Fashion Business
Library Research Guide
Company Reports
Company profiles or reports provide an overview of a company and its activities. This makes them an excellent source for beginning research on a company. Content varies by publisher, but reports may include:
- an overview of company activities
- a competitive analysis of company
- financial data (for public companies), and
- major competitors.
Not all publishers will cover all companies. It will be harder to find reports on private companies than on publicly traded firms.
- Hoover's Company RecordsHoover's provides an overview of a company, including financial data. Limited information is available for some private companies.
- Plunkett Corporate Benchmarking ReportsPlunkett company reports provide financial data, benchmarking, and financial analysis. Reports compare company’s financial averages to its industry and select competitors.
- Business Source PremierFind MarketLine Company Profiles in Business Source Premier by searching for the company name and the phrase "MarketLine." Profiles for publicly traded companies include a SWOT analysis.
Two Ways to Find MarketLine Company Profiles in Business Source Premier.
- Use the Company Profiles link or
- Search for the name of the company and "MarketLine."
Local Businesses
- Data Axle Reference Solutions
Paid for by K-State Libraries
The Reference Solutions U.S. Businesses database includes more than 60 million businesses (public and private) in the United States. Use the database to identify customers or competitors by industry classification of geographic location.
A store's website can be an excellent source of information. However, it can be difficult to find additional information about small, local businesses. ReferenceUSA is a subscription database, paid for by K-State, that is useful for researching private and public companies of all sizes.
Generate a list of clothing retailers in Manhattan, Topeka, or Kansas City.
To start select select the U.S. Businesses Database and choose the Advanced Search.
Select options on the Advanced Search screen.
1. Under Record Type, check the Include Unverified Businesses box. (Recommended because it expands search results.)
2. Choose Keywords/SIC/NAICS under Business Type to search for specific types of companies.
3. Choose Geography to limit to companies in a specific geographic area.
4. Choose Update Count to see number of results, or View Results to see the company list.
Public Company Financial Information
- Mergent Online
Simultaneous users: 50 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Information found in this database includes financial statements and company histories covering approximately 20,000 U.S. and foreign public companies. - Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)Paid for by K-State's College of Business Administration
register for an account
Accounts must be approved by K-State's College of Business Administration before they can be used to access WRDS.
WRDS is a comprehensive economic and financial data management system intended for graduate and faculty-level research. The data, from various sources, covers multiple disciplines; covers thousands of companies; includes security prices and trading volume, income and balance sheet items, stock market indices, bond prices and interest rates, mutual fund and stock ownership information, options data, and a wide array of macroeconomic time series. International data, marketing and industry reports are also available. The data sets are downloaded and can be manipulated using Excel, SPSS, or SAS.
