Research Guides: Company Research: Company Overviews & Profiles

Company Overview Resources

Each of the resources listed below provide access to company overviews, such as a profile or report.

Business Source Complete (via Ebsco) This link opens in a new window
See if a MarketLine company profile is available for a company by typing your company's name in the search box and then choosing "Company Report" on the left side of the screen under "Document Type."
D&B Hoovers This link opens in a new window
Annual company reports, ratio data, executive information, analyst reports, SWOT analyses, credit ratings and recent developments. Also includes, industry reports. Help Guide

If searching for what is popularly known as a "Hoover's" company record, you can approach this 2 ways:

"One Stop Report" in D&B Hoovers database (see above) will give you this information and more.
Or, searching Nexis Uni database by "A Publication" and entering in just "Hoover's" will give you 4 choices; then search within that chosen publication for the desired company.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Search for any of the following types of content: news, legal cases, law reviews, company information, country information, or global publications. Help Guide
Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Both U.S. public and international public-equivalent companies are represented. Provides details on items from SEC filings such as business description, history, property, subsidiaries, officers and directors, long-term debt and capital stock. Financial statements are presented in "as-reported" form and in native currencies. Search by company name or ticker symbol.

Encyclopedia of Global Brands Contains 270 entries, written in case-study style, that highlight interesting details including how a product originated and was first marketed, how it developed commercially and how it fares today compared with its competitors and its own past history. Included are anecdotes pertaining to the famous, or infamous, marketing strategies and advertising campaigns that managed to capture the sometimes jaded viewers' attention.

Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new window
Sign up for your free Wall Street Journal online account. Available courtesy of the GGU Business Library.

International Directory of Company Histories
This reference series contains overviews of many of the larger companies of the United States. It is an excellent starting point for researching company history or tracing changes over a company's life.

Company websites

Pros: Easy to find with Google, very relevant information, may have rich content (annual report, mission statement, etc.)

Cons: May have very little useful content, purpose of site is positive PR for company so info is NOT objective

Bottom line: Check your company's website but keep in mind that it's just one side of the story!

Q: What if I can't find my company's mission or objectives on their website?
A: Companies are not required to share this information with the public. If you have searched all the "about us" and "for investors" links and cannot find the information you need, it probably means that it isn't there. Try searching the databases listed below with your company name in one search box and "mission statement" in another. This might help you indirectly find the information you're looking for.

ABI/INFORM Collection (via ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Includes important business-related full-text scholarly journals, key trade publications, dissertations, conference proceedings, and market reports. Help Guide
Business Source Complete (via Ebsco) This link opens in a new window
All disciplines of business are included--marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, eBooks, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, Company profiles, SWOT analyses and more. .
Help Guide

Organizational Structure

Corporate organization charts may be proprietary information. In some cases, a company may opt to publish them in their annual report or SEC 10-K filing. Given how quickly companies move employees around, any organization chart that you find on the web is likely to be outdated...

One possibility would be to contact the company directly, explain why you need the information and how you'd use it (e.g., educational purposes, term paper, etc.), and see if they can provide you with anything. Beyond that, the following sources may also be helpful.

The Official Board
Offers charts for "the world's 20,000 largest corporations."

If you wish to piece together a list of executives' names and job functions, use the following databases:

S&P Global NetAdvantage This link opens in a new window
Perform a company search; then choose "People" on the left.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Search by "Company Info" and then choose "Company Profile"; expand the "Sources" section on the left and choose the appropriate "sub-database," such as "CI Technology Database" or "D&B Executive Affiliations."
Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Search by company; then choose "Executives" tab.
D&B Hoovers This link opens in a new window
Perform a company search; on the left look for "Contact Decision Matrix" under the Core section.