Welcome Cornerstone Students!

1. Welcome Cornerstone Students! • Sit with your team please! • Log in using info on sticker to right of each PC monitor

2. BUSX 301: Company & Industry Research Shana Gass, MSLS sgass@towson.edu Reference Librarian, Cook Library September 2010

3. Your assignment • Whatdo you need to know? • Which sources would you consult to find out?

4. Company Web Site • Good first step • Look at the Investors / Investor Relations Section. • Due Dilligence:Consult Annual Report and/or 10-K. • Additional sources • Sources that come from outside the company – news & analysis • Sources about competitors & the industry as a whole

5. Cook Library Business Subject Gateway

6. Company & Industry Info - Exercise • Teams divide & conquer • All sources – link from Business Subject Gateway • Ask questions! • Be ready to report on your source • 15 min.

7. Company Dossier, in the LexisNexis Academic • Blend of sources (like Yahoo Finance) • Snapshot – background info • Financials & ratios • News • Competitors • Stock info, investment analysis • Law cases & patents • Custom reports! LexisNexis is a Cook Library Database

8. Value Line • Industry & Company Information • Investment perspective • Financials & Stock performance • Analysis • Ranking of companies & industries • Timeliness = how well VL thinks stock will perform in next 6-12 mos. 1 is the best • Safety = VL’s measure of volatility1 is the least volatile • Use the Investor Tools tab to learn about it! Cook Library Database

9. Value Line – First Screen

10. Value Line – Lookup Company

11. Value Line – Searching for a Company

12. A Company Stock Report

13. The Value Line Investor Tools Section

14. Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage – Industry Surveys • Environment • Trends • How the industry operates • How to analyze the industry (using ratios, etc.) • Financials for leading companies • Sources of Industry info • Industry publications • Trade associations • Government agencies which regulate industry Cook Library Database

15. Datamonitor Company SWOT Analyses • In Business Source Complete • Steps:Do a simple search for company name • Under narrow by source…click on …SWOT Analyses • CAUTION: Datamonitor reports embargoed for academic market – may be a bit old In a Cook Library Database

16. Annotated Bibliography • List of sources on a topic • APA Format • Summarize & evaluate each source in turn • How does each source contribute to your project? • How does each source relate to the other sources?

17. Bibliography Entry for an Article (HTML) from a Database (Business Source Complete) in APA Liao, D.M. (1999). Leader of the pack. The China Business Review, 26(6), 28+. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.

18. Read…and Question! • Author – who & how qualified? • Source – what is it? What kind of publication? Who reads it? What is its reputation? • Evidence – people or publications quoted? Statistics included? Context provided? • Bias/Point of view? What does the author want readers to know, do, or believe?

19. Finding Articles - Exercise • Teams collectively finding 3-4 types of articles • 3 must be found using library databases • Use Big 4 handout • Be picky! • Ask questions • 10 minutes

20. Press Releases • Mainly good news(New products, awards, expansion…) • Publicizing unseen innovations (possibly HR related) • Feel good stories! Social marketing… • Quarterly financial announcements • Bad news – occasionally (it’s gotta be pretty bad)

21. A Press Release about a Press Release

22. General Mills Probes Fake Release– Wall Street Journal, 17 June 2010

23. Best source of news about the Toyota recall?

24. Press Releases Can Also Be Found… • …In LexisNexis Academic • …In Factiva • Look for: • Articles labeled as being from Business Wire or PRNewswire (there are others) • At bottom of article: info about the organization who wrote the release, contact info for Media or Investor Relations personnel

25. Press Release from Factiva

26. End of Press Release from Factiva Press releases in library databases will always end with info about the organization(s) that put out the release

27. A blog – who is the author? The Wild Web… Always consider: who is writing? What does s/he/they have at stake? A web site – who is responsible for it?

28. Blogs are Important Enough in the Business World, that.. • …selected blogs are now included in the Factiva & LexisNexis databases!

29. Annotation Hints – Source Level • Source as context • Clues in databases • Publication homepage • Also try publication directories • Magazines for Libraries • SRDS Media (library database) > Magazine Advertising Source (including Media Kit for readership)

30. More Hints – Author Level • Journalists - not necessarily a lot of info • Try LinkedIn.com ? • Academic authors – credentials always included in piece • What else has author published? • Awards?

31. More Hints – Document Level • Reviews? • Links to? • Blog commentary? • Letters to the editor? • Has it been cited by other authors?

32. More Research Tips! • http://pages.towson.edu/sgass/courses • > BUSX

33. Questions? …feel free to contact me! Shana Gass (410) 704-2395sgass@towson.edu*preferred Or any reference librarian:Cook Library Web Site > Ask a Librarian for options