Business Databases: Quick Guide

Start with MarketLine for 30,000 company profiles, SWOT analyses, financial deals, and market share. (Rutgers-restricted access)

Mergent Online, the electronic version of the Mergent/Moody's Manuals has much information on public firms around the world, with historical background, up to 25 years of financials, details on debt and capital structure, customers and suppliers, ownership, analysts' reports, and more. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

Use Data Axle Reference Solutions (formerly ReferenceUSA) to find prospects and competitors by industry, location, and size. Includes a directory of nearly 16 million U.S. public and private companies. Displays of company listings include internal links to subsidiary and parent companies, where applicable, as well as lines of business, senior executives and their titles. (Rutgers-restricted access)

PrivCo is an excellent resource for business and financial research on non-publicly traded companies, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed, and international unlisted companies. The database currently includes profiles for over 900,000 companies, 20,000 private equity and venture capital firms and investors, and 100,000 private market deals. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

Westlaw includes Hoover's reports on companies and their competitors. (Rutgers-restricted access) See also: How to Find Hoover's (PowerPoint)

The historical volumes of the Mergent/Moody's Manuals are now available online on Mergent Archives, with brief company and financial information going back to 1909 for some firms. (Rutgers-restricted Access)

The number of establishments in each industry, broken down by employee size, may be found in County Business Patterns (organized by NAICS).

For businesses run by the self-employed, refer to the Nonemployer Statistics for states, metro areas, and counties (also organized by NAICS).

More resources may be found on the guide to Company Research.