PENN STATE



PENN STATE - DELAWARE COUNTY CAMPUS

JOHN D. VAIRO LIBRARY

BASIC REFERENCE SOURCES FOR BUSINESS RESEARCH

This list is an introductory guide to a broad range of business information sources. These sources will help you conduct research on a business topic, prepare company or industry profiles, and stay informed of important, new developments in the business world. If you would like to explore additional sources, the library staff will be happy to help you.

COMPANY INFORMATION

(Databases available from E-RESOURCE LIST A-Z menu at )

PROFILES and FINANCIALS:

Dow Jones Interactive (DJI)

includes detailed company/industry reports, business news, and trade journal articles. The “Company Quick Search” features an Executive Report that includes a financial snapshot, a detailed profile, recent news articles and press releases, company/industry comparisons, stock quotes, and SEC full-text filings.

MergentOnline

provides detailed business descriptions, corporate histories, and financial statements on 11,000 U.S. public companies and 17,000 non-U.S. public companies. MergentOnline includes: annual reports, presentation-quality reports on over 1,700 NYSE, AMEX, and Nasdaq companies, archives for over 4,000 companies that were acquired, went bankrupt, or merged since 1995, private company profiles provided by Dun & Bradstreet, insider-trading records of all share buys and sells by U.S. corporate officers for the past 3 & 6 months, SEC filings with form descriptions.

Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage

combines 11 investor information products in a single database. Includes

S&P Corporation Records, Register of Executives, & Directors, Investor’s Guide, Bond Guide, and Industry Surveys. Industry surveys include an annual Basic Analysis, which analyzes trends and problems with an historical perspective, a short Current Analysis, which provides the latest developments, market statistics and investment outlook, and a Comparative Company Analysis that compares the growth in sales and earnings of the leading companies over the last 5 years.

Hoover’s Online

provides brief company histories for over 13,000 U.S. and 2,000 international companies. Includes top competitors, industry “snapshot”, and links to recent company news stories.

MARKET RESEARCH and INVESTMENT REPORTS:

Multex

provides real-time, full-text investment research reports and video/audio programs to support investment research. The more than 750 contributing firms include Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, and RS Investment Management.

COMPANY INFORMATION

MARKET RESEARCH and INVESTMENT REPORTS:

Tablebase

provides tabular/statistical data on companies, industries, products, and demographics. Subject areas include: trends, market share, company and brand rankings, industry and product forecasts, numbers of product users, imports and exports, production and consumption statistics.

ISI Emerging Markets

provides business and economic information on developing areas of the world. Includes current news, company financial statements, company profiles, industry reports, analyst and brokerage reports, closing stock and index quotes, macroeconomic statistics and forecasts, and legal and political information.

Economist Intelligence Unit

Electronic version of the leading Economist Intelligence Unit publications: Country Commerce, Country Finance, Business Asia, Business China, Business Eastern Europe, Business Latin America, Country Monitor, and Business Operations Report. All publications provide competitive analysis of countries worldwide.

WORLD WIDE WEB SITES:

EdgarScan [ ]

EdgarScan extracts financial data from EDGAR, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s electronic filings database. Useful filings include 10-K & 10-Q reports. Just type in a company name to link to its SEC financial data.

Yahoo! Finance [ ]

A comprehensive site for company and industry financial news and investment data.

Also: Yahoo Historical Quotes (data available back to 1970) [ ] and Yahoo! Market Guide [ ]

Stock Exchanges:

New York Stock Exchange [ ] ,NASDAQ [],

Philadelphia Stock Exchange [ ]

TRADE AND SCHOLARLY JOURNALS / BUSINESS NEWS

(Databases available from E-RESOURCE LIST A-Z menu at )

ABI/Inform

Search 1000 premier worldwide business periodicals for information on advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Articles include information on more than 60,000 companies. ABI/Inform includes full text and full image (charts, graphs, tables) for most articles published since 1995.

Dow Jones Interactive

includes full text articles from regional, national, and international news and business publications. The “Publications Library” section searches over 6,000 newswires, newspapers, magazines, and trade journals. In the “Business Newsstand” section, browse leading newspapers, magazines and news wires, including Wall Street Journal, Asian Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal Europe, Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Barron's, Forbes, Fortune, Far Eastern Economic Review , Smart Money, and Dow Jones News Highlights. In the “Web Center” section, link to corporate, industry, government and news sites selected by the Dow Jones editors.

TRADE AND SCHOLARLY JOURNALS / BUSINESS NEWS

Lexis Nexis - Academic / General News

provides the full text of a wide range of national and regional business journals and newsletters. This database is our most complete source of New York Times back issues in full text. To search major national and international newspapers, choose GENERAL NEWS as your “news category” and MAJOR PAPERS as your “news source.”

Lexis-Nexis Academic also includes statistical information from reference sources, periodicals, and government publications, and it provides easy access to CIS Index, a comprehensive database of U.S. legislative information and transcripts of congressional testimony. Click on CONGRESSIONAL in the left column menu of Lexis-Nexis.

EconLit

International in scope, EconLit is an index to research in all aspects of economics from books, journals and dissertations. 1969- Present.

ECONOMIC STATISTICS / INDUSTRY TRENDS

WORLD WIDE WEB SITES:

U.S. Census Bureau. [ ]

Comprehensive source of U.S. social, demographic and economic information and statistics.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: [ ]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data in the broad field of labor economics and

statistics.

BLS Publications & Research Papers: [ ]

This section of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) web site features special reports and publications such as background papers on current issues, news releases, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook. [ ]

Pennsylvania State Data Center. [ ]

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's official source for economic and demographic information. Includes PA state, county and metropolitan area data.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

Pennsylvania Statistical Abstract. Biennial. PA State Data Center. [Call#: Ref. HA607.P4 ]

Presents summary statistics on political, social, and economic conditions in Pennsylvania. All tables cite the original source of the data reported.

Statistical Abstract of the United States. GPO. annual. (Call#: Ref. HA202)

includes summary statistical tables on political, social, and economic conditions in the United States. All tables cite the original source of the data reported. Search this source online through the Census Bureau site:

Guide to Economic Indicators. by Norman Frumkin. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994. (Call#: Ref.HC103.F9 1994)

A handy layman’s guide to understanding economic indicators. This volume explains the main characteristics of the economic indicators frequently cited by economists, politicians, and journalists.

PERIODICALS & SPECIAL ISSUES: Many economic and business periodicals publish industry and economic forecasts, lists, and directories. For additional specialized periodicals, consult: Guide to Special Issues and Indexes of Periodicals.

Monthly Labor Review. [monthly.] Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Dept. of Labor. (current year + 5years on Periodical Shelves; 1991 - date: fulltext online in PROQUEST)

Half of each issue is devoted to a monthly update of statistics in 6 main areas: labor force, compensation and collective bargaining, prices, productivity, injury and illness, international comparisons. Within these areas, data are provided on such topics as cost of living, wage rates, and hours of labor. Each issue contains 4-5 factual, analytical articles on a wide range of labor and market topics.

Survey of Current Business. [monthly] Bureau of Economic Analysis. Dept. of Commerce. (current year + 5 yrs on Periodical Shelves; 1987 - date: fulltext online in PROQUEST) Reports over 1,900 major economic series including price indexes, GNP, productivity levels, and labor statistics. Each issue includes a factual, analytical article on regional, national, or international economic activity and trends.

SPECIAL ISSUES:

Business Week.

"Industry Outlook" - Includes outlook for basic manufacturing, natural resources, high technology, food, and service industries. JANUARY issue.

"Investment Outlook" - Includes articles, economic forecasts, and forecasts for earnings per share for almost 900 companies. DECEMBER/JANUARY issue.

Fortune.

"The Fortune 500" - 500 Largest U.S. Industrial Corporations" - APRIL or MAY issue.

"The Service 500" - 100 largest diversified service companies, 100 largest commercial banks, 100 largest diversified finance companies, 50 largest of the following: life insurance companies, retailing firms, transportation companies, utilities. JUNE issue.

“America’s Most Admired Companies” - Executives, directors and security analysts rate companies in 55 industries based on 8 attributes: innovativeness, quality of management, employee talent, quality of products/services, long term investment value, financial soundness, social responsibility, use of corporate assets. MARCH issue.

Sales and Marketing Management.

"Survey of Buying Power" - Statistical data on population, household, income and retail sales for metro areas, counties, and cities in the U.S. and Canada. AUGUST issue.

"Survey of Media Markets" - Population, income and retail sales data for ADIs (Areas of Dominant Influence) based on broadcast signal reach. OCTOBER issue.

DICTIONARIES / ENCYCLOPEDIAS / HANDBOOKS

Black well Encyclopedic Dictionary Series. 11 vols. Blackwell, 1998. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 22)

provides concise and informative definitions of key terms and concepts in accounting, strategic management, management information systems, marketing, managerial economics, organizational behavior, international management, finance, human resource management, operations management, and business ethics.

Encyclopedia of Business. 2 vols. Gale Research, 1995. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 22)

provides current and authoritative information on business terms, ideas, issues, concepts, theories, models, and techniques. Major issues addressed include entrepreneurship/small business, the globalization of business, quality, and diversity.

DICTIONARIES / ENCYCLOPEDIAS / HANDBOOKS

Encyclopedia of Political Economy. 2 vols. Routledge, 1999. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 22)

Key reference source for students of economics. Provides 450 entries on a wide variety of economic ideas. Special emphasis on issues of the 1960s-1990s.

Encyclopedia of Small Business. 2 vols. Gale Research, 1998. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 22)

Over 500 essays provide in-depth information on a wide range of small business topics.

New Palgrave: a Dictionary of Economics. 4 vols. 1987. (Call #: Ref. HB61.N49 1987)

This standard work provides explanations and examples of historical and contemporary economic theories and concepts. Also includes biographical profiles of economists who have contributed significantly to economic thought. Entries include references for further research. See also: New Palgrave Dictionary of Money & Finance,1992. (Call #: HG151.N48 1992)

Business Plans Handbook. Gale Research,1995. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 22)

A compilation of actual business plans by small businesses throughout North America.

GUIDES TO THE LITERATURE

Guides to the Literature are reference books that provide listings and descriptions of the major information sources in specific disciplines and professional fields. Many provide tips on research techniques and discussions of basic concepts in the field. Review the guides listed below to identify both general and specialized sources important to your major.

Business Information: How to Find It, How to Use It. by Michael R. Lavin. Phoenix:Oryx Press, 1992. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 7)

Business Information Sources. by Lorna M. Daniells. rev. ed., Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1993. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 7)

The Business Library and How to Use It : A Guide to Sources and Research Strategies for Information on Business and Management. By Ernest L. Maier . [et al.]. Detroit, MI:Omnigraphics, 1996. (Ref. Table 1, Shelf 7)

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