Company Research

Why is Company Research Important?

• Solicit Business

• Litigation

• Transactional work

Types of Companies

Sole Proprietorship– Ex. Big Daddy Mojo

• Partnerships– Ex. Quarles & Brady Streich Lang

• Corporations– Private – Mars Inc.– Public - Hershey

Types of Information

• Biographical– Contact Information– Officers– Number of Employees– Sales information– Industry

• Financial • Industry• Legal• Consumer Opinion/Media Attention

Locating Biographical Information

• Print Directories– Not all directories are the same– Caveats

• Currency

• Online Directories– Hoovers.com– U.S. Business Directory (Lexis)– International Million Dollar Database (ASU Libraries)

• Company’s website

Hoover’s Online www.hoovers.com

• Company and Industries – 18,000 public and private companies and 300

industries and 180,000 corporate executives.

• Company profiles

• Industry snapshots

• News

• Financials

Companies’ Websites

• Investor Information

• Company History

• Press Releases

• Philanthropy

• Employees

• Job Opportunities

Types of Information

• Biographical

• Financial– Balance Sheet– Income Statement– Cash Flow statement– Statement of Stockholder’s Equity

• Industry

• Legal

• Consumer Opinion/Media Attention

Where to find financial information?

• Company’s Annual Report• SEC Edgar http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

• Disclosure (ASU Libraries)

Types of Information

• Biographical• Financial• Industry

– Industry Surveys

– Industry Statistics

• Legal• Consumer Opinion/Media Attention

Where to Find Industry Information

• Industry Surveys– Print Sources

• Mergent’s Industry Review• S & P Industry Surveys

– Electronic Sources• Key Business Ratios (ASU Libraries)

• Industry Statistics– Economic Census

Types of Information

• Biographical• Financial• Investment• Industry• Legal

– Lawsuits

• Consumer Opinion/Media Attention

Where to Find Legal Information

• Lexis and Westlaw• Local court websites

– http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/index.asp – http://www.supreme.state.az.us/publicaccess/

• Search for articles– ABI/Inform– Business and Company Resource Center– Business Reference Suite

Types of Information

• Biographical• Financial• Investment• Industry• Legal• Consumer Opinion/Media Attention

– New product releases– Competition– Changes involving company

Where to Find Media Attention

• ABI/Inform• Business and Company Resource Center• Business Reference Suite

• www.hoovers.com• www.bizjournals.com

• Company’s website• Internet searching

Arizona Companies

• STARPAS – State of Arizona Public Access System– http://starpas.cc.state.az.us/instruct.html

• Company websites

• Court Records

• Private Directories

• Arizona Publications

• Business Databases