Research Guides: Global Communication: Company Research

Company Research

Investext
Reports and forecasts prepared by top Wall Street and international brokerage firms More than 11,000 U.S. and international companies and 53 industries are covered.
Mergent Online
U.S. Company Data. An Internet-accessible subscription service covering 10,000 public companies and their SEC filings
International Company Data. More companies from more countries than any other international database, with global searching across databases.
Mergent WebReports
Mergent WebReports provides online access to the Moody's/Mergent manuals. These manuals provide corporate histories, business descriptions, and information on properties, subsidiaries, officers and directors, long-term debt, financial statements and municipal debt. Years vary 1920's to present.
Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage
A comprehensive source of business and investment information, offering on-line access to Standard & Poor's independent research, data and commentary on stocks, bonds, funds, and industries. Content includes detailed tock reports, company profiles, bond reports, corporation records, mutual fund reports, security dealers directory and industry surveys.
Global Market Information Database (GMID)
Global Market Information Database (GMID by Euromonitor) providesinternational company, country, industry and market information. Searchoptions include industries, countries, consumers, companies andgeographies. User has ability to download reports in Word, Excel or PDF
eMarketer
eMarketer provides analysis, market data, and statistics on the Internet, e-commerce, online marketing, social media, and emerging digital technologies around the world.

Gartner This link opens in a new window
Use the "Advanced Search" feature to locate full-text articles available to USC users. Not all documents are available in full-text form. Research from Gartner, Inc., an information technology research and advisory company. Gartner works with clients to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT.
Not all documents are available in full-text form. Use the "Advanced Search" feature to locate full-text articles available to USC users.

information

To understand a company and its competition, you need to understand the industry of which it is a part, even if you are looking for information about a niche industry.

Finding information about an industry includes the following steps:

Get an overview of the industry
Look for articles on trends and see if you can find forecasts
Find financial norms and estimates if you need them
Gather statistics from government agencies and trade associations
Contact trade associations for additional information about the industry

Problems

Each information tool uses its own industry groupings and covers different industries

Small industries are often reported as part of larger industries in government data and other information sources

Quality, availability and cost of association information varies widely. Some of it is only available to members or for a fee

Emerging industries are difficult to research