Business 489
Political Factors
Provides nonpartisan analysis of proposed legislation. Consider the economic outlook and policies that may affect your firm.
Provides information on state policies affecting labor and employment, including minimum wage laws.
Reports on state-level policies related to various topics of interest.
Economic Factors
Create charts of key economic indicators, including the GDP, prime lending rate, exchange rates and more. From the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Provides economic information including labor market activity, working conditions, employment/unemployment, and pay/benefits.
Sociocultural Factors
Covers social, economic, and geographic data from the American Community Survey, Economic Census, and more. Provides infographics visualizing trends.
Provides information about national and international issues, attitudes, and trends including U.S. national conditions, political attitudes, media and technology, and demographics.
Reports on public opinion surveys related to business, politics, sports, health and life.
Short, detailed reports related to consumer retail and media trends.
Technological Factors
Offers white papers and case studies on technology trends from the professional organization for chief information officers.
Highlights the latest research on computing technologies.
This think tank offers white papers on trends affecting private industry, including labor, finances, technology, and more.
Companies apply for patent protection before going public with new technologies. Search the latest patent applications of your competitors. At the top right, under “Quick Links,” under “Patents,” click on the top left option, “PatFT.” In the fields dropdown box, select “Applicant name.” Search for a company name.
Industry Profiles
Covers over 1,000 industry segments. Go to your company's profile, select the "Industry Details" tab and click on an industry report, or, click on the "First Research" icon, type in your email, and search or browse for an industry report.
Provides a five forces analysis for more than 200 industries. Limit by publication type “Industry Profile.” Search by keyword or NAICS code.
Click on "Industry Survey" from the navy tabs along the top. Select an industry from the drop-down list. Click on a PDF icon to view the report.
Click on "View It - view full text." Select "Include both current and backfile directories" and "Keyword." Search by company or keyword to see projected industry growth or top companies within an industry.
Industry News
Find articles about your industry from newspapers, journals, and trade publications. Search by NAICS code or subject term.
Provides the most comprehensive news and legal coverage.
ProQuest Newsstand (ProQuest)
A full-text newspaper database that includes access to national and leading regional papers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Barron's, Boston Globe, Guardian, Christian Science Monitor, and Washington Post.
Industry Financial Ratios
Provides industry financial benchmarks from Dun & Bradstreet, with the ability to input and export financial data.
Includes average financial ratios for nearly 800 industries, with breakdowns by company size. Only available in print at the Business Learning Center; most recent year in reference section.
Company Profiles
Includes more than 10,000 company profiles, which include a SWOT analysis. Along the top blue bar, click on "Company Profiles." Select "Match Any Words." Search or browse for your company.
Provides detailed company financials, equity reports, annual reports, competitor rankings, the ability to create and download charts, and more.
Includes company financials, equity research, annotated stock charts, and more. Search for your company in the box at the top of the page. Navigate using the table of contents on the left.
Company histories provide an overview of company strategies, successes, and failures over time, providing context for their current situation.
Company News
From the "Select a Field" drop-down options, select "CO Company Entity." Type the short name of your company in the search box (for example, Abercrombie rather than Abercrombie & Fitch). Click on "Search."
Search for your company under "Get Company Info." On the left side of the company profile under "In the News," look at the top publications.
To find additional news on your company, click on "Advanced Search." In the "Company/organization" box, type in the name of your company (NOTE: shorter is better, i.e., Target vs. Target Corporation).
Company Website
Search for your company name + corporate. The company's corporate website focuses on selling the company to investors and includes 10K/annual reports, which will provide you with a wealth of information.
Last updated: 9/5/2017