There are numerous business information sources available in most libraries. The following selections are meant only to give the reader an idea of what is available and a place to start. For information pertaining to a specific area of interest, the bibliographies and special guides in most libraries will provide the reader with complete lists of pertinent publications.
INDUSTRY FINANCIAL DATA
Gates, Sheldon. 101 busines ratios: A Manager’s Handbook of Definitions, Equations, and computer Algorithms. 1st ed. 1993. Provides definitions of 101 business ratios and explains how to interpret and calculate each.
Monthly Catalog of United States Publications (GPO): Issued monthly. A comprehensive listing of the publications issued by all branches of the federal government during each month.
County Business Patterns: (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census) Issued annually. County, state, and U.S. summary statistics on employment categorized under approximately 15 industry headings.
Economic Indicators: Issued monthly. Charted and tabulated current information on economic conditions of prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money, and federal finance.
Federal Reserve Bulletin: (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System) Issued monthly. Numerous financial statistics on banking, deposits, loans and investments, money market rates, securities prices, industrial production, and so forth, relating to government, business, real estate, and the consumer.
Monthly Bulletin of Statistics: (New York: United Nations, 1975) Issued monthly. The current supplement to the United Nations Statistical Yearbook.
Monthly Labor Review: (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) Issued monthly. Current statistics, trends, and information on labor, including employment, wages, weekly working hours, collective agreements, and industrial accidents.
Statistical Abstract of the United States: (U.S. Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census) Issued annually. Summary statistics on
the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
Statistical Reporter: (U.S. Office of the President, Office
of Management and Budget, Statistical Policy Division) Issued annually.
Selected information on federal statistical programs as well as lists of
statistical sources.
Statistical Yearbook: (New York: United Nations, 1975) Issued annually. International statistics covering a variety of areas, including population, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, finance, trade, and education.
Survey of Current Business: (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis) Issued monthly. The official source for Gross National Product, National Income, and International Balance of Payments. Numerous different statistical series are brought up to date in each issue under various headings including General Business Indicators, Domestic Trade, Labor Force, Employment and Earnings, Finance, and Foreign Trade of the United States.
Moody's Annuals: (New York: Moody's Investors Service) Published annually with semiweekly or weekly supplements.
Standard Directory of Advertisers: (Skokie, Ill.: National Register Publishing Company) Published annually. A listing of more than 17,000 companies and their agencies doing national and regional advertising, grouped by line of business and by state and city.
Standard Rate & Data Service Publications: (Skokie, Ill.: Standard Rate & Data Services) Examples of these publications include "Direct Mail List Rates and Data," a semiannual listing of more than 22,000 mailing lists available; "Network Rates and Data," a list of national radio and television networks with basic marketing information that is published every month; "Newspaper Rates and Data," a monthly compilation of over 1,600 U.S. newspapers and newspaper groups.
Business Periodicals Index: (New York: H.W. Wilson) A cumulative subject index covering numerous periodicals in the field of business.
F & S Index of Corporations and Industries: (Cleveland, Ohio: Predicasts) Published weekly. A current index to company, industry, and product information from more than 750 business-oriented newspapers, financial publications, special reports, and trade magazines.
F & S Index International: (Cleveland, Ohio: Predicasts, Inc.) Published monthly. An index that covers articles on foreign companies and industries that have appeared in some 1,000 foreign and domestic periodicals and other documents.
Index to Legal Periodicals: (Issued monthly. Subject and author index to legal periodicals in English language. Table of cases and book review index at end.
The New York Times Index: (New York: The New York Times Company) A detailed index to articles and news items giving date of issue, page, and column number for each indexed item.
Public Affairs Information Service Bulletin: (New York: Public Affairs Information Service) A selective list by subject of government documents, pamphlets, periodical articles, and recent books relating to economics and public affairs.
Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature: (New York: H.W. Wilson) An index by subject and author of the contents of general magazines in the United States.
Social Science Citation index: (Philadelphia, Pa.: Institute for Scientific Information) Issued every four months. Subject, author, and citation indexes of research literature in the social sciences field. Index to articles cited in other publications, with the premise that these are likely to be some better articles.
Social Sciences Index: (Princeton, N.J.: Dow Jones) An index of all articles that have appeared in the Journal, grouped in two parts: Corporate News and General News.
Business Publications Rates and Data: (Skokie, Ill.: Standard Rates & Data Services) Issued monthly. This directory lists over 3,000 U.S. business, trade, and technical publications.
Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory: (New York: Bowker) Issued every two years. An index by subject to over 55,000 current periodicals published throughout the world.
Business Reference Sources: An Annotated Guide for Harvard Business School Students: Lorna M. Daniells, 1979. (Boston: Baker Library, Harvard Business School) Best student guide to a business school library.
Directory of Business and Financial Services: Mary M. Grant and Norma Cote, Eds. (New York: Special Libraries Association, 1976) A directory describing business, economic, and financial services that are published regularly.
Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources: (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1970) A list of subjects of interest to managers, which includes bibliographies, directories, handbooks, organizations, periodicals, source books, and other sources of information on each topic.
How to Use the Business Library, with Sources of Business Information: (Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western Publishing Company, 1972) A guide to learning the use of a business library.
Industrial Products Directory: (Nashville, Tenn.: American Economic Association) Issued quarterly. An annotated guide to new books and current periodical articles in economics, finance, management and labor, and trade and industry.
Management Information Guides: (Detroit: Gale Research Company) Numerous bibliographic references to business information sources. Each volume includes books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, film strips, government and institutional reports, periodical articles, and recordings on the featured subject. Guides are available from this series in almost every field. Selected volumes include:
Statistics Sources: (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1974) This publication is designed to locate current statistical data. It includes a subject guide to data on many topics, including business, finance, and industry for the United States and some foreign countries.
Where to Find Business Information: A Worldwide Guide for Everyone Who Needs the Answers to Business Questions: David M. Brownstone, 1979. Three sections: I, Source Finder (subject section); II, Publishers' Index; III, Sources of Business Information (describes each item listed in parts I and II).
National Trade and Professional Association of the United States and Labor Unions: (Washington, D.C.: Columbia Books) Issued annually. This directory lists over 4,700 organizations, trade and professional associations, and labor unions with national memberships.
Yearbook of International Organizations: (Brussels: Union of International Associations) A computer-produced directory that covers politics, professions, trade unions, economics, finance, and industry, among other topics. This directory includes information on international organizations that are members.
The Conference Board Record: (New York: The Conference Board) Published monthly. A report to management on business statistical tabulations.
National Economic Projection Series: (Washington, D.C.: National Planning Association). Published annually. This report provides forecasts of the Gross National Product and its principal components including historical and projected five-, ten-, and fifteen-year forecasts for capital investment, consumption and savings, government revenues and expenditures, output and productivity, and population and employment.
Bottin International: International Business Register: (Paris: Societ'e Didot-Bottin Published annually. An international directory listing manufacturers, distributors, importers, and exporters.
Europe's 5,000 Largest Companies: (New York: Bowker) Published annually. A listing of the 5,000 largest European industrials and trading companies ranked by sales and number of employees.
European Companies: A Guide to Sources of Information: G.P. Henderson, Ed. (Beckenham, England: CBD Research, 1972) A guide to information on companies in Western and Eastern Europe, which includes official records, financial and commercial services, directories, newspapers, and journals.
Jane's Major Companies of Europe: (New York: F. Watts) Published annually. This sourcebook gives financial data on 1,000 Western European companies arranged by industry.
Principal International Businesses: (New York: Dun & Bradstreet) Published annually. This sourcebook provides addresses, sales, and number of employees for more than 44,000 international companies.
Who Owns Whom? Continental Edition: (London: O.W. Roskill) Published annually. A directory to parent, associate, and subsidiary companies in industry and commerce.
Kelly's Manufacturers and Merchants Directory Including Industrial Services: (Kingston-Upon-Thames, England) Published annually. Volume 1: Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland. Volume 2: Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania.
Small Business Information Sources: Joseph C. Schabacker. (Tempe, Ariz.: Publication Services, 1976) An annotated bibliography that lists publications with their tables of contents. Included are books on small business practice, pamphlets, periodicals. Small Business Association (SBA) research summaries, and SBA free publications.
Small Business Survival Guide: Joseph R. Mancuso. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980) A comprehensive guide listing sources of information of interest to the small business owner. The book includes chapters on advertising and public relations, bankruptcy, books, business associations, business plans, sources of help, and data processing.
CD Disclosure. This source is a data bank of annual report summaries for thousands of businesses. there are online and CD-based versions both of which are easy to use and interpret.
Bloomberg Terminal. The Bloomberg news service is available online at certain locations and presents what is probably the most comprehensive and current source of investment and news information available anywhere. The University of Rhode Island, College of Business Administration Callaghan Computer Lab has a Bloomberg Terminal available for student use.
The Internet. Just about any kind of reference data needed for business analysis purposes is most likely available on the Internet, somewhere. Students with Internet search proficiency should be able to efficiently and effectively conduct comprehensive business research via the Internet.