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MBA Resource Guide: Company Research

A resource for conducting research and accessing library resources for the Masters of Business Administration academic program.

Company Research

This page contains information on finding information about specific companies. Perhaps you are doing a market analysis or prospecting for sales leads. By researching a company you can learn about a company's structure, the identities of its executives, financial performance, trends, recent news and issues facing the company. When performing company research, it is important to know whether or not a company is public or private. 

  • Public Companies - These companies are publicly traded through the free trade of stocks on various stock exchanges. Public companies generally have more information available due to their requirements for reporting to entities such as the SEC.
  • Private Companies - These companies generally have less information available as they are not held to the same reporting standards as public companies. Private companies can be small or large. When researching a private company, it may be helpful to look at public companies within the same industry.

Sources and Instructions for Company Research

Mergent Intellect can be used to find financial information, executive details and corporate structure.

Mergent Intellect Help Guides Use the instructions found in these guides to get the most out of this search engine. 

Also contains Dun & Bradstreet Industry Reports. 

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Value Line analyzes publicly traded companies and provides an analyst report and rating.

 

Step 1: Lookup a Company Name


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Step 2: Explore the PDF Report (By Date)


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Much like First Research, Hoover's provides industry intelligence that helps to drive business growth.

 

 

Step 1: Browse or Search for a Company by Name

Step 2: Select Company
Look at the left hand navigation column. The Company Details includes links to company summary, history and details. Under "Advanced" is information about competitors, analysts reports and annual reports.Click image for larger view
 

 


EBSCO's Business Source Complete includes company profile MarketLine reports and Barnes Reports in addition to business-related articles from scholarly and trade publication journals.


Step 1: Browse or Search for an Industry by keyword or NAICS code


 

Here is an example of searching by NAICS code

 

Step 2: Limit your results by Source Types. Choose Industry Profiles (where you will find Marketline and Barnes Reports). 


 

Company Research

Questions To Ask When Researching a Company:

  • Competitive Analysis: Who are the major competitors to your company? What products and/or services are represented by your competition? What are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) for your company and its competition? 
  • Products and Services: What products and services are a part of your company and its competition?
    **Use the company's website. Products are often listed.
    **Do a Google search for the company's annual report in order to locate products and services. Example Search: [company name] annual report 2023 

S.E.C. Company Analysis...
The Securities & Exchange Commission documents can further help to develop the analysis of your company. Below is a listing of helpful S.E.C. search tools:

  • EDGAR Database (Securities and Exchange Commission): 1) Search for your company by name or ticker symbol. 2) Click the CIK number associated with your company to view a listing of company filings. 3) Review the following forms: 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K paying close attention to the Management Discussion and Analysis sections.

Public Vs. Private Company Research

Public Companies: Trade on stock exchanges and issue stocks. 
Private Companies: Do not trade on stock exchanges.

Determining Public Vs. Private Companies...

  • Look up the company in Yahoo! Finance. Look for a ticker symbol and check the News & Performance of the company you are researching.
  • Look up the company in the Forbes-Yearly Lists using the following lists: America's Largest Private Companies and America's Largest Private Companies. 
  • Look up the company in the Inc. 5000 Company List. This resource provides a list of 5,000 private companies compiled by Inc. magazine (published yearly).
  • Look up the company in the Private Companies Worldwide listing by Bloomberg Businessweek. This listing is searchable by region or alphabetical by name.