Introduction

Article Indexes

• Factiva
• ABI/Inform
• Academic Search Complete
• Business Source Complete - fulltext from 2000 journals covering business, management, economics, banking, finance, accounting and more. Indexing and abstracts for an additional 1600 journals.
• Canadian Newsstand
• Canadian Periodical Index
• CBCA, Canadian Business & Current Affairs
• Lexis Nexis Academic
• American City business journals Access to local business journals, providing top news stories from a local business area perspective.

Reference Tools

• Sources of public information on privately held companies
• Company information guide : company research on the web

Associations/Societies

Associations are also sources of information about private companies.
• Gateway to Associations. Directory of 6500 associations by the American Society of Association Executives
• Better Business Bureau. Reports on businesses and charities.

Web Sites

• Business.com free access to 44,000 profiles of some of the larger private companies. Includes some Canadian information.
• Export.ca. A Canadian Export Portal and Directory of Canadian Exporters.
• Canadian Trade Index Directory of 25,000 Canadian manufacturing companies. Includes fairly detailed product information, in addition to the address, telephone and fax numbers. Searches can be done by company or by product
• Marketing magazine Has a searchable archive and market share studies.
• Public Record Databases, Pacific Information Resources Inc. Over 2,091 free, searchable public record databases for U.S., Canada, and global.
• Strategis Company Directories Guide to chartered companies in Canada. You get the old name, address, registration date, directors, and parent/subsidiary information.
  
• Business Credit USA free business credit reports on over 12 million public and private U.S. and Canadian businesses.
• Corptech : database of 50,000 high technology companies 80% of the database consists of private companies or operating units of public and private companies. You’ll find in-depth business profiles that will give you a picture of what a company is all about - what products they produce, who are the key contacts, sales levels, ownership, employment growth, contact information and a complete review of historical business changes over the past 10 years. Limited free access (primarily capsule profiles)
• Hoover's offers profiles of private U.S. companies.
• Thomas Register Basic information on both public and private North American manufacturers. While this directory is best known for its information about US companies, it also includes Canadian companies. Data include name, address, phone and detailed product information. The directory has a total of 155,000 companies
• Thomas Food Industry Register food service and food processing professionals can search our database of more than 22,000 U.S. and Canadian suppliers of food products, ingredients, equipment, and supplies listed under 5,800 product categories.
• Better Business Bureau Business Reports include time in business, complaint history, and information obtained through special Bureau investigations. Charity Reports include information on the group's background, current programs, governing body, fund-raising practices, tax-exempt status, and finances.
• Corporate information - links to lists of world-wide public and private companies
• Dotcom directoryEnter a private company name initially to find the business's name, address, telephone, Web site and industry. From this basic company profile, locate menu options to purchase a business credit report or find subsidiaries or divisions.
• Lycos Companies Online search for information on over 900,000 public and private companies. Allows users to search for companies by name, location, or industry. Provides phone number, ownership structure, ticker symbol, and link to company home page.
• Corporate Information Bank for persons interested in corporations and financial institutions in Japan.

Rankings

• BC Business's Top 100 - BC's top 100 private, public and Crown corporations
• Globe & Mail and Report on Business top 1000 companies. Lists the top 300 private companies in Canada, along with their sales, profits and assets (when available), and sector. However, a large number of these companies are actually subsidiaries of foreign companies which trade publicly, such as General Motors, IBM, etc.
• The ROB magazine also lists the 35 best companies to work for in Canada
• Franchise 500 from Entrepreneur magazine.
• Profit 100, the definitive list of Canada's fastest growing companies. Profiles of the 100 companies with the highest five years sales growth. Includes number of employees now and five years ago, sales now and five years ago, and the source of financing.
• FP500 - Canada's largest corporations.
• Forbes Companies Index links to all of Forbes company rankings lists.
• Forbes 500 Top Private Companies
• Fortune has a variety of rankings lists including Fortune 500, 100 Top MBA Employers, 100 Best Companies to Work For, etc.
• The 2007 Best companies for Multicultural Women, Working Mother

Legal issues

• Supreme Court of Canada index to rulings searchable since 1993. This is useful if you want to know more about a company's legal problems.
• National Pollutants Release Inventory Find out what pollutants a Canadian company has released. Search by company, location or pollutant

Patents

• Canadian patent database This database lets you access over 75 years of patent descriptions and images. You can search, retrieve and study more than 1,400,000 patent documents.

Corporate registries

In the US, depending on the state in which it is registered, a private company may have to file annual reports with the Secretary of State, although the actual reports may or may not be available on the web. The offices may also provide articles of incorporation, and other filings.
• Business filings database, By Kathy Biehl. In a few instances only limited information (such as name availability) is retrievable. The majority of the states, however, use their Web presence to disseminate a range of public business records, often at no charge.
• Corporate Registration, National Association of Secretaries of State. All of the states, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, currently register domestic and/or foreign corporations (profit and non-profit). Transactions include, but are not limited to: filings of incorporation, partnerships, and limited partnerships, articles of mergers/ consolidations, and articles of dissolution.

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