Visit and Gather Information from the Company Website
In addition to finding information on the audience research services a company offers. The company website can be a great place for certain types of information needed when doing company research. Just keep in mind the inherent bias of the information on a company's own website.
Look for this type of Information:
- Business Description
- Company services and products offered
- Better understanding of the image the store is trying to portray & the consumers they are targeting
- Basic financial information.
- Social responsibility efforts
A. Look for links titled something like About Us or About the Company. (These are typically at the top or bottom of the page.)
Here's where you can often find information about employees, company history, community service programs, sustainability efforts, and available positions.
B. Also look for links labeled for Investors or Investor Relations, (Also typically at the bottom of the page.)
Expect to find press releases and financial reports here. Locate the Annual Report as it can be a great place to find information such as a detailed business description, "year in review" analysis, and strategic directions, Don't be intimidated by its size & in-depth financial information as you can skip through all of that & just read the interesting and applicable information!
Company Website Illustration
Found under the "About Us" link at the very bottom of the Nielsen home page, this page gives a nice directory of information topics related to the business.
Locating Annual Reports
Annual Reports are most commonly produced for shareholders of public companies. You can often find them on the company website. Look for a section labeled "Investors" or "Investor Relations".
If it's not easily identified on the company website, you can find the companies 10-K filing on the government's EDGAR database. The annual report and the 10-K have a lot in common although annual reports are more likely to contain images and branding and 10-Ks will often contain additional financial information than you would find in the annual report.
- EDGAR DatabaseEDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, is the primary system for companies and others submitting documents under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, and the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Containing millions of company and individual filings, EDGAR benefits investors, corporations, and the U.S. economy overall by increasing the efficiency, transparency, and fairness of the securities markets. The system processes about 3,000 filings per day, serves up 3,000 terabytes of data to the public annually, and accommodates 40,000 new filers per year on average
Annual Report Illustration
Be sure to take a look at a company's Annual Report. Don't be intimidated by its size and in-depth financial tables! Skim through the report or check out the table of contents to identify useful information for your project.
