of the daily paper, is such categories as Front Page, Leaders & Success, Computers & Tech, The New America, The Economy and The Markets
    • Wall Street Journal
    • Morningstar - Free registration yields articles, reports, financial tools and information for mutual fund and stock investing. Morningstar analysts cover 1,500 companies in more than 100 industries

  • 2. General investing sites

    • Here are some links to websites, which will answer your question(s) about investing:

    • Big Charts/Big Charts Historical. Investment charting and research site, major market indexes. Type in ticker symbol and date for historical data.
    • Daily Stocks.com. DailyStocks.com is the web's first and biggest stock research site.
    • MSN Money. Can customize charts of real time and historic quotes, etc.
    • PC Quote. Stock quotes for all U. S. & Canadian listings, U. S. exchange-listed corporate bonds NASDAQ-listed money market and mutual funds, U. S. options, and more.
    • Yahoo Stock Quotes. Obtain stock quotes by typing in the ticker symbol or, if you don't know the ticker, do a lookup search on the company name by clicking on search at the top.
    • ValueLine
    • Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage Stock Reports
    • Nasdaq
      Includes companies traded on all exchanges

    Questions about Starting a Small Business

    What specifically do you want to know about Starting a Business?

    1. Where to start
    2. Advice, tips, guidelines
    3. Advice - supporting organizations/ counseling
    4. Finding a Name/Applying for name/Domain name
    5. Legal/Financial issues
    6. Government Forms/Loans
    7. Business Plans-Setting up
    8. Specific Types of Businesses

    1. Where to start

      2. The best place to start would be to review the Small Business Administration website. Another good Indiana resource would be the Indiana Small Business Development Center (ISBDC) http://www.isbdc.org/ They assist Indiana entrepreneurs and small businesses through one-on-one counseling, education and business resources.

    2. Advice, tips, guidelines

      3. For expert advice and practical hands-on information about starting a business:

      Tips and guidelines on starting and maintaining a successful small business:

    3. Advice - supporting organizations/ counseling

    5. Legal/Financial issues

    6. Government Forms/Loans

      For access to government forms or information on how to apply for government backed loans/federal assistance, see:

    7. Business Plans

      Here are three websites on how to write business plans:

    8. Specific Types of businesses

      Home business:

      Family owned businesses

      Women & Minority Owned Businesses:

      For franchise and buying opportunities throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad, we suggest looking at the following  websites:

      • Franchise
      • Franchise Gator:   This site is a good starting point for exploring franchise possibilities, with over 700 franchises covered, and industry, location, and capital indexes to their database of franchises, plus articles and guides to franchising. While U.S.-based, this site is expanding to the United Kingdom and internationally.
      • BizBuySell:   One of the ways to start a small business is to buy an existing one. This site, in alliance with the Wall Street Journal Online, claims it "is the Internet's largest and most heavily trafficked business for sale marketplace, with more business for sale listings, more unique users, and more search activity than any other service. BizBuySell currently has an inventory of over 50,000 businesses for sale."
      • Startup.wsj.com:  Sponsored by Dow Jones and Company, Inc. Provides links to businesses and franchises for sale, entrepreneurial help, running a business, sources for capital, online business plans, and other topics.

    Questions about Economics

    1. Prime rate
    2. Foreign Exchange Rate
    3. Consumer Price Index
    4. General economic data

    1. Prime rate.

      • Current and historical prime interest rates are available at Financial Forecast.
      • For a more official source, use the Federal Reserve Statistical Release: Selected Interest Rates (H.15). The H.15s and other Federal Reserve Releases are posted on the Federal Reserve Board's Web site www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/); to get historical rates, click on the "Historical Data" link near the top of the page.

    2. Foreign Exchange Rate

      • Oanda.com - This site has one of the best currency converters which provides exchange rates for 164 currencies.
      • Corporation information

    3. Consumer Price Index

      • The (CPI)Consumer Price Index is the monthly measure of the change in average prices over time of a fixed list of goods and services. The CPI is also know as the inflation rate. Consumer Price Index information is available on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
      • The ACCRA Cost of Living Index is another index that measures prices for consumer goods and services in 310 urban areas.

    4. General economic data

      5. What type of economic data are you interested in (Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index, etc.)? Here are some excellent websites, which will provide economic data:

    Directories

    Wikipedia: Companies by Country
    This section of the popular Wikipedia encyclopedia provides company profiles for hundreds of U.S. and international firms, both public and private. You can find entries either by browsing the various categories (e.g., companies by country, by stock exchange, or by industry) or by entering the name of the target organization in the search box.

    Internet 800 Search
    The Internet 800 Directory covers all toll-free telephone numbers, not just those provided by AT&T. Companies are listed by product, service, company name, state, and 800 numbers.

    Lookup Directory
    The Lookup Directory from Melissa Data provides a first-rate collection of 18 look-up databases. Accessible from a single page — for free! Includes U.S. Place Names, Zip Code Demographics, Income Tax Statistics, Area Codes in a Radius, Worldwide Place Names, Copywriting Tips, Nonprofit Organizations, etc.

    WorldPages.com
    Meta search engine of yellow and white pages (TransWestern Publishing). Links to finding a business, finding a person, finding e-mail addresses, search by phone number, and maps/directions.

    Ultimate White Pages
    The Ultimate White Pages is a centralized, fast and common interface to: 1) Whitepages.com 2) Infospace 3) Yahoo 4) Switchboard, 5) WhoWhere, and 6) Anywho. Just type your search criteria into the first search engine and it will be automatically copied to the other forms by a JavaScript applet. Can also do reverse and map searches. Also has links to Ultimate Yellow Pages, and E-Mail Directory. 

    Company Rankings

    Forbes Magazine
    Includes Lists for People (100 Top Celebrities, Forbes 400, World's Billionaires), Companies (Forbes 500, 200 Best Small Companies, 500 Largest Private Companies, The World's Leading Companies - Forbes 2000) and Places (Best Business Restaurants, World's 10 Best Ski Resorts, Forbes/Milken Best Places).

    Inc. Magazine
    Includes the Inc. 500 lists for 1982-2005. Full contents of the 14 annual issues of Inc. and four annual issues of Inc. Technology are posted at this website when the magazines go on newsstands. All stories back to 1988 are available for free in the (searchable) online archives.

    Special Issues - Gary Price's List of Lists
    Special issues are any regularly published special editorial content usually having an industry or company focus. Price's List of Lists (LOL) was started around 1998 and maintained by Gary Price for many years. The List of Lists is a database of ranked listings of companies, people and resources freely available on the Internet. Content comes from a number of sources including: Specialissues.com, Gary Price's "Resource Shelf" and individual users of the LOL. Coverage includes business and industry management utilities, retail trade, manufacturing, finance and insurance, real estate, health care, public administration, and much more. Subscription Service.

     

      310 S. Meridian | Greenwood, IN 46143 | 317-881-1953 |

      Powered by NonProfitSites™