Business Librarian
Owen Graduate School of Management
401 21st. Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
Company Research Resources
To better understand a company, its performance in the market and the factors that affect it, you need to understand the whole picture of that universe. This includes :
- Company’s financials
- Products and services
- SWOT reports (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
- Industry pressures and challenges
- Competitors
- Analyst reports
While you should certainly look at the company’s website, note that will only help you gain insight into that company's opinion about itself. For other opinions about a company’s issues and performance, there are several types of library databases that will help. They are generally divided up by the type of information they contain.
Using the company stock symbol helps you find consistent company analysis from resource to resource by making sure you are comparing the same company, and not any subsidiaries.
- Hoovers This link opens in a new windowDetails on US and international companies, executives, market research reports, and trade publications. Includes financials, subsidiaries, and trade and business news.
- Gale Business: Insights This link opens in a new window
Company chronologies, company histories, journals, market research reports, market share reports, rankings, recent news, SWOT reports, videos, industry information. Comparison chart tool.
- FactSet This link opens in a new window
FactSet is a financial platform that provides comprehensive data and analytics on global financial markets, economic measures, and companies. Any current Vanderbilt student, faculty or staff member can access FactSet for academic and non-commercial use. First-time users must register for a personal account using their Vanderbilt.edu email address, which can take up to 7 days to be processed. For faster access, FactSet is available on the computers in the Walker Management Library- no personal account needed.
- Refinitiv Workspace This link opens in a new window
Source of financial and economic data, news, and information. Provides access to analyst reports and select SDC data from the M&A section. Users must register for a personal account, which will be reset each semester. It is available to authorized users from Vanderbilt University for non-commercial, academic research. View, download, and printing limit for analyst reports and pdf documents of 150 pages per day, reset daily at midnight local time. Download limits for SDC data of 199 rows of excel data per day. Download limits for other types of data may apply.
- PitchBook This link opens in a new window
Private equity and venture capital database with in-depth information and statistics on a wide range of companies including startups. Establish benchmarks, find real time data on deals, identify and analyze comparables, and search investor details. Users are limited to 10 downloads per day and 25 downloads per month. Licensed for academic & curricular uses only. All accounts are reset in May of each year to ensure compliance.
- PrivCo This link opens in a new window
Business and financial data on major, non-publicly traded corporations: family owned, private equity owned, venture backed, and international unlisted companies. Company financials, M&A deals, valuations, venture capital funding, private equity deals, etc.
- Bloomberg This link opens in a new window
Real-time and historical information on economic conditions, market data and public companies worldwide along with governments, mortgages, money markets, bonds, commodities, stocks, and currencies.
