Information on Companies:

An Annotated Resource Guide


Questions to consider
Industrial Classification (SIC and NAICS) codes
National (U.S.)
Parents and Subsidiaries
Public or Private Companies
Consulting and Service Firms
State and Local directories
International & Non-US
Company History, Market Share, Officers or Brand Information
News, Journal/Magazine Articles
Other Guides


Questions to consider when seeking information on a specific corporation or business:
  • Do you know the SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) code and/or the NAICS code for the company's line(s) of business?
  • Is it a parent company or a subsidiary of another company?
  • Do you want information on brands or about a specific brand?
  • Is it a publicly owned (traded on a stock exchange) company? Is it privately owned?
  • Is it a manufacturing company, a service company, a consulting firm, etc.?
  • Is it a large company, or a smaller, local business?
  • Is it a U.S. company, located in another country, or international/multinational?
  • Are you looking for company personnel/officers information?
  • Are you looking for market share/industry related information?
  • Are you looking for news and articles on the company?

  • FM-1-REF: Fairchild Reference Collection FM-RESERVE: Fairchild Reserve Desk

    Industrial Classification (SIC and NAICS) codes

    Standard industrial classification manual.  1987.
    FM-1-REF  317.3 U588s

    North American industry classification system, United States. 1998.
    FM-1-REF  317.3 U588sa

    SIC codes are four-digit codes that the government used to use to organize industry information; many other sources classified businesses using these codes. The SIC codes went through a major update and reorganization to become the North American Industry Classification System, or NAICS. Most industries were recoded, and new codes and classifications were added. The SIC code system used only 4-digit codes, while NAICS uses 4, 5, and 6 digit codes, additional digits being added to specify sub-sections of the 4-digit code. The printed NAICS manual gives explanations, illustrative examples, and cross-references for the codes.

    Most works continue to use the old SIC codes to classify businesses, and older works all use the SIC codes. There are tables of NAICS-to-SIC and SIC-to-NAICS code conversions online at: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naicstab.htm.
    Keyword searching interfaces to the NAICS are available at:



    National (US) Companies

    Hoover's handbook of American business. 2001. 2 vols.
    FM-1-REF 338.74025 H789a 1999
    Compact, full-page profiles of American companies include a thumbnail description ('Overview'); history ('When'); major personnel information ('Who'); address and geographical business data ('Where'); products, divisions, brand names, sales, operations (what), rankings, competitors listed in this book, and stock price and financial information (how much. Cross indexed by industry, by headquarters location, and  by brands, companies, and people named. With a helpful section on use of data and rankings by sales, profit, value, number of employees, as well as other Hoover's-produced rankings and rankings from other publications.

    D&B million dollar directory / Dun & Bradstreet.  Latest Edition. 5 vols.
    FM-1-R-REF 380 D897mia
    Covers large ($1M in sales or more, 180 employees or more) public and private companies. Gives headquarters address, ticker symbol/exchange, sales, # of employees, bank, SIC code(s)/line of business and major officers/directorship information. Triangle next to business name indicates a publicly owned company; square indicates private ownership. Business entries are arrranged alphabetically in the Series volumes. There are geographic and industry (by SIC) cross-reference volumes.

    Thomas register of American manufacturers and Thomas register catalog file. Latest edition. Multiple volumes.
    FM-1-REF 605.8 T463
    A "yellow pages" of manufacturers. Red-labeled volumes list companies by product type, with lots of ads, many with product pictures. Yellow-labeled volumes give brief company profiles (address, description) . Blue labelled volumes are facsimiles of company catalogs (look for "catalog" symbol in the product or company volumes).

    Also accessible via the web: http://www.thomasregister.com/ . The Thomas Register online allows you to search by product/service, by company name, or by brand name. Searching by product gives you a chart listing the related terms with the number of company profile entries, catalog/website records, online ordering addreses, CAD drawings, literature by fax contacts, and email contacts, for each term. Clicking on the term gives you a list of companies with links to company profile entries, etc. as available. Company profiles give address information, description of business, and sometimes assets and employee information, as well as links to catalogs/websites, online ordering, CAD drawings, literature by fax, and email addresses, whichever are available.
     

    Subsidiaries, Parents, and Branches

    Directory of corporate affiliations. Latest ed. 5 volumes.
    FM-1-REF 338 D598

    A reference for researching  "who owns whom". Covering parent companies with more than 10 million in sales, their subsidiaries, and affiliates. Separate volumes cover U.S. Public, U.S. Private, and International Companies. Entries for main parent companies generally include address, phone, email/website, stock symbol and exchange, brief financials, # of employees, brief business description, SIC codes, names of key personnel and board member, legal firms and auditors, followed by information for affiliates, divisions, joint ventures, and subsidiaries.
    Use the Master Index volumes to find the company you are looking for: there are indexes by company names,  brand names, geographic location, type of business by SIC codes, and personnel arranged by 'corporate responsibilities' (look up sales and find an alphabetical listing of sales officers).
     

    Publicly traded (on stock exchanges)

    Factiva
    Online, linked through Databases page.
    Factiva lets you search by company name or ticker symbol, to pull up business description, address, web page, quick financial reports, competitors, and news stories. An executive profile, with financial and business information from annual reports and 10-K reports, is often available.

    EDGAR database of company information
    US Securities and Exchange Commission
    http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
     Includes full financial data from reports, especially the 10K report,  submitted by most publicly traded corporations. (See EDGAR information for explanations of exceptions). Search by company name. Documents are posted as HTML; sometimes PDF version are available also.

    Annual Reports
    Annual reports for companies are often available on the company's web site. The Annual Report Gallery, online: http://www.reportgallery.com/ has a good collection of annual reports of Fortune 500 companies.

    Mergent industrial manual.
    FM-1-REF 332.6 M817a, pt. 2.  2 vols.
    Multipage financial, history, and other management information about publicly traded industrial companies. (Use the Alphabetical index to find your company.) Further information may be included in the "Corporate Visibility" sections at the front of the volume.

    Mergent OTC .... manual [s]
    FM-1-REF 332.6 M817a, pt.6 & 7
    Gives financial, history, and other management information about over-the-counter traded industrial (Moody's OTC Industrial Manual) companies and OTC companies not traded on NASDAQ. Further information may be included in the "Corporate Visibility" sections.

    The Value line investment survey.
    FM-RESERVE 332.6 V215 (Current year on reserve; back issues in microfiche)
    Gives information about publicly traded companies. Use the Summary & Index (first issue in the Ratings & Reports section) to find recent prices, rankings, and the page numbers on which more information appears (bold type in the Ratings & Reports volume, plain in the Selection & Opinion volumes). Information includes financials and some news.

    Private Companies

    Hoover's handbook of private companies. 2001 .
    FM-1-REF 338.74025 H7891
    Two page profiles of privately owned companies. 'Overview' gives a brief description of the company; 'when' gives a history; 'who' lists major company officers; 'where' gives adddress; 'what' lists sales and brands/units, 'how much' gives financials; and 'key competitors' lists competitors. 

    Ward's business directory of U.S. private and public companies. 2001. 8 vols.
    FM-1-REF 338.74025 W266

    Covers 90,000 larger US-based companies, both public & private. Includes subsidiaries. Includes address, email and/or website URL, parent company (if any), sales, employees, type (public w/ticker symbol; or private), SIC code, NAICS code, text description, and officers where available. Vols 1-3 are the alphabetical listings; Vol. 4 includes geographic listings, and some ranking tables; Vol. 5 ranks companies by sales within SIC Code; volumes 6 & 7 give state rankings by sales within SIC code; volume 8 gives rankings by sales withing 6-digit NAICS code. Also gives several analyses of top company rankings (vol. 4). 


    Speciality firms

    Consultants and consulting organizations directory. 2 vols and supplement. Latest ed.
    FM-1-REF 658.403 W322c

    Arranged alphabetically by type of consulting; indexed by geographic area, company name and consulting activities. Includes address, email, web page URL, officers/executive, consulting activities, publications and workshops information. Revenues, geographic area and branch information are often included.

    Membership directory - American Consulting Engineers Council. 1997-98
    FM-1-REF 620.025 C758d
    Directory of members of association of consulting engineers and land surveyors. Arranged by state chapters. Includes address information, names of principals, description of firm activities, number of personnel and ownership information.
    Updated by the ACEC membership database at: http://206.135.109.15/
    Try also the firm directories on the National Society of Professional Engineers site: http://www.nspe.org/fm-home.asp

    D&B directory of service companies.  Latest edition.
    FM-1-REF 338.761 D926 2000

    Targeted toward large (50+ employees) service companies, including consulting firms (selected by SIC code). Includes address, sales, number of employees, SIC Codes, and officers. Listed alphabetically (white pages). Cross referenced geographically (yellow pages) and by SIC code (blue pages).

    Mergent transportation manual.
    Mergent public utility manual.

    Mergent bank & finance manual.
    FM-1-REF 332.6 M8176

    Covers transportation companies (railroads, airlines, trucking and shipping), public utility (natural gas, electric, and telephone), finance (banks, insurance companies, and other financial firms) companies. Includes very detailed financial, operations, and audit information. More information (submitted by companies) may appear in Corporate Visibility sections at the front of the volumes. Use alphabetical indexes to find companies by name.

    Thomson/Polk bank directory. Latest ed.
    FM-1-REF 332.1058 P7692b

    World wide banks and bank offices, including 1000 US banks, listed geographically by town within countries. Includes address information, supplemented with charter type, ownership, subsidiaries, key officers. Expanded entries for some banks have hours, branches, officers, and balance sheets.. Cross indexed by institution name. Also see Mergent  Bank and Finance Manual FM-1-REF 332.6 M8176 2001

    State and Local Directories

    Harris Pennsylvania industrial directory. Latest ed.
    FM-1-REF 330.9748 P415ia
    Industrial /manufacturing firms throughout PA. Main entries for companies are arranged geographically by towns within counties, and include address, phone number, fax, corporate personnels, employees, size of the plant, product description, ownership, SIC codes and headquarters/parent company if any.  (Annual sales figures are estimated and probably not accurate.)  Other sections list companies by SIC code, alphabetically by name, and by product.

    See also New York manufacturers directory (FM-1-REF 330.9747 N532ca) and  New Jersey manufacturers directory (FM-1-REF 330.973 N548bb)

    D&B regional business directory. Philadelphia. Latest ed. 3 vols.
    FM-1-REF 330.1025 D926

    Address, ownership, SIC code/line of business, sales, employees data for many businesses in the Philadelphia area, including parts of the Lehigh Valley as well as of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Main entries are arranged geographically, but there are supplementary lists alphabetically and by SIC code. Business rankings also included.

    SuperPages.com:
    http://www.superpages.com/
    A Yellow Pages of businesses using data from American Business Information and from phone books. Use the Detailed Search  to search for name/address/phone number of businesses by category, limiting by cite, area code, or zip code; there is a distance search to search for companies in a category within a certain distance of a place. The results will be divided into an 'advertisers' and 'all listings' section.


    International & Non-US

    Mergent international manual / Mergent.
    FM-1-REF 332.6 M817i

    Gives very detailed financial, history, and operations information on major international publicly traded companies. More information may be included in Corporate Visibility section. (Replaces Moody's International Manual.)

    D&B Principal international businesses. [Dun & Bradstreet.] Latest edition
    FM-1-REF 380.1 P957

    Covers 50,00 companies, arranged geographically; gives address, number of employees, sales, SIC code/line of business and chief executive information. Cross referenced by SIC code (yellow pages) and name (blue pages).

    Hoover's handbook of world business. 2001
    FM-1-REF 338.74025 H789b 2001
    Two page profiles of world-marketcompanies. 'Overview' gives a brief description of the company; 'when' gives a history; 'who' lists major company officers; 'where' gives adddress; 'what' lists sales and brands/units, 'how much' gives financials; and 'key competitors' lists competitors. See Hoover's Online http://www.hoovers.com/ for updated information.

    Directory of American firms operating in foreign countries. by  Juvenal L. Angel. 1999. 5th edition. 3 vols.
    FM-1-REF 658.058 D598

    Lists US companies with foreign operations. First section (vol 1) lists companies alphabetically, giving address, CEO, HR contact, # of employees, revenue, type of business, web site. Second section (vol 1-3) lists firms by country, giving foreign branch/office information (addresses, contacts).

    Directory of United States importers. AND Directory of United States exporters. c1994
    FM-1-REF 382.0973 U58a-b 1994

    Address, some personnel, SIC, product, and port info for U.S. companies respectively importing and exporting.

    Kompass. [Kompass Register: the Authority on British Industry] ed.36, 1998, 3 vols.
    FM-1-REF 605.8 U58
    For British companies. Vol I lists companies by product/services. Vol II lists companies geographically, by county and town, and is cross indexed by company name. Entries include address, officers, nature of business, web address, and sometimes # of employees, financial turnover, branch offices, holding company. Vol III gives brief financial data for each company.

    Directory of foreign firms operating in the United States. 2000. 10th edition.
    FM-1-REF 658.058 D5981
    Lists foreign firms with US operations, grouped by country.  Alphabetically arranged entries give the foreign firm on the left, the US affiliate on the right, and include for both address, chief officer, service/product,and  sometimes # of employees and % of the affiliate foreign owned. Indexed by company name and name of American affiliate.


    Company History Resources

    International directory of company histories / editor, Thomas Derdak. c1988-
    FM-1-REF 338.74 I61
    Covers 1250 of the largest/most influential companies. Includes basic directory information as well as nice short histories. Each volume is devoted to a section of industry. Use the Index in Volume 7 to find mentions of companies; company entries are indicated in all bold (vol. & page number) in the index.

    Notable Corporate Chronologies, Susan B. Martin. 1995
    FM-1-REF 338.74 N899
    Chronologies of company histories.Check alphabetical index for your company.


    Brand information

    Brands and their companies. 2002
    FM-1-REF 380.1029 B817
    First part is listing linking brand names with company names; Second part lists company addresses and phone numbers.

    Encyclopedia of consumer brands. c1994. 3 vols.
    FM-1-REF 658.8343 E56
    History, sales, etc. of 600 of the most popular product brands in the US. Signed, multiple page articles give information on founding, products, marketing, and circa 1994 prospects of each brand, as well as a short bibliography of 'further reading'. 'At a Glance' boxes give one-paragraph description and history, performance, competitors, advertising, and company addresses. Divided into 3 volumes: Consumable products, Personal Products and Durable goods; arranged alphabetically by brand name within volumes. Indexes by Brand Names, Companies and Persons, Ad Agencies, and broad 'Brand Categories'.

    The International Directory of Company Histories , Hoover's Handbooks and the Thomas Register Online include more information on brands.


    Company officer information

    D&B reference book of corporate managements. Dun & Bradstreet, Latest edition. 3 vols.
    FM-1-REF 658.045 D897d
    Covers 12,000 major personnel of the largest public and private companies. Along with generic address & SIC code information, first two volumes (white pages) list company officers/directors with brief biographical information. Cross-indexed by location and by SIC code; officers/directors cross indexed by name, college, & military affiliation.

    Also see EDGAR, Annual Reports, Hoover's, Dow Jones Interactive, and Lexis-Nexis for officer info.


    Market Share Sources

    Standard & Poor's industry surveys.
    FM-RESERVE 338 S784i

    Includes recent developments, industry basics, and company data, for multiple industry groups.  Industry scorecards and valuations are at the front of each volume, followed by Industry outlooks and graphs. The bulk of each volume is the in-depth Industry Surveys, giving the current environment, industry profiles, references, and comparative company data. The Index to Companies on the first page lists the industry subject groups covered (you may need to check several volumes to find your industry).

    Market share reporter. Latest edition
    FM-1-REF 380.105 M345

    Market share rankings/statistics  by assorted criteria, collected from various sources. Use the Company Index to find mentions of your company. Use the Table of Topics to find the industry you are interested in. Data in tables varies.

    World market share reporter. 2000-2001
    FM-1-REF 380.105 W927
    Like the Market Share Reporter, reports market rankings/stats from various sources for world industries. 


    Journal, Magazine & Newspaper Articles

    Factiva
    (Via the web-- choose from Databases page.)

    The Factiva system includes financial information and news about (publicly traded) companies. Use the Company tab and type in a company name or stock symbol to bring up links to full text of news, financials and other information. You can also search for mentions of the company through the 'Library' tab.

    INFOTRAC Academic Index
    (Via the web-- choose from Databases page.)

    Infotrac/Academic Index indexes general magazines and journals. Use the "Keyword search" option to search for mentions of your company. Some items will include the full text of the article; otherwise check ASA for the location of the journal.

    Proquest/ABI-Inform
    (Via the web-- choose from Databases page.)

    The Proquest system, which includes many full text/full images articles, incorportates ABI-Inform, an index to business journals and magazines. Search by your company's name or the name of a person or product. For articles that do not have full text, check our journal holdings in ASA.

    LEXIS/NEXIS Academic
    (Via the web-- choose from Databases page.)

    This service is only available to currently enrolled Lehigh students and faculty. LEXIS/NEXIS provides access to the full text of newspapers and magazines, including many business publications. Use the BUSINESS or NEWS sections to search for mentions of your company in the news, as well as company financials and profiles. You will probably have to search in multiple files to get the best coverage. Special feature under 'Business' lets you compare companies.


    Other Guides

    Researching Companies Online, by Deb Flanagan
    http://home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/main.html
    A good tutorial on finding a variety of financial and other data, including industry data.

    Industry Research Desk, by Polson Enterprises
    http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/
    A guide to researching industries, plus links to portal pages for specific industries.

    January 1995, Revised and updated, April 2000, JAH