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2. Information
Sources
NGOs
(Non-governmental organisations)
A look in Housman's Peace Directory (Housman's, 0207 837 4473), or the
PMS Guide to Pressure Groups (£14.50 from PMS Publications, 19
Douglas Street, Westminster, London SW1P 4PA, tel. 0207 233 8283) will
give you some potentially useful NGOs. The Directory of Associations
& Professional Bodies in the UK (in most libraries) will also give
you academic research groups. A web search is also well worth doing.
A list of useful activist websites can be found in the 'Digging the
Dirt' section. Once you've found some promising organisations, look
at their websites or at their publications lists (which they will generally
send on request) to check what work they've done before you take up
anyone's time.
How much time someone wants to spend with you of course depends on how
useful they think your work is, and how closely it reflects their interests.
There's no substitute for face-to-face meeting, but you should be well
prepared so as to use your time with them well, and not have to go back
to them. Keep good notes of your conversation, and you can always go
back with a phone call or email later on if you need more clarification.
Libraries
· Local
libraries
Most major local libraries have a business section, which will contain
business directories, annual reports of large companies (including foreign
ones), and lots of other useful information. You should also be able
to find back issues of newspapers and magazines (including trade journals)
and indexes to them. If your target company is based locally, local
history books and local papers may be useful.
Start by asking library assistants which book is best for your purposes.
Or search the catalogue - using subject keywords or publisher (for example,
a company or trade association may publish many useful reports). There
may be books about the company, or its industry. Browsing can result
in some interesting discoveries - but beware of getting side-tracked.
If you can't find a particular directory or other reference book in
your local public library, ask the librarian to get a copy through the
interlibrary loan service. In the UK, the library is obliged to try
to get the book for you if it is held in the national public library
system, although they may charge you for this.
· University
libraries
If your
public library doesn't have what you need, try a university library,
especially the business studies section, or other relevant sections
(e.g. for a chemicals company, look in the chemistry section). University
libraries also provide good general reference sources, good media coverage
(including trade journals) and abstracts databases - if they let you
use them. Universities vary in how willing they are to give access to
non-university members. In some libraries you can just walk in, whereas
in others you may have to register and even pay a fee.
· Copyright
and specialist libraries
If you
can't find a publication elsewhere you should use a copyright library
- there are 5 of these in the UK (see
table). These libraries are all by law entitled to receive a copy
of every publication published in the UK. The best is the British Library,
which is obliged to take a copy of everything - some are missed, but
this is the best you're likely to get. They also have extensive foreign
collections. They are all reference libraries rather than lending libraries.
To use them, you will need to be registered as a reader - to do this
you need to fill in a form and convince them that you need their resources
to do work that you can't do elsewhere. A letter of recommendation from
an academic definitely helps. The Bodleian and British Library (and
possibly the others) keep most of their collections in stack storage.
This means you need to go beforehand to order them up from the stack,
and then come back when they've arrived - in the case of the British
Library this takes a couple of days.
As for specialist libraries, the City Business Library is excellent,
with a wide range of trade journals, business directories and other
interesting sources. Many industry bodies, such as trade associations
and professional institutions also have libraries of their own. These
can be a great source of information - assuming you can persuade them
to let you in. Some will charge you for the use of their library. Some
government departments also have libraries that you may be able to use
(see Government Sources). Details of some of the business and copyright
libraries in the UK are shown in the table.
The
Web
The Web is becoming
an increasingly powerful source, as more and more information is uploaded
onto it. But beware that it is not a static resource. Information you
found on the web can move about, or even vanish completely. For this
reason, you should print off useful pages, or save them onto your hard
drive, making sure you record the URL (site address). The main danger
with using the web is getting swamped with information. It is very easy
to spend many hours surfing unproductively. Keep in mind exactly what
you are looking for and try not to get distracted.
An excellent activists'
resource on corporations, according to our impartial researchers, can
be found at www.corporatewatch.org.uk. We are currently building up
a database of in-depth profiles of major corporations, focussing on
information useful to campaigners. There are guidelines and links for
further research and campaigning, including an online version of this
guide. You can also use the on-site search engine to search other good
activist sites such as the Multinational Monitor website (see 'Digging
the Dirt').
Search Engines
The key to good use of the web is of course search engines. Note that
search engines all use search terms slightly differently, and you should
always read the search tips/help page before using them. Bear in mind
that different search engines 'think' differently, and so rank pages
in different orders. It is therefore often worth trying more than one.
We recommend the following:
· www.google.com
· www.hotbot.com
· www.debriefing.com
· www.pinstripe.opentext.com
· www.northernlight.com
Some of the best
known search engines only trawl English-language databases. Our favourite
search engine Google however can search webpages in a variety of different
languages. If yours is not one of them www.searchenginecolossus lists
more than 1000 search engines organised by country.
· Searching
technique
Try to focus your search by the careful use of keywords and by using
Boolean operators ('and,' 'or,' 'not'). If you are looking for a specific
report you can use a search engine that allows you to search for phrases
and enter the title of the report - usually done by putting the specific
phrase you want to search for in double quotes " ". Some search
engines such as Google (use the advanced search) let you search specific
websites or domains for particular words or phrases. This can be extremely
useful when a site's built-in search engine isn't very good. Another
useful feature of Google is that it holds a 'cache' of each page it
has registered. In other words, if a web page has changed (as they often
do), Google will show you how the page looked when it indexed it.
Useful web techniques
· Following
links
Most sites have a links page. These are often worth following, although
be selective.
· Bookmarking
Some sites are repeatedly useful, such as financial sites, media
sites or search engines and you'll want to keep returning to them. Keep
a well-organised set of bookmarks for these.
The
Media
If you've got a
factual question to answer, often the best source is the media. Do bear
in mind that the media is not totally reliable, and if you need to be
completely watertight with your facts, you should back up all media
sources. However, it does provide a fantastically wide information resource.
Probably the most
useful UK newspaper is the Financial Times, for keeping broadly up to
date. It's worth reading regularly if you're involved in corporate campaigning.
Private Eye is good for picking up leads, but probably not for quoting
(because of libel risk).
Media sources on the web
These days many
newspapers and other media are available on the web, in searchable form.
Some key, web-based UK press databases are listed below:
The Guardian www.guardian.co.uk
The Independent www.independent.co.uk
Financial Times http://search.ft.com/search/index.html
Daily Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk
The Times www.thetimes.co.uk
In addition, Oxford
University's Bodleian library site -www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/users/gac/newspap.htm
and the JournalismNet site at http://www.journalismnet.com/uk/searchnews.htm
both provide useful links to media sites throughout the world:
The Financial Times
website has recently been upgraded, and allows you to search over 2,000
publications, including newspapers from around the world and a good
selection of trade journals. It is probably one of the best free online
press databases available.
The best online database we have found, however, is Reuters Business
Briefing at www.briefing.reuters.com. It covers over 6,000 publications
in 10 different languages, including all major national press from around
the world, some local press and an excellent selection of trade press.
The downside is that it is very expensive, however they do give a two-week
free trial - call sales on 0207 542 5455. There is also a danger of
information overload - so you need to chose your search terms well.
CD-Roms and indexes
Many libraries
(e.g. city libraries and university libraries) now have CD-ROMs of various
media sources. If you're based near such a library, these may be better
than the web, as you can search several publications at once.
One of the best is called FT McCarthy, which contains around 40 titles,
including all the UK broadsheets, the main newspaper from several important
countries, a couple of large trade journals and two UK local papers
(Birmingham Post and Yorkshire Times). This is held in the City Business
Library, London (see Libraries).
Another good one,
though less common, is dialog@carl, which contains many local US papers,
plus various others from around the world. You can also get some magazines
on CD-ROM - such as New Scientist and Times Higher Education Supplement.
If you can't get access to the web or a CD-ROM, you can use an index
in a library. One of the best is the Research Index, published monthly
by Business Surveys Ltd., which is amalgamated at the end of the year
into a companies index and an industries index. It covers most major
newspapers and magazines, including some trade journals. Alternatively,
try the 6-monthly Clover Newspaper Index, which covers the four broadsheets,
plus the FT, the European and the Economist; it also has a company data
supplement. Although these are broad, especially the Research Index,
they aren't particularly deep - they won't contain all the entries from
individual papers' own indexes. The Times, the FT and the Guardian all
produce monthly indexes, which are amalgamated at the end of each year.
Local papers generally
don't tend to produce indexes, CD-ROMs or websites. You could try asking
a journalist or the editor. If you have good contacts there, they might
look through their own records for you.
Industry
sources
Information is playing
an increasingly key role in business. Each industry sector has its own
sources of information which people in the industry rely on from day
to day. Many are also accessible to the corporate researcher.
Company
sources
Company
annual reports and websites are an invaluable source of information
on a company (see Getting a basic overview of the company).
It may also be worth visiting the company's office and being generally
observant - you never know what you might see! Talk to the company's
employees on their way out from work, or to business partners etc. There
are bound to be some people pissed off with the company, who'll be quite
happy to spill the beans, or otherwise do some internal research for
you. You could also interview former friends and colleagues of the directors
(look at their biographies in Who's Who or similar). You could even
get a job with the company, but be careful with secrecy clauses in any
contract.
Trade associations
and professional institutes
These
organisations often have information services, which you can phone up
for statistics, market data or other information they have to hand.
However, they will generally charge you if you need more of their time
than just speaking on the phone. Perhaps most usefully you can ask these
information departments for advice on how to do your research, pointers
to good websites, directories, journals and libraries. You can find
the trade association and professional institute for the industry you're
tracking in relevant websites and directories. Some of the most useful
ones are detailed in the table opposite.
Trade
Journals
If you are following a particular company or industry, you should
certainly be monitoring the relevant trade journals. The best bit tends
to be the news section, though there may be some decent feature articles.
If you're doing quite major research, it may be worth flicking through
the last year or two's back issues. Trade journals often have an index
in the first issue of the year, covering the previous year, or one is
inserted when old editions are bound.
Click
for Trade Journal Publishers,
Journals and Associations
There really are
more trade journals available than you could shake several sticks at.
Try looking for relevant titles in Ulrich's directory of periodicals
around the world (in the reference section of your local library). The
directory is also available to subscribers on the web at www.ulrichsweb.com.
A free trial period is offered. You could also contact some of the main
publishers of trade journals to ask them if they produce any relevant
titles. The main UK Trade Journal publishers are shown in the table
to the left.
If you're still stuck, try calling the Periodical Publishers' Association
(on 0207 404 4166), or the relevant trade or professional association
for the industry you're interested in and ask what they recommend.
Once you've got
the title of the journal you want you can browse the online catalogues
of libraries to see if they have it (see Libraries).
Also well worth getting, if you can, are the company's internal newsletters:
e.g. BP's Horizon, GEC Review. They go out to all employees of the relevant
company; buried in lots of useless info, they say what major contracts
the company has recently been awarded or completed, give profiles of
divisions of the company, describe new management/training/computer
systems in the group, announce the opening of new offices etc, and give
a good idea of the corporate culture. To get hold of them you'll have
to apply persuasion (on the Group Communications Department at the relevant
head office) - perhaps you could say you're a student looking for a
job next year and want to know about the company; or you could try asking
an employee. Or just turn up at the head office, where they're often
left lying around. Internal newsletters are also kept in some university
careers services, and good libraries.
Market Research
These are guides to how a sector works, including the main companies
involved, their market shares and the major issues facing the sector.
They can be very useful for getting to know an industry and the competitive
positions of its companies. Many libraries have market research in their
business section, which is well worth browsing.
Market research
companies tend to publish reports regularly, often monthly, covering
a different sector or sectors each time. Some are published in journal
format and then bound - you'll therefore need to look through the index
of the most recent one to find the issue you need. Others come as whole
reports on particular sectors and are updated every few years.
The market research reports most commonly found in UK libraries are
those published by Keynote (www.keynote.co.uk).
Mintel (www.mintel.co.uk)
is another important UK publisher. Both the Keynote and Mintel websites
have databases where you can search for relevant titles and executive
summaries of the reports.
For coverage outside
the UK, check out the following :
· Market Research Europe - www.marketresearch.com
· Market Research International - http://db2-rev.ecnext.com
· Euromonitor - www.euromonitor.com
These cover
both international markets and markets within individual countries.
Business
Directories
In the reference section of most city libraries, and certainly in any
business library, you can find various directories giving facts and
figures on companies. (NB Many directories and specialist publications
start with a guide to using them - reading this guide can save a lot
of time). Unfortunately, none of these directories are entirely comprehensive
in their company coverage as there are just too many companies!
The most important
directories are:
- Who Owns Whom
- this tells you how a company is legally structured, as corporate
family trees. The first volume gives a parent company and its address
and registration number etc, then its direct subsidiaries (the companies
it owns completely), then the subsidiaries of each of those, and which
country each subsidiary is registered in. This will tell you whether
a company has operations in a particular country. The second volume
is an index of all the subsidiary companies, and tells you what their
parent is. Unfortunately, the directory is not comprehensive. As well
as the two volumes covering UK & Ireland, there are volumes covering
the rest of the world, organised alphabetically by country.
- Kompass
- in the UK, this comes in four volumes:
Vol. I - Products & Services
Vol. II - Company Information
Vol. III- Parents & Subsidiaries
Vol. IV- Industrial Trade Names
Vol. II is organised geographically, with a company index in the front.
For each site listed for a company, it gives broad ranges within
which turnover, profit, number of employees etc. fall. Sometimes this
refers to the whole company and sometimes just to that specific site.
Most usefully, it lists product codes which refer to Vol. I, Products
& Services. Look up a major category number, and the index at
the start of it will tell you which sub-categories the company comes
in. In each of those, it tells you the precise (ish) products and
services the company supplies. There is also a Kompass website: www.kompass.com
that contains a searchable database of company information and details
the company's publications world-wide.
- Key British
Enterprises
- this has similar information to Kompass, sometimes with more detail
and sometimes with less.
- FT Major Companies
Guide, FT Smaller Companies Guide, MacMillan's Stock Exchange Yearbook,
HemScott Company Guide
- between these four directories, you can get summary financial data
(turnover, profit, employees etc), and names of the company's bankers,
lawyers, brokers and financial advisers.
- Directory
of Directors
- in two parts, organised by director's name and by company name.
Lists directors and some cases their role.
- Directory
of Multinationals
- 2-3 pages on each of the biggest multinationals, taken largely from
annual reports. Useful if you can't get the annual report.
If you want more,
have a look round the business section of your library, to see what's
available, or ask a librarian's advice. There are also some industry-specific
directories, which give more detailed information, such as:
- The UK Biotechnology
Handbook (pub. Biocommerce Data / Bioindustry Association)
- FT Oil &
Gas International Yearbook (pub. Longman)
- Energy Industries
Council Catalogue (pub. EIC)
- FT Mining International
(pub. Longman)
- Chemical Industry
Directory and Who's Who (pub. Benn Business Information)
- Major Chemical
& Petrochemical Companies of Europe (pub. Graham & Trotman)
- Construction
News Financial Review (pub. Building Trades Journal)
There are many more!
Business
Websites
There are numerous business-based sites, which function like
quite broad business directories. They will give you financial information
such as turnover and profit, number of employees, names of directors,
areas of business, share price variation etc. Obviously, bigger companies
are more often covered than small ones. Many of the best business and
media sites on the web charge for the information they provide, usually
by subscription but sometimes by item downloaded. However, almost all
will give you a free trial - use it wisely.
Some of the more
useful business websites are shown below:
| Business
Website |
Coverage |
| www.asianbusinesswatch.com |
Asia |
| www.corporateinformation.com |
World |
| http://globalbusiness.about.com |
Latin America |
| www.globalregister.co.nz |
New Zealand |
| www.hemscott.net |
World |
| www.hoovers.com/uk |
World |
| www.investext.com |
World |
| www.mbendi.co.za |
Africa |
| www.quicken.com |
World |
| http://finance.yahoo.com |
World |
If you are new to business research, and unfamiliar with the
language of annual reports, the Yahoo Finance site (http://finance.yahoo.com/li)
provides excellent explanations of key business terms. www.askjeeves.com
is another useful site.
Analysts'
Reports
Analysts advise investors on whether to buy or sell a company.
They generally specialise in one industrial sector and have a detailed
knowledge of the companies within that sector and their financial performance.
However, the reports are generally only available for a firm's clients.
Unless you know a sympathetic insider you will have to pay a lot of
money to get hold of them. Some reports are available on the web for
a price. Investext (www.investext.com)
and Dialog (www.dialog.com)
are worth checking out. Both offer a free trial period - or allow you
to buy reports on a one-off basis.
The Yahoo Finance website (http://yahoo.multexinvestor.com)
offers some cheaper (and therefore less detailed) reports. There are
some very brief free ones and others ranging from $5 to $50. You'll
need to register (this is free), then click research and enter the company's
'ticker symbol.' If you don't know this you can find the company through
'company lookup.'
Government
sources
If the company has
any interaction with government (e.g. in regulation, procurement or
just plain lobbying), there will be some records there. Government and
public sector bodies are generally more co-operative in interview than
private sector - as they are supposed, in theory at least, to exist
in the public interest. You can find your way into the UK government
department websites through the website www.open.gov.uk.
You might find the
Cabinet office at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk
useful. You could also search Hansard,
the daily record of all debates, discussions etc in the Houses of Parliament.
It is available in book form in most libraries, or on the web at www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm/cmhansrd.htm.
Sometimes the Government issues press releases relating to an industry.
All UK Government press releases are available at www.nds.coi.gov.uk.
To get into US
Government sites try www.whitehouse.gov
- not to be confused with the infinitely more fun spoof
site www.whitehouse.org
- check it out!
Government departments
which work closely with industry can be used much like trade associations
for advice, information and publications. Obvious examples are the government
departments covering agriculture, energy, finance and health. Individual
staff members in these departments can be extremely informative and
it can be well worth giving them a ring. The Department of Trade
& Industry (tel. 0207 215 5000, www.dti.gov.uk)
can be particularly useful. Many departments have 'public inquiry departments'
that are specifically there to answer your questions. The best way to
find these people in the UK is in the Civil Service Yearbook. This should
be available in most good libraries.
If going direct
to government bodies fails, you can ask your MP (write
to _____ MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA, or tel. 0207 219 3000)
to ask a Parliamentary Question of the relevant minister. If that doesn't
work, you can report the case to the relevant government department's
ombudsman, or to the parliamentary ombudsman via the House of Commons.
If there is serious improper behaviour in refusing information, you
could go to the Committee on Standards in Public Life (tel.
0207 276 2595, www.public-standards.gov.uk
).
Quangos
Quangos are public sector bodies which are answerable to particular
government departments. Some can be useful for information on the industry
they relate to. The UK has several hundred, listed at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/quango.
Using
Company Registrars
· Companies
House
Companies House is where all companies in the UK are legally obliged
to register, and record various information - including shareholders,
directors (and their home addresses and other directorships) and annual
accounts. You will need to know the company's precise registered name.
While you can choose at Companies House from an alphabetical list, this
does not tell you the name of a company's parent company or its various
subsidiaries. We recommend looking these up beforehand in a directory
such as Who Owns Whom (see Business directories).
Companies House
has branches in Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
The general enquiries line is 02920 380 301. To print out all directors
and their home addresses cost £1. Other documents cost £2.50,
plus 10p per sheet (or £3.50 maximum). You can get a full set
of records on microfiche for £5, but you will have to wait overnight
for this. Microfiche reader-machines can be found in most libraries.
Alternatively, you can use Companies House on the web and order and
pay for electronic documents online at www.companies-house.gov.uk
. This service is available Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm.
· Europe
There is a list of contact details of some of the other European
countries' company registrars on the European Business Register Site
(EBR) at www.ebr.org/partner.htm
· United
States
In the US, all companies with over $10 million of assets and over
500 shareholders (or more precisely, holders of a particular type of
share) are required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). The official database to access this material is at www.freeedgar.com
. Whilst its fairly easy to get into the database and enter search terms
the results can be quite bewildering. Don't be intimidated! - SEC filings
are one of the top sources for the corporate researcher. There are many
different types of form filed at the SEC.
The most
useful ones are:
10-K - The company's annual report. This contains all sorts of useful
information, including all the court cases that the company is involved
in.
10-Q - The quarterly (less detailed) update to 10-K
8-K - The occasional update to 10-K when important details change
or events occur.
13-F - List of holdings in the company by the top institutional investors.
Annoyingly these are in alphabetical order rather than order of size
of holding. Be careful as many institutions are large asset managers
and hold stock for their institutional clients in 'street name.'
20-F - Annual report for foreign companies.
40-F - Annual report for Canadian companies.
Regulators
Regulatory agencies may prove a useful source of information. Some of
the more useful ones are detailed here.
Interviews
Interviewing your
target company, either directly or by telephone, should usually be saved
until the end of your research. At this stage you will have a much clearer
idea of what you still need to know, and how to find it out. It will
also be easier for you to pick up on any 'economies with the truth.'
When conducting interviews, the following guidelines may be helpful:
·
Prepare for your interviews
Brush up on your jargon and background knowledge. Work out three or
four different ways in which you can squeeze out the information you
require, and anticipate possible responses. Decide beforehand whether
you're going to leave your source friendly or hostile to you after the
interview.
·
Bear in mind that companies contain many people
If one is unhelpful, you can always try someone else, possibly with
a different alias. Looking at the company's website beforehand, or even
talking to a receptionist, may give you an idea of how the company's
structured, and therefore who you want to speak to. Getting direct line
numbers is always useful. On the other hand, if you ask two different
people in a company for the same information, they might both go to
the same colleague for it. So be careful here.
·
Be polite and friendly
You should aim to put the person you're questioning at ease, rather
than making them nervous and cautious about telling you anything. Throwing
in a few dummy questions to cover your real interests can help with
this.
·
Document your interviews
Always document your interviews, including time, place, who you spoke
to and their position, any alias you used, major points and important
quotes. Do this during or immediately after your interviews - things
can be forgotten extremely quickly.
·
Make your questions open-ended
Open-ended questions allow the subject to tell you more - and you may
get some unexpected answers. Look for leads (e.g. other people to talk
to) as well as answers. What the subject doesn't want to talk about
is often as important as what they do want to discuss.
·
Know when to stop
If your subject offers to send you a useful document then end the interview
there. It's best to wait until you've actually received what they send.
You can then telephone them again with more questions.
·
Respect 'off the record' comments
Respect 'off the record' comments (use them only as leads) - otherwise
you're damaging your and other people's chances of getting them in the
future, and also your reputation! However, convention is that 'off the
record' must be said before the comments are made, rather than afterwards
when the subject realises what he/she has said. Don't offer to keep
something off the record - leave this to your subject. Check whether
'off the record' just means 'not for attribution.'
It's up to you whether you tell the company who you really are. Being
honest may lead to them seeing you as an enemy and not helping. If however,
you have good credibility and the company thinks you will publicise
your findings, they may help you for fear that you will publish anyway,
and their non-co-operation will make them look worse. If you tell them
you're someone else, adopt an identity of someone they actively want
to talk to (i.e. it's in their interests) - a potential customer, client,
supplier, employee, journalist, local historian etc. It often helps
to flatter the company or the person you're talking to, to make them
feel good and relaxed and give them an opportunity to boast (e.g. 'I
know your company is one of the most efficient in the sector' - 'yes
we've massively streamlined our workforce'; or 'your company has an
excellent relationship with government…' etc).
Generally it's easier
to be someone of low rank - this is less threatening, and gives you
an excuse for not knowing the answer to all their questions ('I'll have
to ask my boss/client'). If you can throw in chatty comments, that helps
too ('sorry about my voice, I've got this throat bug', 'I can't find
my notes, our office is just being re-decorated', 'when I took my daughter
to school this morning…', etc).
When using an alias, try to keep a grain of truth in it, so that you
can talk about yourself if pushed. It's probably worth keeping a note
of who you are somewhere - forgetting your own name, for instance, can
be highly embarrassing! If you're meeting subjects in person, remember
that people tend to be remembered by their most prominent features (e.g.
red hair / round glasses / lapel badge / stammer). You should therefore
cover any memorable features of yourself, and create some that you don't
usually have. If you normally smoke, don't. If you don't wear glasses,
do etc. Consider getting a postbox (register as 'no fixed abode'); make
phone calls from a callbox, and not the one just outside your house
or office. You want to learn about the company, not make it easy for
them to learn about you.
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