LibGuides: Professional Selling: Company Research

Company Databases

Use these sources for a quick overview of a company.

Company Profiles (through Business Source Premier)
Profiles from Datamonitor available through the Business Source Premier database.
Company Snapshot (LexisNexis)
Although this includes both public and private companies, more information will be available on public companies.
Hoover's Academic
Hoover's provides detailed information on 40,000 public and non-public companies.
International Directory of Company Histories
Online from volume 139, 2012 to the present, this source provides detailed accounts of company histories. Volumes 1 through 138 are available in Reference - call number Ref HD2721 .I58
RefUSA
In addition to finding an overview of a company, Ref USA also allows you to make lists of companies based on several criteria such as location or industry. RefUSA also tracks parent and subsidaries. Use a citation management tool to make lists of potential clients.

SWOT, Industry and Market Research Reports

Industry Analyses, SWOT analyses of public companies and similar reports can be located in several sources. If there is no SWOT analysis for your company, consider examining competitor analyses especially for the opportunities and threats,

ABI includes industry reports from First Research, Business Monitor and other sources
Business Source Premier includes SWOT analyses on large public companies. Enter the company name and the term SWOT in the search box.
Hoover's Academic includes industry research reports from First Research.
IbisWorld includes detailed industry reports based on industry codes (NAICS)

Developing Lists

Several databases allow you to make lists of companies in the same industry. These lists can usually be filtered by a variety of factorssuch as location, sales, number of employees. Other company and industry resources often include lists of key competitors but the resources below allow the development of lists using industry codes.

Hoover's Academic -global as well as US
LexisNexis Academic - global as well as US
ReferenceUSA - focus is on US and Canada but US operations of foreign companies are included. Also good for small businesses.