Company Research

Knowing how to research companies is a skill that is useful for job seekers, investors and individuals and organizations that need information for competitive intelligence and marketing purposes.

The Internet is a rich source of information about companies. A subscription or a fee may be required for detailed reports, but much information is available without charge.

If the company you wish to reseach has a web site and you know their web address, you can access their pages directly by typing their URL in the appropriate space in your browser; or link to their pages from the results your favorite search engine returns to you. Job seekers often find information about job openings, employee benefits and corporate culture. Mission statements published at company web sites are published to establish the goals of the organization.

A couple of tutorials giving step-by-step instructions for finding comapny and industry information on the World Wide Web are Researching Companies Online and Intellifact Business.

Company profiles are presented by the sources listed below. Although investors are the targeted audience for most of these sources, valuable nuggets of information can be found for marketing and competitive intelligence purposes, employment research and information about the culture, structure and goals of a company.

Corporate Information
Analysis of sales trends, profitability, stock performance, financial position, research and development expenditures and dividends of publicly traded companies around the world.


Corptech
People Finder (find the names of top-level executives), Product Finder (find the manufacturers of over 3,000 categories of high-tech products), Employment Trends (Projected high-tech employment) and Demographic Analyses.


Forbe s Toolbox
Forbes 200 Best Small Companies in America, Best Mutual Funds, The Forbes 500's Annual Directory of America's Leading Companies.


Hoovers Online
Brief description, address, phone, fax, web site, subsidiaries, key competitors, stock quotes, sales, number of employees, and company officers.


Lycos Small Business Directory
DUNS number, address, phone, parent, corporate contact, annual sales, number of employees, trade name, industry, Web addresses, ownership, ticker symbol and exchange.


Public Register
Company home pages, financial information, and research reports and annual reports.


Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
Business name and address and, for several companies, an online catalog and link to the company's web site.


Wall Street Research Network
SEC documents, company home pages, annual reports, press releases and other financial data.

Nonprofits may be researched at Guidestar.