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BIOL 4301 SWOT Research Checklist
Understanding a SWOT Analysis
- Wiley encyclopedia of management
and on the internet
Tip: Strengths and weaknesses are often internal to your organization, while opportunities and threats generally relate to external factors.
Find a Company Annual Report or 10-k
- Begin with the company's filings which include the 10K, annual report, Annual Information Form or Manager's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) - usually found on their web site or by doing a Google search of company name and 10K or annual report.
- If you cannot find the company's filings on their website search SEDAR for Canada and EDGAR for the United States.
Find Relevant Government Information
Do a Google search with country, name of the industry and government. For example: gmo Canada government.
- Industry Canada - Canadian Life Sciences Industry
- Health Canada - Drugs and Health Products
- Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
- Statistics Canada - The Canadian Research and Development Pharmaceutical Sector
- USDA - Agricultural Biotechnology Annual - Canada
- Intergovernmental Organization - OECD iLibrary - Good for comparison of data between countries
Find a Trade Association
Do an internet search name of industry, association, country. For example:
biotechnology association canada
In the U.S.
Find an Industry or Company Report
- Business Source Complete - Select Industry Profile as your publication type and search.
- Mergent Online - Go to the Industry Analysis tab at the top of the page. Select Biotechnology and North America.
- Factiva - Select the Companies/ Markets tab and then Industries. Select Biotechnology from the list of industries from the drop down.
How is your company doing?
- Go to Factiva, from Companies/Markets select Company and key in your company name.
Scroll down to Key Financials for quick financial info. Detailed results are available on the left.
Look for Reports from Consulting Firms
Major consulting firms publish reports on trends affecting an industry. These include macroenvironmental factors. Major consulting firms include:
Bloomberg Professional
Students who want to try an advanced business resource who are doing large companies can try using Bloomberg Professional to get industry and company reports. If you want to try this it is recommended that you contact the Business Librarian (matthew.gertler@carleton.ca) for a walkthrough of the database.
Understand Financial Statements
- IBM, Guide to Financial Statements
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Beginner's Guide to Financial Statements
- Merrill Lynch, The Merrill Lynch Guide to Understanding Financial Reports
- 12 Things You Need To Know About Financial Statements
PEST Factors
Political-Legal Environment
- Check trade associations for the industry
- Check government departments and ministries that cover the industry
- globalEdge excellent free site from Michigan State University. Look for the U.S. Commercial Service - Country Commercial Guide... see section dealing with Customs, Regulations & Standards. Below the link to the Country Commercial Guide is a link to the World Bank - Doing Business Indicators
Economic Environment
- Look for a Country Report on Business Source Complete
- Economist Intelligence Unit - provides disposal income
- Conference Board of Canada e-Library - browse by topic Economic Trends for forecasting at federal, provincial and municipal levels in Canada.
Includes consumer and business confidence reports - Statistics Canada - Get data and reports on macroeconomic and industry specific trends
Socio-Cultural Environment & Consumers
Passport (- Market information for consumer goods and services and demographics. Helpful for consumer industries like nutraceuticals. Contains information on general trends and country specific reports.
Census of Canada - Data on Canadian demographics that includes occupation and education.
- Census of Population
Counts every man, woman and child in Canada and Canadians and their families working abroad for the federal and provincial government. Takes place every 5 years in years ending in 1 and 6 - 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016
To compare censuses from 1981 to 2016 use the Canadian Census Analyser
Conference Board
Data on consumer confidence
Attitudinal:
Search the following for polls and information on attitudes:
Technological Environment
Look for data and information that will help you examine and analyze one of two variables:
- Technologies USED by the industry you are analyzing e.g. 3D Printing
- Technologies that are essentially substitutes for the products provided by the industry being analyzed e.g. online advertising with Google and Facebook displacing print and other traditional forms of advertising
Sources -
- 10K Reports or Corporate Disclosure documents to find technologies used by companies within your industry.
- Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of a company's 10K will identify threats from other industries.
- Research reports from investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.
- Analyst reports from Bloomberg
- Industry trade magazines and trade associations websites
- Google the industry + country + associations to find trade associations
- Search Business Source Complete for articles published in trade magazines
- Search relevant keywords in the search box in Passport for trends and new products
for example, search 3D printing, drones, etc. - Articles may also be found in Canadian Businss & Current Affairs, Ei Engineering Village, Factiva and Industry Week
Public Company Filings
Begin with the company's 10K or annual report - usually found on their web site or by doing a google search of company name and 10K or annual report. Read the Management Discussion and Analysis - (MD&A) section of the Annual Report or 10k. Read the letter to the shareholders from the CEO in the company's annual report.
Government Databases for company filings (includes Annual Report/ 10k).
Help Guides for Interpreting Company Filings
- IBM, Guide to Financial Statements
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Beginner's Guide to Financial Statements
- Merrill Lynch, The Merrill Lynch Guide to Understanding Financial Reports
- 12 Things You Need To Know About Financial Statements
Company Profiles
- Business Source Complete Look for a Company Profile or SWOT anaylsis: search for your company name. Scroll down and limit by Company Report or SWOT Analysis.
- Mergent Online Financial data for U.S. and selected global companies.
- Factiva - Mouse over Companies/Markets from menu bar at top of page. Scroll down to find business and geographic segments. Explore the table on contents on the left hand side.
No SWOT for your company - try a competitor. External factors will affect all companies in an industry.
Resources
- Begin with Business Source Complete.
Select Industry Profiles from menu on right hand side. Browse alphabetically to search by industry. - Mergent Online
Select the Report Search tab from the menu. Select industry of interest and then geographical region. - Passport
Go to Industries at the top of the page, select the relevant industry or industries and narrow by country or countries. Tip - choose the industry plus specific parts of industry as there is often more than one industry profile. - Factiva
Mouse over Companies/Markets from menu bar at top of page, select Industry. Select industry from the list provided. - Conference Board of Canada e-Library
Browse by topic -> Industry Sector Economics for industry profiles or enter industry name in the search box. - HighBeam Business: Industry Reports
Free industry reports from The Gale Group on US industries.
Can you tell the difference between trade or popular journals and scholarly journals?
Trade journals, magazines and newspapers are very useful for up to date information on events, countries, companies and industries.
Examples of trade journals, magazines, newspapers:
- Businessweek
- Forbes
- Fortune
- The Economist
- Electronics Weekly
- Financial Times
- Wall Street Journal
- Financial Times ( London )
- The Globe and Mail
- National Post Includes the Financial Post
Search for current articles on your company, product(s) or industry. Many databases will have a button that allows you to limit your search to scholarly or non-scholarly materials.
- Bloomberg News - Excellent source. Use the search function to search Biotechnology or a company name.
Indexes -
- Business Source Complete
- Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database
- Factiva excellent source for international business news
