Finding Business Information

1. Finding Business Information Research Methods & Data College of Advancing Studies Brendan A. Rapple

2. Many Types of Business Info • General Information on Business • Information on Companies • Information on Finance, Investments etc. • Information on International or Global Business • Information on Industries • Economic Information • Information on Business Organization etc., etc., etc.

3. How Can I Find . . . . • The address of a company? • Who owns a company? • The parent of a company? • The sales, or other financial data for a company? • Info on private companies? • Info on public companies? • Articles on a company? • Companies ranked by sales? • How a given industry is doing? • Information on a businessperson? • Articles which appeared in the Wall Street Journal? • A company's 800 number? • How businesses/organizations work –role of decision-making, leadership, teams, ethical approaches etc. A multitude of other questions

4. Helpful Business Pages on BC Libraries Site Research Help by Subject: • Business and Management

5. Searching for Company Information Why learn how to research a company? • Helps to prepare for job interviews. • People in strategic planning, market research, advertising, sales, public relations etc. need information on their competitors. • Useful when making personal investment decisions. • To find out more about a company’s products. • NOTE: • A vast amount of info. available in print and electronically. • Still, no one definitive way to conduct business research on a particular company.

6. Researching a Company? Basic Info. • Find the company’s website. Look for such information as • The company’s history • The company’s mission • The company’s culture • What its main businesses are • Locations • Statement of corporate responsibility • Investor relations • Work opportunities • Link to press releases and outside news items

10. Researching a Company? Basic Info. • Basic information: • a company’s headquarters • address, phone and fax numbers; • annual sales; • names of subsidiaries; & • the names of key personnel; • SIC codes.

11. What are SIC Codes? Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes are four digit numerical codes assigned by the U.S. government to business establishments to identify the primary business of the establishment. The classification was developed to facilitate the collection, presentation and analysis of data; and to promote uniformity and comparability in the presentation of statistical data collected by various agencies of the federal government, state agencies and private organizations. The classification covers all economic activities: agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and trapping; mining; construction; manufacturing; transportation; communications, electric, gas and sanitary services; wholesale trade; retail trade; finance; insurance and real estate; personal, business, professional, repair, recreation and other services; and public administration

12. SIC Codes Reading SIC Codes • The first two digits of the code identify the major industry group, the third digit identifies the narrower industry group, and the fourth digit identifies the actual specific industry. For example: • 20Food and Kindred Products • 209 Miscellaneous Food Preparations and Kindred Products • 2096 Potato Chips, Corn Chips, and Similar Snacks

13. NAICs The North American Industry Classification System or NAICS is used by business and government to classify business establishments according to type of economic activity (process of production) in Canada, Mexico and the United States. NAICs have largely replaced the older SIC system. However, certain government departments and agencies, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), still use the SIC codes. (wikipedia) See NAICs Look-Up

14. Company Research Very important to know the following: • Proper and full company name • Corporate headquarters' address • Company's form of ownership Researching a company is not always easy: • Company identity often complex question. • Many companies have similar names, but are separate, distinct companies based in different cities.  • Ford may refer to Ford Motor Company or The Ford Foundation.

15. Public or Private or International Company? Use a directory to find whether a company is public, private or non-U.S. • Public “A public company is an organization that initially offers stock in the public market, and conducts trading in the open market. These companies are run by shareholders that own a percentage of the company based on the number of shares they possess.” Much info. available on companies which trade on the stock market - SEC filings, annual reports, analysts' reports, news stories, books and case studies. • Private Information on private companies is usually limited to brief details in directories, news stories, and sometimes books. • International Amount of info. on international companies varies. If the company trades on the U.S. exchanges it must file annual reports (20-F) with the SEC. Other information can be found in directories, databases, newspapers and magazines.

16. Company Research • Form of ownership not always easy to guess.  • Koch Industries, Bechtel, Cargill, PricewaterhouseCoopers, F.J. Management, Ernst & Young, Publix, and Mars are among the largest privately held companies in the United States. IKEA, Victorinox, and Bosch are examples of Europe's largest privately held companies. (Wikipedia) • Also companies are bought and sold daily. A company that was independently owned may be purchased by a public company. • Private companies occasionally go public as they grow and develop a need for more capital.  • Subsidiaries and divisions change ownership, operating  under new parent companies. 

17. Is the Company Public or Private? Public Companies • Trade stock on open financial market -- sell stock to general public. • Required by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose financial information. • Must provide annual reports to shareholders. • Thus, financial info. always available for a public company. • As a result of 1929 crash, people have right to know about publicly traded companies.

18. Public Companies Type of Info. Disclosed: • Broad Financial data, e.g. • revenues • expenses • profits • summary of assets and liabilities Type of Info. Not Disclosed: • marketing strategies • production costs • other day-to-day operations • trade secrets, e.g. ingredients in Coke, in Mrs. Field’s cookies etc. • while salaries/fringe benefits of key executives must be disclosed, hourly wages paid to ordinary employees need not be

19. Company Research • The more intricate the organizational structure of the company, the more complex it usually is to uncover details about its individual parts.

20. Using Newspapers • Factiva is an important resource – many thousands of sources including the full-text of the Wall Street Journal

22. What Approach are you Taking? • Do you wish to find out what the company says about itself? • Or, do you wish to find out what others say about the company?

23. Locally-Owned Companies • The Boston Globedatabase (full-text from 1980) • Lexis-Nexis Academic(full-text of 100s of newspapers).

24. International Companies • Europages, the European Business Directoryhttp://www.europages.com/ Contains information on 2,300,000 companies, from 35 European countries, from all activity sectors.

25. Finding Financial Information about a Company • Important to distinguish between • Annual Report to Stockholders (ARS) • Financial reports submitted to SEC

26. Annual Report to Stockholders (ARS) • Glossy, upbeat brochure mailed annually to stockholders • It typically contains • financial statements • photos • graphics • considerable narrative • Designed to present best possible picture of company • Often viewed as little more than public relations piece • Still, bad news cannot be ignored, though it may be played down or euphemistically explained away • Moreover, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and SEC regulations must be followed • Much useful info. can be found in an ARS

27. Locating Annual Reports • You may obtain a company's annual report simply by calling the corporation's investor relations department or by visiting their corporate website on the Internet (if the company has one). • AnnualReports.com Contains thousands of free annual reports. • CAROL - Company Annual Reports On-Line Annual Reports from companies in Europe and the USA. Free but registration is required.

28. Financial Reports Submitted to SEC • Detailed financial publication • no artistic photos • no striking graphs • no flowery narrative • avoids the company hype • More specific financial info. than in the annual report

29. Databases Useful for Locating Company Profiles • Business Source Complete Includes profiles for more than 10,000 companies worldwide. Select the "Company" link on the right. • Lexis-Nexis Academic Click on the "Business" tab to get company stock information, bond rating, competitors, executives, brands and more. • General Business File Information on more than 200,000 public and private companies. International in scope. Select "subject guide" search and enter company name. Look for the entry that says "Read about this company". • Factiva Includes profiles on most public companies in the United States and some international companies. Limited information on private companies. Select Companies/Markets, click on "Company" and enter the company name or ticker symbol.

30. Analysts’ Reports • Then there are the analysts’ reports, often from Wall Street, produced by such companies as Merrill Lynch, Forrester, Jeffries, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse-North America, Salomon Smith Barney etc. • These are supposed to “tell it as it is”, e.g. this company is going under within six months and only a fool would buy shares in it!!

31. Databases Useful for Locating Analysts’ Reports • Thomson ONE Banker(Internet Explorer Only) Investext Plus contains • the full text of research/analyst reports on companies and industries • as well as the annual statistical reports of many industry trade associations. It delivers full-text reports in their original published formats, complete with charts, photographs and graphics. The reports are from 500 of the world's top investment banks, brokerage firms and trade associations.

32. Subsidiaries of Publicly Held Companies • Not required to file separate disclosure documents. • Relevant info. (especially financial) on affiliates is attributed to parent company --- analogy of child’s phone no. being under parents’ name. • Bigger the parent company, more difficult it is to research a single component of its operations. • Often as difficult as finding info. on a private company.

33. Another Useful Business Database Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage Excellent database for locating company profiles and industry overviews

34. Private Companies • Usually about 25 shareholders. • Privately owned stock is not available for market trade. • Stockholders typically the principals in the co., e.g. • founders • members of their families • key employees • No disclosure of information is required of the co. according to Federal Securities laws.

35. Useful Databases for Researching Private Companies Most of the databases used for researching public companies may also be useful for private companies: • Business Source Complete • General BusinessFile ASAP • Lexis-Nexis Academic Newspapers may be especially useful. Still, it is often very difficult to find good info. on private companies

36. A Useful Website for Researching Private Companies • Forbes 500 Top Private Companieshttp://www.forbes.com/private500/ Forbes magazine makes available its list of top private companies over the past three years.

37. Information on Overseas Business World Bank Country ProfilesCountry profiles prepared by World Bank staff are available for numerous nations. The web site also includes a section (at top) “Data and Research” – very useful for locating diverse information on trade, business etc. in these foreign countries. GlobalEdgeThe "Country Insights" section provides current information on the business climate, news, history, political structure, economic landscape, and relevant statistical data for 196 countries. The "Global Resources" section is a directory of international business resources categorized by specific orientation and content.

38. Industry Overviews • Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage Cover about 52 major industries in the U.S. and some in Europe, Asia and Latin American. • Business Source Complete There are two ways to search for an industry overview in this database. Click on the "Industry" link in the right column to see if your industry is listed. If not, enter your industry in the search box (i.e. financial services industry) on the main search screen. Several categories will appear above the results, select Industry Profiles. • GlobalEdge Select “By Industry” at the left.