LibGuides: International Management: Company Research

Steps for Company Research

Identify the Company

Determine if the company is publicly owned or privately held (publicly owned companies are easier to research!). Look for annual reports in Company Reports links on the right hand side of the screen.

Get the Company Profile

Create a profile of your selected company including an overview, history, sales, profits, number of employees, locations, products and services, financial data, and key competitors. Two databases for that include company profiles are listed below. If your company is not listed in these databases, you can create a profile on your own.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis (including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790).
Vendor: LexisNexis
Coverage: Varies
Access: Subscription via proxy
Terms of Use: Licensed for purposes of research, teaching and private study. Users may print or electronically save a single copy of limited portions. Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited.
Concurrent Users: Unlimited

Locate Current News

Find current news and in-depth articles about the company from business magazines and trade publications to gather insight into the company's operations and strategies. The following library databases are good sources of information in addition to Bloomberg, CNNMoney, Yahoo! Finance, and Google Business News.

Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Covers all aspects of business in peer-reviewed journals and trade publications, including Marketline Industry and Company Reports from 1965-current; some full-text; constructs bibliography in APA citation style.
Vendor: EBSCO
Coverage: Varies
Access: Subscription via proxy
Terms of Use: Licensed for purposes of research, teaching and private study. Users may print or electronically save a single copy of limited portions. Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited. Fair use under U.S. Copyright law unless otherwise noted by publisher.
Concurrent Users: Unlimited
ABI/INFORM Complete This link opens in a new window
Covers worldwide business periodicals for in-depth coverage of business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory, and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, industry news, product and competitive information, human resources, finance, taxation, and computers. Also includes local and regional business news coverage of large corporations, privately held companies, local start-ups, executive profiles, marketing, finance, and industry news.
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: Varies
Access: Subscription via proxy
Terms of Use: Licensed for purposes of research, teaching and private study. Users may print or electronically save a single copy of limited portions. Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited.
Concurrent Users: Unlimited
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis (including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790).
Vendor: LexisNexis
Coverage: Varies
Access: Subscription via proxy
Terms of Use: Licensed for purposes of research, teaching and private study. Users may print or electronically save a single copy of limited portions. Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited.
Concurrent Users: Unlimited

Visit the Company's Website

Explore the company's website to see what it says about itself. Keep in mind, company websites are usually see as marketing tools for the company.

Examine the Company's Performance

Look at company financials through EDGAR's SEC filings or LexisNexis in order to determine their profitability.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis (including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790).
Vendor: LexisNexis
Coverage: Varies
Access: Subscription via proxy
Terms of Use: Licensed for purposes of research, teaching and private study. Users may print or electronically save a single copy of limited portions. Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited.
Concurrent Users: Unlimited

Survey the Industry and Know the Competition

Look at industry reports and competitors in the databases listed below.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni features more than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis (including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790).
Vendor: LexisNexis
Coverage: Varies
Access: Subscription via proxy
Terms of Use: Licensed for purposes of research, teaching and private study. Users may print or electronically save a single copy of limited portions. Systematic downloading, redistribution to non-subscribers, and any commercial use expressly prohibited.
Concurrent Users: Unlimited

Basic Information for an International Companies

Europages - The European Business Directory
A multilingual directory site of companies in 30 European countries searchable by product or services, company name or business sector. Results can include company catalogs, with links to business services such as phone directories, package tracking, converters, bank holidays, calendar, newspapers, and online translators.
Kompass
Global B2B portal. The most basic of directory information can be obtained free on 1.8 million companies worldwide. Note: To get the full value of Kompass's databases, you must subscribe.
International Society for Small and Medium Enterprises (ISSME)
Site includes the World SME Directory, intended to promote international cooperation between small and medium enterprise development organizations.

International Directory of Company Histories by St James Press (Editor)
Call Number: ONLINE
ISBN: 9781558629264
Publication Date: 2015-06-08
Provides histories of companies that are a leading influence in a particular industry or geographic location.

Company Reports

EDGAR
Performs automated collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Some international company information is available.

Many famous foreign companies provide annual reports in English.

Look for the Investor Relations area of their websites.

AnnualReports.com
As well as U.S. companies, offers annual reports for Australian, Canadian and UK listed companies (on specified exchanges).
The Financial Times - Company Content Hub
Access to a number of foreign companies' annual reports. Filter search by country (most major industrialized nations), sector or exchange.