Visit and Gather Information from the Company Website
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 for your project:
- Business Description
- Company brands 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
- Customer services offered
1. Look for links titled something like About Us or About the Company. (These are typically at the bottom of the page.)
Here's where you can often find information about company brands, corporate history, community services programs, sustainability efforts.
2. The company website is also a great place to learn about a retail store's customer services and loyalty programs.
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Public Company Profiles
Offers reports on over 100,000 companies from all over the world. Company reports vary in size and content, but many are quite extensive and include Key Competitors, a SWOT Analysis, Company Histories, and key employees and biographies.
Select Company Profiles from the search box drop down menu and then type in the name of your company and press search. From the results, click on your company and use the navigation bar on the left to find the company profile, financials, news, research reports, and SWOT analysis.
Contains a wealth of company information from a variety of sources (MarketLine, Hoover's, and more), but it can be challenging to locate it all.
Start your search for company information in the Company Dossier. You can find the Company Dossier by clicking on the array of dots next to Nexis Uni, then selecting Company Dossier (as shown in the screenshot below). This will bring you to the "Find a Company" tab. From here, you can search for a company by company name, ticker symbol, DUNS number, dossier ID, or KVK number.
Once you locate your company's dossier, you can explore a vast amount of information using the tabs on the left navigator bar, including brands, competitors, company history, news, a financial overview, industry overview, investment research, trademarks, and legal case.
Private Company Profiles
While company information can be found in a host of resources, published information about private companies can be sparse. Company websites, along with the following research databases and Internet sources, are probably your best options for private company information.
- Nexis UniYou can search for news articles and company overviews
Company Dossier with Nexis Uni is probably the best place to find a general profile of a private company. Explore the options on the left navigation bar, including Brands, Competitors, Financial Overview, and News.
- MarketLine AdvantageContains reports on select private companies
- Regional Business NewsIndexing and full text news from hundreds of business news sources across the globe.
- The Wall Street Journal (through ProQuest Global Newsstream)Search the Wall Street Journal, Eastern ed., 1982 - present. Look for the "Latest available Issue" link to browse today's articles.
- Mergent Intellect*Access available through Toledo Public Library. Sign up for a digital public library card to access the database*
Mergent Intellect contains reports on over 454 million global and 97 million US private businesses.