Companies Section:
Listing of main companies sources:
Business and Company Resource Center (Click here for
instructions)
Here you will collect company reports to obtain an overview of a specific company, or even the industry
as a whole. In addition, these reports provide information about the trends of each company within the
industry.
Read through the report and get an idea of what the company is all about. You will learn about the
structure of the company, history, current conditions, industry leaders and other important facts.
Business and Company Resource Center is accessible through the University's library website.
Business Source Premiere (Click here for instructions)
Business Source Premier provides research and perspectives from leading business thinkers from
around the world. It is collection of popular business magazines, scholarly journals, and trade publications
that you can use to help you to stay abreast of the latest global business developments. It is useful
information for companies as it offers coverage of such topics as accounting, banking, finance,
international business, management, marketing, real estate, regional studies, sales, trade and
technology.
Yahoo! Finance (Click here for instructions)
Yahoo! Finance is a great source of company and competitor information. Most of it is free! It offers
information on stock quotes, stock exchange rates, corporate press releases and financial reports, and
popular message boards for discussing a company's prospects and stock valuation. Much of this is useful
to investors, but it is also useful for market and industry analysis.
Hoover’s Inc (Click here for instructions)
Hoover’s inc. is a business research company that has provided information on U.S. and foreign
companies and industries Hoover's Inc. is a publisher of business information. It is a subsidiary of Dun &
Bradstreet (D&B).
LexisNexis (Click here for instructions)
Lexis-Nexis Academic is a commercial database covering a wide range of subject areas. It is mostly full-text
(except for the Wall Street Journal) and is updated daily or more frequently (National Public Radio, for example,
is updated hourly).
In Lexis-Nexis Academic, you can search for information, such as currently breaking news, the latest on
environmental issues, full-text company reports and other financial information, and biographies. Sources
include newspapers (worldwide), popular and trade journals, radio and television transcripts (some full-text),
military information and journals, federal and state code, federal regulations, and press briefings, but very few
scholarly journals.
Business Full Text (Click here for Instructions)
Wilson Business Full Text is a full text database that indexes and abstracts articles from English-
language periodicals published in the United States and elsewhere, including the leading business
magazines and trade and research journals, plus the full text of selected periodicals.
YOU NEED TO COMPARE THIS RESOURCE TO OTHER GENERAL RESOURCES WE ARE ABLE TO
ACCESS THROUGH THE LIBRARY. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET TO SAY, FORTUNE
MAGAZINE? YOU MAY NEED TO GO TO THE LIBRARY AND TALK WITH KATHY LOWE. I CAN'T
SEE HOW YOU GET TO THE FULL TEXT ARTICLES IN "BUSINESS FULL TEXT", CAN YOU?
ALSO, THERE ARE OTHER SOURCES SUCH AS "Academic OneFile". See below for a list of the ways
we are able to access Fortune.
FROM THE LIBRARY'S HOME PAGE, CLICK ON DATABASES, AND THEN CLICK ON "DATABASES
BY NAME".
Other Possible Sources:
WHAT GOVERNMENT SOURCES SHOULD WE USE IN THIS SECTION? I WAS THINKING WE
SHOULD PROVIDE THEM WITH INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SEC WEBSITE. WHAT DO OTHER
RESEARCH GUIDES DO WITH THAT? WHAT WOULD BE USEFUL INFORMATION TO FIND ON
THAT WEBSITE -- YOU NEED TO WORK ON THIS. I SURE DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER ON THIS!
http://www.sec.gov
The official home of EDGAR at the SEC. All company filings since 1984.
http://www.securities.com
Provides financial information for publicly traded U.S. and International companies.
Includes 15 years of historical financial information (balance sheet, income statement, etc.), segment
data, ratios, executive salaries, SEC filings, etc.
I CAN'T DECIDE WHERE TO PUT THIS ONE (I WANT TO KEEP IT IN BUILDR, BUT MAYBE IN THE
B2B SECTION?
http://www.thomasnet.com
This searchable directory connects buyers to over 480,000 manufacturers, distributors, and service
companies in the US. Includes a brand name search
WHAT DOES THE CENSUS (THE ECONOMIC CENSUS) TELL US ABOUT COMPANIES? I KNOW
YOU CAN GET A COUNT OF "ESTABLISHMENTS" IN A PARTICULAR NAICS CODE, BUT WHAT
ELSE MIGHT BE USEFUL IN THE COMPANIES SECTIONS? PLEASE INVESTIGATE
www.census.gov
Survey of business activity conducted every five years by Census Bureau. Good source for data at a local
level.
THIS LOOKS GOOD, BUT WHAT COMPANIES ARE INCLUDED? ONLY PUBLICLY TRADE? ON
WHAT STOCK EXCHANGES?
www.annualreports.com
Our Free Service allows users to review an annual report in an easy and convenient manner. Boasting
the most complete and up-to-date listings of annual reports on the internet, AnnualReports.com provides
instant access to annual reports in their actual format in one single location.
WHERE WOULD YOU GO FOR INFORMATION ON A PRIVATE COMPANY? WHAT TO OTHER
SCHOOLS DO ON THIS?
DO WE HAVE ACCESS TO ANY KIND OF COMPANY DIRECTORIES? this seems to be a weakness in
BuILDR and maybe in our library collection.
WHERE CAN WE FIND A LIST OF THE TOP COMPANIES IN ALABAMA? FIND THAT LIST AND THEN
FIGURE HOW TO DIRECT THE STUDENTS HERE. think like a student looking for a job. how can you
find a list of companies in Alabama (if you wanted to stay here)
http://buildr.wikispaces.com/M3d
It is important to learn about the competitors in the industry. In this section, you will look at several
sources of competitive information
http://buildr.wikispaces.com/M8b
MARKET SHARE RESEARCH:
Instructions
Business and Company Resource Center:
1. Go to the University's home page www.montevallo.edu
2. Click on Library on the left side
3. Under "Find Articles and Databases," click on Databases
4. Click Business
5. Click Business and Company Resource Center
6. If you are off campus, the site will prompt you to enter your university ID and then click Submit
Query
7. Click Industry
8. Enter your industry's NAICS code (from Module 2b) in the box then check the radio button for
NAICS codes
9. Look at the results and choose the industry overview that best suits your research (if there is
more than one report listed).
Business Source Premiere:
1. Follow the same steps as above to get to the list of databases under the Business subject area.
2. Choose the second Business Source Premier link -- the one that says (Business Searching
Interface).
3. Spend some time exploring ways to search for reports here. You have several choices. You can
look down where it says “Browse:” and click on Industry Profiles. Under “Publications” and
“View by,” click on the second tab for Industry. Scroll through the entries and find your industry.
4. Another way to search is as follows: Return to the main page for Business Source Premier. Under
the first blue section click the radio button for Industry. Then enter different search terms for your
industry. When the results come back, put a check next to relevant terms, then click Add. You will
see your terms added in the top search box. Click Search. When you get these results, click on
the Industry Profiles button and then find a report of interest to you.
5. There are many other features that can help you sort and filter the results. See if you can
discover these on your own.
Yahoo! Finance
1. Right click and open http://finance.yahoo.com/
2. Roll your mouse over the tab marked Investing and click on Industries
3. Look at the left side bar and scroll down to Tools and then select Industry Index
4. Scroll down and select an industry (The industries listed here are very broad. Refer to the list of
search terms from M2b and select an alternative if your exact industry is not listed.)
5. Under More on This Industry on the left side, click on Company Index. Here you are able to
view all firms, only the publicly-traded firms, or the private or foreign firms.
6. View the list of Public firms and click on the names of firms you recognize and some you don't.
Note the size of the firm in terms of Revenue and Employees (on the right). Note the list of Top
Competitors at the bottom right-hand corner. Learn about these companies by clicking on
Profile and other links under More on [name of your firm].
7. Return to the Company Index and view the Private/Foreign firms. Click on the name of one of
the firms you recognize here and some you don't. Note the size of the firm in terms of Revenue
and Employees (on the right). Note the list of Top Competitors at the bottom right-hand corner.
Compare the amount and type of information here to what you were able to view with regard to
the public firms.
Hoovers
1. Go to the Hoovers.com web site http://www.hoovers.com/
2. In the search box, enter the name of one publicly traded company and click on the Search icon.
Select the company from the list of Hoover's Company Name Matches.
3. Click around here on Overview, People, Competition and Financials and note the type and depth
of the information available.
4. Do the same for one of the privately held companies.
LexisNexis
1. Go to the University's home page www.montevallo.edu and click on Library on the left side
2. Under "Find Articles and Databases," click on Databases and then choose LexisNexis. Notice
that that University of Montevallo has access to LexisNexis Academic.
3. You could do a search now by entering a company or industry in the box for Search terms, but
you will get so many results, it will be hard to sort through them all without more experience in
LexisNexis. What you need is a tutorial on how to select only the sources that interest you (for
this Module, you will look at Hoovers).
4. Look down the left side under "View tutorials" and select Selecting Sources. View the tutorial
5. Now following the steps you learned in the tutorial, enter the keyword "Hoovers," click on Find
Sources and then select "Hoover's Company Records - In-depth Records", and "Hoover's
Company and Industry Reports." Be sure to click on the button for OK - Continue at the right
side.
6. Now enter the name of the publicly traded company you looked up on the free Hoovers.com
website. To sort through these results for your specific company in the "Hoover's Company
Record -- In Depth Records," use the drop down menu at the left for Company** and find click on
your company name. Click on and view the report.
7. Now do the same for the privately held company you looked up on the free
INCLUDED IN THE LEXIS NEXIS SECTION WOULD BE THE SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW
NARROW THE SOURCES TO ACCESS HOOVER'S COMPANY REPORTS (AS IN THE CURRENT
BUILDR), BUT ALSO I WANT MORE ABOUT HOW TO USE THE SEARCH FEATURES (FOR
EXAMPLE, "Search Within" and the you click "Company" NEED TO EXPLAIN ALL THAT.
SHOULD ALSO DIRECT THEM TO THE TUTORIALS IN LEXISNEXIS