This web page contains links to electronic resources useful for researching business topics. For a complete list of electronic resources available to University of Maryland faculty, staff, and students, as well as information about the full range of library materials and services, consult the UM Libraries' home page.
Because of licensing agreements, access to bibliographic databases and electronic journals is restricted to UM faculty, staff, and students. These may be accessed from off campus; MdUSA is the gateway for some of the databases; for more detailed information consult Remote access.
Outline
- Public vs. Private
- Guides
- Analysis
- Comparative/Rank
- Statistics
- Financials
- Selecting, Evaluating, Citing Electronic Sources
Public vs. Private
- First thing one must consider: Is company public or private?
- Directories are useful to locate this information.
- Private Companies
- Guide to finding information on privately owned companies.
- Business & Company Resource Center
- Combines in one place many sources, including company profiles, company histories, company chronologies and periodical articles on companies.
- Hoovers Profiles
- Commercial business web site from a publisher of business information. Company profiles contain information as to whether company is public or private.
- Industries & Corporations
- Guide to information sources on industries and companies.
Guides
- Guides are very useful in providing research direction and discussion of business research sources.
- Business Information: how to find it, how to use it. Mck Ref HF5356.L36
- Business Information Sources. Mck Ref HF5351.D36
- How to Find Information About Private Companies. McK Ref HG4013.5.H69
Analysis
- Sources are listed in order of use priority
- RDS Business Reference Suite (BizSuite)
- Combines three complementary databases: Business & Industry, Business & Management Practices, and TableBase. TableBase is comprised of tabular data based on trade and professional publications from Business & Industry and Business & Management Practices. The three databases can be searched all together or individually. Use Business & Industry to get very current articles from the trade literature on company issues, trends, outlook, challenges.
- Business & Company Resource Center
- For a company analysis from an investment perspective click on Investment Reports. This database combines in one place many sources, including company profiles, company histories, company chronologies and periodical articles on companies.
- ABI/Inform
- Broad coverage of research oriented journals with perspective on companies. About 70% full text. Combine search strategy with classification code 9110 for company specific articles. For example: intel and cc(9110) for company specific articles.
- Dow Jones Interactive
- Covers over 6000 business newspapers and periodicals, includes SEC filing data, company to company comparisons, allows screening for companies.
- Academic Universe Lexis-Nexis
- Full text coverage of newspapers and magazines dealing with all aspects of company.
- Business Source Premier
- Broad business coverage, mostly full text articles can be emailed.
Competitors
- The following sources are useful in finding competitors.
- Business & Company Resource Center
- Use the SIC/NAICS search strategy to find other companies within the same code. To find SIC/NAICS codes for your company, do a company search first, and then look at the company profile where you will find the codes listed.
- Hoover's Handbook of American Business. McK Ref HG4057.A48617
- Web site equivalent: Hoovers Profiles
- Dow Jones Interactive
- Company profile provides list of competitors.
- Value Line Investment Survey. McK Ref HG4501.V26
- Also available in CD ROM version at McK Computer Workstation #9 in McKeldin Reference Area.
- SIC and NAICS codes may be useful in finding competitors. The Census Department Home Page has links to SIC and NAICS codes. SIC and NAICS from Census
- The following two print versions of the manuals may also prove useful:
- Standard Industrial Classification Manual. McK Quick Ref HA40.I6U3.
- North American Industrial Classification System. McK Quck Ref HF1042.N6 1997
Company Home Pages
- Company home pages contain a lot of information about the company--business, products, services, links to annual reports, etc.
- An easy way to try to locate a company's home page is to type in the company name into the Location box in Netscape: ex. http://www.intel.com or use a search engine such as Google.
- Business & Company Resource Center
- Combines in one place a lot of information on companies, including company's home page URL, investment/brokerage house reports, company rankings, company histories, company chronologies and periodical articles about the company.
- WebSitez is an easy to use site whose search engine looks for over one million web addresses.
Comparative/Rank
- RMA annual statement studies. McK Ref HF5681.B2R6
- Industry norms and key business ratios. McK Ref HC101.I55
- Dow Jones Interactive
- Covers over 6000 business newspapers and periodicals, includes SEC filing data, company to company comparisons, allows screening for companies.
Statistics
- RDS Business Reference Suite (BizSuite)
- Combines three complementary databases: Business & Industry, Business & Management Practices, and TableBase. TableBase is comprised of tabular data based on trade and professional publications from Business & Industry and Business & Management Practices. The three databases can be searched all together or individually.
- D&B business rankings McK Ref HG4057.A237
- Print directory ranks close to 10,000 companies, both public and private by employee size, and within SIC code.
- Dow Jones Interactive
- Statistics include company to company comparisons, data from SEC filings, can also screen for companies according to selected variables.
Financials
- Annual Reports
- Guide to SEC filings.
- Hoovers Online
- This web site provides information on private and public companies and for public companies includes link to SEC filings.
- Dow Jones Interactive (Also available through MdUSA [UM Database Gateway])
- Includes SEC filing data, company to company comparisons, allows screening for companies in the Company topic area.
Selecting, Evaluating, and Citing Electronic Sources
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This document was produced July 27, 2001. It is maintained by Lily Griner, griner@umd.edu and Zaida Diaz, zdiaz@umd.edu, McKeldin Social Sciences & Allied Professions Team.Direct all comments and suggestions concerning this page to the UM Libraries Web Board at Webmaster@itd.umd.edu
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Last Revised: July 27, 2001