Infopeople Core2: Business Resources: Company and Industry Information Notes

I like that this section opens with a few business questions to give an idea why patrons would want information on businesses and the sorts of details, from company info in preparation for a job interview, to contact info on manufactured products to business research in comparing revenue for businesses in a given market.

Important: Try to learn how the user intends to use the information, as that will inevitably affect which resources you consult to answer the question.

Online resources:

• Of course, the company website. Be aware that information is "what the company wants you to know." Clever to remember that the website tells a crafted tale, so if you're looking to dig up dirt, the company website may not be the place to start. If you can't find a company on a search engine or web directory like Anywho.com, you may try searching for the local...
• ...Chamber of Commerce (ex. the East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce would be a good place to try to track down info of small businesses in that specific area of Sacramento).
• If a patron wants a toll free number, try searching Go Toll Free: http://inter800.com/ (the search domain name that came up in the status bar was yakfree.com!). It is as simple as inputting a "product, service or company name," selecting the state (optional) and indicating the maximum number of results you want. The results will list the full name of matching companies, the state the listed 800 number call and the categories that the particular company covers.

Keyword searches in a catalog should include the terms like:

• corporations
• industry
• sub-keywords to narrow the search such as:
• geographic location: ex. california
• size of business: ex. small
• special characteristics: ex. minority

Then try looking at the subject headings of titles that best match the search for links to other titles in the same subject heading. I also like to go from the OPAC interface to the staff interface in order to browse the subject headings (I have yet to see an OPAC provide a list of subject headings to browse.)(I do this anyway, but thought I'd add it as a reminder.)

Directory resources for searching for companies:
Domestic:

• Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives (332.67 STA 2012 V 1 & 2) V1: Alphabetical listing of over 50K corporations along with contact info, officers names, stock exchange info, description of products/services, NAICS codes, annual sales where available. V2: Alphabetical list of over 77K directors/executives along with business affiliation, titles, addresses, brief biography where available; also Indices: NAICS index, list of corporations by NAICS code, by geography, and Obit section.
• Hoover's Online (hoovers.com) 
• ThomasNet (thomasnet.com)
• Forbes Magazine Lists (forbes.com/lists)
• Inc Magazine's 500 (inc.com/inc500)

International:

• Hoover's Handbook of World Business (338.7 HOO 2013) Profiles of 300 of the "largest, most influential, and [in their opinion] most interesting companies[, private, public and governmental,] based outside the" U.S. Profiles are listed alphabetically and include an overview, history, execs, locations, products, competitors, historical financials. Indices (Companies by Industry, by Headquarters, and list of Execs) and lists of lists (ex. 100 largest by sales) included. This would be a great resource for when someone asks, "what are the top most profitable companies outside of the US."
• Kompass (kompass.com)
• Europages: The European Business Directory (www.europages.com)
• World Business Directory (worldbusinessdir.com)  *community contributed content

Annual Reports and Other Financial Information
Public companies are required to publish an annual report. It may be found on their website, or filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s EDGAR (sec.gov/edgar.shtml) database. If this database is too difficult to use (and it's a government one, so why should it be easy?), try Annualreports.com where you can search by "name, ticker symbol, stock exchange, industry or sector." Private companies are not required to publish an AR (though they may- look to company's website or PR office.)

Reputation of a Company
Need to track down a company that closed (to find old manuals or see if warranty is still good) or research it before you engage in a transaction? You can try reading about it in the news (Lexis Nexis has a good companies-appearing-in-newspapers database.) or contact the Better Business Bureau (locate your local one by searching http://www.bbb.org/us/find-a-bbb) or local Chamber of Commerce, but be aware that they only tell you if there are any outstanding disputes ("unsettled"). They don't certify as "in good standing" any business.

To track down the address of the owners of a business that has closed, contact the Secretary of State for the state in which the headquarters of a business was located.

• (The Texas Secretary of State has an online form to search businesses by "entity name, name of person listed as a registered agent, officer or director of a corporation." It requires requesting an account ahead of time and paying for all searches. 
• State of California has a free online business search, but only for Corporations or LLCs. Search by sole proprietors is not available.)

Referring Company Questions
Essentially a best practice list of pointers, such as being as specific as possible and using statements like "net and gross sales for the past two fiscal years," instead of "financial information" when referring questions to subject specialist.

Industry Information
When researching an industry (as compared to a specific business), knowing the NAICS codes and/or the SIC codes is the way to go. Use US Census Bureau's NAICS page (www.census.gov/epcd/naics02) to convert between the two. Other research tools:

• Current Industrial Reports from the U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov/manufacturing/cir/index.html)  
• International Trade Administration (ita.doc.gov)
• Industry Association webpages
• Subscription Databases: ex. LexisNexis database allows you to search for info by NAICS code. 

Assignment: Compare the reports as found on Edgar and Annualreports.com.
Annual Reports was way easier, however they only had the 2011 report in your choice of PDF or HTML. The EDGAR interface was harder to interpret, (there were instructions that I decided not to read), however they had 2012 and 2013 filings, including quarterly reports and so much more!