Chemeketa Community College

Finding Information About Companies (BA101)

Printed sources for general business information

Catalog

Use the Chemeketa catalog to look up books. Or see the reference books listed below.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Busine$$ and Finance [Ref 650.103 En1]
Articles on over 300 subjects of importance in business.
Encyclopedia of Small Business [Ref 658.022 H55]
Approximately 500 articles geared to topics of interest to small-business entrepreneurs.

Dictionaries

Concise dictionary of business management [Ref 658.003 St2]
Short definitions of management-related terms and buzzwords.
Dictionary for Business and Finance [Ref 650.03 T27]
Terms relating to a wide range of business areas, such as banking, finance, insurance, real estate, economics, estate planning, management, and communication.
Prentice-Hall Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Terms [Ref 650.03 C88]
Definitions of business terms, ranging from a sentence to over a page in length.
Understanding American Business Jargon [Ref 650.03 F73]
Covers business terms including phrases taken from popular slang and similar references.

Printed sources for company information

Sources of general information

Hoover's Handbook of American Business [Ref 338.74 H761]
Short profiles of U.S. companies.
Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies [Ref 338.74 H763]
Short profiles of companies coming into prominence.
Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies [Ref 338.74 H766]
It is much more difficult to find information on private companies than public ones. This volume is one possible source of information.
Hoover's Handbook of World Business [Ref 338.74 H768]
Short profiles of international companies.
International directory of company histories [Ref 338.74 In82]
Despite its title of "directory," this is really an encyclopedic compilation of company histories. Articles about companies are updated at intervals. An index to company names is found in the last volume.

Sources of financial information

Mergent's Handbook of Common Stocks [Ref 332.67 M54]
Previously Moody's Handbook of Common Stocks. Quarterly publication which gives financial profiles of publicly traded companies.

Directories

Directories: Regional

Oregon Business Directory [Ref 338.09795025 Or3]
Use the yellow pages to look up businesses by type, the pink pages to look up businesses by location
Oregon Manufacturers Register [Ref 338.09795 Or35]
Use the yellow pages to look up businesses by type, the pink pages to look up businesses by location
Advanced Technology in the Pacific Northwest [Ref 338 Ad9]
This is an example of a specialized directory.

Directories: National

Directory of Corporate Affiliations, Volumes 3, 4, 5 and 6 [Ref 338.740973 D62]
These volumes cover public and private U.S. companies, and explain their interrlationships. A Master Index is in volumes 1 and 2.

Directories: International

Directory of Corporate Affiliations, Volumes 7 and 8 [Ref 338.740973 D62]
Covers large public and private companies in foreign countries. Use the Master Index in volumes 1 and 2.

Periodical Articles

Go to the Chemeketa Library Database page to find databases that cover both our printed magazines and online articles.

Online sources

Dictionaries

Washington Post Business Glossary - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/glossary
"The glossary contains more than 1,250 business terms, organized and cross-referenced for your convenience. You can search the glossary for a particular word or search the full text of the glossary to find every reference to a word or phrase."
Yahoo's Financial Glossary - http://biz.yahoo.com/f/g/
Nearly 3,000 financial terms defined in plain language.

Sources of General Information

Company and industry profiles
These profiles of large companies contain more extended information than most sources. See Business Source Premier, below.
Hoover's Online - http://www.hoovers.com/
Online version of directory of business information. Click on Companies & Industries. Type a company name in the search space, or click on Companies/Industries/Company Directory at left. Some portions of the database are for members only, but there is much free information in capsule form.
Researching Companies Online - A Tutorial (http://www.learnwebskills.com/company/)
An outstanding tutorial that will teach the user how to find information about companies by using the World Wide Web. All sources covered are free of charge.

Sources of financial information

Reuters Investor - http://today.reuters.com/investing/defaultUS.aspx
Searchable company information. Detailed information requires registration, but the registration is free.
Yahoo Finance - http://biz.yahoo.com/i/
Business meta-site contains links to quotes, research data, financials, etc.

Annual reports and other reports to the government

EDGAR, the electronic data gathering, analysis and retrieval system- http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm
Electronic filings by corporations to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual annual report to shareholders (except in the case of investment companies) need not be submitted on EDGAR, although some companies do so voluntarily. The annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB, however, which contains much of the same information, is required to be filed on EDGAR. Click on "Search for company filings," then on "Companies and other filers." Type in the company name; if the company name is long, do not type more than the first 20 letters.
Search Systems Public Record Locator - http://www.searchsystems.net/
Use this commercial Web site to find online public records, such as bank and financial institution records, state incorporation records, etc. Although the site no longer gives URLS for the data sources, once you have the correct name of the source, you can do a Web search to find it. Records sources that require payment are indicated; many are free.

Directories

Reference USA
A directory of 14 million businesses in the United States. You will need your My Chemeketa user name and password. Click "Search" at left next to "U.S. Businesses."
Thomas Register
A directory of manufacturing companies in North America. You can search for a product or service by key words. It is possible to limit by state after the initial keyword search. Every company listed has address and phone information; many have links to the company's Web site or catalog, or both.
Thomas Global Register
Like the Thomas Register, above, you can search by key word, and limit by country. You must register to use the resource, but it is free.

Periodical Articles

For access to all our databases, go to http://newterra.chemeketa.edu/library/information/database.htm. If you are not on campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.

Business Source Premier [EBSCOhost]
Index to over 8,000 publications, including 1,100 peer-reviewed business journals. Includes indexing to the Wall Street Journal [1993-present]. Also contains detailed company and industry profiles; to access them, click "Company Profiles" in the blue toolbar banner.
Newspaper Source [EBSCOhost]
Contains selected full text coverage for more than 240 newspapers and other sources. Coverage of business topics is favored.
Oregonian
Searchable, full text of the Oregonian newspaper staff-written articles back to 1988.
Regional Business News [EBSCOhost]
Coverage of regional business publications, including Oregon Business. Most are available in full text.


Updated: July 2008
Comments: reference@chemeketa.edu or call (503)399-5231.
Address of this page: HTTP://newterra.chemeketa.edu/library/instruction/handouts/BA101.htm