Kresge Research Guides: Business Research Resources for "Non-Business-y" Types: Companies

Get Started Quick!

Orbis M&A (formerly Zephyr)
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Start on the "Advanced Search" screen and then begin to limit by industry, type of deal, amount of deal, etc.

D&B Hoovers
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Database features one-stop shopping that includes strategic initiatives, business and geographic segments, strengths/weaknesses, and ratio comparisons.
Orbis
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Includes information on millions of public and private companies from all over the world.
Technical Notes: Use of scripts or automated methods to download data from Orbis is strictly prohibited. If you require access to a larger dataset, please contact us at kresge_library@umich.edu.
Data Axle
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White- and yellow-pages directory listings for all US residences and businesses, supplemented with government information from the Bureau of the Census and other agencies.
Historic company records were created annually from Infogroup's U.S. Business Database; a snapshot of the data is saved each December. Contains company name, mailing address, SIC and NAICS codes, employee size, sales volume, latitude/longitude, and many more variables about each company. Data is available from 1997-2022 in downloadable flat files. Access requires UM login.
Access the Historical Datafiles via University Library

First Steps in tracking down Company info:

Check OneSource to determine whether your company is public or private and whether it's a parent or subsidiary or holding company.

This will help give you a sense of how readily (or not) information will be for this particular company.

Company profiles & financial data
Articles (An article search can turn up lots of info (local, national, international, news, scholarly and trade publications), especially if you’re dealing with a private company).

If the company has a common name (e.g. Target), add in facets like an executive's last name or an industry term like retail (see the Articles tab for more ideas).

If you can't find much on the particular company in question, try to identify a few similar companies and extrapolate what you can.

Even if you're not finding much on your small, private and/or subsidiary company, it won't hurt to learn more about the industry in which it operates (see the Industry Research tab for more ideas).

Try the Thomas Register to see who makes what--it's a directory of manufacturers by US State.
Don't forget to check the company's web site and do a general Google search--you never know what you might find.