1. 1 Business Information Module 2: Seeking for business information – Web-based information resources Part B: Company information International Summer School on Information Literacy, funded by CEI, 10-14 September 2007, Fermo, Italy Sabina Cisek, PhD Associate Professor Institute of Information and Library Science, Jagiellonian University Krakow, Poland isabina@inib.uj.edu.plisabina@inib.uj.edu.pl, sabina.cisek@gmail.comsabina.cisek@gmail.com

2. 2 Company information Information about different types of organizations: –publicly trade companies (listed on stock exchanges) –private companies –state-owned companies –not-for-profit organizations –government bodies Information about: –Company background – name, address, website, contacts, identification number; managers; line of business – products, services; legal status and type of a company; size, number of employees; corporate affiliations; basic financial data (income, profit or loss, turnover) –More in-depth information – company finances, competitors, history, perspectives, policies (ecological, social, etc.)

3. 3 Company information sources Directories, yellow pages, databases National/official registries Business/industry/product classifications Lists/rankings Annual reports and other formal documents Stock exchanges’ websites and services Trade magazines, journals, news services Companies’ websites …

4. 4 Company directories, yellow pages, databases globalEdge – Company Directories: http://globaledge.msu.edu/resourceDesk/companyDirectorie s.asp http://globaledge.msu.edu/resourceDesk/companyDirectorie s.asp Central & Eastern European Directory On-Line: http://www.ceebd.co.uk/ceebd/industdi.htm http://www.ceebd.co.uk/ceebd/industdi.htm Hoover’s: http://www.hoovers.com/free/http://www.hoovers.com/free/ Europages, the European Business Directory: http://www.europages.com/, http://www.europages.net/ http://www.europages.com/http://www.europages.net/ Kompass: http://www.kompass.com/http://www.kompass.com/ Teleadreson [Poland]: http://www.teleadreson.pl/?lang=enhttp://www.teleadreson.pl/?lang=en ThomasNet [USA]: http://www.thomasnet.com/http://www.thomasnet.com/ Short assignment: find on the Web the yellow pages / business telephone book for your country and describe its information content

5. 5 Company identification numbers – come from: official / governmental company registers (in most countries companies and other organizations have to be registered with a government agency or a court or a statistical office – and get a national registration number); examples – Company registration around the world [links to registers] http://www.commercial-register.sg.ch/home/worldwide.html http://www.commercial-register.sg.ch/home/worldwide.html RBA – Official Company Registers http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/registers.htm#general http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/registers.htm#general UK Companies House – Worldwide Registries http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/links/introduction.shtml #reg http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/links/introduction.shtml #reg commercial information providers; the most important is DUNS Number by Dun & Bradstreet

6. 6 Business/industry/product classifications List of NACE (Nomenclature Generale des Activities Economiques) codes. NACE is a EU industry standard classification system consisting of a 6 digit code : http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/ cases/index/nace_all.html http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/ cases/index/nace_all.html LogisticsWorld – NAICS / SIC Codes Lookup and Conversion Table: http://www.loglink.com/sic.asp http://www.loglink.com/sic.asp The United Nations – List of international family of economic and social classifications: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/family1.asp http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cr/family1.asp

7. 7 Global, international, local lists/rankings of companies Gary Price's List of Lists http://www.specialissues.com/lol/ http://www.specialissues.com/lol/ Forbes http://www.forbes.com/lists/ ; http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/29/forbes-global-2000-biz- 07forbes2000-cz_sd_0329global_land.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/lists/ http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/29/forbes-global-2000-biz- 07forbes2000-cz_sd_0329global_land.html Fortune http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ ; http://money.cnn.com/lists/index.htmlhttp://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ http://money.cnn.com/lists/index.html Assignment: What type of information can you get from rankings? Check Forbes and/or Fortune lists and their information content. Work in pairs.

8. 8 Annual reports and other formal documents (compulsory prepared by „listed” companies, but also – by other organizations) AnnualReports.com http://annualreports.com/http://annualreports.com/ CAROL – Company Annual Reports On-Line: http://www.carol.co.uk/ [Europe, USA] http://www.carol.co.uk/ IRIN – Annual Report Resource Center http://www.irin.com/cgi- bin/main.cgi?index=mainhttp://www.irin.com/cgi- bin/main.cgi?index=main NYSE Listed Company Directory http://www.nyse.com/listed/listed.html http://www.nyse.com/listed/listed.html Example of an annual report – European Patent Organisation Annual report 2006 http://www.epo.org/about-us/office/annual- reports/2006.htmlhttp://www.epo.org/about-us/office/annual- reports/2006.html

9. 9 Annual reports and other formal documents (compulsory prepared by „listed” companies, but also – by other organizations) Assignment – work in small groups –Look at two or three different annual reports. What data and knowledge do they offer? How in-depth and comprehensive is the information? Describe information content and potential uses of annual reports.