When looking for information about a company, consider both information from the company itself (e.g., the company website, press releases, etc.) as well as information about the company written by others (e.g., newspaper articles, analyst reports, journal articles). Finding information about a company includes the following steps:

• Find the company website. Look at the 'about us' page for history, facts and figures. Look for sections for investors or media/press.  Use information from the company website carefully and watch for bias or an overly-optimistic interpretation of factual data.
• Is the company you are researching a public or private company? Public companies listed on Australian or International Exchanges are required by law to report on their activities and release key data. Private / Unlisted companies are not required to release information about their activities - it may be difficult to find private company information.
• If the company is public, find relevant annual reports to shareholders. Search for analyst reports. These sometimes contain an SWOT analysis.
• Search for news, magazine and other periodical articles for information.  This may be the only way to find information on private companies.
• Identify competitors.

Follow these steps to find information:

1. Search for the company's website

2. Search the databases listed in the 'Company and Industry databases' tab for a company report

3. Search for newspaper articles on the company in databases listed under the 'Newspaper articles databases' tab on this page.

4. Search for journal articles and other types of publications on the company in databases listed under the Company and Industry databases tab.  
Tip: Make sure you are searching for the Company's official name.  A brand name might not be the company's official name.

When searching for information about ports, consider a port essentially like a company. Try Google to locate a webpage for the port, look for a company report in the company databases (Marketline is a good place to start). Look for either scholarly articles or news article in the appropriate databases (Ebsco Host, Proquest, Factiva).

The Company and industry information subject guide provides more detail about researching companies, industries, economies and consumers.