The Universe of
Business Information
Introduction to Business 70-100
What do we want to know?
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Companies
Industries
Investments
Demographics
Economic realities
Future trends
2009
From a drip to a torrent
• Both the sources and the way we access them
have multiplied enormously
• Your challenge is no longer to find information,
but to sift through it to find the gold.
• Where do you find the best?
1809
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Shipping news
Coffee houses
Carrier pigeons
Rothschilds
The Best: Categories
Direct from the internet:
• Governments
• Organizations
• Companies
• Business press
• Analysts
• Video, podcasts,
blogs, twitter
From the library via the
internet:
• Databases
• Scholarly research
• Books
• Dictionaries,
encyclopedias
• Guides to everything
Government data
• All countries, also states and cities
• Industry statistics, demographics, economic
trends, consumer expenditures, occupational
and salary data, market reports, etc.
• Global finance: Federal Reserve, and Central
Banks all over the world
• Securities and Exchange Commission
• Look for .gov (in the US)
• Use your judgment…
Organizations
• International – UN, WTO, IMF, World Bank,
Interpol, OECD, MORE
• Research – Rand, Pew, Gallup, Heritage, Center
for Economic and Policy Research, MORE
• Industry-specific – American Iron & Steel
Institute, American Beverage Association, AFLCIO, MORE
• Look for .org (in the US)
• Use your judgment…
Companies
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Company websites
Public vs. Private, International
Annual reports and SEC filings
Conference calls
CEO statements, presentations
Use your judgment…
Business Press
• Newspapers/Magazines – FT, WSJ, NYT,
Forbes, Fortune, Business Week, Barron’s, The
Economist, Entrepreneur, MORE
• Trade Publications – BodyShop Business,
Modern Baking, Risk, Plastics News, MORE
• Newswires, press releases – written by PR
departments
• Bloomberg – a class by itself, in Tepper A1
• Use your judgment…
Analysts
• Equity analysts – Goldman Sachs, Credit
Suisse, Morgan Stanley
• Market research firms – Gartner, Forrester,
Nielsen, Datamonitor
• Independent publications (newsletters) – Value
Line, Morningstar, Standard & Poor’s
• Economic consultants – Global Insight, Moody’s
Economy.com
• Use your judgment…
Video, podcasts, blogs, twitter
Broadcasts - where do these originate?
1. From all of the categories above
2. TV and radio stations – a source of business
information that has never been captured
before. BBC, CNN, Fox, NPR. Are they all
equal?
3. Anyone at all.
Use your judgment…
Your library helps: Databases
• They can search a lot at once – news,
companies
• They provide reports that cost $$
• They format data – maps, spreadsheets, charts
• Tepper’s own page – tells you all you need to
know
• Guides to choosing databases – how to learn
about companies, industries, countries
• Guide for this very class!
• If you’re off campus, log in with the VPN first
Your library helps:
books, journals, encyclopedias
• Find them in the catalog – print and online
• What is scholarly literature?
• If we don’t own the book or article you
need, we’ll get it for you
• You can use Pitt, too
• A tried and true way to truly learn about
something: read a book
Evaluating sources
• Using your judgment!
• Mark Twain: "There are three kinds of lies: lies,
damned lies, and statistics."
• Excellent method - the Internet Detective (from
British universities)
• Pay attention to where information comes from
• Make sure YOU say where YOUR information is
coming from:
Citing sources
• Now that you have figured out what’s good
and what’s not, you need to let others
know.
• How do you do it ? A guide to citing your
sources
• Plagiarism – a serious offense
• Someday, you’ll be cited!
Questions?
Ask the librarians:
Roye Werner
Business & Economics Librarian
rwerner@andrew.cmu.edu 412.268.2453
Everyone else at the library who can help:
search.library.cmu.edu 412.268.2442
reference hours, link to chat, email, etc.
Tepper library page