Business Tutorial
Introduction
Sources of Business
Information
General Business Magazines
| Trade
Magazines | Business Web Sites | Business News
Services | Business and Trade
Associations | U.S. Government Agencies | State and Local
Government Agencies
A Research Strategy
Company Location &
Status | Company Industry Grouping | Financial
Information | Company Operations
| Competition
& Market Share | Industry
Information | Economic Context
This tutorial will survey the kinds of business information
generally available at no
charge on the Internet. The first section provides an introduction
to sources that provide
business-related information. Commercial sources, associations and
organizations, federal
government, and state agencies are among the sources covered. The
second section presents
a strategy that the business researcher can follow -- from
research about a specific
company to information about a broad industry and the economic
environment in general.
The problem/solution format set forth throughout this tutorial
is suggestive of kind of
searches that can be done. Keep in mind that there are many other
ways to arrive at
similar results.
Although the Internet can be a rich source for business
information, there is much
information not freely available. Premium information such as
market research reports,
industry ratios, and earnings of private companies are not
necessarily available at no
charge on the Internet. We will focus here, however, on
information that is freely
available on the Internet.
Sources of Business Information
General Business Magazines
Most general business magazines (as commonly found on
newsstands) have Web sites with
current articles accessible online. These are a useful source of
news, trends, and
industry information. A partial list includes:
Problem: Many more business magazines are
available online. How can
you find them?
Solution: A power search with a comprehensive
search engine can produce
the desired results. Try a search like this: +"business
magazines" +directory [Click
here to try this search]
Trade magazines are the kind of reading we would expect to see
in the offices of a
given company. Virtually every business has its own trade
literature. Examples include:
Trade journals contain trends in the industry, industry
statistics, company rankings,
feature articles about industry leaders, and
business-to-business advertising (an often
overlooked, but important, aspect of business
information gathering).
Problem: You need to find trade
magazines on gourmet coffee.
Solution: Try entering a search like this
into one of the three
recommended search engines: +magazines
+"gourmet coffee" [Click
to try this search]
Problem: You need to locate trade
literature on e-commerce.
Solution: This search produces some
excellent results: +"trade
magazines"
+"e-commerce" [Click
to try this search]
Business Web Sites
Business-oriented Web sites are among the richest sources of
business information. Many
of these contain freely available information. Sometimes these
sites also have added value
available to subscribers. Below is a small sampling of this kind
of Web site:
Problem: You want to find more business Web
sites like those above.
Solution 1: To find Web sites that contain
similar sites, try searching
for lists that include the above sites, as well as others. Try
searching like this: +bloomberg
+"wall street research
net" +"motley fool" [Click
here to try this search]
Solution 2 : Use Google Sets. Try the same three
sources used in Solution 1 above. [Click
here to try this search]
Solution 3 : You might also try to find research
guides already created by
librarians, researchers, or others. To find other business
guides try searching a search engine like this: +"business
research" +guide [Click
to try this search]
Business News Sources
Business news can be found in newspapers, wire services (such
as the Associated Press),
fee-based Web sites, and freely available Web sites, such as the
following:
Problem: You want to find business news
sources freely available on
the Web.
Solution: Try this simple search: "business news"
[Click
to try
this search]
Problem: You need to find current news about
the business of
intermodal transportation.
Solution: Search a comprehensive search engine
something like this: +"intermodal
transportation"
+"news releases" [Click
here to try this search]
Problem: You want to find out current news
about initial public
offerings (IPOs)
Solution: Try this search: +"ipo
news" [Click
to try this search]
Problem: You want to find out Coca Cola's
human resources policies and
decisions.
Solution: Try a search like this: +"coca cola" +"human
resources"
[Click
to try this search]
One particular publisher, American City Business Journals
publishes business newspapers
in over 40 different markets (http://www.bizjournals.com/)
. Use this strategy to find other such business journals: "business journals".
[Click
to try this search]
Business and trade associations exist to provide networking,
pooling of resources,
sponsoring of conferences, and often publishing special reports
and statistics concerning
an industry. Below is just a sampling of available resources:
You can also use your Web searching skills to do a targeted
search.
Problem: You would like to locate business or
trade associations in
Connecticut.
Solution: Try both of these searchers: +"business associations"
+connecticut
[Click
here to try this search]; +"trade
associations" +connecticut [Click
here to try this search]
Chambers of commerce are among the richest sources of local
business statistics and
information. Below are several Web sites containing listings of
chambers of commerce. None
of these lists includes all chambers.
Problem: You want to find the Chamber of
Commerce in Waukesha,
Wisconsin
Solution: Search like this: +"chamber
of commerce" +waukesha [Click
here to try this search]
Many U.S. government agencies offer publications that are of
interest to those in
business. These sites are particularly important for their
statistics, research reports,
and legal materials. Below is a selected list of federal agencies
of interest to business
research:
Executive Office of the President:
- United States Trade Representative: http://www.ustr.gov/
Coordinates U.S. international trade and direct investment
policy, and negotiates all U.S.
trade agreements, including all matters within the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
Congress:
Department of Agriculture:
Department of Commerce:
- Bureau of Industry and Security: http://www.bis.doc.gov/
Export regulations and assistance.
- Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/
One of the most important government sites for business
research. Business statistics;
2002 Economic Census; County Business Patterns; Characteristics
of Business
Owners; ZIP Code Business Patterns
- Import Administration: http://ia.ita.doc.gov/
Notices, protective orders, and regulations concerning import
matters.
- International Trade Administration: http://www.ita.doc.gov/
Information on trade development by country/region and by
industry.
- Market Access and Compliance: http://www.mac.doc.gov/
Helps to obtain market access for American firms and workers
and to achieve full
compliance by foreign nations with trade agreements they sign
with our country
- Patent and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/
Searchable databases for patents and trademarks can provide
ideas for innovation and
design.
- U.S. Commercial Service: http://www.ita.doc.gov/cs/
Helps business with international trade counseling, trade
contact services, product
service and promotion, customized market research, trade
leads, and organization of
international trade missions.
Department of Labor:
- Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://stats.bls.gov/
Economy at a Glance, Occupational Outlook Handbook,
and many other data sets.
- Employment Standards Administration: http://www.dol.gov/esa/
Enforces and administers laws governing legally-mandated wages
and working conditions.
Department of the Treasury:
Independent Establishments:
State and Local Government Agencies
State and local governments usually contain information of
great interest to those
doing business research. Not only can statutes, ordinances, and
regulations often be
found, but often these official Web sites provide statistics and
assistance for small
businesses.
All fifty states have their own Web sites. Each of these sites
contains links to state
business agencies and programs. To find a state Web site, type the
URL as: www.state.xx.us,
where xx
is the two letter postal
code for the state. For example, the Web site for Florida would
be: http://www.state.fl.us/ and
the site for Nebraska would
be: http://www.state.ne.us/.
Notice that many of these "flip" to another site. Yet the trick works
nevertheless. In fact, Colorado is one of the sites that "flips". www.state.co.us flips to colorado.gov.
You can use the power search features of a comprehensive search
engine to search for
specific information within a state's Web site:
Problem: You want to find tourism information
and statistics for
Colorado.
Solution: Use a comprehensive search engine to do
a targeted search of a
specific Web server. In this case, you need to search the Colorado
state server: state.co.us.
Try searching for
the words tourism
and statistics
within the Colorado
state server. [Click
here to try this search]. But, because Colorado has two domains, to be thorough, you should do the same search on the colorado.gov site as well. [Click here to try this search].
The Open Directory Project listing of state Web sites leads to
regional, county, and
municipal Web sites (http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/).
Most cities and counties have a Web presence that can
provide links to chambers of
commerce, local newspapers, and local industry statistics.
Determine the Company Location &
Status
A most important distinction must be made at first: whether the
company you are
researching is a public company (sells shares of stock), a private
company (does not stock
shares). A researcher can expect to find much information on
public companies, and
probably much less on private companies.
Research on public companies is much more accessible than
private companies, since they
must file disclosure statements on finances, operations, and key
personnel. They are
public because they offer publicly traded stocks.
Many commercial company directories list companies, both public
and private. On the
Internet there are several strategies that can be used to get
basic company information.
Yellow Page Directories
The headings in yellow page directories are not those used in
traditional business
research, but rather the familiar phone book headings. Below is a
partial list of
Web-based phone book services.
Search Engine Company Directories
Several major search engines also provide directory services,
helpful when trying to
identify company locations and company Web sites:
Special Services
Some specialized Web sites offer much more than simple
directories of companies. Below
is a partial list.
- Hoover's Online: http://www.hoovers.com/
This fee-based service has much material that is also freely available.
It should be noted that if you are accessing Hoover's Online from the
DU campus or DU wireless, you will be able to get to the fee-based
information.
Find the Company Industry Grouping
In order to understand a company's business, it is necessary to
find the
classification(s) which most closely identifies the business.
All business can be classified according to a detailed
classification system set out by
the United States government. Through 1996 the Standard Industry
Classification (SIC)
system was used to classify businesses. Beginning in 1997
companies were required to file
corporate filings using the new North America Industry
Classification System (NAICS). This
new classification system is much better able to accommodate new
emerging industries such
as Web designers and other businesses in the information sector.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
The SIC code system is a hierarchical arrangement. To
illustrate, Major Group 54
is Retail: Food Stores;
Industry Group 541
stands
for Grocery Stores; and the specific SIC code 5411
includes Grocery Stores: convenience stores, food markets, frozen
food plans, grocery
stores, and supermarkets.
The entire Standard Industrial Classification Manual is
available at: http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html.
It is both searchable and browsable.
The Major
Group breakdown is as follows:
| Division A |
Major Groups 01-09 |
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing |
| Division B |
Major Groups 10-14 |
Mining |
| Division C |
Major Groups 15-17 |
Construction |
| Division D |
Major Groups 20-39 |
Manufacturing |
| Division E |
Major Groups 40-49 |
Transportation, Communication, Utilities |
| Division F |
Major Groups 50-51 |
Wholesale Trade |
| Division G |
Major Groups 52-59 |
Retail Trade |
| Division H |
Major Groups 60-67 |
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate |
| Division I |
Major Groups 70-88 |
Services |
| Division J |
Major Groups 90-99 |
Public Administration |
North American Classification System (NAICS)
The creation of NAICS became necessary because of growth and
changes in business and
industry. This new system consists of six digits and can
accommodate more distinctions.
The North American Classification System manual and help is
available at: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html
(includes tables to translate from SIC to NAICS and NAICS to SIC).
The sectoral breakdown is as follows:
Once the classification number is discovered, much useful
research can be found about
your company and similar companies.
For instruction purposes, let's assume our company is a hotel.
Using the SIC Manual, we
discover that the SIC code for hotels is 7011: see http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/sic_manual.display?id=111&tab=description.
The NAICS code is 721110: see http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics/NDEF721.HTM#N721110.
Keep in mind that NAICS codes are being gradually implemented over
the next several years.
Most of the current available data will still be available using
SIC codes.
Let's say we want to get data on hotels in a particular ZIP
code area. We can use ZIP
Code Business Patters (available through the Census Bureau Web
site at http://censtats.census.gov/).
We can enter our
ZIP code and get results by SIC code.
An example of data sets using SIC or NAICS codes includes:
Many library reference books and commercial publications also
publish data using SIC or
NAICS codes. Especially important are those that provide company
directories by these
codes.
Discover Company Financial Information
For public companies, financial information is easy to find,
since public companies
must report their revenues to the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Private companies,
on the other hand, do not report through these public filings, and
their financial
information is usually gathered through company intelligence
gathering or educated
guesses. This information is generally not easily found on the
Internet for private
companies.
Since public companies are required to file their Annual
Reports (10-K reports) to the
Securities and Exchange Commission, these are easily available at
the EDGAR Archives
through the Securities and Exchange Commission site: http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm
Stock Market
The stock market, a major source of company financial
performance for public companies,
is one of the easiest areas of research to conduct via the
Internet. We are all familiar
with the major U.S. stock exchanges:
Problem: There are many smaller stock
exchanges in the United States
and in other cities around the world. How can you locate them?
Solution: To find listings of all exchanges the
world over, try a search
like this: +"stock
exchanges"
+argentina +japan +germany +"hong kong" [Click
here to try this search in Alta Vista ]. [Same
search in Google].
Most of the business Web sites mentioned in the beginning of
this tutorial have links
to stock price and performance information, as do the sites below:
Corporate Filings (Annual Reports and Other Filings)
Public companies are required by law to file certain reports
with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC provides a helpful listing of
the various forms and
filings (10-K, 10-Q, etc.) and describe the information they
provide: http://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/forms/edgform.pdf
Company filings provide major sources of information including:
ownership,
directorship, financial statements, financial performance
(including ratios). Public
companies are required by law to file with the SEC electronically.
EDGAR, the Electronic
Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, performs automated
collection, indexing,
and forwarding of SEC filings. To read about the EDGAR database,
and to begin to search
it, go to: http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
Apart from the official SEC Web site, some third party Web
sites provide annual reports
as well:
Gather Research About Company Operations
This area of research is generally the most difficult to do
with freely available
resources. Company research can include virtually everything you
want to know about a
business: marketing strategies, personnel policies, management
styles, business plans,
overseas ventures, company history, patents, and pending lawsuits
are but a few examples.
Several Web sites provide helpful information concerning
company research:
This area is challenging because it gets into competitive
intelligence. With creative
searching using principles in this tutorial, information about
company operations can
occasionally be uncovered.
Problem: You need to see if you can find a
business plan from the Coca
Cola company concerning expansion into Latin America.
Solution: Try a search like this: +"coca cola" +"business plan"
+"latin
america" [Click
here to try this search]
Problem: You want to see what you can discover
about Walmart's
management style.
Solution: Try this search in a power search
engine: +"management
style" +wal-mart [Click
here to try this search]
Investigate Competition & Market
Share
In a competitive environment, businesses are continually
concerned about their position
within the market and how they rank in market share.
Market Share
Market share, the percent of the market a given product or
company has, is often
tracked in trade publications or Web sites.
Problem: You want to find the market share for
shampoos.
Solution: Try a power search like this: +shampoo +"market share"
[Click
here to try this search]
Problem: You need to find the market share for
retailers such as
K-Mart and Walmart.
Solution: Here is an example search: +"market share" +"k-mart"
+wal-mart
[Click
here to try this search]
Rankings
Ranking within an industry is an important way of determining
position of a company
within a market. Major public companies are ranked by major
business magazines:
Other ranking services also are available:
To find more lists, try searching AltaVista, Fast, or Northern
Light: "business lists"
or "company lists".
Suppose you wanted a list of hotel company rankings. You could
search: +rankings
+hotels [Click
to try this search]
Examine Industry Information
Moving from company research to the industry within which the
company operates, it is
necessary to gather news and other information about the specific
industry. Think in terms
of the SIC and NAICS classifications mentioned earlier. Many of
the Web resources
mentioned above in the Business News section
of this tutorial include
this information.
Industry News & Trends
Industry trends can be gathered from a variety of sources. The
Census Bureau's Current
Industrial Reports (http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/cir/)
provides this information. Several Web
services cover trends and news:
Industry Ratios
Selected ratios for public companies can be found in the
financial section of the
annual reports. Ratios show the performance of a company. By
comparing the ratios of a
company with ratios of other companies of similar size in the same
industry sector, we can
judge a company's performance relative to others. An explanation
of how to calculate
ratios in doing financial statement analysis can be found at: http://www.cpaclass.com/fsa/ratio-01a.htm.
Unfortunately, this kind of analysis is generally not freely
available on the Internet. BizStats claims to have some free ratios: http://www.bizstats.com/.
Typically, ratio analysis is done in libraries with books such
as:
- Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios
(by Leo Troy)
- Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios. (published
by Bun & Bradstreet)
- RMA Annual Statement Studies (published by Robert Morris
Associates)
Place in the Economic Context
Since all business is conducted in the larger context of the
national and international
economic conditions, it is necessary to study economic context of
business. The following
Web sites and publications will provide a basic start for doing
this:
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