Private Companies

From Bentley Library Research Help

Contents 1 Private Company Resources – Library Research Guide 1.1 Library Print & Electronic Resources 1.1.1 Get directory information or compile lists of companies according to specific criteria. 1.1.2 Get biographical information about corporate executives. 1.1.3 Get company profiles & reports. 1.1.4 Get articles about private companies from the business and trade literature. 1.2 Government Resources 1.3 Trade Associations – Professional Associations – Licensing Boards 1.4 Additional Resources

[edit] 1 Private Company Resources – Library Research Guide

This guide was created to provide a starting point for researching private companies. Please note that this guide is neither complete nor comprehensive, and new information will be added as necessary. Some of the resources listed below are subscription databases and may only be accessed by current students, faculty, and staff of Bentley College. (Rev. 7.7.2007 KM)

Click here to view the Researching Private Companies Workshop presentation.

Different types of resources and access levels are indicated by:

• Print Resources are located in the Library`s Reference Collection or behind the Reference Desk. These materials are for in library use only.
• Electronic Resources are subscription databases. These resources are available to members of the Bentley Community on-campus. Off-campus access is available by using your Bentley e-mail address and network password.
• Websites are internet resources that are free.

[edit] 1.1 Library Print & Electronic Resources

[edit] 1.1.1 Get directory information or compile lists of companies according to specific criteria.

• American Big Business Directory REF DESK HF5053 .A49
  • Includes contact information, headquarters, branches, subsidiaries, estimated sales volume, and number of years in business.
• D & B Million Dollar Directory
  • Provides directory information for North American Companies with sales greater than 1 million dollars or with employee size greater than 20.
• Lexis Nexis Corporate Affiliations AKA Who Owns Whom AKA Directory of Corporate Affiliations REF DESK HB4507 .A217
  • Volumes 5 & 6 of this 8 volume set are dedicated to U.S. Private Companies. Provides information on mergers & acquisitions, sales, assets, liabilities and directory information for 10,000 parent companies & 14,000 of their subsidiaries.
• ReferenceUSA
  • The ReferenceUSA database contains detailed information on more than 14 million U.S. businesses. ReferenceUSA records contain contact information, corporation information, company descriptions, management directories, and competitors. ReferenceUSA records allow users to view a company`s Corporate Family Tree. The custom search feature in ReferenceUSA allows users to set up a personalized search form to help identify and compare companies. Custom search options include business type, geography, business size and ownership type.

[edit] 1.1.2 Get biographical information about corporate executives.

• Standard & Poor`s Net Advantage
  • Use the Register Private Co. & Register of Executives under the Company tab in the Advanced Search area to identify corporate relationships and obtain biographical information on executives.
• Who`s Who in Finance and Business REF HF3023 .A2 W5 – Provides detailed biographical profiles of over 24,000 leaders in the areas of accounting, advertising, banking & finance, information technology, communications, construction, engineering, manufacturing, retail trade and computer hardware & software.

[edit] 1.1.3 Get company profiles & reports.

• Business & Company Resource Center & PROMT (Infotrac)
  • Provide company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Search these databases to find detailed company and industry news and information.
• Datamonitor Company Profiles & SWOT Analysis Available via Business Source Premier (EBSCO)
  • Provides data on market segmentation, market growth and pricing, competitors and other company analysis.
• Hoover`s Handbook of Private Companies REF DESK HG4057 .A28616 – Profiles the largest privately owned U. S. businesses with revenues 650 million. Contains information on key competitors, sales, number of employees, and company overviews. Hoover`s Company Profiles are also available through LexisNexis Academic.
• LexisNexis Academic
  • Provides private company information from the following resources: Thomson Savings Directory, US Business Directory, Experian Business Reports, Hoover`s Company Capsule Database – American Private Companies, Hoover`s Company Profile Database – American Private Enterprises.
• Plunkett`s Research Online
  • Provides users with access to all of Plunkett`s Industry Almanacs which include thousands of profiles of industry-leading private companies which can be searched by company name, specific criteria or by keywords. Data is updated weekly.
• Standard & Poor`s Net Advantage
  • Use the Register Private Co. & Register of Executives under the Company tab in the Advanced Search area to obtain the company profile.

[edit] 1.1.4 Get articles about private companies from the business and trade literature.

• ABI Inform Global (Proquest)
  • Indexes more than 1,300 business periodicals, with over 750 in full-text. Proquest also makes the electronic editions of The Wall Street Journal available in full-text.
• Business & Company Resource Center & PROMT (Infotrac)
  • Search these collections to find articles on: finance, acquisitions and mergers, international trade, money management, new technologies and products, local and regional business trends, investments and banking and new products.
• Business Source Premier (EBSCO)
  • Provides full text for nearly 4,000 publications covering virtually all subject areas related to business.
• Factiva
  • Includes content from nearly 8,000 news sources including local & regional news sources.
• LexisNexis Academic
  • Patent & litigation information is available under the Legal Research section of this database.
  • Find local and regional newspapers by selecting the tan <Sources> tab and clicking on the <News> folder in the "Publication Type" source list. On the resulting page, select <United States> from the "Filter Type" drop down list at the top of the page and then select the region of interest from the "All Regions" drop down list.

[edit] 1.2 Government Resources

• At the Federal Level
  • Federal Procurement Data Center
  • FedBizOpps
  • National Labor Relations Board
  • Occupational Safety & Health Administration OSHA
  • Consumer Product Safety Commission
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • Patent & Trademark Office
  • PACER Public Access to Court Electronic Records Allows you to obtain a case & docket from Federal Appellate, District & Bankruptcy Court. It takes 2 weeks to register for a password
• At the State Level (An example of places to look for information from the state of Massachusetts would be to start here and click on agencies at top of screen to access the following departmental web & contact information)
  • Secretary of the Commonwealth
  • Attorney General
  • Department of Economic Development
  • State Courts
  • Uniform Commercial Code Division
• At the Local Level (An example of places to look for information from the city of Waltham would be to start here and click on the following agencies to get access to web & contact information)
  • Town Clerk
  • Town Assessor
  • Chamber of Commerce Board of Trade

[edit] 1.3 Trade Associations – Professional Associations – Licensing Boards

Use the Encyclopedia of Associations to find associations of interest or to verify that an association is a valid one.

• Encyclopedia of Associations: regional, state, and local organizations REF DESK HS17 .G333
  • Lists more than 115,000 U.S. nonprofit membership organizations including many trade and professional associations. Detailed entries furnish association name, complete contact and descriptive text information.

• Associations on the NET via the Internet Public Library

• Gateway to Associations
  • Click on People & Groups tab
  • Click on Directories on the left
  • Select Gateway to Associations

[edit] 1.4 Additional Resources

• The Company website i.e. Deloitte & Touche
• Fedworld Use to find additional government resources.
• GovPro Source of news & articles about government procurement.
• Guidestar Source of information for non-profit companies.
• Thomas Register of American Manufacturers Lists more than 168,000 U.S. manufacturing firms and includes information about the products they make.
• Uniform Bank Performance Reports Resource for researching the banking industry. Banks are required to file a Uniform Bank Performance Report with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

The Bentley Library owns and has access to additional resources not listed above. If you are having a problem finding the information you need, assistance is available at the Reference Desk. You may access research helpin a number of ways.