Business
Resources on the Web 
General Resources
Company Info & Directories
Best
Business Web Sites
http://www.clpgh.org/subject/business
Carnegie Library of
Business has 36 sites for its business subject guide. Each site has links for Pgh area, PA, US, and International.
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
Includes owner name, when founded,
whether or not they been in good standing in the last year,
complaints listed
(or not). Other BBB’s available, state-wide and locally. The right way to file
a complaint! Search a company by file name, phone number, website.
Narrow a search with street address and city, option to search for BBB members
only. Can also charities by name or charity focus. Can find BBB in user’s own area by searching city, state and/or zip
code. – Lists phone, fax,
address, email and website.
Bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.bcentral.com
National coverage of over 40 full-text business journals
including the Pittsburgh Business Times
Covers
latest news in different cities. Register for free extra services – email alerts, search watch, and my
industry page: email alerts sent to your email.
Check
Domain
Has the website’s owner’s name, address, and
phone number. National and international companies.
Register your organization. Search to see who registered a domain. Gives
registrant name, address, first registered, last updated, admin contact,
technical contact, billing contact, name servers and information source.
Search, look up, check, select, reserve, purchase, register, back-order,
transfer, renew, protect, and / or monitor domain names, internet / Web
addresses, or URLs for any country in the world from checkdomain.com.
Hoover
Searches mainly public companies. Business
headlines – selected throughout the day by
Kompass
(database)
Foreign
manufacturers and distributors. Full profiles onsite. Advertised
as business search engine. Search by products and services (available in
several different languages), company and trade name, worldwide, by continent,
by country name, by guided search: industry and by default: worldwide. Access information on 1.6 million companies, 23 million key
products and services, 3.2 million executive names, 744,000 trade and brand
names, 50,000 Kompass classification codes. Do
guided search: crude oil. Select a company – shows general information,
executives, key figures, financials, products and services and additional
information.
Switchboard.com
Companies Nationwide. Achieved rapid success on
the Internet by being the first to market with a free, national directory of
Thomas
Register
U.S. & Canadian manufacturers by name, product
and brand name. Geographic search by state and for
product. Register for free membership with unlimited access; Username: amottorn; password: asdfgh12; Search for product or
service, company name, or brand name. Sample search: Dow Chemicals (click on
link and receive info re contact info: address, phone number, fax number; year
company founded; company description (products). Option to email records to
a colleague. Offers site demo. My TR allows users to save frequently
accessed searches. Favorite companies can be saved in “My TR.” Helpful FAQ pages.
Thompson
& Thompson
http://www.t-tlaw.com/rs-06.shtml
Links
to eight major agencies for each state. State home page, attorney general, governor,
corporations, legislature, secretary of state, court system, tax bureau.
For PA, allows users to file state taxes online.
Consumer Information
Bank
Rate Monitor
Offers
lowest credit card rates and highest CD rates. Search several different types of rates:
auto loans, CD/Savings, checking & ATM, credit cards, credit unions, home
equity,
Class
action Securities Fraud Lawsuits
http://securities.stanford.edu/index.htm
Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse provides
detailed info relating to the prosecution, defense and settlement of federal
class action securities fraud litigation. The Clearinghouse identifies 1,475
issuers that have been named in federal class action securities fraud lawsuits
since passage of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Contains
full text searchable copies of more than 2,000 complaints, briefs, filings, and
other litigation-related materials filed in these cases.
The
Consumer Price Index: Nationwide
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm
Selected major regions and areas;
Federal
Trade Commission
Offers tips on deceptive business practices. Links to consumer protection, business guidance, formal actions,
opinions and activities, regional offices, antitrust / competition, economic
issues, news releases, publications and speeches and legal framework. Links to current news releases and ability to file a complaint
online. The FTC enforces a variety of federal antitrust and consumer
protection laws.
The
Financial Planning Association
Provides a list of certified financial planners by
zip code and city. Local chapters are linked.
Supports
the financial planning process. Offers objective advice to make smart financial decisions. Click on Planner Search. Discusses how to search for a
financial planner, how the searches work, articles of interest for consumers.
FirstGov for Consumers
Information
for your safety and welfare concerning food, health, product safety, children,
your money, your home, transportation and the Internet. One stop link to a broad range of federal
info resources available online. Locate info by category: Food, health, product
safety, your money, and transportation. Subcategories direct to areas within
individual federal web sites containing related info.
Foreign
Exchange Rates
Foreign exchange
rates back to 1990. #1 source of foreign exchange services
and online tools. OANDA provides currency conversion info and services
to travelers, investors, and businesses worldwide.
National
Association of Security Dealers
Regulates stockbrokers and arbitrates in disputes. Background information on individual brokers and brokerage houses.
Do they have the license to sell and how long have they been with the company. Includes info on investors, brokers, securities firms, regulators
and media. Free email notification service. Investor
education, NASD rules, broker advisor info, qualifications and education,
publications and notices and regulation systems. Do a firm search: USB
PaineWebber. Click on General Assembly. Display type
of business. Legal status: when and where formed, type of company, ending month
of fiscal year. Registrations: find PA – in good standing.
Investment Sites
DRIPS
and DIPS
http://www2.netstockdirect.com\
Direct Reinvestment Plans and Direct Investment Plans.
Search by company or symbol. Links to Mutual Funds, Resources, top 10 Requests,
quick search: all plans A to Z, Fortune 500. Explanations – what is DIRECT
investing? What is Netstock investing,
Find Plans, Free Registration, Direct investing primer. Find Plans: Select
industry from drop down menu, select type of plan: direct stock, dividend
reinvestment plan, select dollar amount from drop down
menu, select plan features, viewing options (10/page), and find plans.
Dow
Jones Index
http://wwww.djindexes.com/jsp/index.jsp
Dow
Data on DJI. Back to 1895. Chart in 10 years or year by year. Year by
year has major events during that year: scientific inventions, movies, music,
and sports. Dow Jones Indexes develops, maintains and licenses market indexes
for use as benchmarks and as the basis of investment products. Among its more
than 3,000 indexes are the world's best-known stock indicator, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average, and the leading Pan-European indexes. Offers additional links to Canadian style Dow
Jones Index, featured article, additional links, press releases, Links for Blue
Chip Indexes, Benchmark indexes, Specialty indexes and custom indexes,
Publications: quarterly published newsletter, downloadable for free in PDF
format, Annual report: Dow Jones Averages 2000 Annual Report (call 1.800 number
for complimentary copy).
Morningstar.com
Information about mutual funds; Top 25 holdings for
mutual funds, who manages the fund. Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc. is a global
investment research firm, offering an extensive line of products and services
for individuals, financial advisors, institutions, and the media. Provides information, data,
and analysis of stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds,
and variable annuity/life sub accounts.
Multexinvestor
Information about stocks, including institutional
ownership. Links
under Stocks, Funds, Personal Finance, What’s
Hot/What’s Not under Stocks. Investing Stragies: Tip
of the Day, various investing strategy articles,.
Tools and Research under Funds – what the pros are buying, detailed fund info
with comparisons to competitors. Personal Finance: insurance tools, tax tools
and mortgage tools, calculators for insurance and 2001 taxes, articles about
renting vs. buying, how much house one can afford.
Securities
Exchange Commission
Public company filings with the SEC. Purpose: to protect investors and maintain
the integrity of the securities markets all investors, whether large
institutions or private individuals, should have access to certain basic facts
about an investment prior to buying it. The SEC requires public companies to
disclose meaningful financial and other information to the public, which
provides a common pool of knowledge for all investors to use to judge for
themselves if a company's securities are a good investment. Includes the EDGAR
database of disclosure documents that public companies are required to file
with the Commission. Filings and Forms (EDGAR tutorial), regulatory actions,
staff interpretations, investor information, news and public statements,
litigation, SEC divisions, info for accountants, broker dealers, EDGAR filers,
funds and advisors, municipal markets, and small business. Features
SEC headlines.
Security Transfer Agents
Lists transfer
agents of public companies. Toll free numbers for transfer
agents. The STA is a trade association for "securities transfer
processors". It is composed of bank and independent transfer agents (those
who perform this record keeping service for various publicly traded companies),
and corporate transfer agents who perform the same service for their own
corporations. Transferring ownership to acquirers of stocks, bonds and mutual
funds, is the primary activity of a transfer agent which also may include the
disbursement of dividends and interest, the mailing of Annual and Quarterly
Reports, proxy material and security holder communications.
Yahoo:
Finance
Quick
links to stock information.
Several links to various sections: market summary, investing, top stories,
financial spotlight, business news, money manager, mutual funds, bill pay,
banking loans, insurance, taxes, video from FinanceVision,
StockPicks, Featured Segments, NASDAQ price gainers,
Personal Finance.
Small Business Sites
American
Factfinder
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet
Easy-to-use Census Interface. Search and find tables and/or
maps on population, housing, economic and geographic data; items of interest:
Census 2000 Notes (and corrections), 2001 Population Estimates, Economic
Census, Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Site tour / tutorials,
reference maps, thematic maps.
Biz Stats.com
Financial ratios for some smaller businesses. Current ratios and other balance sheet ratios.
Links to several national business statistics. Quick access to
find out the average small business owner keeps from each dollar of revenue -
see the summary of industry
profitability - sole proprietorships. Curious
about which businesses have the best (and worst) chances of success? Go
to the table: Safest &
Riskiest Small Businesses. Get a quick answer to: What is the Total Number of U.S.
Businesses? Find the Average Annual Sales for a typical Starbucks,
Home Depot.
Business Plan Preparation
http://clpgh.org/clp/libctr/business/smallbus.html
A selected list of print and electronic materials
regarding starting a business. Designed to
provide information to entrepreneurs. This is a comprehensive collection
of sources on business plans, starting and growing a small business,
advertising, marketing, business forms, tax issues, finance structure, business
valuation, franchising, home-based businesses and family-owned businesses.
County Business
http://www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cpbview.html
Numbers of businesses by North American Industry
Classification System (NAICS) within counties.
Economic
Census
http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/econ97.html
2002 Economic
Census forms will be sent to 5 million businesses in December 2002, asking for
information about business activity during calendar 2002. Census results will
be published during 2004 and 2005. 1997 Economic Census.
Revenues and numbers of businesses by NAICS code; every 5
years for years ending in 2 & 7. Covers Mexico,
U.S.
Resources
for starting and financing a new business. Business opportunities, disaster assistance, outside resources, online
library, drop down menus of “frequent requests” and “I can’t find” requests.
International
General Sources
Countries & Regions
http://www.state.gov/countries/
The Background Notes
link Countries provides updated profile regarding official name, geography,
link to a map and additional country information, including photos and other
links; history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations,
CIA World Factbook 2002
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
View a country’s map, flag, introduction, geography, people,
government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and
transnational issues. View maps of different regions of the world. Includes appendices of abbreviations, international organizations
and groups, selected international environmental agreements, cross-reference
list of country data codes, cross-reference list of hydrographic data codes,
and cross-reference list of geographic codes.
IPANet
(Investment Promotion Network)
The Investment Promotion Network (IPAnet)
is the leading international investment-specific portal website providing free
access to online foreign investment and privatization resources. Provides an extensive searchable database of over 10,000 web-based
docs including research on economies and product markets, investment-related
laws and treaties to specific investment opportunities. Contact info for
over 30,000 orgs and individuals involved in foreign investment. Provides links
to a number of diverse sources of investment highlights, including links to
subsidiary websites.
International Monetary Fund
Country information, news releases, publications, IMF
Finances, Standards & Codes. IMF is an international org of 183 member
countries, established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange
stability and orderly exchange arrangements, to support economic growth and
high levels of employment and to provide temporary financial assistance to
countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment. Links for various categories:
surveillance, lending, resources, current issues, technical assistance,
statutes and decisions, IMF in the community, research, statistical topics,
legal topics, and evaluations.
MIGA (Multilateral Investment Guarantee Association)
MIGA promotes foreign
direct investment. Links: products and services, policies, projects,
partnerships, publications, news and events and more.
http://www.export.gov/cntryind.html
Provides
broad country information, market research reports (non-agricultural), industry
sector offices, agricultural market research reports, country contact info for
embassies and commercial services overseas.
WEO Database
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2001/03/data/index.htm
Date:
Select
Countries
Bank of Japan
http://www.boj.or.jp/en/index.htm
Features
monetary policy, speeches, financial & payment system, publications &
services, figures at a glance and more.
Best
European Union Business Websites
http://www.eurunion.org/infores/BestBusSites.HTM
Features European Commission Delegation websites, one stop
internet shop for business, e-commerce, EU Business legislation overview, Euro
Info Centres, Eurostat:
Statistical office, grants and loans available, partners
service, TED, 5 websites under the directorates general, other EU Bodies
websites, and websites featuring overviews of EU policies and legislation.
Includes detailed doc on “what is European Union under Research Tools – click on link to show details. Other research tools: links to internet and e-resources, business and employment resources, research and academic resources and EU Contact info. The European union is a unique treaty-based institutional framework defining and managing economic and political cooperation among its 15 European member countries.
LATCO Tools of the Trade – Useful Sites for International Trade with Latin
America
http://www.latco.org/tools.htm
Features links for
Latin news, Latin Trade Links, Oregon LATCO, several business links for
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Caribbean, Chili, Central America, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico NAFTA, Peru, and Venezuela. Latin
American Trade Council of
http://www.mac.doc.gov/ceebic/
Established in 1990 by Congressional legislation under the Support for East
European Democracy (SEED) Act, CEEBIC is a one-stop shop and the US
Government's clearinghouse for the most recent economic, commercial, and
financial information on the 15 countries of Central and
Central Europe Online
http://www.europeaninternet.com/centraleurope/
Central Europe Online by the same publishers who produce Russia Today Front page
and business news across Central Europe; and other related material; updated
daily. Especially the Business tab.
EU Business
http://www.eubusiness.com/eastern_europe/index.html
Requires free registration. Up-to-date
with all key EU developments, including news, legislation, contract
opportunities, documents and events, likely to affect business. Brought direct to your desk by start of business every Friday.
The basic news service is free. To access EU web links, factsheets
on topical issues, tenders and funding information, our EU documents database
and our live Agence France Presse
EU Newsfeed, we ask you to become a full member of
our basic subscription service. Pay-per-view items are marked clearly. Covers
agriculture | competition |consumer |employment|energy
|environment |facts & figures |finance |food & drink |living &
working |media & Internet |pharmaceuticals |R&D telecoms |trade |
transport.
Eurasia Research Center
http://eurasia-research.com/erc/homepage.htm
Features research reports, news analysis, and links to newspaper articles and
wire service reports with breaking news on the Balkans, Baltic States, Central
Europe, the Caucasus, formerly Soviet Central Asia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine,
Moldova, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Also featured are direct
links to pages with information on politics, issues of war and peace, culture,
and social, economic and human rights conditions in Post Cold War Eurasia. The
Eurasia Research Center EurasiaNews service provides
special reports on crisis regions of
Eurasia.net
http://www.eurasianet.org/
Eurasianet.org provides information and analysis about political, economic,
environmental and social developments in the countries of
http://www.europemedia.net/choosecountry.asp
Tracks European Internet and new media developments across the continent. From the
Executive Planet
http://www.executiveplanet.com/community/default.asp?section=Russia
Executive Planet's mission is to inspire business travelers to travel with greater cultural awareness. EP strives to present up-to-date and relevant information on international business culture, customs and protocol, gift-giving, negotiating tactics, business entertainment, cross-cultural communication and more. Covers numerous aspects of business protocol, including gift-giving, negotiating tactics, appointments, business entertaining, cross-cultural communication and more.
Rusmarket.com
http://www.rusmarket.com/
Created to help foreign companies to organize and carry on business with
Russian and other NIS-countries counterparts. Companies are categorized by type
and include the number of links for each division.
|
Agriculture (32) |
Chemistry (45) |
Construction (109) |
Culture and Art (73) |
|
Electronics (76) |
Energy (60) |
Fabrics and Clothing (44) |
Finance (127) |
|
Food (79) |
Information Technology (187) |
Leather and Footwear (17) |
Machinery (105) |
|
Mass media and publishing (90) |
Medicine (75) |
Metals (62) |
Paper and Board (12) |
|
Polymeric Materials (25) |
Precise equipment (50) |
Real Estate (46) |
Science and Education (215) |
|
Services (380) |
Telecommunication (80) |
Timber and Furniture (49) |
Tourism and Sport (176) |
|
State & Authority (210) |
Trade (201) |
Transport (63) |
Transport Services (178) |
The
http://www.russiajournal.com/weekly/article.shtml?ad=5549
Africa Online is a broad-spectrum portal to sites and
resources of the African continent. The Business section contains a North
Africa Business News subsection.
Ali & Partners: Middle Eastern Laws
http://www.mideastlaw.com/db.html
This
AME Info:
http://www.ameinfo.com/
AME Info's tag line is "The
Ultimate Middle East business resource" and it delivers this goal by
providing a wide array of business information. Arabic financial market
information, the top 100 Arabian companies, current headlines, sector
information, concise country guides, and much more. AME Info also has
relationships with Credit Suisse First Boston, HSBC, and several other regional
news organizations. Extras include reports on a variety of e-commerce issues
and executive interviews. A database of over 200,000 companies from 14
Mbendi: Africa ’s Leading
Business Site
Created for businesspeople to research business
opportunities throughout the world, this site offers a host of information
grouped by databases, industry, regions & business. Find subsidiaries of a
particular company in
Mena Report: Middle East & North Africa
Business Report
The Middle East & North Africa Business Report covers
all aspects of business. Extensive coverage of current events in 9 industry
sectors, in-depth reports on the Amman Stock Exchange, and a variety of country-specific
information.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east.html
The Middle East & North Africa Regional Database
http://web.ita.doc.gov/ticwebsite/meweb.nsf
Contains information on Business Travel & Etiquette, Customs Information, Financing Regulations and Contacts, General Economic and Marketing Information, Laws and Procedures for Licensing & Investing, and many other resources.
Competitive
Intelligence
Competitive
Intelligence – What is it?
Corporate leaders need to keep on top of what their competitors are doing in order compete and make important business and financial decisions. Competitive intelligence can be performed for additional reasons – an acquisition or takeover of the company, a merger, a joint venture with another company, or penetration of new markets. Competitive intelligence is a system of gathering, analyzing, and managing external information that can affect one’s company's plans, decisions, and operations.
These are some of the areas that should be research about a company’s competitors:
· Company Background & Overview
· Financials
· Products & Services
· Biographical Information
· Customers & Contacts
· Recent News / Positioning of the Company
· Analyst Opinions
· Size of the Company
· Key People
· Implications and Opportunities
Competitive
Intelligence Sources: Where to Look
· Use sources from Company Info and Directories links
·
Use websites form Easter Europe /
·
Use sites from
· Track news headlines to find out what companies are doing
· The companies Annual Report
· EDGAR filings
· Company websites
· Lawsuits and other public records
· Congressional testimony
· News.google.com: 100 English Language Materials
· Classified Ads: find out about new divisions, new plants, services and products, - monster.com
· Message boards (needs to be verified though)
· Streaming video and audio
· Trade press and industry articles
· Wall Street Transcript (www.twst.com/ceos.htm)
· Wayback Machine (www.archive.com)
Other
Competitive Intelligence Resources
·
(listserv)
· SCIP (also under professional societies)
· Mary Ellen Bates’ Tip of the week/month
Making
a Competitive Intelligence Report
1. Collect data
2. Compile the data
3. Organize the data
4. Analyze it
5. Communicate results
Miscellaneous
Professional
Organizations
These are various professional organizations that your
library users might be interested in if they are thinking of pursuing a career
in management, accounting, finance, marketing, or research.
AMA (Management)
http://www.amanet.org/index.htm
American Management Association; Offers research materials, conferences, government services.
AAA
http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/
American Accounting Association. Meetings, publications, links & organizations
AFA
American Finance Association. AFA News, Financial sites.
AICPA
http://www.aicpa.org/index.htm
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Search public files of member firms of the SEC Practice Section.
AMA (Marketing)
Marketing Power.Com American Marketing Association
Links to marketing topics, business
info, toolkit, directory of marketing suppliers.
SCIP
Society of Competitive Intelligence
Professionals. Chapters, news and publications, job
marketplace.
Special Libraries Association