LibGuides: Business, Management and Marketing: Company Information

Researching Companies

Introduction

During your studies, you may need to find out more about companies. The type of things you might want to find out include:

Company details - where they are, what they do, who the directors are? What is the structure of the company (e.g. parent companies, subsidiary companies).
Financial data - is the company making a profit? What is their turnover? Where is their most recent annual report and accounts.
Industry analysis - how does the company compare to its peers? Who are the competitors? What is the market like for this industry?

For a quick search you can often start by looking at the company's website. They may provide their report and accounts, press releases and some key personnel information. All companies vary as to how much information they provide on their websites, and sometimes you might need to look at a company's parent to find anything useful.

The Library provides access to key databases that provide a huge amount of current and historical data and analysis for companies. See below:

Filings Expert This link opens in a new window Filings Expert provides access to over 14 million global company filings. Available information includes, annual reports; investor presentations, press releases and SEC filings.
FAME This link opens in a new window
Company information and financial reports for UK and Ireland.
Passport (Euromonitor) This link opens in a new window Market research data that analysts at Euromonitor have collated including consumer lifestyle reports, future demographics, country profiles, updates on consumer and industry trends, company information, market sizes and economic indicators. Passport covers more than 200 countries and regions, with a global outlook
Nexis This link opens in a new window Nexis is a major full text database for global news and business information. It gives access to over 35,000 sources, with more than 12,000 international news sources including UK daily and regional newspapers, current affairs magazines, and professional journals.Alternative link - please note that, the first time you use this link, you will be asked to enter your first name and last name in order to access Nexis.
Nexis also includes 80 sources of company information, plus thousands of biographies of government officials, politicians, celebrities, investors and business contacts.
ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window ABI/INFORM Collection features thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals such as the Economist, country-and industry-focused reports, and downloadable data. Its international coverage gives researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world.

Free resources

The following are open access sources.

Annual Reports
Search for corporate annual reports from US companies
Companies House: WebCHeck
Free access to the official UK company register, providing contact details and status information. Sheffield Hallam University students and staff should use Key Note or FAME for access to full accounts of UK companies - no need to pay.
EDGAR
Free access to company data, as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
Forbes Global 2000
Forbes magazine’s ranking of the world’s 2,000 biggest public companies. Lists can be refined by country and industry sector.
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Search Tip: You can refine results further by searching through country/territory.
Fortune Global 500
Annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide
The Gazette: insolvency notices
The public record of corporate and personal insolvency and bankruptcy. The site provides free access to a searchable database of official notices.
Kompass: worldwide company search engine
Free business-to-business company directory. Contains details of over 4 million companies around the world.
Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For
Since 2001, the Sunday Times newspaper has published annual lists of the best companies to work for in the UK based a number of criteria. The information is mainly derived from the results of employee satisfaction surveys.

Charities, Co-operatives and NGOs

The Charity Commission
The Charity Commission is the official regulator for charities in England and Wales. The website includes a searchable Register of charities providing key information, including financial data, on thousands of charities registered with the Commission.
BoardSource
Boardsource provides tools and information on improving non-profit governance. Alumni and students who want to enter the non-profit sector find it very useful. It includes free papers, blogs and newsletters. Some courses and books are available for sale.

Europa
Entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor (based in Jerusalem) investigates the ethical conduct of NGOs.
NGOs UK
NGOs UK is a website based on research carried out at the University of Birmingham on the history of NGOs in the UK from 1945-1997. It has an excellent bibliography and an exhaustive list of links.
Evolution of International Non-Governmental Organisations
More research is available from the Project on the Evolution of International Non-Governmental Organizations at City University, London.
Information Sources - NGOs - Peter Willets

Co-operatives UK
CooperativesUK has a directory of all cooperatives in the UK together with background information and details on setting up cooperatives.
The International Cooperative Alliance
The International Cooperative Alliance based in Geneva is a global forum for cooperative ideas.
Grassroots Economic Organising
Grassroots Economic Organizing is a worldwide movement based in the USA aimed at promoting cooperatives.

Business, Management and Marketing

Researching Companies

Introduction

Free resources

Charities, Co-operatives and NGOs

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