Business research is not as hard as it may seem. A good research plan is often all you
need to find what seems like elusive company or industry information. For companies, start by building a quick snapshot.
Is the company is public or private, a subsidiary or a joint venture, a franchise or foreign-owned?
Create a basic company profile containing the following information:
• Address and telephone number
• Annual sales and number of employees
• Chief executives
• Year founded
• Type of business
Some additional information that can be very helpful:
• A narrative description
• Brief history
• Key financial data
• The company’s position in its industry
Not all of this information will be available for non-public companies.
Where do start looking for all this information? Many different printed resources are on the reference shelves at the Virginia Beach Public Library. Company profiles can be found in the following print resources:
Hoover’s Handbooks of American Business,
Ward’s Business Directory of US Private and Public Companies,
Standard and Poor’s Corporation Records.
Working from home? The library offers several online resources to assist you in your research: Reference USA, Business and Company Resource Center and Mergent.
It’s easy to build a basic company profile with information found in resources such as Reference USA.
It’s an online directory that you can search by company name, size or location. You can also create a custom search that combines more than ten different search items including owners, executives and financial data and more. You’ll be amazed at the wealth of information found in this resource.
Next, try Business and Company Resource Center. In this extensive database, you can find company and industry information in easy to read articles, company financials, investment reports, market share data and industry overviews.
Wrap up with Mergent. This resource provides business and financial data on global publicly listed companies. You can also read up on a company’s government filings and much more.
If you need assistance using any of these resources or in your business research, please
ask library staff.