Business

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.

Industry Search Strategies

1. Learn the industry's NAICS code (North American Industry Classification System code). Search with this code as a keyword or filter in business databases to locate reports, articles, data, and companies specific to that industry. Exploring the NAICS structure can also help with narrowing or broadening your industry focus.

2. Brainstorm different ways to describe that industry, thinking of both your focused industry (e.g., scheduled air passenger transportation) as well as the overall sector (e.g., transportation, air transportation) to which it belongs. Create a list of keywords and phrases to use as potential search terms.

3. When necessary, use Boolean operators to combine keywords, phrases, and NAICS codes to expand or narrow your search results in a database.

4. Consider the geographical focus of your research. Most industry reports are specific to a single country or region, so pay attention to these designations when gathering resources.

5. Pay attention to the publication date as you explore resources. When possible, filter your results to the last 2-3 years for the most recent data available. Many - but not all - industry reports have the publication year in the title, alongside the industry name and geography.

6. Gather information from a variety of sources. Search within multiple databases, find different kinds of source types (reports, news, snapshots, etc.), and evaluate information from several publishers, organizations, authors, editors, and/or analysts. Diversifying the information and data you gather is the best way to ensure your own research is unbiased, accurate, and inclusive.

7. Need more help with your search? Check out the tutorial below, or contact your librarian: