PENN STATE - DELAWARE COUNTY CAMPUS - JOHN D. VAIRO LIBRARY
BASIC REFERENCE SOURCES FOR BUSINESS RESEARCH
The following sources will help you conduct research on a business topic, prepare company or industry profiles, and stay informed of important, new developments in the business world. Consult the Vairo Library staff will be happy to help you.
Connect to all databases from the E-RESOURCE LIST A-Z
http://www.lias.psu.edu/alallpsu.html
DICTIONARIES / ENCYCLOPEDIAS / HANDBOOKS
Oxford Reference Online
Search full text of over 100 Oxford University Press dictionaries and subject references online. Business references include:
2
Dictionary of Accounting 2005
Dictionary of Business and Management 2006
Dictionary of Economics 2003
Dictionary of Finance and Banking 2005
Dictionary of Human Resource Management 2001
Handbook of International Financial Terms 2005
2
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Search full text of over 100 encyclopedias and subject references online.
Business references include:
2
Business Plans Handbook 2007
Encyclopedia of American Industries 2005
Encyclopedia of Business and Finance 2007
Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns 2007
Encyclopedia of Management 2006
Encyclopedia of Small Business 2007
Encyclopedia of White-Collar/Corporate Crime 2005
Gale E-Commerce Sourcebook 2003
International Directory of Business Biographies 2005
International Directory of Company Histories 2007
Manufacturing and Distribution USA 2006
Trade Unions of the World 2005
2
New Palgrave: a Dictionary of Economics. 4 vols. 1987. (Call #: Ref. HB61.N49 1987)
This standard work provides explanations and examples of historical and contemporary economic theories and concepts. Also includes biographical profiles of economists who have contributed significantly to economic thought. Entries include references for further research. See also: New Palgrave Dictionary of Money & Finance,1992. (Call #: HG151.N48 1992)
COMPANY INFORMATION
PROFILES and FINANCIALS:
Hoover’s Online
Hoover's Online provides detailed Fact Sheets that include: company overview, history, people, products/operations, industry, competitors, news, and financials for over 13,000 U.S. and 2,0000 international companies. Includes both public and private companies. *Special feature: Video interviews of company executives (CEOs on Camera) and industry analysts and leaders (Industry Watch).
MergentOnline
includes detailed business descriptions, corporate histories, and financial statements on 11,000 U.S. public companies and 17,000 non-U.S. public companies. MergentOnline also includes: annual reports, presentation-style reports on over 1,700 NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ companies, archives for over 4,000 companies that were acquired, went bankrupt, or merged since 1995, private company profiles provided by Dun & Bradstreet, insider-trading records of all share buys and sells by U.S. corporate officers for the past 3 & 6 months, SEC filings with form descriptions.
Value Line
is a comprehensive source of information and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks, more than 90 industries, the stock market, and the economy.
Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage
combines 11 investor information products in a single database. Includes
S&P Corporation Records, Register of Executives, & Directors, and Industry Surveys. Industry surveys include an annual Basic Analysis, which analyzes trends and problems with an historical perspective, a short Current Analysis, which provides the latest developments, market statistics and investment outlook, and a Comparative Company Analysis that compares the growth in sales and earnings of the leading companies over the last 5 years.
Plunkett Research Online
provides industry reports covering new and emerging industry sector analysis and research, industry trends and industry statistics, market research and trends, and company profiles.
MARKET RESEARCH and INVESTMENT REPORTS:
Mintel Reports
provides market research reports for the U.S. and European consumer markets. Includes analysis of market drivers, trends, market forecasts, market segmentations, demographics, and consumer attitudes and purchasing behaviors. Over 600 reports published each year.
Reuters Research on Demand (formerly Multex)
provides real-time, full-text investment research reports and video/audio programs to support investment research. The more than 750 contributing firms include Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, and RS Investment Management.
Tablebase
provides tabular/statistical data on companies, industries, products, and demographics. Subject areas include: trends, market share, company and brand rankings, industry and product forecasts, numbers of product users, imports and exports, production and consumption statistics, number of users and trends. 90% of the records are full-text. TableBase is international in scope and is updated weekly.
WORLD WIDE WEB SITES:
Yahoo! Finance – Historical Quotes [http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=GE ]
Type your company's ticker symbol in the box to the right of "Get Historical Prices for:" and click on GO. Historical Quotes provides the daily open, high, low, close and volume for each trading day in the date range you choose. Data is available back to 1970. Weekly or monthly or dividend quotes for a chosen date range also may be selected.
Stock Exchanges:
New York Stock Exchange [http://www.nyse.com] ,
NASDAQ [http://www.nasdaq.com],
Philadelphia Stock Exchange [http://www.phlx.com/]
TRADE AND SCHOLARLY JOURNALS / BUSINESS NEWS
ABI/Inform Global - ProQuest
Search 1000 premier worldwide business periodicals for information on advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Articles include information on more than 60,000 companies. ABI/Inform includes full text and full image (charts, graphs, tables) for most articles published since 1995.
Lexis-Nexis Academic
provides the full text of a wide range of national and regional business journals and newsletters. This database is our most complete source of New York Times back issues in full text. Academic Universe includes statistical information from reference sources, periodicals, and government publications, and provides easy access to CIS Congressional Universe, a comprehensive database of U.S. legislative information and transcripts of congressional testimony.
EconLit
International in scope, EconLit is an index to research in all aspects of economics from books, journals and dissertations. 1969- Present.
ECONOMIC STATISTICS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
WORLD WIDE WEB SITES:
U.S. Census Bureau. [ http://www.census.gov ]
Comprehensive source of U.S. social, demographic and economic information and statistics.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: [ http://www.bls.gov/ ]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data in the broad field of labor economics and
statistics.
BLS Publications & Research Papers: [http://www.bls.gov/opub/ ]
This section of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) web site features special reports and publications such as background papers on current issues, news releases, and the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Pennsylvania State Data Center. [http://pasdc.hbg.psu.edu/]
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's official source for economic and demographic information. Includes PA state, county and metropolitan area data.
REFERENCE HANDBOOKS:
Pennsylvania Statistical Abstract. PA State Data Center. annual. ( Call #: Ref. HA607.P4)
Presents summary statistics on political, social, and economic conditions in Pennsylvania. All tables cite the original source of the data reported. Search this data on the World Wide Web through the Pennsylvania State Data Center site: http://psdc.hbg.psu.edu/
Statistical Abstract of the United States. GPO. annual. (Call #:Ref. HA202;
online at http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/st_abstracts.html)
includes summary statistical tables on political, social, and economic conditions in the United States. All tables cite the original source of the data reported. Search this source on the World Wide Web through the Census Bureau site: http://www.census.gov/
Guide to Economic Indicators. by Norman Frumkin. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1994. (Call#: Ref.HC103.F9 1994)
A handy layman’s guide to understanding economic indicators. This volume explains the main characteristics of the economic indicators frequently cited by economists, politicians, and journalists.
ECONOMIC STATISTICS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
PERIODICALS & SPECIAL ISSUES: Many economic and business periodicals publish industry and economic forecasts, lists, and directories.
Monthly Labor Review. [monthly.] Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Dept. of Labor. (full text online in ABI/Inform database)
Half of each issue is devoted to a monthly update of statistics in 6 main areas: labor force, compensation and collective bargaining, prices, productivity, injury and illness, international comparisons. Within these areas, data are provided on such topics as cost of living, wage rates, and hours of labor. Each issue contains 4-5 factual, analytical articles on a wide range of labor and market topics.
Survey of Current Business. [monthly] Bureau of Economic Analysis. U.S. Dept. of Commerce. (full text online in ABI/Inform database; Web access: http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/pubs.htm)
Reports over 1,900 major economic series including price indexes, GNP, productivity levels, and labor statistics. Each issue includes a factual, analytical article on regional, national, or international economic activity and trends.
SPECIALISSUES.COM: [http://www.specialissues.com/lol/dispLOL.cfm?Subject_ID=BUSINES008]
Specialissues.com tracks business journal issues that offer special editorial content with an industry or company focus. Examples of special issues include: industry outlooks, overviews, or surveys; statistical issues; company ranking lists; buyers guides; salary surveys; product/industry focus issues, etc. Many online special issues are interactive/searchable and provide greater content than the printed versions.
Examples:
Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For (country's best employers, compiled through surveys, questionnaires and interviews with employees) 2006
Fortune America’s Most Admired Companies (annual ranking of the America’s most respected companies and the characteristics that define them, including innovation, quality of management and financial strength) (1982) 2006
Business Week (North America edition) Hot Growth Companies (top 100 best small companies) 2005
Business Week (North America edition) Best Global Brands (identifies and ranks the 100 greatest global brands) 2005
Business Week (North America edition) e.biz Top 25 (reports on this year's most influential people in e-business) 2005
Business Week (North America edition) Investment Outlook (provides the latest investment thinking from the world's best minds; industry-by-industry scoreboard for 900 companies, with the best values on Wall Street and across the globe) 2005
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