Researchers can find a great deal of information on public companies.  What information should be included to get a good understanding of the company, its financials, current litigation, or corporate assets?  One method is to categorize the information as follows:

• Products & Services
• People
• Places
• Documents
• Developments
• Numbers
• Neighbors

Researchers will find this information in one or more of multiple resources.  Once collected, the information can then be organized into a report.  Some resources, including the company itself, may provide all of this information and more into a company "profile" document.  If that document exists and is available, the researcher will save tremendous amount of time in locating and compiling the information.  

In this first category, the researcher should determine what products or services the company provides.  Do they manufacture a tangible object?  Do they provide a service?  How does the company market the product or service in a competitive environment?  How do they differentiate their product or service from their competitors?  Do they provide a mission statement or statement of corporate philosophy that would guide the development and deployment of their products or sevices?

Typically, corporations are professionally managed on behalf of shareholders.  There will be a board of directors as well as a senior management team composed of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO) as well as any number of other officers, vice-presidents, and middle management.  Researchers will want to identify who they are.  What expertise do they bring to the corporation?  Where else have they worked?  How much are they being compensated and how is that compensation paid?  Researchers will also want to know who is the registered agent for the company who will receive service of process if the company is being sued.  Who is the company's general counsel?  Auditor?

Corporations may operate from multiple locations.  In what state is this company incorporated?  Where is the headquarters located?  If the company manufactures products, where are those manufacturing facilities located?  Does the company have a presence in a foreign country?  Does this company have any retail outlets and where are they located?  

Corporations generate many documents relating to their organization and continued operation.  Upon formation, a company will create Articles of Incorporation, a charter and bylaws.  These documents define the business of the corporation and how the corporation will be organized and run.  Publicly traded companies are also required by the SEC to file reports.  The annual report is called a 10-K report whereas the quarterly report is called a 10-Q.  There are many other reports as well.  These reports can be located on EDGAR on the SEC's website.  

When a researcher is investigating a company, that researcher will also want to be informed about corporate developments, especially legal developments.  Researchers should run a search in Google News or Google Finance with the company's name or ticker symbol and set up an alert for news stories featuring the company.  

The researcher will also want to identify any pending legal matters.  Is the company involved in any litigation?  If so, is it the plaintiff or defendant in the action, and what is the subject of the lawsuit?  Is the company a target of a corporate takeover?  Is it attempting to acquire another company? If so, at what share price?  What patents has the company filed?  Is the company issuing new stock?  What new products or services is it offering or rumored to be offering?

Corporations are awash in data.  Researchers should locate financial data on the company.  This data would include the current and historical stock prices; the market capitalization of the company; and balance sheet data such as revenue, net income, assets, and liabilities.  All of this information is readily available on investing websites, subscription resources and perhaps also the company website itself.

Corporations operate within a larger business environment.  Researchers should broaden the scope of their research to explore the industry of which the company is a part.  What is the industry?  Who are the companies main competitors?  Researchers should profile those competitors just as they would their own company to understand the companies business concerns and how legal representation may be impacted.  With this information, they can create a SWOT analysis to help identify opportunities and threats to the company.  OU Libraries subscribes to databases that will provide a SWOT analysis for some companies.  

Industry Classification Codes

Each publicly traded company is classified into one or more industries.  Researchers can locate these industries and using the assigned industry code locate information about competitors and the industry landscape.  The code is provided among other information about the company.

• SIC - U.S. Standard Industry Classification.  
  • This four digit code system was developed in 1937.  While still used, it has been superseded by NAICS.
• NAICS - North American Industry Classification System
  • These six digit codes were developed in conjunction with Canada and Mexico related to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the early 1990s.