Company Step #1 -- Find basic information using business directories
  Business Directories Online. Linked from the ReSEARCH Station/Resources A-Z.

Mergent Online -Includes information on over 10,0000 U.S. publicly held firms and selected international companies. Reports include description of the business, history, subsidiaries, selected financial information and SEC filings.

Factiva / Company Quick Search provides a "snapshot" of basic company information with inks to company web sites, recent news, press releases and important market analysts' reports. Select Company Quick Search on the gray bar.

IRIN (Annual Report Resource Center) includes over 3000 U.S. companies and over 2000 annual reports in PDF. Annual reports are in the Company Universe section. Information about a company's mission, goals and overall sales/revenues is often found in the first few pages of the annual report, or in a President's letter or message to shareholders. IRIN is found at http://www.irin.com/

Brief "capsule" company reports from Hoover's handbooks (on BST 1B) are available at Hoover's Online (www.hoovers.com/ ) Reports marked with a key icon require a paid subscription.

Information from Hoover's Company Profiles and the Disclosure database (when available), is also available by searching LexisNexis Academic Follow these paths:
*** From the Lexis Nexis Quick News screen select the Company Information box.
*** Enter a company name. Search "All U.S. Companies" and adjust the date range as desired.

If your search produces too few results,
*** Return to the Lexis Nexis Home page and,
*** Under Academic Search Forms, select Business.
*** On the next screen, select Company Financial Information or SEC filings. Even private companies must file with the SEC. The Company Financial Information section includes Disclosure records, when available.

Business Directories in the Library. If you don't find a company in the online sources it may be privately owned, or a subsidiary. Use the following books to find out.

• America's Corporate Families BST 1B#21
• D & B Million Dollar Directory BST 1B#15 Includes private companies
• Hoover's Handbooks BST 1B

Company Step #2 -- Find details & specifics from news and trade journals
Articles can provide information about specific aspects of a company's operations.  Combine a company name with keywords like target markets, advertising campaigns, technology, demographics. Don't just search for the company name. Use the following databases (linked from the ReSEARCH Station / Journal Articles page):

ABI/Inform provides full-text and abstracted articles from trade journals, business weeklies, and scholarly literature. Search examples: Marriott and business travellers; Royal Caribbean and demographics.

Academic Search provides full-text and abstracted articles from general interest magazines and journals (like Business Week, Time, Forbes and American Demographics) as well as some scholarly and trade journals.

LexisNexis Academic Use Guided News Search (General News or Business News).
Follow these PATHS:

Company Step #3- Find Company Histories

Use the following books on Business Services Table One 

• International Directory of Company Histories BST 1A #25
  To locate your company, use the index at the back of a recent volume. The index gives volume and pages for all articles on a company within the entire set. 
• Notable Corporate Chronologies BST 1A #5 

Mergent Online includes brief company histories for publicly held companies.

Use Academic Search or ABI/Inform to find articles about the history of a company or it's founders. PATH: ReSEARCH Station / Journal Articles

Company Step #4- Industry trends and conditions
For an overview of industry conditions:

• Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (BST 2B #1) updated quarterly
• Encyclopedia of American Industries - vol. 2, Service Industries (BST 2B#3)
• Trends in the Hotel Industry (BST 2B #42)
• Hospitality and Tourism (BST 2B#41) Discusses hospitality industry segments.
• U.S. Market Trends & Forecasts (BST 2B #20) Amusement and Leisure

For added details, consult trade association web sites. Trade associations are found on the Industry Research guide ,step 2

Find Data in Tables and Charts
For market share, sales, rankings, etc. Use Table Base, a compendium of charts, graphs and statistical data from over 1000 business and industry sources. Table base provides the data and cites the source. Sometimes the full text of the source is also available.

Supplementary resources on Business Services Table 2 B

• Best Customers (BST 2B#26) Entertainment, restaurants, travel
• Encyclopedia of Global Industries (BST 2B#54)
• Market Share Reporter (BST 2B#21)