HINTS
Many of us immediately think of the company website when we need business information. This is NOT always the best place to look. Company websites are essentially marketing tools. Information on a company website will be always be positive and glowing because the intent is to attract consumers, job seekers and investors (if the company is publicly-traded).
Use the information in the databases. This information is drawn from company 10-K or 20-F reports.
Databases
- Mergent Intellect
Mergent Intellect includes information on both public and private U.S. companies, Canadian companies, and international companies. It also contains a residential database, company executive biographies, industry information, and a job search database of U.S. and Canadian employers.
- Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Get business and financial information on over 10,000 domestic and foreign public companies. Profiles for each company include business descriptions, EDGAR documents, fundamental data, key financial ratios, earnings estimates, stock information and current headline news. Create custom reports for a company, as well as comparison reports of multiple companies.
- Passport This link opens in a new window
Includes over 3 million business statistics for over 200 countries; detailed lifestyle indicators for over 70 countries; volume and value market size data for more than 330 consumer products in over 50 countries. Also contains Euromonitor country profiles.
- Factiva This link opens in a new windowContains full-text business information including trade publications and newswires (Dow Jones, Reuters, AP), company reports, and market data. Includes the full-text of the Wall Street Journal.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Search full-text journal literature in all areas of business, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing. Includes company SWOT analyses, industry and country reports.
- SAGE Business Cases
Includes more than 4,000 authoritative case studies. These cases cover interdisciplinary business fields such as entrepreneurship, accounting, healthcare management, leadership, social enterprise, and more.
Access to this database and its contents has been provided through OhioLINK and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds to bridge COVID-created gaps in higher education instructional materials and library resources.
E-Reference
Citing Your Sources
Aside from citing articles and books, have you ever wondered how to cite a company annual report or an industry report? The reality is, there is no "official" style for citing business sources. However, it is common practice to use adaptations of one of the following citation styles: the American Psychological Association (APA) Style or the Chicago Style. Whichever style you choose, use it consistently for the entire project/paper.
- APA Style - for Business StudentsThis customized APA citation guide for Wright State business students is loosely based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition). The manual is available at the Information Desk on the 2nd floor of the Dunbar Library. See Chapter 10 for more examples.
- Chicago StyleThe Harvard Business School (HBS) Citation Guide uses an adaptation of The Chicago Manual of Style.
