Why company data?
Company data allows the market researcher the opportunity to see how a company in the market of interest is doing.
- Basic company research can lead you to other content such as competitors and a narrative on how a company is performing.
- Remember that there are public and private companies. What is the difference and why would the market researcher care?
- Public companies have share holders and publish annual reports and other SEC filings, providing the researcher with a lot of data about the company.
- Private companies do not have to provide financials to the public and do not provide the government with as much data.
Question 2. - What concerns quickly manifest themselves as we investigate company and then industry data?
If you would like to see some instructions on making a list of companies in an industry, in a geographic region, or using other characteristics, this video will give you step by step instructions on finding and then downloading the list into an excel spreadsheet for later use.
Here is the link - Making a Company List.
Company Information
The following databases will provide you with current and useful company information.
- Business Insights This link opens in a new windowBusiness Insights is used to locate information on companies and industries. In the image you can see that I searched for a company name but I could have searched by industry or keyword. Each company record provides information about the industry, brands, and company histories. Citing methods are included at the end of each record.
In this example I did a search for Tesla - the maker of electric cars. Finding a company of interest helps me find other research since I can see how Tesla is doing in the market by clicking on the links that are on the left hand side of the page. Under companies with similar revenue you can see that Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi are competitors. You can click on those links to locate data about those companies. And finally, if you look under the Industries you can see that Tesla is in the Automobile Industry. Use that link to find other data on the industry.
- Reference USA via NC LIVE This link opens in a new windowBusiness and consumer research platform that helps you create marketing plans, conduct competitive analysis, raise funds, and locate people.
ReferenceUSA is a searchable database of the companies in the US. This source includes small single owner companies, subsidiaries that are a part of a larger company, manufacturing company warehouses or even factories. You will find headquarters of companies but will also find churches, schools, community centers, baseball teams and so on. Each record includes lots of data about that company or business and because of that you can limit by size, type of company and location.
In the past we have used this source to:
- list all of the Fortune 1000 companies
- list all of the companies headquartered on Long Island
- list all of the top companies in surgical manufacturing
- search for internships
- search business prospects
For an example, here is the link to the company record for Tesla.
Clicking on the name provides more data about the company.
In another example, here is the company record for the NFL - there is a record just like this for all of the 50 million companies in this source.
Some other sources to consider.
- MorningStar Investment Research Center This link opens in a new windowAnother resource for quality information on public companies.
- North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.