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09 (187-204B) appendix a  1/29/02  4:52 PM  Page 197






                               Data-Gathering Resources                                   197




                               COMPANY INFORMATION


                               Current financial, directory, and historical information on com-
                               panies also appears in a number of electronic sources, including the
                               company’s annual report and corporate website. The information
                               available on any given company will depend on the type of data-
                               base or print resource you are using, the size of the company, and
                               whether the company is public, private, or a subsidiary. Generally
                               speaking, large companies whose stock is publicly traded are easi-
                               est to find more information on; conversely, smaller private com-
                               panies are typically hardest to find information on. For smaller or
                               private companies, a newspaper or journal article may be a more
                               fruitful source of information.




                               DIRECTORIES
                                   • Companies Online (www.companiesonline.com)—This site
                                     offers basic directory information (address, telephone num-
                                     ber, and perhaps names of a few top officers) for over
                                     900,000 public and private companies.
                                   • CorpTech Directory of Technology Companies—This
                                     directory focuses on high-tech companies. Each listing typi-
                                     cally contains the company’s mailing address, telephone
                                     number, names of top executives, the year the company
                                     was founded, a list of SIC codes, a sales estimate, and a
                                     brief description of what the company does. Check for this
                                     print resource at your local university library.
                                   • Million Dollar Directory—This source is good for finding
                                     addresses, telephone numbers, and names of the top offi-
                                     cers of major corporations. This print resource is available
                                     in the collections of many university libraries and large
                                     public libraries.
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