Use our Ask A Librarian service to reach a Research Librarian by phone (314-246-6950 or 1-800-985-4270) or drop-in (see our library and research desk hours) or email or chat, 24/7.
(MS Clipart)
Search these databases by company name. From the company listing, you may link to the company history, market share & rankings, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) and industry reports.
For information on how to use these databases, see the boxes below.
Need specific information about your product? To see how to create keyword searches to find articles about your product's pricing, promotions, marketing, and other information you may want to know, see the section at the bottom of this page.
In addition to the reports linked here (history, SWOT, market share), check out the company's website. If you're researching a public company, look for their annual report; It is generally found under a link for Investor information.
Open the database and then click on "Company Information" on the blue navigation bar at the top of the page to search for a company. From the company information page you may link to SWOT, industry and market research reports. You may find competitors by linking to related companies. And, check out the links to the company hierarchy to see the parent company and subsidiaries.
Within library databases, SWOT analysis reports are most often available for large U.S. public companies, though some foreign and private companies might be covered as well.
If you cannot find a SWOT report for your company, look for reports on 2 or 3 larger public companies in your same industry. For example, in the computer software industry try Microsoft or Apple or Intel. Companies in the same industry will often use or adapt their own strengths to capitalize on another company's weaknesses.
Also, check industry reports, like those from the IBISWorld Industry Market Research database to see what internal and external factors are impacting companies in the industry in which your company competes.
Here are some examples of searches that you can do to find specific information about your company and product. I began with the keywords apple AND iphone AND then I added additional words to the third search box to focus my results on pricing or price, promotion, etc.
If you are getting too many articles, you may set the publication date slider to more recent articles. In my examples below, I've set it to articles published in 2016 or later.
In the search below, advertis* will search for variant endings and will retrieve advertise, advertising or advertisements.
