MGT 499 Public Company Research Guide

• Industry Structure: In-depth industry analysis reports are often behind the paywall. Library provides access to IBISWorld, First Research Industry Profile from Mergent Archive database and MarketLine Industry Report from Business Source Complete. Industry associations and consulting firms would also provide industry-level analysis that can be found via an online search. In Form 10-K (Item 1 "Business"; Item 7 MD&A), the company often discusses the competitive environment in the industry and how the company handles competition.
• Direct Competitors: The company may identify some of its direct competitors in its Form 10-K (Item 1 "Business"; Item 7 MD&A), Industry reports (such as IBISWorld) provide competitor information based on broad industry classifications. The First Research Industry Profile provides the competitors at a global scale.
• Strategic Challenges: For industry-level challenges, you can refer to the industry profiles from IBISWorld, MarketLine and First Research. For company-level challenges, you can refer to IBISWorld Company Benchmarking Report, MarketLine Company Profile (SWOT analysis), 10-K Form Item 7 MD&A, and search for news and magazine articles.

Find Industry Report

• Search the industry at the homepage in the search box or Go to Products Industry Researchbrowse or search the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code Download the report.
  • Industry Report: 700 NAICS industries
  • Specialized Industry Report: small or new industries complementing NAICS industries

To find First Research Industry Profile, conduct Keyword searches at the public website of First Research Industry Profile, and retrieve the NAICS industry code of the report. Navigate Mergent Archive->D&B Manuals--> First Research, and copy/paste the NAICS code from the website. Scroll to the right and see the PDF document for downloading. The Industry Report follows the following structure:

• Industry Overview
  • Competitive Landscape (competitive advantages)
  • Products, Operations & Technology
  • Sales & Marketing
  • Finance & Regulation
  • International Insights
• Quarterly Industry Update
• Industry Indicators
• Industry Forecast
• Industry Drivers
• Critical Issues
• Business Challenges
• Business Trends
• Industry Opportunities
• Executive Insight
• Call Prep Questions
• Financial Information
  • Company Benchmark Trends (Quick ratio, working capital turnover etc.)
  • Company Benchmark Information (income statement, balance sheet, financial ratios)
• Industry Website

Find Industry Profiles

• Change the Source Types to Industry Profiles and Publisher to MarketLine (which has industry profiles with Porter's Five Forces analysis); If available, Select Publisher - Business Monitor International (BMI) (which has industry SWOT analysis & forecast); if needed, use Geography to limit to the United States;
• Identify one of the most relevant Industry Profiles and download it.
• Create the citation using the Cite Tool (click the three-dot icon at the search result page or click the title of the article, then find “ icon on the page).

The Industry Report follows the following structure:

• Executive Summary
  
• Market Overview
• Market Data (Market Value)
• Market Segmentation
  • Geography Segmentation
  • Category Segmentation
• Market Outlook
• Five Forces Analysis
• Competitive Landscape
• Company Profile
• Macro-economic Indicator