Public and private companies
There are different types of companies - public, private, not for profit (non profit or NGO) – and availability of information varies by type.
Public companies
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission defines public companies as follows:
“first, the company’s securities trade on public markets; and second, the company discloses certain business and financial information regularly to the public.”
Information on public companies tends to be more easily accessible and a lot of it can be found in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Analyst reports covering publicly traded companies are also an excellent resource although access is often restricted, and they can only be found in sources that are not available to the public.
Private companies
Private companies are not required to make their information public; this makes it difficult to find valuable information on them other than what is listed in business directories. Their websites can be an excellent source of valuable information, but there again, what is made available is entirely up to the company. Some do a good job at presenting their products and services and business model in detail; others only offer marketing materials and very basic contact information.
A lot of what is known about private companies might come from press coverage in trade publications or local and national business news.
Books
International Directory of Company Histories by
When students, job candidates, business executives, historians, and investors need accurate and detailed information on the development of any of the world's largest and most influential companies, direct them to International Directory of Company Histories. This multi-volume work is the first major reference to bring together histories of companies that are a leading influence in a particular industry or geographic location. Each three- to five-page entry is meticulously detailed with facts gathered from popular magazines, academic periodicals, books, annual reports, and the archives of the companies themselves. Entries provide information on founders, expansions and losses, labor/management actions, NAICS codes, key dates, ticker symbol, principal subsidiaries, principal divisions, principal operating units, principle competitors, and other significant milestones -- all peppered with statistics, dates and names of key players. Vols. 1-6 are organized alphabetically by major industries; Vol. 7 and subsequent volumes are arranged alphabetically by company name within each volume. The histories were compiled from publicly accessible sources, as well as from material supplied by the companies themselves. Entries on companies that have had major changes since they were last profiled may be selected for updating.
ISBN: 9780028669427Publication Date: 2022-01-28
Company and Industry Research by
The goal of this book is to describe information search strategies and techniques critical for business practitioners and to pinpoint credible sources of information on specific topics in company and industry research. In today's information age, businesses have an ever-growing need to obtain quality information in a timely manner and incorporate it effectively into decision making, and when such a need occurs business managers often face a situation of performing information research themselves with a limited budget. Rather than frantically running searches on random websites with much time wasted, it is imperative that they understand the nature of business information research, develop a systematic plan for data collection, and use appropriate information from credible sources. Learning and becoming familiar with the significance of these information resources is a key for successful business research.
ISBN: 9781631570384Publication Date: 2016-06-27
Please note some of these books might be reference books; reference books are only available for use in the library. You can identify those by looking at the Copies tab in the record of each book – the Location section should say Sherman Library Reference and the Status section should say LIB USE ONLY.