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BUSX 301: Company & Industry Research Shana Gass, MSLS Reference Librarian, Cook Library September 2010

Your assignment What do you need to know? Which sources would you consult to find out?

Company Web Site Good first step –Look at the Investors / Investor Relations Section. –Due Dilligence: Consult Annual Report and/or 10-K. Additional sources –Sources that come from outside the company – news & analysis –Sources about competitors & the industry as a whole

Cook Library Business Subject Gateway

Company & Industry Info - Exercise Teams divide & conquer All sources – link from Business Subject Gateway Ask questions! Be ready to report on your source 15 min.

Company Dossier, in the LexisNexis Academic Blend of sources (like Yahoo Finance) Snapshot – background info Financials & ratios News Competitors Stock info, investment analysis Law cases & patents Custom reports! LexisNexis is a Cook Library Database

Also in LexisNexis: Hoover’s In-Depth Company Records Public & private, US & International Financials, personnel, subsidiaries History & Recent happenings Updated frequently In LexisNexis Academic, Cook Library Database Go to > Companies > Company Profiles

Value Line Industry & Company Information Investment perspective Financials & Stock performance Analysis Ranking of companies & industries  Timeliness = how well VL thinks stock will perform in next 6-12 mos. 1 is the best  Safety = VL’s measure of volatility 1 is the least volatile Use the Investor Tools tab to learn about it! Cook Library Database

Value Line – First Screen

Value Line – Lookup Company

Value Line – Searching for a Company

A Company Stock Report

The Value Line Investor Tools Section

Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage – Industry Surveys Environment Trends How the industry operates How to analyze the industry (using ratios, etc.) Financials for leading companies Sources of Industry info  Industry publications  Trade associations  Government agencies which regulate industry Cook Library Database

Datamonitor Company SWOT Analyses In Business Source Complete Steps: Do a simple search for company name Under narrow by source…click on …SWOT Analyses CAUTION: Datamonitor reports embargoed for academic market – may be a bit old In a Cook Library Database

Annotated Bibliography List of sources on a topic APA Format Summarize & evaluate each source in turn How does each source contribute to your project? How does each source relate to the other sources?

Bibliography Entry for an Article (HTML) from a Database (Business Source Complete) in APA Liao, D.M. (1999). Leader of the pack. The China Business Review, 26(6), 28+. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.

Read…and Question! Author – who & how qualified? Source – what is it? What kind of publication? Who reads it? What is its reputation? Evidence – people or publications quoted? Statistics included? Context provided? Bias/Point of view? What does the author want readers to know, do, or believe?

Finding Articles - Exercise Teams collectively finding 3-4 types of articles 3 must be found using library databases Use Big 4 handout Be picky! Ask questions 10 minutes

Press Releases Mainly good news (New products, awards, expansion…) Publicizing unseen innovations (possibly HR related) Feel good stories! Social marketing… Quarterly financial announcements Bad news – occasionally (it’s gotta be pretty bad)

A Press Release about a Press Release

General Mills Probes Fake Release – Wall Street Journal, 17 June 2010General Mills Probes Fake Release

Best source of news about the Toyota recall?

Press Releases Can Also Be Found… …In LexisNexis Academic …In Factiva Look for: –Articles labeled as being from Business Wire or PRNewswire (there are others) –At bottom of article: info about the organization who wrote the release, contact info for Media or Investor Relations personnel

Press Release from Factiva

End of Press Release from Factiva Press releases in library databases will always end with info about the organization(s) that put out the release

The Wild Web… Always consider: who is writing? What does s/he/they have at stake? A blog – who is the author? A web site – who is responsible for it?

Blogs are Important Enough in the Business World, that.. …selected blogs are now included in the Factiva & LexisNexis databases!

Annotation Hints – Source Level Source as context Clues in databases Publication homepage Also try publication directories –Magazines for Libraries –SRDS Media (library database) > Magazine Advertising Source (including Media Kit for readership)

More Hints – Author Level Journalists - not necessarily a lot of info Try LinkedIn.com ? Academic authors – credentials always included in piece What else has author published? Awards?

More Hints – Document Level Reviews? Links to? Blog commentary? Letters to the editor? Has it been cited by other authors?

More Research Tips! > BUSX

Citing an Article from a Database Cook Library > Quick Tools > Citing Sources > APA > Electronic Sources

Questions? …feel free to contact me! Shana Gass (410) Or any reference librarian: Cook Library Web Site > Ask a Librarian for options