Acknowledgement
These guide contains some information originally originally produced by BGSU business librarian, Linda Rich, that has been modified for this course.
Starting Points
This guide highlights the extensive resources the BGSU Libraries provides to find information on a company. This includes dozens of business/industry databases and databases for news and other information.
When researching a company it's good to start out by doing some presearch. Before proceeding to research your company using library subscription sources, learn a bit about your company through freely available resources such as Crunchbase or Wikipedia. Identify the following information about the firm you are researching:
- Does this company operate under any other names? Do they have any products or services that might serve as additional search terms?
- Take notes of any potential relevant information you find.
- Is this company a subsidiary of another company or is it a parent company?
- Write down the parent company if applicable. Look for both the parent company and the subsidiary, but you're more likely to find company profiles on the parent company.
- Is this firm a public or private company?
- Private companies do not have the same disclosure requirements as public companies and you may not find a private company profile in any of the subscription business databases we offer. Instead you many need to rely more heavily on news articles and the company website.
- Look for a unique piece of information about your company
- This can help you differentiate your company from those with similar names. If it is a publicly traded company also make note of the stock ticker for the company (ex: NASDAQ: GOOGL). If it a private company look for other identifying information such as the main business address.
