This guide is an introduction to selected sources that may be used to create business and marketing plans, research companies, industries, retrieve financial, demographic, marketing,country and economic information, etc.  It highlights some of the key research tools available but it is not intended as a comprehensive list of sources. For a more complete list of electronic resources available to member of the York University community visit our Business Online Web page. Short descriptions of the databases are included.

York University students, faculty and staff may access the electronic resources remotely by using the proxy server and signing on with their Passport York ID and PIN.

Please note that there are also useful print materials in our reference collection that are not included in this online guide.

Reference staff in the Bronfman Business Library are pleased to offer assistance to members of the York University community, either in person, by phone (416-736-5239), by email or by our IM chat reference service.

Business and Marketing Plans

We have created a web page that provides useful links to developing business and marketing plans.

Industry Canada‘s Web site – Business Tools and Resources – provides guidelines for starting up a new business, federal incorporation and support.

Finding Company and Industry Information

Public companies are traded on stock exchanges or over-the-counter and are subject to regulation by Security Exchanges. They are required by law to file reports publicly. This makes it relatively easy to find information about public companies. However, private companies, other than federally regulated ones, are not required to report publicly and therefore it is much more difficult to find information about them. Generally speaking for private companies, there is only directory information and occasionally articles in newspapers or journals. For additional company information you may wish to consult company websites.

There is no “best” database to use. Each database has it’s unique characteristics and it is always wise to check the information in a database with the information in a similar database. The following are only a selection of what is available.

Infomart: (formerly Financial Post Advisor) A suite of databases from Financial Post Datagroup. Includes a wealth of information on Canadian publicly traded companies organized by key product category including Company Snapshots; Companies by Industry; Corporate Surveys; Predecessor & Defunct; Analyzer Search; Investor Reports (formerly blue sheets); Historical Reports (formerly yellow cards); Dividends; and New Issues.

The Industry Reports section provides comparative data on the key Canadian public companies in each industry and provides general industry statistics and financial ratios. Also look at Companies by Industry for a list of companies within selected industries.

The Additional Databases link will lead you to Profile Canada for information on private companies.

Factiva – use Companies/Markets tab to search for a company and then display ratio reports to get industry rations and benchmarking data.

Datamonitor 360 - The Datamonitor Business Information Centre (DBIC) database is divided into Industry, Country, and Company sections including 2500 market profiles, 30,000 company profiles, 1000 company SWOT analysis, more than 50 country profiles, over 150 industry rankings, and news, comments and analysis.

IBISWorld USA and IBISWorld China  Includes US and China global industry reports and a business environment database. Many of the industry reports are for smaller industries not included in Mergent, MarketLine etc. Available on the network but restricted to the York University community.

Mergent Online Provides information for over 10,000 U.S. public companies and almost 20,000 non-U.S. public companies. Company records include detailed business descriptions, corporate histories and financial statements. Industry reports include information on both the U.S. and Canadian sectors. Up to 15 years of financials (both annual and quarterly) are available. Also included are country profiles and a report builder function.

Plunkett Research : Provides research and trends analysis on a variety of industries, including energy, e-commerce, retailing and finance. In addition to the industry reports, it includes statistics, charts and profiles of leading companies. Primarily US information but some Canadian information is available.

Sustainalytics : This database rates companies on environmental, social and governance performance. For most performance issue areas, it includes aboriginal relations; community involvement; corporate governance; employee relations; environment; and human rights. The framework calls for a complete examination of each company’s performance record in that area, as well as an evaluation of each company’s record in these areas overall.

Hoovers : Provides information on 28M public and private companies and includes an overview, history, products, competitors, and limited financials for public companies. Directory information is available for private companies. Industries overviews are included. Use the Build a List tool to find competitors.

Lexis Nexis Academic: Lexis-Nexis service makes available over 30,000 news, business, and legal information sources. Included are current international newspapers, as well as comprehensive company and industry reports.Information available includes trade and marketing reports, patent details, merger and acquisition analysis, country reports and industry and legal publications

Industry Canada : is useful for industry overviews and detailed information on manufacturing industries.

US Business and Industry provides statistics from government sources on US business and economic indicators.

Market Research

GMID – Global Market Information Database – Provides business intelligence on companies, countries, industries, and consumers. Includes demographic, economics and marketing statistics for 205 countries: historic and forecast consumer lifestyle statistics; analysis of consumer lifestyles in 71 countries; market size for more than 300 consumer products; 4500 market research reports; brand shares; and profiles and rankings of 3000 leading consumer goods companies.

Datamonitor360 This is a new database formed from a merger of MarketLine and Business Insights. It includes Industry, Country, and Company sections, market profiles, company profiles, company SWOT analysis, more than 50 country profiles, over 150 industry rankings, and news, comments and analysis

WARC – World Advertising Research Center – a collection of over 45,000 articles, papers, case studies, research reports, news items and summaries , drawn from over 40 international sources. Provides information on marketing, advertising, media and communications. Includes best practives guides and statistical information.

Country, Demography and Economic

Global Insight Includes World Markets and Data Insight-Web (formerly DRI). Requires IE 6.0. Contains economic and financial data for countries worldwide. Provides country analysis, risk and forecasts for 196 countries. Political, economic, regulatory, tax, security and general business conditions are covered in the individual country reports. In addition macroeconomic forecasts are provided and country and sovereign risk ratings are included.

Statistics Canada Includes statistics on the Canadian population and also economic statistics.

Statistical Abstract of the United States . Includes statistics on the population of the USA and also economic and business statistics.

Toronto Neighbourhoods Includes demographic information on Toronto neighbourhoods – age, gender, language, ethnicity, families, dwellings, income – 2006 Census

Practitioner and Applied Resources

We subscribe to Books 24 X 7 , a collection of e-books on a wide variety of business subjects. The books included in this collection are highly practitioner oriented and complement the collection of more academic print books located in the Bronfman Business Library. Please note that these books may not be downloaded or printed and are meant to be read online only.

Finding Articles

Factiva To read the most current information on companies, industries, business topics, etc search newspapers from around the work that are included in the Factiva database.

ProQuest Suite of Business Databases – Search for articles on companies, industries and business subjects from the following selection: ABI/Inform Global, ABI/Inform Trade and Industry – CBCA Business and CBCA Current Events – ProQuest European Business – ProQuest Asian Business.

To combine two or more ProQuest databases select any one and the click on “select multiple databases” . Make your choices from the menu and then return to the top and click on continue to merge the databases for one-stop searching. You may limit your searches to scholarly journals, magazines, trade publications, newspapers, and reference/reports by using the tabs on the results lists.

Business Source Premier Search for articles on companies, industries and business subjects. You may limit your search results by scholarly, magazine, trade etc articles.

Scholars Portal Journals Search for scholarly articles on companies, industries, business subjects and a wide variety of social science subjects.

How to cite your sources

We have created a guide to citing electronic resources using MLA style. How to cite business sources in MLA.

Click here for more information on citation resources.

Created by Elizabeth Watson YUL/BBL/December 7, 2010.  Revised Maarch 2012