Company Information: A Research Guide

Researchers often search for company information by characteristics such as amount of employees or sales, geographic location, industry category. They may also have a variety of reasons to locate companies such as employment opportunities or leads generation. Researchers will find it more difficult to locate information about private companies simply because they are not required to report various filings with the Securities Exchange Commission; however, there are some sources that list privately held companies, as well as information that can be found on a company's Web site, article searches, local business press, or Secretary of State filings. The terms and phrases listed in the subject headings below can be used to search for more materials in the library's catalog and research databases. If you need further assistance, please ask a librarian.

Hoover's Handbook of American Business 2004, 14th ed. Austin, TX: Hoover's Business Press, 2003. Annual. ISBN: 1573110884.
Two-volume set contains in-depth profiles of 750 of America's largest and most influential companies. Examines the personalities, events, and strategies that have made these enterprises leaders in their fields.

Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies 2003, 10th ed. Austin, TX: Hoover's Business Press, 2003. Annual. ISBN: 1573110833.
Covers selected U.S. public companies with sales between $10 million and $1 billion, at least 3 years of reported sales, at least a 30% rate of sales growth during that time, and positive net income for their most recent fiscal year.

Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies, 9th ed. Austin, TX: Hoover's Business Press, 2004. Biennial. ISBN: 1573110906.
Covers 900 nonpublic U.S. enterprises including large industrial and service corporations, hospitals and health care organizations, charitable and membership organizations, mutual and cooperative organizations, joint ventures, government-owned corporations, and major university systems.

Hoover's Handbook of World Business, 10th ed. Austin, TX: Hoover's Business Press, 2004– . Annual. ISBN: 1573110892.
In-depth profiles of 300 of the most influential firms from Canada, Europe, and Japan, as well as companies from the fast-growing economies of such countries as China, India, and Taiwan.

Mergent Industrial Manual. New York: Mergent FIS, 1909– . Annual. ISSN: 15400832.
Covers 2,000 top industrial corporations. Includes history, business, properties, subsidiaries, officers, directors, long-term debt, capital stock, letter to shareholders, notes to financial statements, and financial data.

Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives. New York, Standard & Poor's, 1973– . Annual. ISSN: 03613623.
A principal source for company identification indexed by industrial code, geographical location, and by executive and directors' names.

Fast Companies Database
http://fcke.fastcompany.com
World’s most interesting and innovative companies.

Fortune’s Index of Lists
www.fortune.com/fortune/alllists
Includes well-known lists like Fortune 500, as well as others like the Global 500, America’s Most Admired Companies, World’s Most Admired Companies, 100 Best Companies to Work For and many more.

Scoreboards, BusinessWeek
www.businessweek.com/common/tools.htm
Provides interactive lists that rank companies by certain investment variables.

Many directories include search by person's or company's name, yellow page heading, or reverse telephone number. These directories may provide postal addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for people.

• 411locate: www.411locate.com
• AnyWho online Directory: www.anywho.com
• Infobel Worldwide Directories: www.infobel.com/teldir/
• InfoSpace: www.infospace.com
• InfoUSA: www.infousa.com (see Free Yellow Pages)
• International Directories, WhitePages.com: www.whitepages.com/intl_sites.pl
• The Ultimates: www.theultimates.com