BCOM 214 - Fundamentals of Business Communication

Will I need to research specific companies?

As you explore your industry, you will find mentions of specific companies - whether because they dominate the market, released an industry-changing product, or otherwise impact the story of that industry. It may become useful to dig deeper into these companies to gain more insights into the industry itself. 

Explore these company research strategies and resources when the industry resources do not suffice.

On this page:

• Company research strategies
• Recommended databases

Starting points

Before using databases, gather basic details on the company with a general search engine like Google. Example: search results in Bing for the grocery store Sprouts. Try to gather the following:

1. Company's full, official name: While the common name (e.g., Sprouts) might be enough, some databases require the company's official name (e.g., Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.) to return correct results.
2. Company type: public or private: Knowing whether a company is public or private can affect how you research that company. You'll want to know the stock ticker for public companies, and details on a comparable public competitor when researching a private company.
   • For public: stock ticker: Adding the words "stock ticker" to your basic search (e.g., Sprouts stock ticker) should bring it up immediately (e.g., SFM). (If you can't find the ticker, it's likely the company is private.) Most business databases let you use the ticker as a search term to increase the relevance of your results.
   • For private: public "proxy company": Identifying a similarly sized public company in the same industry to act as a "proxy" for a private company can help you estimate financial details that may be difficult or impossible to find on the private company.
3. Headquarters location: Just as with the full name and ticker symbol, knowing where a company is headquartered will help you correctly identify the company in search results.

Private vs. Public

Certain data are less available on privately held US companies since they are not required to report their financials to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You may need to find details on private companies from news articles, industry reports, and public competitors. Identifying a "proxy company" as mentioned above will also help.