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Some Tips on Choosing a Company to Research

As always, your professor is the authority - and approves your choice of topic.  This is just some advice to help this project go more smoothly:

  • Consider only public companies - they have tax and other business filings that make a lot of their operational data available.  Private companies are under no such obligation and thus, it is often difficult to find information on them.
  • Choose a company with some longevity - if they are too recently incorporated, there may not be enough data collected on them to be useful.
  • Verify that the company you are considering has international activity - browse through one of the business databases or look at the companies with data in fDI Markets.  If your potential company does not have any information in those places, you may need to consider another one (consult your professor first).
  • Don't forget to look at the company's information, on their web site or in their annual reports - they are great sources of strategy and future plans.

Company Data

International Company Data - courtesy of J. Wilhelm

The resources below provide information on international companies. 

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Additional Resources

Need to Know: Industry Code Information

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.

NAICS was adopted in1 997; prior to that, businesses were classified by SIC Code. For historical research, it may be necessary to make conversions between the systems: