Company Information: Your Assignment

Understanding Your Assignment

Before you begin looking for information you should make sure you understand your assignment. Some good questions are:

• How many pages?
• How many sources?
• What kinds of sources?
  
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Websites
    
• What format?

Your professor is your best resource to answer these questions.

There is no one definitive way for doing business research on a particular company. The approach that you take and the resources that you use will depend on the type and amount of information that you have to start with, as well as the type and amount of information that you wish to end up with.

When conducting company research, one of your first steps should be determining what type of company you are researching.  Is it public or private?  Is it an international company?  Is it a nonprofit?

Once that is determined, you can better direct your research.

When researching a company, it is important to know whether it is public, private or a subsidiary of a larger company.

Public companies sell shares of the company (stocks) to the general public, and are required to submit financial information and annual reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Public companies are therefore easier to research. 

Private companies do not sell publicly traded stocks and as a result, are not required by law to disclose as much information about themselves to  the government or the general public  They are therefore more challenging to research.

Subsidiaries are companies that operate under the control of a larger parent company. The parent company may be a private or public company.  Subsidiaries can be difficult to research because the parent company is not required to report on each of them individually. Therefore, when researching a subsidiary, you often have to read carefully through reports about the parent and look for references to the subsidiary. You may need to read the management discussion in SEC filings such as 10-K, study the information provided on the subsidiary’s and parent company’s websites, or find news articles in order to find information about financial performance and strategy.  An example of a subsidiary is Old Navy, parent company is The Gap.

 Add / Reorder  

• Company Websites (free) - Company's website may provide company history, mission/vision statement, 10-K/Annual Report (public companies), media/news/press releases.
• Annual Report - Public companies are required to file an annual report to the U.S. government, known as a 10-K. These reports will often include a section on the company's history. Other information may include financial data, results of continuing operations, market segment information, new product plans, subsidiary activities, and R&D activities.
• Check out the research database guide by subject (BUSINESS).to locate magazine and newspaper articles on the company.
• Check the library catalog for books in print and online.

Need Help 

The Cerritos College Librarians can help you with your research in a variety of ways:

• In person
• By email
• By phone
• Chat

Librarians are available during library hours to answer your questions by phone or chat.
(562) 860-2451 x2425