LibGuides: Market research: Companies

Companies

For national and international company profiles. Information such as company overview, SWOT analysis, and competitive postition.

Online resources

Passport This link opens in a new window
A global market information database, containing reports and statistics on industries (both consumer and B2B), markets, countries and consumers. You must register with your Brunel email address the first time you use the database. Passport works in multiple browsers, but access problems can usually be resolved by using Google Chrome. A comprehensive help section is available within the database. Also see the Market Research Library Guide< https://libguides.brunel.ac.uk/marketresearch > for training recording by Brunel librarians on using Passport and other market research databases.
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Reports from Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
The Enhanced Business Searching Interface in this EBSCOhost database allows you to browse:
Mintel Reports This link opens in a new window
Mintel Academic provides access to market research reports and data on lifestyle trends including eating and drinking habits, clothing and footwear.
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Nexis This link opens in a new window
Use the Company section and look up a company name in the Company profiles section. Not all companies will have a report in Nexis, but some have comprehensive reports.
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Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista is a leading provider of market and consumer data, covering 170 industries, more than 80,000 topics and a million plus statistics derived from more than 22,500 sources. Export statistics, infographics, publications and reports on areas such as brands, business plans, consumer, country, digital and trends, industry, politics and society.
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If you can't find a profile for the company or industry you're researching in one of the market research databases, or if you want to extend your research, try looking for case studies.

The journal databases Business Source Premier, ABI Inform and Emerald (available via the A-Z) have an option for limiting your search by publication type to case studies.

For very current information on a company, and perhaps for information about what the company is doing in local areas, search for newspaper and magazine articles.

Use the News search on the homepage in Nexis to search for newspaper articles, or search FT.com for Financial Times articles (use the link on the Markets tab to set up an FT.com account).

Business Source Premier, listed on the A-Z, contains trade magazines as well as academic journals and you can limit your search to only results from these publications.

Databases A-Z

Some company financial data is included in the company reports in the market research databases.

For more in depth information, including a wider range of data, including historical data, use the databases listed on the "Company and financial data" page of our "Data and statistics" guide.

Data and statistics
Data and statistics library guide

Upcoming LibSmart Market Research events

Business Databases for Non-Business Students

(Also suitable for any Business Student wanting a refresher)

You may have been asked to design / market a product, create a business plan, or look into a particular industry or sector, and need to know where to locate this information. This session will cover;

Market research databases
Company reports
Industry / sector information
Financial data
News

How to find company reports

You may need to look in several databases to find a report on the company you are researching. You may also find it useful to read reports from several different databases, to find more information on the company.

Passport contains reports published by Euromonitor. It has both local (country) and global company profiles. How to find a company report in Passport.

Business Source Premier includes a link directly to an A-Z list of company profiles in this database, which you can search or browse. Reports are published by MarketLine.

Mintel doesn't have company reports, but many of the market reports include lengthy sections on relevant companies. Search for the company name to find a relevant report, and once you're in the report, look for the Companies section.

Which company are you searching for?

If you can’t find any information on a company, maybe you're searching for the brand name. You can usually find the official company name in the copyright section at the bottom of their website, or in the About us section.

Some brands have several companies, for different areas of their business. Look in market research reports to learn more about the different companies.