Content last reviewed:
Finding a MNC
- Fortune Magazine Top Global 500 companies
- World's Largest Public Companies in 2017 - Forbes Magazine
Tips for Company Information:
Look for a SWOT anaylsis:
- Go to Business Source Complete and search for your company name. Scroll down and limit by Company Report and SWOT Analysis.
- Go to Passport. Select Companies from the top tab and key in your company name. Select relevant segment and open the profile. Look in the table of contents for a SWOT analysis.
Look to the company's web site for valuable information: 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.
No SWOT for your company? Try searching a competitor.
Databases
- Mergent Online Financial data for U.S. and selected global companies.
- Factiva - Mouse over Companies/Markets from menu bar at top of the page. Scroll down to find business and geographic segments. Explore the table on contents on the left-hand side.
- Bloomberg - an excellent resource for company and industry information.
Rankings
- JUST Capital - provides information and rankings on how large corporations perform on issues that matter most to the public.
- Forbes - The Companies With The Best CSR Reputations In The World
- Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World index
Industry Information
Statistics Canada and US Census Bureau to get the NAICS code for an industry in Canada or the United States.
- 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.
- Search by NAICS code
- Passport
- Go to Industries at the top of the page, select the relevant industry or industries and narrow by country. Tip - choose the industry plus specific parts of the 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.
Tip:
Look for valuable information and data from trade associations
Google the industry + country or region + association
Research Starting Points
- Passport - Get country reports for Industries, Economy, Business Conditions, Environment, Consumer Behavior and Demographics. Get company and market information.
- Business Source Complete - Get country reports, industry reports and trade journal articles.
- Nexis Uni - Get country, industry and company reports.
Intergovernmental Organizations
- EIU.com provides political structure (look under Summary)
- globalEdge includes political structure, international relations and international organization participation in the Government section.
Look for a Country Commercial Report. - World Fact Book by the CIA includes information on country legal systems.
Canada's engagement with emerging economies - establishing the political framework
Global Affairs Canada
EIU Economist Intelligence Unit - Provides current and historical economic data and forecasting.
globalEdge - Excellent free site from Michigan State University which has a section on Emerging Markets. After selecting your country, look for the Country Commercial Guide. Also brings together a large number of ranking tools.
World Economic Forum, Explore the reports - for example, the Global Competitiveness Report for country rankings, Global Risks Report and the Inclusive Development Index.
World Bank, Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 183 economies. Each economy is ranked according to 10 sets of indicators. These are combined into an overall "ease of doing business" ranking. See also the Regional Reports
The World Bank also provides outlook information
International Trade Centre - Countries/Territories - select pdf report for country
UN Comtrade - on ResourceTrade.Earth
WITS World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS)
WTO - Map of disputes between members
Canada's engagement with selected emerging economies (overviews)
Socio-Cultural Data
Population Statistics
In Passport search by country
From the top tool bar select
>consumers
>population
Go to the Country reports. Remember the Related Statistics provides census data. Select time series, by year - choose relevant years and click on Apply.
- World Bank Data
Global population and economic data from 1960 - - World Bank Country Data Profiles
Education Statistics
- Education Statistics (EdStats) from the World Bank
Cultural Environment
- In Passport, select Consumers and explore under headings Households and Lifestyles.
- globalEdge, select country to see languages, ethnic groups, religions as well as links to other sources.
- globalEdge - provides information on business culture by country
- Hofstede Centre - provides country based cultural analysis, comparisons and scores.
- Global Consumption Database - a one-stop source of data on household consumption patterns in developing countries
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. - Passport - ranks countries by technology - go to Consumers, Digital Consumer
- Gartner Research - Information Technology (IT) related reports
- Articles may also be found in Canadian Business & Current Affairs, Ei Engineering Village, Factiva and Industry Week
- Global Information Technology Report (World Economic Forum)
Major Consulting Firms
Search for News, Magazines and Trade Journal Articles
- Factiva excellent source for international business news
- Business Source Complete
- Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database
- Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
- PressReader pdfs to more than 2300 newspapers from 97 countries in over 55 languages
- PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service)
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Specific Publications
- Bloomberg News
- Forbes
- Fortune
- The Economist
- Wall Street Journal
- The Globe and Mail
- National Post Online (Includes the Financial Post)
Academic articles are found by searching the following
- Business Source Complete
- EconLit
- Emerald Management eJournals
- Google Scholar
- JSTOR - JSTOR is a "moving wall" archive: newer years are added as publishers allow. Most recent titles are between 3 - 5 years old.
- PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
- OMNI - Search most content in the library. Including Journal articles and books.
Citation Chaining - Find articles by following citations. If you found an article that matches your topic the databases below will help you find research that cited that article.
Good to know:
- Within a database, limit your search to scholarly (also called academic or peer-reviewed) articles when it is appropriate to disregard other resources.
- Never limit to full-text only as we may subscribe to the journal you find from another vendor. Use the Get it! icon to search for the full text when it is not immediately available.
- Use available options to search more than one database at a time.
- Sort by relevance or newest titles first.
- Examine the keywords on the record for additional search terms.
- Look for the option to set up an RSS feed or to Create an Alert. You are then notified when a new entry is added to the database that meets your search criteria.
- Use the Interlibrary Loans RACER form to request items not held at Carleton’s library.
Tips for effective searching -
If you find one relevant article for your research it can lead to other relevant papers by the following:
- using the databases, including Summon, look to find all papers & books published by the author or co-authors
- explore the bibliography in the paper for sources
- using Web of Science or Scopus, look for articles that cite the article you found. Remember, some databases will also list citing articles but those lists are limited to the current database. The Web of Science and Scopus are more comprehensive, with coverage from multiple databases.
Peer Review
Not sure if an article is in a peer-reviewed journal? Check with Ulrichsweb
WritingUse the excellent resource OWL - Purdue University's Online Writing Lab.
- Expand General Writing to explore:
- Writing Tutorial Service (WTS)
Citing your sources
It is essential to understand how and when to use citations in your essays and projects to ensure the Academic Integrity of your work. Good help is available! Use the style the professor says to use - it may be different for different classes.
- Research and Citation - Guides to citation styles from OWL.
- Citing Your Sources - Carleton's general guide to resources on all the main styles including video links.
- APA Citation for Business Resources - York University
- Citation Guide - prepared by the Harvard Business School
- The Chicago Manual of Style Online
- Citing Data & Statistics
Citation Management
- Citation Management Tools
- Zotero Guide - Ryerson
- Zotero Guide - U of T
