Ask Us!

Say you are looking for information on a company's market share OR a company's corporate culture and ethics or a company's research and development costs. 

Start here: Business Administration Research Guide

Market share information

Go to the Industry Information tab in the left sidebar menu

Then select the Passport database

Search by company name. Then search for company shares. 

Other databases try: IBS World, Market Share Reporter, ABI/Inform.

A newspaper or industry journal may have reported the market share in an article. Use the Library Search Box on the homepage and search for the company name and the keywords "market share". 

You may need to calculate a company's market share yourself from available data. At its most basic, market share is a company's sales as a percentage of its industry's total revenues. Consult your course textbooks or ask your professor for more detailed calculation information. Try searching the company name in the D&B Hoovers database. Remember though, private companies do not have to report financials

Corporate cultures and ethics 

This information can be tough to find. Information about "corporate culture" or governance structure gleaned from the company website and annual reports or in the "About" section, or even "Contact Us." Expect this information to be biased and skewed toward the positive.

You can try searching for articles about the company. Start with the Business Administration Research Guide or the Library Search Box to search multiple databases at once. 

For ownership, leadership and compensation information go to the Company Information Tab in the left sidebar menu. 

Then select the Mergent Online database. 

For larger companies you can also try  D&B Hoovers and look at company SWOT analyses. The threats section may provide clues of ethics challenges.

Company research and development costs

According to GAAP rules, public companies have to report Research and Development (R&D) costs in their annual income statement.

To find this data, go to the Mergent Online database. 

Search for your company and click on the tab for Company Financials. The annual Balance Sheet is the default data set. From the drop down menu, select "Income Statement," and after hitting "refresh," that data set will be visible. Scroll until you see the line for "research & development costs." 

While GAAP requires this expense to be reported, they do not require they be reported in this specific line. Talk to your instructor about which lines you might want to examine if you do not see an R&D line.