Company Research
This page contains directories of companies, and other resources for finding company information. You can use some of the sources recommended in this guide to help you research a company or product.
If you are researching a private company, especially one in North America, privately-held companies are not legally required to publish for public consumption materials such as annual reports.
Remember - when searching for information about a company, product, service or industry, you may have to look at the bigger picture as well as the details specific to your particular business, product or service. If you can’t find enough on the company/service/product, try to place it within the larger industry.
For example:
- Look for the NAICS code for more information about the industry.
- Look in library databases for industry reports, company reports, and/or articles related to your topic.
- Search by Company name in databases (For example Proquest One Business) and Google. (look for their website)
- Check out the company on Linkedin, Facebook or other social media
- Security filings, filings, disclosure, payments and information - SEDAR (Canada) and EDGAR (USA)
- Business Directories online and in print can be useful
- Newspapers and trade journals - in print and online
- Best bets at the Library for Canadian and Ontario companies
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- Ibisworld (Search by company or industry name)
- Proquest One Business (Search: company reports)
- Statista (see: Company and Product Reports or Company Insights)
- Canadian Business and Current Affairs (search by company name or related person name)
- Canadian Newsstand (Canadian newspapers - search by company or related person name)
- Trade journal content across AC Library database subscriptions.- Proquest One Business and Canadian Business and Current Affairs (search to trade journals)
- Be creative! Use other resources to find specific information about financials, market size and share, demographics, and/or consumer behaviour. For example, visit the company’s website and social media accounts, see if their annual report is online. If they are a public company see if you can view their financials on google/finance.
Adapted from: Iaizzo, Teresa. “Researching a Company, Product, Service, or Industry” George Brown College Library. Web. Sep 25, 2017
Library Resources
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Back to Beer... and Hockey - Opens in a new window
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Call Number: TP573.5.M645 A5866 2018ISBN: 9780773552876 -
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Saving Big Blue : leadership lessons and turnaround tactics of IBM's Lou Gerstner - Opens in a new window
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Call Number: HD9696.2.U64 I257 1999ISBN: 9780071342117 -
The Starbucks story : how the brand changed the world - Opens in a new window
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Call Number: HD9199.U64 S737 2012ISBN: 9789814408769
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The Microsoft Way : The Real Story of How the Company Outsmarts its Competition - Opens in a new window
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Call Number: HD9696.C64 M536 1997ISBN: 02032797X -
Onward: How Starbucks fought for its life without losing its soul - Opens in a new window
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Call Number: HD9199.U54 S737 2011ISBN: 9781605292885 -
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Criterion on Demand This link opens in a new window
Educationally relevant feature films, from current hits to classic favourites, including films from major producers such as Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. It includes films in English and French as well as with subtitles.
The license terms for this product stipulate that usage is for educational purposes only, and for individual access only (group viewing is not permitted). Please contact your library for more information. -
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Video clips on a variety of subject areas including art and architecture, environmental science, health and social sciences, technology and trades. The videos are copyright cleared for classroom use at Algonquin College.
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LinkedIn Learning This link opens in a new windowUp-to-date video tutorials on a wide range of skills such as software development, design, and business, and software such as Adobe Creative Cloud programs (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc), Microsoft Office, and WordPress. To create your account and learn about LinkedIn Learning, view the LinkedIn Learning Guide.
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Safari by O'Reilly This link opens in a new windowAn on-demand digital collection that delivers expert content in both book and video format with a focus on technology and business.
Databases:
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Business (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals and company directory listings. It includes subjects such as management, economics and politics.
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Canadian Business & Current Affairs This link opens in a new window
Choose newspaper as resource type from limiters or use the Newspaper Search in Page 1+ to add Canadian news content to your results
A diverse collection of publications, including scholarly journals, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines. Covers Canadian studies, business, culture, current event, education, literature, agriculture, history, and language, as well as government and politics. -
Canadian Major Dailies This link opens in a new window
Choose newspaper as resource type from limiters or use the Newspaper Search in Page 1+ to add Canadian news content to your results
National and leading regional newspapers, such as the National Post, the Globe and Mail, the Montreal Gazette, and the Ottawa Citizen. -
Entrepreneurship (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Periodicals that provide insights, tips, strategies and success stories for small businesses.
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IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
*Not searchable in Page 1+. Search directly in database to access content.*
Industry market research reports containing statistics and analysis on market characteristics, current and forecast performance, and major industry participants covering the US, Canada. -
ProQuest One Business This link opens in a new window
A complete business library containing millions of full-text items across scholarly and popular periodicals, newspapers, market research reports, dissertations, books, videos and more. Check out Proquest One Business Libguide for help using this database effectively.
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Statista This link opens in a new window
*Not searchable in Page 1+. Search directly in database to access content*
Provides coverage of consumer and market data covering more than 80,000 business-related topics from more than 22,500 sources in 170+ industries. Consumer Insights can be search independently by accessing it under the insights tab.
eCommerce Insights is its own product and is accessible from the main Statista platform under the Insights tab. Once you have linked out to the ecommerce product you should select the University Access button to reauthenticate before beginning your search.
Journals:
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ForbesFor corporate officers and other major executives in business interested in developing management insight through review of the nation's largest corporations.
Web Resources
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Canada's Top 100 Employers - Opens in a new windowProfiling the companies and organizations that lead the nation in offering exceptional working conditions and benefits
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Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters - Opens in a new windowPromotes the interests of manufacturing and exporting firms. Follow industry trends, read publications and learn about services available in Canada
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Canadian Trade IndexSearch for Industrial and manufacturing products and services
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Directories of Canadian Companies - Opens in a new windowUse our directories of Canadian companies to find suppliers, research competitors, check a company's federal corporation status and more. Search or browse the directories or register your own company.
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NASDAQ - Opens in a new windowStock information
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Research and business intelligenceIndustry sector data, financial benchmarks, labour trends and business statistics.
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Search For a Federal Corporation - Opens in a new windowSearch the Industry Canada database by corporate name, corporation number, or business number (BN).
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SEDAR (the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval) - Opens in a new windowSEDAR is the system used for electronically filing most securities related information with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities.
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Companies House - Opens in a new windowFind brief information about UK publicly listed companies on this website.
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Company Registries by CountryAll countries have a register of companies, but not all of these are open to the public. Below is a list of company registries around the world where you can find more information about the company you need to research.
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EDC: Insights on Foreign CompaniesGetting into business with the wrong foreign company can cost you. We’ll help you find what you need to know before you sign on the dotted line.
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European DirectoryFind, select, contact companies
like millions of other professionals who use Europages every month -
Forbes Global 2000Forbes Global 2000 ranks the largest companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets, and market value.
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Fortune – The Global 500 - Opens in a new windowFind information on the top 500 largest public companies in the world.
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National Corporation Directory (USA)This page allows you to search our database of over 28 million business locations in the United States.
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OpenCorporatesCovers over 100 million companies companies internationally. Searching is free but what is covered for each country and company varies.
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Reference for Business - Opens in a new windowContains company histories
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Securities information - (EDGAR) - Opens in a new windowFree access to more than 20 million filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Thomas Global Register (suppliers and products worldwide) - Opens in a new windowFree platform designed for sourcing components, equipment, MRO products, raw materials and custom manufacturing services.
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US Corporate Registry DirectorySearch by State
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Search the Library's print and digital resources.