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Research Resources:
Subject Research Guides:
Business:
Company Research
a selection of Business.com: The Business Search Engine
Here are many sites with resources for researching companies in the U.S. and abroad.
Simply return to the Rutgers University Libraries Business Research Guide for other topics.
A. Starting Points
Find out whether the company is:
Check corporate structure, affiliation, and status in one of these:
- ReferenceUSA, a database of 14 million businesses in the United States, searchable by corporate name, location, and industry. Entries provide links to parents and subsidiaries. Now includes the CorpTech Directory, covering 95,000 hi-tech companies in the U.S. and Canada. (Rutgers-restricted Access)
- America's Corporate Families and International Affiliates.
(DANA REF HG 4057 .A164). Provides names, address, sales, employee number, principal products and officers for US subsidiaries of foreign corporations as well as foreign subsidiaries of US Corporations. Geographic area, SIC code, and subsidiary to ultimate parent indexes.
- LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations (formerly Directory of Corporate Affiliations) (DANA Business Reference, KILMER Business Counter 1). Includes key officers, addresses and products of over 28,000 companies. Arranged in 3 sections: foreign parent companies with international subsidiaries and divisions; US parent companies with foreign holdings; and a geographical index.
- Who Owns Whom series from Dun & Bradstreet: there are volumes for Asia, Europe, North America. Check IRIS for specific call numbers.
Or consult common business directories such as the following:
- D&B Million Dollar Directory (DANA Business Reference, KILMER Business Counter 1)
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MNI Guide to U.S. Manufacturers (Manufacturers' News)
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Manta Company Profiles (registration required)
- Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives (DANA Reference Desk, KILMER Business Counter 1)
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ThomasNet.com (registration required)
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Thomas Global Register (registration required)
- Ward's Business Directory (DANA Reference Desk, KILMER Business Counter 1)
- Try Us: National Minority Business Directory (DANA REF HD 2346 .U5 N34)
You can then search for articles in periodicals and the business press; some of the sources you might want to use include:
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Business Source Premier. Searchable abstracts of articles selected from about a thousand periodicals and journals. Between 70-80 percent of the items also include full text. (Rutgers-restricted access)
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Business & Industry. Index to articles from over a thousand business and trade journals, newspapers, and selected government documents. Full-text articles available for many entries. (Rutgers-restricted access)
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Factiva (formerly Dow Jones Interactive). Searchable full text of many business periodicals and regional newspapers; international in scope. Beginning dates of coverage vary considerably according to source. (Rutgers-restricted access)
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TableBase. This database specializes exclusively in tabular data on companies, industries, products, and demographics. Find market share, company and brand rankings, industry and product forecasts, production and consumption statistics, imports and exports, usage and capacity, number of users/outlets, trends and more. (Rutgers-restricted access)
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Wilson Business Full Text. Indexes over 650 of the key international English-language business periodicals, with full-text coverage from 1995 onwards. (Rutgers-restricted access)
B. Public Companies
Companies that are listed on stock exchanges have to file various corporate reports with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. These include annual reports to shareholders and 10-K reports to the SEC; refer to A Guide to SEC Filings from Thomson Research Services (DANA Reference Desk) for descriptions of these and other filings.
1. Sources of SEC reports
- The Dana Library has a collection of 10K reports from 1973 to present; as well as annual reports for NYSE and AMEX companies from 1966 to present. These reports are on CD-ROM from 1989 onwards; earlier years are on microfiche.
- The SEC's EDGAR Website contains many kinds of SEC reports from 1994 onwards.
- SEC Public Reference Room. Just 3 years of filings are available in Manhattan; complete filings are only in Washington, DC.
- Hoover's Online provides links to SEC filings.
- Reports on demand from Thomson Research Services or other vendors.
- Other online sources of annual reports are listed on the
Stock and Commodity Exchanges Guide.
2. "Annual report surrogates"
- Compact D/SEC from Thomson Financial. (CAMDEN, DANA REF CD-ROM, KILMER Business Workstation 2)
- Mergent Equity Research Report The single page layout for a company offers summaries of: recommendation, analysis, business, earnings momentum, recent developments, price momentum, peer companies, a price performance graph and financials fundamentals graph. (DANA Business Reference)
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Mergent Online, the electronic version (Rutgers-restricted Access) of the Mergent/Moody's Manuals (DANA REF Index Table I, KILMER Business Counter 2)
- Standard & Poor's Corporation Records (DANA REF Index Table I, KILMER Business Counter 2)
- Value Line Investment Survey (CAMDEN REF, DANA Reference Desk, KILMER REF)
3. Snapshots
For a quick profile of a public company's financial position, use one of the following:
4. Company profiles and research reports
The MarketLine: Business Information Centre (formerly Datamonitor) provides over 12,000 profiles of public companies from around the world. These profiles are based on published research as well as primary and secondary data sources. (Rutgers-restricted Access)
Investext Plus provides access to investment analysts' research reports from brokerage firms and investment banks from around the world. These reports are in PDF format. (Rutgers-restricted Access)
5. Company identifiers
To facilitate financial transactions, each public company is identified by a nine-character number called the 'CUSIP' (Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures) number. The first six digits represents the company, the next two character is for the specific class of security or type of debt, and the last character is a check digit. [More details on this number is available at the CUSIP Service Bureau.] Also, financial instruments actively traded on an International basis are identified by a similar nine-character CINS (CUSIP International Numbering System) number.
CUSIP numbers may be found on:
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Mergent Online, the electronic version (Rutgers-restricted Access) of the Mergent/Moody's Manuals (DANA REF Index Table I, KILMER Business Counter 2)
- Compact D/SEC from Thomson Financial. (CAMDEN, DANA REF CD-ROM)
Each debt issue (bonds, notes, debentures, etc.) for a company will be assigned a different CUSIP number (although the first six characters will be the same). Ratings for company debt may be found by CUSIP using:
- Bond Portraits on
Mergent Online (Rutgers-restricted Access) (Moody's/S&P/Fitch)
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Factiva (Rutgers-restricted access) (Moody's)
- Mergent Bond Record (DANA Business Reference)
C. Private Companies
The majority of business establishments in the United States are privately-held; these companies are not required to file corporate reports with the US SEC. Apart from the directories listed in the Starting Points section, here are more sources of information:
1. New Jersey businesses
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Central New Jersey Business Directory (PrincetonInfo.com)
- D & B Regional Business Directory, North NJ (KILMER Business Counter 1)
- D & B Minority-Owned Business Directory: Northeast Regional Edition (DANA REF HD 2346.U5 D23)
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NJBiz Lists and Directories (purchase required)
- New Jersey Business-to-business Directory (Corfacts) (CAMDEN Reference Index Area, DANA Reference Desk, KILMER Business Counter 1)
- New Jersey Business Directory (KILMER Business Counter 1)
- New Jersey Directory of Small Business (Corfacts) (DANA Reference Desk, KILMER Business Counter 1)
- New Jersey Manufacturers Register (Manufacturers' News) (KILMER Business Counter 1, LSM REF HD 9727.N5 N38)
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New Jersey Pharmaceutical, Cosmetic and Health Companies Directory (Piermatti and Lo)
- New Jersey Private Companies (Business News New Jersey) (DANA Reference Desk)
- New Jersey's Public Companies (Business News Research) (DANA Reference Desk)
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New Jersey's Top 100 Businesses (New Jersey Online)
- Official New Jersey Manufacturers Directory (Harris InfoSource) (CAMDEN, DANA Reference Desk; KILMER Business Counter 1; DOUGLASS, LSM REF HD9727.N5H37)
- Regional Industrial Buying Guide: Greater New York and North Jersey (Thomas) (DANA Reference Desk)
- Regional Industrial Buying Guide: North Jersey (Thomas) (ALEX, CAMDEN, KILMER REF HD 9720.3 .N67)
- U.S. 1 Business Directory: Business to Business Resource Guide for Central New Jersey (DANA Reference Desk)
For historical coverage, take a look at Corporations of New Jersey: List of Certificates to December 31, 1911, originally compiled by the New Jersey Secretary of State and made digitally available by the New Jersey State Library.
2. U.S. State Corporations Databases
3. Other business directories
Many more directories may be found at the following:
D. Other Types of Companies
1. Franchises
Start with this list of Franchise High Performers from StartupJournal, based on financial analysis by FRANdata.
2. Consulting firms
3. Financial institutions
Please refer to the Banks and Financial Services guide.
E. International Companies
There are several publications in print which will provide basic information on
international companies:
- Volumes 7 and 8 of LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations is sub-titled: "International Public and Private Companies." (DANA REF Index Table G; CAMDEN Reference; KILMER Business Counter 1)
- Mergent/Moody's International Manual. (DANA REF Index Table G; CAMDEN Reference; KILMER Business Counter 2) Gives company history, business description, and financial information for approximately 5,000 major corporations in over 100 countries. Also available as part of
Mergent Online. (Rutgers-restricted Access)
- Directory of American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries (CAMDEN, DANA, KILMER REF HG 4538 .A1 D5) and Directory of Foreign Firms Operating in the United States (CAMDEN, DANA, KILMER REF HG 4057 .A155) complement one another in listing U.S. affiliates and divisions overseas and foreign companies with a U.S presence.
- D&B's Principal International Businesses. (DANA Reference Index Table G; KILMER Business Counter 1) Covers over 50,000 companies in 155 countries with basic information: address, principal products, number of employees, sales volume and chief executive. Companies are listed by name, product (SIC code) and country.
- Compact D/SEC (Formerly called Compact Disclosure). (DANA REF CD-ROM, KILMER Business Workstation 2) Primarily US companies with a small number of foreign companies (about 300) in the database. Formatted extracts of 10-K (US) and 20-F (foreign) reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- World Business Directory from the World Trade Centers Association (DANA REF HG 4009 .W66)
There are also company directories for regions of the world e.g.
- Europe's 15,000 Largest Companies (DANA REF HD 2356 .E9 E93)
- Duns Asia/Pacific Key Business Enterprises (DANA REF HF 5229 .O93)
- Duns Latin America's Top 25,000 (DANA REF HG 4091.5 .A2)
- D & B Europa (KILMER Business Counter 1)
And, there are many corporate directories on the Web, including these for
Asia:
Many more directories may be found at the following:
F. Associations and Organizations
G. Corporate Citizenship and Social Responsibility
- Start with Responsible Shopper which covers hundreds of companies. Profiles may include one or more of the following areas: workplace conditions, employee diversity, executive compensation, environmental initiatives, community involvement, corporate ethics, and charitable giving. You can also compare companies in selected industries.
- Another good site with corporate profiles is the Transnational Corporations Observatory but a subscription is required.
- You can search for news articles from mainstream and alternative publications as well as press releases from a variety of non-profit groups and non-governmental organizations with CorpWatch: Holding Corporations Accountable, as well as with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
- The International Labour Organization's Business and Social Initiatives Database has links to reports and profiles from a range of activist groups, non-profit organizations, and research institutes, as well as individual companies. Search either by company name (Subject Organization) or industry (Sectors). (No longer updated)
- Look for the company's Reputation Quotient, developed jointly by Harris Interactive and the Reputation Institute.
- For a view of a company's corporate governance policy and structure, consult the Institutional Shareholder Services reports on
LexisNexis Academic. Start with the Business section and then select "Company Profiles." From the Source menu, choose "ISS Reports" and then search by your company name. (Rutgers-restricted Access)
Other sites with news and profiles of selected companies, industries, and topics:
- The 100 Best Corporate Citizens are selected by Business Ethics magazine annually to recognize America's most profitable and socially responsible major public companies.
- Beyond McDonald's has some information on selected companies in the following sectors: petroleum, pharmaceuticals, baby milk, chemicals, food and drink, tobacco.
- A different sort of Buyers' Guide is available from Ethical Consumer, with reviews of the ethical records of (mostly British) firms selling or manufacturing consumer goods.
- Corporate Social Research Center of SocialFunds.com provides news and profiles (some for free, others for a fee) for most public companies.
- Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes: profiles of market sector leaders in the
DJSI STOXX Index (58 sectors) and the
DJSI World Index (18 supersectors). (Registration required)
- Corporate Watch offers two collections of resources: current Company Files and the archival Corporate Watch Resources: Companies
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Global Exchange has active campaigns in several industries: automobile industry, apparel and garment manufacturing, coffee and cocoa production.
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Innovest, an investment research firm, offers free limited coverage of a handful of areas: nanotechnology, energy, and financial services.
- The Mines & Communities Company Information Webpage has links to news of firms engaged in mining gems, minerals and metals.
- The Polaris Institute offers Corporate Profiles for a handful of firms in several sectors, particularly water and consumer products.
- Sweatshop Watch: Resources lead to many other sites for the apparel and garment manufacturing industry.
- Board Analyst from the Corporate Library provides profiles of corporate governance policy and structure by subscription (free trial available).
- Also, the highest rated global companies (in 2005) are listed by GovernanceMetrics International but details and more recent listings require a subscription.
- The Eldis Corporate Social Research Responsibility Resource Guide leads to current news and commentary from a variety of non-profit organizations and government agencies.
For environmental issues such as pollution and global warming:
A useful book list on Ethics & Social Responsibility has been put together by KIPnotes. Finally, some older books to consult include:
- The Better World Investment Guide. Prentice Hall, 1990.
(DANA REF HG 4910 .B44)
- The Job Seeker's Guide to Socially Responsible Companies. Gale, 1995. (DANA REF, KILMER CARREF HF 5382.75 .U6 J36)
- Shopping for a Better World: The Quick and Easy Guide to All Your Socially Responsible Shopping. Sierra Club, 1994. (DANA REF TX 356 .S59)
H. Special Topics
1. Biographical information
To find information about the CEO and other corporate officers, consult the
Biographical Resources guide.
The Executive PayWatch Database is maintained by the AFL-CIO and provides information primarily on CEO compensation.
2. Company history
- Over ten thousand firms are covered by the multi-volume International Directory of Company Histories. (CAMDEN, DANA, KILMER REF HD 2721 .I58) By special arrangement with the publisher, most of these essays are available online:
- Notable Corporate Chronologies has page-long entries for more than a thousand companies, great and small, domestic and foreign. (CAMDEN, DANA, KILMER REF HD 2721 .N68)
- Brief references may be found in United States Corporation Histories: A Bibliography, 1965-1990 by Wahid Nasrallah. (DANA REF HD 2785 .N37)
- About four dozen companies are profiled in Leading American Businesses, an online version of a three-volume set published in 2002.
- Additionally, you might want to look at Ward's Private Company Profiles, which is a two-volume set. (DANA REF HG 4009 .W374)
- And then, there are historical Corporate Reports Online, courtesy of the Lippincott Library of the Wharton School.
- For more resources, please consult Natalie Borisovets' guide to United States Business History.
3. Competitors and rankings
- You can see different rankings of companies on the Forbes Lists by sales, profits, assets, or market value.
- The annual Fortune 500 rankings, which actually covers 1,000 companies, are based on revenues (subscription required).
- The 2003 Hispanic Business 500 Directory is available for free but the most recent list has to be purchased.
- The Inc. 500 is a list of the fasting-growing companies in the U.S.
- Insurance firms are rated according to their financial strength by A.M.Best Ratings & Analysis (registration required).
- Many more online lists may be found on Gary Price's List of Lists.
- Business Rankings Annual and Market Share Reporter (both at DANA Reference Desk) serve as indexes to articles that provide industry rankings and market share information.
- Refer to the Industry Research Guide for more resources.
4. Corporate changes
Trace corporate name changes, buyouts, mergers, and acquisitions with:
- Capital Changes Reporter from Commerce Clearing House (DANA Business Reference)
- Directory of Corporate Name Changes by Howard Jarrell. (DANA, KILMER REF HG 4057 .A2864)
- Merger Yearbook from Securities Data Publishing (DANA REF HD 2746.5 .Y41)
- From EFIS:
- Corporate Acquisition Guide (DANA REF HD 2746.55 .U5 C67)
- Corporate Acronym Resource Guide (DANA REF HD 2771 .C668)
- Corporate Entity Name Change Guide (DANA REF HG 4057 .A1156469)
- International Corporate Acquisition Guide (DANA REF HD 2746.55 .U5 I58)
- International Corporate Entity Name Change Guide (DANA REF HG 4057 .A15647)
- For companies (especially "dot coms") that have failed in recent years (including the TheStandard.com and its FlopTracker), look at the list of Dot-Com Layoffs and Shutdowns compiled by the Wall Street Journal in 2001.
- You can browse the News archives of the Troubled Company Reporter for news items older than 90 days; access to current news require a subscription.
- The MSN Money Ownership Profile offers extracts from public company filings with the U.S. SEC, with listings of the top 15 institutional owners, mutual funds owners, and 5% owners.
5. Current events
- The Business News Sources Guide has leads to current news.
- For articles in magazines and journals, use the Indexes to Business Topics or consult the list of Industry News and Trade Magazines.
- To find information on lawsuits and legal claims, refer to the "Legal Proceedings" section in the SEC Form 10-K, via Hoover's Online. This site allows individual sections of SEC filings to be displayed after a company search has been conducted. Of historical interest is the Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade (1990's) as tallied by Corporate Crime Reporter, a legal newsletter.
- Look up patent filings (from 1790 to present) on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Database; choose Quick Search, enter the company name as Term 1, and select "Assignee Name" in Field 1. More intellectual property resources may be found on the Patents and Trademarks Research Guide.
- Search for registered trademarks with the U.S. Trademark Electronic Search System. Use the Structured Form Search; enter the company name as the Search Term, and select "Owner Name" as the Title Field.
- Business credit ratings are being offered by BusinessCreditUSA.com for a small fee.
- If you are wondering whether American corporations have an influence on the political process, the Political Money Line will let you search by donor name (company, individual, or PAC).
- The American Customer Satisfaction Index is presented each quarter by the University of Michigan Business School. The focus is on goods and services from major companies in a few dozen industries.
- Initial Public Offerings may be tracked at Hoover's Online - IPO Central, with links to the SEC S-1 filings.
6. Corporate philanthropy
- Start with the National Directory of Corporate Giving, which profiles more than 3,500 firms in the 10th edition. (DANA Grants Shelf; CAMDEN, KILMER REF HG 4028 .C6 N37) Many of these corporations and corporate foundations are listed on the Foundation Center's Foundation Finder.
- Another resource on corporate giving to non-profit organizations is the Capital Research Center database.
- For coverage of companies around the world, consult The International Directory of Corporate Philanthropy. (DANA Grants Shelf)
- The Foundation Directory covers many more companies but the information provided is more limited. Check the Foundation Name Index at the back first. (ALEXANDER REF HV 97 .A3 F63; ALCOHOL, CAMDEN, DOUGLASS, KILMER, LSM REF AS 911 .A2 F65; DANA Grants Shelf)
- One hundred grant-making organizations are profiled in The Directory of the Major New Jersey Foundations. (CAMDEN, DANA, DOUGLASS, LSM, MUSIC REF HV 98 .N5 D5; ALEXANDER HV 98 .N5 D5)
- A shorter list is the Selected New Jersey Area Grantmakers from the New Jersey-based Center for Non-Profit Corporations.
I. Other Company Research Guides
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