business research resources

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Business Research Resources

Constance AdamsonBusiness Liaison Librarianadamsonc@queensu.ca

September 2010

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Business Information

Who uses it?

Who produces it?

What’s not available – secret/proprietary

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Sources of Company Info

▪ Web site▪ Annual reports

▪ Filings with regulators – OSC or SECSEDAR and EDGAR

(10K reports provide most detail)RIM Potash Apple

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 ▪ Company directories/databasesD&B-Million Dollar Database Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage FP Advisor Hoover’s Factiva (see companies/markets at top)

Canadian Social Investment Database ▪ Financial databases

Compustat, FP Advisor, Factiva

▪ Securities pricesTSX database, CRSP, Factiva

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library.queensu.ca

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Companies & Industries

Often your research starts with a company or an industry sector

Industries are made up of companies

Companies can operate in more than one sector

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Find out who is in the industry

Learn more about these companies and a picture of the industry will emerge

We use many of the same sources for both Industry and Company research – they build on each other

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▪ Business newspapers and industry magazines

ABI/Inform GlobalAsian BusinessEuropean Business

Business Source CompleteCBCA (Cdn Business and Current Affairs)Canadian NewsstandFactiva

and see the Newspapers Guide

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Sources of Industry InfoIndustry StudiesStandard & Poor’s NetAdvantagesee ‘Industry Surveys’ under ‘Quick Links’

EIU Industry Briefingkey global industries by country

Gartner ResearchIT, communications and technology research

And see Industries in the Business Guide

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Industry Associations

are organizations of companies and people in the industry

find them by web searching or see the directories at Stauffer’s Research Help Desk

useful for membership lists, statistics, press releases, industry trends

indicate how the industry is organizing itself

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Data & StatisticsMaps, Data & Government Information

Centre (MADGIC) library.queensu.ca/webdoc/

geospatial, statistical and government information

includes Statistics Canada, Census, Industry Canada, the OECD, European Union, IMF,

World Bank, UN . . .

Never pay for stats – check with the library first!

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Strategy for Effective Searching Start your search with the obvious ‘keywords’ or

search terms including personal and company names.

Look at the search results for other possible keywords and phrases. Also think of synonyms, alternate spellings, other terms or phrases to express the same concepts.

Keep a list of the search terms and combinations you’ve tried in the various databases. 

aviation or airlines or airline industry or air transportation

and

forecast or trends or projection or growth or performance

mobile or wireless or cellular or handheld

and

merger or acquisition or takeover or divest*

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Most research databases have direct links to full-text if we subscribe to the journal. Use to follow links to the text of an article or to QCAT (the library catalogue).  In QCAT use the ‘Journal Title Exact’ option to check if Queen’s Libraries subscribes to the publication.  You can save, print or email your search results and articles.

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Questions?

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Constance Adamsonadamsonc@queensu.ca

Stauffer Library

Josh Rosejoshuajamesrose@gmail.com