Finding Business Information on Companies and Industries

Table of Contents

This is primarily a guide to Resources available through the World Wide Web. There are many resources available in the library in the form of books, articles, and electronic databases. For more information on these resources, consult the Business Subject Research Guide, that is also linked at the end of this guide, and from the Table of Contents. Mary Martin is the contact person for Business. You can send her an email at mary.martin@libraries.claremont.edu or phone her at 621-8923

Help with Off-Campus Access

Finding Information on Companies and Industries in Standard Resources

• Occupational Outlook Handbook

Hon Ref Desk L 2. 3/4:998-99 Forecasts job availability (and so, indirectly, industry growth) Also gives salary estimates.For an online version of the 1998-99 Occupational Outlook Handbook see 1998-99 Occupational Outlook Handbook.

• U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook

Hon Ref Desk C 61.48:2000 Annual publication by the U.S. Department of Commerce aand the Mcgraw-Hill Companies. It provides an overview and summarized data on many broad industry categories and the top companies in each industry.
 
• Standard & Poors Industry Surveys

Hon Ref HC106.6 S74 Provides current information on industries with a look at factors which are likely to affect the industry in the future.  Each industry description includes information on how to analyze companies in that industry (including industry norms). Also available online: see Standard & Poors NetAdvantage(Industry Surveys & Stock Reports)
 
• Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios

Hon Ref HF5681 R25 T68 Offers norms, ratios and a trend analysis for a large number of industries.  The data is culled from IRS information (rather than the SEC information used in other sources) so it is published later than theother sources of industry norms. This report is available on CD-ROM in the Honnold/Mudd Search Center.
 
• The Value Line Investment Survey

Honnold-Mudd Information Desk Provides graphs and charts of financial information on companies which sell stock. Some data aslo available online - see the reference librarian for details. Valueline.com
 
• World Market Share Reporter:

 Hon Ref HF5410 W67  A compilation of reported world market share data on companies, products and services. Tables of global market share data from periodical literature.

• Market Share Reporter:

Hon Ref HF5415.2 M37X An annual compilation of reported market share data on companies, products and services. Market share is of interest to everyone in business.  Trade publications frequently carry information on amount of product shipped or sold.  Market Share Reporter compiles the tables from these trade publications.

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Finding Information on Companies/ Newspaper Articles

ABI/Inform  on Ovid.  (1985-present)

Contains citations and abstracts for articles in more than 1200 journals published worldwide, including full text for over 500 journals in many fields of business, economics, computers & technology, law & taxation, transportation, telecommunications, etc.  ABI/Inform's web site includes a list of journals indexed in ABI/Inform..  This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.

• Academic Universe/Lexis-Nexis (Coverage dates vary by publication; most begin post-1980). Lexis-Nexis provides full-text access to over one thousand news, business, and legal publications.  In Company News your search must include a company name.  If you need to search by a subject instead of a company name; for instance, if you are using Lexis-Nexis to search for companies which have endured severe labor problems, search General News instead of Company News. This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.

 
• General BusinessFile on InfoTrac SearchBank: (coverage dates vary by publication). General Business File provides access to some business news sources ranging from the Wall Street Journal (citations only, U.S., Europe and Asian editions) through Barrons (citations and abstracts) through Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News (full text).

 
• News Abstracts (NewsAbs file) on FirstSearch: (Coverage:  from 1989 to current update.)  Indexes and abstracts articles from 25 national  newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and the Washington Post. This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.

 
• Wall Street Journal Online  (Full-text -1986-Present) Provides access to full-text version of The Wall Street Journal Eastern edition.Updated Daily. This version is the Eastern edition, the only archived edition. The library subscribes to the Western edition in paper. There is no archived version of the Western Edition. Available only to users at the Claremont Colleges or connecting to a Claremont Colleges proxy server or modem pool.


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Finding Information on Companies/Articles in Scholarly Journals

• ABI/Inform  on Ovid.  (1985-present)

Contains citations and abstracts for articles in more than 1200 journals published worldwide, including full text for over 500 journals in many fields of business, economics, computers & technology, law & taxation, transportation, telecommunications, etc.  ABI/Inform's web site includes a list of journals indexed in ABI/Inform..  This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.
 
• General BusinessFile on InfoTrac Searchbank (1995-present)

Indexes both trade publications and academic journals in business, contains some full text articles.  The Investext segment of the database is comprised of selected Full-text company and industry investment reports written by analysts from  brokerage houses.This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.
 
• Wilson Social Sciences Abstracts on Ovid.  (1975-present)  Indexes and abstracts over 250 English language core  journals in the social sciences.  1984-present, in electronic format.  Also available in paper format, 1975-present.  This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.


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Finding Annual Company Reports and Web Sites

One of the easiest ways to find information on companies, is to use a search engine such as Alta Vista, Yahoo, or Infoseek, to search for the company Web site. (Most large companies have Web sites) There
are also links to searching for companies on many of the Web sites listed above.

Academic Universe/Lexis-Nexis/ :

(Coverage dates vary by publication; most begin post-1980). Lexis-Nexis provides full-text access to Annual Reports and 10-Ks'. In Business, under SEC Filings and Reports, search by a company name. There are also categpories on "Compare Companies" and "Compare Financial" that provides for financial comparison of companies. This data is determined by setting criteria, then Lexis/Nexis retrieves companies that fit the criteria. This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.
 

Edgar Database (Securities & Exchange Commission)

This is the financial database of the Securites & Exchange Commission, which contains Annual Reports and 10-K filings of all publically traded companies. This is actually the data that Lexis/Nexis uses, only it is available at this site for free.
 

Yahoo Business and Economy/Finance and Investment/Corporate Profiles and Reports

Yahoo has a nice selection of choices of information on company information.Among others are are company profiles, investment reports, an annual reports library and Hoover's Online. (Hoover's online is also available in Academic Universe.

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Finding Statistics on Companies & Industries:

Academic Universe/Lexis-Nexis

Security and Exchange Commission Filings are available through the Company Financial Information topic area of Set the Source Material to SEC 10-K Reports to find the annual report that companies file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, set the Source Material  to Disclosure Reports to find the key finanicials on companies, and set the Source Material to SEC Annual Reports to find the text of the annual reports which companies send to shareholders.  (In the telnet version of Lexis-Nexis use the Company library, the 10-K, Disclo and ARS files.)
 

Dow Jones Interactive  This database provides full-text financial "snapshots' profiles, company screening reports, company/industry comparison reports and full-text SEC filings. We also have access to some of the other "libraries in the database, and will soon have historical market data.This database is new beginning September 2000.

 

Research Insight (formerly Compustat)Research Insight (formerly Compustat)

Extensive financial information on over 19,000 companies. Up to 20 years of data on actively traded companies, many inactive companies, monthly stock prices and other market data, and key monthly economic statistics. [Library Lan] (This resource is available only to users within the Libraries, within CGU's Academic Computing and Information Technology Department and within CMC's Information Systems and Technology Department.)
 

Standard & Poors Net Advantage (Industry Surveys & Stock Reports)

This is a Web site that allows online access to the very popular Industry Surveys and Stock Reports
Industry Surveys give a nice overview of large industries, and often provide statistics on the top companies in the industry. The Stock Reports also give latest financial update on stock data, as well as historical data. This resource is available outside the Libraries only to students, faculty and staff of The Claremont Colleges.

Business Establishment Statistics - Economic Census - Stat/USA

Economic Census The Economic Census is taken every five years; reports from 1997's are currently being released. Reports from 1992 are located in the Honnold/Mudd Library's Government Publications Department, on a CD available from the Honnold/Mudd Reference Desk and via the Census Bureau Home Page.

Economic Census statistics are collected and published primarily by "establishment." An establishment is a business or industrial unit at a single physical location that produces or distributes goods or performs services, for example, a single store or factory. Many companies own or control more than one establishment, and those establishments may be located in different geographic areas and may be engaged in different kinds of business. By collecting separate information for each establishment, the Economic Census can include detailed data for each industry and area.

The Economic Census has, in the past, been organized by Standard Industrial Classification Code; in the future it will be organized by the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS).

        NAICS/SIC Code United States Manual 1997.
        Hon Ref HF1042 N34 Also available online NAICS/SIC Code Manual

        SIC Manual (1987)
        Hon Ref HF1042 A55 Latest is available in Reference in the Honnold/Mudd Library.

STAT-USA   Most data 1996- present. Historical Statistics can be obtained from other sources. Updated daily, weekly and monthly. Provides access to data from the U.S. Commerce Department on U.S. business, economic and trade community. There are several databases, including the National Trade Databank (NTDB), fulltext access to the Survey of Current Business, and the Export Yellow pages. Also provides economic news and data. Great for domestic and U.S.-International trade. Searchable by keyword or title, very up-to-date statistics.Available only to users at the Claremont Colleges or connecting to a Claremont Colleges proxy server or modem pool.

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Additional Information and Resources

For in depth guidance and anlysis in finding statistics on companies, see:

Business Research Guide(Libraries of the Claremont Colleges)

This Research Guide is an in depth guide to searching for Business and Management information of all kinds.
 

Examples of specialized sections include sections on Finding Books, Finding Statistics, Finding Articles in Popular, Trade, or Government Periodicals, Doing Research from Off-Campus, and Lists of Journals in the area of Business. This is a great resource.

Finding Information on Careers/Companies/Jobs on the World Wide Web This "course guide" was created to use in looking for information on careers/interships/jobs/ and companies.