Company Research 101-1

Let’s say you’ve categorized your research question and what you really need is company information. 

Here are some quick, initial things to think about as you begin your research:

• Is the company public or private?  (hint: it is more difficult to find information on a private company)
• Is the company a subsidiary? (if so, financial information is typically reported under the parent company)
• What is the “official” name of the company? ex. Target Corporation, Ford Motor Company, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., etc.  (some databases won’t pull up information on the company unless you have typed in the “official name”)
• What is the address of the company’s headquarters?  (some databases list financial information on local units or franchisees OR 2 companies have similar names: either way, an address helps to verify that you are looking at the correct company)
• If it is a public company, what is the ticker symbol?  (some databases allow you to search by ticker symbol, and honestly, this is the fastest, easiest way to search)

I like to start my company research in Hoover’s Online because 1) the database is forgiving when it comes to the “spelling” of the companies name (i.e., I don’t have to type in the “official name” to get results) 2) the database easily answers all the questions posed above, and 3) I can get quite a bit of information from Hoovers including financial data, competitive landscape, biographies on key personnel, news, products, etc.

Next research post: I’ll talk about some useful TCU databases for researching public companies.

Tags: Company, Research Tips