Annual reports for firms also are a treasure-trove of information.
These reports and other quarterly update materials
are often available from the firm’s own website
(look for “about us” or “investor relations” tabs,
often located at the bottom of the company’s website).
Additionally, most university and public libraries
have access to large databases of articles from
many trade publications. (Factiva and ABI/Proquest
are two examples.) Company profiles of a variety of
publicly listed firms are available at reliable websites
such as Hoovers.com and finance.yahoo.com. Also,
many industries have quite active trade associations
that will have websites and publications that can also
be useful in this process. Your local librarian can
likely provide you with some additional resources
that may be licensed for library use or that are otherwise
not available online. Examples of these are
Value Line Ratings & Reports and Datamonitor.
A second approach to this project is to select a
smaller firm in your area. These firms may have coverage
in the local press. However, if the firm is not
public, you will need to ensure you have access to a
wide variety of data from the firm. If this is a firm for