Many college and university libraries subscribe to most of the following excellent online business databases that can be used free by students to gather information to perform a strategic management case analysis. Simply ask your reference librarian. Especially good sources of information are described in Exhibit 44.

Exhibit 44 – Great Online Sources of Company and Industry Information.  Be sure to pay special attention to the sources in bold below.

IBISWorld – provides online USA Industry Reports (NAICS); US Industry iExpert Summaries; and US Business Environment Profiles. A global version of IBIS is also available.

Lexis-Nexis Academic – provides online access to newspaper articles (including New York Times and Washington Post) and business information (including SEC filings).

Lexis-Nexis Company Dossier – provides online access to extensive, current data on 13 million companies. It collects and compiles information into excellent documents.

Mergent Online – provides online access to Mergent’s (formerly Moody’s/FISOnline) Manuals that includes trend, descriptive, and statistical information on hundreds of public companies and industries. Company income statements and balance sheets are provided.

Regional Business News – provides comprehensive full text coverage for regional business publications; incorporates coverage of more than eighty regional business publications covering all metropolitan and rural areas within the USA.

Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage – provides online access to Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys, stock reports, corporation records, The Outlook, mutual fund reports and more.  Make sure you locate the Industry Survey on this website. They generally are 50 pages packed with great external industry data and internal date on your company.

Value Line Investment Survey – provides excellent online information and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks, more than 90 industries, the stock market, and the economy. Company income statements and balance sheets are provided.

Robert Morris Associate’s Annual Statement Studies – is an excellent source of financial ratio information.

Dun & Bradstreet’s Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios – is an excellent source of financial ratio information.

Source: Based on information at www.fmarion.edu/library.