Starting Points
This page contains information on library resources that should help you begin your research for the Organization Analysis project in addition to the books, articles, databases, and internet sources mentioned throughout the rest of this guide.
Also, directly below, are all Business LibGuides by topic for quick reference. Some (not all) of the guides might be helpful to reference throughout your research.
Obtain the company's latest annual report/ SEC documents:
Often, the annual report and other financial documents are freely available online through the company's investor relations page. That is, if the company is publicly traded. These documents should help with the Internal Analysis portion of the project.
For more detailed information, take a look at the Annual Reports/ SEC Documents guide.
Access balance sheets & income statements:
This should help with the Internal Analysis portion of the project. Additional resources on the Company Research guide could be useful.
Research the company:
Researching the company can be helpful for the Internal Analysis portion of the project. Also, while doing your company research it might be helpful to note the NAICS code or SIC code (industry codes), which will be helpful for researching an organization's industry for the External Analysis portion of the project.
For detailed information and more resources use the Company Research guide. These resources might be helpful to start with:
- ABI/INFORM Global This link opens in a new windowProvides indexing and abstracting for 1000 periodicals with full text for more than 600 publications.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowBusiness Source Complete is an essential tool for business students. It covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance and more. Content includes many full-text journals and topical video content.
- HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline is the world's largest fully searchable, image-based government document and legal research database. It contains comprehensive coverage from inception of U.S. statutory materials, U.S. Congressional Documents and more than 2,600 scholarly journals. HeinOnline provides topic specific databases including all of the world's constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, Criminal Justice, Religion and the Law, and Women and the Law among others. Full text of state and federal case law powered by Fastcase is included.
Obtain information on the organization's industry:
Many of the same resources mentioned above will be useful for industry research. For more information, see the Industry Research guide.
What is provided in an S&P Industry Survey? Check out this sample provided from the Standard and Poor's publishing website.
Subject Guide
