Business Research Sources -ch 2: Gale Research Information Solutions

2. Hoover´s Handbook

Recommended Supplement: Gale Research Information Solutions

These people do great work; unfortunately many students can’t afford the material, only libraries can. So here is a project for your business school club. Review the material (the author is not employed by Gale Research Inc. to say this) and check it against what your library has. If the library doesn’t have what you’re looking for, perhaps it will buy it or the club could donate money for the publication or database. Gale has been growing for more than 40 years in the information market. Known in the past for its reliable contact data, now you (or the library) can look to Gale (or other providers) to supply you with complete information solutions. The editors, programmers, writers, and researchers act as information filters, personally evaluating and interpreting data. Then it’s further customized by incorporating and blending indexes, charts, photographs, glossaries, sound bites, video chips, and hypertext links that offer extra insight into the subjects you are investigating. Eventually, you may be responsible for putting together an information center for your business. Gale is a name to remember.

Gale puts out material in all sorts of formats: GaleNet, commercial on-line, CD-ROM, diskette, magnetic tape, and custom edition. GaleNet is a new subscription on-line service that links you directly to Gale resources. Several of Gale’s most-frequently consulted information sources are: Encyclopedia of Associations (see Chapter 19), Gale Directory of Databases (see Chapter 20), Gale Guide to Internet Databases, Research Centers and Services Directory, to name a few. As of January 1996, all electronic databases with one or more annual updates (within a calendar year) were available to the public on an annual or multiyear subscription basis.

Gale Business Resource provides a single-source access to an extensive, integrated database of industry, product, and brand name information, as well as statistics and company profiles and histories. For direct access to vital information on more than 210,000 U.S. businesses, Gale Business Resource’s CD offers menu-driven options to search by company, product and brand, or industry. Users can also construct extended searches by combining any of 28 items of information, including Standard Industrial Classification code, number of employees, annual sales/revenues, and location, using Boolean logic operators. Information for each industry will cover:

An industry overview and analysis.

Industry statistics.

Leading companies’ addresses, officers, employment and financial data.

Full-text Securities and Exchange Commission reports for the Fortune 1,000.

Article-length company histories.

12,000 market share reports.

16,000 rankings and industry associations.

This type of information is valuable, but you have to know how to put it together to get good business research results for, among other things, analyzing market share and market share participants, determining parent/subsidiary relationships, finding specific industry trends, and the like.

Something to Do

Go to the Gale Research Web site and review the catalog of materials to familiarize yourself with the types of information available