LibGuides: Business Resources: Company & Industry Research

Company Information Databases

GALE Business Insights

Business, Company Information, Finance, Management
Content: Company and business information, peer-reviewed journals. Full text.

Explore the world's companies through expert analysis such as SWOT analyses, financial statements, case studies and articles from academic journals, trade magazines, news outlets and more. Gale.
Business Market Research Collection
Accounting, Business, Economics, Finance, Management
Content: Business and company information. Trade. Full-text. 1986-current.

Conduct company, industry, economic and geopolitical market research with information from these sources: Hoover's Company Profiles - covering 40,000 global public and non-public companies including financials, competitors, officers, and more; OxResearch - succinct articles covering regional economic and political developments of significance; US and Worldwide Industry & Market Reports from Barnes Reports - covering global industries in depth; and Snapshots - market research overviews on 40+ industries and 40 countries. Coverage: 1986 - current
Mergent Intellect
Mergent Intellect provides up-to-date, detailed business and marketing information on more than 100 million private and public US companies, as well as details on more than 90 million executives and almost 300 million North American residents and businesses.
Business Source Complete
Financial data, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more.

SIC and NAICS Codes

When searching industry information, it is often helpful to have the SIC or NAICS codes for your industry. SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) and NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) are standard numbering systems for identifying the industry affiliation of individual companies. The heirarchical structure of both numbering systems allows for searching broad industry groups as well as specific industry segments.

Public vs. Private

When searching for company information, one of the first things you should do is determine if the company is Public or Private.

Public companies (i.e. companies that issue stock that is publicly traded in the various stock exchanges) are required to make certain information available to potential investors. As a result, it is usually easier to locate information (particularly financial information) about public companies.

Private companies (wholly-owned by individuals or families or have stock that is closely-held by a small number of investors) do not have the reporting requirements of public companies. Consequently, finding or verifying information (particularly financial information) is much more difficult for these types of companies.