Library Guides: Business Studies Research Skills Guide: Company and industry research

Company and Industry information

When looking for information about a company, consider both information from the company itself (e.g., the company website, ASX data) as well as information about the company written by others (e.g., newspaper articles, and analyst reports).

Finding information about a company

1. Get an overview of the company, determine if it is public or private.
2. Search our library databases for company information.
3. Review the company's website.
4. Review the information available, check investor and media resources, and find articles in newspapers, journals, and trade publications.

Generally the larger the company, the easier it is to find information. There is more information and analysis available for public companies than for private companies or subsidiaries.

Finding information about an industry

1. Search for the industry in our recommended databases for detailed industry analyses and case studies.
2. Find newspaper, journal and trade publication articles on the industry in our journal and media databases.
3. Consult suggested web resources like ABS statistics, government industry sites, and consultancy firms.

It is important to realise that the more specialised an industry the harder it will be to get information on it.

For more information about our company and industry related databases:

Read: Company and Industry Library Resource Guide
Explore: Business, Management, Marketing & WHS Library databases
Watch: Finding Company and Industry Information
Database search demonstration series.

Searching for company and industry information in Library databases

The databases featured below provide access to company, market and industry information.

Database	About
D&B Hoovers	Previously known as D&B Global Business Browser and before that as OneSource: Global Business Browser, this database provides a range of public and private company and industry information, worldwide and from the Asia Pacific and Australia/New Zealand regions.
IBISWorld	IBISWorld is a private company which specialises in company and industry research. The collection here consists of Australian company and industry reports and analyses.
Factiva	A global news and business information service, with most material available in full-text. It covers science, health, education, the humanities, and other subjects but has a focus on business, including business news, and company and industry research. NOTE: We only have 3 concurrent-user licenses to Factiva. If you can't get access, try again later.
ProQuest Business Databases	ProQuest Business Databases is a large package of databases with a wide range of business, economics and management related materials and resources, including journal articles, media resources as well as company and industry reports.
Business Source Complete	An EBSCOhost database which includes the full-text of more than 1600 full-text journals and of more than 1500 trade journals and general business magazines, plus other non-journal content.
Business Market Research Collection	A ProQuest database with company and industry market research from 3 sources: Hoover’s Company Profiles; OxResearch; and Snapshots Series.
Warc	Covering marketing and advertising, Warc is an online marketing information service, with a range of full-text resources including forecasts, case studies, best practice guides, industry trends, news, conference proceedings, and journal articles.
Connect 4 - Annual Reports	This Australian product from Thomson Reuters provides the full-text of the annual reports of all companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, back to 1992.

Australian Financial Review

You can find Australian Financial Review (AFR) newspaper articles in Primo Search, Proquest Business Databases and Factiva.

Factiva
A global news and business information service, with most material available in full-text. It covers science, health, education, the humanities, and other subjects but has a focus on business, including business news, and company and industry research.
Factiva is produced by Dow Jones, a leading global provider of economic and financial information.

The database has full-text content from newspapers, newswires, business journals, market research reports, analyst reports, and websites.

It includes material from :
* Australian newspapers, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Business Review Weekly
* US newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal
* Magazines, journals and trade publications, including Forbes and Newsweek
* Newswires, including AFP, Reuters, and Dow Jones
* company reports
* other content including TV and radio podcasts; and major news and business information websites, blogs and message boards.

Coverage varies but goes back as far as 1980.

There is a useful online Help Guide available from ProQuest. It includes help pages on Simple Search, Search Builder (Charles Sturt's subscription defaults to Search Builder), Results pages, Companies/Markets, and Sample Searches.

NOTE: Charles Sturt Library has only 3 concurrent-user licences to Factiva. If you can't get access, try again later.

To search AFR within Factiva:

Enter the desired search terms into the Search box
Select Source
Search for then choose, The Australian Financial Review

For more help with Factiva see the following guide https://proquest.libguides.com/