Library Guides: Human Resources Management: Company Research

Company Research

Business Source Premier
Business research database. Contains company profiles, industry and market research reports, SWOT analyses and full text articles.
Canadian Business and Current Affairs
Multidisciplinary Canadian research database. Content includes full text journals, magazines, reports, news and dissertations.
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLii)
Provides access to court judgments from all Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada as well as consolidated statutes and regulations of every Canadian jurisdiction.
General OneFile
General interest periodical database covering up-to-date content on virtually any topic. Includes newspaper, magazine and journal articles, reference books and multimedia content.
Quicklaw (Lexis Advance)
Most comprehensive legal database in Canada, including case law, legislation, with noting up capabilities, legal commentary, journals and textbooks including Halsbury’s Laws of Canada.
Statista
Contains more than 1,000,000 statistics covering 170 different industries and includes market and consumer data, forecasts and outlooks.

Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada produces statistics that help Canadians better understand their country—its population, resources, economy, society and culture.

Public companies sell shares on the stock market and are legally obligated to disclose their financial information to shareholders and legislative bodies. In an effort to fulfill this obligation, public companies create annual reports that provide important financial information.

If a company is not publicly traded information can be difficult to find.

Below are some helpful links for beginning company research.

Annual Reports
International source. Provides access to over 2,000 reports for companies that trade on the AIM, MEX, ASIX, LSE, NASDAQ, NYSE, OTC, TSX TSX-V stock exchanges. This is a free service.
Bloomberg
Use the 'search' function to find companies.
Company Database
Source: Statista
Directories of Canadian Companies
Find companies that can supply your organization with the goods, search for competitors or check a company's incorporation status.
EDGAR
EDGAR, the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, collects, validates and indexes submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Google Finance Canada
Good source of financial information and news about public companies (those which trade on the stock exchange).
Government of Canada - Charities
Look up a registered charity and explore reporting periods.
SEDAR
SEDAR's makes publicly-traded company's filed information available to enhance investor awareness of the business and affairs of issuers and to promote confidence in the transparent operation of capital markets in Canada.
Globe Investor
Investment news and analysis from the Globe & Mail.
Toronto Stock Exchange
Find company profiles that show financials, comparisons, news, etc.

How to Search for Company Profiles in the Library's Research Databases

Looking for a company profile? Try the Business Source Premier Library database.
- Once in the database, look at the right-hand side of the page under the "Browse" menu. Click "Company Profiles" to search for a profile of a company.
- You may also choose "SWOT Analyses" if you are looking for SWOT analyses on a company. Then, enter the company name.

Business Source Premier Browse menu

The Library database Statista also includes company information. Simply type the name of the company into the search box in Statista. Or, from the top navigation menu, choose Reports/Companies & Products reports and then enter the name of the company.

Statista navigation menu

Not finding any results? Double check to make sure you have spelled the company name correctly and that you have the correct name.
- A search in Google can sometimes help you to identify the correct name of the company. Scan the results list for the company's website and check the website to ensure you have the correct company name and spelling.
- Not all companies are included in the library's databases. You may need to also try searching the websites listed in the tab "Websites".