Dirt Diggers Digest Guide to Strategic Corporate Research

Ongoing problems with corporate crime and misbehavior make it essential for progressive activists to know how to gather information on the way business operates. These days, all of us need to be watchdogs against the excesses of corporate power.

This manual is designed to help researchers and activists gather essential information on any type of U.S.-based company -- whether small or large, privately held or publicly traded -- as well as foreign companies operating in the United States. It also provides a guide to the key information sources for all major U.S. industries.

Most of the sources listed are found online, but some printed materials are included as well. Wherever possible, the recommended resources are free sites on the web, but the manual also points out where certain valuable information can be found only on pay websites and subscription services, including some that may be available through public library or academic library systems.

The resources listed here are all, in one way or another, part of the public record. If you want to know about original investigative techniques, you will have to look elsewhere. The manual, nonetheless, will introduce you to many lesser known public sources that contain information that may feel as if it is secret.

The manual is divided into four parts. The first covers leading sources of basic information on companies of all kinds. Part II focuses on information sources relating to the key relationships every company must have in order to function. Part III shows you how to gather information about a company’s accountability record, i.e., its track record on issues such as environmental compliance, labor relations, consumer protection and political influence. Part IV consists of the following categories of sources on all major industries: trade associations, trade publications, unions, watchdog groups and regulatory agencies. Together, these sections will help you find all the basic information needed to support efforts to get companies to do the right thing.

I. GETTING STARTED: THE KEY SOURCES OF COMPANY INFORMATION

The biggest challenge in most corporate research projects is not a shortage of information, but rather too much of it. The key to efficient research is figuring out how to sort through the barrage of data and zero in on what is important. An essential part of this is knowing where to begin. This section provides a list of the best starting points for getting a basic understanding of a company, including its finances, its operations, its executives and its history.

A. SOURCES FOR BASIC CORPORATE PROFILES

Yahoo Finance
Yahoo provides one of the best free sources of company information on the web. You begin by entering the ticker symbol (which it can help you look up) and are then shown a screen with the most recent stock price and a list of news headlines. You can then click on various links within categories such as News & Info, Company (which includes a basic profile) and Financials.

Gale Business Insights
Business Insights is an amalgamation of information from a variety of printed and online reference works. This resource is marketed mainly to larger public and academic libraries, which often provide remote as well as on-site access for authorized users. The features include:

basic data (address, line of business, top officers, etc.)
company history and/or chronology
financial and market share data
rankings
product names
links to news articles about the company
links to Wall Street analyst reports about the company
links to relevant trade associations

Nexis Company Dossiers
Nexis Uni, available in many university libraries, contains a service called Company Dossier, which collects information from numerous databases to generate a ready-made corporate profile. Among the features are:

basic information, including business description
executives and directors
brands
competitors
mergers
recent lawsuits

B. COMPANY WEBSITES

Much of the material on corporate websites amounts to little more than company propaganda, but there is also a fair amount of useful information, especially on the sites of larger firms. Here are some of the main items to look for:

General description and company history. Most companies include at least a basic profile of themselves (often under the heading About Us). Sometimes there will also be a history of the firm.
Annual Report. Company websites are the only place where you can download copies of the glossy annual report produced by publicly traded companies. These contain information about operations, financial results, officers and directors, etc.
Press Releases. These documents contain a high quotient of hype, but they are useful as sources of information that may never make it into the media. They serve as a primary source for official company positions and claims. In a controversy over a company’s failure to live up to a commitment (such as the creation of new jobs at a plant that received a government subsidy), it is quite effective to be able to quote from an old company press release in which the promise was made.
Executive biographies. Many large companies post bios of upper-level managers. These can often provide useful information about executives who might be your decision makers.
Facility lists. Companies often put lists of their factories and other facilities on the website, including their locations. Larger retail chains include store locators. Such information can be quite handy in planning campaign activities.

C. STATE CORPORATION FILINGS AND PROPERTY RECORDS

Every U.S. corporation, whether publicly traded, privately held or non-profit, must register at the state level to receive a charter to do business. The agency that handles this process is usually the state Secretary of State’s office, which will also provide public access to at least some of the information that corporations must provide in their filings. For a guide to state websites for this and other kinds of public records, see Search Systems.

If you don’t know what state the company is located in, look for the contact information on the firm's website. If you have access to a subscription service such as LexisNexis Public Records or Westlaw, you can search nearly all states at once – either by the name of the company or the name of an officer or director (though the entries from some states do not include such names). Delaware, where many large companies are registered, can also be searched through a separate service.

D. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION FILINGS

Publicly traded companies are required to file a variety of reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which in turn releases most of these filings to the public at no charge. The reports, which cover financial and some operational matters, are designed to assist investors, but they are also widely consulted by union researchers and other progressive activists. Access to the reports is available through a system called EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering Analysis and Retrieval).

There are dozens of different types of SEC filings. Here are descriptions of the key ones to check when profiling a corporation:

10-K

The 10-K is an annual report containing a wealth of information about the company. Along with a full set of financial statements, the document includes:

a detailed description of the company’s operations
a summary of the firm’s competitive and regulatory climate
a description of the company’s facilities
basic data on the company’s workforce, which may include information on the extent to which the workers are unionized and which unions represent them
an overview of the main legal proceedings in which the company is involved
an account of environmental issues relating to the company’s operations
a list of the company’s subsidiaries (in a separate appendix called Exhibit 21)

Note: A company may be privately held in that it does not have shares that trade publicly, yet it still is required to file a 10-K if it sells bonds or other debt securities to the public.

10-Q and 8-K

The 10-Q is a quarterly filing that updates the information in the 10-K. The 8-K is a filing made by the company when an extraordinary event has taken place. This would include things such as a change in top management, a takeover bid or merger plan, or the initiation of major legal action against the company.

Proxy Statement (Form DEF 14A)

Another disclosure goldmine is the proxy statement (or simply proxy), which the SEC designates as Form DEF 14A. The primary function of the proxy is to notify shareholders when and where the company’s annual meeting will take place.

Information about the annual meeting is also useful to trade unionists and other activists who may be trying to influence corporate policy. The annual meeting may be the only opportunity for you to address top management and the board of directors face to face. If you are engaged in an intensive campaign, you may want to formulate a shareholder resolution and try to get it on the ballot for the meeting. This is a complicated process that you should not undertake without consulting groups that specialize in shareholder activism, such as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsiblity. If you succeed, the text of your resolution would appear in the proxy statement.

The value of the proxy statement as an information source goes beyond matters relating to the annual meeting. Here are some of the other gems it contains:

Stock Ownership Data. The proxy will list any individual or institution that controls 5 percent or more of the company’s shares. It will also list the number of shares controlled by each director and each member of top management.
Executive Compensation. The proxy statement provides extensive details on the compensation packages awarded to the top officers of the company. The document states down to the dollar how much the five highest paid executives receive in salary, bonus, incentive pay, and perks. It also shows you the quantity of stock options those executives have received and how much profit they have realized by exercising the options.
CEO Pay Ratio. Since 2018 corporations have been required to disclose the ratio between the total compensation of the chief executive officer and median employee pay.
Director Compensation. Outside directors (those who are not members of management) used to receive nominal payment for what is typically a not very demanding part-time job. These days, large companies often reward their outside directors handsomely with cash and stock options. The proxy discloses the details.
Director Biographies. One of the things that shareholders do at annual meetings is to elect or re-elect directors (who usually run unopposed). The proxy statement is where the candidates are listed and where their professional background is presented. These biographies include the names of any other companies where the individual serves as a director. Situations in which two companies share directors (also known as interlocks) can signify an important relationship between the firms. It is also a key fact that can be used in corporate campaigns to put pressure on parties other than the direct employer.
Procedures for Shareholder Resolutions. The proxy will contain information on the deadline for the submission of a shareholder resolution for the following year’s annual meeting.

Prospectus and S-1 Registration Statement

These are documents issued in connection with an initial public offering (IPO) of stock or the issuance of new stock by a company that is already public. The disclosure process begins with a preliminary prospectus (known informally as a “red herring”). This contains:

a description of the securities to be registered
planned use of the proceeds from the sale of the securities
risk factors that need to be considered by potential investors
names of the parties selling shares to the public
company advisers and their financial interest in the deal

The S-1 Registration Statement contains a detailed account of the company’s history, operations and financial record. It is like a 10-K, but it contains more detail.

Forms 3 and 4

These filings are how company insiders (officers and directors) report sales or purchases of the firm’s stock. The SEC requires these reports so that investors are aware of personal transactions that may reflect the insiders’ assessment of the company’s prospects. Form 3 is an initial filing and Form 4 reflects changes in the holding.

E. D&B AND OTHER SOURCES ON PRIVATELY HELD FIRMS AND PRIVATE EQUITY

Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) is one of the leading credit-rating companies. It collects information on how promptly firms pay their bills and sells this information to other companies that want to determine how risky it is to extend credit to a commercial customer. While assembling this payment data, D&B also collects a great deal of descriptive information on millions of U.S. and foreign companies, including ones that are privately held and ones that are tiny in size. D&B is thus an invaluable source of information on companies that do not file with the SEC. Keep in mind, however, that there is no legal penalty for lying to D&B (as there is with the SEC), so the information in its databases cannot be regarded as authoritative.

Many unions and other organizations subscribe to D&B’s services. If you do not have such access, you can purchase individual reports on the Internet (using a credit card) at this site. These typically include:

line of business and scope of operations
estimate of annual revenues
number of employees
brief history of the company
names and brief biographies of officers and directors
names of subsidiaries or parent company

Other sources of information on privately held companies include the subscription services Mergent Intellect (which draws from D&B and other sources), Orbis, PrivCo, and Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies, which can be found on the Gale Directory Library online service. Forbes publishes an annual list of the largest privately held firms.

In researching portfolio companies of private equity firms, keep in mind that they are often partly publicly traded and thus are required to file reports with the SEC. Specialized databases on private equity, which may be available from larger business libraries, include Pitchbook and Preqin.

F. MEDIA COVERAGE AND ONLINE DISCUSSIONS

Newspaper and magazine articles may be secondary sources, but they often contain company information found nowhere else. This is especially so with specialized trade journals and newspapers in cities where a company has its headquarters or a major facility.

Many publications have websites with an archive of back issues. To locate the website of a print publication, try NewsLink, which is arranged by subject and by geography. Be sure to check how far back an archive goes. Many newspapers make articles available for only a limited period of time.

For searching recent events Google News may be adequate, but for broader searches, use one of the databases that collect the full text of articles from many publications. The best of these is Nexis, which brings together articles – in some cases going back 20 years or more – from thousands of newspapers, magazines, trade journals, wire services and press release services. You may be able to access Nexis through a public or academic library.

The other leading source of full-text articles is Factiva, which is available via public or academic libraries. Among other things, it contains an online archive of the Wall Street Journal. Also try NewsLibrary, which includes some newspapers not covered in Nexis or Factiva and in some cases has coverage going back farther than those services.

Updated June 7, 2025

Jump to Part II. EXPLORING A COMPANY’S ESSENTIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Jump to Part III. ANALYZING A COMPANY’S ACCOUNTABILITY RECORD

Jump to Part IV. INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC SOURCES

Dirt Diggers Digest Guide to Strategic Corporate Research

Dirt Diggers Digest Guide to Strategic Corporate Research

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