BUS 201: Introduction to Business Processes
Course Instructor: Deborah Brown
Librarians: Amy VanScoy & Hyun-Duck Chung
Company Information
General Directory Information
Financial/Annual Reports/Ratios
Market Share
Rankings
Company History
Stock Performance
Current News/Information
General Directory Information
These sources usually provide an address and phone numbers, name of the CEO,
SIC code, estimated sales, and number of employees. Some directories
provide much more information -- biographies of officers, detailed financial
information, stock reports, news, analyses of business strategies and
recent developments, etc.
Business Source Premier [Choose Company Profiles]
Reference USA
Key Print Sources
Directory
of Corporate Affiliations - Ref HG4057 .A219
S&P
Register of Corporations - RefHG4057
.A4
D&B
Million Dollar Directory - Ref
HF5035 .D83
Thomas
Register - Ref T12 .T6 or http://www.thomasnet.com
Ward's
Business Directory of US Private and Public Companies -
Ref HG4057.A449
North
Carolina Business Directory - Ref
HD9727.N8 N69
North
Carolina Manufacturers Directory - Ref HF5065.N8
N64
Financial/Annual
Reports/Ratios
Business researchers and investors may use Financial Reports, Annual Reports or
10-K's. Financial Reports tend to be of two kinds: balance sheets
and income statements. A balance sheet is a status report
that describes the financial condition of a company at a fixed point in
time. An income statement, or earnings report, shows how much money
is made or lost during the fiscal year (or other time) being reported.
Financial statements are included in annual reports (sometimes abridged),
S&P reports, and Mergent. To facilitate comparisons, ratios are often
calculated using the numbers on financial statements. Two most common
types of corporate reports are the 10-K and the Annual Report. The 10-K
is the detailed report submitted to the SEC and is the most exhaustive
source of current corporate information. While often useful to the business
researcher, it is critical to investment analysis. The Annual Report is
the report to the shareholders and is not an official filing. This is
often the glossy snapshot: mostly positive, discussing plans and company's
outlook, with financial data included.
One
of the ways to evaluate the performance of any given company is by
comparing that company to other companies or its industry. Financial
ratios provide a means and standard of comparison. Many financial
elements, such as inventory size, are validated by their relationship/ratio
to other elements in a company's financial record, such as sales.
Comparing these ratios to similar asset-sized companies or to the
industry can result in a better understanding of the health of a
company.
LexisNexis
Academic [select 'Business']
Standard
& Poor's Net Advantage
Mergent
Online [financial reports, ratios]
Securities and
Exchange Commission http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm
Market Share
Market share is the ratio of sales of a brand to the total sales of that product-type
in a defined area (county, continent, etc.). Market share can also be
defined as the ratio of sales of a company's entire product line to
the total sales of all related companies. Market share is usually presented
as a percentage, although sometimes a raw number of sales or units is
provided. If the total raw number is also provided, you can calculate
the market share percentage by dividing the brand's number by the total
number, and multiplying the results by 100.
S&P
Net Advantage
Mergent
Online
Business Source Premier
LexisNexis
Academic
Key Books
Market Share Reporter - Ref HF53 .M37
World
Market Share Reporter - RefHD2757.15 .W67
Mergent
Industry Review - Ref HG4961 .M68
S&P
Industry Survey - Ref HG4501
.S756
Rankings of Companies
Find out how a particular company ranks against its competitors, or within
a geographical area.
S&P
Net Advantage
Thomson
Research (select News, then TableBase)
Key Books
Business
Rankings Annual - Ref
HG4050 .B88
Duns
Business Rankings - Ref HG4057.A237
Market
Share Reporter - Ref HF53.M37
Ward's
Business Dir. of U.S. Private and Public Companies - Ref
HG4057.A449
World
Market Share Reporter - Ref HD2757.15
.W67
Company
History
These
sources give you information about ownership, brands or products,
mergers, board of directors, name changes and of course, the history
of the company.
Business
Source Premier
Mergent
Online
Key
Books
International
Directory of Company Histories - Ref
HD2721.I57
Notable
Corporate Chronologies - Ref HD2721 .N68
Stock Performance
This
data provides information to investors to understand and make
decisions to determine company "health." Key resource publishers
are Mergent (formerly Moody's), Value Line, Standard & Poor's,
and Morningstar. Looking at stock resources is sometimes a
good place to find ratios and other financial information for
business researchers. Of course, these companies must be publicly
traded ones.
Morningstar Library Edition
Value Line Investment Survey Ref
HG4501 .V26
Yahoo!Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/
Yahoo! Finance Historical Prices
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=GE
Current News/Information
Find out about current happenings, executive changes, management
restructuring, new products, mergers and acquisitions, etc.
LexisNexis
Academic
Business
Source Premier
Librarian Contact Information
For course assignments, contact:
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