Business Librarian
Partnering with a local business? Try these tools
The amount of information you can find about a company will depend on its ownership status. This video explains the difference between publicly traded and privately held companies. Most small- and medium-sized business are private companies that are not traded on any stock exchange.
Because they are privately held, these companies don't have to file documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Finding information on private companies can be quite challenging, and often we must resort to using Industry Financial Benchmarks to approximate.
Suggested resources for investigating private companies:
- Data Axle Reference Solutions This link opens in a new windowDirectory of U.S. businesses (key personnel, addresses, credit rating, sales, subsidiaries, etc) and households (name, address, and phone number, census data for the household's area).
- PrivCo This link opens in a new windowSource for business and financial research on non-publicly traded corporations, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed, and international unlisted companies.
Note: Users will need to register for an academic account using their JMU email address - BizMiner This link opens in a new windowIndustry research and data reports on more than 16,000 lines of business in national and local markets.
Tips for Using Recommended Databases
JMU Libraries has created several tutorials in Google Slides to help students use our specialized business resources.
Click on the name of the database to open the tutorial that shows how to search for data and cite the information you find in APA style.
